Write. Write. Write.

Must get back into the blogging groove.

Why do the things I like to do take up so much time?

Let’s see, besides a full time job and being a father to my two kids (and don’t you dare forget about the wife!), what’s up?

For starters, I’ve been reacquainting myself with my faith.  Part of this re-discovery is a lot of reading and studying.  Most time consuming is my attempt to read the bible from cover to cover.  I had been reading sections and pieces of the great book as inspiration took hold.  But it has always seemed to big and dense to read all the way through.

Then I noticed that my lovely bible (ESV) was just over 1200 pages.  So I figured, heck, that’s just under four pages a day to read the bible in a year!  I can do that!  Back, front, back, and front, each night for a year.  Seemed easy enough when I started, but reading four pages every night is a lot harder than I anticipated.  Most importantly, the dedication to the big book has reduced my other reading (including blogs) by a significant margin.

In addition to that, I have been trying to improve my golf game.  I’m tired of playing in the third flight.  I don’t want to always be the worst golfer in my foursome.  So I have stepped up interest in the game of golf, with some small amount of progress. 

Now I can at least break 100 on most rounds (don’t laugh), but my goal is to be able to shoot in the 80’s on a regular basis.  As with anything worth doing, it’s going to take some time and a commitment to learn.  But I am enjoying the game now, which is more than I can say for my golf experiences over the last ten years or so. 

So much is happening in our world, and along the Grand Strand.  I need to get back to posting, or else…

I sure hope that John McCain appeals to moderates as much as the media tells us he does.  Here’s some indication of how uninspiring the Republican field of presidential candidates has been this primary season.

From an article by Mort Kondracke found at RealClearPolitics comes this statistic:

In all the primaries held so far, just the three top Democratic contestants — Clinton, Obama and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) — amassed 25 million votes, compared with 12.5 million for six Republican candidates.

I’m sure there are some cross-over Republican voters in the Democratic totals, but the vote totals between the two parties aren’t even close!  Especially considering that the country has been almost evenly split between the two parties in the last two presidential elections.  The ominous clouds of a blowout Democratic victory in November are looming on the horizon.

Bill Quick has read my mind.  He is proposing a new political party to represent people who are feeling increasingly disenfranchised by the steady leftward march of both major political parties in America.

His new political party is called the American Conservative Party, you can read about the beginnings of this party at their new website here. 

I’m not sure this name will work in the long run, as terms like Conservative and Liberal have become loaded buzz words in current political discourse.  Many people have a strong initial reaction to the label Conservative immediately upon hearing it which may be a negative when trying to bring people besides self-identifies Conservatives into the party.

As suggested in the comments, I think we should consider naming it the Liberty Party as a more generically positive name in the public imagination; or the Federalist Party, although that may be too technical in nature for widespread appeal.

He is soliciting input and has called for multiple editors to assist him in this effort.  If interested, drop by and read about how to sign up.  Or just add your own comment about the new effort.

In the next few posts, I want to make some suggestions for the party’s platform, and how to organize this effort so that it will produce positive short-term results that don’t help the opposition party in the next few elections.

Matt Stearns writes an article for the McClatchy Washington Bureau on Hillary’s exaggerated claims of working in the public sector for most of her career.  His full article can be read here.

The article attempts to point out that the Hillary resume is not as charitable as her supporters make it out to be.  Of course, her many years as a partner at the Rose Law Firm are described as having primarily represented large corporate interests in Arkansas.

What the article fails to mention, he just leaves it to the reader to deduce, is that her years at the Rose Law Firm were the same years her husband was the Governor of Arkansas.  Coincidence?  The Rose Law Firm also performed work for the State of Arkansas, clearly a conflict of interest.  Most importantly, it is obvious to me that most of her corporate accounts were interested in her not for her legal mind, but as access to the Governor’s house. 

Where is the outcry of cronyism?

From Hillary’s resume at Wikipedia, another interesting observation: 

“Bill Clinton had lost the Congressional race in 1974, but in November 1976 was elected Arkansas Attorney General“

When did Hillary join the ‘prestigious’ Rose Law Firm?:

“Rodham joined the venerable Rose Law Firm, a bastion of Arkansan political and economic influence,^[66] in February 1977,^[67] specializing in patent infringement and intellectual property law,^[31] while also working pro bono in child advocacy;^[68] she rarely performed litigation work in court.”

Her first (only?) foray into private practice lands her at one of the top law firms in the state, yet her law school and post graduate work all focused on child development, child welfare and medicine?  However, she was such an outstanding talent that within two years she made Partner! :

In 1979,^[83] she became the first woman to be made a full partner of Rose Law Firm.^[84]

But what else happened in 1979?:

Following the November 1978 election of her husband as Governor of Arkansas, Rodham became First Lady of Arkansas in January 1979.

Hmmm, something smells a little fishy.  It can’t be that obvious, right? 

From 1978 until they entered the White House, she had a higher salary than her husband.

Didn’t they have the same bank account?  If a corporation was paying Hillary to represent them, hourly, wouldn’t the GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS be getting a taste?  Which lawyer at which ‘prestigious’ law firm would you want representing your firm in the State of Arkansas? 

Bill Clinton returned to the Governor’s office two years later by winning the election of 1982….she also took a leave of absence from Rose Law in order to campaign for him full-time.^[88]

Well, certainly Bill being out of office didn’t help her billable percentage at the firm.

Next time someone writes an article on Hillary’s supposedly outstanding resume, they should point out, not only that she has served on the board of directors for some very large corporations, as well as the minor fact that she was representing these same large Arkansas corporations (like Walmart), while her husband was the Governor. 

Its been nearly twenty years since the S&L scandal, the crisis in the lending industry that gave us the Keating 5.  This scandal is resurfacing as an issue since one of the Keating 5 was our favorite Republican Senator:  John McCain. 

Surely the media could report on the Keating 5 scandal, update the electorate on one of the skeletons in McCain’s closet, but they’re most likely saving that informative bit of history for after McCain gets the Republican nomination.

You can read a brief synopsis of the Keating 5 scandal as summarized in this Wikipedia entry.  Obviously, all Wikipedia entries are a little suspect; its not necessarily authoritative, but it gives you the gist of the scandal.

What jumps out at me after reading about the Keating 5 scandal is the party affiliation of the 5 Senators:

Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH), Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), and John McCain (R-AZ). 

Four Democrats and one Republican, who also happens to be the current favorite to win the Republican nomination!  Good thing McCain was a part of this scandal, just to keep it bi-partisan.  Otherwise, we most likely would never have heard about it again.

Unfortunately, this is yet another example of who John McCain is ideologically in tune with, the Democrats.  If he gets the nomination, we will have quite a choice - a socialist Democrat, or a Democrat disguised as a Republican. 

And Leftward the political ‘center’ creeps, bit by bit.

Here’s a handy Voter Guide for use in preparing for the November election.  I know there is still a lot of time to think about your decision between now and then, but you may want to print out this handy guide just in case you’re still undecided this fall.

(H/T Ace)

Here is an interesting map showing the Counties of the US colored based on the majority church (religious affiliation) of each county based on the 2000 census.  There is a great discussion of the map in the comments.

The map can be found at the always interesting Strange Maps.

Living in the South for most of my life, it is easy to see the strength of the Baptist religion throughout the South, but I didn’t realize it was quite as dominate throughout all of the southern states.

It is also interesting to note how many counties are counted as majority Catholic, which seems a little odd to me having lived in several of these locations.  Possibly the other churches in those counties split the people so that the Catholic churches have a majority by a slight plurality.  It is still amazing to see the reach of the Catholic church in this country.  Also, the catholic hierarchy and centralized structure put more counties into their column while the protestant portion of the population is split between numerous sects.

Have you ever wondered what kinds of trouble the teachers at your kid’s school have gotten into?  At least since they were working our school system. 

Admittedly, all the teachers I have met here in Horry County have been exceptional, however there is now a sortable, online database of disciplinary actions taken against South Carolina Teachers, at least since 2003.  The database also contains a link to the SC Dept. of Education website with a PDF file of the individual case summary for each incident.

Hopefully this database is updated periodically to keep the information current.  You can find the database at the State Online’s website, or by clicking here.

The writing is on the wall.

The end is near; McCain vs. Hillary for the 2008 presidential election!?!  This non-choice, choice makes me shudder. 

My only consolation is the apparent distaste that both parties seem to have for their prospective nominee.  The online vitriol from the Left towards Mrs. Clinton is eerily similar to the shell-shocked feeling I have regarding the Republican party’s semi-enthusiasm towards John McCain.

The only reason I can comprehend for McCain’s success in the primaries is due to his supposed strength (poll tested! and polls never lie, right?) against Hillary! in the general election.  But is the potential appeal of John McCain to moderates and anti-Hillary Democrats worth the damage his candidacy will wreak on the GOP party faithful?

Taken for granted again.  Used.  Abused. 

It will be interesting to see the media turn on their darling ‘Maverick’ John McCain once the two party’s candidates have been crowned and the general election is in full swing.   The hatred toward G.W. Bush will be tempered as his term winds down.  W won’t seem so bad, as the new leader of the GOP will become the new face of evil incarnate.  It’s a tired old propaganda ploy, but it keeps the uninformed in check.  The media will deliver their 15%-20% to the Dems, which may mean the difference in this race.  

So, are Conservatives left with Mitt Romney?

Now that Fred has left the race for the Republican nomination, I’m leaning towards Mitt Romney out of the remaining contenders.  Giuliani is a possible second; to me, Mike Huckabee is not a conservative, base on his record as Governor or his positions on many of the issues, and McCain isn’t going to get my vote.

I will admit that I don’t know a lot about Mitt Romney’s positions on the issues I care about.  Sure he says the right things, but do his quotes come from a deeper conservative understanding of the issues, or is he simply repeating the correct ‘talking points’ that will sooth the base until he wins the election. 

Does Mitt Romney believe in the political statements he is making, or is he just another politician who will say anything to get elected?

I like the fact that he has management experience, and political  experience as an executive (Governor).  I also like the fact that he hasn’t been living in Washington D.C.; as living in and around the beltway for very long seems to warp politician’s brains.

Does Mitt Romney support the 2nd Amendment?

Not just the right of hunters to purchase and use firearms, but does he believe the wisdom of the founding fathers who knew that a well armed population was the only way to prevent a totalitarian government (monarchy at that time, with much worse forms of government authority ever since). 

Does Mitt Romney think that the role of Government in our society should be reduced, or increased?

It seems to me from the little I have found about his politics, is that he is quick to propose a Government program to fix things, although he likes to try not to raise taxes to fund these new programs.  Fiscal responsibility is all well and good, but that isn’t the only reason to avoid creating new Government regulations and vast bureaucracies agencies to ‘fix’ problems.  Number 1, they don’t usually work, often making the problem worse, or they create new problems that are worse than the original problem. And Number 2, they are never eliminated or let go for failure to perform. 

Does Mitt Romney believe that the best way to fight Islamic Extremism is to champion the cause of individual liberty throughout the world? 

This is a tough one.  Some would suggest the world’s hyper-power (or whatever the current term is) should retreat from the mid-east and serve as the world cop, maintaining order but only under the watchful eye of the UN, the EU and countless other NGO’s.  Bush’s greatest legacy, although thoroughly derided (but not discredited, yet) was his goal of dismantling authoritarian regimes in the middle east to free the imprisoned people.  Much has been gambled on the hope that once the long suffering people of the middle east get a taste of real freedom and opportunity, they won’t be as receptive to the bilious screeds of the mad mullah’s who preach hate against the west and the purity and honor of jihad to the young.  This war is for the hearts and minds of the next generation. 

Will it work?  History will decide.  But we do know that OBL’s real goal in the 9-11 bombing was to incite an all out war between Islam and the West.  We have to walk a fine line between fighting back firmly and deadly against the extremists without alienating the vast number of ordinary Muslims.  What is Mitt Romney’s assessment of Bush’s vision; does he agree? Does he disagree? Or does he have a better plan?

I know there are a lot more issues than just these few, but I want to get this off my chest.  Hopefully we will get some answers to these questions in the next few weeks.  Or, he might drop out soon and we will be left with the Media’s dream scenario:  John McCain as the Republican nominee.  Ugh.