Why succession is necessary in the CRNC

After this past election in the CRNC it should be very clear to many in the group that they cannot co-exist within the CRNC. This has been obvious in Minnesota since Hoplin left as the MN CR chair. It is painfully obvious nationally.

I have been posting around the blogosphere why this is necessary and not just sour grapes. I have been called many names for providing this enlightenment, but sometimes the truth is hard for some to swallow.

So, as a general response to all of those I will edit a comment I made on another blog. Maybe a few more will understand why the CRNC needs to divide.

The bottom line is that the CRNC has a division within it already. There are those who think that the GOP (and the CRNC) should be about right vs wrong. Who they supported in this election is not relevant, though I guess most supported Davidson. In Minnesota they opposed Hoplin and Eibensteiner. These people think that Gourley and Hoplin should not be rewarded for the unethical way they ran the CRNC (and the immoral way Hoplin had run the MN CR). These people also believe in accountability.

The other "Republicans" believe in careers within the party, the 11th Amendment shields them from answering tough questions about their immoral ways, and that the ends justify the means. They are the first to resort to questionable tactics (or at least not say anything about the ones that help them). This group believes in right vs wrong ONLY when it helps them or their political buddies. "You scratch my back..." is the most accurate motto they can hold. Even right vs left is not a constant for them (see some of their positions on the Twins/Vikings stadium issues).

These 2 philosophies are impossible to maintain within an organization. The large majority of the Gourley supporters were of the 2nd type. Same thing with Hoplin supporters in MN. Same thing with those who supported Tyler Richter or Kristen Meyer in the MN CR. They cannot co-exist in a group. Congressman Patrick McHenry is also of this brand of "Republican".

It is for that reason that those who believe Gourley should not have been given a promotion, not have been rewarded for unethical behavior not yet redeemed, should leave the CRNC and start new chapters of Campus Republicans on their campuses. It is hard work, but then so is being a conservative on a college campus.

We are not necessarily on the same side. MN CR blindly supported Norm Coleman...I could not stomach voting for him because he is not a conservative. The CR for the most part have not been able to make the distinction between supporting a cause and supporting the party. The first is good, the second leads to immoral thugs/liars/hypocrites like Gourley, Hoplin and the CR vETS for "truth". They support blindly the party, right or wrong. They do not support any cause beyond their own career.

That is why there needs to be a split. Not to give up, but to understand that the CRNC's new leadership, like all the ones before Gourley, are not for a cause, but for their own careers. And most of their supporters are hypocrites if they ever say they believe in personal responsibility, accountability or that Clinton should have been impeached. Those supporters circle the wagons around those who will help them move up politically. This is NOT what Republicans should stand for, but they do.

So long as both philosophies exist within the CRNC there will be tension and undermining of each other. The main cause for the principled Republicans will be defeated (electing true Republicans, true conservatives) because the careerist Republicans will step on the principled ones.

It is not bad to be a careerist like Hoplin, Gourley, Shay or McHenry, but it is crucial for the rest of the CRNC and the GOP to understand how this mentality is more detrimental to the party than RINOs or liberal Republicans.

If the two groups are in different organizations then they can come together when needed (for Bush's 2004 campaign) and stay apart when they do not agree (re-electing Coleman in MN or McHenry in NC). Only when they are separate groups will the divisive and damaging cross fighting cease.

Yes, the CRNC will be weaker in numbers, but they will have a unified front for their own cause: their own political careers. The other groups will be weaker in numbers also, but they will have a unified front for their own cause: advancing conservativism. Once in a while those two causes will coincide. But when they don't there will not be the acrimony that the CRNC's election has caused.

Rep McHenry helped fix elections

I heard the cries of a fix being in on the elections for CRNC chair this past weekend. The immoral thug (Paul Gourley) won by 6 votes. Remember that Gourley is the hand-picked successor of Eric The Crook Hoplin. Hoplin used lots of resources and staff of the CRNC to (allegedly) threaten various CR chapters into supporting Gourley. Something that might help to bear that truth is the overwhelming number of chapters (as declared by the chairs of those groups) that endorsed Gourley but then when it came down to voting the actual delegates were more evenly divided.

During the entire campaign there were supporters who acted like the Democrats in the impeachment trial...they had their horse and they did not give a damn what crimes he committed. Their political careers could be helped with certainty by Gourley and so they have ignored the shadiness of Hoplin and Gourley. In fact, the supporters border worshiping these thieves. They include Brian Mazanec (who has since left the CR vETS for "truth"), Mike Herbert and Bryan Shuy. They are shameless.

There are rumors that the Missouri chair's signature was forged to enable vote switching. That sounds like the type of stuff that Hoplin-ites do in elections and will not be surprised if the promised evidence surfaces. Until then those are just allegations.

However, Rep Patrick McHenry crossed the line when he made threatening calls to NC CRs trying to get them to switch their votes for Gourley. At least two of the delegates got these phone calls.

The story was alleged over the weekend and then the Hill broke the story open here.

Freshman Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) made phone calls to at least two North Carolina College Republicans asking them to change their votes in the recent acrimonious College Republican national election, and the young people McHenry contacted said they felt pressured by the calls.

McHenry is a former College Republican National Conference (CRNC) treasurer whom the House GOP leadership has called on to speak on several high-priority issues this session. His office employs several CRNC alumni, and College Republicans worked together on McHenry's primary campaign in 2004 despite a plank in the group's constitution that bars the CRNC from endorsing a candidate running opposed in a primary.

Emphasis added because this shows again how willingly the leadership of the CR is to disregard their own rules (and any other's are less important to them). The same thing is occurring in Minnesota's 6th district where the CRs are already working and tacitly endorsing a candidate over 1/2 year before the caucuses. Rules do not matter to the CR.

I find it also very interesting that the on any of the CRNC or MNCR websites their governing by-laws, constitution or other rules cannot be found.

Back to McHenry.

The College Republicans' allegations against McHenry come in the midst of a public-relations firestorm for the group, which incorporated as a 527 for fundraising purposes in 2001. Among nearly $8 million in direct-mail solicitations the CRNC sent last year were letters targeting the elderly, using misleading language that made donors believe they were giving to the national GOP. The CRNC also transferred $10,000 in 2002 to former National Chairman Jack Abramoff, now under investigation for lobbying abuses.

And now it seems the CRNC promoted the man behind all of the "public-relations firestorm" starters. To get a position of leadership within the CRNC you must be immoral.

Think about it. Just within the past 12 months the Hoplin-Gourley-McHenry clan have:
1. Bilked seniors out of millions through misleading fundraising letters
2. Forged signatures to switch votes (allegedly)
3. Threatened state chairs to support Gourley
4. Threatened delegates to actually vote for Gourley
5. Endorsed or assisted candidates in contested primaries AGAINST the rules of the CRNC

Oh wait, let's get back to the threats to the delegates.

Elizabeth Beck, the 24-year-old former regional director for the NCFCR, said McHenry was a crucial part of the Gourley campaign's whip strategy. Beck, who worked on McHenry's primary in the spring of 2004, said the lawmaker called her cell phone last month.

"He said, 'Elizabeth, I thought we were friends, that you cared about getting me elected,'" Beck said. Then, she added, McHenry warned her that he would not help her or her school's College Republicans in the future unless she voted for Gourley for CRNC chairman.

"It was requested from Gourley to McHenry. McHenry told me [that]," Beck said. "Basically, he said, 'Y'all are screwed.' It was one of the worst days of my life because I do like McHenry." She felt threatened and disappointed because "before that, I felt like I had a relationship, like I had connections, a career."

Bold face is my own added emphasis, the underlined text are McHenry's threats.

Another College Republican, who declined to be identified, was standing next to Beck during her conversation with McHenry and recalled that she was intimidated. "It was very pointed - if you don't do this, there will be consequences," she said, summarizing McHenry's words. "If you don't do this, it will be bad for your political career."

But wait, there's more.

Beck was not the first to be called by McHenry. The imminent vote, in which the heads of state chapters would cast their college's vote for either Gourley or Davidson, prompted McHenry and Deans to start making calls.

"McHenry called me on my cell phone, and I almost had a heart attack," said one friend of Beck's who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution from the CRNC. "I don't know how he got my number. … He was really nice to begin with, and then he said, 'I want you to help me out as much as you can by supporting Gourley.'"

OK, no problem with that. It continued though...

The friend told McHenry he could not switch his vote. He said McHenry then asked if he would skip the vote or abstain to give Gourley an advantage.

"The under-the-table vibe I got from him was, if you can't help me now, don't expect any help from me in the future," the friend said. "If a congressman is going to call me, I don't expect the conversation to be like that."

By calling the chairs of the college chapters and switching their votes Gourley's thugs (McHenry & staff) that would actually switch numerous votes. The college chairs cast the votes of the entire college delegation. Remember that Gourley won by only 6 votes...not 6 schools.

Deans said that the calls were not intended as pressure and that the students were caught up in emotions still running high after the election.

"I made a lot of phone calls. I think Gourley was the best candidate, and I gave him my word that I'd support him," Deans said. He confirmed that he asked some College Republicans to skip or abstain but said, "I don't think" McHenry made such a request. "I probably did indicate that helping Paul [Gourley] was helping me and helping the congressman."

OK, so the calls did occur (how many is a necessary question) and Deans (Rep. McHenry's chief-of-staff) admits asking people to not vote if they were not going to vote for Gourley. Everything that the threatened people is substantiated EXCEPT for the threats. Sorry, I have to believe the delegates on this one.

Even if the threats were not explicit they are implied by having the Congressman's office calling.

Again, why were McHenry and Deans helping Gourley? Because of the rules that Gourley broke to help McHenry win his contested primary.

According to several North Carolina College Republicans, Deans and McHenry made their calls in part because Gourley's opponent was critical of the lawmaker for soliciting and receiving College Republican volunteers - such as Elizabeth Beck and her friend - for his primary campaign in the spring and summer of 2004. The CRNC constitution states that "neither the CRNC nor any individual acting in their capacity as national officers or board members" can endorse a Republican running opposed in a primary election.

Ta da...the circle is complete. Gourley broke rules and ethics to help McHenry when where he otherwise would not have. McHenry broke ethics (and rules if the intimidation is true) to help Gourley win a race where he otherwise would not have.

Interleague Play and DH rules change

Here is Bud Selig's new proposal. Basically during interleague play the DH/pitcher rules that usually govern the visiting team will be in effect during the interleague games next year. Currently it is the rules governing the home team.

Commissioner Bud Selig is noodling over the idea of tweaking the [interleague] format. Next year, the designated hitter could be unveiled during Interleague games in National League parks with the pitcher hitting in American League parks.

"I really like the fact that Mr. Selig is considering flip-flopping the DH into the NL cities next year," Arizona Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said before his club clobbered the Tigers at Bank One Ballpark on Sunday. "It'll be neat in the American League cities, so fans can see how the dynamic of the pitcher hitting in the ninth spot affects the game."

A generation of AL fans has never attended games and watched baseball the way it was originally intended to be played -- with the pitcher hitting for himself.

You would not think this is too importnat with the mass media providing access to NL games. After talking with a few Twins fans they really do not appreciate the entirely new aspect of tension that comes into a game in the late innings. It really becomes a different game. Over the course of a series this is also a huge impact on rosters and bullpen management.

That all changed forever on April 6, 1973, when Ron Blomberg, then playing for the New York Yankees, became the first DH in baseball history as he stepped to the plate against Boston's Luis Tiant at Fenway Park. The game has never been the same, and it's not going back.

The lords of the AL in those days, led by Oakland's cantankerous owner Charlie Finley, adopted the DH, baseball's most progressive rule change since the spitball was banned in 1920. The NL owners didn't want anything to do with it back then, and they certainly don't want anything to do with the DH today.

But old-style baseball is really an anachronism, a quaint reminder of when the Major Leagues had only 16 teams (none playing farther west than the banks of the Mississippi), traveled by train, played day baseball and wore heavy woolen uniforms even during the dead of a hot, humid summer.

The NL is the only organized league in the world that doesn't utilize the DH in some shape or form. Little Leagues, prep leagues, colleges, foreign leagues and even the Minor Leagues play with the DH.

Just because everyone does it does not make it better baseball. In fact, the Little Leagues "version of the DH" is typically that ALL kids bat regardless of if they are fielding a position. That is so that all kids get to hit. The other leagues use the DH mostly to provide extra "protection" for the pitcher and allow more specialization (pitchers then do not ever have to pick up a bat...how contrary to baseball's spirit is that?).

One can argue until the throat is hoarse that the NL has the right idea. That we should return to those days when Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Whitey Ford and Denny McLain all picked up their sticks and went up to hit in the AL like real men.

You forgot Babe Ruth. He was a pitcher, too.

When historians ultimately review this baseball era, Selig may indeed go down as Major League Baseball's boldest Commissioner.

Yeah, boldness combined with complete ineptitude in labor relations, and many finances...oh yeah, in trying to eliminate the Twins from existance.

In a sport that was glacier-like when it came to change, Selig will have overseen the Major Leagues splitting from four to six divisions. At the same time, a Wild Card playoff berth was authored in both leagues, thus creating eight postseason slots where there once had been four.

Six divisions I like. The Wild Card made for bad baseball. He should have taken Bob Costas' advice and give the top-seeded team a first round bye. Then the race in September would be for everyone to try for first. With the Wild Card the #1 team coasts, often so does the #2 team. That makes for bad baseball. The real race in September is for 4th place. Yuck. What an exciting race that is.

He'll be able to boast about the advent next year of the World Baseball Classic, the first time Major League players will be participating in an international event.

A good idea that will quickly diminish in quality as the top players will opt out of playing...just like the US Olympic basketball and US Olympic baseball teams.

And of course, there's Interleague Play, a concept first discussed in the 1940s by Bill Veeck, the Hall-of-Fame owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns and Chicago White Sox who was way ahead of his time.
...
"Obviously, the fans love it," Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. "And actually, I look forward to it if they do make the switch so that next year in AL parks we can play NL style."

So even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then. The DH is a bad rule and I hope that Selig's Interleague Rule tweak will let people in the AL home cities see first hand the extra dimensions that are entered into the games individually and over the course of a series.

Then we can get rid of the DH once and for all. Pa-tooey.

Eminent Domain Sucks

This story shows us why eminent domain sucks and why the Supreme Court messed up. And from here it will only get worse.

Reba Thompson's home in South St. Louis has a well-manicured lawn and a charming front porch, but it's surrounded by turmoil. That's because what was once a neighborhood is now a construction zone. Thompson, 79, and her son Howard are standing their ground after 19 of their former neighbors sold their land and moved out to make way for a $40 million shopping center.

That's right, the city of St Louis is going to steal her home to give it to another private entity...for profit.

After living there for over 70 years, the family refuses to surrender the land. Thompson showed her resolve by rejecting the developers' buyout, but the developers began construction on the shopping center anyway. They fenced in the Thompson home and began construction around it.

"My whole family has worked hard to keep it nice so I could pass it down, and now they want to tear it down," said Reba Thompson.

The city is trying to seize the Thompson property through eminent domain, claiming the home is in a blighted area that needs the economic help of a shopping center. St. Louis officials consider the shopping center an essential part of the city's redevelopment effort, because citizens shouldn't be forced to do their shopping in the suburbs.

"a blighted area" that must have a shopping center. Now, I have seen some crappy neighborhoods and some great shopping centers. I hardly think that the shopping center is the best beautification project.

"We empathize with what they're going through. But we feel many more people will be helped by this project and projects like it," said Jeff Rainford (search), chief of staff to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.

There it is. This is the crappy excuse that the government will use. 'It will help more people because of the job creation, the tax base expansion, etc.'

The expected increase in the tax base/revenue will then be used for social programs like giving Reba subsidies to live and Section 8 housing.

"Somebody's best shot is to prove that the city officials that condemned the property were in the back pocket of the developer that wanted the design," said Eric Claeys, assistant professor of law at St. Louis University Law School.

And take a guess how hard that will be to prove.

The Supreme Court messed up and the road to non-existent property rights has been started upon.

With the first pick of the 2005 NBA Draft

The Milwaukee Bucks had the #1 pick in last night's draft. (I know, who cares.) Who was it?

Andrew Bogut of the University of Utah. He is an Aussie center who averaged 20.4 points per game in his sophomore year.

Bogut was named a First Team All-America by AP. He ranked 19th in the NCAA in scoring (20.4 ppg) and second in rebounding (12.2 rpg) while leading the nation with 26 double-doubles. That was his sophomore year.

We'll see how he does. By the way, EA Sports games already has highlight clips of him with his new team. Check it out here.

Guests for our first month on the air

We have been trying to schedule guests for our first month or so on the air. Our sights are set on the 5 Republican candidates for the 6th CD seat that will be open as Mark Kennedy continues on his annointed run for Senate. I have spoken with all 5 campaigns about interviews in August as well as some interesting twists on the interview process in November and February. You will have to listen to the show for those developments. Suffice it to say that all of the campaigns are very excited about the proposals.

Back to August. We will have Jay Esmay on August 28th. Krinkie's and Bachmann's campaigns are checking their calendars to see which dates are open, but will do the interviews. Yecke's and Knoblach's campaigns expressed interest but we are still playing phone tag.

Keep tuned for details.

UPDATE 6/29/05
Dr. Cheri Yecke is confirmed for 8/7/05.

UPDATE 7/1/05
The schedule is as follows:
Dr. Cheri Yecke on 8/7/05
Sen. Michele Bachmann on 8/14/05
Rep. Phil Krinkie on 8/21/05
Maj. Jay Esmay on 8/28/05

We are still trying to get a hold of Rep. Jim Knoblach.

Jazz trade to 3rd pick overall

NBA draft moves already beginning.

According to Tim Buckley of the Desert News:

The Jazz on Tuesday acquired the No. 3 overall selection in tonight's NBA Draft from the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Jazz gave up their own Nos. 6 and 27 picks in tonight's first round, and a conditional first-round selection acquired from Detroit when they sent former starting point guard Carlos Arroyo to Detroit this past season. The Detroit choice could be used as soon as 2006, but is lottery-protected through 2010.

Utah will presumably use its newly acquired No. 3 on University of Illinois point guard Deron Williams, as long as he is available. Otherwise, it would be Wake Forest point Chris Paul.

Williams, though, obviously seems to be the Jazz's preferred choice.

"We are absolutely optimistic that we are going to get our man," Jazz president Dennis Haslam said shortly after the noontime deal was met with NBA approval.

The Jazz have been trying to pry the No. 3 pick from Portland for quite some time.

"We've been working on this from the very beginning," Haslam said, "and everything gelled late this morning

"It worked out just fine," he added. "I am ecstatic. (Basketball operations boss) Kevin O'Connor is ecstatic. (Team owner) Larry Miller is ecstatic. And (coach) Jerry Sloan Sloan cracked a big smile."

Kelo v City of New London

Kelo v City of New London
First thing that must be mentioned is the coming taste of sweet justice. Liberal Justice Souter owns land in the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire. Logan Darrow Clements is CEO of Freestar Media and on Monday faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road which is where Souter's house is.

I doubt the application will be approved, but it should. Souter should become victim to the little taste of government ownership that he created...I hope for it.

Government ownership? How is that?

There is no surprise that Breyer, Stephens, Ginsburg and Souter took the position moving towards state property ownership. What is a surprise is that Kennedy joined the Marxist position. Appalling? Yes. But this is why the nomination fight is so important. The nuclear option should have been engaged. The time between the Deal amongst the Gang of 14 and the time that the battle will commence will be enough for the obstructionist Democrats to come up with more procedural ways to block the elimination of nominee filibusters.

But, back to the Marxist property rights decision on Thursday.

One of the fundamental principles of liberty and freedom are the rights to one's own means. The fruits of one's labor, which includes property rights, should trump any right of government. Otherwise freedom will always be at risk.

The USSC has made it acceptable for the government to seize property through the notion of eminent domain. It is already common knowledge that the "just compensation" clause is often abused when dealing with eminent domain. In fact the government generally considers "just compensation" to be well below both current market value and reasonable potential value.

Even in a benevolent form of rule this decision is ripe for abuse. Take the example of Richfield where Walser had a very successful card dealership. Suddenly Best Buy bribed asked the city council if they would give that property to Best Buy to build their headquarters. Suddenly the dollar signs started flashing through the minds of the city administrators and they seized Walser's property. They offered a paltry amount as "just compensation" ignoring very crucial factors in valuing that property.

First they ignored the fact that the business was a growing business making the property potentially more valuable. Next the city ignored the fact that relocating would have adverse monetary costs. The city also refused to address the loss in business due to relocation.

The problem is that the Court ruling essentially gives the government trump ownership over all property. If they wanted something previously they could only steal private property for use on public projects. That was roads, public parks, utility right of ways, etc. Now the government can steal any property for any reason.

That is under a benevolent government. Now consider the possibility of two types of corruption. A corrupt government that steals property to eliminate political opposition could create any justification for seizing property and handing it over to any company. A corrupt government individual that steals the property to hand it over to a company of friends for financial gain.

Under either of these situations an alibi is simply the necessary detail to make it all legal. The crime this week is the Supreme Court made this corruption possible.

Kelo v City of New London is a big government loving, minority hating decision as it will eventually have a larger negative impact on minorities. Kelo must be treated in the same light as the Dred Scott decisions: they are wrong and need to be overturned.

Make no mistake that the appointees to the Supreme Court are crucial...and look at the ones who voted against the Marxist like decision: Scalia, Thomas, Rehnquist and O'Conner. To prevent this country from marching further down the dangerous path towards Communism we need more Justices like Scalia and Thomas. And the fight to get them there is worth the losses that will be sustained in the meantime.

Final Stand in CRNC must be...

I have written about how Eric "The Crook" Hoplin pushed out real conservatives who believed in supporting the localities and their political races. I have written how Hoplin was responsible for the permanent division in a CR group that was strong before his arrival. I have written about the pattern of installing successors who will continue to fix elections to leave people friendly to him safely in power.

And the ONLY solution for those who believed in right vs. wrong over blindly following the leader was to separate from the MN CR.

The ONLY solution for conservatives who believed in fair elections and democracy was to leave the MN CR.

A new group was formed: Campus Republicans. The CaR believe in democracy, local control, morality and accounability, and ethics.

The CRNC has a very huge dilemma now. One that I could see the writing on the wall. The moment Hoplin won as Deputy Chair of the MN GOP I knew that there are enough people in the GOP who do not have a problem with rewarding questionable tactics. The MN GOP promoted someone who should have been shown the door in a party that is really about right & wrong. I knew at that point Gourley would win. There are fewer people in the CRNC that care about right vs wrong than in the GOP in generaly. There are NONE in the CRNC that remember the shame that was felt in the GOP as a whole because of the actions of Nixon. That is a very important that no one in the CRNC was able to learn. Since they do not know that lesson, and failed to hold anyone accountable for the RDI scandal, it was plain to see that they will set themselves up for worse shame.

There is only one thing to do for people who care for the conservative movement and/or care for their own political self-preservation. They must leave the CRNC and they must do it now. On campus they must create their own group...their own Campus Republicans.

What has happened in the MN GOP and the CRNC is the same as Kenneth Lay going to Enron again and being promoted again to CEO.

The CRNC will suffer and will suffer big. The corruption will continue and will be better hidden than RDI was. The immorality will deepen and next time it is uncovered there will be less room for bull-s*** explanations. This time there was grey area regarding if the leaders of CRNC should be charged with crimes. Next time there won't be any question.

At that moment everyone in the CRNC will be tarnished regardless of their actual guilt or innocence. Everyone in the CRNC will have the choice of removing their hard work within the CRNC from the political resume (and even their job resume) or suffering as outcasts. CRNC on your resume will be like wearing a scarlet 'A' on your chest.

The only way to save yourself and maybe the CRNC is to seceed. By being a serarate group you will be sheiled from the corruption that performs, allows and rewards forgery to steal elections. By creating your own group you will not be penalized by all engulfing scandals that WILL come from the CRNC.

It is my hope that enough people will see the light and leave the CRNC. The CRNC as it is built (a machine of corruption) will always be that way until it is allowed to die. Die it must. It is like Social Security...started as a great idea but has grown into a horribly disfigured and corrupt monster. Only its death can stop the carnage.

The CRNC at this point is like Sauron...if not totally destroyed it will revive again in its corrupt state. It was expanded by corruption and it lives today by corruption.

Break away. Be free of scandal. Be free of dictatorial rule. Principles are higher than everything that the CRNC stands for in its actions.

There is no other way.

Your theological worldview

Bogus Gold is responsible for another quiz. This one I took simply out of curiosity and was not going to post it but then it seemed to nail my #1 philosophy very well.

You scored as Classical Liberal. You are a classical liberal. You are sceptical about much of the historicity of the Bible, and the most important thing Jesus has done is to set us a good moral example that we are to follow. Doctrines like the trinity and the incarnation are speculative and not really important, and in the face of science and philosophy the surest way we can be certain about God is by our inner awareness of him. Discipleship is expressed by good moral behaviour, but inward religious feeling is most important. Classical Liberal 71% Emergent/Postmodern 61% Roman Catholic 50% Neo orthodox 46% Modern Liberal 46% Charismatic/Pentecostal 43% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 39% Reformed Evangelical 32% Fundamentalist 11% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Gourley upset all delegates will be allowed to vote

(H/T: CRNC Chatter)

CRNC elections are this weekend. The convention starts today and the credentialling has already taken place. Gourley's been trying to get his goons to cancel the right for 17 states to vote. But then, in classic Hoplin-protege fashion, he has been saying that everyone should vote.

Upon completion of credentialing and including those 17 states (many of which support Gourley's oppenent). Gourley is now complaining about that. As reported by CRNC Chatter:

Meanwhile, the Gourley campaign went on the attack, criticizing Davidson's active work to enfranchise every state. Commenting on Michael Davidson's work to enfranchise every state, Gourley declared, "I’m disappointed, but unsurprised, in Michael’s attempts to steal this election at the expense of College Republicans."

This election is crucial because these types of double-talking, heavy-handed election -fixing tactics can not be allowed to continue within any Republican organization. It is bad enough the Eric Hoplin's scandalous methods as MN CR Chair and as CRNC Chair have been rewarded (with the backing of Pawlenty, no less). Gourley's cannot be. Otherwise the CRNC's credibility is in danger.

MSM shows bad of Israel never the good

(H/T: Anti-Strib)

The MSM will tell you every time a car bomb goes off and kills an American soldier, civilian, butterfly and mosquito. They want you to think that the Middle East is all violence and chaos. So what they won't report is when things go right.

Now, I would posit based on how the media are handling economic news domestically that if a Democrat were in office the good news would have been reported everywhere. Since a Republican is in the White House the MSM skips the good stuff, the positive stuff and you have to rely on Fox to tell you about car bombers that are foiled.

Gary Bauer wrote a letter printed in the Israel National News discussing that.

If you don't get the Fox News Channel then you didn't see any of the dramatic footage of the Israeli army's arrest yesterday of a 21-year old, female Palestinian homicide-bomber, strapped with 25 pounds of high-explosives, just moments before she was to commit mass-murder by detonating herself inside an Israeli hospital. No other television network featured the story.

Utterly ignoring the extraordinary video of the homicide-bomber's arrest, both the BBC and CNN focused extensively on how much 'damage’ Israel's early morning arrest - for which there was no video - of 55 Fatah and Islamic Jihad terrorists, described by CNN as ‘Palestinian activists,’ would cause to today's scheduled ‘summit meeting’ between Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

My case for media bias stands.

NBA Champions are crowned

With a Game 7 81-74 victory the San Antonio Spurs win the NBA Championship. Congratulations!

As for me...my record this year was 14-1, missing an insignifican 1st round matchup between the Bulls and the Wizards.

Oh yeah, Jon...I'll take 4 tacos on Taco Tuesday with a large potato ole.

Cop Killed By Food Protesters

If the cop had HURT one of freaks at this protest the story would be all over the news. But even though the cop died the freaks were not hurt thus there is no coverage of the story. I guess the MSM wouldn't want to hurt the credibility of protesters.

According to the Philadelphia Daily News there was a biotech industry convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Food protesters who were there to cause a scene protesting the genetic advances and treatments of biotech on food were on hand. Well, actually they were "protest everything" types...they were actually a part of Summer Solstice celebrations and decided to move to the Convention Center.

And then...

The peaceful "Summer Solstice Day of Action" that began simultaneoulsy in various places at about 9 a.m., heated up when protesters moved in front of the Convention Center after noon. They blocked Arch Street, and a line of police tried to move them back, holding their bikes and nightsticks.

A protester poured a bottle of water down the back of an officer. The officer spun around and grabbed the protester, said a protester who wanted to be known only as Nathan.

"It was like a tug of war. The cops pulled the protester, and protesters grabbed him and wouldn't let go," said Nathan, a tall lanky 16-year-old Alaska native, who wore a bandanna that covered the lower half of his face.

A scuffle then broke out, and Williams rushed over and bent down over protesters in the street. Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said he didn't believe Williams was involved in the scuffle.

Within moments, Williams stepped back, with sweat covering his face. He looked as if he felt excruciating pain in his chest before he collapsed.
...
Paris Williams, 52, who worked in the Civil Affairs Unit, lay motionless on asphalt as cops bent over him on Arch Street and performed CPR, trying desperately to save his life. Those protesting the biotech industry convention held at the center bunched together outside and moved towards the fallen cop.

They pushed forward, forming a human barricade. Some cops swung their bikes at demonstrators to move them away from the fallen officer, hitting some people.

Did you catch that...a cop is dying, other cops try to move in to save his life and the mob is not cooperative. The cops try to clear a path and hit a few of the uncooperative mob members. And the story will be about the ones who were hit.

Ian Cox, 16, of Moorestown, N.J., said he was standing taking pictures. "One cop turned and just punched me in the gut," he said.

Gotta get the anti-police allegation into the story.

So, now these punks are uncooperative and they initiated the contact. What do they do now that someone died? "The protesters walked to the Convention Center steps on Arch facing a line of cops gripping nightsticks."

They shared a moment of silence and then what?

After the officer died, some protesters headed to LOVE Park at 16th and JFK, where they danced and pranced in the fountain, and skateboarders pounded their boards on the edge to the beat of the drums.

The skateboarders were protesting the city ordinance that bans them from skating in the park.

First, I know that some of the lefty readers were about to get into a fit for my labeling this clan as "protest everything" types.

Second, here is their mentality. Party & prance, protest and watch a police officer die (while they do nothing to help and even hinder life-saving efforts), and then go back and party and celebrate more. Nice compassion for human life. Though I'm willing to bet my house that most of that mob is pro-abortion and more than half were for killing Terri Schiavo...so human life and compassion I don't believe work into the same equation for this group.

Now to follow up on the Bias tag I put on this post. Doing a google news search there was only TWO national reports on this story. One by the LA Times (not on the front section) and one by CourtTV.com. The Guardian also picked up the story...they are in the UK. Now, remember the little girl in Florida who was cuffed by police? Brutality by the police and it was on national news for days. Here a cop is dead as a result of a scuffle and we cannot get the MSM to report.

Here is the MSM's mentality: Protesters are left-wing, if they are hurt the story must be run ad nauseum. Police often arrest protesters (for cause does not matter) so cops are the bad guys. If they get hurt the story might generate sympathy so the story cannot be run.

Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Your IQ Is 130

Your Logical Intelligence is Exceptional Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General Knowledge is Exceptional

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

What kind of blogger Am I?

You Are a Pundit Blogger!

Your blog is smart, insightful, and always a quality read. Truly appreciated by many, surpassed by only a few.

What kind of blogger are you?

Some sort of book thing

I was just informed by Marty Andrade that I have been "tagged" (by Residual Forces for some book project thing. (Thanks, kind of, to Marty for telling me that I was so assigned this homework project thing-a-ma-jigger-bob.)

The questions I am supposed to answer are: (1) Total number of books owned, ever; (2) Last book I bought; (3) Last book I read; and (4) Five books that mean a lot to me. Then I'm supposed to pass this horrid chain mail-post on to 5 more people. So, here we go.

Total number of books owned.
At this time 488 books (not including training books, audio books, etc) and 88 music books. This number surprises me because we actually got rid of about 2/3 of our books and 1/2 of my music books. The music books do not include sheet music for individual songs...I'm estimating about 200 of those, but am too lazy to count them.

Last book I bought.
I buy books in bunches so this is the list of the last bunch.
"French Betrayal of America" by Kenneth R Timmerman.
"Why Do People Hate America" by Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Wyn Davies
"The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Legal Words (Oxford Essential)"
"Living History" by Hillary Rodham Clinton
"Rewriting History" by Dick Morris
"Benjamin Franklin : An American Life" by Walter Isaacson
"1776 (Audio CD)" by David McCullough

Last book I read. I assume this means the last one that I completed...since I read quite a few books simultaneously.
"The Right Man" by David Frum

Five books that mean a lot to me. In no particular order:
"HTML: The Complete Reference" by Thomas A. Powell
"The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions" by Kermit Hall (Editor), Kermit L. Hall (Editor)
"Freedom Of Speech In The United States" by Thomas L. Tedford, Dale A. Herbeck, Franklyn S. Haiman (Editor)
"Billy Joel Complete Volume 1 Revised"
"Billy Joel Complete Volume 2 Revised"


Five more people to "tag". I apologize to the people here...but you are "tagged".
1. Conservative Princess
2. MN Lefty Liberal
3. The Night Writer
4. Save The GOP
5. Gerry Daly

Good luck, and please forgive me.

Flag Burning Amendment

There is an amendment going through Congress right now to amend the Constitution.

"The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." SJ 12 or HJ 10.

This, if passed, would give Congress (an unsavory bunch) carte blanche to ban anything that desecrates or is disrespectful to the flag. Uh, technically that includes bikinis with a flag print, ties with a flag print, lapel pins w/ incorrect depictions of the flag, the magnets that say "support our troops".

That kind of open-check, if you will, in the hands of Congress is always bad for the country, for freedom and for liberty.

So that is one reason to oppose the Flag Burning Amendment. It is too open-ended for Congress.

America is about freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom to vote or not, freedom of the press...freedom. Freedom by definition implies fewer laws not more. Adding a Constitutional Amendment allowing for more laws to prohibit expression (offensive or not) adds laws and limits freedom.

That is reason number two to oppose the Flag Burning Amendment.

Reason number 3: Sen Diane Feinstein supports the amendment.

Durbin the Dummy

Those who don't know history...
I have been waiting for a while to comment on Mr. Durbin's comments. There has been much acrimony, lots of howling and a lot of wagon-circling. Both sides of the issue (defending calling our troops Nazis vs. anger for slandering our troops) are wrong for various reasons. I'm going to try not to rehash the same boring commentary and give you my (hopefully) somewhat unique perspective. I am verbose though...sorry.

DURBIN'S COMMENTS
First the comment.

"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings,"

So, what is it the Mr. Durbin claims is so bad?

On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold. ..... On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.

I will examine those in a bit, but that is what Mr. Durbin is claiming is like Pol Pot of Cambodia and Nazis of Germany and the Gulag of Russia.

Let's look at what they did.
POL POT

Pol Pot's regime was extremely harsh on political dissent and opposition. Thousands of politicians and bureaucrats were killed, while Phnom Penh was turned into a ghost city with many dying of starvation, illnesses, or execution. Landmines, which Pol Pot praised as his "perfect soldiers," were widely distributed around the countryside. The casualty list from the civil war, Pol Pot's consolidation of power, and the invasion by Vietnam is disputed.

How many? For Pol Pot's regime alone estimates are as high as 3.3 million. This includes the murder of political dissidents. If Bush and his military were truly comparable to Pol Pot (as the left continues to claim) then all the wackos with pictures of Bush in crosshairs on their websites would be killed...people like Durbin and Dean would be dead. Since this is not the case such comparisons are more drama and less beneficial to the healthy discourse of a democracy.



GULAG
Let's see, rap music (some of it is torturous, but only in a cultural sense), being chained and being subjected to hot and cold (not really extreme hot & cold)...those are Gulag-like conditions?

The Gulag conditions were the definition of torturous.

Extreme production quotas, brutality, hunger and harsh elements were major reasons for Gulag's high fatality rate, which was as high as 80% during the first months in many camps.

Production? What kind of quotas?

Logging and mining were among the most common of activities, as well as the harshest. In a Gulag mine, one person's production quota might be as high as 29,000 pounds (13,000 kg) of ore per day. Failure to meet a quota resulted in a loss of vital rations, a cycle that usually had fatal consequences through a condition of being emaciated and devitalized.
...
In spite of the brutal climate, they were almost never adequately clothed, fed, or given medical treatment, nor were they given any means to combat the lack of vitamins that led to nutritional diseases such as scurvy. The nutritional value of basic daily food ration varied around 1,200 calories, mainly from low-quality bread (distributed by weight and called paika). According to the World Health Organization, the minimum requirement for a heavy labourer is in the range of 3,100–3,900 calories daily

There is by no reasonable means any justification for a comparison between the Gulag and our troops as both Mr Durbin and the drama queens at Amnesty International make.

NAZI GERMANY
The charge that the US troops (or the interrogation tactics) were anything close to Nazis is downright offensive and abjectly irresponsible.

Some of what the Nazis did is common knowledge. The Holocaust, the gas showers, etc. Euthanasia programs of the "less desireables" beyond the Jews, sterilization of those deemed unworthy of reproducing, experiments (often disabling or fatal)) on human subjects...the list goes on and on.

The terrorists being held in prison by the United States are themselves breaking the rules of the Geneva Convention in their fighting and should not be afforded the Geneva protections. But we have gone to great lengths to NOT endanger their lives.

These comparisons to Nazis and Hitler are baseless and render the spewings of those people worthless. Just calling them names as Mr Durbin did and as the liberals constantly do is mindless drivel. Give some honest and rational/logical support to those claims and you may get a dose of respect. Since Durbin does not warrant respect I have taken to calling him "Mister" instead of "Senator".

APOLOGY
Here is where the right is wrong. If Mr Durbin believes his comments then he should stand by them. He need not apologize even if his comments are offensive as long as he meant his words.

Forcing an apology does a lot things, none of them good. A forced apology prevents us all from knowing his true feelings. A forced apology dilutes the weight and meaning of a truly repentant apology. A forced apology prevents people in the public from speaking what they feel. They should be able to say what they mean and we should be able to know what they believe.

Durbin not only said the remarks but later stood by them. Good for him for initially having the courgage of his convictions...a rarity among Senators.

"If this indeed occurred, it does not represent American values. It does not represent what our country stands for, it is not the sort of conduct we would ever condone ... and that is the point I was making. Now, sadly, we have a situation here where some in the right-wing media have said that I have been insulting men and women in uniform. Nothing could be further from truth,"

Even though I commend Mr Durbin for standing for what he believes I still condemn his beliefs for being wrong, uninformed and irresponsible. The fact is what he said WAS insulting to uniformed personnel.

After a lot of pressure Mr Durbin completed his betrayals. First he outright insulted the military. Then he betrayed his own beliefs. He apologized...well, it did take him a few fancy dance moves before he finally cried "uncle, I apologize."

TORTURE OR NOT
We have already talked about why the comparisons are outright wrong. Now let's just talk about the accusations of "torture".

"...find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water."
Chained? Oh no. What a horrible thing to do to prisoners. The thing that the left has to realize is that we are not engaged in a summer camp rivalry. We are engaged in a war with a large group of people who are hell-bent on killing us and the remainder of those peoples silent about it all. This is a war where the very people we have captured would otherwise kill civilians. Like it or not, that is the reality. And chaining these people up, even in a fetal position and no chair is (1) nothing but restricting dangerous people and (2) is still much better treatment than the prisoners buddies treat our people. At least these Murdering Muslims still have their heads attached to their bodies. Get a grip.

"Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more."
Yeah, and the problem is what? From the way this is described the urinating and defecating on themselves is voluntary. The funny (sad) part is that there are people actually stupid enough to buy the very fact that soiling oneself is unvoluntary.

"On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold." I do not see the problem here. First they are prisoners that do not qualify for Geneva treatment. Second I have an air conditioner in my office. I control the power of it and have a lot of trouble keeping the temperature comfortable. Within my own office I get cold to the point of shivering and then too hot to the point of my sodas exploding. It happens very quickly in my building and the temps in Minnesota are not even the extremes that they see in Cuba.

"On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees."
Again...so what. Environmental control is difficult at best. With all of that said the prisoners shivering is still better treatment than (a) the Americans captured by the Muslims and (b) than the American troops at Guantanamo Bay. Get a reality check and then join society.

"The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night."
Self abuse is their own problem. I find it funny still that liberals actually think that this kind of stuff is the fault of the American soldier.

"On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor."
Rap music being played too loud should be a crime. But that is just because of cultural differences. There is nothing in that sentence that is torture.

Mr Durbin is another person who is continually acting Counter to the American cause.

Opposition Claims Victory in Lebanon Vote

Very encouraging news in the Middle East (though the left might still claim that nothing good has come from the War on Terrorism and toppling Sadaam).

The anti-Syrian opposition claimed victory Monday after unofficial results showed its candidates securing a majority in the Lebanese parliament, breaking Damascus' long political hold on its tiny neighbor.

Men, women and children waved flags and danced in the streets of the northern city of Tripoli as news of the opposition victory spread. In Beirut, the national capital, opposition supporters drove through the city, cheering and honking in celebration.

Unofficial results showed opposition candidates sweeping all seats in the final round of the four-stage elections, which was held Sunday in northern Lebanon. The announcement of official results by the Interior Ministry was delayed as the counting took longer than expected.

Freedom in Lebannon is one step closer. Maybe the Syrians will get a clue and start joining the tide of democracy around the world...thus giving up its aide to terrorism.

Spain was met with violence and they buckled, caved, cowered, ran. Lebannon was met with violence and, like the US, they were galvonized.

"The north has decided the character of the new parliament and given the absolute majority to the opposition," opposition leader Saad Hariri said at a news conference.

Hariri did not give a number for the seats he believes his alliance has won. But earlier Monday, a pro-Syrian leader, former Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh, also said the opposition had triumphed in Sunday's polling.

Asked whether he would seek the premiership, the 35-year-old son Hariri said he would consult his allies. The Feb. 14 slaying of Hariri's father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, galvanized the movement to oust Syrian troops from the country.

Saad Hariri needed to win at least 21 of the 28 seats at stake in the north Lebanon balloting after Christian leader Michel Aoun and his allies made a strong showing in a previous round in central Lebanon last week, denying the opposition a majority.

Times ahead will not be easy. There is a deep divide that must be accounted for...though at preliminary counts the ousted power is in the very small minority.

The new 128-member parliament will face the challenge of healing the divisions and new sectarian tensions that resulted from the campaign.

Hariri said he will negotiate with other parliamentary blocs to broaden his alliance.

"We have to maintain dialogue with everybody. We will not close the door on anyone," Hariri said, extending a hand to his defeated opponents.

Aoun, who returned from 14 years' exile in May but broke with the anti-Syrian alliance to form his own list, said he would sit in opposition. "There's a dispute over values," he said of his rivals.

And leave it to the Europeans to piss on a parade.

The election was marred by allegation of vote-buying and other shortcomings. The head of the European Union observers, Jose Ignacio Salafranca, said his team of about 100 personnel had "directly witnessed a few attempts at vote-buying" in the three previous rounds of voting. He also said the electoral system needs "a very serious reform to be closer to the democratic standards."

Of course, that is stupid the losing side Democrats say about the American electoral system. They were not bitching when it worked for them, but now that they are on the losing end they are whining that the system must be broken since they did not win.

One apparent victim of the elections was the Christian-Muslim solidarity that emerged after Hariri's assassination. The final round of the balloting was marred by sectarian divisions as both sides sought to rally their supporters in the battle for seats.

It was nice while it lasted but the whole 'silent about other Muslim jihads against Christians' is somewhat damaging to any lasting Christian-Muslim solidarity.

All in all this is good news from Lebannon, in my little and insignificant view.

Rompilla v. Beard

Rompilla v. Beard
Yet another killer given an extra chance because of perceived incompetence by his original defense team.

The crux of this one is that Rompilla stabbed, beat and burned someone. He was convicted and sentenced to death. His new lawyers claim thath Rompilla's previous lawyers did not bring up as a defense Rompilla's alcohol abuse, childhood and when the state announced that it was going to use previous convictions to help push for a stronger sentence Rompilla's lawyers did not fight against those.

The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision (given by Souter) concludes that the defense was not adequate and therefore the sentence cannot stand.

However, Kennedy offers the dissent (which Scalia, Thomas and Rehnquist joined) and in it he points out that:

The prior conviction the Court refers to is Rompilla’s 1974 conviction for rape, burglary, and theft...Before the sentencing phase of the capital case, the Commonwealth informed Rompilla’s attorneys that it intended to use these prior crimes to prove one of the statutory aggravating circumstances–namely, that Rompilla had a “significant history of felony convictions involving the use or threat of violence to the person.”.
...
A per se rule requiring counsel in every case to review the records of prior convictions used by the State as aggravation evidence is a radical departure from Strickland and its progeny. We have warned in the past against the creation of “specific guidelines” or “checklist[s] for judicial evaluation of attorney performance.” “No particular set of detailed rules for counsel’s conduct can satisfactorily take account of the variety of circumstances faced by defense counsel or the range of legitimate decisions regarding how best to represent a criminal defendant. Any such set of rules would interfere with the constitutionally protected independence of counsel and restrict the wide latitude counsel must have in making tactical decisions...For this reason, while we have referred to the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice as a useful point of reference, we have been careful to say these standards “are only guides” and do not establish the constitutional baseline for effective assistance of counsel.

Basically, the US Supreme Court should not set up criteria or checklists to measure if a defense was adequate because there are too many factors with each defense. A checklist would hinder the effective defense of people in some cases.

So the result today is (1) a vicious murderer gets a second chance based on a newly created technicality from the liberal wing of the US Supreme Court and (2) a new checklist is introduced into the a defense attorney's review of his cases endangering the effectiveness of a defense attorney...also brough about by the left-side of the Court.

Aruba Judge questioned in girl's dissapearance

An interesting twist in the Natalee Holloway case...the father of one of the suspects is a Judge-in-training in Aruba and was questioned over the weekend.

Aruban police on Sunday questioned the father of a Dutch teenager held in the disappearance of an Alabama teenager, hoping the island justice official may know something to help solve the mystery of what happened to her, an official said.

Paul van der Sloot, a judge-in-training on the island, was questioned for two hours Sunday afternoon after five hours Saturday night, said Police Superintendent Jan van der Straaten.

Joran van der Sloot, 17, one of the people last seen with Natalee Holloway the night she disappeared. Three other men have been detained, but no one has been charged.

Van der Straaten said the father was asked to come back Sunday because officials were not able to finish the interrogation on Saturday, but declined to give more details.

"He was questioned as a witness, no more or no less," van der Straaten told The Associated Press.

There are 3 others being held in this case, which has dragged on since May 30th. Under Dutch law they can be held for 116 days before being charged.

The boys being held claim that they were with Natalee but that they dropped her off at her hotel and last saw her with the security guard. Maybe I do not know about this case enough, but I have that spider sense tingling...and it says that the guard actually may know more than the Aruban police think.

While I am sick of the media following every missing girl report that seems to hit the wires I think that the fact that the father of one suspect is an Aruban judge that is now being questioned leads to fascination. It will also be worth following the due dilligence of the police to help determine how helpful we should be to the Dutch in similar matters in the future.

Senator Robert KKK Byrd

One thing that I have not understood for as long as I have been following politics is how some people can be driven out of town for past transgressions (Rep. Gingrich for an affair, Sen. Lott for a comment about Sen. Thurmond) but others get a free pass.

Sen. Robert Byrd, Democrat from West Virginia, is one of those who have gotten a free pass for far too many things. According to The Washington Post Sen Byrd has a new book coming out tomorrow. In it he minimizes his role in organizing almost single-handedly a chapter of the Klu Klux Klan. Not only did he organize the chapter in his mid-20's but the "Grand Dragon" of the mid-Atlantic states was impressed.

As Byrd recalls now, the Klan official, Joel L. Baskin of Arlington, Va., was so impressed with the young Byrd's organizational skills that he urged him to go into politics. "The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation," Baskin said.

And thus began the long career in politics that belongs to Sen. Robert N-word Byrd. That last reference was to his comment a few years ago when he was being interviewed by Tony Snow and said the following,

"I think we talk about race too much. I think those problems are largely behind us ... . I just think we talk so much about it that we help to create somewhat of an illusion. I think we try to have good will. My old mom told me, 'Robert, you can't go to heaven if you hate anybody.' We practice that. There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time; I'm going to use that word."

So this jerk gets a free pass from the leaders of race communities...and in fact he gets praise from them. This jerk gets a free pass from the left. The very same wing of American politics that are Nazi-like in rooting out offensive words let this KKK organizer go without tar & feathering him. And it is all because he has a "D" after his name.

For regular readers of this blog that is no surprise. So what is this posting for? His new book tries to say that the reason for organizing a chapter of the KKK in the 1940s was strictly for networking purposes.

Byrd says he viewed the Klan as a useful platform from which to launch his political career. He described it essentially as a fraternal group of elites -- doctors, lawyers, clergy, judges and other "upstanding people" who at no time engaged in or preached violence against blacks, Jews or Catholics, who historically were targets of the Klan.

I cannot believe that people let him get away with this. This is like someone starting a chapter of the Black Panthers in the 1970s and saying that it was only a social group to learn about the animal. What lies. This is like someone joining the Symbionese Liberation Army and claiming they were starting a fireworks fan club.

Everyone makes mistakes. Do they correct their ways? If so then they ought to be forgiven. Considering Byrd's continued insensitivity to the dynamics of his race relations remarks I would say that he has not corrected his ways and hope that these things dog him through the remainder of his life. A fitting legacy for Byrd considering his attempt to still run from his racist KKK-chapter-starting days by letting it be entirely his lasting legacy.

Senator Robert KKK Byrd's new book will be published tomorrow and is called "Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields". Wish they had changed the "C" to "KKK" as it it should be.

UPDATE 6/20/05
Gerry Daly has a great posting about this WaPo article. He has a slightly different conclusion: that Byrd cannot be happy about the treatment in the article. I still maintain that Byrd is getting a free pass from the MSM.

Gerry includes some great tidbits from the article further prooving that Byrd's legacy should be all about his ties to the KKK which he tries to dismiss rather than correct his ways. From Gerry's post:

Byrd said in the Dec. 11, 1945, letter – which would not become public for 42 more years with the publication of a book on blacks in the military during World War II by author Graham Smith – that he would never fight in the armed forces “with a Negro by my side.” Byrd added that, “Rather I should die a thousand times, and see old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels.” [Gerry- Emphasis mine.]…

Byrd won the primary, but during the general election campaign, Byrd’s GOP opponent uncovered a letter Byrd had handwritten to Green, the KKK Imperial Wizard, recommending a friend as a Kleagle and urging promotion of the Klan throughout the country. The letter was dated 1946 – long after the time Byrd claimed he had lost interest in the Klan. “The Klan is needed today as never before, and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia,” Byrd wrote, according to newspaper accounts of that period. Byrd makes no mention of the letter in his new book…

Emphasis again mine. Not only would this letter be long after the time where Byrd had said he had lost interest in the Klan, so was the 1945 letter about blacks in the military.

Given his demonstrated history for lying about this timeframe, why should the rest of his explanations be given any credence?

Four years later, Byrd’s Klan past became an issue again when he joined with other southern Democrats to oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Byrd filibustered the bill for more than 14 hours as he argued that it abrogated principles of federalism. He criticized most anti-poverty programs except for food stamps. And in 1967, he voted against the nomination of Thurgood Marshall, the first black appointed to the Supreme Court…

And, I will add, he voted against the nomination of Clarence Thomas, and more recently against the nomination of Janice Rogers Brown and for the filibuster of Miguel Estrada.

My question is this: I read the article at the same link last night and it was only 1-part, much shorter and did not include the stuff that Gerry had in it. This morning it is a 3-part article and a bit more damning. Is that normal?

Former Tyco chiefs found guilty

Here it is again.

Former Tyco International Ltd. (TYC)Chief Executive Dennis Kozlowski and finance chief Mark Swartz were found guilty on Friday of stealing more than $150 million, giving prosecutors pursuing the recent wave of corporate scandals one of their biggest victories to date.

Kozlowski, 58, and Swartz, 44, were each found guilty of 22 counts of grand larceny, conspiracy, fraud and falsifying business records. Both former executives were found not guilty on one charge of falsifying documents.

It is like I said here. "I do not want to hear from femi-nazis saying that Martha Stewart was convicted because she is a woman. I do not want to hear the black leaders (who are horrible leaders anyway) bitching that race gets a person off. (OJ did walk, didn't he?) I do not want to hear the social justice freaks claiming that money buys a jury. (OJ did walk, didn't he?)"

Even the guilty are surprised by their guilty rulings.

"We are disappointed and will deal with this on appeal," said Swartz's attorney, Charles Stillman. Kozlowski's lawyer, Stephen Kaufman, affirmed that his client would also appeal. Asked whether he was surprised by the verdict, Kaufman said, "surprise would be the understatement."

What I don't understand is HOW could they be "surprised"? They did not have the star power for witnesses that Michael Jackson did. No surprise here...they did it and they got their verdict.

What Planet Are You

(H/T to Bogus Gold, who btw is Mercury)

You Are From the Sun

Of all your friends, you're the shining star. You're dramatic - loving attention and the spotlight. You're a totally entertainer and the life of the party. Watch out! The Sun can be stubborn, demanding, and flirty. Overall, you're a great leader and great friend. The very best!

What Planet Are You From?

Radio Show is a Go

I am pleased to announce that our radio show was picked up by NewsTalk AM 1450 KNSI in St Cloud.

As of last night it is "set in stone" with all of the hurdles being cleared. One last detail MIGHT change and that is the name of the show. We are still negotiating that. In all likelihood the name will remain and our website will not be in vain. Speaking of the website it is here.

The show should be available for live streaming and the easiest way to get to it is through a link at the bottom of OUR home page. (PS--props to our webmaster for the site: my wife did a great job with it.)

We start on July 31, 2005 going every Sunday from 1PM-3PM Central.

One of the hobbies of myself and my co-host have been our blogs. They are available from the Race to the Right website by clicking on our names..

Spread the word...and we welcome different perspectives as well as disagreement on the show. It is a talk show about current events and news.

Cheers.

I told you they wouldn't

WARNING: Not suitable for the faint of sensibilities or the easily offended
I told you they would never consciously betray the Empire.

I told you that First Ringer did not ask Hoplin tough questions in the "interview". Geez, even Dan Rather's allegiances were less transparent than KvM and First Ringer in their fluff piece they call an interview.

Hoplin was knee deep in scandal in 2004. He should be given credit for the cover job he pulled off to the delegates. He has cover stories with as much validity as Clinton's "I did not have sexual relations with that woman". Eric is a spin master...and a crook. First Ringer had the chance to really dig deep in the interview and choose to rhetorically fellate Hoplin instead.

Well, we at least know that First Ringer in other senses may be a good blogger, but he is a lousy interview...can't put his worship for power aside long enough to conduct a good interview.

Or, did Hoplin script the questions. Those are the ONLY two explanations for what a fluff piece the FR interview (posted on KvM) has been.

KvM just refuses to get it

I'm not going to link because there is no point in sending reasonable people there pissed at KvM's crap of late. I have come to the conclusion after conversations with quite a few other conservatives who agree that KvM is a marionette of the upper echelon of the GOP. I used to think that they were independent, but I find that belief harder to justify when they keep acting like they are taking marching orders from Hoplin-ites...the rhetoric is similar. When they come back down to Earth they will get their respect back.

Today's version of why they are out of touch with the "dumb" grassroots is here. In trying to legitimize the claims from KvM and its contributors other blogs claims that RonE's ousting was "mutiny" and "betrayal" and "end of the party" KvM says,

"our concern was about the practical effect of severing the Governor’s tether to the leadership of his own party while a special legislative session is underway."

How stupid is that statement? That is one of those things that KvM should considering deleting from the blog. Here is how the logic must go for that statement to be valid.
1) Pawlenty's endorsement of RonE should carry no risk (which endorsements carry).
2) Pawlenty's endorsement should be the marching order of the GOP...even though Pawlenty has done a fine job of alienating the conservatives lately to appease the left.
3) Voters for a state party chair election should only consider the fact that there is a special session that is going on in the State Legislature.

I cannot believe that a sane, rational, educated person would make such an abject statement.

He goes on...believe it or not it gets worse.

[W]e feared turning over the keys to a new driver could undermine both the Governor’s re-election and Congressman Kennedy’s corresponding chances.

Check with the experts. I suggest Gerry Daly. That link is so irrelevant that it would not be worth considering. Droning on as KvM and others have been with passive aggressive sophomoric shots will eventually make the impact. Unless Carey acts like Howard Dean there is very little direct effect between an election for party chair and the public's receptiveness to an unendorsed candidate for Senate or sitting Governor running for re-election as a possible launch towards a run for President.

Finally KvM closes this particular litany of stupidity with this gem:

But — like good conservatives — we will defer to our elders.

You just don't get it. Deferring to the elders has been the problem. The top-down dictatorship was elected out of chair and into Deputy Chair (because to few in MN know the real style of a Hoplin administration). There is no "deferring to the elders" but instead a preference towards deferring to the people. What scares me now about KvM (and consequently Kennedy's campaign by proxy through KvM's support of the candidate) is (1) the dogmatic adherence to top-down, king-making, anti-democratic leaders and pursuits and (2) the complete inability to understand the complaints from those that are feeling disenfranchised within the party. Keep going the way you are (especially since your master lost the election Saturday) and there will be a sizeable exodus from the MN GOP.

Listen for a change to those that you disparage. You actually might learn something. It is like watching Vader and the Emperor...KvM takes their talking points and marching orders, and deep down we all know they have the intelligence to know better, the compassion to listen honestly to the little people (the ones they keep saying are not worthy of being deferred to, too dumb to know what we want, etc).

We'll see. But I'm losing hope and Kennedy is losing an advocate. KvM and the other contributors are creating instead adversaries within the party.

Some background on Hoplin and Company

This post is courtesy of CRNC Chatter.

I post this so that (1) the Minnesota GOP understands fully who is their Deputy Chair and (2) for all of the wonderful visitors from Save the GOP understand who needs to be purged from the GOP leadership in order to save the GOP.

Why do I call him Eric The Crook Hoplin?

The newly elected Deputy Chair of the Minnesota Republican Party, Hoplin has been at the center of our problems with RDI, yet accepted no responsibility. Instead, in a move of utter disconnect, Hoplin has attempted to take credit for getting out of the contract. Here are the facts:
1) Hoplin took over as Executive Director of the CRNC in 2001.
2) In 2002, the CRNC settled out of court with a family to the tune of $30,000 after their elderly grandmother poured out her savings to support the CRNC. This means Hoplin knew about the fundraising abuses at the very least three years ago.
3) The CRNC re-negotiated the contract with RDI under Hoplin's time as Executive Director and Chairman multiple times. Despite a stated goal of changing the messaging, that never happened. In fact, it got worse, as evidenced by the infamous 'lapel pin' letter. Aware of the content of the letters, Hoplin refused to sign the letters, instead having others sign away.
4) Along those same lines, the real focus of the re-negotiations of the RDI contract were not focused on changing the message at all, but rather increasing the output and volume of the letters so that the CRNC could rake in more money. The CRNC went from bringing in a couple hundred thousand dollars a year to pulling in an astounding $17 million during the past cycle. Of that, the CRNC got roughly 10%.
5) When the press finally caught ahold of Hoplin, Gourley and the CRNC's abuses, instead of attempting to explain the situation, Hoplin issued a release to State Chairs claiming that this was an invention of the liberal media, and that it would all go away if everyone remained silent.
6) After coming under a firestorm of opposition from College Republican leaders and the media, Hoplin claimed that he couldn't talk about the matter because of pressing legal negotiations, leaving states affected by the mess to fend for themselves.
7) Now Hoplin claims that he single-handedly worked to get the CRNC out of the contract, and that there was no wrongdoing. In the process, he has decided to attack the few College Republicans willing to publicly speak out against his abuses as trying to advance their political careers. This is the guy who just ran for higher elected office - what room does he have to talk? Ever?

And this is the guy that the "pundits" of the party are circling their wagons around.

Disgusting.

To learn about other people who are putting their own personal interests above the good of the party (not necessarily a crime in itself) but then lying to everyone by saying they are sacrificing for the party read this posting. Included are Paul Gourley, Brian Mazanec, and Rep. Patrick McHenry.

Disgusting. Yet again dealings of the CR make me wonder if the party is less about Right and Wrong and more about Nepotism and Cronyism. (Remember Kristen Meyer's "elections" she fixed to install Tyler Richter as Chair of the Minneapolis CR.)

Is this really what the GOP stands for?