Huckabee's "Floating Cross"?

The Drudge report found the most reportable thing about this Huckabee Christmas Greeting was the way the bookshelves which obviously form a cross "float" behind him. His message is clear and the producer of the video creating a moving back ground gives it a nice touch. That there is a white cross in that background is obviously intentional and in good taste. It is a video Christmas card, mentions that Christmas is celebrating the birth of Christ and ends with a nice picture of Mike with a lit Christmas tree in the background.

Only a secular progressive would have any objection to that, and they should be objecting to the mention of Jesus Christ. Seems like there are people who are trying very hard to criticize everything Huckabee does. He really must have some people worried!

Although I rarely make political donations I believe I'll send one to him and you can too - using the slatecard widget here on my blog!



By the way - Merry Christmas

Cross Posted at RobBoyce

An appeal to end the income tax

A year end appeal for donations to a FAIR TAX Candidate - cross posted from aWILLTOWIN.blogspot.com



I know, Santa is coming but so is that crucial end of the year - gotta do this so it goes on this year's taxes - is only a week after Christmas. Why do we have to do that?

If the FAIR Tax were implemented that week between Christmas and New Years would be no big deal. It wouldn't matter what you bought or paid for or donated to before the end of the year! There would be no need because there would be no income tax.

This year you can do some year end - last minute donating that could mean in future years you would not ever have to think about income taxes (at least federal ones) again.

Make a donation now to a FAIR TAX supporter - Will Breazeale - who is running for Congress. Help him and the other FAIR TAX supporters build the momentum needed to dump the income tax and all that goes with it.

See that SlateCard widgit over there? Click on it, get out your credit card and send him $10.40 (or more) in honor of scrapping the income tax. You can then select the FAIR TAX Badge to show him you support him because of the FAIR TAX.

Send this message or a link to it to every one you know that hates the income tax (I know that is repetitive - cause every one I know hates the income tax - so just send it to everyone).

You can read more about Will at aWILLtoWIN.com

Contributions are not deductible for federal income tax purposes. Corporations, foreign nationals without green cards, federal contractors, and minors (under 18 years of age) are prohibited from contributing. The maximum contribution per individual is $2,300 per election. Therefore, a couple may contribute up to $4,600 per election. Multi-candidate PACs may contribute up to $5,000 per election. Federal law requires us to use our best efforts to report the name, mailing address, occupation and name of employer for each individual whose contributions aggregate in excess of $200 in an election cycle

Paid for by Breazeale for Congress

Update on Shaheen/Clinton Obama Drug Dealer flap

Blue Hampshire is saying that the backlash over Billy Shaheen's comments about Obama's drug use and possible drug dealing may be directed not at HRC but at his wife Jeanne who is seeking Sen. John Sununu's seat.

PS: Here's an uncomfortable thought, that I genuinely hope will not turn out to be true. This sorry episode may have singlehandedly cost Jeanne Shaheen the financial and activist support of the larger national netroots, who are at the moment calling for Bill's head.

So the nutroots might not support Jeanne because her blowhard hubby outed Obama on drugs? Obama outed himself on drugs - Billy just reminded everyone of it. And I have to wonder why right now the Clinton camp would want to distract the news media by putting this out (by mistake, wink wink)?
There is a debate in Iowa, where HRC's numbers are slipping. if yesterday's GOP version of the same debate is any indication, there will be nothing there to help HRC. In fact, it is likely that whatever comes out of the debate - it won't help her. So, have a top campaign official make a "mistake" that clogs the news media, disavow it as a "mistake", distract everyone as you are submarining the opponent and hope it works.
But then former NH Dem chairman Kathy Sullivan says "it was a mistake. What we were hoping to talk about today was Hillary's experience and leadership."
Which begs the question - what experience and leadership? One term as US Senator form a state she never lived in? Or as the spouse of a President and Governor? leadership in what? What has she ever led? Oh yeah, she led the debacle on Health Care (which now Bill says she had nothing to do with). She spent her whole life following Bill and standing in his shadow. When your candidate has no leadership experience and he opponent has a past history with drugs - which issue would you want on news? Well, it seems they made the obvious choice - Obama used drugs and maybe sold them!
Cross posted at RobBoyce.com

Billy Shaheen like Billy Clinton knows "dirty tricks"

The Clintons are not the only political couple where the hubby, named Bill, is trying to get the wife elected. And neither are strangers to dirty tricks.

There are a lot of similarities between the Clintons and the Shaheens. In both cases they follow the standard Democrat tactic of accusing the Republicans for the "dirty tricks" that they themselves employ. They assume that whatever they themselves do or would do is what the GOP opponent would do.

Billy Shaheen, who for six years was the New Hampshire "First Hunk" as his wife - former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen referred to him, is now co-chair of the Clinton national campaign (even as his wife is seeking to oust Sen. John Sununu is NH). Not at all surprising that he would bring up Osama's admitted drug use and blame the GOP.

"It'll be, 'When was the last time? Did you ever give drugs to anyone? Did you sell them to anyone?'" said Shaheen, whose wife Jeanne is the state's former governor and is running for the U.S. Senate next year.

"There are so many openings for Republican dirty tricks. It's hard to overcome," Shaheen said.

Every opponent Shaheen faced in her campaigns for Governor and Senator has been a mean spirited, evil uber conservative who employed ever dirty trick imaginable - at least that was how the Shaheens portrayed them. Billy was the behind the curtain stage manager while Jeanne played Betty Crocker. Now there are claims the 2002 election where she lost her bid for the open Senate seat was stolen from her by some phone jamming at the Dem's call for a ride to the polls phones. Hard to believe that:

according to court documents...about 800 calls between 7:45 and 9:10 a.m.

could have prevented almost 20,000 Democrat voters from voting. Yes, the phone blocking was wrong. Yes, people who were responsible have spent time in jail for it, but no, it did not result in Shaheen losing to Sununu. She lost because he was the better candidate!

No one should forget, the Willey Horton issue that hurt Michael Dukakis was originated by the Gore campaign. The GOP only followed up on it and was then blamed for using a "dirty trick". The facts of that are clear - Michael Dukakis as governor allowed Horton out on a furlough - Horton raped and murdered while on that furlough - Gore asked Dukakis about "weekend passes for convicted criminals" during a 1988 Democratic primary debate. If it was a dirty trick to use these facts to defeat Dukakis - then every fact based campaign tactic is a dirty trick and a Dem started the whole thing.

Of course the Clinton campaign has disavowed the words of their national co-chairman, they never accept responsibility for anything. They never have - they never will!

Cross posted at RobBoyce.com

More gun Control or more people Controlling their Guns

How many people died in the Omaha Mall because the mall prevents people from carrying concealed weapons? It seems that the ban on concealed weapons succeeded, the shooting stopped when the one person with a gun in the mall shot the one person in the mall with a gun. If others in the mall had been carrying, it seems likely one of them would have ended it sooner.

When a lunatic invaded a Church in Arvada Co, he killed and left - he was the only one with a gun. When he or another lunatic (the news is not yet clear on that) entered a Colorado Springs Church, an armed citizen (in this case security personnel) ended the incident by killing the lunatic, not waiting for the lunatic to finish his demented plan.

Ever since guns were invented, lunatics have used them. This will continue as long as guns exist and, considering the ease of manufacture and the wide dispersal of that technology, they will exist for a very long time. The only defense against lunatics with guns is sane people with guns. It is clear that there is no way to guarantee that all lunatics will be identified prior to their first shot and considering the gross intrusion on individual civil rights that would be required to even try to identify lunatics prior to their going over the edge, thinking sane people will never allow it.

We can never know how many innocent lives are saved by the deterrent value of armed citizens because we do not have divine sight, we cannot see which hearts would have stopped beating, which bodies would have bled out. What we can know is that when even lunatics understand they will face other people with guns, they choose easier targets.

When Florida liberalized their carry rules to allow more citizens to carry concealed weapons, the criminals changed targets and tactics. Rather than face a possibly armed citizen, they targeted people who they knew could not be warmed - tourists flying into Miami and renting cars. They car jacked these unarmed travelers, in some cases killing them, specifically because they could not easily be armed.

When the UK banned nearly all civilian ownership of handguns, violent crime exploded. The criminals knew that they were free to use whatever weapon they wished and they would not be facing a superior weapon, a concealed gun. There were more attacks with guns than before the ban. The ban had exactly the opposite effect that those who imposed it envisioned. Similar explosions of violence have followed citizen gun bans around the world. The safest places continue to be those where individual citizens can be legally armed with concealed weapons.

If citizens are concerned about their safety in public and semi public places, they should avoid those that do not allow for armed citizens. If the mall entrance says no guns, then maybe there is another - safer - place to shop!

Cross posted at RobBoyce

The Huckabee Factor!

The MSM has noticed Mike Huckabee but barely, only that he has scored big in recent polls. An AP story about the GOP race mentions him exactly twice - both times simply quoting his standing in a poll of Iowa voters. They devote paragraphs to Rudy and John and especially Mitt.

Obviously the MSM doesn't know what to make of Mike, he wasn't someone they have been touting to their mindless readers and therefore they don't know how he is surging. He hasn't raised lots of money or contributed lots of his own money to get his message out. He hasn't benefited from tons of publicity over the past decade like Mitt, Rudy and John. He was Governor of a flyover state, not a big northeastern state, wasn't Mayor of the nation's largest city, hasn't been visibly running for President since the last millennium in the Senate.

No, Huckabee has done his thing quietly, consistently and - horrors, in the MSM's view - in the old fashioned retail politics way. He has appealed to individual voters, he has presented his views, his issues, his positions in a steady and believable way. When his record is criticized he answers is a calm and reasonable way - he points out what he sees as distortions of his record as Governor, he fleshes out his own view of the criticisms.

The MSM also doesn't understand how he doesn't take them up on opportunities to say really negative things about his opponents. When asked if he has misgivings about Romney's Mormon faith he changes the subject, he talks about his own faith. When someone outside his campaign uses negative push polling on his behalf, he denounces them for doing it and calls on them to stop.

A source I rarely cite, the NH Concord Monitor, has a piece on Mike saying:

Huckabee's best shot, of course, is just to keep being himself and meeting as many voters as possible.

If he schedules town meetings during the next several weeks, he'll be surprised at the crowds he'll draw.

And the crowds will give him a listen. Considering the polarized atmosphere of national politics, voters may be ready for an experienced chief executive who wants to narrow the partisan gap and take on the country's challenges with a can-do attitude...

The three most appealing things about Mike Huckabee are a self-effacing sense of humor, a pragmatic view of government and an impulse to depolarize politics. In other words, he can laugh at himself, and he thinks the public would prefer that leaders solve problems rather than play gotcha with the other party.

And here's a fourth appealing quality: Huckabee is a communicator. He speaks clearly, confidently and knowledgeably, and he exudes optimism.

Can Mike Huckabee keep climbing and actually win the NH Primary and eventually the Presidency? Only time will tell but I do know the methods he is using, the old style retail politics of having a good solid message and communicating it to the voters not by massive TV ad buys but with a grassroots effort, are the methods that have proved successful before and there is no reason that they cannot again!

Cross posted at RobBoyce

The Pledge is to the People not ATR!

After the CNN/YouTube debate debacle I wrote how the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) pledge is in fact a pledge to the American people and taxpayers, not to the ATR. Grover Norquist has now posted his YouTube response with the same message!

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Crossposted at RobBoyce

Black Friday bad news? Or Economy good news?

Since last Friday, "Black Friday", the gloom and doom experts in the MSM have warned that even though more shoppers showed up Friday and spent more money over all than last year, things are bad in the economy. They point out that individual shoppers spent 3.5% less than last year! Horrors, the sky is falling!

But retailers won't start popping the champagne yet, as a closer look at early spending patterns reveals a nervous side to all those pre-dawn shopping excursions. Shoppers spent an average of $347.44, down 3.5% from last year, a sign that the economic uncertainty from higher gas prices and the housing slump has dampened their spirits (BusinessWeek.com, 11/14/07).

But wait, they mentioned high gas prices - what if some shoppers did weigh the cost of gas to go shopping against the low cost of shopping on-line?

Over the holiday weekend, sales had grown 45 per cent on last year, although the seasonal pick-up in demand had come later than last year.

So, shoppers in bricks and mortar stores (BMS) subtracted about $10 from their in store spending (maybe that is the difference in the cost of gas to get to the mall?) and some that might have gone to BMS instead stayed home and bought on-line - 45% increase vs 3.5% decrease?
The MSM have an agenda item to portray the coming year as the "worst economy ever" in order to destroy the GOP. The theory is that the party of the sitting president suffers if the economy is bad. The problem is that they are struggling to find "news" that they can report that makes things look bad.
Even the reports of "dismal" results on Black Friday have to admit that more people went shopping and more money was spent. And look at the "subprime mortgage" problem stories, they talk about how bad it is for the very small number of people who are actually in trouble with being over extended, but the fact that housing prices are falling - which makes homes more affordable for more people - is the news that affects more people and that is a positive for anyone trying to afford a home. Sure it might be harder to qualify for a loan to buy the new house - but the people who are in trouble with existing mortgages were not really qualified for the loans they got. But more people being able to afford a home is a good thing, more affordable housing prices - a good thing, more shoppers in the stores - good thing, more on-line shoppers spending more - good thing.

Crossposted at RobBoyce

Wounded Warriors should not have to repay bonuses

From aWILLtoWIN at blogspot

Fayetteville, NC – When a soldier voluntarily re-enlists in the military
and receives a bonus for doing so, the government demands it be repaid if that
warrior is wounded in battle and unable to remain in the service. This is the
current policy and not everyone agrees it is the right policy.

Fox News is reporting that Jordan Fox – a soldier injured and partially blinded by a
road side bomb in Iraq. Not only is he disabled and not able to pursue his
intended career as a police officer when he finished his enlistment, but because
he was injured and left the service three months short of his commitment, the
government wants him to repay three thousand dollars of his signing
bonus.

Congressional Candidate, Army Reserve Major and Iraq Veteran
Will Breazeale joins NC Rep. Walter Jones and others in calling for an end to
the practice. That policy, which also calls for repayment of such bonuses if the
service member leaves the service for other reasons prior to the fulfillment of
the enlistment term, has no exemption for members unable to continue due to
injuries in the line of duty.

"This should change." Breazeale said
“Say a young soldier re-enlisted, got married and used the bonus to qualify to
buy a home for their future family. Then he deploys, is seriously wounded and
discharged. Is it then fair for the government to say they are taking back the
bonus? I don't think so! These warriors have fulfilled their
commitment!”

Breazeale is running for the NC 7th district which
extends from the Amy's Fort Bragg to the Marine Corps Camp LeJeune in
southeastern North Carolina. Rep. Jones, whose district includes LeJeune to
USMC's Cherry Point, is co-sponsoring HR 3793, also called the Veterans
Guaranteed Bonus Act, to make this change.

iPod me Bro!

Fox News just reported on a survey of students in a NYC college that found 1 in 5 would give up their voting rights for an iPod Touch.

Cross posted at RobBoyce

Does Lowes hate Christmas?

Today I got the first round of XXXXX big company hates Christmas e-mails. This one I remember seeing last year - that Lowes refuses to call their "Holiday trees" "Christmas trees".

A quick search of their products on-line finds some trees labeled as "Christmas trees" and others not. Same is true for other decorations. They carry a line called "Holiday Living" decorations and some of these have secular descriptions and some are Christmas oriented, specifically nativity scenes.


It seems that if there is an anti Christmas bias it might be with the suppliers who provide the actual descriptions used by Loews. I seriously doubt that the descriptions are created by Lowes and that most are simply what ever the supplier provided.

I also remember last year driving over to the local Lowes and seeing first hand that the display of fresh cut real trees were indeed accompanied by a sign saying "Christmas trees", not Holiday trees.

Crossposted at RobBoyce

Bloggers on strike with writers?

Seventeen entertainment blogs—among them Televisionary, Give Me My Remote and The TVAddict—will go dark Tuesday, replacing their sites with WGA solidarity statements.

Will I have to adjust my viewing habits? Will I miss my favorite shows?

I doubt it - I rarely watch anything that would be affected by the strike. News, old movies, Magum re-runs? Gee, don't think they are gonna be swept off the air by the strike but if they are - there are always older movies, the history channel and Rockford Files!

Crossposted at RobBoyce

Who should be in Veterans Day parades?

The Nutroots are all upset. Seems some people holding Veterans Day parades didn't want Veterans for Peace and similar groups in their parades. In a parade to honor Veterans tell me which of the groups above represent honor and respect for people who have honorably served our country. I did have to search through a lot of the VFP pictures to find ones that did not have obscene language.

Then They ask:

If you’d like to ask the Long Beach Veterans Day Committee why they ban certain groups of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans from participating in their Veterans Day parade, while at the same time allowing groups that accuse the Democratic Senate Majority Leader of wanting to "surrender to the enemy," by all means

Let's see, Reid says the war is lost and wants to bring the troops home - sounds like surrender to me!

Crossposted at RobBoyce

Thank you Veterans

Then NRSC has a special thank you video for the Veterans in honor of Veterans day. There is also a link to America Supports You where you can send a message of thanks to those who are serving.

from the re-elect President Hillary campaign

Some guy is sending the following to NH legislators:

New Hampshire Legislator "you've got the WHOLE world in your hands...."

$3 gas $4 milk Civilians & Soldiers being Killed

Its NO time to be training new acts

Elect Strong, Proven and Seasoned

Elect Hillary President

But he should say "re-elect Hillary President" 'cause in her mind she already was for 8 years!

Cross posted at RobBoyce.com

Taxpayers win some lose some!

Tax payers got some good news yesterday. In Oregon, the voters said no to a plan to increase cigarette taxes in order to expand the state childrens’ health insurance plan (SCHIP) to non-children. This is the same program and the same issue that the Democrat controlled US House of Representatives has now passed twice – the first being vetoed by President Bush and he has vowed to veto the second.

In North Carolina the unincorporated town of Hampstead turned down a plan to add another level of government – they rejected an incorporation referendum that would have guaranteed more taxes and more government.

Also in NC voters in 16 counties had the opportunity to vote for a new tax on the sale of real-estate. The answer – a resounding NO!

Nationally they were not so well off when the US House voted to over ride another veto on a water resources bill. Called “the worst pork-barrel water projects bill ever.” By Taxpayer for Common Sense. No doubt some members of Congress thought all the recent talk about the drought in the southeastern US meant they had to appear to be doing “something” about water. Often times for Congress doing nothing would be the better choice. The water difficulties faced by Atlanta can be traced straight back to Congress but since those votes were years ago and passed by many now former Members, the current occupants feel no guilt or if they do think that throwing more money at the problem will make it go away.

All that pork barrel spending in the Water Resources bill will do nothing to refill the waters of Lake Lanier nor will they slow the federally mandated withdrawals that put Atlanta in peril.
The taxpayers should take a long close look at what their current members of Congress are doing in the Taxpayers’ name with the Taxpayers’ money. In one short year every member of the House and one third of the Senators face election. Those that are not mindful of the Taxpayers’ interests should be sent home to become taxpayers again not taxspenders.

Cross posted at RobBoyce

Sign Sen Demint's petition against earmarks!

Go to Sen Demint's web site and sign the petition against earmarks.



H/T RobBoyce.com

Bush vows another Veto

I have to wonder what the results one year ago might have been if President Bush had started acting tough and vetoing bloated spending bills in early 2005 - shortly after his re-election. Would the Republican base have been so disenchanted and stayed away from the polls last November if he had been beating up on the big spenders in Congress. Admittedly at that time it was the GOP in the majority but there were tax and spend Republicans voting with the Democrats to pass the bloated spending bills.

Today he has vowed to veto the Farm Bill passed by the Senate. Recently he has vowed to veto several other bloated spending bills.

The voters were disgusted with the pork barrel earmarks - the same as they are now. They were upset with their Congress spending without control and they were upset with Bush for letting them do it.

Bush should have been doing what he is doing right now long ago, starting in January 01 for that matter. Yes, when we went to war with the terrorists after 9/11, more had to be spent on defense - but there should have been, if not a decrease, a level funding of the non-defense portions of the Government. There should not have been the expansion of non defense government spending we have seen and 9/11 was no valid excuse.

Expanding subsidized health care to middle class families, expanding subsidies to corporate farmers, allowing unchecked earmarks all are fair game and Cheers to the President for taking this action - albeit years late.

Crossposted at RobBoyce

Dems lie that people die

The NH Democrat party sent out a mailer in the non-partisan (Yuk Yuk) Manchester mayoral race. The flier claims that murders in Manchester are up 33%. They are not. No more people have died this year than last year or the year before. Further - half of the murders this year were the murder half of murder suicides. How is a mayor supposed to know when someone will snap and murder their spouse (or domestic partner)?

This could be written off as figures never lie but liars always figure if it were assumed they were comparing the first 9 months of 2007 against 3/4 of the previous years, but that is not a valid comparison when the total number of murders per year is so low to begin with. There is no valid reason for the Democrats to assume there will be 1.3 more murders this year. (BTW - is that a pregnant woman in the first trimester?)

It is no surprise that the Democrats want to pretend there is some crisis in Manchester - they don't know what to do without a crisis - real or a lie!

The next question to ask did any of Hillary's dirty money pay for the distribution of these lies? Was this Hsu money? Or did it come from an illegal immigrant busboy?

H/T to Drew Cline

Crossposted at RobBoyce

McIntyre skips SCHIP vote!

Rep. Mike McIntyre not only changed his position on the SCHIP bill by first voting against the gross expansion of the program to middle income families and illegal aliens and then voting for it by voting to override the Presidential veto. Now he has voted for virtually the same bill. (RC 1009)

Beyond all that he further cow-towed to the Liberal wing of his Party by “taking a walk” and not even voting on the GOP compromise bill just 9 minutes before he voted on the Democrat’s version (RC 1008). His conscience may have been bothering him because he knew that people in the 7th NC District he represents do not want this program expanded, funded by all taxpayers to become a boon for middle income families and especially for illegal aliens. The GOP version included extra funds to keep the program available for families who earn too much for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance.

It is also possible that he has been reading the liberal blogs calling for him to face an opponent in the primary next spring – that there are some who feel he is not the best Liberal Democrat out there and they want a change.

It does seem that the winds of change are blowing in the 7th District and right now they are blowing Mike McIntyre around in circles.

Crossposted at RobBoyce

Hillary practices salute

Hillary is preparing to meet with Ahmadinejad and Chavez. She has the salute about right.

One by one

The GOP is often accused of hurting itself by in fighting, of having some members beating up on others over some issue, jumping on 80% friends because they are not 100%.

Well that seems to be exactly what is happening with the Dems right now.

This just showed up on BlueHampshire:

The straws that broke the back of this camel were the shameless Senators Schumer and Feinstein - members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who declared today that they will vote for Michael Mukasey as Attorney General. Schumer is in charge of the DSCC - recruiting and raising funds for future Democratic Senate candidates....But I'll be listening to the Greens, and the Libertarians, and the little voices that say "It's too cold to vote today."

I've been a Democrat for 35 years.

Today the Party spit me out.

I love it when a plan comes together!

Cross posted at RobBoyce

The NH primary slate is set

The slate of candidates for the NH primary is set - well almost!

It seems at least one of the Democrats who signed up has a deficiency in Civics education.

Sal Muhamed signed up and paid the $1000 fee but is ineligible to hold the office. He proudly points out on his web site that he was born in Egypt and is a naturalized citizen. Surely the citizenship process still includes lessons in civics to at least the 8th grade level. I know by then I was aware that only natural born citizens can become President.

Another interesting candidate is the only Republican to sign up to run for Vice President, NH Sen. John "Jack" Barnes. I saw Jack at the State House for VP and that in 2004 on Monday and we were talking about the fact hardly anyone ever signs up for VP. I almost signed up in 2004 and sure enough - he signed up and will be the only name on the ballot for VP.

It is interesting that Hillary could not be bothered to come sign up in person - she had a stand in and that was on the final day!

What has McIntyre spinning - not the hurricane

Rep. Mike McIntyre NC-7 has been spinning around like a wind vane in the hurricane lately but the source of the wind must be the Liberal side of his Democrat party that has him spinning. A supposedly conservative “Blue Dog” he originally voted against the over reaching expansion of the SCHIP program. That program, originally a GOP plan, has been selected by the Socialized Medicine arm of the Democrat Party as one prong of their attack on free market health care in the US.

This program is intended to help insure children in families too well off to qualify for taxpayer paid Medicaid but not well enough off to afford private insurance. Some states had used the federal funds of SCHIP to create a sliding scale of subsidization that helped families above the poverty level but certainly below “middle class”. Other states had been including adults and were attempting to extend it well into middle class income ranges. The Democrat controlled Congress drafted a change that adds tens of billions more in tax payer money than is required to keep the program operating for the intended purpose. They also sought to tie it to an increase in cigarette taxes.

McIntyre citing the increased tax on tobacco voted against the bill. However when President Bush vetoed the bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was using all the pressure she could generate to change votes of the Democrats and Republicans who opposed it and over ride the veto.

Buckling to this pressure McIntyre publicly changed his position and then voted to over ride the bill. But the story does not end there. The supposedly conservative McIntyre not only voted for the same Democrat bill last week but he avoided voting at all on the Republican alternative.

The question is, does Mike fear Pelosi, the radical Liberal Left or the voters? His original vote against the bill could make it seem it was the voters in the district who earn their living from tobacco that he feared. But when he flipped and voted to over ride the veto, it certainly seemed he was afraid of Pelosi. However voting for the resurrected bill but not voting at all on the Republican alternative seems to be a fear of the far Left Liberals who have been calling him a “Bush Dog” and even calling for a primary opponent to oppose him.

Bush vows to veto pork bill!

Yesterday in a speech to the Heritage Foundation among the many good points about his efforts to fight the War on Terror with Democrats in Congress acting like there is no war and no need to fight it and his need to have an Attorney General he made the following statement that had me standing and cheering - happily I was not driving at the time I heard it:

Congress also needs to pass the Department of Defense spending bill, as well as the funding bill for our nation's veterans. There are reports that congressional leaders may be considering combining the funding bills for our military and our veterans together with a bloated labor, health and education spending bill. It's hard to imagine a more cynical ploy than holding funding for our troops and our wounded warriors hostage in order to extract $11 billion in wasteful Washington spending. If the reports of this strategy are true, I will veto such a three-bill pileup

When Democrat big spenders in Congress pulled this same stunt with Reagan, Reagan blinked - he went on national TV and said "never again!" just before he went ahead and signed the bill, pork and all. I was extremely disappointed but my TV did survive the night.

President Bush has updated the strategy and has made a preemptive strike. I am not surprised that the MSM has not picked up on this veto threat - they seem to have a fixation on the SCHIP veto and the sequel. This veto being promised holds much more of the taxpayers’ money. The stakes are much higher.

But don't hold your breath waiting for CNN to tell you before the veto happens. Then when it does, they will blame Bush for cutting funds for Veterans and Defense as well as all the HHS and education funds. They will probably even portray many of the pork barrel ear marks as vital, necessary spending.

The problem is of course these ear marks do not get full and open debate, they never have to stand on their own merits. There is never a committee that invites people for and against them to give their views. Unless a pork fighting member moves on the floor to remove one or more of them there is never a recorded vote on them and worst of all they are lumped into huge piles of foul smelling unaccountable spending attached to bills that must be passed to keep the federal government operating.

Democrats in Congress play chicken, the MSM is on their side and the Presidents of the past have let them win or in the case of Democrat Presidents have colluded with them. And yes there are GOP members in Congress who are addicted to the pork as well, but the worst are the Democrats - using the taxpayers money to buy votes and attention (and often times campaign donations) with these earmarks.

Thank you Mr. Bush for taking a stand (which you should have taken in January 2001). The taxpayers thank you!

I do want to apologize to the Pork Producers, I didn't come up with the idea of calling it "pork" and my Great Grandfather was an Iowa hog farmer.

Olbermanagong reveals Osama's new hiding place

Obviously it took some radical nip and tuck but we now know that Osama bin Laden has been hiding in the open by assuming the identity of Syria's head of state. We would never have known if the bin Laden co-conspirator Keith Olbermanagong had not slipped up.

He and his version of Mata Hari, Huffington, both let slip this massive identity switch in this clip:



If Rudy had never mentioned Hillary and Obama planning to invite Assad to the White House if they get elected we would never have known that they would really have been hosting the supposed cave man bin Laden. Watch as Rudy says Assad - but they knowingly substitute his true identity bi Laden

H/T Hot Air and Riehl World

Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran

The lyric fits better with the original Beach Boys song "Barbra Ann" the newest Zogby poll says 52% of Americans are humming "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb-bomb Iran"

Zogby: 52% support bombing Iran

Sununu helps keep Internet tax free

From the Friends of ATR blog:

Last night the Senate passed a seven-year extension of the Internet tax moratorium. Also, by taking steps to protect emails from the narrow definition included in the House bill, Senators Wyden, Sununu and McConnell delivered a win for taxpayers.

NH Dem bullies should be expelled

The nutroots at Blue Hampshire think it is somehow unfair to point out that on Lynch's watch the tolls increased because two GOP counselors voted with him. It wasn't Lynch's fault the minority members of the council somehow hoodwinked him into raising the tolls. Poor little Johnny, can't stand up to such bullying.

They don't mention that the other half of the sign is about the already passed and imminent taxes John Lynch and the Dems in Concord have saddled the NH taxpayers with. He has no defense there - if increasing taxes was not his plan he most certainly could have vetoed them. Where was your mighty pen then little Johnny, did the big bad majority, your pals in the Democrat Caucuses of the House and Senate twist your little arm? Those bullies should be expelled - isn't that the zero tolerance policy for bullying that the liberals have foisted on the schools? Yeah, lets expel them!

Cross posted at RobBoyce

Movie goers reject anti-war Hollywood

With the Lunatic fringe in Hollywood using their "star" power to try to discredit the President and our military with anti-war films it is refreshing to read that their efforts are transparent and repugnant to the movie going masses.

It doesn't matter how many Oscar winners are in front of or behind the camera — audiences are proving to be conscientious objectors when it comes to this fall's surge of antiwar and anti-Bush films.

Both "In the Valley of Elah" and, more recently, "Rendition" drew minuscule crowds upon their release, which doesn't bode well for the ongoing stream of films critical of the Iraq war and the Bush administration's wider war on terror.

Not everyone in America has the extreme viewpoint of the Hollywood elite - I hope that they fail to earn back the cost of their over priced stars salaries.

Crossposted at RobBoyce

Soros affiliated company stealing tax dollars with dead patients

Michelle Malkin reports on a Soros connected company in Florida:

Wellcare serves Medicare and Medicaid customers–more than 350,000 seniors in Florida alone. The stock fell yesterday on news of the raid. Seems stories have been floating around for a while about the company enrolling dead people and such:

But my question is - how can Medicare or Medicaid allow dead people to be registered again for services? Of course I understand it is unreasonable to expect federal Bureaucracies to actually pay attention to their own records and to actually care that the taxpayers money is being stolen. After all the Social Security Administration allows illegal aliens to use stolen SS#s and refuses to do anything to stop it.

Just imagine how well the massive bureaucracy Hillary Care would create would safeguard the taxpayer's money!

Cross posted at RobBoyce

Global Warming destroying VT fall colors - NOT!

Some beautiful fall color pictures (of VT) showing the terrible effects of Global Warming there.



Just a sample of Raven's pictures. More here and here and here and here.

Crossposted at RobBoyce

Lawsuits and the Fires

The Society for the Prevention of Reasonable Forest Management is heading to Federal Court in Sacramento today to file suit against the Bush administration for causing the wild fires in Southern California which are hindering the SPORFM's lawsuits against the Bush administration over the Healthy Forests Initiative passed in 2003.

The SPORFM is suing the government in SoCal to prevent the thinning of trees and removal of brush from overly dense growth areas which the administration contends can fuel wildfires. That lawsuit is being delayed because the current wild fires in the San Diego area have caused the closure of the federal court building.

This unreasonable delay is what has caused the SPORFM to file their new lawsuits today. These new lawsuits blame the administration for unreasonably delaying the implementation of the Healthy Forests Initiative passed in 2003 which was to thin trees and remove brush from overly dense growth areas where the current wild fires are burning. If they are successful the government will have to pay damages to the SPORFM and the suit also seeks the court to direct that the delayed suits in SoCal be summarily ruled in favor of the SPORFM and that the groups be awarded damages for the government's having removed trees and brush from the overly dense growth areas where the current wild fires are burning.

The SPORFM is seeking a total of $2 billion dollars - $1 billion for the delay caused by the fires and $1 billion for the few trees actually removed in trying to prevent the fires that delayed the suit that caused the fires that delayed the suit that caused the fires that delayed the suit...

(In case any Moonbats read this this is called satire! - And for those in Rio Linda - it is a sad, funny story) H/T Michelle Crossposted at RobBoyce

Too many Senators prefer Pork over Kids Health

The friends of the ATR has a report on an effort to simply stop passage of any pork laden earmarks until a plan is passed that insures all uninsured poor kids - Pork Trumps Kids in Senate

Crossposted at RobBoyce.com/blog

Code Pink needs tasing

It appears the Code Pink video has disappeared - just imagine a screaming protester with some blood red substance on her hands screaming in Condoleaza Rice's face being removed from a Congressional hearing room and other pink shirts being escorted screaming from the same hearing. If the Capital police would just taser them quickly next time maybe peace would be restored more quickly!




I think it maybe it is time for a taser!

Gutless Dems fail to censure Stark

The Gutless Dems in Congress today would not even allow an actual vote on the motion to censure Rep. Stark for his abominable remarks during the SCHIP debate. They hid behind the procedural vote to table. Now having been in a legislature I know that a tabling vote is ambiguous.

Any of the 196 Dems that voted yes to table the resolution can say they did it because that exact moment was the wrong time to pass the censure motion - that perhaps next week or next month or some other day (read never) would be better - that the resolution still exists and could be removed from the table and acted upon. This is of course BS - they know it everyone knows it but they gave themselves cover. The 8 Dems that simply answered “I am in the room but take no position” are even more spineless. They cannot even claim they just thought now was the wrong time - they just had no clue what to do so they did nothing.

The 168 Republican members and the 5 Dems that voted no can legitimately say they thought now was the time and that the censure should be voted up or down.

It is notable that Stark did not even do the Honorable thing and abstain from voting on his own censure - but then he can I suppose say he was really just voting to have it taken up at another time, like after it became public that he really only apologized because Pelosi told him he had to. From a lefty blog:

I called Stark’s office in DC to complain about his apology. The person answering the phone told me that Stark had no choice; Stark was told before the vote was taken that should he not apologize, the vote to censure would pass. According to his office, that is the only reason he apologized.

Well, maybe it will come off the table and he can be censured - even though censure is like a slap on the wrist with a feather. It has no teeth, not even any gums.

Forest lawsuits on hold because of fires

The Society for the Prevention of Reasonable Forest Management is heading to Federal Court in Sacramento today to file suit against the Bush administration for causing the wild fires in Southern California which are hindering the SPORFM’s lawsuits against the Bush administration over the Healthy Forests Initiative passed in 2003.

The SPORFM is suing the government in SoCal to prevent the thinning of trees and removal of brush from overly dense growth areas which the administration contends can fuel wildfires. That lawsuit is being delayed because the current wild fires in the San Diego area have caused the closure of the federal court building.This unreasonable delay is what has caused the SPORFM to file their new lawsuits today. These new lawsuits blame the administration for unreasonably delaying the implementation of the Healthy Forests Initiative passed in 2003 which was to thin trees and remove brush from overly dense growth areas where the current wild fires are burning. If they are successful the government will have to pay damages to the SPORFM and the suit also seeks the court to direct that the delayed suits in SoCal be summarily ruled in favor of the SPORFM and that the groups be awarded damages for the government’s having removed trees and brush from the overly dense growth areas where the current wild fires are burning.
The SPORFM is seeking a total of $2 billion dollars - $1 billion for the delay caused by the fires and $1 billion for the few trees actually removed in trying to prevent the fires that delayed the suit that caused the fires that delayed the suit that caused the fires that delayed the suit…
(In case any Moonbats read this this is called satire! - And for those in Rio Linda - it is a sad, funny story) H/T Michelle