Tookie and me

I was reading and listening to the excuses,rantings, ravings etc from the usual gang of suspects pleading for clemency for Stanley "Tookie" Williams. I wondered how many of those doing the pleading could name even one of the people Tookie was convicted of killing? Hugh Hewitt had on a L.A. prosecutor who went through just some of the evidence in Tookie's case. There is no doubt that he killed at least those four innocent people. And there is evidence that he killed many more. Plus, he was absolutely unrepentant. He never,ever helped the police or the L.A. Gang Task Force in any way to defang the Crips street gang that he co-founded.And as such,he is guilty of what is called felony murder of hundreds if not thousands of people.
Now, all that being said, up until Tuesday afternoon I was against the death penalty. Then I read a very interesting article on Ed Morrisey's column from a prosecutor who weighed in on the death penalty. Now, Captain Ed stated that he is against the death penalty, but printed the prosecutors email anyway. And as I read it, it occurred to me that perhaps I needed to adjust my belief on the death penalty. Read it and see if you might not agree. Also, be sure to click on the links about the studies done on the death penalty: A Prosecutors Rebuttal www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/005937.php

MSM Bias???? What MSM bias?????

This headline from Yahoo News had me laughing at the absolute irony of it.

I have been in a rather long discussion with a pro-life Democrat. His point, to which I agreed, is that if you are going to be pro-abortion then you should be pro-death penalty! OK - that was not the way he said it, but it is the same. He said if you are going to be against abortion then logically you should be against the death penalty! After all, a life is a life is a life right?

He is more correct, and further away from his party than he realizes. The Democratic Party has no problems fighting for a woman's right to kill her unborn baby, or for a husband to starve his wife to death because he says she is brain dead, but then they want to fight for the life of a convicted mass murder. Make no mistake, because of the gang he founded, Stanley Williams was responsible for hundreds if not thousands of murders which qualifies him for the mass murderer tag.

As a Christian, I do realize that there are several Old Testament passages that render this gentleman's argument moot, but that is not the point. The point is the left is only concerned about "life" if it is the life of a convicted felon. Innocent babies...who needs 'em. Handicapped adults???? Ditto. The intellecutual and moral bankruptcy of the left and the MSM apoligists has been on display more than ever before. Will the people of America take notice? I certainly hope so. The fate of this country depends on it!

What We've Accomplished revisited

I hope you saw the Fox News story "Winning Iraq: The Untold Story" shown on Sunday evening. I taped it.And I'd be interested in what all the left wing dweebs would say in response to the incredible things evidenced by the story. And I was watching it, it occurred to me that what we, the United States of America have allowed is the Iraqi people to flourish. That what the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen have done is allowed what will naturally happened when the government just gets out of the way.
As the Iraqis said, "Yes, it was worth it" and we seem to have the gratitude of a great many of them.
As I've said before, the currency that purchases and ensures liberty is blood. As a Christian I am quite aware that my liberty from hell was bought with innocent blood (that of Christ in case you might be wondering).
And so it is with the currency needed to purchase Iraqi liberty. And the Iraqis have also used much of their own currency in the transaction.
I came across a site that linked to some incredible photos that documented how a small Texas town honored one of the first American casualties.
Please read the email, look at the posted photos and try not to tear up.
www.givemeliberty.org/RTPLawsuit/Misc/SoldierFuneral.htm

Even the Canadians are getting it!

A friend emailed me this story out of the Canada Free Press. The editorial, was speaking about DNC Chairman Howard Dean's fateful radio interview this week where he declared that the "idea that we’re going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is plain wrong." The writer, while taking the obligatory shots at Chairman Dean, writes about more proof of Saddam's ties to the 9/11 hijackers that I was not aware of. He quotes a London Telegraph article that talks about a memo that they had obtained that was from Saddam to one of his lieutenants describing Mohammed Atta's training sessions with Abu Nidal (of Achille Lauro infamy).

"The handwritten memo, a copy of which has been obtained exclusively by the Telegraph, is dated July 1, 2001 and provides a short resume of a three-day ‘work programme’ Atta had undertaken at Abu Nidal's base in Baghdad."

What more proof does the Democratic Party need that Saddam was tied to Al Qaeda? It is obvious that their blind hatred of George W. Bush will not allow them to ever admit that anything he has done is right or good. Therefore they must ignore the facts in order to perpetuate their fantasy that President Bush lied us into this war. The American people need to wake up to this fact before the 2006 mid-term elections and it is the responsibility of those of us who know better to make sure that the word gets out.

And while you are doing that read this Canada Free Press article from Monday December 5. Even they realize that it is NOW time to question their patriotism.

The party of diversity strikes again!

WND reports that a Washington State blogger discovered the most blatent proof to date of Democratic hostility toward Christians. According to Delta Mike Charlie, the Washington State Democrat party was selling a magnetic car sticker of the Christian fish symbol being devoured by flames with the word "Hypocrit" in the middle of the fish! The page in question was changed less than 24 hours after the blogger posted on the offering however, a screen shot of the original page was saved here.

Christian Democrats need to take a long hard look at their party. They need to realize that the activists running the party are openly hostile to people of faith. Once they come to that realization they need to make a hard choice - follow the Democratic Party (which appears to hate them) or follow Christ. It is becoming more and more obvious that the two are parting ways!

Your education system at work

As I said before, I belong to a number of online discussion and debate groups. I also (on occasion) delve into the depths of the fever swap by going to sites like the Daily Kos. During these exchanges, I have noticed many people who are seriously challenged when it comes to spelling. Basic things like interchanging "there" with "their" and "you're" with "your" or "here" with "hear". The basic term (in our office) for that is "spellchecker's revenge". Now, in my on-line exchanges I have written it off as someone who was typing a little faster than their fingers can keep up. Heaven knows I do that on a daily basis. I am so bad, I have been known to go back and proof read whatever it is I am typing 3, 4, or 5 times (and I sometimes still miss something obvious).

However, you can not give the creator of this sign that consideration. Whoever made this sign had to take their time to stencil the letters onto the sign and they still could not correctly spell the simple contraction "weren't"!

This is your MEA run public education system at work. Be afraid for the future of America.

Illegal immigration by the numbers

The Star Tribune printed an article on a report that was released this week that went largely unnoticed. This article talks about what illegal immigration "costs" the state and on what. It cites such things as education and health care costs. Hopefully this means that a policy change is in the works. This is the good news. Now for the puzzling....

"Many communities across Minnesota and the country have concerns regarding illegal immigration," the Republican governor said in a news release. "

Now we all know that Governor Pawlenty is a Republican so what could the author have been getting at? Simple, the writer of the article wants to remind us that this "racist" report came out of a Republican, because we all know how much Republicans hate minorities, right????

Well, arguments have been made that the work that illegal immigrants do is a hedge against inflation. They take jobs that most Americans "don't want", the backbreaking labor of picking vegatbles for companies like Green Giant (in LeSeur MN) for example. Others, like todays follow up article in the Star Tribune, will tell you that most illegal immigrants are hard workers that just want to make a better life for themselves in "the promised land" of America. There is some truth to those statements however, there are also stories out the border states of people afraid to leave their homes along the border for fear of running into armed bands of immigrants. Others tell of livestock slaughtered in the fields for food and fences cut to facilitate crossings. What is the answer? I'm not sure. Completely closing the border is just as bad, if not worse, than completely opening the border. While the President's guest worker program is not perfect, it is a start. We do, for the safety of the country, need to know who is crossing our borders and who is here now. The guest worker program would get a good start on the who is here. If we can control who is coming in going forward, it will help make us safer while still allowing for people like Ramon Leon and my great-great-great grandfather to come here and make a better life for themselves.

What We've Accomplished, part II

About April of 2004, Ted Kopple, to his eternal discredit, mindlessly read a list of all the brave men and women who had died in Iraq. Fox News countered with a story the next week that put these deaths in context. The story was on Fox News Sunday as was introduced by Chris Wallace. Though brief (maybe 7 minutes) it was breathtaking in its breadth. Markets, hospitals, water and sewer, electrical power, schools, etc. were shown to be up and running. The story also included the names of the people who were killed defining these projects.
I emailed Fox and asked that they do this type of reporting at least once a month. Unfortunately they didn't. And yet they were lamenting the fact that Big Media never seemed to report on the incredible accomplishments of the American presence in Iraq.
Well, last night I heard that Fox News had indeed produced another story showing what we've accomplished. The title "Winning Iraq. The Untold Story".
It will be shown again this Sunday, 11 December at 9pm Eastern Time and repeated at midnight. Here is the link www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,177296,00.html .
I heartily recommend seeing this story and taping it.

This man wants to be a Senator???? Part 3

Well, Al is at it again. This time, he claimed on MSNBC's Scarborough Country that the reason that our troops found no WMD's in Iraq was because....ok this is choice.....because Bill Clinton destroyed them in 1998!!!!! I told you it was choice. Even poor Joe Scarborough couldn't believe what he was hearing!

SCARBOROUGH: Oh, good God. You don‘t believe that one missile strike at a camel and a tent destroyed Saddam Hussein‘s weapons of mass destruction?
(CROSSTALK)
FRANKEN: That‘s wasn‘t what they did. As you know, it wasn‘t one missile strike at a camel and a tent. I don‘t know why you feel the need to mischaracterize...
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: Al, are you really suggesting—listen, no serious person could step forward and say...
FRANKEN: No—the Duelfer report said that very thing.

OK - did you get that? According to Al, the Duelfer report said that the WMD's were destroyed by Bill Clinton....but wait - there's more....

SCARBOROUGH: All right, Al, let me ask you this question.
FRANKEN: Yes.
SCARBOROUGH: Let me ask you, if you‘re president of the—because a lot of people want you to run for Senate in a couple of years. If—let‘s say you ran for Senate, became president, and let‘s say you were sitting in the Oval Office.

Oh good Lord NO!!! I don't know if the country could survive a President Franken! Please dear readers, go read the entire transcript and then do whatever you must to help the prospect of Senator Franken to NOT become a reality!

(hat tip to Kennedy vs the Machine)

I am SOOOOO angry

I try not to let the actions of others anger me because I in doing so I relinquish control of my emotions to people I don't know. However, as a parent, this enrages me more than I can begin to express. Fresh on the heels of a Becker County judge releasing Joseph Edward Duncan III so that he can kidnap and rape and murder the family of Shasta Groene, we have another judge in Dakota County releasing another level 3 sex offender back into the community!

I don't understand what these judges are thinking. Do they have children? Do they have daughters? Don't the realize that they are putting their childrens safety at risk? Do they care more about the health and well being of these offenders or their families? What will it take for us as a society to say "enough is enough! Lock these people up and throw away the key!!!!!"?

It is time to reform the judicial election process in Minnesota! We, the people that put these irresponsible judges in the positions that they are in, must know the philosophical and judicial temperment of these judges. If it means aligning them along the "political party lines" then so be it! At least we (the voters of Minnesota) will know what we are getting when we put these judges in office.

(hat tip Captain Ed at Captains Quarters blog)

The cult of Wellstone!

Al Franken picks up a key endorsement in Wisconsin! The Capital Times ("Wisconsin's Progressive Newspaper) has this endorsement of Al Franken's yet to be formally announced candidacy for Sentor Coleman's seat in 2008. To give you a feel for the CapTimes true colors (and they are well to the left of Pravda on the Mississippi!) we have this quote:

"Wellstone's death in 2002 hit Wisconsin progressives every bit as hard as it did our neighbors to the west. Many of us thought we had lost our third senator."

...and then they follow it up with this!

"So it is that, like a great many Minnesotans, we are looking for a suitable replacement for Wellstone to stand against Coleman in the 2008 Senate race."

We, the editorial staff of the Capital Times, are looking for a suitable WHAT?!?!?!?!? Don't you think you should pay attention what is going on in your own state?????

"In many senses, Franken reminds us of an entertainer-turned-politician we did not agree with but whom we had to respect: former President Ronald Reagan. Reagan got deeply involved in conservative politics years before he entered the 1966 California gubernatorial race. Reagan was ridiculed by liberals and many in the media but he beat them every time because he actually understood politics and was firm in his beliefs."

As someone who lived in MadTown in the latter part of the Reagan era I can only say one thing. WHAT A LOAD OF HOOEY! The Cap Times editorial board couldn't say a single nice thing about President Reagan if their lives depended on it. President Reagan was evil incarnate according to the CapTimes.

As many other, more talented writers than I, have pointed out (here, here, and here) the cult of Wellstone! can not deal with the fact that their patron saint is no longer in office. They are desperately trying to resurrect a man whose time has passed. Don't get me wrong, while I vehemently disagreed with Senator Wellstone's politics, I admired the fact that he would give well thought out reasons for his stance - regardless of who was asking. However, they really need to park the bus and move on. Paul is dead and there is no "heir to the throne". Senator Wellstone was one of a kind. You can not replace him.


(hat tip to the Wingman at The Wind Beneath the Right Wing)

Mark Twain and my wishes

I'm a member of GOCRA/CCRN (Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance/Conceal Carry Reform Now). We are the people that after many years, got the Minnesota Personal Protection Act passed. Now, I cringe at the thought that I need to seek and curry the favor of the government to allow me to protect myself.
Whenever I heard and hear the anti-gun Nazis (and I use the term purposefully) I frequently hear their refrain "All we're asking for are reasonable controls and laws." Now never mind that after each and every rights destroying gun control law, they still pick up the refrain for just a few more "reasonable" laws. They are never satisfied. Evil never is.
So, I thought of a rather clever, albeit facetious comeback-"Every evil action started as an evil thought. And with the incredible sway of Big Media, perhaps we need "reasonable" restrictions on the 1st Amendment. Nothing radical, just reasonable."
And it occurred to me yesterday that I got my facetious wish-McCain/Feingold.
"Our troubles would be doubled if only half our wishes were granted." - Mark Twain

When are they going to learn?

This ties in to my post here regarding the spine (and the lack thereof) of the Republican leadership in Washington DC.

Newsmax is reporting (today) on this Cato Institute report on Presidential spending. The report focuses on discretionary spending (non-entitlement spending). The increase in discretionary spending rose 48.5% in the first term of President Bush's tenure! In each of his first three submitted budgets, President Bush requested increases in non defense spending well above baseline levels. According to this Cato Institute report, President Bush's non-defense discretionary spending increased 20.8% in his first three years in office. This data belies the claims of the administrations critics that say that President Bush has "gutted" spending....

Which leads to this wonderful piece in today's Wall Street Journal. Dick Armey (former House Majority leader) writes what should be required reading for every elected Republican official. He writes about the palpable disatisfaction that the Republican base has with the elected leadership - from the President on down!

"In all my years in politics, I've never sensed such anger and frustration from our volunteers--those who do the hard work of door-to-door mobilization that Republican candidates depend on to get elected. Across the nation, wherever I go to speak with them, their refrain is the same: "I can't tell a dime's worth of difference between Republicans and Democrats."

It is refreshing to see that some Republicans are seeing this! I mean the base has been screaming about this for the last 3 years now!

"Our base rightly expects Republicans to govern by the principles--lower taxes, less government and more freedom--that got them elected. "

Another "well DUH" moment!!!!! But here is the money quote:

"What will happen to Republicans if these freedom-loving, grassroots activists don't show up for work next fall?"

This is a question that Ken Mehlman and every state GOP chair across the natioin needs to ask themselves. Then once they answer, they need to start hammering those candidates that are running for election or re-election! The base will NOT support candidates that do not live (and vote) by the basic tenants of the Republican Party platform. Compromise is one thing, capitulation is another. The party faithful will not abide capitulation.

Candidates - ignore the base at your peril. For if you are not there for the base, the base will not be there for you!

Just a LITTLE bit of your poop in these brownies, Mr. Marx

As I was perusing Prairie Pravda (Stribune) this morning, missing the Republican State Central Committee meeting, I came across this headline "Estate paid a whopper tax: $112 Million" (That's $112,000,000) ( www.startribune.com/stories/462/5761059.html ). Seems James Binger's estate paid this amount to the state (and seemingly ANOTHER large amount to the feds). The article goes on to quote his granddaughter referring to this amount AND the current state revenue surplus. Hhmmmm... The government takes it when you earn it, when you spend it, when you save it, when you invest it. And when you die. Will they EVER leave us alone ?
Now, am I even remotely near Mr.Binger's level of earthly wealth? Nah. At least not yet.
But, I still see this as an absolutely shameful circumstance of the collectivist mentality of the empirical government and its supporters.
Mention this article about the Binger estate to people you know and see if they suddenly become the harpies of class envy and the collectivists by what they say in reply.
And BTW, if they do reply that he had so much money, etc, remember that one of the tenets of Marx's Communist Manifesto was the abolition of the rights of inheritance, meaning a death tax of 100%.
So, ask your friends, after their comments, how much of a communist they are?
Oh, and another point in the Manifesto? A progressive income tax.
Ask your friends if the rich pay their fair share of taxes...and see if your friends are at least 20% communist.
And perhaps you.

Speaking of the CIA

The CIA is back in the news....only if you do not get your news from the "usual suspects". Cliff Kincaid over at Accuracy in Media reports on a November 3 Washington Post article (written by Jim Hoagland) about the CIA's plot against President Bush. Now this is something the President's supporters have long suspected, but to have it confirmed....

"The hidden management of the criminal justice process and the news media practiced by spooks in Wilson-Rove-Libbygate is nothing short of brilliant. So you were right to fear the agency. Where else do you think the one-page crime report that triggered the investigation and then the pressure-building leaks disclosing its existence came from?"

So you were right to fear the agency.....shades of J. Edgar Hoover....

Hoagland also declared, "One lesson available in this story is that amateurs are no match for the CIA in disinformation campaigns. The spies are far better at operating in the shadows than you politicians will ever be. They have a license to dissemble."
Let us translate this statement. Hoagland is saying that the CIA lied about the Wilson affair and used it to undermine the Bush Administration, and that the Bush Administration was no match for the liars at the CIA.

There you have it dear readers....the CIA lied about the Wilson affair in order to undermine the Bush Administration. This explains the howls out of the "intelligence community" when Porter Goss came to town. Hopefully he can undo the damage done by a rogue agency that was out of control.

UPDATE and BUMP: - the gentlemen over at Powerline brought this article to our attention today. In it the author details the many CIA "leaks" to the New York Times that lead to the whole "Bush Lied" meme that the left has been hammering the President with. John (at Powerline) rightly concludes that it is time to put the Plame precedent to good use. Let's appoint a special prosecutor to look into the CIA leaks of classified information and prosecute those responsible for the leaks!

The blind pig, the acorn, the ACLU

I need to thank Savage Republican (and a mutual friend) for this one.
He emailed me in a follow-up to my posting "And a pox on your Bill of Rights, I say" or "Papers please" below and let me know of an incident that has Federal ramifications.

Deborah Davis was on her way to work, minding her own business when in a scene out of "The Great Escape" a "security" agent (if ever an oxymoron, this is it) boarded the bus and proceeded to demand that every passenger show ID. Mrs. Davis, having done nothing wrong and a very typical American (even to having a son fighting in Iraq) refused to show ID. Federal agents were called in and she was arrested! And now faces federal charges.
Now, this raises a whole bunch of questions. I will assume that the bus is a government project. Where does a "security" guard get off asking for ID? Especially from all passengers and not suspecting anything? And since when are the Feds to have a say here? I have little or no doubt that there's a law that allows the Feds to intervene. After all, if it's illegal (federally) for me to sell and you to buy an orange that's 3 1/8 in. in diameter, why not this?

Read more here: www.papersplease.org/davis/

Oh, and do NOT give me the phrase "You have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide." Any idea where that phrase came from? It was used by the Gestapo in Hitler's Germany.

Politicizing Intelligence

Much has been made (in recent months) of "slips" in national intelligenc, mostly from our friends on the left. That is what makes this story hysterical. According to this interview, John Fund from the Wall Street Journal reports that Senator Harry Reid made a stunning revelation on TV last week. He reported the demise of one Osama bin Laden! Yes readers, Senator Reid announced to the world that Osama bin Laden died in the Pakistan earthquake. Now I, for one, would be very happy if this were indeed the case, but one has to wonder just where Sen. Reid got that information. After all, this has not been reported in any of the major news outlets and let's face it, the death of the world's most wanted man, would be headline news for days! IF (and this is a big if readers) bin Laden is dead, the only place that Senator Reid would have heard that would have been through confidential (Pentagon most likely) sources. IF bin Laden is dead, why would we not trumpet it from the towers? Several reasons, first and foremost is that this has probably not been confirmed. Why does confirmation matter? Mr. Fund himself said it best when he said "...if it's not true, and Harry Reid goes and claims it, what are the terrorists going to do? That undermines U.S. credibility. They laugh at us. We become the laughing stock of the Arab world, because our officials keep fatasizing about terrorists dying, when they're not. "

Now many people are asking "wouldn't this be considered treason?" The short and sweet answer is not really. While what Senator Reid fits the dictionary defination of treason (a treachery or betrayal of trust) it does not fit the governmental defination that gets you thrown into the penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth Kansas. What this would and should do is to get Senator Reid's security clearance revoked. Considering that Senator Reid felt so strongly about security (when it came to pre-war intelligence) that he was "forced" to send the Senate into a closed session, I find it stunningly stupid of him to have done this.

Doesn't he have something better to do????

Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter is in the news this week, but not for doing his job in DC. No, instead he is looking into the Terrell Owens situation because he thinks that Owens was being treated "unfairly" according to this report from Newsradio KYW in Philadelphia. For those of you who are not familiar with football, Terrell Owens is the supremely talented and troubled wide receiver from the Philadelphia Eagles who was suspended from the team for multiple discipline problems. On November 18, an independent arbitration team sided for the Eagles, saying that the team was within their rights to suspend Owens for the season.

That decision made Sen. Specter "madder than hell." because of the impact that Owens had on the Eagles. Sen. Specter seems to think that this suspension is unfair, that it is "restraint of trade" and called the team's actions ""vindictive and inappropriate."

Vindictive and inappropriate???? Like the vindictive and inappropriate treatment Judge Alito has received at the hands of the Senate Judicary committee? Or maybe the vindictive and inappropriate treatment Brent Kavanaugh, William Haynes and Henry Saad have received at the hands of the Judiciary Committee? Or perhaps the vindictive and inappropriate treatment that James Payne has received at the hands of the Judiciary Committee. Just to remind you Senator, Mr.'s Kavanaugh, Haynes and Saad were nominated to the bench on Feb 14, 2005 and Mr. Payne was nominated on September 29 and they have yet to get a hearing in front of the Judiciary Committee. Judge Alito was nominated on October 31. In November of last year, Senator Specter promised "I am committed, in word and deed, to prompt action by the Judiciary Committee. Last April, I introduced Senate Resolution 327, a protocol to establish prompt action on all judicial nominees. Specifically, my protocol provides that all nominees will have a Judiciary Committee hearing within 30 days of nomination, a Judiciary Committee vote within 30 days of the hearing, and a floor vote 30 days later." What happened to the 30 days to hearing Senator? Mr.'s Kavanaugh, Haynes and Saad were nominated 264 days ago. When are we going to see a hearing Senator? How about the restraing of trade that has been imposed on these nominees?

The American people are "madder than hell" at you Senator Specter. After President Bush's re-election, many (like Laura Ingraham and a large portion of the Republican base) wanted a new Judiciary chairman and others (like Hugh Hewitt) argued that you would do the right thing, now that the election was done. Well here we are 11 months into the second term and what have we gotten??? We are still have judicial nominees (like Sam Alito) languishing in Committee, we have the renewal of the Patriot Act still waiting for action and meanwhile you are trying to play power games with the NFL.

Senator Specter, Mr. Owens is an adult. He knew (or should have known) that there were consequences to his actions. He knew that insulting his team-mates and coaches in the manner that he did would draw the ire of said coaches and team-mates. The NFL arbitrator has spoken...the team has acted well within the boundaries of the contract and the suspension has been upheld. Instead of interfering in the NFL's business, why don't you get back to doing the nations business and get these nominees before the committee and on the bench. You promised the President and your promised the country a speedy process, it is far past time for you to deliver on that promise!

The left and the Military.

I belong to many on-line discussion groups (including this one and if you are a conservative and you like to have fun while exchanging vital information you need to be here). On one of these discussion groups (a debate group for Republicans and Democrats) I had an epiphany.

The discussion started when one of our members (a retired Army Ranger) returned to the group after an extended absense. We have 2 newer members in the group who are your typical liberal....you know "I support the troops bring them home now..Bush lied us into the war...Bush is a moron..." you know the kind. Well one of the libs, in their usual snarky way, asked "where have you been lately that you can't read a newspaper?" I answered that he (the Ranger) had been in Iraq defending his (the liberal) the right to snipe about how bad the military is. Which lead to the lib remarking "well he's not going to like me then is he???" That led to the epiphany! The Dems love to rag on our military and then they wonder why the military does not like them. I posted this in response to his question (names have been removed to protect the guilty and the innocent)...

If you think that ____ is not going to like you because of your stance on the war, you are probably correct...more importantly consider this. _____ is just one soldier - one of many that believes in the mission and believes in what their Commander-In-Chief is doing in Iraq. _____ and the hundred + thousand others over there have a perspective on this that you and I will NEVER have because we have not been in theatre. Of the 150,000 or so troops in theatre, the vast majority believe that their mission is right and just.

So when you and the rest of the anti-war left talk about how this is an illegitamate war, that we have no business being over there, that we were "lied" into the war and that the best way to support the troops is to abandon the mission and bring them home "now!" how do you think those troops are going to react to you and those claims????

Just something I would like you to ponder.....

I think that this is something we should ALL ask the anti-war left to ponder. If you think that this war is a mistake etc, do you really expect the troops to "like" you and appreciate your "efforts on their behalf" when they believe in the mission at hand?

"And a pox on your Bill of Rights, I say" or "Papers please"

Ah yes. the response to the cry "We've got to do SOMETHING
www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/28/D8E5RPBO5.html
To hell with the 1st and 4th Amendment, this will strike pure fear into the hearts of terrorists!
And the quote of note from the article?
"But at the same time, we don't want people to feel their rights are being threatened. We need them to be our eyes and ears."

Well, maybe...

After months of not writing, I found something that prompted me to put fingers to keyboard.
During the Terry Schiavo case, I posted here for the first time. I put in a picture of a 10 year old boy, Joshua Heldreth, being arrested for attempting to bring Terry a glass of water www.savagerepublican.com/www/archive/2005_03_20_archive.php "God's Winnowing Floor").
Well, it's come to my attention that Master Heldreth has had his day in court. This young scofflaw was ordered to serve 25 hours of community service and write a letter of apology to Hospice House Woodside for his egregious behavior.
Here is his letter : www.operationsaveamerica.org/articles/articles/Joshua%20Apology.pdf
Perhaps I should hold out hope for the future...as long as there are children like Joshua around and about.
Oh, and by the way, Joshua is Hebrew for "he saves". The Greek translation for Joshua is pronounced "Jesus".
God does have a sense of irony.

This man wants to be a Senator????? Part 2

I think this is going to be a long running multi-parter.

Al Franken strikes again. This time in New York where he presumed to lecture Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on "judicial demeanor". The New York Post reports that Mr. Franken queried Justice Scalia about the "appropriateness" of hearing the case of someone he had gone hunting with (an obvious reference to the 2000 case Bush V. Gore). When the host of the event (Conversations on the Circle) opened the floor to questions, Franken got up and started lecturing about "judicial demeanor". Justice Scalia retorted (in what sounded to be a classic smack down) that "Demeanor is the wrong word. You mean ethics." He then went on further to explain that "It has never been the case where you recuse because of friendship."

In the quote of the article, Time Warner chairman Dick Parsons later told the Post: "Al was not quite ready for prime time."

So Al Franken thinks he has the gravitas to be a Senator? After this little show, I think Mr. Franken needs to go back to Civics class. My pre-teen has a better grasp on what politics is about than Al seems to have.....

(Hat Tip KvM)

Minnesota Democrats Exposed

MDE over at Minnesota Democrats Exposed is an amazing person. He has access to information on our local politicians that they would really rather he not have. As a result, many people have tried to "out" MDE. Their reasoning is simple....expose his identity and dry up his (or her) resources and thus put MDE out of business.

The latest attempt comes via the weblog Inside Minnesota Politics. Now, IMP does not require registration or subscription. Their content is as available for anyone to peruse as it is here at Savage Republican. MDE has quoted content from their site in the past - all properly sourced as it should be. Well apparently that is not good enough for the operators of IMP and they are suing MDE for "copyright infringement". MDE posted a picture from IMP and sourced it to their site. Then 2 weeks ago, MDE was notified (through his/her hosting company) that a "cease and desist order" had been issued. MDE apologized and pulled the offending picture immediately. Then today MDE was informed that IMP and their lawyers were still pushing for his/her hosting company for his/her identity so that the "proper legal papers" could be filed with him/her!

Now many people blog anonymously for a variety of reasons. Some do so because of safety concerns, so do so because of work "conflicts". Whatever the reason, that person should be allowed to exercise his/her free speech rights anynomously if that is that person's desire. No one should be forced to reveal his/her identity because of some sue happy lawyer.

MDE will be looking for help with his/her legal fund. Hopefully, some of the great legal minds that are affiliated with the MOB (Minnesota Organization of Blogs) will be able to assist MDE in his/her time of need. I hope all of you will support MDE, financially if possible, and with your traffic! MDE has done a fabulous job exposing the Democrats for what they are. Their answer, as always, is to try to stifle dissenting voices. WE CAN NOT LET THEM WIN!

"X" marks the spot

This is by far the funniest story of the year. During the live CNN broadcast of Vice President Cheney's speech on Monday, an "X" showed up across the VP's face. Republican pundits were (rightly) outraged and at first CNN blew it off with a dismissive "This was a technolgical malfunction, not an issue of operator error. A portion of the switcher experienced a momentary glitch." Now I am not by nature a cynical person, but please....can we have a lamer excuse? I mean really....the only network MORE hostile to the Bush Administration than CNN is MSNBC and that is a judgement call! The website that broke the story (The Drudge Report) is reporting today that a control room operator "laughed" when the image first appeared and somehow that doesn't shock me at all.

The blatent hatred of the anti-Bush crowd has reached it's most frantic. The fun thing is, we have another 3 years of this to go. My only worry is that they (they hysterical left fringe) peaks too soon. If they do peak before the '08 election things could be boring for those who make a living at political analysis.

That the legacy media is biased against President Bush is no surprise. What is surprising me is how they are not even trying to hide it. I have no doubt that we will see more and more of the anti-Bush hysteria.

Could it be true?????

According to this report by the AP, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may have been killed by coalition troops in Mosul yesterday. If true, this will definately help turn the rhetorical tide in DC!

Stay tuned....

What a week it was in DC...

The Senate lost it's backbone and House found theirs.

The Senate, in a widely debated vote, defeated a call for setting a withdrawal timetable - then passed a bill that calls for greater accountability on the conduct of the war. Pundits like Hugh Hewitt called it a "vote of no-confidence" and that their timing of the vote was a "slap in the Presidents face". Make no doubt about this, the timing of the vote was intentional! The Senate Democrats (weasles that they are) held their proposal specifically for the day when the President was travelling. However, I can see why the Republican leadership responded in the way they did. The only way for the Administration to win the war of words right now is to take the progress reports directly to the American people and I can think of no better way for the President to take control of the discussion. The Senate redeemed themselves (slightly) when they found the will to cut $50b in earmarked spending.

The House leadership, conversely, finally showed their collective will. When Rep Joe Murtha called for an "immediate redeplyment" of US troops the House leadership said "let's put it to a vote". The Democratic Leadership immediately cried "FOWL" even going so far as to call it "personal attack on one of the best members, one of the most respected members of this House". What a joke! They have been calling for a complete withdrawl ever since Cindy Sheehan appeared on the scene! To call Friday's debate an exercise in hypocricy would be an understatement of epic proportions!

All in all, I think that this week is the beginning of the end for the debate on the war. The Democrats left themselves wide open for this. Their rhetoric (in calling for a withdrawal) lead them to this precipice and the Republicans finally called their bluff. All I can say is, it's about time!

Giving credit where credit is due

Well you have to give Mike Hatch credit. He is persistant if nothing else! Fresh off of his resounding judicial defeat in Rochester we have this. Apparently he is now going after the current MN GOP Chair Ron Carey! Mr. Carey's crime? Advocating for his autistic child. Yes, folks you read right! Based on this article in the fishwrap (which I opined about here)Attorney General Hatch is going after Ron Carey for advocating for his child.

According to the article, " the chairwoman of the Legislative Audit Commission, Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, asked (Legislative Auditor Jim) Nobles to conduct a preliminary assessment of the autism center's books after news reports raised questions about whether the center misspent state money. " After starting his investigation, Nobles told the audit commission Thursday it was unnecessary for his staff to conduct an investigation parallel to the attorney general's.

Sen. Tom Neuville (a Northfield Republican and commission member) expressed "concern" about AG Hatch going after yet another MN GOP Chair and he is absolutely correct! It is obvious to this voter that AG Hatch is simply trophy hunting. AG Hatch wants to be Governor more than anything else - he has said as much - and he has shown that he will STOP AT NOTHING to get to the mansion on Summit Ave.

It is time for the voters of Minnesota to stand up to this obvious abuse of power! I hope you will join me in calling for AG Hatch to cease his investigation and let the non-partisan Legislative Auditor take over any potential investigation. It is also time for the voters of Minnestoa to pay attention. Precinct caucuses are coming up quickly (March 7 2006). AG Hatch needs to be removed from the office that is allowing him to go after his political enemies with such abandon.

Connections

The big news out of Rochester this week that a jury found Ron Eibensteiner (former chairman of the MN GOP) not guilty of arranging an illegal corporate campaign contribution. Do the charges sound familiar dear readers? They certainly should because they are the same charges that Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) is facing.

The charges stem from a note that had the chairman's signature on it thanking lobbyist Ron Jerich for American Bankers (a Florida insurance company) contribution to the party. Company officials admitted that they mailed checkes to both the MN Republican and DFL Parties in the hopes on influencing the 2002 Minnesota Governors race (which Tim Pawlenty won). What the letter did not indicate was the fact (a fact which was key to the trial) that the check was forwarded on per Minnesota law to the RNC. None of the money was ever returned to Minnesota.

The Eibensteiner defense team has stated all along (without much argument from our friends in the local media outlets) that this was a hit job, engineered by Attorney General Mike Hatch in order to further his chances at gaining his "Holy Grail" - election to the Governors office. AG Hatch never disputed that fact.....that is until the day that the verdict was reached! Then all of a sudden we hear (out of the AG's office) that it was "not our trial". DFL Chairman Brian Melendez said (in a Star Tribune quote) that "Mike Hatch was a witness in the case. The Mower County attorney made the decision to prosecute, Hatch did not." One problem with that statement Brian. The "crime" did not take place in Mower County - it allegedly took place in St. Paul at the MN GOP Headquarters. Also, the Mower County attorney was not prosecuting the case - a "special prosecutor" was brought in from....St Paul! Even Ron Jerich (who was a Hatch supporter) said that this should have never come to trial - that the only reason it came to trial was to "get at the Republicans." It appears that, like Ronnie Earl in Texas, the only reason the charges were filed in Mower County is because AG Hatch was able to find a friendly county attorney in a heavily DFL leaning county to file charges. In essense - jury shopping, just like Ronnie Earl.

Many pundits, both in the legacy media and in the blogosphere have made the connection between the two trials. AG Hatch allegedly made the connection in off the record remarks to reporters from KAAL ""You know, and I was just talking about this in the office the other day, no one in the press had made the Austin/Austin connection. You know, Austin Texas and Austin Minnesota. " Well Mr. Hatch, I hope the two are indeed that connected. Because if there is an Austin/Austin connection, then Rep. DeLay should have a field day when he gets his chance at trial. For if Ronnie Earl did his homework as shoddily as AG Hatch did, the Rep. DeLay should be cleared and back in DC in time to save us from the weak kneed leadership that has taken over in his absense. Hurry up Hammer - we need you now more than ever!

Just another day....

It was just another day in the Lady Logician's life.....I was doing laundry and preparing to start supper all the while reminding the dear child to finish his homework. I had the radio on in the background, tuned into Hugh Hewitt's first hour. OK - Hugh is talking about Senator Reid railing about Vice President Cheney again....nothing new right????? Coming back from commercial they are playing the 3 Stooges theme....The 3 Stooges theme?!?!?! Now he has my attention. This is what Hugh was talking about. Senators Reid, Durbin, Schumer and Stabenow have sent a letter to the President asking him to "rule out the option of a pardon" for Lewis (Scooter) Libby. Pardon me (pun intended) Senator Reid, Senator Schumer.....did I miss something like a conviction here????? I could have sworn the man had not even gone to trial yet....aren't we jumping the gun just a little????? Hoping for a kangaroon court are we?????

"He (Reid) challenged the president in personal terms, urging him to "avoid falling in the footsteps of his father who pardoned six men, some were convicted, some were indicted in the
Iran-Contra scandal."

President Clinton also pardoned a bunch of people too as I recall. He pardoned some 140 people including Susan McDougal (Whitewater Scandal), HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros (lied to the FBI), first brother Roger Clinton (convicted of drug charges), CIA Director John Duetsch (faced criminal charges in connection with his having national secrets on his home computer) and Marc Rich (big time Clinton donor who was indicted of tax evasion ). More details can be found here. The Presidential pardon is a controversial privilege of office. Asking this President to forego that privilege is pandering, political posturing. In a situation like this (where they are in essence demanding that the President bow to the whim of the people that lost the last election) one has to wonder what, if anything, these Senators are willing to give up. Are they willing to give up their privilege of Advise and Consent on Presidential appointments? Somehow I think not. So their grandstanding goes....the Senate Democratic leadership preens before the fawning press and makes a request which the President will (if he is wise) dismiss out of hand.

Teaching our children to hate....

I have tried really hard not to add yet another voice against Islam. It is not the those voices are wrong, necessarily, it's just that there are so many of those voices, that my one small voice would just add to the cacophany. However, after seeing this story, combined with the non-stop coverage out of Paris - where Muslim youth are rioting against the government, I really have to wonder what they are teaching their children.

The story talks about a childrens program that glorifies homicide bombing. The cartoon was shown in Iranian National Television recently. It appears to be part of the campaign that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched - a campaign calling for the complete destruction of Isreal. It tells the story of two young boys, Abd and Karim, who are taught by an older neighbor how to rig themselves up with explosives in order to "Go and show the Zionists how brave and heroic are the children of Palestine."

As the mother of a son, it breaks my heart to see this. I can not help but put myself in the shoes of a mother over there. Would I really rejoice if my son blew himself up in order to kill others? No. But there are those who do. I guess this really does go to show how different our cultures are. Where we teach our children to respect others and to look out for others, another parent is teaching his child how to hate those who are "different" (not Islamist).

How does all of this tie into the riots in Paris? Again, these young people, most of whom have lived their entire lives in France, were taught to hate their home country. They were taught this by their parents and by their Imams. Which leads me to this question? If you hate the country so much, why did you move there? Now I know that there are those who will say that they moved there in order to "Islamicize" the country. While I don't know if that is indeed the case (for I do not know what is in their hearts) I have to conclude that this may be the case, just by looking at their actions.....

Look what happens when we teach our children to hate.

Whose lies are they anyway?

The Dems love to harp about "lies" that were told leading up to the war, but just who has been lying to whom?

The Dems say that the Bush Administration told America that there was a 9/11 link to Saddam and yet in his interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Vice President Cheney said " "[O]n the 9/11 question, we've never had confirmation one way or another." However, the UK Guardian did claim that there was an Iraq/al Qaeda link in this 1999 report

The Dems have said that there Saddam had NO WMD's. However, Iraq disclosures to the U.N., culminating in September 1997, admitted that Iraq had produced large quantities of the banned weapons. In its 1999 UNSCOM report, the United Nations concluded that Iraq had under-reported its production of those materials, including anthrax and VX, had systematically lied to and deceived the U.N. inspectors, and had wholly failed to account for the weapons' current whereabouts. (See, for example, paragraph 85.) And the U.N., in its March 2003 UNMOVIC report, concluded: "Based on all the available evidence, the strong presumption is that about 10,000 litres of anthrax was not destroyed and may still exist." Then there is this BBC report that talks about the bomb making factory that was discovered in Baghdad in 2003. It also mentions an encounter that the Polish coalition troops had "On Friday, Poland's defence ministry said its troops in Iraq had thwarted an attempt by militants to buy a quantity of warheads containing nerve agents. " Warheads equipped with nerve agents.....and those aren't WMD's????? This report talks about all of the other WMD's that were found shortly after going into Iraq. Funny how the Democratic leadership chooses not to utilize this data...

The infamous 16 words in the State of the Union Address...the Dems say that the President said (in his 2003 State of the Union address) that Saddam bought yellowcake uranium from the government of Niger (whose main export is - surprise - yellowcake uranium) a claim which Joseph Wilson claimed to have debunked. According to Wilson, this claim was based on a forged US intelligence document. The problem is that is not what the president said. The quote was “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa,”. I realize that the words "sought" and "bought" are similar in sound and spelling, but the meanings are very different! Then there is this little gem from the BBC that talks about the 1.77 tons of enriched uranium that was secretly taken out of Iraq by the US government. Meanwhile, the Butler Report reaffirmed the President's claim and the accuracy of the real original report.

So there you have it.....the lies of the Iraq War and the liars who told them. Are there any more lies that we need to discuss?????

What do you do when a child steals?

I have mentioned before, I am the parent of a wonderful child. Due to the grace of God, my family has never been in a position of severe want. Yes, we have (like everyone else) hit some rough spots, but never to the extent of needing to steal for food. That leads us to this...

I was sent a link to this website today. It purportedly shows what happened to an 8 year old boy that was caught stealing a loaf of bread in Iran. Now, if I had been the one to catch the child, I would have probably would have given the child the bread. Seeing anyone that hungry would drive me to act to alleviate that hunger. However, in the world of Sha'ria law, the proper punishment for thievery is to cut off a hand. Given what I saw in those pictures today, I can't decide which would have been more humane....cutting off a child's hand or running over his arm with a JEEP!

Now a commenter to the site in question did state that he was Iranian and that he had seen that on a TV report before and that the child was not being "punished" per se, the adults were making money off of the child doing that!!! The treatment that child received was barbaric and if it was something that was called for by a "religion" then that religion is barbaric. If it was being done to make money off of that child it is even more barbaric and the adults involved should be punished. Sadly, I feel that will not happen.

How a society treats it's most vulnerable, the elderly and the children, says a lot about them and this speaks volumnes about Iran. If the rest of the Middle East is like this (and I know people who have been there and they say that it is) then it just solidifies all the more in my mind, the need for regime change through out the entire region.

When do we say "ENOUGH"?

When will someone say "ENOUGH" when it comes to going after the families of public figures? During the Vice Presidential debates last year, Senator John Edwards decided that it was germaine to the debate to mention that Vice President Cheney's daughter, Mary, was a lesbian. The Republicans cried "foul" and the Kerry/Edwards campaign defended the remarks. After John Roberts was nominated to the Supreme Court, Democrats and their willing accomplices in the legacy media felt obligated to try to dig into the adoption records of his two children. Now comes this bit of sleaze out of our favorite fishwrap.

Apparently, Doug Grow thinks that the Republicans are against providing support for developmentally disabled people and so it is hypocritical of the Republican State Party Chair to utilize said support. I would challenge Mr. Grow to find me any plank in the Republican Party Platform that says that. Yes, the Minnesota Republican Party platform calls for smaller government and for watching our state budget so that the state can indeed pay for "essential services", but there is NOTHING in the platform that says that aid to developmentally disabled children and their families is a NON essential service.

"But isn't there a conflict between Carey, the leader of a party so resistant to government spending, and Carey, the parent of a child who benefits from public spending?" Grow asks. "But most of us aren't in Carey's shoes. We don't lead political movements so resistant to public spending." Grow states. One very big problem, Mr. Grow......Republicans are against WASTEFUL SPENDING. Are you stating that conservatives think that this is wasteful spending????? Chairman Carey says it best when he says "Government by nature is not bad, it's abuse that's bad. It's waste that's bad."

Autism is one of those afflictions that breaks the hearts of the families involved. I have a relative who has Down's Syndrome and Autism. It is frustrating for everyone in the family because we know that our loved one is in there somewhere and we just don't know how to get him out. To attack a public figure for getting state help for that loved one is unconscionable.

When are we, as a civilized people going to stand up to people like Mr. Edwards and Mr. Grow and say "THIS WILL NOT STAND!" When are we going to say to them that bringing an 8 year old, disabled child into this discussion is completely and utterly unacceptable! When will we stand up and defend our children from this kind of sleaze?

(Hat tip to Doug over at Bogus Gold)

Disagreement among friends

Disagreement among friends is expected. It can be good and reaffirming or it can be bad and destructive depending on how it is handled. My dear friends Savage Republican, Amendment X and I have disagreed on the Miers nomination and how it was handled. However, we handled our disagreement in a constructive manner - each respecting the others view points, even if we don't agree with it. As such, even though we disagree on this single issue (there are probably more waiting in the wings guys) we agree on the main principles that brought us together in the first place and thus - life is good.

How will things turn out for the Republican Party post Harriet Miers? My friend Savage Republican is correct - the Dems WILL oppose any nominee that President Bush puts forward, just for pure, unadulterated spite! I may not be feeling as gloomy as I was when I posted this last night, but I am still troubled. I believe that we handed the Dems a victory by not allowing a candidate, flawed though she may have been, to come before committee. I agree with Savage Republican's assertion that we Republicans should demand excellence from our candidates, but I am a bit of a pragmitist in that I do not feel that it is in our best interests to hand the enemy ammunition with which to fight us and I firmly believe that we did just that, in denying Harriet Miers at least a chance to appear before committee before dismissing her candidacy. We put a lot of stress on the demand that "every judicial candidate DESERVES an up or down vote" during the last election and yet, when faced with a candidate we didn't like, we did the very same thing that we hammered the opposition on.

I do honestly hope that I am wrong here. I would dearly LOVE to be wrong here, but everything that I am hearing out of the echo chamber on the left says I am right. PLEASE GOD, help the President pick another John Roberts type nominee. Someone with a track record but someone knowledgeable enough in the law to put all litmus test questions off with the same grace and aplomb that Chief Justince Roberts did. I pray there is someone out there that can pull this off. For the sake of the country.

They will oppose anyone

Once again we find disagreement here.
The reason I was upset with Meirs was besides the lack of qualifications - politically it was stupid.
No matter who the President nominates the dems will oppose.
So to submit someone like Meirs who was a stealth candidate with no record, still dems came out and said they did not like her.

They are Democrats - So to think that by picking someone who will please them, they will get confirmed is politically dumb.

So the President should nominate the best candidate - Let the Dems go on record for a filibuster and then the Senate can do what they should have done back before the gang of Seven derailed the constitution - That is force a vote on the Rules and confirm over the Filibuster.

And if he picks a constitutionally Sound Judge, he will have the backing of all the conservatives that supported him in the last election.



Historical Note:
Wanted to point out how wise our founding fathers were.
One of the complaints about the current nominee is that she was chosen not as much for her judicial skills but for her connections to the President.
If she had continued foward, she should and been allowed an up or down vote, and nothing I have heard or seen would have disqualified her from service (The complaint is not the she was not qualified, just that there were lots of others much more qualified).
But back to the founding fathers, they also knew that the confirmation makes it a much more open process and as was written in Federalist Paper #76 - A President would be reluctant to put forth a candidate based on personal relationship for fear of public admonishment.
This is exactly what happened.
The President put forth a candidate who did not have the sort of legal reputation and dedication to the constitution that was desired by those who elected the President. We let him know and he did what the founding fathers envisioned.
If only the Senate were as dedicated to the constituion as both Harriet Miers and the President are.

As an final thought - the fact that she removed her nomination, shows that Harriet Miers does have respect to the consitution -
If only she had said more and done more actions like this in her past she might have been a good candidate.

Well I hope ya'll are happy!

Yeah, Harriet Miers was not the best pick. I think Savage Republican called her a B+ pick and I would probably concur. However, because not enough was known about her, I was willing to wait for the hearings....well now we will not get that chance. Because Ms. Miers removed her name from contention for the Supreme Court, we have handed the Dems a victory. The talking points (from Terry MacAuliff to Harry Reid to Joe Trippe to Pat Leahy) are already saying that the "radical right has scuttled this candidate!" They are already setting the stage that the next candidate had better be a "moderate" (aka pro-abortion) or they will be considered to be too extreme and thus a candidate for filibuster! Because of this little tantrum, WE are going to be seen as extreme and out of the mainstream!!!!!

I know that I was in the minority opinion on the Miers nomination, but I feel safe in predicting this. WHOEVER the President puts forth, regardless of their stellar qualifications and prior experience in front of the Senate Judiciary committee, will be considered to be extreme and unacceptable! Please understand, I have never been accused of being a pessimist. Quite the opposite is true - I have been accused of being an obnoxious optimist. However, we Republicans have set the next candidate up for failure. Period, end of discussion. Enjoy your victory now, all of you anti-Miers conservatives, because it is going to be short-lived. Regardless of who the next candidate is and no matter how qualified, the angry left is going to shoot them down. The only candidate that they will confirm will end up being to the LEFT of Justice O'Connor......

This man wants to be a Senator?????

Now I have no problems poking fun at one another. A friend of mine showed me a card the other day that had me howling....it was a take off of a poster of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" with President Bush photoshopped in. It was a clever piece of work.

Al Franken has a new book out. While that may not be newsworthy in and of itself, what Al is doing to promote the book that is. Michelle Malkin brings our attention to this little promotional gem (see high bandwidth and low bandwidth versions). Now as I said earlier, I have no problems poking fun at one another however there is nothing "fun" about staging an "attack" on someone who disagrees with you. Imagine, if you will, that Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or (God forbid) Ann Coulter had staged a fake attack on a liberal......Can you hear the howls of outrage from the left?

What ever happened to civil discourse? What ever happened to respectful discussion of the issues of the day? Does Mr. Franken really think that this kind of "discourse" will add to the "worlds greatest deliberative body"???? How does this promote the best interests of Minnesota or the United States????? I dearly hope and pray that our esteemed friends in the DFL reject this publicity stunt disguised as a run for office. We certainly deserve better than this....

Calling Senator Coleman

Earlier this week, the unthinkable happened. A sitting Senator (Senator Tom Coburn from Okalhoma) had the audacity to propose an amendment to a spending bill that called for certain "earmarked" dollars to be redirected from their assigned projects and sent to Louisiana and Alabama to help pay for the promised relief from Hurricane Katrina. Projects such as the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska and a sculpture garden in Washington state would loose their funding (this year anyway) in order to rebuild the Twin Spans in New Orleans and rebuilt infrastructure in Mississippi. Very sound, logical thinking to me, however, it did not appear that way to 82 of the Gentleman from Oklahoma's colleagues, including our soon to be senior Senator - Norm Coleman! Now I understand that Senator Coleman at one time was a Democrat, but he ran for his seat as a fiscal and social conservative and in this post 9/11 world, with multiple natural disasters and a war to pay for, what was he thinking voting against this?

I'll tell you what he was thinking - he (along with the 81 others who voted against the Coburn Amendment) was more concerned about "congressional courtesy" - the act of supporting another Senator's pet "pork" project so that some day in the future, (s)he supports yours in turn! While this kind of "thought" is great for sitting Senators and Congressmen (who can go home and brag about how much federal money they brought home) it is lousy for the American people that they are supposed to be looking out for!

Instead of being commended for making the "tough" proposals, Senator Coburn was vilified by his colleagues.

"I come to warn the Senate, if you want a wounded bull on the floor of the Senate, pass this amendment," a red-faced Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) snorted. "I stood here and watched Senator Allen teach the Senate lesson after lesson after something was done to Alabama that he didn't like. I don't threaten people; I promise people." That's right - a supposed "conservative" is threatening his fellow senators if they dare to vote against his pet pork project!

and

"If the Senator from Oklahoma wants to look for a culprit for the fiscal situation in this country, he should look into the billions and billions of dollars in tax cuts that have been granted to multimillionaires in this country, and he should look at additional tax cuts his party wants to implement in future years if he wants to find incredible savings," Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) lectured. That's right dear reader - rather than temporarily suspend pork spending, Senator Murray would rather rescind YOUR TAX CUTS!!!!! Then she threw out this threat..."What is good for the goose is good for the gander. And I tell my colleagues, if we start cutting funding for individual projects, your project may be next."

Meanwhile, Senator Coburn is concerned about projects, such as one in Rhode Island where $220,000 is going to toward a $2.2 million animal shelter when "...we are spending $200,000 for the construction of an animal shelter when we cannot even shelter the people properly in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi."

We need more Senators like Senator Coburn. It is time for ALL savage Republicans to stand up for fiscal sanity and restraint. Contact Senator Coburn and let him know that you appreciate his looking out for your hard earned dollars. Then put your sitting Senators on notice. Contact them and let them know that they need to do what is right for the country first. If it means putting a pet project back home on hold, so be it...

Senator Coleman - pay attention to what your base is saying! You will need our help in two very short years when you are up for re-election. Ignoring the disgruntled base will not get you sent back to DC in 2008......

The difference between Left and Right

OK - this can go a number of directions I know, but I think that this poll over at Minnesota Public Radio is the most telling one I have seen. It asks (I am deadly serious here) which one of the Constitutionally granted rights they are most willing to give up to the government! That's right gentle reader, our friends on the left are willing to give up their God granted, Constitutional rights. Not surprisingly, according to the poll 40.2% of my fellow Minnesotans would be perfectly happy to surrender their right to bear arms. While that result does not surprise me, it certainly frightens and saddens me at the same time. The right of the citizenry to keep and bear arms is going to be the right that protects the other rights from the over-reaching arm of an out of control government who is bent on usuruping the rights of the people!

So there you have it, dear readers....our friends on the left are happy to give away their rights while those of us on the right are not willing to give up a single one! For we on the right know, that the day the citizens give up any one of these God given rights (to the government) the rest will fall in short order! The people of Minnesota need to wake up to the fact that government is not our friends and that the best government is the one that governs least!

Proud to be a Conservative

I rarely listen to the Rush Limbaugh program anymore. I prefer the calm, quiet reasonings of the Dennis Prager show which is on at the same time in our area. However, this article in today's Wall Street Journal is a real gem! It articulates in clear, concise terms why we are proud to be Republicans. It also ties in nicely with this post by my friend and fellow blogger Savage Republican.

"The Miers nomination shows the strength of the conservative movement. This is no "crackup." It's a crackdown. We conservatives are unified in our objectives. And we are organized to advance them. The purpose of the Miers debate is to ensure that we are doing the very best we can to move the nation in the right direction. And when all is said and done, we will be even stronger and more focused on our agenda and defeating those who obstruct it, just in time for 2006 and 2008. Lest anyone forget, for several years before the 1980 election, we had knockdown battles within the GOP. The result: Ronald Reagan won two massive landslides."

Yes, Rush is right and so is my friend Savage Republican. We do expect perfection from ourselves and our elected leadership. Bravo gentlemen for a couple of well thought out pieces.

"The Democratic Party today is split over the war and a host of cultural issues, such as same-sex marriage and partial birth abortion. It wants to raise taxes, but dares not say so. It can't decide what message to convey to the American people or how to convey it. And even its once- reliable allies in the big media aren't as influential in promoting the party and its agenda as they were in the past. The new media--talk radio, the Internet and cable TV--not only have a growing following, but have helped expose the bias and falsehoods of the big-media, e.g., Dan Rather, CBS News and the forged National Guard documents. Hence, circulation and audience is down, and dropping. "

In this quote, Rush also ties into another article I read today. While this article says it in a little harsher manner than I would, as a parent I do understand and appreciate the analogy. The Democratic Party is acting like a bunch of spoiled, petulant children. Spoiled, petulant children should not be allowed to run the country. We need adults to run the country, because the country faces grown up problems. Which is why I come back to a post I made here. For the sake of the country, the adults need to get our arguments done and then move on so that in 2006, we do not turn the governance of the country over to the spoiled, petulant children.

I am so depressed....

Apparently, Chairman Howard Dean was in my own backyard (H/T Republican Minnesota)on Saturday and I missed it. I am depressed, because if I had known that the Chairman was going to be so close, I would have prepared an appropriate welcome for him - maybe even cooked him lunch - so that I could thank him for all of his hard work on behalf of the Republican, er, Democratic Party. Thankfully we have the Star Tribune on hand to tell us all about the Chairman's visit.

"Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Saturday that the party intends to target the seats now held by U.S. Reps. Mark Kennedy and John Kline."

I am so glad that we have the Star Tribune around to hand us that news flash. The Scott County DFL has only been saying that for the last 6-8 months that I know of.

"He pointed to the problems of White House adviser Karl Rove, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas. DeLay has been indicted on campaign finance law violations.
Rove and Frist are under investigation in unrelated matters.
"The Republican Party is bankrupt of ideas and bankrupt of morality," Dean said, tying in Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty because of the resignation of his campaign treasurer, Ron Esau, whose mortgage company was found to have "misled and deceived" homeowners."

I should have warned you about that last one. How hysterical is that? The party that brought the VietNam war into the 2004 election is saying that the Republicans are bankrupt of ideas???? I won't touch the morally bankrupt statement at all because both sides are equally guilty of moral bankruptcy - neither party has the lock on moral bankruptcy.

"Dean, however, said the Democrats will campaign on the issues of a "real national defense policy" based on truth, job creation tied to renewable energy, health insurance for every American, and strong public education."

John Kerry kept telling us about this mythical "plan" that the Democrats have for "real national defense" etc but I have yet to see any plan put forth? Have you????

"The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux, which run the casino, are based in Prior Lake, in Kline's Second District. Responding to Dean, Republican Carey asked sarcastically, "Has Coleen Rowley actually found out where the Second District is? She's been globe-trotting all around the country."

Now that quote is funny - true but funny all the same. It would be nice if Coleen would start campaigning in the district she wants to represent....

In all seriousness - this visit was sponsored by the latest 527 to join the DNC stable. It is high time to repeal McCain Feingold and get rid of 527's once and for all.

I want to close with a presonal note to Chairman Dean. Next time you are in Scott County - please stop by the Lady Logicians house. I promise you a wonderful lunch, served with a side of what Scott County is all about!

Local politics

Whoever said all politics is local was very wise indeed. What makes me think back on this bit of wisdom? I spent the better part of 2 hours this evening, meeting with some very passionate people discussing the direction of the city I live in. Yes, dear readers, it is City Council election time. Off year elections are always tough - people are not motivated to get out for City Council elections as they are for Presidential elections. However, this time may be different.

I live in a small, semi-rural town. It is the type of town people move to in order to raise their families and escape the pressures of their work day. It is a quiet town on one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes. Recreation is a vital part of life in our town. Our town, however, is located in one of the top 5 fastest growing counties in the entire United States. That growth has been effecting our community if good ways and bad ways. As a result the mayor and the current city council have had to address how to handle the growth. One of the things that the current mayor and city council have been managing (if that is the word you want to use) has been housing growth. Housing growth is a natural by-product of population growth. Their idea of managing housing growth is to rezone areas from single family homes to high density housing and from environmental set aside lands to high density housing. Now this flies in stark contrast to what the citizens of the city want. According to a survey that was conducted by consultant that the city council itself hired, 53% of the residents of this town want to keep the small town/rural feel of the community. I have a hard time seeing how high density housing fits into that mold.

While I am just one vote and what is important to me may not be the most important issue to my next door neighbor, the common theme I took away from this meeting was that the city leaders were unresponsive to the citizenry. The phrases that I kept hearing was that the people had "no voice" in city government and that there was no sense of "accountabilty" within City Hall. Those two phrases, in a nutshell, reverberated in my mind. While the voters say they want their state and federal governments to be more accountable, they demand it from their city governments. A city government that is unresponsive and unaccountable is going to face an uprising at the polls. Will it happen this time? I can't say for certain, but it will eventually happen. However, if it takes too long to happen, the city may be doomed.....