ReaganRepublican.org

SavetheGOP and the future of this blog

2005-01-19T02:07:00.000-05:00

The site that Mark Harris and I have been planning to launch for a while, SavetheGOP.com is finally up and running as of today. Its going to be a group blog, a collaborative project between Mark, me, and at least a few other people.

Also, I was rejected to be a CPAC blogger, which was one of the main reasons I've spent so much time on this blog over the course of the last month or so. Since I'm going to be graduating soon and getting a full-time job I'm not sure if I'll have time to continue this blog in addition to everything else that I'll be doing. However, I do want to continue to have a personal website of some sort.

I'm working on building a Linux server out of an old computer that I have laying around in my apartment, and when its finished I'm gonna set it up with Apache and Wordpress, using php and mysql to run a weblog/personal website off a computer here in my apartment.

Either way I'm definitely going to continue blogging, but probably less frequently, and I expect most of my political blogging will be at SavetheGOP.com rather than here.

Warning: Internet Nerd Stuff to Follow

2005-01-18T18:29:00.002-05:00

Allright, no Internet nerd stuff in a while, and I've found some great material. First is this video, which some of you may have already watched, but if you haven't, its freakin' hilarious.

Secondly, in the world of Science and Industry my brother, who is in clan IKM, decided to rub in to clan IG2KU that they were gonna get creamed in their upcoming match. He had a little fun with photoshop and came up with this:

And yes, its a joke, so no emails telling me not to abuse small animals please.

Well, IG2KU got beaten anyway, so for the rematch from this past weekend Chris decided that he hadn't quite rubbed it in enough:

Click here if you want to see the follow-up. It won't fit on this page.

Absolutely hilarious, and yes, if you are wondering, IKM won again. And if you think none of this is funny and want to know what the hell I am talking about then I suggest you do some reading

Traffic going through the roof

2005-01-18T13:28:00.000-05:00

Today my total unique visits for the month of January (on Sitemeter) passed up my total for the month of December. Considering the fact that its only January 18th and my traffic is still going up every day I think I can expect Sitemeter to register well over double the unique visits for January that I got in December, which until now was my best month to date. (Though considering this blog only started in September that isn't saying much).

Also, now that I've started using Statcounter again in addition to Sitemeter, it has come to my attention that the number of hits Sitemeter is registering is well below the number I'm actually getting. Yesterday Statcounter registered 127 unique visits, while Sitemeter only came up with about 100.

Ralph Reed for President?

2005-01-18T13:08:00.000-05:00

He seems to think so. A Washington Times article reports:

Word that Ralph Reed plans to seek the lieutenant governorship of Georgia signals what friends say is the former Christian Coalition executive director's ultimate ambition — 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

A Bush White House favorite, Mr. Reed would have to give up his lucrative campaign-consulting business in order to run for a relatively minor office in his home state.

Associates say Mr. Reed, 43, whose picture first appeared on the cover of Time magazine nearly 10 years ago, hopes to use the lieutenant governor's job to position himself to run for Georgia governor. Friends also say the Atlanta-based consultant's long-held ambition is ultimately to win for himself the Republican presidential nomination that, as a campaign adviser, he has helped others to seek.

Having met Ralph Reed on several occasions and seeing the general feeling for him in the Georgia GOP, I have to say I highly doubt it. Ralph Reed vs. John Oxendine for Lieutenant Governor though, cmon, why won't a decent candidate get into the race.

Club for Growth Poll

2005-01-18T11:46:00.000-05:00

The Club for Growth has a poll on their website, asking members to select the worst freshman GOP Senator on the Club's issues. Right now, Johnny Isakson is winning with 64% of the vote...including of course, mine.

If you're a member, go to the Club for Growth website and vote in the poll.

400 Hits today!

2005-01-17T22:37:00.000-05:00

According to Statcounter. Thanks to all the new visitors, please keep coming back. If you want to learn more about me check out the links on the right.

Ukrainian Spy Agency and the Election

2005-01-17T22:26:00.000-05:00

This is an absolutely fascinating article on the role of the Ukrainian spy agency in the contested election. Its a long article but well worth a read. One excerpt discussing the results of the agency having bugged the Yanukovich campaign:

As General Smeshko sat quietly, his spy agency was delivering a shadow blow.

Even as the election commission deliberated over Mr. Yanukovich's victory, Ukrayinska Pravda, a news Web site, posted transcripts of conversations from among members of the Yanukovich campaign.

The officials were discussing plans to rig the election, including padding the vote. One conversation, recorded on election night, was between Yuri Levenets, a campaign manager, and a man identified as Valery.

Valery: "We have negative results."

Mr. Levenets: "What do you mean?"

Valery: "48.37 for opposition, 47.64 for us."

Valery later added: "We have agreed to a 3 to 3.5 percent difference in our favor. We are preparing a table. You will have it by fax."

Mr. Yanukovich won by 2.9 percent. In an interview, Mr. Ribachuk said he gave the transcripts to Pravda after receiving them from the S.B.U., which had bugged the Yanukovich campaign.

Absolutely incredible that they would do this, read the whole article if you have the chance. Its incredible to think that the knowledge of the stealing of the election came from the country's own intelligence services.

Roy Moore for Governor... or Charles Barkley?

2005-01-17T19:14:00.000-05:00

Apparently there's a new poll out on the potential 2006 Republican gubernatorial primary in Alabama:

A Mobile Register-University of South Alabama poll of likely Republican primary voters shows Moore with an 8-percentage-point lead over Gov. Bob Riley in a hypothetical 2006 primary matchup. Moore drew support from 43 percent of respondents to last week's poll, while the governor garnered 35 percent.

I'm sorry, but I am not thrilled about this at all. Roy Moore is not the image we want for the GOP to have. He did not respect the rule of law. And Bill Pryor was a hero for having the courage to take him on. Unfortunately, the current Governor is so unpopular, the Governorship may be Moore's for the taking...

...unless of course, this man decides he's going to run.

Charles is something of an independent, though I think he considers himself a conservative Democrat. He's been highly critical of the Democratic party's treatment of African-Americans, and here's a segment from an interview with him a couple years ago:

I made a joke with my grandmother one time. I was asking her, 'Why are we Democrats?' She said, 'Republicans are only for rich people.' And I said, 'I'm rich.' And she hasn't given me a viable answer."

The person he'd most like to meet is Colin Powell. After spending four hours with Clarence Thomas, he said, "I think I'm smart, but I was learning on the go talking with him. He's achieved true greatness."

Many years ago he said, "I look at all my old friends in the 'hood, and they're in the same place they've always been. On welfare, mostly. All the liberals have done is give the black man an inferiority complex. They gave us a little fish, instead of teaching us how to fish."

Whether Charles Barkley decides to run as a Republican, Democrat, or Independent, I hope he runs. He has a lot of good things to say about American politics, and I think he would be a fantastic governor.

CPAC Bloggers

2005-01-17T18:46:00.000-05:00

I haven't gotten a response yet, but apparently they've started to go out. Karol at Alarming News was just chosen as one of the credentialed bloggers. I'll continue to update this post as I learn more.

And just in case any decisions have yet to be reached about my blog, I would like to reiterate how much I want to cover CPAC as a blogger... so, pick me, pick me!!!

UPDATE: And in case anyone was wondering, StatCounter is registering more than 105 unique visits today so far, which is far more than Sitemeter is.

ANOTHER UPDATE: It looks like this guy got it too.

God and Civil Rights - Thoughts on the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

2005-01-17T11:13:00.000-05:00

Growing up, I was fascinated by the civil rights movement. In a nearly all-white town in suburban Chicago I had very little personal experience with people of different races, but even so I became interested in the civil rights struggle from a young age. In eighth grade, I read a biography of Thurgood Marshall, and the following year had the opportunity to write a research paper on a topic of my choosing. I selected the Brown vs. Board of Education case. That year I also read the book Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patillo Beals, an autobiographical book about the Little Rock Nine, nine black children who attended Central High School in Little Rock, Arksansas in 1957.

In the last few years, participating in Republican politics in Georgia, people have been shocked when I've told them this. Thurgood Marshall was a liberal Democrat, how could I admire him. How could I think that Robert F. Kennedy was a hero for his work in support of civil rights. He was a Kennedy!

At the same time, we hear liberals questioning how a man like Charlton Heston, who marched with Dr. Mather Luther King Jr. in the 60s is now a conservative Republican and a fervent believer in conservative issues. What a contradiction they say!

In my mind it is not a contradiction at all.

The reason is that at its most fundamental level, the tenants of the modern conservative movement are quite consistent with those of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

I've recalled here before, that the SCLC was the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. This is extremely important.

The appeal for civil rights was not an appeal based on some book written by Locke or Rosseau or Rawls. Liberty was not a concept drawn from some philosopher or an entitlement from the government because of Karl Marx's vision of equality for the masses.

Quoting John F. Kennedy's inaugural address:

And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God. We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution.

There is similiar wording in Martin Luther King's "I have a dream speech":

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

It is an appeal to God that Dr. King made. The appeal for civil rights, for equality, is made on the basis that we are all God's children, and thus we are all equal. It is the same logic found in Kennedy's address, that our rights do not come from the government but from God.

This is exactly what conservatives have argued time and time again on issues like abortion. We believe that the right to life comes from God and not from any temporal power, that a mother does not have the right to murder her unborn child because she does not own that child, it is not her property.

If we are all children of God, than we are all equal, and this fundamental foundation is as Kennedy said, the revolutionary belief for which our forebears fought, in the Revolution, in the civil war, and in the civil rights movement. And it is the same belief that we conservatives are fighting for today.

UPDATE: Thanks to Michelle Malkin and others for the links. Power Line has more on the subject.

A strong second term?

2005-01-17T11:05:00.000-05:00

An article appearing in the London Times had its take on the prospects for Bush's second term:

Most second-term presidencies are pale imitations of the first four years in power. They have, historically, been undercut by three factors: agenda exhaustion, personnel depletion and congressional erosion.

None of these constraints applies to this President. He still has plenty of proposals for domestic policy left in him. These range from making permanent tax cuts that were passed in his opening term and the partial privatisation of American pensions to his ambition to curtail the outrageous costs of the US legal system. His new Cabinet members are not noticeably weaker than his previous colleagues. His party runs each branch of Congress and, thanks to the November election results, with greater majorities. For the first time since 1937 a re-elected president who has been in Washington for four years starts again with congressional enhancement, not erosion.

Not only that, but the obstruction of the Democrats in the US Senate over the first four years has prevented Bush from enacting the vast majority of his domestic agenda. With 55 Republican Senators compared to 49 four years ago, the situation is quite different. He also can legitimately claim a mandate from the people after the 2004 election, which in all fairness, was in doubt after the mess in 2000. Bush certainly starts his second term as a far stronger President than he did his first. And other than this mess with Armstrong Williams, I haven't seen much in the way of scandal that could even potentially discredit the administration.

Thanks to Power Line for the link.

Pro-life Rap Music?

2005-01-17T11:02:00.000-05:00

Karol at Alarming News points out a new song by an up-and-coming rapper that has a definite pro-life angle. Here are the lines she mentions:

pac is gone and brenda still throwin babies in the garbage
i wanna know whats goin on like i hear marvin

no school books to use that wood to build coffins

whenever im in da booth and i get exhausted i think

what if marie banka got that abortion (i love you ma)

She notes that rap music usually portrays life as being cheap, but this song does exactly the opposite. I hope this guy's album goes platinum.

A Journey into the heart of America

2005-01-17T10:38:00.000-05:00

Power Line points out this article that appeared in yesterday's Washington Post discussing the red states and trying to figure out how it is that Bush won the Presidency. Its something of an article for all the coastal suburbanites who think 'how could Bush have lost, everyone I know voted for him.'

Anyways, its a great read, the Washington Post is actually starting to get a lot less partisan lately in my opinion, lets hope the positive trend continues.

Interesting results

2005-01-16T13:40:00.000-05:00

So apparently I'm a loser, moderately nerdy, but not at all weird. Seriously, it says that 96% of people are more weird than me. Me!!!

Anyways, just found these fun...

2006 Senate Outlook

2005-01-16T13:17:00.000-05:00

I'll have something in more detail on this soon, but I just noticed this article and I thought I would share some thoughts.

In 2000, Republicans got reamed across the board, particularly in the US Senate races. We lost Republican open-seats in Florida and Georgia, lost GOP incumbents in Delaware, Michigan, Missouri, Washington, and also lost races we should have won in Nebraska, New York, New Jersey, and Minnesota.

In 2006, this sets the GOP up for a big win. The Democrats have several vulnerable incumbents while the GOP only has a few. Republicans will be looking to pick up open seats in Wisconsin, Maryland, and New Jersey, and possibly West Virginia and New Mexico, and defeat one-term Democratic incumbents in Florida, Washington, Michigan, and Minnesota. And of course there's still the question of whether Hillary will get a serious challenge for her seat in New York.

The Democrats on the other hand have put all their hopes on winning two seats, Rick Santorum's in Pennsylvania and Lincoln Chafee's in Rhode Island. They have a glimmer of hope of putting up a challenge to Conrad Burns of Montana and Jim Talent of Missouri. The potential GOP open seats in 2006 are in Texas, Tennessee, and Indiana - all states where the Republicans should have no trouble winning open-seat races.

What this means is that the Democrats have zero chance of winning back the US Senate in 2006 and indeed will be hard-pressed to hold on to the 45 seats they have now. It is entirely possible that they could lose the magic number of four seats, giving the GOP a 59-41 margin and with Democratic Senator Ben Nelson voting with the GOP, we'll have sixty votes to block a filibuster in two years.

Andy McKenna elected ILGOP Chairman

2005-01-16T13:00:00.000-05:00

Full article from The Illinois Leader.

McKenna is likely to face two early tests to his challenge of helping to foster elusive party unity, according to many rank-and-file Republicans. First, will be his relationship with Republican National Committeeman Bob Kjellander. Kjellander has become the poster boy for political corruption in the minds of many grassroots leaders.

Prior to the committee meeting, the Illinois Center Right Coalition (ICRC), a coalition of conservative activists, renewed their call for Kjellander’s resignation. Kjellander has been the target of conservative, anti-corruption ire since he earned an $809,000 consulting fee for undisclosed lobbying activities on behalf of Governor Rod Blagojevich’s $10 billion bond plan. More recently, Kjellander’s name was featured in the George Ryan proffer released to the public by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s office as a preview of the former Governor’s federal corruption trial set to begin in March.

Kjellander definitely needs to go. I wish Chairman McKenna well and hope that his performance as Chairman is what conservatives are hoping it will be.

Nine Myths of the 2004 Presidential Election

2005-01-15T20:57:00.000-05:00

A great, great article from a good blog. What stood out for me though was this:

Myth #3 – Karl Rove and Bush ran the greatest campaign in U.S. history.

In reality, it sucked. Yet they still got more votes. There were dozens of missed opportunities by the Bush campaign, and only the Swift-boat Veterans seemed to know how to run an effective campaign. They went after Kerry’s anti-veteran, anti-American activities for the last 30 years, and crippled him. In the meantime Rove et al, was continually working to get out the base (as if the Republican base wasn’t coming out to vote), and spent fewer resources on moving that “undecided voter.”

CRNC scandal gives way to 2005 campaign

2005-01-15T19:22:00.000-05:00

Read the last couple posts on CRNC Truth Caucus for the latest update.

The question is, will someone step up and run against Paul Gourley? (Scroll down for his info)

We need reform at the national level in the CRNC, and we need reform at the state level in many states as well. The only way for this to happen is for someone to mount a campaign against the establishment within the College Republicans. It will be tough, it will be time consuming, and it will be expensive, but someone has got to do it. Otherwise, the person most directly involved in much of the unethical activities that have gone on will likely become the next national Chairman.

And as a side note, if anyone thinking of running for CRNC National Chairman or someone involved with a potential campaign wants to contact me, I have an undefeated record as both a campaign manager and candidate on chapter and state level College Republicans campaigns, and would love to get involved.

Some quality political cartoons

2005-01-15T18:43:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while I check CNSNews's political cartoonists and I usually find some really good ones. Here are a few of the latest:

Very, very true. Just check out Democrats for Life of America.

Yeah, there is no fiscally conservative party in Washington anymore, sad to say. But the Club for Growth is fighting to change that.

What did I say? They just shifted the blame to four CBS staff members in order to avoid implicating the entire company.

The first two cartoons are by Paul Nowak and the third is by Timothy Kelly.

Open Letter to Illinois Conservatives

2005-01-15T14:30:00.000-05:00

Read the whole thing. The letter concludes with the most important thing conservatives must do in the next year:

Above all, rally behind a single conservative candidate for Governor in 2006. Make the choice early, get unified, and get to work.

This man is our candidate.

Definitely something wrong with sitemeter

2005-01-15T13:28:00.000-05:00

Statcounter is showing that I have 23 unique visits so far today with 58 page loads. Sitemeter on the other hand is showing only 14 unique visits with 29 page loads. I guess I'm getting a lot more traffic than I thought I was. I had used StatCounter in the past for my other blog, the Herman Cain Blog, but then I saw that most people in the blogosphere seem to use Sitemeter. If Statcounter is picking up visits that Sitemeter isn't than Statcounter is definitely the superior system. I'll leave both up on my site for now so I can continue to monitor the differences between them.

South Park Conservatives

2005-01-15T08:46:00.000-05:00

Great new website. Check it out.

Wow, everyone really does have a blog now...

2005-01-14T16:23:00.000-05:00

Anyone remember Sid Cottingham? I initially found him to be an interesting candidate for the US Senate on the Democratic side, but when I met him in person I realized his campaign was not exactly serious. It appeared that he had joined the race merely to gain a platform to criticize another Democratic candidate, Cliff Oxford, who during the course of the race was revealed to have been accused of spousal abuse in one of his previous marriages.

Well apparently Sid Cottingham has a blog now, which is pretty cool. Not too many bloggers fit his profile. In case you read this, thanks Sid for providing all of us on the Herman Cain campaign staff with the greatest moment of the entire campaign - hearing you call Cliff Oxford 'OJ' at one of the primary debates. I don't think any one of us sitting in the room stopped laughing for at least a minute.

Affirmative Action hurts black law students

2005-01-14T14:45:00.000-05:00

That is the conclusion of a new report published by of all people, a well-known liberal Democrat by the name of Richard Sander. He conducted a study of all law schools in the United States and found that as a result of black students being admitted to law schools that they would not normally be accepted to:

The cascading effect leaves most black students “mismatched” with peers whose academic credentials (in terms of LSAT scores and UGPA) are superior. Which means, as Sander puts it, that “nearly all blacks [are placed] at an enormous academic disadvantage in the schools they attend.” And so there are “mismatch effects.” In their first year, about 50 percent of black law students end up in the bottom tenth of their class, and roughly two-thirds in the bottom fifth, with only 8 percent placing in the top half. The grades of black law school students go down a bit from the first to the third year. Black students have a much higher attrition rate than white students (19 percent compared with 8 percent). Sander finds that fact unsurprising, since students (of whatever race) with the very worst grades are those who are expelled or drop out. Finally, black law school graduates fail the bar exam at four times the rate of white graduates. Sander concludes that more than 40 percent of black students starting out to become lawyers never reach that goal.

Read the whole thing here. Its incredible. Its the stuff that conservatives have known intuitively and tried to articulate, but have never had solid evidence to use. And now we do. I certainly could have used this report when my friends and I did this. We got yelled at and were told we were 'privileged' but it would have been nice to be able to couple our graph of the Michigan law school admissions criteria with a report on how changing the admissions standards for minorities actually negatively impacts their performance.

Global cooling?

2005-01-14T14:25:00.000-05:00

I remember in eighth grade my science teacher (who was also a really badass Army Captain) teaching us about the theories surrounding global climate change. We discussed first global warming and then global cooling. Both theories have merit, he told us, but there is no conclusive evidence to prove either theory. There is also the theory that both are occurring and may be cancelling each other out.

Yet, we almost never hear about global cooling in the news? Even after 'The Day after Tomorrow' was released in theatres I've heard very little on the theory. So today I was extremely interested when I read this post on Right Wing News:

"Cutting down on fossil fuel pollution could accelerate global warming and help turn parts of Europe into desert by 2100, according to research to be aired on British television on Thursday. "Global Dimming", a BBC Horizon documentary, will describe research suggesting fossil fuel by-products like sulphur dioxide particles reflect the sun's rays, "dimming" temperatures and almost cancelling out the greenhouse effect.

The researchers say cutting down on the burning of coal and oil, one of the main goals of international environmental agreements, will drastically heat rather than cool climate.

"When the cooling affect goes away -- and it must do because particles like sulphur dioxide are damaging to humans -- global warming will be much stronger," climate change scientist Dr Peter Cox told Reuters on Wednesday.

Temperatures could increase in the worst case by up to 10 degrees by the end of the century, the researchers said -- much more than current estimates.

Scientists differ as to whether global warming is caused by man-made emissions of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse" gases, by natural climate cycles or if it exists at all."

RWN quoted this from a Reuters article discussing global cooling.

Whats so ridiculous is that liberals scoff at conservatives when we even dare to suggest that global warming is just a theory that has not been adequately proven, or that if it is occuring its not a result of humans destroying the environment. Then again, "OMG the evil corporations are destroying our planet" is such a staple of liberal thought, they must have trouble existing without it, even if actual scientific evidence is contrary to their beliefs.

Al Gore: Nixon redux?

2005-01-14T14:18:00.000-05:00

I've thought for a while that Al Gore may be thinking about running for President in 2008, he certainly didn't campaign very hard for Kerry this time around. Gore has wanted to be president for basically his entire life, I don't think much has changed. And he'll be sixty in 2008, the same age Kerry was in 2004. So its not out of the question. However, today on The Corner Rich Lowry, the Editor of National Review had this to say:

GORE '08 [Rich Lowry ]
We're hearing that Al Gore is very serious about running next time.
Posted at 01:20 PM

I'm not surprised at all, and this is certainly the time to start. I wonder what an Al Gore vs. Hillary Clinton primary battle would look like. However, Gore may have trouble running as a 'red state' Democrat with his harsh leftward slide since leaving office four years ago.

2005 CPAC Agenda on website

2005-01-14T09:01:00.000-05:00

The preliminary version of the 2005 CPAC agenda is now available on the CPAC website by clicking here. I'm most excited about this:

11:45am - Sidestepping the Dinosaurs: How "New" Media is Transforming Politics
Richard Viguerie - Invited
Nick Schultz, Tech Central Station
Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy in Media
Robert H. Hahn, Free Republic Network
Moderator: Steve Castleton, GOP Internet Strategist

And if you haven't registered for CPAC yet, you can get to the website by clicking on that massive link on the right side of the screen.

roflcopters

2005-01-14T08:40:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Michelle Malkin:

Jonathan Klein, the president of CNN, thinks blogging is "you know, glorified Web-site hosting—that’s what it is."

Klein goes on: "I come out of the real world, man."

And if you're scratching your head at the title of this post than you need to read more wikipedia articles.

Can't say they weren't inventive...

2005-01-13T23:30:00.000-05:00

Apparently the US military has spent the last ten years doing research into non-lethal chemical weapons, and several of their rejected ideas were recently brought to light.

Most bizarre among the plans was one for the development of an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other. Provoking widespread homosexual behaviour among troops would cause a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale, the proposal says.

I don't quite know what to say. I'll bet the gay community doesn't quite know how to respond either.

Why we need to impeach judges...

2005-01-13T20:58:00.000-05:00

This is absolutely disgusting. Apparently there was a debate recently between Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer on the topic of whether it is correct for the United States to take 'world opinion' into account when interpreting the American Constitution:

Breyer responded that international opinion can be relevant in determining fundamental freedoms in a more global society.

"U.S. law is not handed down from on high even at the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. "The law emerges from a conversation with judges, lawyers, professors and law students. ... It's what I call opening your eyes as to what's going on elsewhere."

Power Line adds:

I'm not sure I would have believed that if I hadn't read it: "The law emerges from a conversation with judges, lawyers, professors and law students." No mention of the language of the Constitution; no mention of statutes enacted by Congress or the state legislatures; no mention of American customs, traditions, or popular opinion. Do you think this an extreme view? It is, of course, but the Associated Press doesn't think so. Its article calls Scalia a "conservative" justice, but does not label Breyer. His view is, in the AP's view, the mainstream one.

Rather than responding with obscenities, I decided to look up Article III of the US Constitution and see what it says about judicial decisions made by the Supreme Court:

Clause 1: The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;--to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;--to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;--to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;--to Controversies between two or more States;--between a State and Citizens of another State; (See Note 10)--between Citizens of different States, --between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

Um yeah...so where, Justice Breyer, does it say that 'global opinion' or however you want to call it, has any influence whatsoever on your decision making. You are empowered by the US Constitution to interpret the Constitution and our other laws and treaties. That is it. You are not empowered to decide that what people in twenty-first century France think is more important than what the founders wrote more than two hundred years ago in our Constitution.

I can't even call someone who holds this view a Liberal, its an insult to the term. Breyer and his ideological cohorts are doing damage to America by subverting our founding documents and our ideological heritage to the perceived 'mainstream' of global opinion. We shouldn't wait for him to retire, he should be impeached.

Learn to spell, moron

2005-01-13T20:51:00.000-05:00

From a Democratic protest against a revote in Washington state.

Power Line on Voter Fraud

2005-01-13T08:20:00.000-05:00

Great, great post here. Read the whole thing.

The answer to Hindrocket's question is that it is not a scandal because the Republican leadership is too chicken to expose this stuff thats going on. The new 'compassionate conservatives' running the GOP think, wrongly, that they'll have trouble picking up minority voters from the Democrats if they go after this kind of massive voter fraud. The reason is that its often most concentrated in heavily black areas, because those are the areas where there are zero Republicans available to keep an eye on the election officials.

Voter fraud needs be stopped, and the solution is a federal law that needs to be passed mandating certain standards for elections that involve votes for federal officials. The FEC needs to crack down on this stuff rather than worrying about campaigns filing their 24 hour fundraising reports on time, which in my experience is the bigger priority.

Great New Blog from NTU

2005-01-13T08:15:00.000-05:00

Red State points out the new blog Government Bytes made by the National Taxpayers Union:

And it's not just a token effort to put a toe in the pool, NTU is jumping headlong into the medium. The entire staff of the organization has posting privileges - from PhD's to public relations people. They'll be THE place to go for solid economic analysis, sarcastic spotlights on government fraud, waste, and abuse and all around expertise. I expect it to be the best blog around when it comes to the Social Security debate, and we'll be relying on it throughout.

Amen, looking forward to reading this on a regular basis.

NRO on Ken Blackwell and Liberal Racism

2005-01-13T08:11:00.000-05:00

Timothy Carney has written a really, really good article for National Review Online:

Estrada and Blackwell both suffered a particular brand of racism mostly practiced by Democrats against minorities. Democrats attacked Estrada's conservatism, saying he clearly did not represent the views of the Hispanic community, much like how Clarence Thomas is said to be not truly black because of his political philosophy.

The presumption behind this attack is that while whites can believe anything they want, blacks and Hispanics need to follow their leftist "community leaders" or they are sell-outs.

Read the whole thing. Its incredible, and says a lot about the Democratic party's attitude twoards minorities.

Sitemeter undercounting traffic?

2005-01-13T07:57:00.000-05:00

This would certainly explain the massive discrepancies between my referral list and the number of unique visits counted by sitemeter on my blog. And thanks to Alarming News for the link.

Dead last

2005-01-12T17:14:00.000-05:00

The Club for Growth linked to this study on blogs mentioning politicians, and ranks all members of the US Senate in order of how many mentions they have.

Guess who's dead last.

I won't increase his present number of mentions (0) by naming him, but suffice it to say, I find it pretty damn funny. Click the link above to see the whole list.

More on the Class of '94

2005-01-12T08:56:00.000-05:00

A friend pointed out this story to me after reading my post from yesterday. Here's the full article:

Give us more power, says GOP class of '94

By Alexander Bolton
The GOP freshman class of 1994 is growing restless and dissatisfied with being frozen out of leadership positions in the House.

Members of that revolutionary class, which came to Congress 74 strong 11 years ago, are talking among themselves about the need to become more outspoken and to take at least an informal leadership role within the Republican caucus.

They held a reunion last weekend in Scottsdale, Ariz., where they reminisced about their capture of nearly 50 Democratic seats a decade ago and the triumphs and disappointments of the intervening years. While discussions about the future hewed closely to policy, the underlying theme was the class desire to gain more political clout.

“I think there’s a general desire among … members of the class of ’94 that are still in the House to bring some of our members into the leadership,” said Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), one of the insurgents, who did not attend the reunion.

“A lot of the future agenda has to be driven by the ideological perspective of the class of ’94. We have a lot of talent that, frankly, maybe is not being fully utilized for the Republican cause.” Although the class has shrunk to less than half its original size, it still has the potential to be a powerful force in Congress, Wamp said. Only 30 members of the class remain.

“Several of us need to step up and be a little more outspoken on the issues we care about,” he said, adding that his classmates have discussed how to do that. “Those conversations are definitely taking place.” Members of the class of ’94 are excited about the prospect of Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) being elected to the chairmanship of the Republican Policy Committee. Nearly 130 House Republicans — more than half the conference — have signed a Dear Colleague letter supporting Shadegg’s candidacy.

They have not had a classmate in the leadership since Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) stepped down as chairman of the Republican Conference. But even then Watts acted more as a team player than as a guardian of the spirit of 1994, which is what Shadegg is expected to be.

Shadegg is a former chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee. Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) said his classmates over the weekend discussed advancing a conservative Republican agenda.

“People couldn’t help coming back to the reality that we’re running a lot of debt and most of us ran on the platform of balancing the budget.

“We got into some discussions on how to turn that around, particularly in context of Social Security reform.”

Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.), who hosted the gathering in his district, said, “I think there’s a role to be played in a lot of different ways for the class, in terms of numbers and institutional memory.”

Members of the class may shape the debate this year on immigration. It’s one of their primary concerns, and over the weekend key points of opposition to the Bush administration’s policy emerged, Hayworth said.

Members of the class, such as Hayworth and Reps. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) and Jerry Weller (R-Ill.), have run unsuccessfully for leadership positions. Some blame their losses in part to a lack of class cohesion.

“Some of us made attempts at running for the leadership and found it not possible,” LaHood said. “We couldn’t get support from some members of our own class.”

LaHood was disappointed last year when House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) picked Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) as Intelligence Committee chairman. LaHood, who has more seniority on the panel than Hoekstra, subsequently voted against the House intelligence reform bill and the House-Senate conference report on intelligence reform.

Several members of the classes of ’94 and ’96 have discussed the benefits of wielding their clout as a group. Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.), a ’96er, for example, has discussed improving cooperation between the classes.

Class members say they were elected in a similar political environment and share the same convictions. The Republican class of ’96 has 21 members, which would create a voting bloc of 51 lawmakers when added to the class of 1994.

Several Republican revolutionaries are disillusioned by recent Republican actions, such as the passage of a massive farm subsidy bill and the prescription-drug bill, which swells entitlement spending over the next 10 years by between $395 billion and $534 billion, according to two different government estimates. Some members of the class of ’94 said their revolutionary spirit has flagged over the years.

“I don’t know if there are any reformers in the class any more,” LaHood said. “I think people have sort of melded in, sort of fit into the regular routine around here.”

Weldon acknowledged that members of his class have drifted from the Contract with America. “When we were elected in ’94, we were very focused on national issues and the Contract with America,” he said. “As time went on we became focused on the issues of our district and the issues important to the committees we’re on. That’s the nature of the system.

“I think we need to get back to a little more of” focusing on national issues. LaHood was critical of the proposed rules change that would have allowed leaders to stay in place if indicted.

“The vote [in November] to allow leadership people to stay in office even if they’re under indictment [stood] on its head the reform we were talking about when we were running,” he said. Hayworth said that opposition from his classmates prompted GOP leaders to reverse field last week and reinstate the rule, adding, “We were able to bring the leadership back to its moorings.”

Lets hope that these guys are able to get the positions they want, and if they get them, lets hope they stay true to their principles. John Shadegg as Policy Committee Chairman will be a big help.

My last semester begins...

2005-01-11T22:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I started my last semester of college. The day began quite well, with a great workout with a friend of mine followed by going to my classes and then falling asleep early. I think I'm going to enjoy my final semester at Tech a great deal. Here are the classes that I'm taking:

History of Ancient Rome
Bureaucracy and Policy Implementation
Science and Values in the Policy Process
Introduction to Information Security
Habitable Planet
Senior Seminar / Thesis

Most of these fulfill some sort of requirement, except for the Ancient Rome class which I'm taking purely for fun. I've been wanting to take that, as well as the Information Security class since I was a freshman, so its a big deal that I was able to get into both during my final semester.

Things are looking rather up. I'm actively pursuing a job that I'm looking more and more likely to get by the day, I'm waking up and going to bed at normal hours (actually even earlier than normal) and I'm generally enjoying being back at school.

I also found out today that apparently a new student organization devoted to computer security is forming at Tech. Seeing as I'm not really involved in the College Republicans anymore I have plenty of free time, so I may get involved with it a bit, even though it would only be through April.

I'm still trying to come up with ideas for my Senior Thesis, which is to be a 25+ page paper on a topic of my choice related to Public Policy (my major). I would like to do something involving the use of the Internet in politics, and it would be cool if I were able to somehow incorporate blogs into the report. Would love to hear any ideas that people might have.

I also want to try and get into a regular routine for updating this blog, something like twice a day at specific times. We'll see if I'm able to pull that off, especially if I continue this ridiculous 6:45 am workout schedule.

Ten Years Later: Where are the '94 Republicans?

2005-01-11T10:55:00.000-05:00

In January 1995, for the first time in a generation, the Republican Party became the majority party in the US House of Representatives. Seventy-four freshman Republican Congressmen took seats in the 104th Congress, in what has come to be called the Republican Revolution. Many had defeated longtime Democratic incumbents, and some in districts that had not elected a Republican in decades.

All had signed the ‘Contract with America,’ the bold plan to reshape Congressional rules and streamline government. Throughout the 104th congress and beyond, these newly elected members kept the Republican leadership focused on the issues and principles that got them elected, and were a powerful force for change and responsible government. They were distinct in that many of them held fast to Republican principles while not being beholden to higher-ups in the party. Even former Speaker Newt Gingrich had a tough time dealing with criticisms from the ’94 class over his compromises with President Clinton.

Ten years later, the Republican Party has drifted away from the lofty goals of the 1994 campaign. Despite a Republican president and continued Republican control of Congress, Americans have watched increasing budget deficits, expansion of discretionary spending, and added entitlement benefits. As a result, new leaders have arisen – men like Congressmen Mike Pence of Indiana and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. But what happened to the class of 1994? Ten years is not such a long time, after all. So I did a little research to find out where they are now.

Of the seventy-four, twelve were defeated after only one term, including Mike Flanagan of Chicago, who had himself toppled House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski. Three more lost their seats in 1998, two in 2000, and one in 2002. That was Bob Barr of Georgia, a leading voice in the Clinton impeachment, defeated in a Republican primary due to partisan redistricting by Georgia Democrats.

Twenty have run for either the US Senate or a Governorship, yet there are only two – Mark Sanford and Bob Ehrlich – in governor’s mansions, and six in the US Senate. Two of them – Tom Coburn and Richard Burr – were sworn in last week. The others are Saxby Chambliss, Sam Brownback, Lindsey Graham, and John Ensign. Many of the most principled are included among the twelve who failed to reach higher office, including Steve Largent, the NFL Hall-of-famer who lost a tough race for Governor of Oklahoma in 2002.

Thirty of the seventy-four are still members of the House of Representatives. Many of them have now risen to powerful posts, such as Bob Ney of Ohio, Chairman of the House Administration committee. Only six – Charlie Norwood, Zach Wamp, Steve Chabot, Gil Gutknecht, Walter Jones, John Shaddegg, and John Hostettler – were among the twenty-five Republican congressmen who revolted against President Bush’s Medicare bill in November of 2003.

While much of their agenda was enacted into law, two of the most important items – term limits and a balanced budget amendment, failed to pass. Several members of the 1994 class term-limited themselves despite the failure to pass a law requiring it. Three stepped down after one term, four after two terms, seven after three terms, and eight after four terms in 2002. Others broke their term limit pledges and remained in Congress.

Some have remained firmly outside the Republican Party establishment. Tom Coburn beat the anointed candidate Kirk Humphreys in the 2004 US Senate primary in Oklahoma, and went on to win the general election despite little help from the national party. Ed Bryant of Tennessee was not so lucky in 2002, losing by only a few percentage points to the more moderate and establishment-backed Lamar Alexander. Bryant is now considering a run for Senator Frist’s open seat in 2006.

Others have been more disappointing, especially Phil English of Pennsylvania - who viciously slandered Pat Toomey during his Senate campaign this past year - and George Nethercutt of Washington. Nethercutt unseated House Speaker Tom Foley in 1994, only to break his term limit pledge - which he had run on against Foley - and join the Republican Main Street Partnership. Nethercutt lost badly in his race against Democrat Patty Murray – widely considered a vulnerable incumbent – in the Washington US Senate race this past November.

With the tightly controlled federal budgets of the mid-90s now a memory, we have more need than ever for conservative leaders to step up to the plate in Congress. The class of 1994 was considered by many to be the heirs of the Reagan Revolution, yet those who remain in Washington have largely failed to pursue that agenda. With President Bush reelected and the Senate now firmly in Republican hands, Republicans have the opportunity they have long clamored for to reshape the American government to better serve the people. The Senators and Congressmen who began their careers in Washington ten years ago would do well to remember why it is that they came there. They owe the American public no less.

More on Dan Rather

2005-01-11T10:18:00.000-05:00

Power Line had some great thoughts on the Dan Rather 'investigation' story:

The blatant fraudulence of the documents in issue should have been the conclusion that was the predicate for a serious investigation of the key issues raised by the 60 Minutes story. The report's failure to draw a conclustion regarding the authenticity of the documents disqualifies it from consideration as a serious document. It is in my view a failure that discredits the report as an exercise in damage control for CBS.

In critical respects the report severs its narrative of the 60 Minutes story from the context of the presidential campaign that was its impetus. It fails to follow up on or draw inferences from the producers' email correspondence (noted by Rocket Man here) hypothetically marketing the story's "information that could change the momentum of an election[.]"

The report leaves the question of political motivation and bias with the ipse dixit of Dan Rather (who, me?) and Mary Mapes ("proximity, not politics"...how about relocating her to Massachusetts?). Is this some kind of a joke? Did Thornburgh or Boccari think to ask whether Rather and Mapes opposed the reelection of President Bush, or any other follow-up question that might have shed some light on the issue? Apparently not, at least so far as is apparent on the face of the report.

I agree, I think Dan Rather has been completely discredited in the eyes of mainstream America. And I think there should be a thorough internal investigation. However, I think that part of the reason Dan Rather resigned from his CBS anchor position (or was forced to quit) was to avoid a more in-depth and lengthy investigation into what happened. He got axed, we won, the libs lost, end of story. Imagine if Clinton had had the integrity to do the same thing after Monicagate.

EDIT: Karol at Alarming News points to this story:

CBS News fired four employees on January 10, 2005 in the wake of an independent panel report that found a 'myopic zeal' led the network to disregard basic journalism principles when it aired a faulty story about President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s military service record. 60 Minutes Wednesday executive producer Josh Howard (R), Senior Vice President Betsy West (C), and senior broadcast producer Mary Murphy (L) were asked to resign while Mary Mapes (not pictured), the producer of the story, has been terminated according to the network. Murphy, West and Howard are seen in these undated publicity photos.

So at least some people involved have been penalized.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Powerline has more on this today:

What accounts for the failure of Thornburgh and Boccari to draw the necessary conclusion from evidence that establishes a fact beyond a reasonable doubt? What accounts for the failure of Thornburgh and Boccari to pursue evidence on the critical issues that the report leaves open? My inference is that these twin failures are attributable to a single failure of nerve. Drawing the necessary conclusions and gathering all the evidence necessary to draw conclusions on the issues that the report leaves open would result in a lethal indictment of CBS News in toto.

Although I can sympathize with an attorney such as Thornburgh who draws short of killing his client, I find it difficult to respect the product of his work. On this point, see Tony Blankley's timely column, "Damage control at Black Rock." As Last demonstrates, the report labors under limitations that render it laughable in critical respects.

The bottom line is that this was an investigation paid for by CBS. No one can expect it to be thorough or complete, and no one can expect it to implicate CBS as a whole, rather shifting the blame to specific people. I would love to hear Bernard Goldberg's thoughts on this.

Its only January 9th...

2005-01-09T13:15:00.000-05:00

...but I already have half as many unique visits to my blog in the last eight days as I did during the entire month of December. Not only that, but my blog traffic has been going up consistently even while traffic at most political blogs, particularly the larger ones, has tanked since the November election. So thanks to all my regular visitors, keep coming back, and to the new visitors thanks a lot for checking out my site.

Newt Gingrich considering run for president?

2005-01-09T11:39:00.000-05:00

This was way out of left field for me. Newt is done, conservatives and moderates alike are fed up with him and believe his performance as Speaker in the mid 1990s to be mediocre at best. But this Chicago Sun-Times Article indicates Newt may be thinking about a presidential run:

WASHINGTON -- Newt Gingrich is taking steps toward a potential presidential bid in 2008 with a book criticizing President Bush's policies on Iraq and a tour of early campaign states.

The former House speaker who led Republicans to power a decade ago said he will visit Iowa and New Hampshire to promote Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America, and to keep his political options alive.

The former Georgia congressman said U.S. intelligence capabilities are a third of the size needed. On Iraq, he writes that the Bush administration erred by creating a U.S.-led provisional authority instead of an interim government as it did in Afghanistan.

Yeah...right.

When torture is acceptable...

2005-01-09T09:12:00.000-05:00

Andrew McCarthy of National Review Online wrote a column that appeared the other day on the issue of torture and the Democratic witnesses against Alberto Gonzales:

New Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter performed his most valuable service of a very long day in about five minutes of questioning — during which he exposed the emptiness of the high dudgeon by confronting these experts with the so-called "ticking bomb" hypothetical: A bomb is about to be detonated in a major metropolitan area, likely to kill perhaps hundreds of thousands of people, and the military has as a captive a known terrorist who, we have reason to believe, has knowledge which would allow us to save those lives if we could get him to provide it. Are you saying, the senator asked, that torture — even in a non-lethal method, requested by a responsible high official, and perhaps even supervised by a federal court — would be absolutely impermissible? That we must stand down while those thousands are massacred?

The answers were fascinating. Cutting through the dizzying circumlocution, each witness either stubbornly declined to answer the question or grudgingly acknowledged that the situation made torture (of the non-lethal type described above) at least acceptable if not permissible.

Thank you Senator, you've gotten off to a good start as Judiciary Chairman, despite my best efforts. I hope you keep it up.

Power Line had this to say in response:

Like the Democratic Senator who invited them to appear, these experts wish only to make high-minded pronounements and, more likely than not, to embarrass the president -- they have no desire to think about the tough issues inherent in the debate over interrogation techniques.

I agree completely. Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, a conservative Democrat, was on TV the other day saying how talk of Gonzales not getting confirmed was ridiculous and that there's no question he will get through. The dems are simply looking to try and score a few points on the President in the process.

Thoughts on the Armstrong Williams story

2005-01-08T13:32:00.000-05:00

The background of the story is here if you haven't seen it yet.

Karol at Alarming News wrote:

The story of Armstrong Williams allegedly taking cash from someone in the Bush administration to promote the No Child Left Behind Act is bizarre. I have no doubt that Williams truly supports the Act, but taking money for publicizing it without disclosing it seems very wrong to me. I agree with Jonah Goldberg that if the Clinton administration did this, conservatives would be outraged. This is no different.

And this is what Jonah Goldberg had to say:

I think it was stupid and unacceptable for the Administration to give him the money. If the Clinton Administration had been paying off liberal pundits to promote his policies we would have gone batty, and rightly so. A better explanation is required. The whole thing seems gross to me. I posted this up top too.

Beyond any ethical questions and whatnot, my first reaction is, what the hell is the Bush administration doing spending a million dollars of my taxpayer money to promote a political agenda. Its morally wrong, but beyond that, its a waste of money and a perfect example of the ridiculous things the federal government spends our hard-earned dollars on.

Choosing a candidate for 2008

2005-01-08T05:32:00.000-05:00

I've written quite a bit about the possible presidential contenders for 2008. Some would say that its way too early to start talking about this, but I say the sooner the better. The reason is quite simple:

We know who some of the candidates for the presidency are going to be in three years. To name a few: Senator Bill Frist, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Governor Mitt Romney, Senator Chuck Hagel, Senator George Allen, Governor George Pataki, Senator John McCain, Governor Haley Barbour.

These men all fall into three general categories:

1. Social liberals: Giuliani, Romney, Pataki. The Republican party will not nominate a pro-abortion presidential candidate. And if we do, that candidate will lose.

2. Media-loving Moderates: McCain, Hagel: These guys buck the party line and conservative ideology solely get their names in the papers.

3. Party Insiders: Frist, Allen, Barbour. These guys do whatever Bush tells them to do, and are too deeply connected with the national party infrastructure to be an effective president. Allen in particular constantly favored more moderate candidates in GOP primaries this last year as NRSC Chairman.

None of the above eight would make good nominees, or more importantly, good presidents. Yet their names are the ones most often circulated as potential nominees for the GOP.

And none of them are movement conservatives.

The reason we must start now is that the conservative movement must rally early around one conservative candidate to run against the men I listed above. We must decide early who that man or woman will be to begin building the momentum needed for what will certainly be an underdog candidacy for the Presidency.

So who will that man or woman be? Lets look at some of the names of conservatives most frequently mentioned:

Governor Bill Owens of Colorado: prominent in the national party, but he's past his peak popularity in conservative circles. He's also been separated from his wife for the last year or so, and the Colorado GOP got its ass kicked in the November election. He's out.

Governor Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky: only elected in 2003, would have to run for reelection in 2007 and for the Presidency at the same time. And he's in trouble politically in his home state.

Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas: Senators don't win the presidency. Thats all there is to it, Brownback is a great guy, but with several other senators likely to be in the race he'll have a tough time of it.

Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania: Same as for Senator Brownback, and he'll certainly have trouble running with Frist also in the race. Plus, he has his reelection in 2006 to worry about.

Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana: Chairman of the RSC and a staunch conservative, but again, Congressmen don't win the Presidency, and it would be difficult for him to get the kind of attention needed.

Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado: Has burned too many bridges with his outspoken views on immigration. Same Congressman trouble as Mike Pence.

So where does that leave us. Of my personal dream candidates: Herman Cain, Peter Fitzgerald, Pat Toomey, and Tom Coburn, none are likely to run.

So are conservatives out of luck for 2008? I have one candidate in mind who could mount an incredible campaign, but I would like to hear the thoughts of anyone reading this? Who do you think conservatives should rally around for the 2008 republican presidential nomination? Or should we get behind a conservative democrat?

Kid Rock on Celebrities and Politics

2005-01-08T05:17:00.000-05:00

"I do not believe that artists or actors and people should be out there like voicing their full-blown opinions on politics because, let's face it, at the end of the day, I'm not that smart of a guy. I play rock 'n' roll, that's what I do. Who would you trust to make your decisions, Donald Rumsfeld or the Dixie Chicks?" - Kid Rock

Damn Straight. Let this guy perform at the inauguration. And thanks to Right Wing News for the quote.

UPDATE: Right Thoughts has a more in depth analysis of Kid Rock with the simple conclusion that this is a guy who loves his country. Worth a read.

Also, this is not an issue of libertarians versus social conservatives. I'm a social conservative, I'm pro-life, anti-gay marriage, etc. Those are my most important issues politically too. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy vulgar movies or music.

Herman Cain's radio show to go live tomorrow!

2005-01-07T21:09:00.000-05:00

Herman Cain, whose US Senate campaign I worked on last summer, is beginning a new talk radio show. It is being syndicated presently by eight radio stations in Georgia, and is available nationwide via the Internet.

Since his defeat in the Georgia Senate race last summer, I have continued the website CainBlog.com to promote Herman Cain and so that his supporters could continue to follow him in the news. You can check out that site to learn more about Herman and his ideas.

Anyways, Herman Cain is a staunch conservative, a great guy and, probably the finest public speaker I have ever heard. His radio show should be amazing. You can listen live to it tomorrow from 4-6pm Eastern Time by clicking here. More information is available at HermanCain.com.

Pictures from Christmas Break

2005-01-07T19:12:00.000-05:00

Eric has uploaded a bunch of pictures that he took during the last month of Christmas break. The ones from our LAN party are here, and the New Years Eve pics are here.

Should Kid Rock perform at the inauguration?

2005-01-07T13:40:00.000-05:00

I think he should. The guy did throw his support behind Bush, and he is a very talented musician. Sure a lot of his songs are inappropriate, but so what, he's no different from any other musician that way.

Michelle Malkin disagrees, writing:

I applaud them. Some "South Park conservative-" types are ridiculing the protesters. "Lighten up," they say. But I'm with the family groups on this. The inaugural celebrations should highlight the best the GOP has to offer. A guy who, as World Net Daily points out, "dedicated his first album to songs about oral sex and who was voted the Sluttiest Male Celebrity at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards" and who titles songs "F--- U Blind" and "F--- Off" doesn't belong there, even if he is a rare celebrity Bush supporter.

As a proud South Park Republican I must say that as long as Kid Rock doesn't perform those songs at the inauguration everything is fine. Conservatives really do need to lighten up, we'll do a lot better promoting the cause to my generation if young people realize that you can be pro-life, pro-gun, and pro-marriage without being a prude who squeals every time you hear the F word. BoboBlogger and Jeff Blogworthy agree with me.

UPDATE: Thanks to Protein Wisdom and Right Thoughts for agreeing and giving me a plug. And to Michelle Malkin, while I admire you a lot and I'm eternally grateful for being quoted on your blog, you are wrong about this one. This is what it means to be a big tent party. I play violent video games, I listen to Eminem, and Kill Bill is one of my favorite movies. And none of that makes me any less of a conservative. And as long as Kid Rock doesn't sing something inappropriate at the inauguration, there's no reason we should exclude him from the event.

On the Rathergate Investigation

2005-01-07T13:25:00.000-05:00

Apparently there's a report thats about to be released on the whole forged documents scandal at CBS. But Power Line isn't convinced that it will be worth anything. Neither are Commonwealth Conservative or Of the Mind.

For me, I think that conservatives can just let the story die, knowing that never again will a major media outlet dare to try and coordinate a political attack with the Democratic party. They now know just how much they have to lose by doing so.

Senator Peter Fitzgerald's Legacy

2005-01-06T16:17:00.000-05:00

Senator Peter Fitzgerald, who retired this week from the US Senate after one term, is one of my political heroes. He has fought for what he believes is right at every opportunity and without regard for the cost to himself. Fitzgerald was the model Senator, a true conservative who was willing to buck the Republican party line and vote his conscience across the board. He will tell it like it is when it comes to political corruption and party politics like no other officeholder I have ever seen.

For a long time, his courage has gone unnoticed, but as his retirement from the Senate came this week, several articles were written praising his service to our state and to the nation over the last six years.

The Chicago Tribune had an editorial on Sunday honoring Fitzgerald:

At his urging, the Bush White House nominated three independent Justice Department prosecutors--none of them from the law firms that are cozy with politicos and rake in government contracts--in Illinois' three federal districts. That achievement, ratified by the subsequent corruption indictments, subpoenas and grand jury investigations that have rocked Illinois politics, is Fitzgerald's greatest contribution to his state.

No landmark legislation bears Fitzgerald's name. But this wealthy lawyer-banker's resolve to attack the influence peddlers, the patronage powers, the well-dressed thieves who rip off taxpaying commoners, has given Illinois something enduring. Fitzgerald's first priority was as radical as it was iconoclastic. And he stuck to it. So many senators--timid self-promoters, focused on squatting atop Capitol Hill for decades--have given their home states so much less that is memorable, and even less that is worthwhile.

John Fund wrote an extensive piece that appeared on OpinionJournal.com about Senator Fitzgerald titled "The Unsung Maverick." Here's one great section:

Mr. Fitzgerald said during his campaign that the "great divide" in our government is not partisan but "between those political insiders who use high taxes to support their lifestyles and the rest of us."

Asked who the insiders were, he bluntly replied: "They're the Republicrats--the power brokers in both parties who through clout, connections and consulting contracts manipulate our system for personal gain. They have no ideology, yet they are the ruling elites of our time. They are fleecing you, the taxpayer."

Truer words have never been spoken. Another great article appeared in the Chicago Daily News about him last week. It had some criticisms of the Senator as well, but was very favorable at parts:

Sen. Fitzgerald said some of his Republican colleagues "still to this day have never forgiven me" for picking Patrick Fitzgerald.

"I don't lay awake at night wondering whether anybody is trying to influence my U.S. attorney," Sen. Fitzgerald said.

Politicians as diverse as former Democratic Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch of Chicago and former Republican Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood of Lake Forest agree that will be his legacy.

"Peter and I disagreed on some issues, we agreed on many others," Wood said. "But something I think we all want to see in our public officials is integrity, and I don't think anyone can take that away from Peter Fitzgerald."

Even the liberal Quad-City Times had this to say:

Obama assumed the seat held by Peter Fitzgerald, not exactly our ideological partner, but whose work and personal ethics elevated him in our eyes. Ultimately it doomed him in the eyes of his party. Fitzgerald’s best legacy is bucking the state pols of both parties and bringing in a federal prosecutor to root out corruption.

Great again.

However, Nothing rings truer than the conclusion of John Fund's article:

The notion of prophets being viewed without honor in their native land is an ancient one, stretching back to the book of Mark in the Bible. Here's hoping that tradition doesn't hold true this time. While residents of Illinois celebrate the remarkable rise of Barack Obama they should also recall how much better their state is for the fact that Peter Fitzgerald didn't give a damn if he was re-elected senator.

Congratulations Senator, you could do a lot worse than that compariosn.

The worst academic freedom story to date...

2005-01-06T10:54:00.000-05:00

This appeared in an article in David Horowitz's FrontPage Magazine today. Its about a Kuwaiti student who wrote a pro-American paper for his American government class:

Professor Woolcock didn’t grade my essay. Instead he told me to come to see him in his office the following morning. I was surprised the next morning when instead of giving me a grade, Professor Woolcock verbally attacked me and my essay. He told me, “Your views are irrational.” He called me naïve for believing in the greatness of this country, and told me "America is not God's gift to the world." Then he upped the stakes and said "You need regular psychotherapy." Apparently, if you are an Arab Muslim who loves America you must be deranged. Professor Woolcock went as far as to threaten me by stating that he would visit the Dean of International Admissions (who has the power to take away student visas) to make sure I received regular psychological treatment.

This notion that ethnic minorities, particularly blacks, hispanics, arab-americans, and jews - are obligated to be liberal democrats is not a new one. But the notion that they must accompany their liberalism with a hatred of America is. And yes, yes, this professor doesn't represent the Democratic party or liberals in general, but - is there any doubt who this guy voted for in the November election?

Thanks to Power Line for the link.

Pat Toomey to take over Club for Growth?

2005-01-05T13:36:00.000-05:00

Apparently Stephen Moore is leaving the Club for Growth to start a lobbying firm to push Republican issues over the next several years. According to Rich Lowry of National Review in a post he recently made on The Corner, the new head of the Club will be none other than former Congressman Pat Toomey.

When I find out more on this I'll post it, but there's precious little to go on, I can't find a single blog that has mentioned it other than National Review. Apparently Stephen Moore leaving the Club has been in the works since September.

Bloggers at fault for decline of journalism?

2005-01-05T06:08:00.000-05:00

Apparently so, according to a ridiculous article that just got quoted on Power Line. This is almost as funny as the Nick Coleman piece from last week. Power Line lays it on particularly here:

Pein tries to indict the bloggers for possibly having been wrong in a small minority of the questions they raised on September 9. On the other hand, he has not a word of criticism for CBS. Mary Mapes has said that she pursued the National Guard story for five years. Yet CBS never checked into any of the issues that were raised by the bloggers; never questioned Burkett's credibility; and never contacted any of the living people who could have given the lie to the fake documents, like General Staudt. In an interview shortly after Rathergate broke, former CBS Vice-president Jonathan Klein explained that CBS had deliberately decided not to interview Staudt and others because they were believed to be Republicans, and CBS wanted its story to be objective. That's CBS's idea of objectivity--interview Democrats only--and apparently it's the Columbia Journalism Review's standard, too.

What the Dan Rather memogate fiasco did was expose that not only are most journalists liberal, but that they are perfectly willing to sacrifice objectivity in order to promote a political agenda. For years liberals have cautiously acknowledged the former while firmly denying the latter. But there can be no denials now.

Thoughts on the final college football results

2005-01-05T05:59:00.000-05:00

With all said and done, there seems to be a general consensus that Southern California is the undisputed national champion. While they proved me and a lot of other people wrong in the title game by beating the crap out of Oklahoma, the fact remains that Utah and Auburn both finished the season undefeated as well. While USC could likely defeat either team, the truth is that we will never know. And that means that the system is flawed and needs to be changed.

Overall, I called the results of 16 games correctly out of 28 played. Much worse than I was hoping for, even though I did accurately predict the winners of three of the four BCS bowls.

By far though, the most exciting part of the whole bowl season for me was during the Champs Sports Bowl when one of the announcers stated point blank that he expected Georgia Tech to contend for the ACC title next year. So I have something exciting to look forward to during the off-season.

The way America is supposed to work...

2005-01-03T14:09:00.000-05:00

Elder Bush, Clinton to head relief effort

New Years Resolution

2005-01-03T01:11:00.000-05:00

I don't normally do these, but 2004 was a very, very significant year for me. Not that all years aren't significant, but this year feels like it was moreso. A quick rundown of what happened to me this year.

I learned a lot about myself this past year. I became interested in a very promising new field - political campaign management, something I hadn't given more than a second thought to prior to 2004. After years as a volunteer I found myself actually running campaigns as a paid staffer. I became involved in the conservative movement to a greater extent than in the past, and learned a lot more about my convictions and sticking true to them. I created this weblog to help further my participation in the cause.

I had victories and defeats greater than any I've had before in my life, and I experienced true betrayal for the first time. I gained some new close friends and lost some others. And I've mended things with some older friends who I thought I had lost for good years ago.

After three years I finally made the Deans List in school both semesters in 2004, and will be realizing my goal of graduating from college in four years this Spring, prior to my 21st birthday. I haven't done as well as I would have liked to academically, but 2004 was definitely my best year in college in that area.

I worked harder than I ever have before this year. I've had jobs before, but I never knew what it was like to work seventy and eighty hour weeks. It took a lot out of me, but it was a great experience.

I've also rediscovered my love of history, particularly in the past few months. Learning about the history of my family, politics, and other things has renewed my thoughts about pursuing advanced education in that field.

After some thought I've decided that for 2005, my news years resolution is going to be simple. To value my friends more. With everything I've done this past year, everything I've been through, I just haven't made time for a lot of people in my life. For someone who spent so much of his life desperate for friendship, now that I have many friends I feel like I've taken many of them for granted.

So for those of you who are reading this, if I've ignored you or not called you or not been the kind of friend I should have been I'm sorry, its been a tough year. But that is no excuse, and from now on I'm going to try to be different. So, I have resolved that in 2005 I will let the people I care about know how much they mean to me. You deserve no less.

English language purity?

2005-01-02T06:15:00.000-05:00

Apparently there's more in Northern Michigan than snow and Bittner.

More than 2,000 nominations arrived in Michigan's far north, where a committee at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie released its 2005 compilation of language irritants Friday.

Among the 22 expressions on the "List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness" are "blog," "sale event," "body wash" and "zero percent APR financing."

Hey, anything that has a Wikipedia entry is fair game as far as I'm concerned. And by the way, isn't Wikipedia so much fun.

The full article is here and I found the story on Alarming News.

So I don't know college football well after all...

2005-01-02T04:47:00.000-05:00

Allright, today I completely got my ass kicked.

Georgia beat Wisconsin, Florida State beat West Virginia, and Iowa beat LSU. Of four non-BCS bowls today I only picked one correctly, and that was Tennessee over Texas A&M.

However, I did correctly call that Texas would beat Michigan and Utah beat Pittsburgh, though both those were hardly my prediction alone. So with only the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl to go, I'm now 15/26, or 58%. Much worse than the 75% I was hoping for with my bowl predictions. Even if Auburn beats Virginia Tech and Oklahoma beats USC, I'll still only be at 61%.

New Years Eve and more Bowl results

2005-01-01T05:22:00.000-05:00

Allright, in the last few days I've had some great calls and some horrible ones. As I predicted: Northern Illinois beat Troy, Navy beat New Mexico, Arizona State beat Purdue, Louisville beat Boise State, and Colorado beat UTEP.

Unfortunately at the same time, I was wrong in several other bowl games. Ohio State beat Oklahoma State, Texas Tech beat Calfornia (that one was a real shocker), Boston College beat North Carolina, Minnesota beat Alabama, and Miami beat Florida. So thats five wins and five losses to add to my record thus far, so now I'm only 12/20.

Also, tonight was a lot of fun, I spent the evening in downtown Chicago. First we went to the Cheesecake Factory at Old Orchard in Skokie, then drove down to Drew's old apartment followed by his new one (which is in a very nice area, right near the lake and Wrigley Field). After that we took the L down to Navy Pier where we met up with the rest of the gang. We watched the fireworks go off at midnight from the edge of the pier.

After that we got back on the L and split up, with Eric, Aron, and I heading back to Drew's place. We sat around there for about an hour discussing computer shit (as always) with Drew and Bittner, who also showed up.

The best moment of the evening was after Aron had been drinking a little bit he started talking about politics. Eventually he stated point blank that what the government really needed to do was medical malpractice reform and curbing lawsuits. I laughed, and informed him that these were two key planks of Bush's reelection campaign. Aron is a die-hard liberal Democrat, so he didn't quite know how to respond. It was really funny.

New Years Eve

2004-12-31T17:17:00.000-05:00

I'll be leaving to go downtown to celebrate New Years shortly, but before I go I wanted to say something about the Tsunami disaster.

There's a lot of talk about people these days becoming desensitized to violence and suffering. With all the violent video games I've played, all the news stories I've read about beheadings in Iraq and having watched the twin towers fall live on television, I think that this may very well be true about me. Hearing about a bomb killing a dozen people in Iraq or in Israel just doesn't hit you the same way the hundredth time you've heard it. You feel like you should feel terrible, and you do, but it doesn't surprise you. Hearing about it just becomes part of the routine.

My brother asked me if I had written about the Tsunami yet on my blog yesterday, and I responded that I hadn't really. He was shocked, and said something about this being a huge event in the history of the world. He and I then went and looked up natural disasters throughout history to try and put this one in some kind of historical perspective.

According to NBC, the worst natural disaster in history was an earthquake in China in AD 1556. It killed more than eight hundred thousand people. The latest death toll estimate for the Tsunami this week is at 400,000 in Indonesia alone. That means it likely this is the second worst natural disaster in human history.

So anyway, as the year ends, its just something else to think about. Say a prayer for all those who have lost their lives and for everyone otherwise affected by the Tsunami. The whole thing really makes you take a step back from all the normal news about terrorism and everything else.

I will never understand people like this

2004-12-30T23:50:00.000-05:00

Apparently there are a group of about six Kerry supporters who have been holding a candelight vigil outside one of his five houses. These people apparently are still hoping for a miracle - but oh wait, that would be mixing Church and state if God got involved in the election. So who they're looking for intervention from, I'll be damned if I know. But its still funny as hell.

Credit to Alarming News and Tim Blair for the link. The story is here.

Terrorists thwarted in Mosul

2004-12-30T06:08:00.000-05:00

Apparently a full scale military assault was attempted tonight on an American outpost in Mosul. Rather then murdering civilians and blowing themselves up, a group of about fifty 'insurgents' decided to grow some balls and openly attack a US military installation, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and semiautomatics weapons.

Bad idea.

The result was something like this post-911 political cartoon:

From the article:

[T]he troops were attacked by a coordinated force of about 50 insurgents who fired rocket-propelled grenades and semi-automatic weapons. At that point, two F-18 and two F-14 military jets swooped down on strafing runs and firing Maverick missiles, wiping out much of the insurgent force. "That's when the close-air support came in and did a job on them," [Lt. Col. Paul Hastings] said.

Not a single American was killed in the attack. I think that it really shows just how good a job the US military is doing over there, despite all the criticism of our strategy and the progress of the war, there is no way our troops are going to be driven out of the country.

Powerline adds:

The Iraqi terrorists are growing increasingly desperate as next month's elections draw closer and closer. Osama bin Laden has issued a tape recording denouncing the elections and condemning any Iraqi who votes as an "infidel," which means that he or she is threatened with death. But the clock is clicking on the terrorists. They hoped to defeat the U.S. Army militarily, but failed. They hoped to defeat President Bush in last month's election, but failed. They hoped to generate enough violence to force, with the aid of their allies in the American press, postponement of the January elections, but failed. When millions of Iraqis go to the polls one month from now, it will mark the beginning of the end of the Islamofascist campaign of terror.

I couldn't agree more.

Right on the Money

2004-12-30T05:50:00.000-05:00

An op-ed appeared in the Washington Post today, discussing why the Democrats lost the election so badly and what their fundamental problem is: not understanding ordinary Americans, not wanting to understand them, not caring about them, treating them like nothing other than a potential vote.

Scores of thousands of people, many of them paid (how else do you squander $200 million?), knocked on millions of doors during this campaign. The Democratic-leaning canvassers left information, repeated a canned sales pitch and moved along. They did not engage the people in real conversation. They did not listen to their concerns. They did not recruit real volunteers to work on their own blocks. They did not take the time to find out which pastor or rabbi was a leader in an area and which congregations people attended. They were progressive salespeople with a high quota of contacts and no time to relate, who disappeared from people's towns and lives the very moment, on election night, that they learned the sale had not been made.

It was as if they had never been there. And in a way, they never were. These two tendencies -- celebrity worship and quick-hit canvassing -- betray the central problem at the heart of the Democratic Party's political culture. The party has no time or patience for the complex work needed to listen to Americans, to understand their range of views and positions, and to engage them on their deepest interests. Even worse, many in the hierarchy of the Democratic Party have contempt for ordinary Americans -- for their red faces and moderate churches and mixed, often moderate, views.

The full article is here.

Vodkapundit notes that observing Kerry workers...

I had the strong suspicion that they weren't going to be terribly effective; they were just repeating cant, and obnoxious cant at that. Even if you agreed with them, you weren't likely to stick around and listen to the same canned script for very long--and if you didn't agree, you were going to shrug them off in a heartbeat.

What it comes down to is that liberals don't understand that Americans simply don't value the same things that they do. And you don't just have to talk about values, you have to stake out positions on the issues that people care about. Abortion is still the most important issue in American politics, and there are millions of Americans who vote Republican because of this issue alone. No matter what peoples concerns are with Bush's performance, they weren't going to vote for a man who has a secularist attitude toward American culture.

Nothing like being home...

2004-12-30T05:27:00.000-05:00

Tonight was awesome, I managed to sleep in until 4pm, then helped my brother set up for the LAN party that we had planned for tonight (which by the way is still ongoing). I'm sitting and typing in the basement of my parents house with a bunch of my friends still gaming. Eric unfortunately succumbed a few minutes ago and went to sleep on my couch, but the rest of us are still going strong.

Earlier this evening I hung out with some other friends, including Jeff and Karuna, (see how cool it is have a blog), and we watched the Ohio State vs. Oklahoma State Alamo Bowl. I had predicted Oklahoma State would win, but I was wrong - and happy this time, I'm an Ohio State fan largely because Craig goes there. Craig, why don't you have a blog too ? :-)

Well before all of this, Drew stopped by my house with his girlfriend, rather randomly. They were hoping to crash the LAN party, but no one had shown up yet.

Anyway, back to the LAN party, Eric and I left just after half time of the Alamo bowl and went back to my place. Bittner and Evan were here by now, as were a couple other guys from my brother's class at Deerfield HS. Chudnoff is also in attendance, but he doesn't have a website either :-(

Anyways, just wanted to express that I had a lot of fun tonight and really enjoyed spending time with a lot of people that I don't see much of during most of the year. Also, the traffic on this blog is up big time in the last few days, more than 100 unique visits both yesterday and the day before.

And before I go back to gaming, I acknowledge to Chudnoff (in case you ever read this) that 'shat' is indeed the past tense of 'shit' even though you also used it tonight as the past tense of shut, at least you were right half the time :-)

Jerry Orbach dies

2004-12-29T19:33:00.000-05:00

At the age of 69. The full story is here. His character on Law and Order is definitely one of my favorite TV series characters ever. Alarming News has an interesting story about him:

My friend lived down the hall from Jerry Orbach. Whenever I visited her, I would see him in the lobby or in the elevator. Of course, I have a chronic case of star-struckness and would always look away or hide behind pillars if I saw him. One day, shortly after new year's day in 2001, I vowed that I would say hi the next time I saw him.

Unfortunately, I vowed this out loud as my friend was locking her door and it turns out Jerry Orbach and his wife were also in the hallway opening their door when I made my out loud vow.

D'oh.

His wife very nicely told him to "say hello to the girls." He turned toward us, smiled and they went inside.

He will be missed.

Rest in peace.

Idiot Journalist trashes Power Line

2004-12-29T03:45:00.000-05:00

I laughed out loud when I first read this column by some guy named Nick Coleman who writes for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

These guys pretend to be family watchdogs but they are Rottweilers in sheep's clothing. They attack the Mainstream Media for not being fair while pursuing a right-wing agenda cooked up in conservative think tanks funded by millionaire power brokers.

They should call themselves "Powertool." They don't speak truth to power. They just speak for power.

Laughing yet? It gets worse:

But Extreme bloggers don't tell truths. They tell talking points. Powerline is the biggest link in a daisy chain of right-wing blogs that is assaulting the Mainstream Media while they toot their horns in the service of ... what? The downtrodden? No, that was yesterday's idea of the purpose of journalism. Extreme bloggers are so hip and cool they can make fun of the poor and the disadvantaged while working out of paneled bank offices.

Yeah, and I'll bet he considers Daily Kos, the most popular blog on the Internet (and extremely liberal) to be mainstream. Probably Arch Pundit and Wonkette as well.

Here's part of Power Line's response:

Coleman says we "pursu[e] a right-wing agenda cooked up in conservative think tanks funded by millionaire power brokers." If by that he means that we're conservatives, we plead guilty. The think tank in question appears to be the Claremont Institute, with which we have an extremely loose affiliation. And if he means to suggest that we share Claremont's respect for the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, we can only plead guilty once again.

Beyond that, it's hard to say what Coleman's point is, other than the fact that he doesn't like us, or, I guess, any other conservatives, which is hardly news. This is one of his more coherent sentences: "[L]ike talk radio, they are dominated by the right and are only interested in being a megaphone without oversight, disclosure of conflicts of interest, or professional standards." I have no idea what Coleman means by "conflicts of interest," and he never provides a hint. As to "professional standards," he never cites a single instance in which we have misrepresented a source, tried to pass fake documents off as genuine, or, for that matter, even made a mistake. So, again, it's hard to make much of a substantive response.

This guy is just upset that a lot more people read Power Line every day than his columns. And they're 'extreme' but also amateurs, while he's 'mainstream' and a professional. He can't understand why with his nifty degree in journalism and monthly paycheck from a newspaper that there are people out there who get more circulation than him and write for free. And he thinks that there must be something inherently wrong with blogs because of it. All I can say is, Mr. Coleman, you might want to consider a different career, because bloggers are the citizen journalists of the future.

New website encourages Toomey governor run

2004-12-29T02:13:00.000-05:00

The title of this new site is Run Pat Run! and it just went up the other day. Some choice quotes:

In 2006 Ed Rendell will be running for re-election. In the first term he raised our taxes, brought gambling and its side effects into our cities and didn't give us the property tax breaks he promised. We can't afford a second term.

Now a band of moderates, a no name attorney and a no record football player have gathered to oppose him, leaving conservatives to wonder who to pick.

Enter Pat Toomey.

Great points all, he also doesn't mention the extremely important point that Toomey would be a lock for the nomination the day he jumped into the race. The rest of the candidates might as well just drop out if he does.

Pat Toomey is a proven fighter for the citizens of PA. He has voted for tax relief, is a strong supporter of our 2nd amendment rights, will fight pork barrel spending just like he did in Washington, and is strongly pro-life.

Again, missing the most important part: that Pat Toomey could actually win. Who knows though, this site could be the start of something.

Got this off GrassrootsPA.

Two more games and two more victories

2004-12-29T01:50:00.000-05:00

As I predicted, Iowa State defeated Miami of Ohio today, and Oregon State beat Notre Dame. I was personally cheering for Notre Dame in the latter game, even though I did not expect them to win, and for a while it looked like they had a chance, but it was not to be. The Irish just couldn't pull it together to win the game.

There was a rumor that one of the announcers mentioned during the game that three of the assistant coaches at Notre Dame, including the interim head coach, may be leaving at the end of the season to join Ty Willingham's coaching staff at the University of Washington. Will be interesting to see if this is the case.

So I'm now at 7/10 correctly predicted bowl games (see my full 2004-2005 College Bowl predictions here) with the Houston Bowl and Alamo Bowl coming up tomorrow.

Another Vietnam?

2004-12-28T21:43:00.000-05:00

We've heard over and over again from the left that Iraq is another Vietnam. Apparently a new article has appeared on Slate that argues that Iraq is actually worse than Vietnam. Powerline responds:

Writing for Slate, Phillip Carter and Owen West argue that, in terms of casualties, Iraq in 2004 looks like Vietnam in 1966. The fact that more than 6,000 U.S. servicemen were killed in Vietnam that year, compared to about 900 in Iraq this year, is no impediment to Carter and West. If one adjusts for the fact that we had nearly three times as many troops in Vietnam as we have in Iraq and for the fact that wounds tend to be less lethal now due to technological (body armor?) and medical advances and for the fact that virtually no pilots were killed in Iraq this year, one can reduce the 6-1 difference in fatalities to about 3-2.

But what sense does it make to engage in these contortions? Carter and West say they want to refute the notion that casualties in Iraq are "light." But who is referring to them in that way? The authors cite an old news story in the Telegraph in which a U.S. general stated that casualties during two days of fighting in Fallujah were "light," a claim that is consistent by the facts set forth in the story (10 Americans killed in two days of intense fighting). I don't know of anyone who is saying that, overall, our casualties in Iraq are "light."

Thus, Carter and West seem to be creating a straw man for the purpose of drawing a specious analogy to Vietnam. Sure, if the war in Iraq were three times its actual scope, and being fought in a jungle 38 years ago it would look a lot like Vietnam. By the same token, if the public can be made to feel about our effort in Iraq the same way it felt about the war in Vietnam, then perhaps our retreat from the former will look a lot like our retreat from the latter.

Excellent analysis from Powerline as always. What really gets me whenever I hear comparisons however is that everyone ignores the simple fact that in Vietnam we were dealing with one country that had been split into two with a bordering country providing heavy assistance. The US military was extremely restricted in its operations (they couldn't go into Cambodia or China) nor did we have enough forces to take over North Vietnam.

Had North Vietnam not existed and the military had been only dealing with the Viet Cong insurgents the situation would have more closely resembled Iraq. But we've learned our lessons - most of the Generals and Colonels leading the troops today started out as Lieutenants in the Vietnam era, and they haven't forgotten the mistakes of the past. Iraq will not become another Vietnam because our military will not allow it to happen.

Debunking the Video Game Myth

2004-12-28T15:58:00.000-05:00

Govenor Rod Blagojevich, Illinois's first Democratic Governor since the 70s, a staunch liberal, former Congressman, and 2008 Presidential hopeful, has decided that in order to identify with middle class voters more on 'values' issues he would launch a personal crusade against video game violence. Actually, he stole the idea from Senator Joe Lieberman, but thats beside the point.

Anyways, on Sunday a column appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times authored by the Governor himself (more likely two or three of his staffers) with the title "Video game law would help us fight for our kids." The article is so wrong on so many points at every level that I feel compelled to respond.

Before I begin, I should note that I am a huge fan of violent video games. I've been playing video games ever since I got a computer for Christmas when I was nine years old, and I would say that I began playing noticeably violent ones when I was around 12 or 13. You name it: Starcraft, Half Life, Halo, Counterstrike, Jedi Knight, and yes, even Grand Theft Auto: I've played it. I'll bet the Governor and his staff who really wrote this column have never touched one of these games.

So, thus begins the column:

A gang member drives through a city, shooting police officers, stealing cars, soliciting prostitutes and then having sex with them. He's awarded extra points for beating them up, urinating on them, and throwing them from his car. As a parent, it's one of the last things I'd want my 8-year-old exposed to. Yet, every day, millions of young children spend their afternoons at the controls of video games like this one, simulating acts of murder, dismemberment, decapitation and sexual seduction.

When I grew up, my parents used to worry if I was hanging out with the wrong kid in the neighborhood. Now, our children are spending their free time practicing the same acts that if committed in real life would send them to prison. Touch football and street hockey have been replaced by the Xbox and the joystick. Games like Grand Theft Auto and Halo 2 use many of the same techniques that the United States military uses to train soldiers before they depart for Afghanistan or Iraq -- to help prepare them for hunting and killing the enemy. With reports showing that 92 percent of children between the ages of 2 and 17 are playing video games, as one parent told me the other day, we're competing with video games for the ''minds and souls of our children.'' The video games are winning.

The first point is that Blagojevich implies that children playing these games can not tell the difference between the game world and the real world. Perhaps if 8 year olds really were playing Grand Theft Auto then this would be a problem. But this is not the case. Grand Theft Auto is an extremely complicated game, very difficult, and I could not imagine anyone under the age of 11 or 12 playing it. And even then, how many children who play Grand Theft Auto are going out and stealing cars or beating people up in real life? Not too many. The very essence of video games is that they are not the real world and I have yet to meet anyone of any age who feels like they can do the things in real life that they can in games.

Perhaps more importantly, video games are expensive. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City sold for about $50 when it was first released, and a few years later is still priced at $20. Kids normally don't have this kind of money until they are 12 or 13 at least, and even then they normally get such money from their parents. No 8 year old is going to show up at a Best Buy and purchase a game for $20 without his or her parents being there.

A 13 year old kid playing Grand Theft Auto knows that its not the real world and won't be adversely affected by it. And if your 8 year old is playing the game, it is your fault as bad parents, not the government's. If you're concerned about your kids playing games, then play them yourself!!!! Sit down and enjoy them with your kids. If you feel like they are too young for the material then take it away from them. But don't blindly assume that your children are being corrupted by games and need the government to step in to protect them.

In fact, an Iowa State University study found that exposure to violent video games increases a child's aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior. A similar study at Indiana University Medical School tied playing video games with an area of the brain that's directly linked to extreme behavioral disorders. And another recent study found that kids who play violent video games have lower test scores, are more hostile, and get into more arguments with their teachers and other students. It's time we did something about this.

I'm sorry, but I don't buy this at all, having had years of personal experience with video games and people who play them. Most of my best friends have been avid violent video game fans from a young age, and not one of them has ever been arrested. Between us we only got in a handful of fights in school, and those mostly because we, being video game nerds, got picked on by other kids. I would like to see more details in these studies, but I would bet that these results are largely based on situations where extremely young children (the 8 year olds the Governor refers to) are playing very violent games. This is entirely the fault of the parents if it is happening.

That's why I recently proposed legislation to make Illinois the first state in the nation to prohibit selling and renting excessively violent and sexually explicit video games to children under 18. Right now, there is nothing under Illinois law that prevents our children from going into a store and buying or renting games like Grand Theft Auto, no matter how violent or sexually explicit they may be. And while retailers may argue that they do not sell violent or sexually explicit video games to children, a recent study by the Federal Trade Commission found that 69 percent of teenage boys were able to buy these games without permission from their parents. Video game manufacturers and retailers are putting profits ahead of what's best for our children, and that has to change.

We don't let our children buy cigarettes. We don't let them buy alcohol. We don't let children purchase pornography. So why would we put them in harm's way by allowing them to walk into a store and purchase violent and sexually explicit video games -- games that we suspect can cause them long-term harm?

So now we get to the policy proposal. Lets think about this for a second. At 17 I was already a freshman in college, could get into rated R movies and drive a car. If the Governor were proposing to ban the sale of violent games to kids under the age of say, 12 or 13, then I would be somewhat open to the idea. But 18? Give me a break. If you can't tell the difference between video games and the real world by the time you finish high school then you have problems a lot bigger than playing Grand Theft Auto or Halo 2.

Parents have enough to worry about already. Making a living, running a household, and doing all of the hard work it takes to raise a family is exhausting enough. Being expected to know the content of each and every video game is too much to ask.

My wife Patti and I both have jobs, and we're doing our best to raise our two young daughters. Our 8-year-old is already more technologically sophisticated than I am. But just because she knows how to download software or program the VCR doesn't mean she has the judgment and maturity to know which video games are appropriate -- especially when video game manufacturers spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year marketing violent and sexually explicit video games to children.

And here is where you can tell that this is definitely written by someone subscribing to Hillary Clinton's "It takes a village to raise a child" mentality. No, Mr. Blagojevich, it is not too much to ask, it is your duty as a parent and not the government's duty to monitor what your children are doing. If your 8 year old is playing Grand Theft Auto its because you drove him or her to the store to buy it and gave him or her the money to buy it with.

Children need to be taught right from wrong. And telling them they can purchase these video games -- and spend their free time practicing the very things we teach them not to do -- sends exactly the wrong message and reinforces the wrong values.

I know that some interest groups like the ACLU don't like the idea of placing limitations on anything, but when it comes to our children and their well-being, it seems to me that common sense should govern. Parents deserve a fighting chance. This legislation gives it to them.

Ah, and now the 'values Democrat' push comes in, he puts in a little cut against the ACLU to emphasize that he considers his stance a conservative one, fighting for your values against the 'anything goes' crowd.

If parents deserve anything its to be held accountable. Blagojevich tells parents that its not your fault if your young children are playing violent games. The reality that it is your fault if your 8 year old is playing Half Life or Grand Theft Auto. And if your 13 year old is playing a game like this and you question its content, take some time out from your busy schedule and play the game with them. Then, make your own decision, don't let the government make it for you.

And in my opinion, the bottom line is that if your teenage kid is sitting at home playing video games then they are not out somewhere getting into trouble. Parents should be encouraged to come home from work and see their 14 year old and two of his friends sitting safely in the home playing an Xbox rather then out being exposed to real life drugs, alcohol, and crime. As long as your children understand the difference between video games and the real world, you have nothing to fear from them playing them. Its up to you to, not Rod Blagojevich, to decide at what age your children are mature enough to understand this.

PureleeT.com

2004-12-28T15:48:00.000-05:00

For all my fellow Internet nerds and video game aficionados there is a very cool new website that you should check out, PureleeT. PureleeT is run by my brother and a few other people and is a great fan site for Science and Industry and other Half Life mods.

By the way, in other gaming news I broke 100 points yesterday in a game of Science and Industry for the first time since the end of my year and a half hiatus from the game. Unfortunately, my computer is near four years old and the technology is more than five.

If you own Half Life and are looking for a great mod to play I encourage you to check out S&I, its a top notch game with a great online community.

Sri Lanka refuses disaster relief help from Israel

2004-12-28T15:45:00.000-05:00

I haven't really written about the Tsunami, the death toll is up to near 50,000 based on the latest numbers that I've heard. Something like this is so horrible because with a natural disaster its hard to think of what could have been done differently to save the lives of all these people.

However, apparently even in a time of tragedy like this, bigotry and hatred still come before saving lives. Powerline has reported that Sri Lanka has actually refused humanitarian aid from Israel in the aftermath of the disaster:

As inevitable as the attempt to blame the natural disaster in Asia on human greed and stupidity (see below) is the rejection by a third world government of help from an Israeli aid mission. Israel was prepared to send a 150-person team to Sri Lanka. The delegation was "planning to assemble a medical facility comprised of specialist doctors, and to set up emergency, internal medicine and pediatric departments, as well as laboratory and X-ray facilities in the southern part of Sri Lanka." However, Sri Lanka refused to accept the mission. Israel nonetheless is dispatching supplies at Sri Lanka's request, including 10,000 blankets contributed by the Israeli army, along with tents, nylon sheeting and water containers.

Its said that in a time of crisis like this all other conflicts and prejudices get put aside, but apparently not. The Sri Lankan government is now responsible for every life that is lost as a result of their refusal to let the Israelis come and help.

If you're going to lie to the police...

2004-12-28T15:38:00.000-05:00

...at least use some common sense. This story is about a man who faked a hate crime and filed a false police report about it. They apparently figured out that he had made it up based on the fact that he had claimed attackers had carved the word 'FAG' into his head:

Investigators were suspicious about the report because the head carving was backwards, as if done while looking into a mirror.

Brilliant, just brilliant.

Credit to Michelle Malkin for the link.

CRNC Scandal story hits Washington Post

2004-12-28T01:46:00.000-05:00

This thing is going to get worse before it gets better...

In the immediate aftermath, Hoplin e-mailed top state officials of the organization, telling them not to speak to the news media. "We need the story to go away," he wrote. "The story is full of lies and distortions written by a well-known liberal who is out to get us. If the press asks you about it, tell them you have no comment."

The full article is located here, but that paragraph really stood out to me. You say you don't want anyone to comment Mr. Hoplin. Well here is my comment: I'm not surprised, and neither are a lot of other hardworking CRs who you owe better than this. The corruption found in the state and national CR governing organizations is rampant, and change is needed now.

Pro-Terrorism American Universities?

2004-12-28T01:24:00.000-05:00

Ridiculous, right? Think again. Powerline has the following story out of Commentary magazine, involving Duke's recent hosting of the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM):

One of PSM's stated principles is that it refuses to denounce any terrorist act committed by Palestinians. But that doesn't mean PSM is agnostic about such terrorist acts. One of the scheduled speakers at the Duke conference, Charles Carlson, has openly called for lethal attacks against Israelis -- "each wedding, Passover celebration, or bar mitzvah [in Israel] is a potential military target." (The seminar Carlson was scheduled to lead eventually was cancelled with no explanation). One PSM organizer, Fadi Kiblawi has written of his urge to "strap a bomb to his chest and kill those Zionist racists." Another spokesperson, Hatem Bazian has called for "an intifada in this country." And Sami al-Arian, who has been active in the movement, is awaiting trial in Florida for racketeering and terrorism.

None of this was of concern to Duke president Richard Brodhead. He found the decision to host the pro-terror organization to be "an easy one" given "the importance of the principle free expression." It is true that after the PSM's statements and deeds were spelled out in detail for Brodhead, he modified his position. Now the "deepest" reason for hosting the conference was no longer free speech, but "the principle of education through dialogue."

Unbelievable that something could get this bad. I read a similiar story in this week's issue of National Review involving a recent hiree at Hamilton College in New York who had been involved in criminal acts years ago that bordered on terrorism. I'm all for free speech, but is this really the kind of speech that schools such as Hamilton and Duke really want to be spreading?

College Football Update

2004-12-28T01:15:00.000-05:00

I was absolutely shocked by the result of the Fresno State - Virginia game today. Virginia really dropped the ball - they should have been in a better bowl against a stronger opponent and instead they got beat in overtime by a mediocre team.

I was however correct in predicting that Connecticut would defeat Toledo. So with eight total games played so far I have called the results of five correctly. Not great but not terrible. However, the major games have yet to be played

Jonah Goldberg on Jews and Christmas

2004-12-27T16:28:00.000-05:00

A fun column as always from Mr. Goldberg, on why its so ridiculous for American non-Christians to think of Christmas as offensive.

Merry Christmas

2004-12-26T20:31:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas and Chanukah (and no, Kwanzaa is not a real holiday). I know I haven't updated in the last few days, I've been rather busy at home, I'll be back to normal updating tomorrow.

Three for Five

2004-12-24T02:01:00.000-05:00

Thats my current score for my 2004-2005 College Bowl predictions. I correctly picked Southern Miss to beat North Texas, Georgia Tech to crush Syracuse, and Bowling Green to defeat Memphis. Unfortunately I was wrong with regards to both of today's games, as Wyoming defeated UCLA and Cincinatti beat Marshall - I was rather shocked with both of these, as I'm sure were UCLA and Marshall fans. Still plenty more games to go.

On Spence Abraham

2004-12-23T03:56:00.000-05:00

Powerline picked up a recent story in the Washington Times commending Spence Abraham on his outstanding tenure as Secretary of Energy.

The Times article notes that:

Mr. Abraham's work has been particularly impressive in Russia and the post-Soviet states, where he has helped ensure the proper disposal of old nuclear stockpiles and civilian reactor fissile materials. His most lasting legacy in that regard may be the pursuit of many previously uncontrolled or lightly controlled nuclear and radiological material. The latter are considered the likeliest targets for terrorists seeking "dirty bombs." Before Mr. Abraham they weren't on the Energy Department's radar screen.

The question remains, why did he decide to retire now? The GOP may finally be able to get his energy bill through the Senate (where it has been filibustered along with all the appellate court nominees).

Spence Abraham may, in my opinion, be considering a bid to retake his old US Senate seat from current Michigan Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow, who beat him in 2000. Abraham's chances would be better in a non-presidential election year, and Bush's good showing in Michigan in 2004 may be an indicator that the state may be trending Republican. I have not yet seen his name in discussiona of former Bush administration officials looking to run for office in the near future, but I think there is a good chance that Secretary Abraham is not done with politics yet.

The fight against Illegal Immigration

2004-12-23T03:26:00.000-05:00

...is being thwarted step by step by the Bush administration, which subscribes to the philosophy that by being 'soft' on illegal immigration Republicans will somehow win the votes of millions of hispanics and the Democrats will be the minority party for the forseeable future.

This philosophy is wrong for several key reasons:

1. Illegal immigrants don't vote. We are not winning anyones votes by allowing them into our country.

2. Legal immigrants don't like illegal ones. From my experience, they are often annoyed at people who don't go through the system the way they have.

3. Americans are vehemently opposed to illegal immigration. This is one of the very few issues that most Americans absolutely have in common. Polls have shown that support for tougher immigration controls and border protection are in the 70% range.

4. Conservatives will not turn out to vote Republican if the party continues to veer left on this issue. A lot of people are extremely concerned about this issue and they will be turned off by candidates who don't share their views.

5. Most importantly, illegal immigration is harming the country. Tightening up border controls and reforming the immigration process should have been priority number one in the war on terrorism. Instead it has been all but ignored. The Bush administration wouldn't even let immigration-related reforms into the intelligence reform bill.

Michelle Malkin wrote on this issue yesterday:

It's a gratifying (if temporary) win for pro-immigration enforcement activists. Even the Democrat state attorney general, who had publicly opposed the ballot measure, agreed that it was constitutional and dismissed the open-borders lobby's argument that allowing state and local officials to help enforce our laws was "illegal."

It's always ironic and nauseating, of course, to watch the open-borders folks complain about anything being unconstitutional and illegal. Their unabashed agenda is to subvert the rule of law, obliterate our borders, and undermine our sovereignty. The person I debated tonight, Juan Hernandez, told Rep. Tom Tancredo that the North American Southwest "is not two countries; it's just a region."

One great source for information is the groupAmericans for Legal Immigration, a PAC dedicated to supporting candidates who are willing to fight for tougher border controls and other common-sense immigration restrictions. The group is headed up by some friends of mine in North Carolina, and is doing very well despite only having been around for a few months. Check it out.

Walter Williams on the case for Tax Reform

2004-12-22T17:19:00.000-05:00

Found this great article on Townhall, with a link from the Club for Growth Blog. The best part was this:

People have advocated a national sales tax or a flat income tax for years, and I don't want to rain on their parade. But here's my prediction: Congress will never enact a sales tax or a flat tax. Why? The two most powerful congressional committees are the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. Both dispense tax favors to different Americans that come at the expense of other Americans. With a sales or flat tax, their Santa Claus roles, not to mention campaign contributions, would be diminished. On top of that, they'd have restricted opportunities for social engineering through fiddling around with the tax code.

So sad and so true. Read the full article here.

Still more on the CRNC scandal

2004-12-22T02:18:00.000-05:00

Mark Harris has uncovered some more information on the CRNC scandal due to the recent release of more FEC records.

However, I'm starting to seriously question this guy who runs the weblog CRNC Truth Caucus, which purports to be uncovering the truth behind the CRNC scandals. From his latest post:

Have you heard the screams? Have you felt the menacing chill? Have you seen the black and ominous clouds, moving north?

Have you sensed, in other words, the very presence of Satan himself as he laughs maniacally while College Republican National Chair Eric Hoplin continues to strut around the beltway as if he’s done nothing wrong and has nothing to apologize for?

Oh, but he does have something to apologize over: Leading a morally bankrupt executive board while raping and pillaging every 65 and over man and women this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

He goes on to basically accuse Eric Hoplin and the rest of the CRNC board of massive, coordinated mail fraud.

Now I want to get to the bottom of this stuff more than anyone, but as a former College Republicans chapter President and state officer I'm concerned first and foremost about preserving the integrity of the organization.

It has been well known for years that the best people in the CRs are the regular guys in the local chapters who are out there fighting for the cause. The state federations are generally beholden to their respective state parties, and are often bastions of corruption and backstabbing (and I'm speaking as the former Executive Director of one of them). The CRNC on the other hand is very loud about its influence and fundraising prowess, but its internal activities are pretty secretive.

Most of the best work done by the College Republicans, whether we're talking about protests against liberal bias, volunteer work for campaigns, or any other activity, is initiated at the chapter level. The CRNC needs to get its act together and figure out what its role is going to be if it intends to survive.

However, we're not gonna get that to happen by discrediting ourselves in the pursuit of reform. Accusing the CRNC of mail fraud and making references to Satan is not helping anyone. If we want change, what we need to do is vote. Vote for better chapter chairmen. Vote for better state chairmen. And make sure that the next CRNC elections are competitive and the positions are not 'handed down' and kept in the inner circle that has developed.

Bloggers at CPAC

2004-12-22T02:10:00.000-05:00

This is pretty cool. CPAC is granting media credentials to 10 bloggers for the first time this February. Having been to CPAC the last two years, I can tell you it is absolutely awesome. I've walked away both times having learned a lot and with some great memories. Last year I got to personally speak to Phylis Schlafly, Zell Miller, and David Horowitz, among others.

Anyways, I've applied for blogger credentials so will hopefully be covering the convention this year and not just attending it. My good friend Mark has also applied, and I encourage any other bloggers out there to try for it too (as long as you make sure your application doesn't outshine mine :D )

AP Analysis of Illinois Politics

2004-12-22T01:32:00.000-05:00

The AP is running a four-part piece on Illinois politics, the first part of which is located here. This was linked on Spontaneous Solutions, which brings up the following point:

Demographics are not destiny. At the national level conservatives are making huge inroads in the Hispanics. As they move into the suburbs, buy their homes, send their kids to better schools, and most notably begin owning stock; their economic interests will fall in greater line with the conservative mesage. On social issues, Hispanics are all ready more conservative. I have seen very little evidence that tells me that the Hispanic community is different than other immigrant groups, the Germans, Irish, or the Italians... As these groups became more middle class, they become more conservative.

The ILGOP should really be doing a better job of making inroads among social conservatives, both downstate and in Chicago. We haven't gotten the attention that other states have in recruiting hispanics because Illinois was not a Presidential swing state, but that does not mean that the state party should not be doing work on its own in this area. It needs to if we expect to start winning elections again.

Georgia Tech 51, Syracuse 14

2004-12-21T23:51:00.000-05:00

Nothing like a good old fashioned ass-whoopin to end the season for the second year in a row. I didn't think it could get much better than last year's 52-10 win over Tulsa, but Syracuse was a much stronger opponent (co-Big East champions) and our team was absolutely phenomenal today. We dominated right from the beginning, returning an interception for a touchdown on the second play of the game. All the talk was about how we're going to be a contender next year for the ACC title.

The full recap of the game is here. Georgia Tech continues to have the best bowl record in the country and I am now 2-0 in my bowl predictions for 2004-05.

Great job guys, that was one hell of a game.

Club for Growth News

2004-12-21T23:44:00.000-05:00

Some good stuff on Tuesday's Daily News on the Club for Growth blog. Check it out.

Theology and Civil Rights

2004-12-21T23:28:00.000-05:00

I read an interesting post on Powerline today and found that one part of it raises a very important point regarding the continued debate about the role of Christianity in public debate.

He quotes an article by Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review:

The contention that blacks, like whites, were made in the image of God and thus deserve fair reatment was probably "accessible" to more people when it counted than were purely secular arguments. The vast majority of Americans do not find such religious rhetoric alienating, and in a democracy that ought to count for something.

Think about it for a second. The SCLC was the 'Southern Christian Leadership Conference.' The entire premise for the civil rights movement is that we are all Gods children and as we are equal in the eyes of the Lord so should we be equal in the eyes of the law. You can find the same kind of thinking in JFK's inaugural address:

The same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God. We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution.

So here we have some of the chief idols of modern liberalism, President Kennedy and the leaders of the civil rights movement, choosing to invoke God as the foundation for our unalienable rights. This is indeed the foundation of America, and why Christianity and religion and God can never be excluded from our public discourse on any issue.

Academic Freedom Story on Drudge Front Page

2004-12-21T23:21:00.000-05:00

Great to see we're finally getting some much-deserved attention.

Here is the article linked to, about the rising controversy over academic freedom issues on college campuses across the country.

This was the best part:

Many teachers insist personal politics don't affect teaching. But in a recent survey of students at 50 top schools by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a group that has argued there is too little intellectual diversity on campuses, 49 percent reported at least some professors frequently commented on politics in class even if it was outside the subject matter.

Thirty-one percent said they felt there were some courses in which they needed to agree with a professor's political or social views to get a good grade.

Hello! This is a major, major problem. We're not just talking about professors hinting their views on an issue being discussed in class. We're talking about professors teaching 19th century history classes going on about President Bush being Hitler redux. This kind of thing happens all the time, professors bring political topics into non-political courses in order to attempt to influence the opinions of students. But of course, todays so-called 'liberals' dont care.

The 20 Most Annoying Liberals in the US

2004-12-20T21:19:00.000-05:00

Full list over at Right Wing News.

I like his picks in general, but I would probably have worked in somewhere the following people:

Johnny Isakson - if you know me you know why, if not read this and also this.

Arlen Specter - this one is easier, we're talking about the guy who decided to become a Republican after he was offered more money for his campaign for DA back in the 1970s. Check out StopSpecterNow.com

Robert Byrd - the leader of the anti-Iraq war wing of the Democrats in Washington, reprising his former leadership role as Grand Kleagle of the KKK of West Virginia.

Paul Krugman - the man who seems to think that since he believes he is smarter than everyone else the rest of us should vote and think the way he tells us to. And yet he works for the New York Times? Go figure. Krugman's Bush-bashing columns have bordered on libel on several occasions.

Margaret Spellings - I'm actually rather glad she's been promoted to a cabinet position because now perhaps she won't be whispering in the President's ear all day that he should veer left on domestic policies such as immigration, medicare, and education.

Gotta love Democratic spending cuts

2004-12-20T18:07:00.000-05:00

Governor Rod Blagojevich loves to claim that he's a budget cutter and fiscal conservative, despite the fact that he managed to get around his no-tax increase pledge by massively hiking fees instead, which the State supreme court didn't like too much.

The latest in the string of episodes of Democratic blunders is an incident in which two downstate prisons were closed but new materials were apparently purchased for them anyway.

When Gov. Blagojevich's administration pulled the plug on two Downstate prisons to save money, that didn't get the state off the hook for at least $12.2 million worth of building materials earmarked for the projects.

Now, precast prison cells, steel girders, doors, windows, insulation and electrical wiring are being stored at prisons across the state, and the administration hasn't mapped out what to do with all of the expensive prison components.

While the governor's office said the cost of all those materials is cheaper than operating the prisons had they opened, lawmakers from both parties called the spending wasteful at a time when the state can least afford it.

Some question if the governor's staff was asleep at the switch when it came to reviewing orders for the equipment. But a Blagojevich spokeswoman said there were no exit clauses in those deals, forcing the state to be stuck with the pricey materials.

Yeah, like it wasn't still their fault for agreeing to those contracts in the first case. GG to the Governor, nothing like a little story about the incompetence of your staff as a Christmas gift.

The full article is here, and I found it on The Chicago Report.

The role of bloggers in the Dan Rather story

2004-12-20T16:45:00.000-05:00

From Michelle Malkin and Powerline.

Powerline was given Time Magazine's 'Blog of the Year' award, which was quite fitting. Newsweek on the other hand did an interview with liberal blogger Wonkette:

What did you think of the bloggers' role in the Dan Rather affair?

Answer: I think they did a disservice to the debate because they made the debate about the documents and not about the president of the United States. There was another half to that story that had to do with verifiable events of what Bush may have been up to.

This always seems to be the argument of liberals involving the whole Dan Rather documents fiasco. They think the issue should not be whether a news network tried to defraud the nation because of a political agenda, no, the issue should be that Americans are obligated to think less of President Bush because of a baseless accusation that has no evidence to back it up and is contradicted by actual US military records.

Of course, these are the same people who thought that Kerry had a completely honorable military record, even though he has kept hidden most of his records due to the fact that he was almost certainly given a less than honorable discharge from the Navy and this wasn't commuted until Carter became President.

Powerline writes:

Pointing out that CBS was passing off fake documents, and basing a story on them, was obviously worthwhile regardless of what you think about President Bush's National Guard service.

More important, though, is the fact that Ana Marie's effort to resuscitate the "fake, but accurate" theory is simply wrong. The truth is that President Bush's National Guard service was both dangerous and honorable. He fulfilled his Guard commitment; in fact, he accumulated three times as many credits as he needed to be in good standing. His reviews were uniformly glowing, and he was an excellent pilot. He volunteered for a program that would have resulted in his being shipped to Vietnam, but was not accepted because it was not considered worthwhile to train him on a new airplane.

Damn straight.

Coburn and Brownback to be on Judiciary

2004-12-20T16:40:00.000-05:00

According to KJL on The Corner, the new Republican Judiciary committee members are as follows:

Specter
Hatch
Grassley
Kyl
Dewine
Sessions
Graham
Cornyn
Brownback
Coburn

Should be a lot of fun watching judicial hearings now :-)

National Review on Smaller Blogs

2004-12-20T16:02:00.000-05:00

National Review ran a great story today on smaller bloggers and their contributions in breaking major stories and spreading the news across the Internet.

The effect bloggers have had on traditional journalism as they become fact-checkers, disseminators of information, and “citizen journalists” is still in flux. But the paradigm has clearly shifted in determining what is news and who is qualified to cover it, and smaller bloggers are playing an important role.

Great, great stuff. We smaller bloggers appreciate the plug.

Constitution Party candidate elected to Montana State House of Representatives

2004-12-18T14:26:00.000-05:00

Apparently, a state house race up in Montana resulted in an exact tie. Yes, you heard me correctly. The Constitution Party candidate, by the name of Rick Jore, and Democratic Party candidate each got 1559 votes, and the Republican placed a distant third. Ron Gunzberger over at Politics1 writes:

A state district court formally declared a tie this week, which enabled outgoing Governor Judy Martz (R) to appoint Jore to the seat. That appointment gives the GOP control of the State House by a 50-49-1 margin -- with Jore being the "1" in that division. If Windham wins, the House would be a 50-50 tie. Dems are appealing to the State Supreme Court to disqualify seven votes awarded to Jore in the recount.

So assuming that the courts don't overturn the result, it looks like the Constitution party has elected a candidate. A pretty big deal for them.

According to the Constitution Party website, Rick Jore is the first state legislator in the nation elected on a Constitution ticket. This is an interesting development in the conservative movement, it will be interesting to see how much the Constitution party continues to grow. Its still too bad that Jim Clymer didn't do better in the Pennsylvania US Senate race.

You can check out Rick Jore's campaign website here.

Jack Ryan is back... as a publisher?

2004-12-18T05:07:00.000-05:00

Jack Ryan, the former Illinois US Senate candidate who was savaged by the press this year after the Chicago Tribune got his divorced records unsealed and found a sex scandal involving his ex-wife, is now looking to venture into the print media market himself.

According to a new article in the Illinois Leader, Jack Ryan will be starting up a small community newspaper in Will County, Illinois.

Perhaps hoping to avenge his treatment at the hands of the Fourth Estate during the 2004 general election, the former Republican U.S. Senate nominee is preparing a small-scale entrance into the Chicago print media market.

Ryan, 45, is quietly planning on launching a weekly community newspaper in Homer Township, a rapidly growing community with a population of about 30,000 and is located in south suburban Will County. Will, a collar county, is one of the fastest growing counties in the entire country.

Ryan’s personal office assistant, Joe Brennan, will apparently head up the enterprise that is targeted for rollout some time around February of next year. The working name of the paper is The Homarian, though that is still a pending issue, according to a source.

The article says further that Jack Ryan has hinted in the last few weeks that he has every intention of seeking elected office again. I'm not surprised, he ironically has gotten a lot of sympathy and goodwill following his forced withdrawal from the US Senate race this past summer. Not sure what office he would consider running for, but I hope he remains involved in the ILGOP.

Drudge: Bush to be named Time Man of the Year

2004-12-17T17:08:00.000-05:00

Here's the quote from Matt Drudge:

FLASH: TIME MAG EDITORS FOCUS ON BUSH FOR 'PERSON OF THE YEAR'... ANNOUNCEMENT SET FOR SUNDAY MORNING... BUSH [AND ROVE?] ARE ALL 'BUT A LOCK,' TOP MAGAZINE SOURCE TELLS DRUDGE... DEVELOPING...

I thought for sure it would be Karl Rove. But Bush I'll take. Really it should be Zell Miller though, he would be a good choice (other than George P. Burdell of course).

Grand Jury investigating Marc Rich

2004-12-17T16:47:00.000-05:00

Remember that guy Marc Rich, who was the most controversial of Bill Clinton's last-minute pardons at the end of his presidency?

Well he's been implicated in the Oil-for-Food scandal as having helped funnel money to Saddam Hussein. An article in the Washington Times today has the full story.

A federal grand-jury investigation of pardoned financier Marc Rich's role in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal has focused on whether he helped Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein reward the families of Palestinian bombers who carried out suicide attacks in Israel, sources said yesterday.

Law-enforcement authorities and congressional investigators said the grand jury wants to know whether cash funneled to Saddam by oil traders — including Mr. Rich — to help arrange multimillion-dollar Iraqi oil deals for political leaders and well-heeled investors was used by the now-deposed dictator to pay the bombers' families.

Got this off Powerline, thanks for the link.