Political Football

It’s been a bad day and tonight in the dark, I took a wrong turn on the way home from Rock Falls.  I tried to mitigate the damage by getting off I-80 just into Iowa turning onto HWY 67 – I know that road…

Guessing which way to turn, I quickly second guessed my decision as I drove through the dark farmland – !Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! there should be city here – where is it?  Soon, I see a sign 67 SOUTH so I should be ok, but I don’t know where I am and I should…  Finally a sign – Pleasant Valley, yes ok ALCOA – hmmm wonder if Liz lives over there a bit and yes, Scott Community College – I didn’t know it was over here… coming into Bettendorf… nothing looks familiar and it should.

As I pull through stoplight after stoplight and pull up to the pulse of music next to me I lock my doors.  This is Bettendorf, what’s wrong with me; the wrong turn has shaken me silly.

Looking down at my clock, only 10 minutes has passed and it seemed like an hour of driving.  I hit the lights of Davenport, and remember how it used to look on the River – now Las Vegas like with the glitz and glare of the lit over pass and  Casino blinking lights – I think back to a video story I wrote for a class at MCC 35 years ago…  Sleek lines, future shock, beautiful people and I wander through what I remember of that story of people hurrying by with no recognition of good or bad, right or wrong, up or down…

I’m snapped back to reality continuing on HWY 61, now remembering the cemetery on the side of the road heading south out of Davenport.  Everything looks familiar now and I relax a bit.

I start to think of this wrong turn as a metaphor of the last years…  wrong turns are normal…  but today up is down, good seems bad and right seems wrong anymore. I feel like some momentous decision needs to be made and don’t know what the question is…

Over the last several days there has been a “status statement” going around Facebook that reads:

No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day.

This totally inane statement seems to have been written by someone who makes me want to scream “what does this even mean?”.  I would beg the author to put this in context of a rational thought, question or statement – not some drivel that makes the poster feel better about themselves and I can only assume – anger toward someone else.

I can guess it’s about the Health Care debate going on in the USA today – and I’m organized in body and mind enough to say this about the FB Status…. 1) isn’t that sweet and 2) go back and give me an attainable goal please.

Let’s view the history of plans such as these in the world today and fix only what’s broken.  There is no historical evidence that 17% of our economy can be fixed by Government bureaucracy; Trust in God, everyone else needs to bring data.  We have the time to do this right.

We need to work together to find solutions, not posture one side against the other.  If we can’t have real debates about real issues, we’re lost as a country.  Too many wrong turns have tossed us round the bend, and I think there are limited chances to regain balance.  Pray for this country, pray for us all.

accuracy in reporting:
link to NYTimes correction (bottom of page)

An appraisal on Saturday about Walter Cronkite’s career included a number of errors.

In some copies, it misstated the date that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed and referred incorrectly to Mr. Cronkite’s coverage of D-Day. Dr. King was killed on April 4, 1968, not April 30.

Mr. Cronkite covered the D-Day landing from a warplane; he did not storm the beaches.

In addition, Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, not July 26.

‘The CBS Evening News’ overtook ‘The Huntley-Brinkley Report’ on NBC in the ratings during the 1967-68 television season, not after Chet Huntley retired in 1970.

A communications satellite used to relay correspondents’ reports from around the world was Telstar, not Telestar.

Howard K. Smith was not one of the CBS correspondents Mr. Cronkite would turn to for reports from the field after he became anchor of ‘The CBS Evening News’ in 1962; he left CBS before Mr. Cronkite was the anchor.

Because of an editing error, the appraisal also misstated the name of the news agency for which Mr. Cronkite was Moscow bureau chief after World War II. At that time it was United Press, not United Press International.

–correction, New York Times, July 22

Today the Sears Tower became the Willis Tower, as a British group added naming rights to it’s occupancy with a promise to bring new jobs to the city.

read more here.

How long will it be with the pending sale of the Cubs, that Wrigley Field will be named something else? I hope not.

A sign of the times I guess… all a little sad to me.

as you can tell I have not written much lately.

but I do plan to write more soon.

as I’ve asked Dr. Miller-Meeks to blog and she’s done a fine job lately; I must post more myself.

please check out her blog, and find me on FACEBOOK Carolyn Williams or Twitter carolynwilliams or the county GOP at Muscatine County GOP on FACEBOOK.

If you want to know what I’m doing, you’ll prolly find out quicker on those new social networking platforms. I’m also signed up at Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com

Also I hope that my friend can post some gardening suggestions at some point this summer.

all for now!

2009 will require strength (both mental and physical) and attention to detail.

more later – I will continue to post interesting links here, but a year end note will be in a later post.  Pray for peace in 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/user/idfnadesk

I just subscribed to this (link above) – you can see the Israeli perspective of what’s going on in GAZA there.  How DO you protect your citizens from terror attacks when the enemy places their military hardware in residential areas.   You will not see this perspective from the Main Stream Media.

IDF Foreign Press chief Maj. Avital Leibovich explained the YouTube channel by saying, “The blogosphere and new media are another war zone.”

Another good source is the site that uncovered most of the faux-photography (photo-shopped) in the last attacks is Little Green Footballs.  They open subscriptions periodically, subscribing allows you to post.

We must become the new international communication vehicle.

I must admit this vacation is going too fast.  My TO DO list has not diminished.  With a closet implosion and furnace problems and general laziness (current excuses) I have to step up the pace if I want to feel good about this time off.

One of my goals is to alter this site slightly to conform with rules of publication, not posting complete articles, but perhaps one paragraph and links and more personal analysis from me.  I don’t like to cut posts for archiving purposes because typically the links that I’m posting will not be generally available after a period of time, but I do want to conform to standard practices.

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  You better watch out. There is a new combatant in the Christmas wars.

Ads proclaiming, “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake,” will appear on Washington, D.C., buses starting next week and running through December. The American Humanist Association unveiled the provocative $40,000 holiday ad campaign Tuesday.

In lifting lyrics from “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” the Washington-based group is wading into what has become a perennial debate over commercialism, religion in the public square and the meaning of Christmas.

“We are trying to reach our audience, and sometimes in order to reach an audience, everybody has to hear you,” said Fred Edwords, spokesman for the humanist group. “Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion.”

To that end, the ads and posters will include a link to a Web site that will seek to connect and organize like-minded thinkers in the D.C. area, Edwords said.

Edwords said the purpose isn’t to argue that God doesn’t exist or change minds about a deity, although “we are trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people’s minds.”

The group defines humanism as “a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism, affirms our responsibility to lead ethical lives of value to self and humanity.”

Last month, the British Humanist Association caused a ruckus announcing a similar campaign on London buses with the message: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

In Washington, the humanists’ campaign comes as conservative Christian groups gear up their efforts to keep Christ in Christmas. In the past five years, groups such as the American Family Association and the Catholic League have criticized or threatened boycotts of retailers who use generic “holiday” greetings.

In mid-October, the American Family Association started selling buttons that say “It’s OK to say Merry Christmas.” The humanists’ entry into the marketplace of ideas did not impress AFA president Tim Wildmon.

“It’s a stupid ad,” he said. “How do we define ‘good’ if we don’t believe in God? God in his word, the Bible, tells us what’s good and bad and right and wrong. If we are each ourselves defining what’s good, it’s going to be a crazy world.”

Also on Tuesday, the Orlando, Fla.-based Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal group, launched its sixth annual “Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign.” Liberty Counsel has intervened in disputes over nativity scenes and government bans on Christmas decorations, among other things.

“It’s the ultimate grinch to say there is no God at a time when millions of people around the world celebrate the birth of Christ,” said Mathew Staver, the group’s chairman and dean of the Liberty University School of Law. “Certainly, they have the right to believe what they want but this is insulting.”

Best-selling books by authors such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have fueled interest in “the new atheism” — a more in-your-face argument against God’s existence.

Yet few Americans describe themselves as atheist or agnostic; a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life poll from earlier this year found 92 percent of Americans believe in God.

There was no debate at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority over whether to take the ad. Spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the agency accepts ads that aren’t obscene or pornographic.

I am quite discouraged and a bit dumbfounded.  I’ve been talking with various members of my family – all women whom I consider to be savvy and intelligent.  Yet when it comes to me – I think they all think I am nuts and not discerning enough to know why I am supporting McCain– and that I believe everything that I read that is negative about Obama.  Last night even I was asked if it were possible that I am racist!  Me, racist?  I have been called a lot of things –stubborn, too sensitive, sarcastic, manipulative (not one I am proud of certainly), quick to speak my mind without editing, a trouble-maker and a whole long list still BUT I have never once been called a racist or even questioned until last night.  I once walked away from someone I was with in a Caldor store (remember Caldors?) when I heard the N word used.  After being given up by my biological parents I was cared for in a hospital for the first year + of my life and most of the caretakers were black women.  I have always felt innately comfortable with them.  Admittedly in my small town and growing up we didn’t have many black people but my family was never prejudiced.  My grandfather, after suffering a devastating stroke, was cared for by a black woman – Hilda.  And when Hilda herself was gravely ill my mom and aunt went to see her in ICU and told the nurses they were Hilda’s sisters.  I went to a college where there were women of all colors.  I worked with black people at my dad’s law office.  A dear, dear friend – Demola and his wife Karen are two of my favorite people.  I went to Grad School and met many more people – some of whom are black and whom I have hung around with and in public no less — they are all great people: Caroline, Donell and Cynthia to name a few.    When the person who asked me if I were racist – she also asked me who of color I admired or liked besides Colin Powell and Condi Rice (because I had already said I admired both of them) — and I drew a blank — because I don’t think of people I like in terms of black and white.  I finally came up with Willie Randolph on the spot.  My guy Willie -former Yankee Great and most recently the fired manager of the NY Mets. 

I am a student of History — American History specifically and of the American Presidency.  I was raised by politically active parents and have participated myself in local politics.   I don’t support Obama this year because there are t0o many questions about him and surrounding him.  He has little to no experience on the executive level.  He has been running for President since virtually the first day he stepped into the US Senate.  I don’t approve his stance on partial Birth Abortion and babies born in botched abortions.  I don’t agree with his tax policies.  I need small businesses and big businesses to be able to thrive and expand and offer more job opportunities since I will most likely not be their first choice candidate.  If Obama has stayed in the Senate — built up more of a record — I would have looked at him with less apprehension over his lack of experience.  Years ago I would have loved for Colin Powell to have run for President.

 And yes, I do question Obama’s associates in the past and present.  One is known by the company one keeps.  This is a truism we are raised with from the playground.  Why do you think bullies are usually friendless?  Because other kids innately know not to around hang around with a bully.  Don’t parents of teenagers care about who their kids pal around with ?  They want to make sure their kids are not friends with those who use drugs or drink — right?  This is quite simplistic but it figures that who we are friends with later in life also says who are as people. 

And I want to know why the media is so hands off giving a fully unbiased critical review of Obama – the man and his background.  Why is his background so shrouded in mystery?  Warts and all, divorce and all, fooling around and all, Keating 5 and all, lobbyists and all, skin cancer and all …McCain is an open book.

Casey Anthony was just arrested for allegedly murdering her missing daughter Caylee in FL.  Most people question why she would not contact police as soon as her daughter went missing — why wouldn’t she call for help.  This is common sense.  Why wouldn’t she still tell Police everything she knows if it would help find/save her daughter should she still be alive?  So — why wouldn’t Barack Obama just fork over his birth certificate since a respected attorney has requested to see it in a court of law.  Why go to the trouble of all the legal harranging to have the suit dismissed if you could just present the birth certificate?  Again, this is the most basic of common sense.  More people believe Casey Anthony is involved in the disappearance of her daughter than are concerned about why Barack Obama is not more forthcoming — and he is running for President of the US! 

So, ironically – because I don’t support Obama – I do feel as though I am the black sheep of my family.  Ironic, isnt’ it?

~Libra Girl

Well, here I am already putting in my two cents.  -pf may be sorry she invited me to blog along with her!

Watched Dem Convention 1st night with real interest to see if I could get a better handle on what Obama stands for other than “change.”  Heck – I stand for change also – change in my purse, change in employment opportunities, change in my bank account, change in access across America and the world (as in handicap access), change in attitudes toward the disabled and more change in my dresser coin jar (sense a theme here?).  So – I stand for that – how will I bring it about?  I’m getting my resume done and gearing up for job interviewing, am stop spending money on incidentals, am writing letters advocating for access and am doing presentations at schools to help kids understand people with disabilities are just people – nothing wrong with us.  These are concrete plans – whether they pan out remains to be seen but I’ve put them out there to hold myself accountable.

I believe in a better America also and so does -pf which is why she’s campaigning for a worthy congressional candidate.  Obama says he believes in a better America but how does a less than one full term Senator accomplish that?  What are his concrete plans?  Why won’t he do a Town Hall meeting to discuss his plans with his opponent?  I want to hear the concrete plans now before the election.  I want to hear plans from both candidates – concrete plans that will hold them accountable.  In my humble opinion – not enough people are held accountable anymore (well, John Edwards may actually disagree right now).  Certainly the general public isn’t holding Congress accountable except that they give it the lowest rating ever.  What is Congress’ response?  Speaker Pelosi blames the President.  Even though I majored in American Studies at Smith I knew from grade school that Congress legislates – it is the Legislature – it’s supposed to write laws.  What are Sen. Obama’s laws that he has written/sponsored?  Shouldn’t we all be very familiar with them by now since he is a Presidential candidate? 

Perhaps Michelle Obama should have let us know her husband’s accomplishments in the Senate using concrete language not flowery adjectives.  Mrs. Obama’s speech I thought started out weakly (would have liked to have fixed her opening parts in a different order) but finished more strongly although I didn’t feel any passion – I wasn’t moved.  Much to my surprise that wily James Carville (Dem Pundit) on CNN said the Dems didn’t present a coherent message all night.  For me – the night’s highlight was Sen. Teddy Kennedy.  It was clear to me he pushed himself to be heard and his shaky voice carried more conviction that Mrs. Obama’s.

Look forward to hearing Chelsea and Sen. Clinton tonight.  Do you think she will truly implore her supporters to get behind Sen. Obama?  I’m not convinced it’ll work.  Afterall women may feel that if they waited over 100 years for their right to vote – they could wait another 4 for their gal. 

Libra Girl

Ok – this is my second attempt – after having written such a nice first post with lots of nice compliments to our gracious host, -pf but the first post (argh!) disappeared into cyber oblivion.  I’ll write more again later with more of what I orginally wrote by way of background info in different posts.  But now (via telephone tutorial session) -pf is asking me to share some of my credentials (such as they are) that make me somewhat qualified to opine. 

I grew up in a politically active family – my dad was longtime chair of the Republican Party in the town I grew up in and before that was Precinct chair in the Bronx.  My mom was always president of the Women’s Republican Club.  As a young child I was trotted out to serve peanuts at many cocktail parties.  Years later as a grown up I was peripherally involved in town politics and some neighbors still say I have a keen insider’s look (thanks Mom and Dad).

Majored in American Studies (not History) at Smith College (graduated in 1989) and had always wanted to end up in DC but alas, was not to be.  I still hold on to my belief born out of a college class on Presidential Elections that the system was irrevocably broken at the dawn of the TV Presidential Primary age.  Remember – we got my adored Harry S. Truman (yes, I know he was a Democrat) because of back room party leaders calling the shots – and he turned out ok.  Nowadays I don’t think President Truman would have a chance if he were on TV.

-pf thinks I have stuff to say that makes sense so she is inviting me to post from time to time – not so much to link other stories but to opine personally on what’s going.

 Look forward to posting periodically and hopefully you’ll all think my comments - whether you agree or not – are worth reading.

Libra Girl

Well I can see I didn’t miss much news. Iran is mad, fires still raging on the Left Coast and Obama is sounding more like Hillary than early 2008 Obama… I just returned from a working vacation in Texas – Republican State Convention is next weekend, then the County Fair starts… (and that’s not counting keeping up at work!) so it continues to be very busy for me. Here is a picture of the 4th of July group I missed in Muscatine:

Mary, Jonathon, Dez, Mariannette and Bob

For those of you who think the rich need to pay more taxes – dig this:
The top 1% of tax payers paid 24.6 per cent of all federal income taxes
The top 5% of taxpayers paid 43.4 per cent of the taxes
The bottom 50% of tax filers paid 5.5 per cent of the taxes

Out of 134 million tax filers in 2005, 43 million (almost one third) paid NO Income Tax. (Link)

And remember this: the rich are those of us who are most capable of just leaving the country to set up in a new country that doesn’t tax quite so much. Who pays the taxes, and employs those workers in the US then?

more stats: Link

Man Made Global Warming – The Truth
(click below to view – do not try with dial-up connection)
The Great Global Warming Swindle
hat tip to Kathy Burt for finding this video

Again folks, these are important times.

6/15/08

looking toward the north part of town, you can see the river front to the right – normally the water is 50-70 feet (to the right from this view) away from the railroad tracks.

So, you probably don’t want to park in THAT parking lot…. today anyway. This is a picture closer to the river on the Mississippi riverfront.

Flood waters are receding quickly on the Cedar River (affects Cedar Rapids and Muscatine) – not so much on the Iowa River (Iowa City) because the spillway is still open at Coralville Dam… muddy’s the water metaphorically and actually speaking. There are damaged bridges and other infrastructure damage – hopefully FEMA will kick in for much of that.

here is a quote from our esteemed governor – otherwise know as “The Big Lug”…

“It’s likely that we will see major and serious flooding on every part of the southeastern border of our state from New Boston and down,” Gov. Chet Culver said. “We are taking precautionary steps, we are evacuating where necessary, but that is going to be the next round here.”

I find this remarkable. New Boston is in Illinois. He’s the governor of Iowa, prolly should be more concerned about Muscatine across the border from New Boston.

6/16 pictures show water receding on Mississippi?

The Clamdigger is a statue on the river front – yesterday water was over the base of the statue. And you can see the water is no longer directly over the railroad ties (foreground).

you can see more flood damage here. Taking the link will show the Muscatine Journal – (Beau Huber’s) pictures of the roads that were closed and more… even when the water recedes it will take weeks before the east west roads are usable.

here is a sample of the damage:

here is a picture looking toward the Mississippi on the northern end of the River Drive through town

This “river” is usually a sand bar strewn trickle of a creek that is typically too shallow to canoe on most of the year. This is Interstate 80 between Wilton and West Liberty. 6/16 – the water has receded from this picture but…

6/14 – I thought I would write a personal update, especially since I’ve not posted for a while and the events in Iowa warrant this post. First let me get some housekeeping out of the way.

HERE is a link to my last update post from May – I thought it time to start a new one. You can take a link on that post to my original welcome post from when I started this blog over a year ago now.

I thought this was funny – from http://powerlineblog.com I always value approaching difficult situations with humor – when you don’t know how to react, humor is always well taken. In this case, a point is also made.

Republicans are jumping on Barack Obama for his statement about the Presidential campaign at a fundraiser last night, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” The McCain campaign said it was good to see Obama abandoning his opposition to the manufacture, sale or possession of handguns, but concluded:

[W]e’re having second thoughts about our proposed series of town halls.

My mind can not operate too far away from trying to parse what’s going on politically in the state, nation and world. With President Bush in Europe, much of the world seems in rapture of his last days in office. I for one, am not looking forward to that day. I hope American voters make a good decision when picking the next Leader of the Free World; I believe John McCain is the man for the job.

It seems clear to me that both the Republican and Democrat parties are dysfunctional with special interest groups trying to “own” what they should not. That makes me very uncomfortable.

A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves – Bertrand de Jouvenel.

I fear Americans have become “sheeple” following special interests groups blindly. I hope more engage in the process.

The candidate I worked for in the June 3rd primary, won – so I will also be busy working on her candidacy for the US House as well as others on the November ballot. This continues to be the most important election in my lifetime.

Thanks to all who are asking how things are going with flooding in Iowa – the problems in the state will take billions to repair and can’t even be quantified in dollars. I am not experiencing any difficulty other than not being able to get far out of the town without hitting a closed bridge over a small river gone mad.

Today we had a drenching albeit short storm that also left some dime sized hail that has since melted. I’ve heard we could be sitting in this situation for another week before we should expect changes.

I know one of the concerns that exist today is how the roads and foundations of some of the major infrastructure under water now will hold up once the water recedes.

This flood has been very different from the 1993 flood which affected the Mississippi river towns more but leaves us with the same feeling of helplessness. And it makes as much sense as it did to discuss “what should be rebuilt” as it should have been after Katrina. We no longer have the need to live close to water; Iowa should set that standard by making some tough decisions. I think we’ve had a 100 year flood 3 times in the last 40 years now in Iowa – and it’s time to consider the logic of building in any type of flood plain. Oh, and we’re waiting for Brad Pitt to show up to help us rebuild sometime in the next weeks. (jk)

Des Moines has be affected a bit harder than in 1993, although the changes made because of that flood saved the water system and more in that town. Cedar Rapids was not affected much in the 1993 floods, and has been devastated in this flood.

There is probably little need to tell you more about what’s going on in Iowa since it’s all you hear about in the news other than the sudden, sad and surprise death of Tim Russert. Russert was one of the few of the Main Street Media that seemed fair. Any one mentioned as his successor on MEET THE PRESS will be filling large shoes – and I hope to heck David Gregory is not on the short list, or Keith Obermann – both are insanely anti Bush and generally show their Democrat bias in ugly ways.

here is the most disturbing picture I’ve seen – I think it’s from Cedar Rapids:

Stay tuned, and pray for Iowans in trouble. – pf

The First Welcome page (with navigation help) is buried in archives now – but you can go here to read it.

I’m posting a bit here occasionally about what I’m busy doing.

If you’re new to this site you might be interested in looking at my favorite post summary here. Otherwise rummage through the site all you want.

[May 10, 2008] Busy busy busy… and not enough time to prioritize. Was looking at some other blogs that are much more personal than this one – really impressed with a few – will put links on this site when I get around TUIT.

Here is a link from State 29 about why Iowa is losing citizens, especially younger Iowans.  First, I love the tagline “Keeping Track Of All Those Iowa Scandals While Remaining Insightfully Vulgar”.  But it’s a good read with other supporting links that are worth taking/reading… Will be very busy until the Primary June 3 – and more deadlines at work that are approaching. Happy Mother’s Day Mothers!

[April 27, 2008] Pretty boring here, more work and more politics. Hawkeye football doesn’t look inspired for the fall, it will be interesting to go into a year with low expectations. And so it goes.

[April 17, 2008] I haven’t been thinking a lot about politics lately and that’s not a bad thing. Buried at work, trying to dig out, spending 5 days in Texas with family learning a lot about what I can and cannot do physically :::sigh::: hoping all will be well as we returned home. Also lost a friend over the last few weeks, lived a long life but will be missed much – and had some car trouble that has irritated me so much I’m selling the Ford for maybe a Toyota. (still have 3,000 miles on the warrantee so I will take my time). In the last few hours I emailed the Teahan and Miller-Meeks campaign to tell them I am supporting Miller-Meeks for Congress to replace the Representative who’s not – Dave Lobesack – in the US House. Both Teahan and Miller-Meeks are good candidates – you’ll hear more of why I’m supporting Miller-Meeks in the next days.

[March 28, 2008] As you can tell, HF2645 is occupying a lot of my thought in the last weeks. Also tending to a lot of personal things with friends and family… My anger about the passage of HF2645 is only moderately related to the content of the bill. My anger is focused on the way the bill was passed. Watching some of the debate in the gallery also heightened my interest.

There are some elements in the bill that put Iowa “first in nation” relative to giving power to unions and away from elected boards and superintendents. It is wrong for this 14 page amendment that changes so much – NOT to have gone through the Labor Committee, and to be passed during a time when many schools were on Spring Break. The April legislative forum will be a “MUST SEE” event.

March 16, 2008] -Doing some good things with diet, but still eating too much and need to find some exercise program that fits me. With the convention behind us we are working toward opening the Republican HDQS in Muscatine – but that won’t take a huge amount of time… time to dive into some huge projects at work and make a difference. Hospice is good (I volunteer there) Family is good, Friends are good, God is good, life is good. Please spend a moment in prayer, thanking God for your many gifts in this time of renewal. Palm Sunday is over – the most holy week of the year has begun. God bless the world. Pray for Peace.

[March 6, 2008] – I told you last year and repeated last week this was going to happen. Obama and Clinton are NOT good candidates LINK…

[March 5, 2008] – The GREATEST PLAY – April 25, 1976 – Dodgers vs Cubs
Worth your time!!! Click here: monday_flag_350wmv.wvx

[March 4] – He wasn’t MY candidate, he may not have been YOUR candidate but he is OUR Republican candidate for the Presidency of the United States in 2008. Go Mac!

[March 1] - It’s just a rumor at this point but LINK Bill Roggio is pretty close to the action – maybe #2 in al Qaeda has been eliminated. Hope the rumor proves to be true.

I have no inclination to write a special post about the Legislative Forum this AM but will cover it here. If the most important thing the legislature has to spend its time on this session is making Iowa a non-smoking state – I have to tell them there should be other priorities. And I think this IS all about priorities. Where a non-smoking state would be great, I’m also not apposed to the market place taking care of supporting smoke free places at the deficit of places that allow smoking. After all the market place is us; I’m not sure the government is us anymore.

In that vein, I’ve decided to invest the (Iowa tax free) rebate from the US government that there is talk of – to design and distribute static cling decals that say “Don’t blame me, I voted for Rudy”. My little contribution to continuing civil discourse.

My number #2 I DON’T CARE waste of time in the state legislature is the discussion about killing doves. I don’t even want to go there… Don’t we have budgets and economic issues to discuss?

It’s supposed to be almost 50 degrees tomorrow, hope that takes care of most of the snow. There are pools all over the county on when the mounds of snow at the Malls and parking lots will disappear. We’re certainly tired of the stuff.

That said, we’re pretty well prepared for the Republican County Convention next Saturday, and we just opened the HDQs we acquired to check it out – threw up some bunting and COMING SOON sign on the windows… nice place – right across from SWEET TEMPTATIONS in the PCPlaza. I see ice cream and politics in my summer…

[February 17] Well it’s supposed to snow again tonight. We’ve had more snow this winter than we have in the last 10 combined. My garage door is giving me fits – the ice then snow today will be another challenge, but I poured a quarter inch deep patch of salt where the door hits the floor – we’ll see.

I’m busy getting ready for the County Convention on March 8, the last major activity for a while. McCain ended up philosophically being my second candidate (although Rudy was very much my favorite) so it’s not a stretch for me to support him. He’s certainly better than either Obama or Hillary.

From what I understand the USA has the first or second highest corporate tax rate in the world. The EU and many countries have spent the last two years making drastic reductions in their corporate tax rates and both Obama and Hillary think taxing businesses will solve our economic problems. It will only drive more work out of the USA.

[January 31] The political campaign is over for Rudy and I need to figure out what that means to me. Many of my friends across the USA have vowed to continue to vote for Rudy through their primaries or caucuses.

Rudy has endorsed McCain but I still see McCain as an angry old man who keeps grudges yet picks odd things on which he pushes compromise. I hope we see Rudy and McCain traveling together and McCain can absorb some advice from Rudy on humility and keeping his temper. Rudy has learned a lot in this campaign – all for the better. Some say this positions him well for a failed Democrat Presidency in 2008-2012, but Rudy would be 67…. I think this was his year and we (yes you too!) failed him.

I’ve noted in a previous post that McCain’s continual stab at Mitt on the timetable issue is completely lame – it also shows the level at which this electorate is really listening; they are not. If voters were truly listening to message and substance – Rudy would still be in this race.

The only thing I’m really taking away from this primary cycle is my personal recollection of my disdain for the process; and it’s scary how many people can be swayed by a good speaking voice or a headline. As a nation – we get the candidate we deserve. (yikes)

There are a few people I really respect that support Senator McCain (now including Rudy) so I will take a closer look at him – and he’s clearly the stronger candidate between Mitt and Huck. Not sure I will be campaigning for McCain – we are busy enough here getting some local people elected.

And in continued defense of Rudy – his failed strategy is the only strategy that he could have reasonably taken in this campaign. He campaigned in Iowa and New Hampshire almost as many days as McCain so the media spin that he “didn’t compete” isn’t accurate.

A real deficit that I saw as the campaign continued is the “higher” level of Rudy supporters (at least in Iowa) were really for themselves, promoting their own agenda rather than really pushing support for Rudy. Oh they supported him, but not in the trenches and didn’t reach out to the press to communicate that support. That would have helped – but I don’t see anything changing the outcome – and I’m more concerned for the future now than I was when this political season started.

McCain has been the darling of the Media since the 2000 election – it will be interesting (in a creepy kind of way) to see how he’s treated if he gets to the general cycle. The media continues to control the message – and between the liberal press and the conservative talk shows dominating – we moderates are sandwiched in the uncomfortable middle.

[January 4] I’ve decided to take off the gloves and write more about why I continue to support Rudy against all other republican candidates – my boss mercifully let me take today off too to decompress from the caucus. I will post something this weekend, but to view the results, go http://muscatinecountygop.org and you’ll note my lack of enthusiasm. I understand the democrats in town bought something like muscatinerepublicans.com – and directed it to the democrat site. Isn’t that so, like, 5th grade?

[December 26] Enjoying my vacation but need to get into a better rhythm to get more done. Still need some precinct caucus chair people, will spend time on the phone tomorrow. Welcome 2008, I think I need a special post for that. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[December 18] My vacation starts on Friday, so I should have more time to post, right now I’m in the final stages of organizing for the county caucus on Jan 3, and that requires a lot of my time. Keep an eye on this site, and thanks for checking back. Go Rudy!

[December 10] I am terrible at finding time to do the personal updates. The Bears are out of the post season as are the Hawkeyes who are Bowl-less for the first time in 7 years. But there is always politics, and that too is getting me down. I hate calling people on the phone yet that’s what I’m doing – organizing the County Caucus for Republicans. Will write more when I can but for now David Frum summarizes my thoughts very well in the post I just threw up on the blog from National Review. Rudy’s the man for our times.

The Hucklebee surge doesn’t surprise me; I’ve always felt Romney’s support was wide yet brittle – but with Hucklebee’s history laid bare – he’s a worse candidate than FDT and neither one can beat a Dem right now. To me it’s still Rudy or – watch out.

[November 17] This has been the worst season of Iowa Football I have witnessed in a long time – probably because it was so unexpected. Not only did they look bad, but they never showed consistent improvement. Very busy next 6 weeks preparing for the county caucus and to get Rudy voters delivered to it, meeting tomorrow night.

[November 4] The Hawkeyes are fighting their way into bowl contention with two games left they SHOULD win… and if they get selected to play in a Phoenix bowl, it would be tempting to travel. But then there’s Rudy. The Iowa caucus has been moved to Jan 3 so that will be a busy December both organizing the caucus and getting Rudy people there. I’ve talked about all the things that have been keeping me busy in separate posts, Rudy in SE Iowa twice in October one of them in Muscatine. Going to take next Saturday off and Cheer for the Hawkeyes in person… But Rudy’s candidacy is taking front and center for me right now; I still believe he is by far the best candidate to lead this nation. There is no one even close to his experience, leadership and results.

[October 8] Well the Cubs were swept in their first series, the Hawkeyes are 2-4 and so are the Bears. Not a great sports fall for me but things can get better. The Bears won a thriller on Sunday Night Football. Rudy is here on October 17 – I should start a thread on that as soon as I have the time.

[September 30] Been an unusual sports month – The Cubs are still playing ball (NL Central Champions – Go Cubs Go) the football season is almost over with the Hawks 2-3 and the Bears 1-3 so far. I’m not sure the Hawkeyes can win another game as badly as they played yesterday. The Bears – anyone want a quarterback – or two? Politics are heating up at the local and national level – more on that later, but I’ve also posted a lot of good stuff to read. read it and comment if you are so inclined…

[September 23] I went to the county republican dinner instead of watching the Iowa game, and since they lost I didn’t bother to watch the game I taped. Go Cubs Go – magic # = 4 games and counting – read my post here about Chriss Winston’s visit to Muscatine – we need to do a better job of raising “Americans”.

[September 16] Looks like another busy week but the news is busy too. FDT announced and is doing little to quell the discussion of his physical fitness for the rigors of the presidency and Rudy is going to England later this week for a speech and an award to be presented by Maggie Thatcher. Time to get to bed, another week ahead!

[September 7] I have a busy weekend so you won’t be hearing too much from me, although it looks like I can watch the Bears game in Chicago. (unfortunately they’re playing in San Diego) something useful I saw this week was this site https://www.donotcall.gov/register/Reg.aspx register here to put your phone numbers on the national do not call registry.

[September 2] Labor Day weekend starts with a Hawkeye victory at Soldier Field. I have a lot to catch up on this weekend, reading writing and cleaning. I’ve posted quiet a bit over the last weeks; once I get out of the weekend you won’t hear much from me for a bit – I’m going to a trade show in Chicago SUN-TUE next week so that will make everything else busier too. I’m going to Graph Expo, which is where I was on 9-11-01, and I’ll be there during the 6th anniversary.

I will start a game thread for Syracuse. It’s a night game at Kinnick – always exciting; maybe we can win one once.

[August 26] holy crap, summer is almost over and kids are back in school. a LOT going on, Rudy was in Bettendorf on Friday, I need to write story today. Even though it was not a Town Hall meeting, we had a great time at a “meet and greet” at a family restaurant – promise to write the story today. The Cubs are still hanging in the pennant race. Go Cubbies!

[August 19] and nearing the end of summer. My niece is at school, first day of class is tomorrow. Busy at work – keeping up this site and one more here and working for Rudy and volunteering for Hospice. My internet appears down at home and I had work to do anyway so I’m spending a few hours at work online.

[August 12] Not much original thought from me, I posted a “poem” Desiderata that I remember having on a wall in my dorm room… My niece leaves for ISU this week – God’s speed and much love.

A TON of other things going on besides work of course, finishing my formal Hospice Volunteer training so I can get into the field now, and still working for Rudy. Witnessing very subtle changes in the journalistic and political landscapes – what is being admitted to relative to liberal bias – we shall see how that evolves. Some of the posts I’ve tossed up on the site for you to read reflect those small changes.

[August 4] Well the cubs are back in 2nd place, one game in back of Milwaukee. Just posted some funny cartoons here, if you wanna go look.

Here is a funny You Tube video done by Penn and Teller where he describes someone going to an event supporting some environmental initiative and people are asked to sign a petition, outlawing the use of H2O. (Di-Hydrogen Monoxide) – pretty telling… and funny in a creepy kind of way. Debates tomorrow – get the popcorn (or cereal, it’s early!).

[August 1] CUBS WIN! first place for the first time in AUG since 2003. CUBS WIN a thriller bases loaded passed ball to score the winning run. On a sad note, prayers for the missing, dead and injured and their families in Minneapolis.

[July 29] Beau is upgrading the blog to the newest version for me this afternoon, so if there is interruptions in service that is why. Most of the changes will be transparent to the viewer, but will help in some of the stability issues that I am fighting when I add content (there are also security upgrades).

I am also working on a series of posts that I hope to clearly define my opinion of Democrat and Republican principles. The 2008 election continues to point to the most important of MY lifetime.

the upgrade is done and I’ve posted Part 1 of my series of ( R ) vs ( D ) principles.

and then I published part 3 over part 2, so I need to recreate part 2. soon.

[July 21] well again, apologies for the less than weekly posting, but I’ve been traveling on vacation and working more for Rudy. went to a few days of the early rounds of this women’s (WTA) event http://cincytennis.com and had a good time – more on the Rudy visit in another post. Just got HP 7 and will be busy reading that too, so posts may appear slower than normal.

[July 1] Happy July! this has got to qualify as the Line of the Day:

Abbas, appearing on a podium alongside Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, said Hamas had committed “crimes, murder and aggression against everything Palestinians stand for” in its takeover earlier this month of the Gaza Strip.

[June 26] Been another busy week. Getting more active in the Rudy Campaign and out and about a bit. A major project at work is moving forward nicely allowing me to take some time off to do other things. working a lot on the other blog you can read more here.

[June 18] Did I tell you I hate voice mail? Well I got a good one today. #1 Muscatine Power and Water picked up the Big Ten Network! better yet, #2 it’s in my standard package! Go Hawks!

[June 17] Going to Des Moines on WED for a Rudy Event. Mitt Romney was in Muscatine today you can check out the details here @ another site I support.

[June 11] Looking forward to some vacation in July – going to watch a professional tennis tournament in Ohio with friends. Look I’m famous – http://www.joinrudy2008.com/news/pr/284 listed as a county chair! I had no idea Rudy considered me furniture! Now I need to find some people to work for Rudy with me… help?

[May 29] I survived the day at work after a long weekend, including some vacation days and feel pretty good. Got some clean up landscaping done today so the yard looks nice coming home that’s always cool. Getting more involved in the Rudy campaign, you’ll hear more about why later, I just think this election is THAT important. keep in touch.

[May 20] very early May 20, I need to get to bed. With Beau’s help we just brought up the new Muscatine County GOP website – go here to see it. I will probably start a new personal post tomorrow – and will be blogging more over the holiday weekend – I’m taking THURS and FRI in addition to the 3 day weekend, so keep checking back.

[May 12] I will try to finish my letter to the editor and post it here tomorrow. At this point I could spend my weekend reading, writing and blogging, so stay tuned!

[May 5] ok I need to get better at the weekly notes here, sorry about that but I have been posting a lot. I have laptop problems right now and want to help with the muscatine gop website so I may not post as much for a bit, but am taking a 4 day weekend over memorial day – promise to improve more especially then. I have tasked myself to author a letter to the editor of the Muscatine Journal this week to find other Rudybots in town. I like this forum but need to feel like I’m making a larger impact for Rudy. Stay tuned and don’t give up on me! Beau did an a Rudy “widget” from the Rudy website this week that updates itself daily – kinda cool.

[April 15] Another busy week, getting my taxes done with an old family friend, and tripping to Des Moines yesterday to see Rudy. Plenty of documentation so read… Also this next week is Holocaust remembrance week, I will post an article I just read next.
I also heard from the guy who’s writing the book on Iowa Fans – it will be out on schedule before football season starts. More on that later, but with the Spring Game yesterday, I also posted a summary of thoughts about the 2007 Football HAWKEYES.

[April 7] I’m not planning on posting anything tomorrow – busy with work (Easter with family was today) but I also brought down my links to the Romney campaign because I can no longer support him. He doesn’t seem “ready for prime time” and has recently suggested a “not for publication” timeline for defeat retreat in Iraq. No. you’ll see more links to Rudy soon.

[March 31] ok! my recent engagement with Muscatine County Republicans have helped me refocus on the issues at hand and a bit away from the algore craziness (although you KNOW he WILL win a Nobel Peace Prize in October don’t you? – what a joke).
anyway – Tommy Thompson is in town today and Rudy is in Des Moines next Tuesday – so I’m having fun!

I also changed to use firefox from IE. Not used to it yet but I’m getting spelling help on my blog, so that is a good thing.

[March 25] I’m disliking what algore is doing to the Global Warming issue so much, I seem to be focusing on it a lot. It’s wrongheaded and counter productive. AND it shows you how people can be “moved” by hype. Shame on algore. I can only hope he will be shown as the hypocrite he is very soon. Rudy is going to be in Iowa April 3 – a rally in the evening in Des Moines. more on that later.

[March 18] posted a lot again this week, and decided to support Rudy formally. got my first anonymous post. please read and comment, read and comment.

[March 11] I posted a lot this weekend so I will let that speak for me here – cheers!

[March 4] well it’s the quiet end to another weekend. I didn’t get as much done on the blog as I wanted to – there is a lot going on in both the national and state legislatures and people should be paying attention. So far I’m also behind promising you a review of Iowa Football 2007 and Media Bias 3 – but tomorrow is another day. Turn your clocks forward on March 11, and beware the Ides of March!

[FEBRUARY 25] Dreamhost was down all day today if you were wondering why you couldn’t visit today. I’ve been reading up on the Hawkeye 2007 Football team – I will post something soon. Two things – awesome young group of Wide Receivers, and I’m very disappointed we are playing neither Ohio State OR Michigan this season. Doesn’t make sense.

[FEBRUARY 17] just added my endorsement of Rudy Giuliani for President 2008 (see a link to his exploratory committee in the links section at the bottom right). I also like Mitt Romney so I’m technically undecided.

[FEBRUARY 11] – I will be adding new pages on Obama, Hillary and the fight for sanity in the Iowa State Legislature and will periodically update those pages with new information.

Link

Thank You

By INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Friday, November 09, 2007 4:20

Veterans Day: From Valley Forge to Gettysburg, from Pointe du Hoc to the Pusan Perimeter, and from Khe Sanh to Fallujah, we salute and give thanks to those who gave their last full measure of devotion.

Approximately 5,000 Americans died in combat in the Revolutionary War, equivalent in terms of today’s population to half a million. Some 2,000 died in a place called Valley Forge in the bitter winter of 1776. They were the first veterans of the new nation, but they would not be the last.

Less than a century later, this nation would be involved in a great Civil War in which more Americans would die in a single day than in four years of combat in Iraq. On Sept. 17, 1862, 3,650 soldiers on both sides died at Antietam, with 22,700 wounded or missing. In the end, 620,000 would be killed in a nation of just 31 million.

If casualties and uncertain prospects for success are the benchmark for giving up the struggle for democracy and freedom, Lincoln might have given up after Antietam. Washington might have given up after Valley Forge. But America does not give up, does not cut and run, and neither does its military.

We forget in the trivia of modern-day politics that the existence of this nation at various points in its history was, as the British are prone to say, a “very near thing.” Lincoln remembered this at Gettysburg, in honoring those who sacrificed so that this nation would not perish from the Earth. We should remember too. Every day.

Fortunately, we had a secret weapon — the American soldier. Ronald Reagan made that observation on a cliff in Normandy on June 6, 1984, some 40 years after U.S. Army Rangers scaled it under withering German fire to ensure the success of D-Day. “These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc,” Reagan would say. “These are the men who would take the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end the war.”

As Reagan noted, they “knew some things were worth dying for. One’s country was worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.” Some unfortunately have forgotten that.

Six months after D-Day, the troops of the 101st Airborne would find themselves surrounded by German panzer divisions in the Belgian town of Bastogne. It was an offensive that could have delayed or even changed the outcome of the war. They shouldn’t have been able to hold out, but they did.

On Dec. 22, 1944, Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe answered a Nazi surrender demand with the famous one word response that would be America’s answer to tyrants who threaten us ever since: “Nuts!”

There would be more sacrifices. The month-long assault on Iwo Jima resulted in more than 28,000 American casualties, including 6,821 dead. Casualties at Okinawa totaled more than 38,000 Americans wounded and 12,000 killed or missing.

Sometimes the results are inconclusive, and sometimes defeat is snatched from the jaws of victory by timid politicians back home. But that does not diminish the valor and the sacrifice of the brave soldiers who held out against great odds at places like Pusan in Korea and Khe Sanh in Vietnam.

The nature of the war that began on 9/11 is different, but the goal of the enemy is the same. It wants to wipe freedom from the face of the Earth. But those who embrace fanatical and nihilistic ideologies, from Nazism to Islamofascism, are up against an enemy they can never understand or defeat — the American soldier.

We remember Pat Tillman, the former Arizona Cardinals safety killed while serving with the Army Rangers in Afghanistan. Tillman could have stayed in the National Football League earning millions of dollars, but he was willing to put his life on the line for his country. That he was killed by friendly fire is irrelevant to his sacrifice. As columnist Michael Reagan has said, when you’re in a war zone and you’re killed, you’re a hero. In our book as well.

On April 30, 2005, Cpl. Jeffrey Starr, of Snohomish, Wash., was killed in a gunbattle in Ramadi on his third tour of duty. After his death, Starr’s family found the letter on his laptop computer written to his girlfriend, Emmylyn Anonical.

In the letter, Starr said: “I kind of predicted this; this is why I’m writing this . . . A third time just seemed like I’m pushing my chances.” Emmylyn decided to make the letter public, explaining, “The reason I chose to share that letter was the part about why he was doing this, not the part about him expecting to die.”

Wrote Starr: “I don’t regret going, everybody dies, but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it’s not to me. I’m here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom. Now this is my mark.”

Long before the “Anbar Awakening” and the success of Gen. David Petraeus’ surge, men like Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta went nose-to-nose with al-Qaida in Iraq. In the November 2004 battle for Fallujah, Sgt. Peralta was shot in the head and chest at close range as his team went house-to-house clearing the town of jihadists.

As he lay on the floor of a terrorist hideout, Peralta saw a yellow, foreign-made grenade that would have wiped out his entire squad. To save his fellow Marines, he reached out, grabbed the grenade and tucked it into his abdomen, where it exploded.

Maybe Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise can make movies about real heroes like Peralta, Starr and the boys of Pointe du Hoc, who gave them the opportunity to produce anti-war drivel like “Lions for Lambs,” set for release this Veterans Day.

At the end of the 1954 film “The Bridges at Toko-Ri,” based on the Korean War novel by James Michener, the crusty old captain of an American aircraft carrier, watching his pilots take off for another mission from which not all would return, asks rhetorically, “Where do we get such men?”

Where indeed? Thank you all.