Always assume that people are watching and listening to you...especially if you are running for the Presidency!!

Is the lovefest over yet?

Do you think that Dean will be keeping his job after this election cycle? I almost feel bad for him...okay not really, I'm getting a kick out of the whole deal!!!

Assuming that the 0.8 degree increase over the past 3 decades (30 years for you lefties out there) is man-made...it is more of a slow burn than an urgent disaster.

...but they buy their way out of the hypocracy...right Mr. Gore? Just buy 'carbon off-sets' and your worries about your carbon foot print go away...and get passed on to those that can't afford it...you know those like us in "flyover country."

I read this article today from Reuters: Life expectancy falls in poorer U.S. counties: study

In it they show that the average life expectancy in the US has climbed from 75.8 years in 1995 to 78 years in 2005. I personally think that this is good news but the liberal pundits do not.

They see this as a gap between the “rich and the poor” and blame the US healthcare system. While all the same time pointing to the fact that those in the lower segment of the life expectancy scale fall into the less educated, more likely to smoke, and mostly overweight group of people.

So the question is why in the world would they try to blame the healthcare system when it is obvious that the damage is being done by the individual?

Today’s PA Democrat Primary Prediction:

Not surprising...Hillary wins with a 6 point margin.

Wow! It has been 2 weeks since I posted a new country…The last country I posted was Jordan.

This week’s country is harder than I originally imagined. 8 out of 10

“The key to stemming the tide of climate change is to make personal changes that will help reduce global warming. So it's a bit of a mystery why Gore continues to eat animals and ignores the overwhelming evidence that eating meat is the number one cause of global warming.”

“The following are a few inconvenient truths that the former V.P. ignores:

• A major United Nations study determined that the meat industry generates 40 percent more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, SUVs, ships, and planes in the world combined.


• Researchers at the University of Chicago concluded that going vegan is 50 percent more effective in combating the climate crisis than switching to a hybrid car.


• The official handbook of the Live Earth concerts that Gore helped organize acknowledges that not eating meat is "the single most effective thing" you can do to reduce your climate change impact (emphasis in original).”

In a Washington Times article today (Bush prepares global warming initiative) it looks like the President will be asking for legislation that would address global warming.

The science is still on our side not on Algore’s so why would President Bush make any moves to encourage legislation that has no basis in scientific facts? I’m beginning to believe that this is an attempt by the Bush administration to show that McCain is not as far to the left in the GOP as he appears to be.

Good Morning Blog-o-sphere!!

I have been away working long hours in Georgia the last few weeks and have not had time or much of anything.

But I’m back in town and slowly catching up on things that have been happening so I should be ready to start blogging again.

I hope you all missed me!

AP: Clinton 'misspoke' about '96 Bosnia trip

Here is what she said last week Monday:

“I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”

Heads down running for the cars vs. walking, smiling, and shaking hands with an 8 year old…that is not a misstatement that is an all out lie.

But she’s a Clinton…what else can we expect from them?

Well last week was easier than I thought it would be. It was, of course, Madagascar!

So if last week was that easy then this week’s should be even easier! 3 out of 10

Pi Day is March 14th or 3.14!!

H/T Nick

There is still one man out there beating the drum on the whole myth of Global Warming that is an economist and a politician…he is Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic.

Vaclav spoke at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change and this article (Climate alarmists pose real threat to freedom) from The Australian is an edited reprint of his speech.

In his speech he proposes the equation seen here:

Emission Intensity (EI) x GDP per capita (SEA – size of economic activity) x Population (POP) = gives us the volume of CO2 produced

Based on this equation, which is a realistic representation of the CO2 production for any country, President Klaus says the following:

“If we really want to decrease ECO2 we have to either stop the economic growth and thus block further rise in the standard of living, stop the population growth, or make miracles with the emissions intensity.”

So what should we do?

In President Klaus’s speech he proceeds to prove how economic impacts (decreases in GDP) have had these decreases (and increases) to the CO2 output in Europe and how that the alarmists will cause a great deal of destruction to the worlds economies if realistic information such as these are not taken into account.

Personally, I have been a vocal advocate for having all of these “man-made” global warming nuts hold there breath until the matter is resolved…I mean come on the hot CO2 coming out of Algore alone would reduce CO2 emissions by a huge percent!

But in reality we do not want governments determining what the population should be nor do we want them to squash economic growth. If we are to forgo the growth in both population and economies we will never be able to achieve anything more…mankind will come to an abrupt halt.

You know I don’t like the guy because of his political beliefs but I love his moxie!!

Referring to Hillary’s suggestion that Obama might make a good VP for her.

Obama at a rally today: “If I'm not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president?”

He additionally said: “I don't know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who is first place”

More here AP: Obama ridicules notion of VP slot

If that ain't the truth.

If I'm going to post comics I have to get at least one kick at Algore...don't I?

It is a good thing that this week’s county is a 1 because none of you even fathomed a guess last week.

My wife looked at the country and said “you know that looks like ******.” My jaw hit the ground…she nailed it…she then shares that she had to do a report on this county when she was in middle school!

This week we will have two countries, last weeks and this weeks.

Good Luck!!!


#1 with the hint it is a 3 out of 10

Hint: To be different from their neighbor they added a word to their new counties name.


#2 no hint needed. 1 out of 10

That was my reaction when I read this article: Virginia Supreme Court Rules that Giving Power to Tax to an Unelected Body is Unconstitutional

This morning (Feb. 29), the Virginia Supreme Court unanimously held that the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) is unconstitutional in Marshall v. NVTA.

The court found that the NVTA, created in 2002 and given the power to tax in 2007, exceeded its powers when it levied seven taxes on residents of Northern Virginia. The taxes will have to be refunded in their entirety.

…

Could this have precipitous effects through out the nation?

Hmmm…

Lou has launched a website for his campaign…go check it out at Lou4Racine.com!!

I’m behind you Lou!!

Brian Dey’s campaign has his site up and running: Brian Dey for Supervisor

I had an interesting conversation this weekend. Without saying names or outing anyone I’d like to go through the general issue.

Recently (just last week in fact) there was a person that is publicly saying that they would be willing to do one thing so that they could get something else in return.

I have been told (through a 3rd party) that the individual in question feels like they are being pressured to do something that they do not wish to do.

They are unwilling to say something publicly to oppose the action and there will be action taken on this situation soon.

So what is to be done?

Shouldn’t personal responsibility come into play? Shouldn’t the person state publicly that they feel pressured? Wouldn’t it be better for everyone involved to be open and honest about the situation?

Action will be taken and unless the individual contacts someone that can make a stand for them there is little that can be done.

The left loves to say that we are “behind several other states” when it fits their agenda like AB 157 (the Wisconsin Safe Climate for anything other than Business Act).

“I mean there are 10 other states that have already done it why are we so far behind!”

But when a conservative points out that 48 other states have conceal carry for law abiding citizens, they dig in their collective heels and wail that “we don’t want Wisconsin to become the “wild west” do we?”

AB 157 is BAD for Wisconsin.

My favorite quote today about AB 157 was: “Scientists continue to amass data showing the disastrous ecological and economic consequences of global warming pollution,” said Shahla Werner, Ph.D., Director of the John Muir Chapter of the Sierra Club.

You’d think with a Ph.D. she would know that the “data” she is talking about in this press release is hypothetical data NOT actual data!!!

Big difference! Maybe she should stop trying to get crappy legislation through the State House and do a little reading about the subject she should know something about.

Mount Kilamanjaro - Tanzania, Africa - still snowy. Photo by Neil Modie, January 2008

But the better image is the one Kate put together over at Small Dead Animals (don’t ask me I just read the blogs I’m not the one naming them!!)

Well it looks like it is official Wendy Christensen (Caledonia’s Village Clerk) has filed the necessary paperwork to run for Racine County Clerk!

For all of the sorted details head on over to Caledonia Unplugged and get the full scoop!!

Press Release: Assembly Bill 157 not the Answer


“We should all protect our natural resources,” said State Rep. Jim Ott. “However, AB 157 will have no impact on reducing global temperatures, but it would have a significant and negative impact on Wisconsin’s economy.”


“As recently as the late 1970s and early 1980s scientists and the media were talking about the possibility of an approaching ice age,” said Ott. “Imagine if lawmakers had rushed in and mandated all sorts of changes based on that assumption?”


This is why we love you Jim!!

The purpose of this survey is to examine how people think and feel about the political issues, parties, and candidates in the upcoming election. In the survey, you will be asked a series of questions about two political candidates, John McCain and Hillary Clinton. We are very interested in how individuals that find information on the web think about politics, and your participation would be greatly appreciated. In total, the survey should take about 15 minutes to complete. The survey is completely anonymous and you can skip any questions you do not wish to answer.

Click here to take the survey:

http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/stu/crweber/TAKESURVEY/election_2008.htm

Please feel free to contact Chris Weber (crweber@notes.cc.sunysb.edu) at Stony Brook University with any questions or concerns. Thanks for your help!

State Rep. Spencer Black can’t even get the facts correct in a 5 paragraph press release how can the people of Wisconsin even think that the 15 pages of “climate” legislation is worth the paper it is written on?

In the press release it states “carbon dioxide pollution, the main cause of global warming” had they done any research at all they would find that H2O, not CO2, is the “main cause” of global warming; CO2 only contributes about 2-10%.


Next he states that “We have an obligation to act before we see severe damage to our environment, our economy and our quality of life”

Really? A longer growing season here in Wisconsin would be bad? Fewer deaths due to cold weather would be bad? (BTW you do know that more people die due to cold weather than hot, right?) A longer tourist season would be bad for the economy of Wisconsin? What exactly would be wrong with a warmer Wisconsin…assuming we are getting warmer? Have they looked at any of the recent stats about the global climate over the past few years? We are down about 0.3 degrees…oh my!

Lastly, one must only read the first paragraph of the legislation to understand what is going on here. From AB 157:

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. 15.347 (5) of the statutes is created to read:

15.347 (5) GREENHOUSE GAS MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COUNCIL.
There is created in the department of natural resources a greenhouse gas management environmental justice council consisting of at least 3 members, appointed by the secretary of natural resources from nominations received from environmental justice organizations and community groups, representing communities that have the most significant exposure to air pollutants, including communities with minority populations and communities with low−income populations.


So that is what this is all about…more government bureaucracy and “help” for minority and low-income populations from the state DNR.

But it gets better…you see this bill isn’t as cut and dry as it would seem

286.23 Emission limits and reduction measures.
(2) REQUIREMENTS CONCERNING RULE PROMULGATION.
(b) Ensure that activities undertaken to comply with the rules will not have a disproportionate impact on communities with low−income populations.

So this means even though areas that are “run down” may have a higher out put of CO2…we can not force them to fix it to meet the state requirement under this bill but we would then be able to force other businesses and/or producers of “green house gases”* to further reduce their output in order to make up for these low-income areas.

* limited to carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexaflouride

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRESIDENT WASHINGTON!!!!

On this day in history, February 22:

1732 – George Washington, 1st US President, born

1819 – Spain ceded Florida to the United States

1854 – 1st meeting of the Republican Party, Michigan

1856 – 1st National meeting of the Republican Party, Pittsburgh

1872 – 1st National convention of the Prohibition Party, Columbus, OH

1879 – 1st Woolworths’s opens in Utica, NY

1889 – North and South Dakota, Montana and Washington were admitted to the Union

1900 – Hawaii becomes a US territory

1924 – The first presidential radio broadcast from the White House made by Coolidge

1932 – “Teddy” Kennedy, Senator D-MA, born

1935 – Planes were no longer allowed to fly over the White House

1968 – Jeri Ryan, Actress, born

1971 – Gilbert Brown, Defensive Tackle, born

1980 – The US Olympic Hockey Team defeats the Soviets 4-3 at Lake Placid

AP: Wolves to be removed from species list
Are they no longer an animal?

AP: Pakistan opposition parties to ally
Isn’t this head line one big oxymoron?

AP: Obama wins global primary
I didn’t know that this election cycle had gone global!?!

Reuters: Total lunar eclipse turns Moon red
I hope it turned it back again!!

Reuters: USDA unsure if Calif. cattle case isolated to plant
You know it’s bad when the government doesn’t know that cattle are not plants!

This has been in the news quite a bit lately. Can you tell me what it is any why it has been in the news?

Image 1:






Image 2:

I am having an ongoing debate with a co-worker about her (him) not voting and my cross over vote.

Here are the pertinent parts of our many e-mails…you decide if my co-worker has a point.

Why my co-worker did not vote:

“I'm not voting for Hillary, because I'm not convinced she is the most beatable candidate and I think it's wrong and immoral.

I'm not voting for McCain, because I don't support him, yet, and I want him to know that.

I'm not voting for Huckabee, because although he is my favorite candidate and I support him, I do not want to increase the Republican base that is voting. I want Republican voter turnout to be low (which it may likely be due to those voting for Clinton anyways). So, perhaps my choice is more diluted because of that reason. Yet, my mind is made up.

Therefore, my vote is not to vote, because I want to make a point to McCain that he needs to think long and hard about his next steps if he wants the Republican base to support him. I want him to know that I'd rather not vote at all than to vote for him if he stays the current course. Maybe a vote for Huckabee does that, but I don't think so. I think a vote for Huckabee shows that I'm going to vote Republican no matter what; whereas; a no-vote says... maybe not so much.”

What (s)he thinks of me (and any of you) for voting for Hillary (that still leaves a nasty taste in my mouth…ugh!!!):

"Once again - not voting is more of a civic duty than tampering with the election. The founding Fathers would be turning in their graves if they knew people were casting dishonest votes - they should all be ashamed of themselves and should have no say about the state of politics or what policies are originating out of Washington since they consciously tampered with an election bringing down the respect of America to that of a 3rd world country
- Good Job!"

...AND...

"There is no difference between not voting and voting for a candidate you don't want to win. None. Except one is a bit more honorable. You can say it's not tampering, but we all know it is, no matter what shade of gray you want to call it. It was an immoral thing to do and shame on you!"

So what say all of you?

Is staying home because your guy has no chance of winning sending a message to the winner?

Would the founding fathers be proud of my co-worker for sitting on his(her) hands and not voting?

Is voting in an open primary in Wisconsin tantamount to “tampering” with an election?

Is it more “honorable” to stay home and not vote?

How do all of you that crossed over feel about your “immoral” act?

It seems that the “left leaning” group One Wisconsin Now is a little upset with Judge Michael Gableman’s campaign and have filled a complaint (way back in December) with the Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee but the Wisconsin State Journal is reporting on it just this last weekend.

They claim that the Gableman campaign violated the judicial ethics code which states in part “a candidate for a judicial office shall not knowingly or with reckless disregard for the statement’s truth or falsity misrepresent the ... present position or other fact concerning ... an opponent."

So the question is “what did the Gableman camp say that violated this rule?”

In a fundraising letter the following was written Louis Butler “provided the deciding vote to overturn a sexual predator decision by a circuit court, resulting in the release of the predator into Milwaukee County.”

Here are the facts:

In a case of Richard A. Brown, Louis Butler voted with the majority, in a 4-3 ruling, that ordered Brown to be released into Milwaukee County.

So the statement in the fundraising letter is in fact truthful and does not misrepresent Louis Butler’s position on this case at all. The One Wisconsin Now crowd is all hung up on the fact that, to date, Brown has not been released. That information does not change the any of the facts of the statement.

Gableman’s campaign will not be found to have violated any ethical standards.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was quoted as saying:

"Nobody wants to sit there and say, 'Well there's no easy solution,' They want to send out a check to everybody to stimulate the economy. I suppose it won't hurt the economy but it's in many senses like giving a drink to an alcoholic."

What do you think?

Is the “rebate” program good or bad for us?

Bloomberg also said that the US “has a balance sheet that's starting to look more and more like a third-world country."

Harsh words for a guy that people think will be a 3rd party candidate for President.

I had the good fortune of talking with one of Judge Gableman’s schedulers yesterday…Judge Gableman will be at the Racine County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner next week (I’ll post that Invite later)…and found out that he will be in Racine today!!!

So with a little prompting from his scheduler I set up a “meet and greet” gathering today!!

Come meet Judge Gableman, candidate for the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, today:
4:00 p.m.
JavaVino
424 S Main St
Racine, WI

I guess this goes with my last post…with Romney’s endorsement of McCain…does that mean if I vote for Romney in the WI primary I’m really voting for McCain?

I’m not quite sure what to think of that…

Is anyone really going to “cross-over” and vote the other side of the ticket?

My wife told me she just might do that.

What are you going to do?

I’ve been wondering out loud to anyone who will listen and now to anyone reading this blog…how much more is Huckabee willing to take from the GOP?

I’m not the biggest McCain fan…I’m not even sure that he can win against Obama…but all that aside with Huckabee still in the mix it means that McCain needs to spend more and more money to secure the nomination and that the Party has less and less time to come together and rally around one person.

I know that Huckabee “didn’t major in math, (he) majored in miracles” but I’m sure someone on his staff has done the math and realizes that, since Romney dropped out of the race, Huckabee has only been able to secure <20% of the delegates. Since he has done so poorly he will need to secure more than 55% of the remaining delegates just to prevent McCain from getting the nomination! As well as it is mathematically impossible (miracle or not) for Huckabee to get the nomination with the remaining primaries.

Huckabee has said over and over again that he is not running for the VP spot and based on the way he is going I’m beginning to think that there is no way McCain would now even consider giving him the position anymore.

While I agree with Huckabee that I would rather have a choice not a coronation the facts are the facts…we do not have a choice anymore…McCain is going to be the nominee…numbers do not lie.

Frank Lasee is Wisconsin’s 2nd Assembly District Representative

Lasee’s Notes
February 12, 2008

Government CarAid?

Last week I wrote about the health care cost shifting that goes on because the government pays a discounted rate for medical services. This increases the cost all of us pay for on our own healthcare purchases whether insured or uninsured. Some of the feedback I got on cost shifting was skeptical (many understood it, as well).

Let’s use an analogy of car purchasing. Say a dealer has ten cars that he expects to sell for $21,000 each. When the dealer sells the ten cars for $21,000 each, he will have $210,000. After costs of sale, financing and overhead, the dealer expects to average (for simplicity’s sake) $3,000 profit for each car. The dealer plans to have an income of $30,000 from the sale of these cars after covering his costs.

Suppose the government steps in and says that owning a car is a right. Dependable transportation to and from work is essential, which, of course is true. The government creates CarAid. Under CarAid any dealer must sell cars to program recipients for $5,000 for each car. Also for simplicity, each dealer will sell three cars for this $5,000 (30% of the cars sold, same percentage as government medical programs).

If the dealer wants to make the same profit and cover his costs he will have to charge more for the seven cars he sells to non-government buyers. To make the same income, the dealer has to sell each of the remaining cars for about $28,000. Since dealers have to subsidize CarAid, the cost of a car to you just went up to at least $28,000.

Then the dealer ups the list price of all the remaining cars to $28,000 each. Now a car aggregator (like a big insurance company) comes to him and says “I have a pool of car purchasers who will buy four cars from you and we want a 25% discount or we will buy those four cars from another dealer (because he will give us a discount).” So the dealer sells them at a 25% discount or $21,000 to that pool of people. (Note that the 25% discount brings the cost back to the original sale price of $21,000.)

To continue the analogy…

Rep. Lasee hits the nail on the head! More government interaction with Health Care is not the way to drive medical prices down!

For those of you who do not know Lou, he is a great guy that can be loud as hell when he needs to be!!! Most importantly he is running for the Racine County Board in District 3.

Yesterday at the Racine Taxpayer Association Lou had the following to say about KRM and Crime:

KRM: “I am unequivocally opposed to anything which increases the net burden on Racine county taxpayers, particularly the taxpayers of my district who already face a fairly onerous burden as it is.” Yet there is a value to building links for the broader economy. He suggested that the project be tested with buses if the public approves it in a referendum.


Crime: “The simple answer is there are no simple answers.” Crime, education and employment are intertwined. We have to make sure that dangerous people are confined, but we also have to look at expanding the local economy so that there are alternatives to crime.

Both quotes are from the JT and the full article including comments from others can be found at this link.

WAY TO GO LOU!!! Keep on fighting man!!!

MSNBC’s David Shuster has been suspended for the following:

DAVID SHUSTER: Bill, there's just something a little bit unseemly to me that Chelsea's out there calling up celebrities, saying support my mom, and she's apparently also calling these super delegates.

BILL PRESS: Hey, she's working for her mom. What's unseemly about that? During the last campaign, the Bush twins were out working for their dad. I think it's great, I think she's grown up in a political family, she's got politics in her blood, she loves her mom, she thinks she'd make a great president --

SHUSTER: But doesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?

Can you tell me what he is being suspended for?

With McCain pretty much wrapping up the whole nomination for the GOP the VP hunt begins.

Those of us on the Conservative side of things want him to be sure to choose a good right winger but there are those that believe that McCain will side with another middle of the road Republican (RINO if you will).

Who do you think McCain will choose?

Here is a short list of rumored contenders:

Governor Crist
Governor Huckabee
Governor Romney
Governor Sanford
Senator Lieberman
Senator Thompson
Rep. Hunter
General Powell
Sec. of State Rice

Well maybe not yet but it could be right around the corner…

Those of us that have been looking at the Global Warming nuts and questioning their every word are once again vindicated by science. The sun, not mankind, is a more likely source for the 0.8 degree temperature variation we have seen in the last century.

This was posted on Investor’s Business Daily yesterday:

The Sun Also Sets

What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t mention what the Kenosha Republican Party is doing tonight!!!

Okay...Who’s buying the first round?

Reuters is reporting that Mitt Romney will suspend his Presidential Campaign…still developing…

Romney to suspend president campaign: party source

I’m beginning to believe some of the rumors.

Do you think that McCain and the Huckster have a “dirty deal” brewing?

I have been asked by a number of people how all this delegate stuff works and why would Romney and Huckster stick it out when they “really don’t have much of a chance.”

So here is how things shake out:

McCain needs to win @59% of the remaining delegates (@988) to secure the delegate count, not an easy task since he was only able to secure less than 55% of the delegate count on Super Tuesday.

Romney or Huckster would need to pull off a miracle needing to secure 95% and 102% of the remaining delegates respectively.

However if Romney or Huckster were to drop and pledge their delegates to the other…and all the delegates were to go to that candidate…they would only need to secure 25% of the remaining delegates!!!

The numbers are on the side of the conservatives but who would drop? Huckster? Probably not...but if he did most of his delegates would flow to Romney. Romney? Not likely…but if he did would his delegates flow to Huckster…what is the difference between McCain and him? Not much so I’m not sure if the flow would be entirely secured for him.

So that is how the numbers break down and my analysis of things…what do you think?!?

H/T The Smoking Gun

I’ve been confused before and I’ve been drunk before but even in my most drunk state I think I could tell the difference between a child and a case of beer.

Beer Before Babes

AP: Romney, McCain to run Feb. 5 ads

Reuters: In White House race, it's delegates that count

AP: McCain changes story on tax cut stance

USNews.com: For Giuliani Supporters, Florida Is a Bitter End

AP: Tiger Wood takes lead in Dubai Classic

Reuters: It's official: mail is slow as snails

I will admit that had I been home last night I would have watched the debates but not being there meant that I was only able to catch the replay late last night and by that time I just wasn’t all that interested.

However, I did get to see Romney call McCain out on the lies the McCain camp spread about Romney wanting a timetable for Iraq.

What I found interesting was that McCain’s only retort about the lies was that Romney had “negative attack ads” playing against McCain and Huckabee’s record.

So let me get this straight:

An ad showing that your opponent voted against a tax cut = “negative attack ad”

Lying about your opponent = acceptable politics

Hmm, good to know for the future.

We see the video footage all of the time of people stealing ATM machines…how long before these big machines are stolen?

I’m not really happy about the results but I think the exit polls put things into perspective:

43% of people polled said Abortion should be Legal and 45% of them voted for McCain.

42% of people polled said the Crist endorsement was important and 54% of them voted for McCain.

32% of people polled said that they had a Negative Opinion of Bush and 45% of them voted for McCain.

11% of people polled said that they were Liberal and 49% of them voted for McCain.

28% of people polled said that they were Moderate and 43% of them voted for McCain.


On the reverse side:

50% said that the highest priority for the President is Cutting Taxes and 35% of them voted for Romney.

61% of people polled said they were Conservative and 37% of them voted for Romney.

50% of people polled said that Issues were important to their vote and 35% of them voted for Romney.

40% of people polled said we should Deport Illegal Aliens and 38% of them voted for Romney.

68% of people polled said that they had a Positive Opinion of Bush and 35% of them voted for Romney.

44% of people polled said that they attended Church Weekly and 31% voted for Romney.

52% of people polled said that Abortion should be Illegal and 35% of them voted for Romney.


So tell me…who is the conservative candidate? Why would we nominate McCain to represent the GOP this fall?

Are you going to watch the State of the Union tonight?

Do you think that the President will “calm” America on the economic issues or just exacerbate the problem?

Will he talk to the gains in Iraq and the fears of Iran?

What issues do you want him to talk about?

I’m still not sure if I will watch tonight…If I do I’ll report my opinions of the speech.

I saw this article online last night and nearly gagged on the clear intent of the article.

If you head to the website for the, LOL, The Center for Public Integrity (that name is just too funny when you read articles like this one) you will find the cover story is: The War Card: Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War

They are claiming that the Bush administration knowingly lead the US into the Iraqi war with premeditated malice. They want everyone to believe that the world all knew that Iraq had no WMD and it was only through Bush and his administrations use of 935 statements over a 2 year period were the American people duped into believing that the war was needed.

They ignore all of the other people that were saying the same thing; Jacque Chirac of France, President Clinton, VP Al Gore, Madeline Albright, Senator Kerry, and Senator Clinton just to name a few. The facts were believed to be known it wasn’t until the country had been secured that we found out that the intelligence estimates from all across the globe had been incorrect.

As journalists they intentionally use inflammatory language such as “false pretenses” to lead to their thinking versus laying out all of the facts and allowing you to come to your own conclusions because then they wouldn’t be able to make you believe that the Bush administration knew all along that there were no WMD…because we all know that we just went in there for the oil, right?

I think if their intent was to try to smear a great President then they have done a great hatchet job with this story. I am sorry that I’m even paying attention to it but we all have to do our part to point out that just because you have a snappy name like “Public Integrity” doesn’t mean that you are really in the business of maintaining any degree of public morality. In this case these hatful people are just trying to push their agenda.

Let me get this straight; the UN and enviro-nazis like Algore, have spent the last decade telling us that we need to move fast on the ‘global warming’ crisis and have pushed the world into using new fuels without ever considering the consequences. While skeptics in the scientific community and people like you and me have been saying lets take this slow and make sure the data is accurate before we do something that will make matters worse.

Well now we get this story from the UN which in part says that the quick transition over to biofuels has increased real food prices around the world and in order to meet the demand for the new fuel natural sources that reduce CO2 (forests) are being destroyed to plant crops.

Funny…I thought these people said they knew what they were doing.

“I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort.”

Can someone tell Fred that the reason he has to drop out is because they DIDN’T put much effort into this race!!


Well Fred did the right thing and dropped out…how much longer are we going to have to endure Huckabee?

I regularly debate a little with my co-workers about the elections and politics and we have been spending time each week before a primary picking our winners.

This weekend we have the SC primary and the NV caucus. Here are my predictions:

NV - GOP:
Romney (by 10 or more)
McCain
Huckabee (will not break 12%)

SC - GOP:
McCain (too close to call with Huckabee...I think it is a coin flip)
Huckabee
Romney (distant 3rd...maybe he will get 15% if he is lucky...but 3rd place still earns him delegates!!)


NV – Dems:
Clinton will win NV by a 5+ point margin
Obama
Edwards

I went on to predict that Thompson will drop out of the race this weekend. And while Edwards is not doing very well he will stick it out until Super Tuesday and drop out that Wednesday.


Our debate ensued when I said that a win in SC for a GOP nominee is not as important as it once was. That set off a bit of a fire storm.

Historically speaking SC has been the linchpin in any GOP candidacy…you had to win either IA or NH and then SC to get the nomination but times have changed.

Due to so many states crowding the early part of the year we can not make to same assumptions about what a IA, NH, or SC win means anymore. In fact NH and SC delegate counts have been cut in half by the RNC due to them trying to compete with these other states (who like NH and SC are dealing with a 50% reduction of their delegates) this means while you may not want to deal with WY, MI, and NV these states suddenly mean something. Ignoring them does nothing. The issues presented by these states upping their primaries has had a major impact on this primary season and those to come in the future.

If this were 1996, SC would be key to the GOP nomination but this is 2008 and the primary calendar has been radically altered. Romney and Giuliani both saw this change as an opportunity to make a dent in states that had in the past been ignored and it is paying off for Romney and Giuliani's gamble is still to be seen.

Right now Romney is winning the delegate count by 10, a win in NV will put him over 25 ahead and even if Huckabee wins SC out right he will still only be in second place. Florida will ultimately go to McCain or Romney...if it goes to McCain then we are in for a long fight on Super Tuesday...if it goes to Romney then McCain Drops out. A third place finish for Huckabee in FL may be enough for him to bow out but I wouldn't put it past him to just hang in another week just to see how Feb 5th turns out but he will be out before the Wisconsin Primary.

Giuliani can still be a spoiler but it looks like the Democrat strategy of holding out until Super Tuesday may go belly up on him. He is dropping big time in the FL and California polls even his large leads in NY and NJ seem to be slipping in favor of another moderate, McCain.

If you have any predictions please lets hear them!!

A day early but I have to do it…Last week’s country was in fact Spain!!!

This week is a bit harder…maybe…personally I don’t think so but I’m a little odd.

6 out of 10.

Well I will be heading down to Florida tonight and I can not guarantee that I will be able to post anything until next week but I thought that I should share with you the craziness that I am going to be undertaking.

Some of you that know me know that I enjoy running…okay maybe not ‘enjoy’ but know that I run…okay, maybe not ‘run’, it is more of a quick jog. All that aside, I set a goal for myself a couple of years ago to run a marathon in each of the 50 States before I turn 50 and this weekend I will be in Disney World running the Goofy race and a half challenge.

The Disney World Marathon is a weekend event with the ½ marathon being run on Saturday (you get a Donald Duck medal for completing the race) and the full marathon on Sunday (you get a Mickey Mouse medal for completing this race.) Well as some of you may know medals are one of the highlights of running any 26.2 mile course and when you couple that with unique medals such as these you will find runners clamoring to get both.

So Disney decided that in 2007 they would challenge runners to complete both races in the same weekend. If you completed them both in under the qualifying time you would not only get both medals for the races but Disney would present you with a 3rd medal (shaped as Goofy) for being ‘Goofy’ enough to do both!

Hearing this Challenge I knew I had to try to accomplish it. In talking with my fellow runners in the Saturday Morning Running Group I found 4 other hearty souls to join me in this adventure!

On Saturday and Sunday morning we will begin racing at 6:00 AM EST so please keep us in your thoughts.

I will be sure to post a link to my race report when I am done so that you can read what I went through to get 3 Disney medals.

Have a great week and I’ll post when I can.

GOPFOLK

If you heard “if we are punishing girls like that, that is unacceptable," what would you think the person was talking about?

Do you think that "It's critical that these young women have a chance to bond with their babies," is in reference to hospitals and healthcare providers?

Well according to the Denverpost.com we are talking about teenage mothers who are requesting maternity leave from high school!! (link)

Maybe they should not have gotten pregnant in the first place!! How come now that they are pregnant they are concerned about their education? Maybe they should spend some time doing both schoolwork and bonding with their child since that is what they will need to do if they expect to finish their education.

I’m not a big fan of the awards shows but thought this was worth noting:

Golden Globes reduced to news conference

What I find most funny is that the writers are taking solace in the fact that A-listers such as George Clooney are not going to cross the picket line, since he belongs to six unions, when the reality is that if each of these multi-million dollar actors would surrender 1% of their salaries this writers strike would be over and there would be extra money in the union. But lets be honest, all these big time liberal actors want is the evil corporations to pay these people a “fair wage” while they sit back and get paid millions for the work of these writers.

What a bunch of hypocrites!!

We have all heard of the antics played by Hilary during her campaigns but do I believe that she would place 2 men in her audience to yell “Iron My Shirt!” intentionally?

Yes I do and you know that you believe that these guys were plants as well!

In fact I wouldn’t doubt that one of the guys was Bill himself!!

Well I thought for sure that Romney would win Iowa and that the poll numbers were just inflated due to last minute media hype of Huckabee. I even thought that Huckabee would even come in third…well folks I was wrong.

I was right when it came to my co-worker…who I hope is reading this right now…Thompson didn’t stand a chance. As of 9:51 PM CST good ‘ole Fred is in third (10 points behind Romney who came in second!!!) and is slowly loosing ground to the fourth place candidate, McCain.

New Hampshire is 5 days away…will the polls prove to be correct again and McCain win the state? God I hope not!

In an effort to keep things fresh I will be spending some time this year putting a new blog look together.

Please bare with me during some of these transitions.

gopfolk