Huckabee Endorsed by Republican Sportshooters Association

I'm a few days late seeing this one but according to Mike Huckabee's website, he recently received the endorsement of the Republican Sportshooters Association. (heck, I didn't even know there was such an association but I like it)

You may ask yourself "Why is he checking out Huckabee's news releases?" Well I'm still trying to make up my mind.

What I've figured out so far:

Guiliani - lots of name/face recognition ("America's mayor" for one) but a LOUSY record on abortion, immigration and gun control. I'm really hoping that a true conservative gets the GOP nomination.

Thompson - lots of name/face recognition (Law & Order, several movies, a stint in Congress) and from what I can tell, Fred is solid Pro-Life, solid anti-amnesty and a solid supporter of the 2nd Amendment.
[ Here is my more thorough analysis of "Rudy vs Fred" ]


Huckabee - some name/face recognition (as former Governor of Arkansas he claims that he has "beaten the 'Clinton machine' twice"). Mike states that he has "been in the pro-life camp since [he] was a teenager" and his record as Governor supports a strong Pro-Life position. Some have debated this but his quotes need to be taken in context.
From what I can tell, Huckabee is anti-amnesty when it comes to people who broke the law to get and/or stay here BUT NOT their children. Some have taken his remarks and actions to be a "soft" position on immigration but not when you see the whole picture. (The "drive-by media" is so good at twisting soundbites)
And, according to the Republican Sportshooters Association and ontheissues.org, Huckabee's position on the 2nd Amendment is right on target. (i'm allowed the occasional pun, yes?)

Romney - some name/face recognition (former governor of Massachusetts - how did a Republican get elected governor of "Kennedyland"?) One of my friends is quite vocal about the fact that he won't vote for the man simply because he's a Mormon. I have to agree that if a person can be duped by Joseph Smith I'm not real comfortable with that person being the one on the business end of "the red phone". That being said, I think it is frankly contrary to the principles that our country was founded on to vote for or against someone simply on the basis of their religion. Not to worry - I believe there are several (non-religious) reasons that Romney is not the right candidate for the GOP.
Mitt claimed that he said he was "personally against abortion" but his record as Governor was decidely wishy-washy (at best). His ads make him out to be a firm, "black and white" Pro-Life candidate but his change to a Pro-Life stance has been a recent one. Romney was not as tough on immigration as he would like for us to believe. And all the quotes that I find for him on the subject of gun control are just vague. I could argue any one of these for either side (so he's NOT clearly a defender of the 2nd Amendment). And don't even get me started on his use of the useless phrase "assault weapon".

McCain - quite a bit of name/face recognition (he's been a senator for as long as I can remember and chaired a few important committees). What can you say about John McCain on the issues? The ONLY thing that is consistent about John McCain is that, given any issue (abortion, immigration, gun control, etc), he will consistently make every effort to straddle the fence and take no solid stand on anything. Yes, McCain has made some good statements but his statements kowtow to his audience - not the kind of guy that we need in the White House.

If you are a booklover, you NEED to read this

I was going thru the "Book Buying Addicts" group on goodreads.com and ran across this thread posted by Seth.

Seth has been helped by medication. (that's not a joke but his post is hilarious)

If you like reading books or collecting books or talking about books (i like all three) then goodreads is a good place to hang out - and it's free (i like free, too).

Creative "Solutions" to Immigration

Its not a joke - somebody is actually trying to get a game show produced called "Who Wants to Marry a U.S. citizen?" Reuters has an article about it.

This is like a bad SNL skit.

Por que no te callas?

This is just the short version of the video (and it's in Spanish) so let me set it up for you. You can easily find longer clips on YouTube.

Saturday (November 10), at an Ibero-American summit in Chile, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez repeatedly referred to Spain's former Prime Minister as a "fascist". Normally this would just be a standard "Hugo-ism" and wouldn't get much press outside of Venezuela. But the summit was attended by Portugal, Spain and representatives of most of the countries of Central and South America so this was a little different.

When it came his time to speak, the current Prime Minister of Spain urged Hugo to be more diplomatic. A reasonable request, right? Not for Hugo Chavez! He just keeps talking back and interrupting the Spanish PM (Hugo's mic was turned off because, remember it's not his turn) and finally Spain's King Juan Carlos leaned forward and said to Hugo "Por que no te callas?!" (loosely translated: "Why don't you shut up?!"




I heard about this because the King's "Por que no te callas?!" is being sold in Spain as a cell phone ring tone and has, according to this story, already (by Monday November 19) generated over $2.2 million in ring tone sales alone.

Figures for t-shirt sales were not included but some sources mention that t-shirts with the phrase have been seen in Spain and in Venezuela worn by Chavez opponents. (sweet)

In his illustrious career and rise to power, Hugo somehow missed basic common courtesy (maybe he slept through that class?) and is now demanding that King Juan Carlos apologize to him! Can you say "clueless"? I knew you could.

As John Gibson put it in his FOXNews.com piece:

Also a winner is Spain's king Juan Carlos. He told Hugo Chavez to shut up. Hugo never hears that anymore because if it's not a king who says it, he thinks about having that person shot, or run over, and most often they just get locked up.

I have nothing against Hugo Chavez. Except the fact that he's a jerk. (and that's the nicest thing i can say about the guy - my mom sometimes reads this blog)

Even if you don't speak Spanish you shouldn't have too much trouble understanding this:



As long as we have politicians, comedians will never be out of work. :-)

How much do you tip the Animal Control guy?

First off I don't want anybody to freak out - Caspian is still warm and dry and a cherished member of our family.

The reason the local Animal Control guy was called was because two large white pit bull terriers (that do NOT belong to us) were camped out in our back yard.

This is how our little drama unfolded:

6-ish in the evening: I heard a loud noise coming from near the front door (but it also sounded like it was coming from under the house), I poked my head out the door, I saw the bull terriers, I yelled "YgitoNNouttahyeea!!!" [not sure of the exact spelling] and they (apparently) ran off.

7-ish in the evening: Diana opened the back door to take Caspian for a walk and (thankfully) she saw the bull terriers before they could make an hors d'oeuvre out of Caspian. Not ever having had to call anybody for something like this before, I just called the first number that came to mind - 9 1 1 . (They very pleasantly gave me the number for the local police department)

7-ish in the evening [plus a couple minutes]: I called the Police Department and they (after making sure that everybody was safe) told me that they would call the Animal Control guy.

10 to 12 minutes later: The Animal Control guy called and told me "I'm involved in a case right now. I'll be there in 20 - 30 minutes." This seemed believable - we live in a small town.

Just shy of 2 hours after my first call to 9 1 1 : The Animal Control guy (i think he said his name was "Steve") showed up. I told everybody to get in their rooms and I brought Steve through the house. It just seemed "poor form" to ask Steve to go around the shed and potentially get maimed but a wild bull terrier. (They had growled at me earlier.)

I told Steve "One of 'em is sitting next to my shed but there was two of them earlier." As soon as Steve stepped out the back door (I was holding Caspian) he said "The other one is under the step - I can feel her moving the steps."

So just as I'm thinking "Wow, those dogs looked solid to me - i was right!" and "Man alive I'm glad a professional is taking care of this instead of me" Steve hollers "um...I'm going to need your help on this."



oh.



Crud.



Long story short (too late, right?) Steve tells me what he needs and, after I retrieved the other pole from his truck, he took the (larger) male dog to the truck and I followed with the female. I can now check Leading an animal on the end of a dog-catcher's pole off of my list of "Stuff to do before I die". (Just kidding - I had never imagined that this kind of "opportunity" would arise. It's not the sort of thing that I would go looking for.)

After we got both dogs into cages in the truck, Steve told me that he was "pretty sure" that the terriers lived at a house down the street.

Steve and I shook hands and parted ways and only after he had driven away and I was in the house did it occur to me "Was I supposed to tip the Animal Control guy??".

Will the real Conservative please stand up?

Rev Donald Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association, has endorsed GOP candidate Mike Huckabee.

Former Arkansas governor Huckabee has, from what I can tell, consistently maintained conservative points of view. That's not to say that I am endorsing him. As yet, I have not picked a horse in this race. (Give me a break - it's not even January 2008 yet)

And while Guliani has been endorsed by Pat Robertson, some have stated that Robertson's action is "beyond the pale" and he has "abandoned the beliefs he supposedly defends". Robertson has been losing support (and he's not even running for anything) for quite some time. One commentator has stated that Robertson's decision is just business - follow the money.

Brownback, who was looking good to social conservatives, dropped out of the race and announced his support of McCain. In an unrelated but interesting note, supposedly McCain has referred to Robertson as "an agent of intolerance" and has said that Robertson's support of Guiliani has left him "speechless".

And (I'm always the last to find out things like this) Fred Thompson is "bleeding staffers". There has to be a better way to put that.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Today was an important seasonal first. Today I heard my first 2007 "Christmas music in a public venue".

I had lunch with a co-worker at a local Jason's Deli. I excused myself to the men's room and there, reverberating off the terra cotta tiles, I heard "Do you hear what I hear?". Aargh! Two weeks before Thanksgiving!

Is it strange that two of my [Christian] friends have told me that they are really annoyed by Christmas music played in stores? Is it strange that the fact that they are annoyed amuses me?

The Real LOST

This is from an email update from NewsMax.com

To get the total scoop on how Bush is once again siding with liberals go here.

Rudy Giuliani has become the latest Republican presidential candidate to denounce the controversial Law of the Sea Treaty now working its way through the Senate. The treaty, called LOST by opponents, would empower a United Nation-affiliated organization to control the world’s oceans. On Wednesday (October 31) the Senate Foreign Relations committee voted 17-4 to send the treaty to the full Senate for ratification.

U.S. participation in the treaty, which has been signed by 154 other countries, has been held up since 1982 when concerns about deep-sea mining rights arose during the Ronald Reagan administration. President Bush favors signing the treaty, and the Pentagon has called fears about ceding U.S. sovereignty to the U.N. unfounded.

But in a statement posted on Giuliani’s campaign Web site on Oct. 30, he said: “I oppose ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty. I believe the treaty is well intentioned, and I appreciate the hard work of U.S. negotiators who sought to resolve problems in the treaty first identified by President Reagan. "I also understand the arguments of those — particularly in our military — who claim that this treaty will enhance America’s ability to guarantee freedom of the seas for all peace-loving nations. “But I believe that the treaty is fundamentally flawed. I cannot support the creation of yet another unaccountable international bureaucracy that might infringe on American sovereignty and curtail America’s freedoms. I oppose ratification of this treaty as along as it fails to address these concerns.”

GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney, John McCain, Fred Thompson, and Mike Huckabee had previously come out in opposition to the treaty. [Guiliani is late to the band wagon on this one.]

The Coalition to Preserve American Sovereignty, an organization that opposes LOST, has charged that it would force the U.S. to give up certain controls of its territorial waters. It said in a press release: “The emerging debate about the Law of the Sea Treaty will enable the electorate to choose between those who favor … greatly empowering world government agencies and unaccountable international bureaucracies on the one hand and those who are intent on preserving and promoting American sovereignty and interests on the other.”

Despite passage of the treaty by the Senate committee, it faces stiff opposition from Republicans in the Senate. “This treaty will not be adopted,” said Sen. Kyl, R-Ariz. “There aren’t the votes to pass it.”

Why do politicians not understand that surrending American sovereignty is not good for America? Defending the interests of a nation is part of a politician's job. Politicians around the world are looking out for their own interests - why is Bush so spineless when it comes to defending this country?

The return of PBA?

From an email I received...

After all our efforts to see the horror of partial-birth abortion officially banned in this country ...

After Congress voted to ban it, the President signed the bill into law, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld that law ...

Even after all this, within minutes of that Court ruling, pro-abortion members of Congress introduced a bill which would totally thwart the will of the people - reversing the decision of Congress and the President and undoing the ruling of the Supreme Court.

These members of Congress have put some ''spin'' on their bill: they call it the ''Freedom of Choice'' Act - but it's not really about freedom of choice.

It's actually a slap in the face to the American people ... it's a tip of the hat to the abortion doctors and their lobbyists ... and it's a very real threat against the lives of unborn babies.

Support for this bill flooded in from the entire abortion lobby -- the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, N.O.W., NARAL: Pro-Choice America, and others. Which means millions of dollars will almost certainly flow into the campaign for this legislation.

The bill(s) in question are HR 1964 and S 1173. Despite their name (Freedom of Choice), the purpose of these bills would be to re-instate the (completely medically unnecessary) practice of Partial Birth Abortion in this country.

Partial Birth Abortion is exactly what it sounds like. If this "procedure" were performed 2 minutes later it would be infanticide and we would bring formal indictments against anyone who perpetrated it.

It is a travesty that 121 members of Congress are proud to have their names listed as sponsors or co-sponsors of these bills. This just goes to show the depths that we as a nation have lowered ourselves to.

I won't list all the (101) Representatives connected to the bill but I will list the (20) Senators.

Sponsor:
Sen. Barbara Boxer [D-CA] (no surprise)
Cosponsors [as of 2007-10-20]
Sen. Max Baucus [D-MT]
Sen. Jeff Bingaman [D-NM]
Sen. Sherrod Brown [D-OH]
Sen. Maria Cantwell [D-WA]
Sen. Benjamin Cardin [D-MD]
Sen. Hillary Clinton [D-NY]
Sen. Dianne Feinstein [D-CA]
Sen. John Kerry [D-MA]
Sen. Frank Lautenberg [D-NJ]
Sen. Joseph Lieberman [I-CT]
Sen. Robert Menéndez [D-NJ]
Sen. Barbara Mikulski [D-MD]
Sen. Patty Murray [D-WA]
Sen. Barack Obama [D-IL]
Sen. Bernard Sanders [I-VT]
Sen. Charles Schumer [D-NY]
Sen. Debbie Ann Stabenow [D-MI]
Sen. Jon Tester [D-MT]
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI]

(see any familiar names?)

On GovTrack.us you can look up bills and (just for fun) you can see where your Senator and Representative lies on political spectrum map.

Time Traveling and Day of the Dead

Okay, I know, I'm like way behind schedule posting. My problem has been that I'll start a post and not be able to finish it (normally because I find something interesting on Wikipedia or Yahoo! News) so this is what I'm going to do.

With this version of "time traveling" (strictly forward and linear - shucks) I'm just taking advantage of the fact that I started a post several days ago. I'll go ahead and finish the blog entries that I started and post them ASAP and hopefully I'll get caught up to the present! Right now it's November 12 but I'll finish this post for November 1 - Dia de los Muertos.

Day of the Dead...keeping the tradition alive

From Articulos en Yahoo!

Toys are brought to the cemeteries as offerings to deceased children and Tequila, Mescal and Pulque, traditional Mexican liquors, are common offerings left on the graves of adults.

My wife (born and raised in Mexico) finds it humorous when people are surprised that the offerings are gone the next morning. She told a group of our friends that all you have to do is hide and watch. A short while after dark you will see vagrants eating the food, drinking the liquor and taking the toys.

Some have said that it is very important to keep these traditions alive as part of Hispanic culture. I know this is not the most "PC" thing to say but personally, I find Dia de los Muertos creepy. I guess it is realistic in it's fatalism but it's still creepy.