Sorry for the light posting

I have been working, just not blogging.I even have a little proof.

Thanks for the quote, Daniel.

Obama's Surge

Although Hillary Clinton has expanded her lead over Barack Obama in some polls, Obama is far from finished. In fact, as he did last quarter, this quarter Obama is expected to out-raise Clinton raising more contributions from smaller donors and ending with more cash-on-hand for the upcoming primaries. Not only that, but Lake Research Partners, a Democratic polling group, says Obama is the stronger candidate over Clinton against Rudy Giuliani. Their research also suggests a Clinton candidacy would drag down some Democratic congressional candidates—a double hit should she win the nomination.

Will all this amount to a new Obama surge? It has yet to be seen where Obama ends up in fundraising and how effective is his use of all that extra cash. Now that the polls suggest the Clinton shell is showing cracks, an Obama surge in the next quarter could show some interesting results.

Columbia Finds Those Tasers

Wow! Just in the nick of time! Columbia University, in an apparent mass search effort, managed to locate enough tasers to control the mobs outraged at Iran's terrorist-president Ahmadinejad before he showed up to speak at the university. One would hate to have seen his free speech rights hindered.

Let's see...here's the guy who has been sending missiles and foreign insurgents to kill American soldiers He is a violater of the U.N. Charter because he openly rallies nearby nations to destroy Israel (a fellow UN member nation), was identified as a leader in the kidnapping of Americans in Tehran in 1979, harbors al-qaeda terrorists, and is a known sponsor of terrorism worldwide—certainly somebody you want your 17-year old daughter to meet at school. It's educational, after all.

No doubt at this time next year there will be some other maniac responsible for the deaths of Americans they can warmly embrace at the university. Of course, in the interest of academic freedom, we must search out such people so as get the truth and not be misled by our own generals trying to fight a war, right?

Thank you Columbia University for proving once again that the heart of ignorance thrives in intellectual arrogance.

eHarmony for Voters

Step right up and identify the presidential candidate with whom you are most compatible. Don't be fooled by love-at-first-sight demands by candidates. Find your true vote-mate at VAjoe's candidate calculator. I tried it and found a 90% match between who I said I supported and my position on the issues. I'm a true believer.

In all seriousness, it's an interesting and informative gadget. You select the presidential candidate for whom you plan to vote. Then you select your position on a variety of issues along with the issue's importance to you. The calculator then reveals your true love compared with who you said you were planning to support. Various menus tell you others who may be close matches, those at the bottom of the list, etc. Obviously, it has limitations since it doesn't cover every issue and there is some subjectivity on candidate positions. But it's fun to play with.

HAPPY MATCHMAKING!

Woohoo! I was on Television

So now my foray into multimedia is almost complete. I've been on the radio, I have a presence on the web, and last night I was on the channel 4 news.

OK, so it had nothing to do with politics, it wasn't pre-planned, and I was just preparing to stuff my face at the Greek Festival. And to top it off, I didn't know about the appearance until someone told me that they saw me on the news last night.

Nevertheless, how many other LD candidates were on television in the past week?

By the way, if you don't have any plans this weekend, you should really do the Greek Festival.

11% Approve of the Democratic Congress

As we inch ever so slowly toward the presidential primaries and 2008 congressional campaigns, Zogby/Reuters polling still shows Congress at an all-time low now 11% approval rating. The deeper the hole is dug, the more difficult it will be for Democratic candidates to climb out of it. It doesn't necessarily follow, however, that voters will simply shift back to the GOP they rejected in 2006. In some cases, sure. But with the number of voters registering as independents continuing to climb, candidates will have to have a message that connects to independents—not a squishy middle-of-the-road message—but one that reaches out to all but the fringes. Who can do that effectively remains to be seen, but the effort should be interesting to watch.

Free Speech Still Ain't

Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minutemen who have worked on the border identifying and reporting illegal alien crossings to the Border Patrol, tried to speak at Columbia University last year until an anti-speech mob rushed the stage and physically assaulted him. After Gilchrist accepted an invitation to speak at the college this year, the student groups deliberated , decided it was too much trouble to provide the conservative point of view, and rescinded the original invitation.

Apparently, they haven't discovered tasers yet at Columbia University.

Aye, follow up on Taser Boy Aye.

Ahoy, a follow up from a post from ThinkStarBoard. Gar.

Arrr, it bears repeatin', because thar be still so many that be confused. Arrr, the freedom o' speech does not cancel out the consequences o' your speech, nor does it cancel the effects o' resistin' the king's men which IS an arrestable offense.

And if you be goin' t' act the martyr, do so with dignity and class. Gar. Aye, e'en had they shot the boy and sent him sleepin' in Davy Jones' locker , I would suspect that a majority o' Americans would have supported the measure if polled. A pence for an old man o'de sea?

Aye, now imagine the fit that would have been thrown if it had been Dick Cheney speakin' rather than John Kerry.

* Today is National Speak like a Pirate Day

Head-butt to MoveOn.org

It's a Crime That's Not a Crime

Rudy Giuliani says "Illegal immigration is not a crime. Crossing the border and being caught is a misdemeanor. Being an illegal immigrant in this country is subject to deportation, but not prosecution. That's just a state of the law and that's what the law of the United States is."

Rudy Giuliani appears to be suggesting that only felonies are crimes and misdemeanors are not. If this had been an isolated statement, I would suggest he was caught responding poorly in a difficult moment. But he's a bright guy who has responded to this question similarly a number of times, so I have to believe he is convinced that not all crimes are really crimes. I wonder what his criteria is if it's not based on what's a law and what isn't. Is it the line between felony and misdemeanor as suggested by his statements?

Not to pick on Rudy, but I think this is a legitimate question someone should ask at the next debate. After all, the executive branch of government is responsible for administering the laws and, I'm sure, many would want to be reassured that the laws would not be selectively enforced with Giuliani as president.

Trucks Stopped Dead In Their Tracks?

Late last week, officials scrambled to begin moving Mexican trucks across the border beyond the 25-mile limit even though U.S. trucks are still limited to 25 miles in Mexico. They finally pushed the first one across in the dead of night last Saturday avoiding negative publicity about the program. Little did they know a truck that was not authorized to carry explosives in Mexico was breaking the rules and would end up in front page news as it exploded leaving a 40-foot crater as a memorial.

Even though the fireball express wasn't bound for the U.S., it took just 1 day for the Senate to act on a previously House-passed ammendment (to a transportation funding bill) voting 74-24 to shut down the pilot trucking program. The bill was sponsored by Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa in a bi-partisan effort focused on previous safety problems with Mexican trucks and an obvious reaction to the explosion. No doubt, Hoffa and the Teamsters had some influence as Senators look forward to next year's elections and upcoming presidential primaries.

What's interesting about the vote is that it attached an ammendment to a bill President Bush has already said he would veto because it's too bloated. That bill also carries funding for bridge repairs even though the Transportation budget already carries funding for that purpose. This puts President Bush in a position of having to kill the bill risking criticism that he doesn't support fixing the collapsing bridge problem. Those who vote for the ammendment get to report to the Teamsters that they did all they could to save union jobs, but Bush vetoed the bill. At this point, it looks more like Senators were making a statement rather than standing up for the Teamsters. In any case, more questions have been raised about who really supports the NAFTA trucking program which appears to be in jeopardy.

City Elections

I'm not going to claim to know a tremendous amount about the portent of the city primaries for council elections, but here is something interesting.

In Ward 2, with 73% of the vote in, Republicans have turned out 4,705 votes with 4053 early ballots. Of that 3835 votes went to Lori Oien.

Democrats have turned out 4,429 with 3711 early ballots and 3646 votes going to Rodney Glassman

Dan Spahr has received 2708 votes compared with 2813 for Shirley Scott with Dan collecting 15 more early votes.

In not sure of what this will mean as far as an overall predictive value of the general, but it does appear that we can surmise 2 things.

1. Republican voter apathy for the coming cycle may be generally overrated.

2. Lori and Dan are plain outworking their competition, especially in the early ballot area.

Congratulations to Lori and Dan.

Giffords and MoveOn.org

Tedski over at Rum, Romanism and Rebellion likes to make a big deal about the background of donors even if there is no impropriety surrounding the specific donation.

Looks like Gabrielle is linked to MoveOn.org by a $5,000 donation. Will she repudiate their despicable ad against Petraeus?

On questioning patriotism

Congratulations, Democrats, you have just stepped into the trap that I previously mentioned.

It seems that MoveOn.org has purchased a full page ad in the New York Times titled "General Petraeus or General Betray Us." It would seem that the leadership of MoveOn.org and their Democratic supporters in Congress have now decided to question Petraeus' patriotism at the least and are quite possibly accusing him of treason. Nice. I'm sure that it will go well for them.

And just to be sure, this isn't an uncoordinated assault from a far left fringe group. From the Politico:

“No one wants to call [Petraeus] a liar on national TV,” noted one Democratic senator, who spoke on the condition on anonymity. “The expectation is that the outside groups will do this for us.”

I'm certain that Democrats will step up to defend the general that they confirmed by a unanimous vote to lead our forces, right? If he was such a serial liar, why put him in the post, especially as he was up front about what he was going to do.

Here is a great response from our senator Jon Kyl:

It’s repugnant, but unfortunately not surprising, to see Moveon.org launch this despicable ad campaign against General Petraeus.

The Senate had absolute confidence in General Petraeus when it unanimously confirmed him earlier this year. Because of organizations like Moveon.org and its affiliations with the leftist, liberal wing of the Democratic Party, the question arises whether this ad represents the stance of all Democrats.

If not, it is time for the Democratic leadership to announce whether it stands with Moveon.org or whether it stands behind the general Democrats unanimously confirmed – and his military strategy – to carry out our mission in Iraq.

We’re beginning to see real, measurable progress in Iraq since the increased troop levels earlier this year, and despite this fact, Moveon.org has chosen to engage in slanderous and partisan personal attacks on the commander of our troops on the ground. Because Moveon.org seems unable to contest the facts, it has instead chosen to attack the messenger because it doesn’t like the message.

I can’t imagine any act more despicable than personally attacking our troops. I call on all of my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans alike, to repudiate Moveon.org and any organizations that launch personal and slanderous attacks on our brave men and women who’ve laid down their lives to protect our nation.

I believe that we will have to wait for an assessment of the political ramifications before we hear any response from the Democrats. After all, it is quite clear that this is the only measure that they are actually interested in. Profiles in courage, the lot of them.

Update- From our other senator, John McCain:

In today's New York Times, the anti-war group MoveOn.org launched a McCarthyite attack on an American patriot and our commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus. This is a man who has devoted his life in service to our nation and has defended America in many battles over many years. Now he is the target of a despicable attack in one our nation's most visible newspapers. No matter where you stand on the war, we should all agree on the character and decency of this exceptional American. I would hope that the Democratic Congressional leadership and Democratic presidential candidates would also join me in publicly condemning this kind of political attack ad and the organization responsible for it in the strongest terms possible.

Kennedy's Answer Is Blowing in the Wind

Poor Ted just can't get hammered enough by his former loyalists. None other than Greenpeace, Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Daily Show on Comedy Central have taken their shots with Greenpeace leading the charge in an anti-Kennedy ad. It's gotten so ugly that Providence Journal writer, Froma Harrop writes: “After 45 years in the Senate, Kennedy should be polishing his liberal legacy. But his manipulative attacks on this wind farm have so sickened supporters that his long career may be headed for a sorry end.”

What had Ted Kennedy done to deserve such attacks from his base? He committed the unpardonable. Shockingly, he put personal interest ahead of principle trying to kill a wind farm that disturbs his view from his yacht. He certainly doesn't have a monopoly on hypocrisy. But it's hard to understand why Ted would be singled out in light of Save The Planet Al Gore's outrageous electricity, gasoline, and fuel jet usage.

Maybe Ted's defense created some of the rancor Al's been spared. Here's what Melissa Wagoner, a Kennedy spokesman, said: The senator opposes the wind farm for economic and environmental reasons. She added: ‘‘He also doesn’t believe it’s appropriate to hand any one developer 25 square miles of public property on a no-bid basis and before national standards for offshore wind farms are in place to protect coastal communities.’’

Yeah, right. Nice try, Ted. But here's the infamous quote that really got Ted into trouble: "But don't you realize - that's where I sail!"

I think that qualifies as a "gotcha" moment.

CNN Tabloid "Doctors" Haditha Video

In an interesting twist on the alleged Haditha abuses it is being reported that both the military video of the events that day and the CNN version broadcast on national TV were doctored and spliced to mislead observers as to what really happened. Nevertheless, so far it appears that the marines' statements have been compelling enough to convince a military court that they acted appropriately under the circumstances.

It's tough call to make from another part of the world. Statements by marines that "civilians" acted in a manner to suggest they were detonating a bomb, and that insurgents held women and children hostage to prevent shelling of their hideout are reminiscent of the stories my dad used to tell of young children forced by North Korean communists to carry to U.S. soldiers bombs hidden in baskets of food. In those cases, it was kill the child or allow an entire platoon to die—not a pleasant position to be in. Even if circumstances had been such to allow a lengthy period of time to debate the decision (which wasn't the case), it wouldn't have been any easier to make. My dad was never tried for killing such civilians—he paid a price far worse that he carried with him the rest of his life. Although most of us would say he did what he had to, it didn't make it any less painful for him.

Nobody wants to see civilians killed, and nobody wants to see inappropriate actions on the part of U.S. troops. But nobody wants to be in their shoes making the same decisions under the same circumstances, either.

Shame on CNN for exploiting the marines involved for tabloid sensationalization. That should be a crime of defamation not tolerated by the general public.

Congress Gets an "A" in Creative Accounting

Here's one truly bi-partisan outcome for which everyone seems to want to take credit: the alleged reduction of the budget deficit. At CNN Money, senior editor Allen Sloan takes D.C. to task over the creative accounting techniques that would land most executives in jail.

(Fortune Magazine) -- There will be lots of celebrating in Washington next month when the Treasury announces that the federal budget deficit for fiscal 2007, which ends September 30, will have dropped to a mere $158 billion, give or take a few bucks.

...But I have a nasty little secret for you, folks. If you use realistic numbers rather than what I call WAAP - Washington Accepted Accounting Principles - the real federal deficit for the current fiscal year is more than 2-1/2 times the stated deficit.

It should be interesting to see how Gabby Giffords presents the numbers in next year's election when she reports how well she "returned [congress] to fiscal responsibility."

Go get 'em, Dog

My mirth meter just jumped up a few notches. It appears that Democratic archdonor Norman Hsu has skipped his court date and absconded. Nothing says "this was an honest mistake" like jumping bail.

Frank covered much of what needed to be said about this criminal previously. The good part is that now that he is on the run, Hsu will not be buried by some new iteration of the Larry Craig story, or whatever else Democrats would like to focus on. The story officially became sexy, which is very hard to do with campaign finance scandals. Congratulations, Democrats.

Of course, maybe I am just a bit jaded and Democrats will come out in force to demand the head of Hsu and everyone that ever took a check from him, just like they did with Jack Abramoff. There is really no difference between the two, save that sometimes Abramoff shuttled money towards the other party whereas Hsu was straight ticket. That, and Hsu was a wanted fugitive at the time the bulk of his donations were made.

I would assume that the "culture of corruption" label just became extremely bipartisan, except that Republican housecleaning has begun much earlier.

Seat Shuffling in Pima County GOP

Paula Maxwell, the new Pima County Republican Party Executive Director was scheduled to begin her first shift in the office today. Paula will retain her position as county party secretary on the Executive Committee.

At some point, two at-large party seats will need to be filled as a result of recent resignation announcements—an excellent opportunity for those who hesitated to drop their names in the hat at the last county convention.