October 31, 2014

Fire Mark Pryor!

Arkansas - Fire Mark Pryor.  It rhymes so it must be right.  Also, why are so many Democratic senators named Mark?  Even on that they appear to be following some weird party line.

Fire Mark Udall!

Mark Udall isn't serving Colorado, he's serving the Obama agenda.

Fire Mark Begich!

Alaska, it's time to fire Mark Begich.  His Halloween disguise is great - not being a rubber stamp for Obama - but it is just a disguise.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

October 30, 2014

Fire Mary Landrieu! (part 3)

Fire her because she's been lying about serving her constituencies.  For example:

Fire Mary Landrieu! (part 2)

If you don`t care that Mary Landrieu votes with Obama 97% of the time, how about corruption as a reason to fire her?

Fire Mary Landrieu!

Because she is a rubber stamp for president Obama:

Joni Ernst = Iowa

Brayley panics and resorts to the name Koch Brothers, but Joni Ernst proves she is there for Iowans.  Koch Brothers is like a Pavlovian bell to knee-jerk liberals and I guess Brayley figures throwing it out there will earn him a few votes.  Cheap. But Ernst responded with class.


Virginia: Ed Gillespie has a shot

This race wasn`t supposed to be close.  Ed Gillespie trailed Warner by 20 points at one point.  It`s down to single digits and he`s done it without financial help from the GOP.  He`s a better choice than Warner and Gillespie could really use your vote.  He`s got the potential to be a great senator for the state of Virginia.

There`s Mark Warner:



Then there`s Ed Gillespie:

Minnesota: Mike McFadden is the better choice

I don't know why anyone would want a Senator who just doesn't know things, like Al Franken when an informed common sense candidate like Mike McFadden would do a wonderful job for the state.


October 29, 2014

You're not liberal, you fruit loop dingus!

Thank you Bill Whittle for saying what needs to be said:

Scientific American gets a fundamental notion wrong

In an article about not everyone wanting to be happy, Scientific American gets a fundamental notion incorrect. The big surprise for me was that it wasn't about Global Warming.  Scientific American gets a fundamental American concept wrong.  And it happens in the first sentence.
Everyone wants to be happy. It's a fundamental human right.
It's egregious. No one has an absolute right to be happy. The inalienable right endowed by the Creator, as mentioned in the Constitution, is the right to pursue happiness. Not to be happy.

Their error actually annoyed me and made me unhappy. They have taken away what according to this article, is my right to be happy. I should sue them.

The notion is so ridiculous that it almost negates the rest of the article, but the rest of it is actually worth a comment because it does go on to make some interesting points.

I'll be commenting on those tomorrow.

Obligatory Obama scaring off more voters post

Just sharing the obvious, yet shocking link of Obama scaring off what would appear to be Democratic voters, in a deep blue state. Watch as they walk out on him.

Kay Hagan not serious on ISIS

Why would you want to vote someone who doesn't take her job seriously North Carolina? The question is especially pertinent due to the fact that the specific part of her job I'm talking about is as a member of the Armed Services Committee and the issue at stake is ISIS. And her flimsy excuse for not attending is not convincing other members of the Armed Services Committee.



How about electing Nina Hagen instead? She'd likely be more serious than Kay Hagan.  Failing that, give Thom Tillis some consideration.

October 28, 2014

Scott Brown is the line in the sand

Via Breitbart, another reason to vote for Scott Brown:
Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is marshaling the conservative movement forces to the Granite State on behalf of former Sen. Scott Brown. Sessions, in a letter to the public asking them to help Brown, is defining New Hampshire's Senate race as the battle between amnesty supporters and opponents in November.

"Scott Brown urgently needs your help in his fight to stop Obama's amnesty and protect our national security,” Sessions wrote in a fundraising appeal to the grassroots. "Open borders billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is spending one million dollars to defeat Scott Brown. He knows that a Scott Brown victory is a massive defeat for Obama's extreme immigration policies. Scott Brown's opponent in this race, on the other hand, is a reliable vote for Obama's immigration policies and his desire to bring in millions of new low-wage workers to compete for your jobs and wages.”

Does the liberal media protect Obama? Why yes.

So says Sharyl Attkisson, former CBS reporter, dishing dirt in her new book.  Attkinsson is no fan of the Republicans but she is more about finding the the truth than most.

Via the New York Post,
Calling herself “politically agnostic,” Attkisson, a five-time Emmy winner, says she simply follows the story, and the money, wherever it leads her...
She says the stories the media puts out are designed to fit an existing worldview.
Often they dream up stories beforehand and turn the reporters into “casting agents,” told “we need to find someone who will say . . .” that a given policy is good or bad. “We’re asked to create a reality that fits their New York image of what they believe,” she writes.
And that worldview infects the way they operate.
One of her bosses had a rule that conservative analysts must always be labeled conservatives, but liberal analysts were simply “analysts.” “And if a conservative analyst’s opinion really rubbed the supervisor the wrong way,” says Attkisson, “she might rewrite the script to label him a ‘right-wing’ analyst.”
And we're not talking small potatoes here either.
The administration, with the full cooperation of the media, has successfully turned “Benghazi” into a word associated with nutters, like “Roswell” or “grassy knoll,” but Attkisson notes that “the truth is that most of the damaging information came from Obama administration insiders. From government documents. From sources who were outraged by their own government’s behavior and what they viewed as a coverup.”

Similarly, though the major media can’t mention the Fast and Furious scandal without a world-weary eyeroll, Attkisson points out that the story led to the resignation of a US attorney and the head of the ATF and led President Obama to invoke for the first time “executive privilege” to stanch the flow of damaging information.
So if you are wondering why the GOP and conservatives are fighting an uphill battle, now you know why. But you probably weren't wondering that. If you are a conservative you already knew. And if you are a liberal, you still refuse to believe it.

But if you've ever wondered why the GOP keeps trying to win over the media when they won't change their opinion of conservatives, that's a valid concern. The GOP needs a different way to communicate with people that bypasses the media. But that's not news either.

Begich is a 97%er

He's Obama's stooge.

Defeating Udall

Udall is not what Colorado needs. Here's why.

Virginia: Gillespie's outside chance moving inside

Via Fox News:
Republican Ed Gillespie is making a tight race out of his ambitious plan to defeat Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, slicing deep into the incumbent’s lead in the final days to re-emerge as a player in the GOP set piece to take the Senate.

By some accounts, Gillespie, a former Bush White House staffer and Republican National Committee chairman, has already done his job by forcing Democrats and their supporters to keep spending money on an expected victory, instead of on the handful of other Senate races that they desperately need to retain control of the upper chamber.

But with 10 days to go before Election Day, Gillespie, who according to a recent poll has cut the lead to single digits, feels confident about winning and is in no mood to declare a moral victory for what Washington war room strategists refer to as “expanding the playing field.”
The big 'aha' moment for those of us outside of Virginia comes late in the Fox story - popular incumbent Democrat Warner is struggling in light of a recent revelation that's been a big deal in Virginia.
...the race could now be even tighter, following revelations in mid-October about Warner allegedly discussing a federal judgeship for a supporter in an effort to keep her father from quitting the state Senate and giving Republicans the majority.

Bell said the allegation, largely overlooked by the national media, is a big deal among Virginia voters, though no public polls have been released since it surfaced.

“It’s a big issue,” Gillespie said. “It’s deeply troubling that Mark Warner would play politics with an appointment to a federal bench. Something happened to Mark Warner on his way to Capitol Hill.”
Is that enough to actually put Virginia in play? Perhaps it is. Perhaps this race could now be inside of 5%. Maybe even 3% (i.e. the typical polling margin of error). Let's hope it's a big upset on election day.

October 27, 2014

Thursday Hillary Bash - Too good to pass up


This is too important to ignore, even though it's election week.  This is such an egregious error that it has to be shared, despite what I said about waiting on the Thursday Hillary Bash until after the midterms, and despite the fact that it's not even Thursday.  

Hillary Clinton just had her "You didn't build that moment."  She's trying to run to the left to win in the upcoming  Democrat primaries.  She shouldn't be allowed to live it down, despite walking her comments back afterwards.


Go ahead and run left Hillary.  Try to out-Warren Elizabeth Warren, you're going to pay for that later.

Begich on thin ice

Alaska needs real leadership, not political hacks. Just ask Cory Davis.

Alison Grimes

Against big coal.  But secretly.  Lies to get elected? That's the Democrat playbook.

Warning - some language.

Iowa, earnest for Ernst

Joni Ernst needs your support.

Arkansas needs Cotton

Tom Cotton that is.

Michigan needs Land

Terri Lynn Land that is.

GOP lead expanding for midterms

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the GOP have expanded their poll advantage in the final week before the midterm elections.
Republicans have expanded their advantage in the final days of the midterm campaign and now hold an 11-point lead among likely voters on the question of which party should control Congress, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Annenberg survey finds...

A week earlier, Republicans had held a narrower, 5-point lead on the question in the Journal/NBC/Annenberg survey.

“The Democrats, who badly need some momentum, find little comfort in these results some ten days out from the election,” said pollster Peter D. Hart, who helped conduct the survey. “The thread holding things together for them is both more slender and now even frayed.”
If an 11 point lead sounds like landslide territory, that's because it is.
By historical measures, an 11-point lead on the question of which party should control Congress is large. Republicans held a seven-point lead on the question at this point in the 2010 election in a Journal/NBC survey, which used a different method to determine which voters were most likely to cast ballots. Republicans went on that year to make big gains in the Senate and to retake the majority in the House.
That doesn't mean that as a conservative voter you don't need to go vote a week from Tuesday (or whenever Democrats decide it's okay for you to cast a vote in person, by mail and with or without ID).  Several state elections are still very close.  Your support still matters.

October 26, 2014

Klavan, Whittle on Christianity

Bill Whittle and Andrew Klavan discuss the unique attribute of Christianity among religions that enables freedom and prosperity:

Kay Hagan, self-interest

What's wrong? There's nothing wrong with self-interest, unless it comes at the expense of honesty, and taxpayers' wallets. Kay Hagan, takes self-interest to the level of conflict of interest.

Sunday Verse

For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.
~2 Thessalonians 3:10-12

Michigan, support Terri Lynn Land

Stop LIBERAL Greg Orman

Greg Orman may want you to believe he's independent but he's in league with the far left.

October 25, 2014

Saturday Learning Series - new topic!

Last week we looked at the Marshall Court. The Constitutional History lecture series is now complete.

On a different note today, a one off documentary on magnetism.

Baggage in Alaska

Speaking of lying, Mark Udall...

Democrats caught on camera talking about lying for the purposes of election victory is new, only because now they're getting caught on camera for doing  it. The Mark Udall campaign joins the parade.

Kentucky: Grimes crimes (at least her campaign's crimes)

A campaign that espouses lying is not a campaign that you want to win power.


Kentucky can do better.

October 24, 2014

David Perdu for Georgia

I shouldn't have to spend any focus here, but it seems I do. Georgia should be a reliably Republican state, and David Perdu seems to be a great option for voters. So support David Perdu, Georgia.


Nate Silver is helping me out

Self proclaimed libertarian/liberal Nate Silver is helping me out.  The man who has had an extremely successful political prognostication record is aiding me in my Yahoo football pool.  Not directly or personally, but via his Five Thirty Eight NFL prediction lab.  Silver's initial forays into notoriety were as a baseball analyst.  Let's face it, sports statistics are powerful tools, just as political statistics are.

Predictive analytics are a wonderful field and so powerful in being able to effectively predict many things.  While our political alignments are not synchronous, I really respect Silver's analytic abilities.  
And when it comes to football, where I previously used to use a model I had created to predict winners (albeit an unsophisticated model), and I did pretty well, I have not kept it up and have regressed to a feel-based approach with some rudimentary analysis appended to it.  Silver's picks year to date have outperformed my fairly significantly; so why not leverage his insights, I figure?

Go Packers. Maybe.

Friday Musical Interlude - On and On

Another throwback - On and On by Stephen Bishop from 1977.

More thoughts on the Canadian terror situation

President Obama is still reluctant to call a terrorist a terrorist, because as we all know, he already solved the problem of terrorism when the U.S. military (NOT him) killed Osama Bin Laden.  Even when the terrorism happens in other countries, it's not terrorism.  Obama has removed the need for that word to exist in the English language.  Or any other language for that matter.  We should be cleaning up the world's dictionaries by now.

Yes, this was a single shooter incident in Canada.  Yes, he had significant problems before his conversion to Islam.  Clearly the conversion did nothing to help him with his issues, it simply directed them in a worse, more deadly direction.  He was converted and radicalized.  That does not happen in a day.  There is more to be uncovered there if someone decides to do more than just scratch the surface of this tragic event.

No, he was not connected to the man involved in the recent vehicular homicide incident in Quebec by a radical Islamist convert.  But this shooter was not acting alone.  More details will eventually come out.  I'm not sure if they will come out soon, but there is more to this angle of the story as well. Someone, somewhere is either lying or withholding information. I am certain of that.

There was an account on Anderson Cooper 360 two nights ago in which a phone interviewee said he saw someone similarly garbed near the scene who apparently fled. That is just one account of the incident that needs to be investigated.

The lock-down that took place was for an unusually long period of time for just one shooter who was dead within the first few minutes of events.  Police are still tracking others to be sure, even if it is not making the news cycle.

It seems like the story is being sanitized and whitewashed. Either for the purposes of uncovering accomplices (or a network) or else for the purposes of political expediency.

October 23, 2014

Another Climate Change skeptic is born

BAM.
John Coleman, who co-founded the Weather Channel, shocked academics by insisting the theory of man-made climate change was no longer scientifically credible.  
Instead, what 'little evidence' there is for rising global temperatures points to a 'natural phenomenon' within a developing eco-system. 
In an open letter attacking the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, he wrote:
"The ocean is not rising significantly.
"The polar ice is increasing, not melting away. Polar Bears are increasing in number.
"Heat waves have actually diminished, not increased. There is not an uptick in the number or strength of storms (in fact storms are diminishing).
"I have studied this topic seriously for years. It has become a political and environment agenda item, but the science is not valid.
Not an insignificant addition to the roll call of skeptics.

October 22, 2014

China still chipping away at American state secrets.

The cybercrime has reached the point where the FBI has warned American companies about a group of sophisticated Chinese government-backed hackers that has been working for years to steal economic and national security secrets from the U.S. government and private contractors...Part of it can surely be chalked up to what has been called “data breach fatigue.” Presumably the same mindset has infected the nation’s capital
...Last year, the Washington Post reported on a classified Defense Department report that revealed Chinese hackers have compromised the designs of more than two dozen U.S. military weapons systems. The list of impacted programs reads like a catalogue of weapons critical to current U.S. military dominance, including the stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the F/A-18 fighter jet, the Patriot missile system, the Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile defense system, the Navy’s Aegis ballistic missile-defense program, the V-22 Osprey, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, and the Littoral Combat Ship. The Washington Free Beacon reports that other data stolen by the Chinese include the P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft and RQ-4 Global Hawk drones.
As the Chinese continue their military modernization while undermining America’s, Pentagon officials have increasingly sounded the alarm that U.S. military technological superiority is at risk. This technological superiority, in the words of Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Frank Kendall, “is being challenged in ways that I have not seen for decades, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.
I'm sure there are a lot of people who care, but not enough people in the right places, with the right amount of backbone to put a stop to it.

Some strategic advice for Republicans on Immigration

For what it's worth, here's my two cents on how the GOP can win on immigration.

The president has advertised his next move - after the elections but before the Senate changes control to Republican hands, he's going to use some sort of Executive action(s) to bypass immigration laws and open the floodgates for illegal immigrants to become legalized. 
Rodríguez’s agency will be front and center once President Barack Obama announces the executive action he’ll take on immigration. Obama said he would take executive action after the elections but before the end of the year.
So Republicans, you know what the president is going to do.  He's going to use the window to not hurt the Democrats too much before the midterm elections, curry favor with Hispanics pre-election to help goose the get out the vote effort for Democrats, and more importantly fundamentally change the voting landscape for generations to come.

There's bad news and good news in that for the GOP.

First the bad news.  There's not much the GOP can do to forestall this.  Consider this - if the GOP in Congress and the Senate act immediately after being sworn in to pass legislation negating the potentially illegal executive action, the president is simply going to veto it.  The GOP, no matter how well they do in the midterm elections, are not going to have the numbers to override presidential vetos on legislation.  True, president Obama visibly becomes the roadblock he has claimed the GOP have always been, but he can spin that as the GOP still being the roadblock - to progress.  The media will eat that up.  With the next election cycle representing an opportunity to re-take the senate, don't count of Democrats to join forces with the GOP to override the presidential veto.  If Obama had moved pre-election, some of them might have had to do so.

There's more bad news.  While the executive actions may be illegal, challenging them in court will take time - years most likely.  By the time any result can come out of it, the damage will already have been done.  In fact even a Supreme Court decision could possibly have a decision mitigated with a disclaimer that too much time has passed and those who have been legitimized cannot now be deemed illegal once again.  So legal recourse will not solve the problem.  It might taint the Obama legacy and some sort of censure might be a result.  Those considerations should not be overlooked, for he will clearly be overstepping his bounds.  But the root problem remains: millions of illegal immigrants legalized and beholden to a liberal Democrat president and his hiers.  That means a major tilt towards liberal voters.

That's pretty bad.

But there is a silver lining to all of this.

Firstly, this trajectory and scurrilous plan should be featured in every Republican commercial for the next two weeks.  And there's no reason additional legislation on securing the border cannot be passed or attempted at least after the new Congress and Senate are seated. Those things may move the dial towards Republicans a hair, but there's a bigger picture at stake here.  Hispanics have traditionally been predominantly liberal voters.  Central and South America have a history of socialism and an often negative view of America.  They also have a Catholic slant in their religiosity.  Their brand of Catholicism often has a bent towards charity towards those in need, whom they often regard as fellow Hispanics.  So changing the hearts and minds of these new voters is not going to be easy.  We on the right view socialism with something more than disdain and our version of Christianity is typically a more Protestant oriented view - the work ethic, and charity being more based on teaching a man to fish than giving him a fish.  There's perhaps a disconnect there.

But can these new voters be co-opted into the Republican fold?  Firstly we should ask, "should they be"?   The answer is yes.  Every voter is a potential conservative, no one should be excluded from the big tent and certainly no one should be excluded from the attempt to persuade them that their votes are perhaps misaligned with their ideals.  Every challenge after all, is an opportunity.

I've written before about how to do this. In fact many times, and in relation to many different topics.  The main point is simple enough though.  The GOP cannot rely on the media to get their message out to these groups.  They shouldn't because it won't work.  They need to go directly to Hispanic organizations, churches, etc. and talk directly to them.  Share the conservative message with them.  And most importantly, listen.  Assuming their existing positions are anathema to conservatism is a political poison pill.  Their expressed ideas for solutions may be socialist, progressive or liberal in orientation, but their concerns are voter-based concerns.  Listening opens up the opportunity to communicate (a) another way to solve their problems and (b) the reasons that the Republican way, will better solve their needs.

It's really that simple.  Engage, listen, talk.

Actually maybe it isn't that simple, maybe the GOP need this spelled out:  once is not enough.  This needs to start immediately, and it needs to be happening frequently and regularly.  The ability to convince voters takes time.  You need to understand their issues.  You need to synthesize them into core issues.  You need to distill them into a message that explains how the GOP solution would work for them.  Think of this as a sales process.  You need to move the voters from Awareness to Interest to Desire and then to Action.  That could take years.

But you don't have nothing to work with from the start.  Those who come here from Latin America are not part of some vast socialist conspiracy to overrun American society.  They left supposed socialist paradises in order to take a risky journey to America.  Why?  It's the land of opportunity.  They wanted to be part of that.   Yes, there are those who want to turn the U.S. into another communist state, there are those who came for criminal reasons, and those who just cannot be persuaded to change their views.  All of those potentialities are true of any group coming to America.

Securing the borders and ensuring that the welfare state is not collapsed by an influx of future wards of the state is still important.  It'll be important to those who have already made it here thanks to Obama's largess.  If they are shown the impact of continuing illegal immigration - from anywhere in the world.

From the perspective of Hispanics arriving in America, they do not want to feel excluded from the opportunity America presents.  Those who immigrate legally shouldn't be, and really aren't excluded from what America has to offer.  But with those here illegally, and the rest of the existing Hispanic community, aren't going away.  This is simply a matter of taking the lemon created by Obama's actions and making lemonade out of it. Even getting Hispanics to a 50/50 split would be a big win for conservatives, but even more is possible if you make the effort.

Boston Herald endorses Scott Brown for NH Senate

Not a huge surprise - this is not the Boston Globe.
"New England Republicans may be scarce in Congress but New England voters who consider themselves moderate or conservative aren’t exactly in short supply. And in the November election Scott Brown represents one of the best chances for those voters to have their voices heard in Washington. The Herald is pleased to endorse Brown for election to the U.S. Senate from New Hampshire.
The erstwhile Massachusetts senator has tapped into a campaign theme that ought to resonate with our neighbors to the north. He is a Republican, but he is a consensus-builder. During his legislative and congressional career he has voted with Republicans, and he has voted with Democrats. Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the incumbent Brown hopes to unseat, can’t make the same claim.
Consensus from the Democrats only involves a consensus among the left.
As that clever pro-Brown ad now in heavy rotation notes, Shaheen has voted with President Obama and her party 99 percent of the time during her time in the Senate. That’s an astonishing record for a senator from a state generally known for its independence. New Hampshire may be bluer than it used to be — it went for Obama twice — but it’s hardly … well, it’s hardly Massachusetts.
Live Free or Die New Hampshire, live free, or die.

Voting Machine fraud aids Democrats in Illinois

Really?  the Democrats need to cheat in Illinois by having machines change votes from Republican to Democrat votes?
"Moynihan offered this gracious lesson to his followers on Twitter: “Be careful when you vote in Illinois. Make sure you take the time to check your votes before submitting.”
Cook County Board of Elections Deputy Communications Director Jim Scalzitti, told Illinois Watchdog, the machine was taken out of service and tested. 
“This was a calibration error of the touch-screen on the machine,” Scalzitti said. “When Mr. Moynihan used the touch-screen, it improperly assigned his votes due to improper calibration.”
Uh huh.  Just one machine.  Nothing to see here folks.

Shootout at Parliament Hill, Ottawa Canada.

Canada recently sent fighter jets over to Iraq to help in the fight against ISIS.  More recently a couple of Canadian soldiers were run over by a man with Jihadist sympathies and today, it looks like something similar happened today as one soldier was shot and two or three perpetrators were believed to be involved.


Canada has not been a big player in that theater in the past.  We have helped quite a bit in Afghanistan but not in Iraq.  This is not the first effort to target Canada or Canadians as part of the coalition fighting radical Islamists.  But it is new in the sense that it happened and wasn't foiled beforehand.

Heroine Malala Yousafzai was due to get a Canadian citizenship today from Prime Minister Harper.

The details will fill in over time, but the bigger picture suggests that Canada cannot consider itself free from risk if it is part of the effort to combat global terror.  Then again, it's not free from risk if it doesn't play a part either.

Here's an interesting thought - a shooter got into parliament, a guy got into the White House.  What's up with security?  It's seemingly all window dressing.

One final thought - CNN is reporting as if this were a lone gunman.  I fully expect that to change as more information comes out.  Specific information.

October 21, 2014

Kansas: Good news for Roberts

After a Democrat switcheroo in Kansas, Pat Roberts is making a comeback against nominally independent Greg Orman.
It's been quite a turnaround. Just three weeks ago, some polls showed Roberts trailing by double digits, and it looked as if Democratic candidate Chad Taylor's decision to drop out of the race would hand Orman the seat.

But while Roberts scrambled the GOP jets to meet the challenge, Orman took the opposite approach, largely shunning the press and staying out of the spotlight.

The polls are now virtually tied.

Combined with a rejuvenated and revamped Roberts campaign, it's clear the Republican has the momentum heading into the final two weeks of the race...

Orman has been hammered by revelations he sat on the board of a private-equity firm founded by Rajat Gupta, who was convicted in 2012 on charges of insider trading, and by ties to a group of big-spending donors trying to elect him to the Senate. Voters once viewed him by a widely favorable margin. But in the Remington poll, Orman's favorability rating is down to 43%. And the number of voters who view him unfavorably is up to 40%.
Momentum is an important thing and both Roberts and Orman have momentum.  The difference is that Orman's momentum is all in the wrong direction, 

Colorado: The Udall you might not know

Mark Udall is an empty Obama vote.


Democrat Senator attendance problems

It's more than jut one of them who doesn;t show up to do their job: First Udall and then Hagen play defense by avoiding the question of their poor attendance.


Georgia: Michelle Nunn? Nunn of her own ideas.

Nunn of her own judgment?

Colorado - The Gardner Way

Cory Gardner for U.S. Senate.

North Carolina: Kay Hagan and Showing Up

To be an effective senator, Kay Hagan, you have to actually show up.

October 20, 2014

Mobile phones and etiquette

A blogging friend Bob J Rants regularly on a number of topics.  I haven't used my blog in that way but I thought I'd borrow his motif for a post.  

Today on the radio, I was listening to the news during my commute and I heard a story about the Top 10 annoying mobile phone habits.  Yes, they were all annoying to varying degrees - texting in a movie theater, taking pictures of your food at a restaurant (nobody cares about your public diarizing of your lunch) and of course using speakerphones in inappropriate locations.  All bad.

But the one that bothers me the most is people getting distracted by text conversations while conversing with live people.  I was guilty of that myself years ago (with blackberry emails, not texts) but I've stopped.  It's rude to not be present in a conversation you are in the middle of having.

It's dismissive of the person you are talking with in live, real time.

Now I may be shouting into a hurricane here.  I know the future involves more electronic communication, not less.  But to me it impersonalizes interpersonal relationships, despite what the advertising tells you.

I'm not suggesting there aren't plenty of useful functionalities associated with text messaging or other electronic communications like SnapChat.  But we are re-socializing the future of our society without thinking about what that means for society as a whole as well as the individuals affected by the change.

In the bigger picture, everything from drone warfare to internet dating sites de-personalizes things and continues to distance people from those they are interacting with. Absent feelings of empathy that come from direct interpersonal connection, emotional development will probably be stunted by comparison to today or decades pasts.  

Perhaps you think it's weird to read a conservative talking about emotion and inter-personal connectivity, but it really shouldn't be. It's probably more weird that I'm writing about this on a blog, rather than in a face to face conversation.

But that gets a little too far down the rabbit hole for me to justify or think about.  Like I said, technology has an important place in society.  I just don't think it should be the place.

Followers and Subscribers needed

I set a target for myself at the beginning of last year to reach 100 followers. Last year. I didn't make it and I'm still stuck at 80 followers. I've got plenty of followers on Twitter, but that's short form and I'm a long form guy.  That's why I have this blog, to put my political thoughts out there, and they don't fit into 140 characters typically.

My target of 100 was stalled when Google decided to switch the followers to Google+. Arg. It's like having to replace all your CDs with mp3s. Or maybe 8 track tapes...

In any case, if you are interested in my rambling, there are a couple of ways to follow on the left hand sidebar of this blog. Maybe I can still reach my target.

October 19, 2014

Sunday Linkaround

Briefly, here's some hits of the week. Well, mostly the weekend anyway.

Right Wing News: Obama's hurting Dems with women.

Legal Insurrection:  Democrats not blaming Bush for ebola. But...

Diogenes' Middle Finger: Ginsburg's myopia is not age-related.

George Will: Mark Udall's war on women

The Strat-sphere: GOP's wave is slow rising, but still a wave.

Innominatus is finally famous.


Sunday Verse

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. 
~Luke 2:1

October 18, 2014

Arkansas: Tom Cotton for small business

Tom Cotton is the choice for small business.

Bring back our girls

Remember when those female students in Nigeria were kidnapped by a group of thugs from the terrorist group Boko Haram and were forced to either convert to Islam or die?  Remember it was a cause celeb for a number of people, including the first lady?



What happened?

Saturday Learning Series - The Marshall Court

In the continuing saga of Constitutional History, Tom Woods shares a lecture about the Marshall Court.

October 17, 2014

Michigan needs Land

Terri Lynn Land would be good for Michigan. The liberals have tried for decades to solve the state's problems and only made it worse. Land has common sense ideas.

Ebola, didn't care, won't catch it. But...

I haven't really focused much on the ebola "outbreak" because the impact here is extremely likely to be minimal.  Two cases in the U.S., one in Spain so far I think.  That's not an outbreak.  It doesn't reach the level of a SARS, a West Nile Virus or AIDS or cancer in terms of reach.  Not by a long shot.

What has caused me consternation is the sensationalism surrounding the story.  It's as if we're faced with an imminent plague of Biblical proportions.  That's hysteria.  

And yet...

There is something to be said about preparedness among those in government agencies who are supposed to be protecting us.  Clearly this points out that bigger government does not mean more effective government.  The response to ebola has been as haphazard, at least visibly so, as has the Secret Service protection of the president.  It's seemed as visibly chaotic as the handling of the situation in Benghazi or at the southern border.  That is to say, the reactions have been well, reactive.  The smartest guy in the room (Obama, in case you hadn't heard him tell you that yet) seems overcome.  He'd have you believe it's disinterest "I'm too cool to deal with that" in the issue.  But it seems more and more that the golf games are a cover for not knowing what to do, not actual disinterest.  The guy is in way over his head.

The proof is in the fact that he blindly asserts that more government will solve all problems when that clearly is not working.

Nevertheless, that does not make that a story or a panic.  Conservatives already know that Obama is a bad president.  Liberals won't budge - either they won't see it or they won't admit it.  And getting back to the disease itself, it`s not coming here.

Should we help out African nations affected by it?  Sure.  The best thing we can do is find a cure.  Accepting sick people with open arms may seem compassionate, but it's impractical.  It doesn't really help unless there's an inoculation available against ebola.

Saying I don't care is a bit harsh.  People dying from a disease is a terrible thing.  Nobody wants that except for the eugenics-driven fringe left who just want less people. But what I am really trying to say is that the hype is overdone.

Friday Musical Interlude - Some Miles Davis for you

I haven't posted many Jazz-themed Friday Musical Interludes.  If any so far, in fact.  Here's one from Miles Davis, Blue in Green from 1959.

October 16, 2014

A vote for Greg Orman is a vote for more Obama failure

Kansas: In case you have the slightest bit of doubt about whether Greg Orman might caucus with the Democrats if he were elected to the Senate, you need only watch this 12 second video.  In it, Orman uses the classic progressive liberal technique of not answering how he really feels about the issue because he knows his answer won't be popular.


Lie to get elected, and then do what you want.  Liberal politics, people of the state a distant, distant third.  Liberals believe deceit can win elections.  Orman clearly does too, and he is showing his hand; he's a liberal, not an independent. Don't fall for it.

Helping out in New Hampshire

Scott Brown is not tied to the president like his opponent is.  The race in this state could tip the balance in managing a checked-out yet steadfastly ideological president.

If you are considering voting, consider voting for Scott Brown. Please.

Venezuela reaping what it has sewn

Speaking of ZeroHedge, there's an interesting article about how falling oil prices could hurt socialist Venezuela (and isn't that just terrible for the country that basically took the oil away from the oil companies?) that I found via ZeroHedge. It points out that because of the short-sighted approach of Venezuelan leadership's pandering to the masses, they are on the verge of a crisis precipitated by the oil price slump.
But while Saudi Arabia tests the mettle of North American producers, it could be Venezuela that is the most vulnerable. As a fellow OPEC member, Venezuela has been the most vocal about the need to cut oil production and has called for an emergency meeting of the 12-member oil cartel. That is because Venezuela is in a much weaker position than many of the other member countries, and the recent drop in prices has raised alarm in Caracas.

Using state-owned oil company PDVSA as a piggy bank has allowed the Venezuelan government to increase social spending over the last decade, a key political objective of the late President Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro. However, using oil revenues for a wide array of spending priorities has also starved PDVSA of money needed for investment in order to boost oil production, let alone keeping output level. Since 2000, Venezuela has seen its oil output drop from 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd) down to 2.5 million bpd.
Too bad, so sad. Next.

Is nobody asking this question about the stock market?

I'm no expert at the stock market watch, but this latest September-October downturn, while by no means on the scale of the 2008 crash, looks pretty bad. yet you go onto market watch TV shows and you see people arguing about whether this is a correction or nothing to worry about. With Japan slumping and now Germany and perhaps the rest of Europe slumping into recession territory, Chinese GDP getting softer, is it time to wonder whether there is another recession looming if not yet actually present?

Or is this just another case of protecting the president pre-midterm elections? I'm wondering why there isn't a healthy dose of skepticism here. Rose-colored glasses seldom work out.

I'm not suggesting that either protecting the president or unjustified optimism is the case but the level of optimism among the wealth-and-trading pundits does make it seem that they are trying to talk us into believing there's nothing to see here. Or perhaps it's themselves they are trying to convince.

Or maybe I've just been reading ZeroHedge too much lately.

UPDATE: As it turns out, not everyone thinks this is worth ignoring.
Now, in the last two weeks the stock market has undergone a substantial correction that may yet turn into a full blow crash. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped by about 1300 points since October 1, falling from around 17,200 to 15,900 as of late afternoon on October 15. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ have fallen by similar proportions. All told, the U.S. stock markets have lost close to $1.6 trillion in wealth in the past two weeks. By all appearances, the correction has not yet run its course. The markets could fall still further on worries about slow growth in Europe and the United States, and a general sense that events are spiraling out of control.
So there's that.

October 14, 2014

Kentucky going to the GOP?

It looks like Democrats think that is the case;
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has gone dark in Kentucky, where the party is targeting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

After a significant investment in support of Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, the DSCC had not reserved time for the final three weeks of the race and, as of today, is no longer on the air.

“The DSCC has now spent more than 2 million in Kentucky and continues to make targeted investments in the ground game while monitoring the race for future investments, but is currently not on the air in the state,” a DSCC official told CQ Roll Call.
I'm not a big fan of Mitch McConnell, but he's definitely better than the alternative. But here's the thing about this - McConnell was never going to lose and it was good to see the Democrats spending wasting money in the state. It means those funds don't get diverted to Iowa or Colorado or some other toss-up state.

That's the dark cloud to go with the silver lining I guess.

Obama's 1% solutions

I posted a link to this earlier but it's worth sharing again. The big conservative guns seem to have been saving their home run material for October. There have been a plethora of them of late. Here's a fantastic excerpt from George Will on president Obama's secret homage to the 1%.

October 13, 2014

North Carolina: Kay Hagen, dodgy

Do not make the mistake of voting for this senator again.

Happy Columbus Day

In Canada today is Thanksgiving, and in many Latin American countries, today is Dia de la Raza.  But in the United States today is Columbus Day, celebrating Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas.



Regardless of the political turmoil that the observance has taken on, Columbus did help dispel the myth that the earth was flat and drove an era of exploration that should not be taken for granted. 

Exploration is a good thing - whether it be of the earth, under the sea, or of space, you cannot grow knowledge without growing your horizons.  Even if you disagree with the actions of Columbus, you can still separate the discovery from those actions.

Besides, isn't today supposed to be a good day for sales?

October 12, 2014

Iowa: Joni Ernst

Iowa is a close race and Joni Ernst is a great candidate and her opponent is not.  Please support her candidacy.

Virginia: Give Gillespie a chance to work for you

Virginia has an affinity for the name Warner.  But senator Mark Warner, who has cultivated an image as being a bi-partisan moderate, has voted with president Obama 97% of the time.  That's a party line liberal voting record and not the sign of a moderate.  If anyone argues that president Obama has been right 97% of the time, they are as partisan as anyone who claims Obama has been wrong 97% of the time. (In reality the president has only been wrong 95.4% of the time).

This race was supposed to be a cakewalk for Warner.  But Ed Gillespie has closed a 20 point polling gap down to 10 points and has momentum on his side.  Virginians who care about their state and are not blinded by name recognition and would like Virginia to be represented by someone who cares more about the state than ideology, should give Gillespie a chance.

Sunday Linkaorund

This week, the linkaround focuses on those focused on wresting control of the Senate from the nefarious Harry Reid and putting America back on the path towards some sort of sanity.

If you are a conservative on the fence, particularly in a close-race state, please consider getting out there and voting.  The Republican in the race may not be perfect, but the Democrat is mostly likely perfectly aligned with a wrong-direction president.  That must be addressed.

Pajamas Media: On a tight Connecticut governor's race.

Proof Positive: Ten Buck Friday.

Natural Born Conservative: Georgia's proposed Constitutional amendments.

Sean Trende:  What's the matter with Kansas?

Politico: What the heck is going on with Wendy Davis??? Ed Morrissey comments.

Jay Cost:  Will the GOP fumble at the goal line.

Jim Geraghty: Approaching the second peak?

Larry Sabato: The state of the governors

Election Projection: Governorships bluer, House redder.


Sunday Verse

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

~Psalms 33:12

October 11, 2014

Saturday Learning Series - Jeffersonians

Constitutional History is a fascinating topic.  The ongoing series presented by Tom Woods picks up from last week's installment of the Saturday Learning Series. This week professor Kevin Gutzman discusses the Jeffersonian era.

October 9, 2014

Louisiana: Bill Cassidy

Another tight race facing voters this midterm election comes from Louisiana.  Mary Landrieu is facing a strong challenge from Bill Cassidy, who fights for Louisiana homeowners:


He shares Louisiana values.

Arkansas: Tom Cotton for the win

Tom Cotton is running for senate in Arkansas.  He needs your support. Don't vote based on name recognition.  Vote for someone who cares about the state.


He also doesn't take himself or the political process so seriously that he comes across as entitled.


Unlike his opponent:

October 8, 2014

Colorado: Cory Gardener

In Colorado's tight senate race, Cory Gardener needs your support.

Alaska: Dan Sullivan for US Senate

Alaska needs Dan Sullivan. Integrity. Honor. Results.


October 7, 2014

North Carolina: Thom Tillis

Thom Tillis makes more sense for North Carolina and for America than his Democratic opponent.  Why?  Simple math.



Want to help? Check here.

Iowa: Vote Joni Ernst

The Republican war on women continues with yet another woman candidate.  Wait, what now?

Joni Ernst is one of the most interesting candidates in this year's senate field across all of the states up for election. She deserves Iowa's support.


Here's what she supports. No war on women.  No war on seniors.  No war on children.  She simply supports common sense.


Here's what you can do to help.

October 6, 2014

Kansas: Greg Orman's shady connection

Greg Orman is not trustworthy.


Kansas doesn't need this.

New Hampshire: Scott Brown

New Hampshire, Scott Brown is your best option in the midterm elections.  He's not a hyper-partisan hack.  He's a genuine guy.


And there's a genuine reason to vote for Brown over the other candidate, as these next two videos point out:


October 5, 2014

Kansas: Support Pat Roberts

Kansas could tip the balance of the Senate for the next couple of years.  The Democrats refuse to field a candidate and have been actively wooing the Independent in the race, given the probability that he will caucus with Democrats if elected.  But Kansas needs a man like Roberts in Washington, and Roberts needs your support if recent polling is to be believed.

Why support Roberts?  Will he really stick up for the citizens of Kansas?  Yes.  He has a record of doing so:


But it's about more than that. A lot more:



To find out more, go here. And by all means when the time comes, vote.

Michigan: Support Terri Lynn Land

If you are in Michigan and not sure whom to support for Senate, or aren`t sure if you want to get out and vote, I urge you on election day to go vote for Terri Lynn Land.  Michigan has been underserved by it`s representatives in Washington D.C. for years.  Detroit has gone bankrupt under Democratic leadership.  And what do Democrats offer?  More propaganda about Republicans waging a war on women.  How does that advance an idea for the future of the state?  All it advances is hate.

Land responds with class and civility:


She offers more in this interview:


But it's really about the war on jobs from Gary Peters that matters:


Land faces an uphill battle in the left leaning state, and she can use all the support available because she is capable of winning the election and very capable of doing good things for Michigan. What can you do to help? Go here to find out.

Sunday Linkaround

Mostly randomly sorted good reading things on the World Wide Web thing.

Right Wing News: Krugman`s erroneous minimum wage view.

90 Miles From Tyranny: (frankly 90 miles is no longer an accurate measure).  Remember what George Will said about Obama being a trickle down economics guy? Tech companies are treating tech workers like second class citizens.

Legal Insurrection: In Ferguson, does no jobs really = no peace?

Western Hero:  The problem with California. It's one of many I'd say, but they all have the same root cause.

Diogenes' Middle Finger: Next stop on the Obamacare train wreck? Wait, I mixed my train metaphors.

A Cop's Watch: Lack of competence in government.

Common Sense & Wonder: Scientists as PR hacks for climate change.

Self Evident Turths: It`s easier to be a liberal than a conservative.

TeresAmerica: Lights out. Literally.

What We Think and Why: What government employees do.

And finally, a couple of thoughts on president Obama`s disrespectful 21 oz. salute via Jarhead and The Left: Watch What They Say Not What They Do.

Yo 99% - Democrats support the 1%

George Will has been on fire of late with the astute observations that he's known for coming at a faster pace than normal.  Here, he points out something that the Democratic party hope that voters on the left don't realize.  That is specifically, if you look at policies espoused by Democrats that on their face appear to support the working class, in reality they support the institutionalization of the 1% at the expense of the 99%. It`s about ensuring the separation of the 1% from the rest of us and getting people to vote for that without realizing it.


Don`t listen to what they say they`ll do for you - look at their actions. Here`s a simple example. Democrats want to raise the minimum wage. That leads to the offshoring of jobs to where wages are cheaper or the hiring of illegal migrant workers. Both have the effect of reducing jobs. If the minimum wage is too high and there are far fewer jobs, it doesn`t really help to raise the minimum wage. What it does is help those with the mobility to take advantage of cheaper labor elsewhere. In other words it aids the big-guy oligopoly of multinationals at the expense of mom and pop shops who cannot do so.

The counter argument is that Democrats will close loopholes for tax inversions. But that still will not stop companies from closing entirely and re-opening under another name. And if you think that the United States is powerful enough to enforce that level of subservience of other national banks and nations to support additional taxation at the expense of business or taxation abroad, then you are doing two different things. (1) allowing the U.S. to take on the bully role internationally and that`s something Democrats claim to oppose. And take note - this is not an international policeman role because it is entirely about U.S. interests. (2) you are assuming that American influence internationally is unlimited. If that were the case, there would be German boots on the ground in Iraq right now. China would not be routinely violating copyright laws and suppressing dissent in Hong Kong. In other words, your thinking is unicorn and rainbow level thinking. The rest of the world has lost a lot of patience with United States, as well as respect. You`ve pulled that lever about as far as it will go already.

With Democrats, watch what they say, not what they do. The Republicans are flawed too, they have a lot of issues with credibility. But at least they are not so duplicitous as to say they are looking out for you while actively doing things that support only the 1%. That`s just sinister. The sad thing is, you are probably going to continue to fall for it.

Sunday Verse

Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. ~Titus 2:2

October 4, 2014

Saturday Learning Series - Federalists off the rails

Last week the Constitutional History series looked at the Federalists in the 1790s.  This week, the Federalists go off the rails.

October 3, 2014

Krauthammer Gold

Krauthammer gold:

Why to vote for the GOP instead of staying home

If you are a conservative voter, the quote below is a must read.  It is the most cogent argument that I have yet seen against conservatives staying home for the midterm elections.

Via Jim Geraghty at National Review's Campaign Spot":
Ask yourself, why should Republican governors take the political hit of opposing the Medicaid expansion when A) grassroots conservatives ignore them or pretend they don’t exist or B) self-described conservative Republicans who most strongly oppose the Medicaid expansion proudly announce they’re not going to vote?
It’s fair to fume at the “Democrats win, therefore we must be more like Democrats to win” philosophy, but if Republican voters stay home, the electorate that is guaranteed to show up shifts to the left. After a few cycles of conservatives declaring “I’m staying home because the candidates aren’t rightward enough for my tastes,” it makes absolute sense for Republicans to try to be more like Democrats, because self-described conservative Republicans announce they’re not going to vote.
That's right.  If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.  As I've always said, it's going to be a lot easier to hold the feet of a conservative representative to the fire and get him to listen than to do the same with a liberal Democrat (as a conservative).  A Republican you can shift right with pressure.  The only direction a Democrat can shift is leftward.  Always.

People don't hate Congress

The GOP has a hold on the Congress and that isn't about to change.  Liberals frequently now decry that the Congress has a lower approval rating than the president.  This was true of the previous president as well.  But here's the open secret.  Most sitting representatives and senators are going to get re-elected.  It's not because of money.  It's not because of special interests.  It's not because of gerrymandering.  Sure, these all impact Congress to some degree.  But the real reason they get re-elected, liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, is because they are not hated by 90% of their own electorate the way the highly misleading Congressional approval rating indicates they might be.


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