The Clinton "Message"

Now we have the onslaught of Monday morning quarterbacking as it relates to the Iowa caucus.

While so much of this is piling on after the fact. You do have to question the wisdom of the Clinton camp's message of "If you want change, vote for me."

Excerpt from this article

"We can't have false hopes. We've got to have a person who can walk into that Oval office on day one and start doing the hard work that it takes to deliver change," she said.

How does anything about voting for Billary elicit feelings of change. I don't think a pattern of Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton promotes anything that resembles "change".

I believe the public is exhausted with Clinton/Bush fatigue. I would argue that Bush's election in 2000, was a result of total exhaustion with "The Clinton's" reality series. Bush is, in almost every character description, everything opposite Slick.

I have to give the voting public some credit. As much as they've rejected a third party leadership over the years, they've never been afraid to vote for someone "out there" ie Jesse Ventura. The fact is, a vote for Obama is less scary than the prospect of losing with Billary.

Hopefully, "The Clinton's" reality show is done. But hey, even NBC brought back the "American Gladiators".

Reading the Bible

I like to say that I knew so much more about the Bible before I actually read it.

So as part of my New year's resolution, I'm making a trek back around the New Testament for the fourth time. It is amazing that every time I read a chapter, it always struck with "I don't remember that at all" or "That's not how I took that passage the last time I read it".

If you've never read the Bible, I would encourage you to do so. Here are some tips that helped me.

First, buy yourself an NIV Bible with study guides. It's a tremendous help to know the context in which each of the books were written. In addition, the NIV is a much easier read than a King James.

Second, read like you would eat an elephant, one bite at a time. If you read two chapters in the old testament and one in the new, you can read the entire Bible in one year. Don't be overwhelmed.

Third, start with the New Testament (Matthew). You'll find that it builds your Bible reading muscles so when you get to the Old Testament you won't be so overwhelmed.

Fourth, understand that much of the Bible is a collection of Books, novels if you will; each with a different writer, audience and context; they are not necessarily in chronological order.

Fifth, even if you are a non believer, give the Bible a shot. Consider it a good fiction read.

Sixth, as you read the Bible, give yourself some time to ask yourself, "Is this a bunch of hooey?". I was in a Bible study group and I was amazed at the diverse interpretation of passages and flat out non belief in others. But I think that's really the essence of our relationship with God at times.

As I said earlier in the post, I knew so much more about the Bible before I actually read it. After reading the Bible, you may find that so much of what you know..... you don't actually know.

Another reason to hate the GOP

Hamilton County democrats and republicans worked out a deal where both of their candidates will run unopposed in the next county commissioner election; leaving the commission with a 2-1 majority for the democrats.

Excerpt from the Enquirer op-ed

The deal between Hamilton County Republican Chairman George Vincent and Democratic Chairman Tim Burke to divvy up the seats on the County Commission is an arranged marriage that leaves the public standing at the altar.

The two chairmen agreed Friday that each will run an unopposed candidate for one of the two available seats on the three-member commission. For the Democrats, incumbent Todd Portune gets an all-but-guaranteed re-election. For the Republicans, Greg Hartman gets to move from his sinecure as clerk of courts into the commission seat being vacated by fellow Republican Pat DeWine.

What does the GOP gain from this deal? They will get to keep one seat on the commission. So? I did go to a public school but even I can see a 2-1 minority is as ineffective as a 3-0 minority, so why not roll the dice?

So for the Hamilton county GOP it's more about power than principle. As our last congressional election proved, when you don't run on principle, the public will take your power.

Hamilton County is getting bluer and thanks to the Hamilton County GOP, the surrounding counties will be redder, and larger.

You guys can keep your ghost town of bums, pimps, drug dealers and welfare moms. I live in Warren county now why should I care?

There's got to be a better way!

A letter to the editor on KY Post.com on hunting dear within city limits.

Excerpt

I realize the deer are a nuisance......

There must be a safer, more sensible way to deal with the deer population problem. Even if bow hunting of deer is allowed, there have to be better ways. The Village of Granville in Ohio allows bow hunting but only hunters with experience are allowed and then only on designated specific properties. We can learn from what has worked for others. Let’s take a different aim at the deer problem now before someone is shot or seriously traumatized.

When I read this, the first thing that popped into my mind was "how so very liberal".

We've got a problem, we've got a solution, but I'm going to bitch about the solution without an alternative.

This woman should have Jennifer Brunner's job.

There's got to be a better way to vote that doesn't "disenfranchise" our state's dumb asses. So we'll spend millions to come up with a better alternative only to decide that the old way was really the best way.

Oh, Nevermind.

Child support for sperm donors

A couple of different articles about sperm donors and their potential paternity/child support obligations.

Often, I have a lot of sympathy for some men who seem to have a child support obligation that exceeds their disposable income.

However, one of the by products of our current child support laws is this..... Maybe guys think twice before crawling into bed with someone they barely know. Women tend to bare the brunt of parental responsibility when a pregnancy takes place. Having the child support laws as they are, forces men to take on some of the responsibility.

With that said, it does beg the question; if a man becomes a sperm donor for a woman who wants a baby can she waive her right to sue for child support?

It seems like a fair arrangement on it's face. But what if the mother becomes destitute and needs to go on public assistance. Why should society pay for support when they had no input on the deal that was struck? If the donor was compensated, it makes the whole thing even more egregious.

Finally, why should a sperm donor be allowed to exempt himself from child support when a man who's made it perfectly clear he doesn't want to be a father cannot.

Call me a traditionalist, but it seems to me that families are best served when there is a mommy (female) and a daddy(male) under one roof. If we have laws that encourage men to keep their sperm in their pants until they're ready to be daddy's, I think that would be a good thing.

K-Sperm probably wishes he had.

Global Warming Challenge update

The score to the global warming challenge through January 4th....

"Warm" -0-
"Cool" 8

We've got a warm front rolling is this weekend which should just about even it up.

We'll be Blue soon enough

57% of all the moving van business in Ohio is to move people out of the state (HT interested participant). For you public education types, that means only 43% are moving in.

What can we derive from this demographic information?

1) Just like the move out of cities into suburbs, the people moving out of the state are the people who can afford to and when they move it's not just their person; it's their money, their jobs, their businesses, etc. etc. etc. Ever hear of multiplier effect?

2) We can expect tax increases to cover the lost revenue from those that move.

3) As a result of the tax increases, even more people will move out of the state.

4) Since most of the people that moved will be wealthy republicans, Ohio will become a no doubt Blue State like New York.

5) And the state will carry all of about 6 electoral votes.

6) Then we'll have some clown like Woody Harrelson doing one of those Jeff Bridges commercials (for Michigan) begging people to come back to Ohio.

A political junkie's most hated things about politics

A good read at Townhall titled 10 Things a Political Junkie Hates about Politics.

Excerpt

Fear Of Offending Anyone: Because politicians are always thinking about the next election instead of actually serving the people who put them into office, they're terrified of actually doing anything that might offend someone. In today's society, where whole organizations full of people make a living by pretending to be perpetually offended -- what that means is it takes a small measure of courage, one that most politicians don't seem to have, in order to do almost anything.

They are terrified to put an end to illegal immigration because that might offend Hispanics. They can't call for an end to Affirmative Action, which is a racist policy that discriminates against white people, because that might offend blacks. They can't say anything nice about the Boy Scouts because that might offend gays. They can't point out that the problem with our schools isn't funding, it's the teacher's unions, because they'll be accused of hating children. They can't point out that wind, solar, ethanol, and the other alternative fuels that every politician in America seems to tout are, at least for the moment, technological jokes that can't come close to replacing oil because they'll offend the environmentalists. They can't point out that Muslims are more likely to engage in terrorism than anyone else because they'll be accused of hating Muslims.

One of the reasons that the American people are so cynical about politicians is because there are so many obvious truths that politicians won't delve into out of fear of offending anyone. It gets old.

This is the main complaint I have with republicans. Let's face it, Jesus Christ himself could never pull an approval rating above 60%. It's always been my belief that the political population is divided into 40-40-20 segments. 40% of the population will always hate you no matter who you are or what you do. 40% will love you no matter who you are or what you. The remaining 20% is in flux.

Historically, too many republicans seem to want to chase 60% of the population instead of taking care of the 40% who put them where they are. And then clowns like Mike Dewine, wonder why conservatives don't show up on election day.

But the fact is, when you run on principle you take care of your base and most of the 20% in the middle will be drawn to your principles. It's not rocket science.

Ronald Reagan was an unabashed conservative. Yet he won the endorsement of labor unions because he believed in what he believed.

Look at a ding dong like Ross Perot, who pulled 18% of the vote; not because he promised everything to everyone but because he had a vision that people could take hold of. Even when they didn't agree with a lot of his beliefs.

It's exactly why I never watch debates, Sunday morning news shows, State of the Unions, etc. If I want smoke blown up my ass, I'll go get a hooker.

Friday Funny

A blast from the past... Phil Hartman.

Howard Dean

Expect a similar type shrill from Billary now that she'll be on the Obama attack plan.

The Clinton Myth Exposed

I guess Billary's election wasn't so inevitable after all.

But then again, as I've said time and time again, there's always been these media myths on the popularity of our first black president and his/her wife/husband.

Remember, Slick never got above 49% of the popular vote. He more than likely never would have been president at all if Ross Perot had not run in 1992 and the GOP not put up someone with the charisma of a corpse in 1996.

And now we have his wife, with all the vitriol and none of the charm of his/her husband/wife. I'm sorry I keep forgetting who's the husband and/or wife in this relationship.

My prediction. Look for Hillary to take a pounding. Now that the public has seen that the emperor has no clothes, they're not going to be all fired up about those cankles.

Everything fascist

An interesting piece on the use of the term "fascist" being vogue.

Excerpt

When Mr. Goldberg uses the term "liberal fascism," he is not offering a right-wing version of the left's smears. He knows it is a loaded term. What he is talking about is the historical idea of fascism: a corporatist and statist social structure that creates a deep reliance of its subjects on the government and engenders a sense of community and purpose. In American politics, this tendency toward statism has always been much more at home on the left than on the right.

More....

Turley

Jonathon Turley claiming that politicians will need to run on principle this election

Excerpt

It turns out that 2008 could prove them wrong. Voters have proved not nearly as robotic as the candidates and have not rallied around the establishment candidates with the most money. Indeed, many seem to be seriously looking at third-tier — and even third-party — candidates in a search for principle

Riiiiiight! This is the same electorate that shows the leading google searches to be Jessica Alba, Britney Spears and Angelina Jolie. Yeah their looking for principle; is it boxers or briefs?

Novak on Billary

Bob Novak with a piece titled

Hillary's Premature Triangulation

Excerpt

Penn, a professional pollster who was political adviser to President Bill Clinton, is chief strategist for the Hillary Clinton campaign. He has embraced the triangulation -- coming over as a third force somewhere between liberal and conservative poles -- that characterized Bill Clinton's politics after 1994, based on advice from Dick Morris. To many Democratic operatives, Penn's triangulation prematurely introduced a general election strategy, when in fact the party nomination was still in doubt.

More....

That's a lot of money

If you follow this blog, you know I have an small accounting practice out in the Cincinnati suburbs.

I just happened to look at some reports and I noticed that my individual client base (588 tax returns) paid 6.4 million dollars in federal income tax ALONE.

That's a lot of money. It puts into perspective the enormity of the federal government.

Some other interesting facts from my practice. The average income was up 10.9%, the number of people who were paid unemployment benefits dropped from 15 to 11. So if we're in the worst economy since Herbert Hoover, I'm not seeing it here in "Redville".

The Global Warming Challenge

This morning as I was freezing my ass off, I started thinking; "This sure doesn't feel like global warming".

So I thought, here's a chance to start the Global Warming Challenge. I'm going to assign a point if the day's high temperature exceeds the normal high for that day. In addition, I will assign a point if the day's low temperature exceeds the normal low and ties where applicable. No points for a tie.

For a bonus, I assign five points for a record on the "warm" or "cool" side.

For my source, I'll use the Weather Underground, who keeps a very good record of historical weather data here in the Cincinnati area.

The challenge? There are 732 points available (without bonus points), I'm willing to wager $20-$50 to some global warming believer that half the points will be on the "cold" side.

Look it's a 50-50 proposition, unless you believe in global warming, then it's a slam dunk.

Anyone willing to take me up on it? Of course if you are a liberal, I'm sure you'd be willing to if it was someone else's money. But what about your own?

For the record, I do start with a lead 2-0 from yesterday's figures.

I'll try to post the figures on a weekly basis.

40 most obnoxious quotes of 2007

Right Wing News with the 40 most obnoxious quotes of 2007.

Of course, one of my favorites

40) "(I have) a wide stance when going to the bathroom." -- Republican Senator Larry Craig tries to explain away his attempt to pick-up an under cover police officer in an airport bathroom

More......

Is she paying minimum wage?

The Billary campaign is trying a tactic to help improve Iowa turnout; providing babysitters.

Excerpt

"I really want to see Hillary Clinton elected, but I'm too young to caucus, so I'll baby-sit for someone else so they can," said Molly McGuire, a 14-year-old from Des Moines.

She'll watch a 2-year-old and a 6-month-old, free of charge.

Free of charge?

She should be paid a living wage with full benefits and health care. After all, people all over this country "volunteer" to work at a certain wage and benefit package in this country but the government finds no problem in forcing businesses to pay a certain wage.

I guess politicians hold themselves to the same standards as the Teamsters, who routinely pay people cash for picketing in front of strike sites.

Committee "solutions"

About four weeks ago, I posted on the situation in Darfur. Mia Farrow seemed surprised that the United Nations couldn't some how find a way to act despite thorough knowledge of the atrocities there.

It's always been my belief that committees, meetings, and "talking" never solved one damn thing.

You need more proof? Here's what happened during the Bali global warming conference.

Excerpt

What did the conference accomplish? we asked. She replied, "This was the 13th conference of the countries that signed the U.N. Convention on Climate Change. The conferees agreed on the Bali Roadmap. The official report says this will 'chart a course for a new negotiation process to be concluded by 2009 that will ultimately lead to a post-2012 international agreement on climate change.'"

"You mean they have met 13 times and this time, after two weeks of talk, their great accomplishment was to agree to talk for two more years so that -- perhaps -- they can come up with something to replace the flawed Kyoto Accord," we replied. No wonder the U.S. Senate opposed "Kyoto" by 95-0 when it was first brought up.

It seems to me, we could put a real dent in the global warming "problem" if we just kept people like this from meeting and billowing out their hot air.

More....

New Orleans is coming back

After I posted on 60 plus Cincinnati murders last year, lo and behold, New Orleans looks like it's coming back.

Excerpt

The bloodiest city in the country in 2006, reeling from crime in its struggle to recover from Hurricane Katrina, got even worse in 2007.

New Orleans registered 209 homicides last year, a nearly 30 percent increase from the 161 recorded in 2006.

The FBI's rankings for 2007 will not be out until much later in the year, but New Orleans' population is thought to be 295,450, which would mean a rate of about 71 homicides per 100,000 people.

Even the most generous population estimate in 2006 put the number of people in the city that year at 255,000. That meant a real homicide rate of 63.5 per 100,000 residents. To compare that number with some other notoriously bloody cities, the rate for Gary, Ind., was 48.3 and Detroit's was 47.1.

A city run by Ray Nagin. Let me guess. He's once of those neo-cons that's all about keeping the poor blacks down? Right?

More....