define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true); define('DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true); No Runny Eggs » steveegg

No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for posts by steveegg.

January 4, 2008

Scum of the day entrant

by @ 12:51. Filed under Law and order.

JSOnline’s DayWatch reports that 30-year-old Ryan A. Mueller of Sheboygan Falls was charged yesterday with felony burglary after DNA evidence linked him to the theft of $20 from a 2-year-old’s piggy bank. I’m trying not to unleash a string of expletives here, but who the <expletive deleted> is so <expletive deleted> depraved to go sneaking into a bedroom where a child is sleeping and take cash out of a piggy bank?

The good news is he was caught and now, if convicted, can get 9 years, 6 months to cool his heels in a state pen. The bad; it’s Sheboygan County, where the lawgivers-in-black tend to do stupid <expletive deleted> like let sex offenders who entice children walk (a from-the-archives special is over here.

Roll bloat – massive incoming edition

by @ 12:29. Filed under The Blog.

I really have to thank John Hawkins for sending a whole heap of traffic in by calling this humble place the site of the day (sorry about that PHP error/suspension deal; guess I need to do some optimizing here). In any case, the regulars may or may not know about Conservative Grapevine; it’s a clearinghouse of good posts.

Those of you here from there, please make yourself at home. Hopefully the jurry-rigged system doesn’t break on you again.

Iowa fallout – the best of the field

by @ 9:26. Filed under Politics - National.

There’s a certain dearth of pro-Huckabee blogs on my roll and reader (no, that’s not by design; most of the blogs there got there long before the primary season started a year ago, and I didn’t drop anybody because of who they supported), as well as a dearth of Democratic ones (that’s by design) so this is not likely going to be pretty. Let’s roll with those that didn’t simply choose to drink the night away (and see if I can inflate the TTLB ranking of some good blogs):

– Jack M is rooting for a brokered convention.
– Kate, in a common theme, wonders, “(W)hat the hell are those Iowans smoking anyway?”
– Gaius calls it unhappy returns for both Clinton and Romney/McCain (the latter is an unusual call).
– Trail-Mix has a long, laundry list on both sides of the aisle.
– Sinistar is doubling down on Fred. (side note; I agree; let it ride)
– Swint is blaming Mormon bigotry and spinning madly for Mitt
– Ed Driscoll has a two-parter: “A Mormon in the Dog House?” and Obama’s victory over both Clinton and the Jackson/Sharpton wing of the party
– The Fred folks won a ticket to the next dance.
– Mary has the triple play – Obama in the racial time warp, a warning for the Huck-a-Soldiers that not everybody is like Iowa, and Smilex for Clinton.
– Elliot declares Obama the Dem king, but isn’t ready to hand over the Pubbie crown to Huckabee.
– Bruce recaps his radio show with the obvious; Obama and Huck win big, Clinton and Romney lose big.
– HeatherRadish tried to stay awake to avoid being eaten by her cat, got embarrassed by the Huck-A-Iowans.
– The Headless One thinks the unthinkable nightmare scenario; Obama v Huckabee v Paul v Bloomberg.
– Allahpundit asks whether we can dance on Hillary’s grave (answer; not yet; we need that race alive long enough to sort out our own problems without having the “false-flag” Paul-Nuts really deliver a SNAFU package).
– Bryan asks, “What now?” (Well, Clinton’s going to go grab a pair of pliers and a blow torch)
– Jib continues the common theme and asks, “Really, Iowa?”
– Brian of Liberty Pundit has a lengthy view that I can’t do justice in a few short words.
– Jim Lynch says it went as expected.
– Jessica McBride has a bullet-point review.
– Michelle Malkin focuses on some of the eclectic – Duncan soldiering on despite a 1% showing (makes sense; he used the ignore-Iowa strategy, and his campaign is more to raise awareness than anything else), unions losing (again), and asking whether the LeftStreamMedia will stop race-based fear-mongering (short answer, upon Obama’s numerical inevitability as the nominee and not a moment later).
– Dean continues the theme of the night/morning, “Anybody but that goob,” and warns there is one last gasp out of the Clinton Slime Machine for Obama.
– Gopfolk may be wrong and he may be right (wasn’t that a song?)
– Peggy Noonan says, “Out with the old, in with the new.” (I would’ve went with the “bold” from the old Miller Brewing commercial; Obama and Huckabee aren’t exactly “new” as much as “bold”).
– Bill Bradley says it’s historic.
– Mark McNally says it was Preachers’ Night in Iowa.
– Fred (Dooley, not Thompson) came oh-so-close to using actual swear words to describe Clinton’s reaction (I normally would supply them, but since this mega-link post will likely draw in some traffic and hopefully send out some as well, I won’t here; I probably will repeat them in another post because I can’t get rid of my AoS moron itch).
– Matthew declares winners and losers in the Huck v Mitt battle.
– Jon Ham has a two-parter: he asks how a black guy can beat a white woman and a white man in a state that’s 90% white, and points out Chuck Grassley’s idiotic defense of the caucii.
– John Hawkins does a lengthy “What now?”
– Silent E has a unique way to state the obvious.
– Slublog’s at stage 2 of grief, and has used his anger to become a late-blooming FredHead. He’s also fearful of the coming split, which explains the bloom.
– Kathy Carpenter is almost alone in saying there were no surprises.
– Teresa does the wrap in pics.
– Peter has a 2-parter – who’s left to stop the Huckster except Fred (along with F-bombs and flying ashtrays from Clinton), and Huck’s the man with the glass jaw (er, at this point, it’s Romney with the shattered glass jaw)
– Asian Badger continues the theme of the night/morning with “Huckabee, Schmuckabee”.
– Jim Geraghty has Master Rove’s review (dammit; I missed Jim’s on CNN; anybody have video?)
– RAG rejoices that skin color is no longer a barrier to victory.
– Mary Katharine has the last-second New Hampshire itinerary for Huckabee (please burn that mo in NH, Mike)
– USCitizen points out that Thompson took 3rd despite the Fox News Blackout.
– Stephen Green punches out an angry open letter to Iowans that starts off with Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
– Will Collier takes the Giuliani/Hunter approach to Iowa; it doesn’t matter.
– Zip says, “It don’t mean nothin’, not a thing.”
– James Wigderson sings “Two Tribes” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
– Brian Fraley gives some free professional analysis (pssst, hey Sean, The Markesian Group is available)
– Erick declares war on the Politico, which has declared war on Thompson and congratulates Ron Paul
R&E part 1 (10:17 am 1/4/2008)
– Nick gives this round to Jesus (note to Nick; Giuliani wasn’t competing in Iowa, and he isn’t competing in New Hampshire, so he’s going nowhere).
R&E part 2 (10:44 am 1/4/2008)
– Curt is ready for the South Carolina round.
– I’m horrible at self-promotion, but I may as well point you at my own lack of cognitive consciousness.
R&E part 3 (12:20 pm 1/4/2008)
– William Smith gives a Granite insight into what’s next.
– Just a Grunt offers a $10 commentary for 2¢.
– Eric takes a typical long Tygrrrr look at a Pope and a Hope.

Clinton’s reaction, the uncensored version

by @ 8:38. Filed under Miscellaneous.

This uncensored version of Camp Clinton’s reaction as transcribed by Fred will be below the fold because it is rated NC-17 for language. For those of you who get the feed (actually, those that got the feed before I managed to figure out how to make the feed obey the “more” tag), I apologize.
(more…)

Iowa fallout, the immediate edition

by @ 0:13. Filed under Politics - National.

I’ll have more tomorrow after a good night’s sleep, and I may well revise and extend this then, but I won’t let a lack of cognitive consciousness stop me from putting out a few overtired thoughts.

First, on the Democratic side, John Edwards is DONE!!! with a capital E and three exclamation points. Yeah, he took second to Barack Obama, but he needed to both get much closer than 8 percentage points (in delegate-equivalents; the Dems have goofy rules that don’t let vote totals get out) to the lead and more than a half a percentage point ahead of Hillary Clinton. Iowa was his make-or-break state, and he didn’t quite make.

Speaking of Clinton, she is now on life support. I won’t say that race is over, if only because there is enough of the Clinton Slime Machine for one more slime, but if she can’t capture New Hampshire, we will have Dem nominee Barack Obama long before Super-Duper Tuesday, with potentially-frightening consequences for the Republican process.

On the Republican side, almost everybody, including the temporary-cheering section in the media, grossly underestimated the Huck-A-Boom. Mike Huckabee has survived a very heavy round of Hack-A-Huck, mainly by tapping into both the logical conclusion of “compassionate ‘conservatism'” (namely, using the power and full weight of government to force a particular set of values that at best bear a passing semblance to conservatism) and the evangelical factor to destroy the well-(and self-)financed person that exlemplified the “mere” extension of “compassionate ‘conservatism'” and the rest of the field. The problem is the next state, New Hampshire, isn’t exactly evangelical-friendly. However, he’s game to try.

Destroyed best describes Mitt Romney. In the span of 6 weeks, he went from the prohibitive favorite to a 9-point loser despite outspending the competition and flopping from view to view to fit the perceived message, and he’s headed to another state where he’s in unexpected serious trouble. He’s uncomfortably stuck in the middle of the road with the loser toe tag on.

The view on Fred Thompson is very mixed. As I type, he’s holding onto a 0.26-point lead for third with 7% of the precincts left to report. The good news is his original competition in his next competitive state, Romney in South Carolina, is dead in the water, listing, settling, and ablaze, and Thompson is, if barely, the last broad-spectrum conservative relatively unscathed. The bad is New Hampshire lies between the two, and South Carolina is arguably very evangelical-friendly (remember, John McCain’s campaign died there in 2000 immediately after he pissed off the evangelicals).

John McCain lives on to fight another day. Even if he doesn’t come back to take 3rd, he exceeded expectations, which combined with Romney’s fall, will be more than enough to give him New Hampshire again. However, the field is too crowded, and he’s not enough of a media darling to take that and do what he didn’t do in 2000.

Ron Paul is the third surprise. He has the ability to be a very nasty spoiler (with the emphasis on nasty), though beyond helping to finish off Romney in New Hampshire because of his Libertarian background, I do not know who else he will spoil, mainly because there is still barely a Democratic race.

Perhaps the night’s biggest Republican winner is also the night’s second-biggest Republican loser. Despite getting only 3%, Rudy Giuliani has to be happier than a pig in slop over the devastation of Romney. While Huckabee could easily get 2 of the 3 early states that Romney had hoped to sweep, Huckabee’s base is far more dissimilar to Giuliani’s than Romney’s is. That leaves the Giuliani strategy of using the large, socially-liberal states to rack up the delegates pretty much unassaultable directly.

So, what now? To cleanly paraphrase Marcellus Wallace (which means I lose the most-colorful half of the language), let me tell you what now. Thompson has to get a few hard-cases to go to work on the Huck in South Carolina. You hear me talking, Huckleberry boy? We ain’t through with you by a damn sight. We’re gonna get medevial.

January 3, 2008

Shock the world

by @ 18:01. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Video courtesy Hot Air (either somebody held the gun to Allahpundit’s head or he’s getting one last snark in before the crow)…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwgmheR1_Lw[/youtube]

I’ll be over in a chat room at Flopping Aces.

RIP, Gov. Dreyfus

by @ 14:58. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Lee Dreyfus was a bit before my time (I was still in elementary school when he was governor), but by all accounts, he was a good man. He passed away last night:

Former Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfus, who served one term starting in 1979, died at his Waukesha home Wednesday night, his son said Thursday. He was 81.

Dreyfus died while watching television, said his son, Lee Dreyfus Jr.

He was elected governor in 1978, upsetting U.S. Rep. Bob Kasten in the Republican primary and then defeating acting Gov. Martin Schreiber in the general election. He served in the post for four years.

Star Chamber

by @ 14:29. Filed under Lawgivers-In-Black, Politics - Wisconsin.

(H/T – Charlie)

Lest all the focus on the national get me termed “not a Wisconsin blog”, I really should turn the magnifying glass on the State Bar of Wisconsin’s attempt to monopolize all judicial races through the creation of the mis-named Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee. First, there’s the fact that it’s of the lawyers, by the lawyers, and for the lawyers. The funny thing is, the state Constitution doesn’t say anything about the lawyers controlling the process of electing judges.

Then there’s the makeup of that Star Chamber. Club for Growth Wisconsin went through the donation and volunteer records of the 8 members (non-voting chair and 7 voting members) and found some interesting things:

– 3 of the 8 have ties either personally or through spouses to Louis Butler’s campaign.
– 5 of 8 had ties to Linda Clifford’s failed campaign last year.
– 0 of 8 have ties to Mike Gableman’s campaign
– This Star Chamber meets in secret and speaks only through its chair.

In short, I’m not holding my breath waiting for them to denounce Loophole Louie for speaking about the very same cases at Marquette University that they denounced Gableman for not denouncing some of his supporters because they spoke about those cases.

On a related note, please take a look at the right sidebar, and support Judge Michael Gableman for Supreme Court.

Is that Thompson well really dry?

by @ 13:31. Filed under Politics - National.

If you believe the presstitute and Politico meme, you would think so. Well, get ready to eat that meme. Erick at RedState reports that Thompson raised a cool $1.8 million since December 12, and yes, that includes that $260,000+ from the combo blogburst/fill the red pick-up last week.

Roll bloat – more land of confusion

by @ 13:16. Filed under The Blog.

As if I don’t have enough “rights” on the roll, it’s time to add another; John Hawkins’ Right Wing News.

Presidential Pool – The Iowa cracked hard-boiled shell prediction

by @ 11:34. Filed under Politics - National.

TownHall has a friendly pool going on the results of the Iowa caucii. They’re calling for what percentages the Big 6 Republicans (Giuliani, Huckabee, McCain, Paul, Romney and Thompson) and the top 3 Democrats (as well as their names; not necessarily Clinton, Edwards and Obama) will get. Since I didn’t want to crowd the thread with my explanations, I’ll do so here. As usual, I’ll start with the Dems because I have a lot less to say about them. Also, much of my Pubbie analysis will come from both Jim Geraghty’s and my analyses of the 2000 Republican caucus final polls and actual results.

Democrats

John Edwards – 30%
Barack Obama – 29%
Hillary Clinton – 28%

What is there to say but things are pretty much evenly divided. The second-choice factor will break to the third wheel.

Republicans

Mike Huckabee – 26% – Pollsters consistently undervalue the evangelical factor, and even though Huckabee is starting to bust, it hasn’t completely gone away from him yet.
Mitt Romney – 24% – He’s the closest thing in this election to the “compassionate conservative” that George Bush was in 2000. That’s worth a couple points off the top.
Fred Thompson – 19% – The pollsters have historically missed somebody entirely in Iowa. Thompson is the closest in ideology to that person in 2000, Steve Forbes. Yeah, I know, Forbes endorsed Giuliani; I haven’t figured that one out yet.
Ron Paul – 10% – The caucus is all about turnout. That works both for and against the Paul campaign, as the “false-flaggers” are going to be at the Dem caucus. However, a not-insigificant number of Iowans like their Nuts; just ask Alan Keyes about his 2000 run.
John McCain – 9% – Ignore all of the “McCain is surging” hype, at least for Iowa. Even though McCain has put some time in and for a time had kissed Iowan hindquarters, he has reverted to type, and so will the Iowans.
Duncan Hunter – 5% – Yes, you heard me right; Duncan Hunter will beat Rudy Giuliani in Iowa. The other reason is because illegal immigration is an issue in Iowa, and Giuliani is on the wrong side of that.
Rudy Giuliani – 5% – The main reason why Giuliani will finish behind Hunter in Iowa is Giuliani put in essentially no time in Iowa.
Alan Keyes – 2% – This isn’t 2000, and there is another Nut running this time.

Revisions/extensions (1:03 pm 1/3/2008) – Let’s see if this will get pinged/tracked back to Right Wing News’ prediction recap

For those of you living in Iowa…

by @ 10:44. Filed under Politics - National.

Get to your local Republican caucus tonight before 7, preferably 15 30 minutes or so early, and vote for Fred Thompson.

Revisions/extensions (11:40 am 1/3/2008) – PCD points out that it’s best to arrive earlier than I originally suggested.

Revisions/extensions part 2 (1:09 pm 1/3/2008) – Russ from Winterset has your precinct captain speech over at Ace of Spades HQ.

For those of you focused on the Iowa poll numbers…

by @ 10:22. Filed under Politics - National.

Jim Geraghty steps back into the time machine and pulls out the last 2000 poll numbers as well as the actual results:

Des Moines Register – George W. Bush 43%, Steve Forbes 20%, Alan Keyes 8%, John McCain 8%, Gary Bauer 6% (with scattering and undecided 15%)
University of Iowa – Bush 55%, Forbes 12%, Keyes 9%, Bauer 8%, McCain 5% (scattering/undecided 11%)
Research 2000 – Bush 46%, Forbes 23%, Keyes 9%, McCain 7%, Bauer 7% (scattering/undecided 8%)
LA Times – Bush 43%, Forbes 25%, Keyes 10%, McCain 8%, Bauer 7% (scattering/undecided 7%)
Average poll – Bush 46.75%, Forbes 20.00%, Keyes 9.00%, McCain 7.75%, Bauer 6.25% (scattering/undecided 10.25%)
Actual results – Bush 43%, Forbes 30%, Keyes 14%, Bauer 9%, McCain 5% (scattering/rounding error 1%)

Geraghty asks whether Huckabee or Keyes 2008 is the closest one to Keyes 2000. I’ll submit Huckabee is closer to Bauer (Gary, or perhaps Graem, definitely not Jack) than Keyes 2000 mainly because Bauer was that year’s “evangelical” candidate, and Keyes 2008 is a complete non-factor. The real question is who will be this year’s Forbes and 2000 Keyes, or whether there are (Geraghty says the pollsters are better than they were, but also points to Zogby’s 2004 Dem failure).

I’ll submit that Thompson is this year’s Forbes, with Paul being this year’s Keyes 2000 (take that whichever way you want; forehanded or backhanded).

Regarding McCain, Geraghty notes that he isn’t skipping Iowa this time around. I counter that his final poll numbers also reflect that, and once again, he will underperform because of the built-in biases.

January 2, 2008

Natural flow of atmospheric energy melting Arctic ice

by @ 20:22. Filed under Global "Warming".

(H/T – Jon Ham)

The “scientists” that are still pushing human-caused Gorebal Warming are admitting that a natural cyclical flow of atmospheric energy headed toward the Arctic Circle is warming things up there. Somehow I doubt they took into account the cyclical increase in solar energy that is coming to a close when they claim that natural causes are a secondary reason for temperature changes.

Right on cue, here’s tonight’s predicted low temperatures:

Milwaukee – 6 degrees (8 degrees below average)
Raleigh, NC – 19 degrees (12 degrees below average)
Tampa, FL – 29 degrees (24 degrees below average; oh, and they’re under a hard freeze warning tonight)

Yep, a whole lot of Gorebal Warming going on out there.

Can you drive a stick?

by @ 15:29. Filed under Miscellaneous.

That’s the question Chris the head barkeep asks. Me? Oh, hell yeah. I’ve owned 7 cars; 4 of them, including the last 3, have had that third pedal. It is great knowing that, when I do my poor rally driver imitation in the snow, I can judge just how much throttle I can give to hang the tail of the car out as far as I want and no further without the transmission grabbing another gear and messing that up.

Guess that calls for another NRE poll… :-)

Can you drive a stick?

Up to 1 answer(s) was/were allowed

  • Yes. (50%, 56 Vote(s))
  • Like a race car driver. (38%, 42 Vote(s))
  • No. (9%, 10 Vote(s))
  • What did you just say? (4%, 4 Vote(s))

Total Voters: 112

Loading ... Loading ...

Revisions/extensions (8:24 pm 1/2/2008) – I’ll figure out how to test those of you who say “like a race car driver”.

The PLAN continues to grow and modernize

by @ 15:17. Filed under International relations, War.

For those of you who haven’t been paying attention to Duncan Hunter, and to a leser extent, Fred Thompson, pay attention. Jeff Head has been tracking the growth and modernization of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (that would be the Red Chinese), and he’s come out with his beginning-of-2008 update. There are two big areas of concern from where I sit:

– The biggest is the explosive growth in the amphibious capacity. Many naval observers have said the only thing that has kept Taiwan from being absorbed by Red China has been the inability of the ChiComs to get their massive army over water; they’re rapidly rectifying that oversight.

– Almost as troubling, especially with the de-emphasis on ASW in the US Navy, is a modernization of the PLAN’s submarine fleet, both attack and missile subs. Those quieter attack subs give them the theoretical ability to make the Western Pacific a very dangerous place for the 7th Fleet, while modern missile subs give them a second-nuclear strike capability.

I’m not as concerned, at least yet, about the continuing work on the ex-Varyag. At the point the Red Chinese are in their quest to be the worldwide empire, it does not really enhance their offensive capability. However, it does in the interim give them another way to bloody the 7th Fleet and in the longer term, it gives them expertise in carrier operations that, barring another paradigm shift I can’t yet forsee, they will need to march beyond what the Japanese called the Southern Resource Area 70 years ago.

Hack-A-CFL

by @ 13:52. Filed under Envirowhackos, Politics - National.

I know, the Iowa caucii are tomorrow, but I do have to take some time to point you to a pair of broadsides launched at the bipartisan Party-In-Government execution of the common incandescent light bulb. First, we have BrianR over at The View From The Island, who links the coming ban on the good light bulbs to the broader affront to freedom the envirowhackos pose. Next up, Brian M. Carney at OpinionJournal/The Wall Street Journal points out how GE and Philips are making out like bandits.

January 1, 2008

The case for Thompson and against Huckabee

by @ 20:05. Filed under Politics - National.

Matt Wolking makes a rather lengthy and well-researched case in an open letter to all conservatives, evangelicals and homeschoolers over at Blogs for Fred Thompson. I highly recommend you read it, especially if you are either still undecided or are leaning toward Huckabee.

Roll bloat – Marbleheaders Are Us

by @ 18:22. Filed under Politics - National, The Blog.

Jim Lynch, inspired by Rick Moran’s Marblehead call, set up both a Marblehead Regiment multi-user blog system and a Marblehead Regiment forum. One of the neat things about WordPress MU, which Jim is using to run the blogs half, is that anybody can set up a Marblehead blog (though if you’re an anti-Fredhead, I don’t recommend tempting fate). I’ve set up mine, and am in the process of working various Thompson posts over there.

Shocka – “Desire” question taken way out of context

by @ 15:51. Filed under Politics - National.

Jim Geraghty gets results, as well as an e-mail from Todd Chelf, the man who asked Thompson the question about his “desire” that the chattering class said was proof that he didn’t really want the job (also exploded by the extended and actual answer also transcribed by Geraghty):

After watching the blogs and media coverage of the question, I think the question and answer were taken out of context. From the start I want to make one thing clear, I do not nor have I ever thought Sen. Thompson is lazy. No one can accomplish in a lifetime what he has accomplished and be lazy. The question really came from months of frustrations. I started looking around for a candidate early because I really wanted to be a part of a campaign. Gov. Allen from Virginia was a possibility until his election meltdown. I looked at Gov. Huckabee early, but wrote him off as not being a viable candidate this time around. Shows you what I know. I also saw some of the big government ideas the Romney camp is now pointing out.

Speaking of Gov. Romney, I looked at him as well. Something about Gov. Romney just does not feel right. There is something about him I just do not trust. He is a little to slick. His image is a little too perfect. I could care less he is a Mormon. Frankly, I think the press made too big of an issue of his faith. I can only remember one person who mentioned his Mormon faith as being an issue. Most Iowa Republicans I spoke with about Romney were more concerned about his flip-flopping on the issues, than him being a Mormon bishop.

A high school friend of mine is a lobbyist in Washington D.C. During a phone call he mentioned Fred Thompson was thinking of running for President. I remember asking "The guy from Law & Order?" I knew he had been a senator, but did not know much anything else about him. Then I started receiving emails from Lamar Alexander and his Volpac telling me he was trying to get his good friend Fred Thompson to run for president. I began to look at Sen. Thompson and his record. I got excited. Here was proven conservative with a proven track record. He was well known to people outside of the political geeks. Not mention the last time the Republicans nominated a proven conservative who was marginal actor we nominated one the greatest presidents of all time.

Then the waiting began. I was in the Ames area during the straw poll, but I did not go, because I was waiting for my candidate to get into the race. I rationalized his late entry the same way he did on Saturday, he was getting into the race when candidates use to get into the race. I kept telling my family and friends just wait until he gets into the race, it will be like a ground fire. Finally, he announced and then nothing. It was like running downstairs on Christmas morning, only to find underwear under the Christmas tree. The day arrived, but there was no excitement. To be honest, my interest waned.

A few months ago he came to Burlington. I arrived at the event site when the doors were to open and the place was packed. There was excitement. He walked into the room and spoke. He said what I wanted to hear. Finally here was my candidate. There was still something missing. He did not ask me to support him. He told me what he thought about the issues. He fielded questions from the audience. It did not feel like a campaign rally. It was more like a lecture from an outstanding political speaker. Then the questions really started to creep into my mind, does this man really want to be President? Is he running for President or Secretary of Homeland Security? We see that in Iowa. Candidates for "president" are really running for some other office. I wanted to ask him that night do you want to be my president. I found myself wanting to support Sen. Thompson, but not knowing if he wanted me to support him.

I continued to look at all the candidates, but I kept coming back to Sen. Thompson. I wanted the chance to hear him talk again and Saturday was my chance. My friend from D.C. was visiting town so we went together to hear Sen. Thompson. The room and crowd were smaller this time. The only seats left were next to a woman I know through my work with the Boy Scouts. We waited for Sen. Thompson to arrive. Rep. King of Iowa introduced him. He walked into the room and sat down at the table with one of our local radio personalities. Again his answers were refreshing. Instead of sound bite after sound bite, he gave long thought out answers. He was advocating the ideas I wanted to hear. Then the question and answer session arrived. I wanted to know does this man want to be my President? I got the last question in.

The answer was exactly what I hope it would. It was a great answer. At points during the answer I was ashamed I had asked the question. I knew the answer. Do I really want to support a candidate who lives to be President? Is that type of candidate really interested in serving the nation or serving his own self-interest? Sen. Thompson positioned himself as willing to serve, not for an enlarged ego, but out of a deep desire to serve his nation. He has desire to make our nation better for his children and grandchildren. Far from a slick Branson like presentation, he presented himself as a dedicated patriot willing to serve if we, the American people, were willing to have him do so. He refuses to be a President under false pretenses. He is not leading us into a shotgun relationship. He understands that under the founder’s concept of the social contract, both parties must be fully aware of the terms of the contract when entering into the agreement. If the American people do not want him to be President, he is not going to trick us into agreeing to him. As I said, the answer was refreshing. It was a great answer.

I went and saw Gov. Romney that night. Do not misunderstand me; if Gov. Romney is the Republican nominee for President, I will support him. His presentation was an event. His hair and teeth were perfect. He smiled. He pressed the flesh. His wife glowed as she stood next to him. Make no mistake; Gov. Romney wants to be President of the United States. Maybe that is why I do not trust him. In the end, Sen. Thompson was right, the next President should be someone who wants to serve the nation, not someone who wants to be President. Far from the press coverage that stated Sen. Thompson does not have the desire to be President, his desire is to serve the American people. He believes the best way to do that is to be President. If he is not elected President, he will not be disappointed. He will find some other way to serve the American people, just like he has throughout his career. After listening to Sen. Thompson and thinking about what he said, I can only conclude he is the best candidate for the job.

If Thompson has ever had a problem, it is that he refuses to play by the presstitutes’ 15-to-30 second clock.

December 31, 2007

Prost for your health!

by @ 21:12. Filed under Miscellaneous.

(H/T – Free Republic)

A German study found that xanthohumol, found in hops and a key ingredient in proper beers, inhibits a family of enzymes that can trigger the cancer process, as well as help the body detoxify carcinogens. Not to be outdone, researchers at Oregon State found xanthohumol can kill breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancer.

Bottoms up!

Happy New Year

by @ 17:04. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Have fun tonight, and don’t drink and drive.

This is one of the reasons why I support Fred Thompson

by @ 14:07. Filed under Politics - National.

At 17 minutes, it’s a bit long for the attention-deficit-disorder crowd, but it is worth the view.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VblJq4j0_SE[/youtube]

Anti-military lawyer damages Marine’s car on eve of deployment

by @ 14:00. Filed under Compassionate Lieberals, Law and order, War on Terror.

The details are over at Blackfive. Short version:

– Sgt. Mike McNulty, who is on activation orders to go to Camp Pendelton and then Iraq on January 2, went to visit a friend in Chicago on December 1.
– Chicago lawyer Jay R. Grodner decided to key McNulty’s car, causing $2,400 worth of damage ($2,100 more than what the standard is for felony criminal damage to property in Illinois), and proceeded to verbally assault McNulty.
– In the first court appearance, Grodner tried to get off with paying McNulty’s $100 deductible, with McNulty’s insurance taking the rest of the hit. Despite “encouragement” from the Illinois States Attorneys, McNulty said, “Nuts,” and tried to push for the felony charge
– The State, saying that it wouldn’t be worth it to try to pursue felony charges because Grodner was a lawyer, countered with an offer to put Grodner on probation. Grodner rejected that, knowing the clock is ticking.

The next hearing in this case is today. Matt will be updating us with the latest developments.

Revisions/extensions (9:17 pm 12/31/2007) – Matt reports that the State will now be prosecuting Grodner to the full extent of the law. May the bastich be found guilty.

December 29, 2007

NFL Week 17

by @ 18:39. Filed under Sports.

We’re at the end of the regular season, the 2nd-hardest week to pick as so many teams have nothing of significance to play for. Not good, considering I went an extra-chunky 4-11-1 last week to bring me right back where I started. As always, the lines are from Bodog, so they may or may not bear any semblance to what your stateside Man is offering you.

Detroit @ Green Bay (-5) – Yeah, the Packers are one of those teams that, on paper, have nothing to play for. However, they need a bounce-back before the playoffs.
New Orleans (-1.5) @ Chicago – I’ll let 3 wood from JammieWearingFool handle this one – “The Bears have the 25th rated offense and the 28th rated defense. The Saints have the 5th rated offense and the 29th defense. So both defenses are equally bad, but New Orleans has a much better offense than the Bears. The weather Sunday in Chicago is supposed to be 35 degrees and cloudy, not so bad. The Bears have absolutely nothing to play for and have IR’d a lot of their players to protect them. Therefore, I take the Saints in a close one.”
Minnesota @ Denver (+3) – All in all it was all just bricks in the rookie wall.
New England (-14) @ NY Giants – Jimmy Hoffa says take the over-47.
Buffalo (+8) @ Philadelphia – You may want/like/get the points, but you’re not gonna need them. Stat of the week – Buffalo is 7-2 against teams that have not locked into the playoffs (including a win over the Redskins, which have the inside track on the last NFC wild-card spot).
Carolina (-3) @ Tampa Bay – Normally, I would say this line was whacked. However, Chuckie has already proven he will rest players, the Bucs have nothing to play for because of that, and the Bucs have not swept the Panthers since 2002.
Cincinnati (-3) @ Miami – Game of the Weak material here. Go under-45.
Jacksonville (+6.5 – game currently crossed out at Bodog) @ Houston – The AFC South is the toughest division in the NFL this year; last-place Houston is 7-8.
Seattle (pick’em) @ Atlanta – I don’t care if the Seahags have nothing to play for; the Dirty Birds have no business not giving boku points here.
San Francisco @ Cleveland (-10 – game currently crossed out at Bodog) – Neo is home one last time.
Dallas (+9) @ Washington – This is your mistake line of the week. It matters not that Dallas has home field wrapped up or that Terrell Owens will be out; they have a chance to screw the ‘Skins.
Pittsburgh (-3.5) @ Baltimore – The Steelers still have a chance at the #3 spot in the AFC. They desperately want it.
San Diego (-9) @ Oakland – Unfortunately for the Steelers, the Chargers have the inside track and the weaker opponent.
St. Louis @ Arizona (-6) – And the award for Most Disappointing Team goes to Duh Lambs.
Kansas City (+6) @ NY Jets – My man Hoffa is wondering what is going through the minds of the bookies; the Jets have no offense, and Kansas City has a defense.
Tennessee (-4.5) @ Indianapolis – The Colts have already announced they’re rolling over, as Jim Sorgi will be playing at least a half.

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