Sometimes, there is crying in politics

"Are you crying? There's no crying in baseball!" -- Jimmy Dugan, as played by Tom Hanks

Yesterday at a Mothers forum in Iowa, Newt Gingrich had an emotional moment talking about his Mother, who had suffered from bipolar issues. It wasn't a big sobfest as the media made it out to be... hardly any tears at all...but I certainly think it didn't help his chances to win the Iowa caucuses.

Perception can be huge in politics. Michele Bachmann had a top staffer abandon her campaign to go and work for Ron Paul. A SuperPac switched loyalties from her to Mitt Romney. As a result, her image and standing have taken a huge hit, and she is faltering badly in the polls. She's going to lose and finish near the back of the pack. Even though she technically didn't do anything wrong to deserve that. People just felt she couldn't win, and they are walking away in big numbers.

MSNBC host Chris Matthews savaged Newt Gingrich on his program. He went around asking all the people in the Java Joes coffee shop in Des Moines if they felt Newt was faking it, or if it was real, or if Newt was too emotional or "just tired" from the campaign. All of them had various answers, but nobody actually stood up and defended Newt.

Matthews also had a very touching, very insightful dialogue about "crying in politics". He mentioned Ed Muskie in 1972 and a variety of other candidates who has been caught crying during their campaign...including Hillary Clinton.

Matthews delivered a fantastic monologue about how there often is crying in politics. He mentioned how sometimes it happens in an election night hotel ballroom full of dejected supporters. Sometimes it happens on Air Force One on the way back to a White House that you need to move out of in the next 60 days. But it happens. More often than you think.

I don't think Newt was overly emotional yesterday.

It wasn't this moment that is going to do him in. It was the 30-40 million dollars in negative TV ads being run by his opponents in Iowa. That was what sunk him.

A month ago Newt Gingrich was flying high, his stellar debate performances had him topping the polls in just about every state. Then his opponents decided to land some body blows on the new front-runner with negative TV advertising.

Newt didn't have the money to fight back, and it is going to cost him the White House.

That fact is something that just might be worth crying about.

Win Iowa, Rick!

Obama/Clinton 2012?

There is an interesting article out there today by Robert Reich that mentions the possibility of an Obama/Clinton ticket in 2012.

Reich suggests that Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden swap job titles. Biden becomes Secretary of State and Clinton becomes the VP candidate in 2012.

Reich is a smart man, and this would be a clever play by the Democrats to get Obama re-elected.

Hillary supporters would turn out in large numbers to get America its first female Vice-President.

However, I don't think this is going to happen.

Hillary Clinton is getting older and seems to think she is done with politics.

She has stated that she doesn't plan to continue her job after 2012. She sounds like she is retiring. But you never know -- she might be talked in to it if Obama is struggling in the polls.

The second reason I don't see it happening?

Obama doesn't trust the Clintons.

A lot of the Clintons political enemies end up committing suicide in very unusual ways.

No More "Cornhusker Kickbacks"!!

Wonderful news today as Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska announces that he will retire and not seek re-election in 2012. His decision was probably best for everyone involved.

Nelson became derided as one of Americas most hated political figures after he became the vote that flipped and gave the Democrats the magical number to pass Obamacare.

In order to secure his vote, the Democrats used all types of bribery...eventually offering him the biggest bribe ever in Congressional history.

The Cornhusker Kickback.

Democratic Senators wanted Obamacare to pass so badly they eventually offered to make all medical costs free for people in Nebraska. It was the honey that Nelson could not resist.

Even some Democrats in Nebraska were offended by this act of public corruption, and Nelson was facing declining chances of being re-elected, anyway.

This gives the Republicans a dominating chance to take this seat and help win back the Senate to Republican control.

As a side note, if I am elected to Congress this fall, I intend to act with fellow House Republicans to launch an investigation into the Cornhusker Kickback. If necessary, I intend to see some of my fellow Congressman arrested and jailed for their involvement with this act of bribery involving public funds.

Senator Nelson and Senator Landrieu need to spend time in a jail cell to discourage this type of political corruption in the future.

Newt : "Victory or Death"

Newt Gingrich tells a charming story about General Washingtons Christmas Day attack on Hessian forces near Trenton, New Jersey.

It reminds me of this funny poster below.




Newt sure can tell a good story.
I think he has a great career ahead of him as a narrator, because I don't think he's going to be President. He is too prone to the odd statement or the emotional outburst.

He will probably sink himself.

But in many ways, Gingrich reminds me of General Washington.

Wandering around in the wilderness, desperate, and broke.

Then in the debates he comes running in and quickly sticks the knife in everyone.

Turns things around completely.

Newt is facing his own "Victory or Death" moment in the next few weeks.

He might be able to pull it out.

I'm certainly not going to bet against him.

He has already made the media look foolish for pronouncing his campaign "dead" before even one debate had been held.

The Republican Party of Virginia needs a revolution!

If you haven't heard the latest news, several of the leading GOP candidates for President will not appear on voters ballots in this 2012 primary season.

Why? That's a very good question.

I have never been fond of ballot restrictions of any kind. They only discourage people from being involved in politics, and they are basically designed to help keep the status quo in power.

What possible reason does Virginia have to keep people off a ballot?

The only reason I can think of is that you might want to require more than $5 and your own signature so that you don't have half the town running for office as some type of prank. But even this is a bit of a dangerous trespass into Constitutionally guaranteed rights to participate in elections.

10,000 signatures? This is clearly oppressive, and might even be illegal.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was established specifically because local jurisdictions were doing things that were discriminatory. They were trying to keep people off ballots and stop them from voting.

I think this set of rules in Virginia would not withstand a court challenge. The practice is discriminatory against everyone who is not a well-funded and highly-staffed candidate. Basically, lawyers can argue these signature requirements fall under the Voters Rights Act, because these rules are preventing people from participating in elections.

I know about these drawbacks personally. The City of Los Angeles has restrictive rules that require 500 valid signatures from registered voters to get on a ballot. Again, this requirement is unfair to underfunded or understaffed campaigns. In certain sections of the city, there are very few registered voters! We have one pinhead of a City Councilman who regularly wins elections in his district with 2,000 to 3,000 votes total in a city of 6 million people. Yet he and any interested opponent are required to go out and search for those 500 registered voters, even though they may be difficult to find.

Virginia may be concerned that making their rules too lax may result in chaos. They may be afraid of a situation like the California recall election of 2003, where there ended up being 135 different candidates for Governor, including a porn star (Mary Carey) and a comic actor (Gary Coleman). Yet somehow, voters managed to wade through page after page of candidates, and they managed to avoid voting for the porn star and the comic actor. They voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who in a weird way ended up being a little bit of both.

Now the Republican Party of Virginia, in their total ineptness, has decided to disqualify a man who has already served as the third most powerful elected official in America. A man named Newt Gingrich.. who actually lives in Virginia!

Virginia needs to change their rules and change them quick.

When you disqualify FIVE of the seven candidates for President, your system is broken.

The fact that it was the Republican Party of Virginia checking these signatures and disqualifying people from the ballot is absolutely unacceptable. I consider this an act of fratricide, and the Virginia GOP needs to pay a price for this.

I strongly suggest an uprising from the GOP members in Virginia.

County Party leaders need to quit in massive numbers. They also need to threaten to stop all financial support of the Virginia GOP. They need to threaten to form alternative organizations.

This ballot nonsense in Virginia is unacceptable. Many voters have already watched these candidates debate on national TV for several hours.

There is absolutely no justifiable reason to keep them off the ballot.

Those idiots who say "rules are rules" don't get the bigger picture.

If Virginia has the right to demand 10,000 valid signatures, then Florida has the right to demand 50,000 signatures. And of course, stupid California would then probably demand 1,000,000 valid signatures.

2,011 years later.....

2,011 years ago.....

Three wise men from Persia were riding their camels across the land of Judea, searching for someone they did not know. They were not even sure this person actually existed. But it was a journey of faith for them. They were guided by a vision, and a single solitary star.

Be thankful you don't live in Egypt!

The military in Egypt is fully out of control. This horrifying video of a large pack of soldiers mercilessly beating two unarmed women is a symbol that things need to change and change quick if they don't want to face full-blown revolution there.

The citizens won't put up with this any more and they will soon face small arms fire from their own citizens if they don't clean up their act.

I would suggest their President, or General, make some type of statement to the press.

This type of behavior is not acceptable.

@tedlieu - You are still a Dhimmi!

I have a Twitter account.

@PhilJennerjahn if you want to follow me.

I usually concentrate on current events, and have responded to a few celebrity tweets, but I don't actually use Twitter as much as Facebook because of its limitations. (140 characters)

Yesterday, I got into it a little bit with State Senator Ted Lieu, the useless Dhimmi who wastes taxpayer time and money demanding that the Loews Home Improvement store not pull their advertising off of a terrible TV show called "All American Muslim".

Why does he do things like this?

I don't know. He's a Democrat. They seem to like doing things like this.

Anyway, yesterday I responded to a tweet of his to let him know that sometimes people discriminate against Islam because Muslims constantly try to murder other non-Muslims.

(They are actually required by the Koran to do this.)

If you see the tweet above, Lieu calls me a bigot... in a private message.

Nothing new... I've been attacked 100 times before.

Yes, I'm anti-Muslim because I don't agree with people who want to murder me.

I responded with one of my best tweets ever....

@tedlieu Don't worry, Ted. You're a good "dhimmi"! If Muslims take over, you'll be protected. The rest of us will be murdered.

He didn't respond anymore after that... LOL.

Liberal lies about "Big Oil"

When I was running for Mayor of Los Angeles in 2009, I was involved in a debate among the candidates at UCLA. In this debate, I think I may have uttered my best political line ever.

Frustrated by listening to the two Socialist candidates bash capitalism and talk about how evil it was, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the microphone and tell them how wrong they were. I went off on them with a long rant about how they were wrong in every possible way.

I ended by shouting: "Capitalism doesn't oppress you! Capitalism makes your life possible!"

I didn't think about it at the time, but it may have been the best moment of my campaign.

Indeed, most liberals live in a fantasy world where they think that gasoline appears at gas stations by "magic". They feel that oil companies are "evil" for providing a crucial product on which the entire American economy depends.

I have never understood that type of thinking from them.

Big oil companies go out into very harsh conditions to capture oil resources. Frozen Alaskan tundras. Deep sea, underwater big-rig drilling. It isn't easy. Not everyone can do it.

In fact, gasoline is expensive because very few companies in the world can do this.

The refining process, which most liberals know almost nothing about.. is quite fascinating.

You don't just pour raw oil into your gas tank. It has to go through a process called "fractional distillation" in which the oil is super-heated in order to cause it to break down into various hydro-carbons. These are separated to make things like gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, road asphalt and thousands of other plastic products. Almost nothing is wasted from the distillation process.

Oil is everywhere in our daily life.

Check out this list of products that are made with oil, it just might make you think about how important and crucial oil is in our lives. We couldn't live our modern, covenience-filled lives without it.

These big oil companies go out and get that oil for you, they distill it, transport it, and sell it to you at a price that you are willing to pay. And yes, they make a profit doing this.

Why shouldn't they?

These big oil companies are not evil and they are not destroying your life or oppressing you.

They actually make your life possible.

We don't need fewer of these companies in the world.

We need more of them.

The Passion of The Jeb

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush wrote a terrific article in the Wall Street Journal where he defends Capitalism and says that as human beings we all have "the right to rise".

The article was well-received in Conservative circles and sparked talk that maybe Jeb could be talked into to running in 2012. In fact, several big names in the GOP are supposed to talk to him about this within the next few days.

Bush is a huge name in politics, and as the former Governor of Florida, he could really lock that state down and make it extremely difficult for Obama to be re-elected in 2012. It is easy to see why so many want him to run.

The problem with this is the time line. A candidate starting out this late has missed a few ballot deadlines and wouldn't be on the ballot in a few states.

However, a big win in Iowa could get most of the remaining field to drop out, meaning that even a small, committed write-in campaign in other states would most likely be successful.

Even showing up at the Convention in Tampa with a majority of the delegates would be enough to get the job done.

Could Bush be tempted by the weak showing of the field so far?

Who knows? My guess is that it is unlikely.

But if he decided to give it a shot, having two former Presidents from your family showing up onstage with you at campaign events is something the other candidates can't offer.

A Bad Year for Bad Guys

Kim Jong Il is dead.

Add him to the list of Osama Bin Laden and Muammar Ghaddafi as another one of the 20th Centurys all-time bad guys who won't make it very far into the 21st Century.

Kim Jong Il was actually kind of a putz who was in over his head.

It was his father, Kim Il Sung, who was the true evil madman.

Kim Il Sung ruled North Korea like he was Joseph Stalin.

I remember that I was actually in South Korea when Kim Il Sung died in 1994. It caused total fear and chaos. The South Koreans were afraid of a power vacuum. Air raid sirens were going off. People couldn't stop talking about it.

Sure, Kim Il Sung had been the devil, but he was the devil they knew.

There is now talk that the son of Kim Jong Il is too young and too incompetent to take control of the country. That wouldn't surprise me. These "inherited" transfers of power have never been a good idea. There is no merit involved.

I'm hoping this will situation will finally cause North Korea to collapse and lead to a reunification with the South.

A History Lesson for Ron Paul

This video from Glenn Beck is a little history lesson for the dangerously naive Congressman Ron Paul.

Ron Paul claims that all attacks against America are based on the American government meddling in the foreign policies of other countries.

He couldn't be more wrong.

Ron Pauls ignorance betrays a very basic fact of human nature.

There are evil and dangerous people out there in the world who want to kill you and take everything you have.

While I won't deny that a few attacks against America have, indeed, been policy based.... many other attacks have happened simply due to the evil nature of the perpetrators.

Muslims, for example, have a history of over one thousand years of violence, rape, robbery, and murder of non-Muslims.

Google "Barbary Pirates" and find out how they were attacking Europe for much of the 1500s through the 1600s. They captured and enslaved over 1 million Europeans.

Politics had nothing to do with it.

Eventually, their raids on our European shipping caused Thomas Jefferson to create the United States Marine Corps to go over to North Africa to fight them.

Memo to Ron Paul.

Muslims in the Mediterranean were killing people over 200 years ago.

We hadn't dropped a single bomb on them.

America barely even existed at the time.

Their hostile attitude has never changed.

Ron Paul "brings the crazy" to Jay Leno, says Bachmann "hates Muslims"

I have made it clear in the past that I have mixed feelings about Texas Congressman Ron Paul.

I admire his attitudes towards government spending, but I hate his foreign policy attitudes.

If Ron Paul had been President back in the 1940's, the Nazis would still control all of Europe.

The other night Ron Paul brought some of his patented craziness to the Jay Leno show.

Part 1 of his interview is above.

Part 2, where he takes some cheap shots at Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, can be seen by clicking on this link to the You Tube video.

I have to say, I don't admire this type of campaigning.

If you are going to throw accusations at people, you damn well better be able to say it to their face. Ron Paul didn't say these things when standing in front of Michele Bachmann or Rick Santorum at the debates... when he could have.

I've lost a lot of respect for him.

Iowa Debate Recap

A quick recap of last night's Iowa Republican Presidential Debate. I actually watched it a second time to make sure I hadn't missed anything, because I was live blogging and tweeting at the same time during the first run, so sometimes I miss an important fact or two. (Thank God for DVRs)

Overall, the debate was the best one yet, because Fox was running the show. Instead of some hair-brained liberal moderators, the audience got intelligent questions that gave valuable insight and answered specific things that voters wanted to know. There were no "Coke or Pepsi" questions in Iowa last night.

Let's start with the leaders....

NEWT GINGRICH

The former Speaker of the House was, as usual, far ahead of the pack when it came to quickly processing information and superior knowledge of political issues. You just can't beat Newt in this area. His brain is like a supercomputer and he can instantly retrieve small bits of data or old, forgotten information from the 1980s or 90s.

Newt took a few punches last night, but came away without any major damage. Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney landed some blows, but the extremely clever Gingrich managed to spin his way out of trouble on several occasions. He tried to excuse his way out of taking money from Fannie/Freddie, but didn't come away convincing many in the audience that he was righteous there. Bachmann punched him again on abortion, but Newt declared his bona fide pro-life history. Overall, Newt did reasonably well. He got the crowd pumped up when he bashed Obama and the power of the unaccountable judges of the Ninth Circuit Court.

Newt is still one of the favorites, but due to his mercurial nature, he could also be one big blow-up away from torpedoing his way out of the race completely.

MITT ROMNEY

Mitt Romney has been running for President for about 20 years now, and it shows. Romney was by far the smoothest and most polished candidate last night. He didn't make any major errors, and like Gingrich, tried to spin his way out of troubling issues from his past. I especially liked his preview of his attack on Obama for running GM and firing people and cutting dealerships.

Romney didn't do anything to help himself...he just stayed where he is...which is pretty good position being in the top 2 candidates just three weeks before Iowa votes in their caucuses.

I still consider Romney a horrible RINO and a soul-less flip-flopper, but I accept that he might actually be our candidate in 2012. He has always been near the top for over one year, so he has some staying power. Also, the establishment seems to be getting behind Romney because Newt Gingrich scares a lot of GOP voters with his wild and erratic behavior.

RICK PERRY

Rick Perry was charming and folksy. He didn't get a lot of questions, but he was a lot better prepared for them this time around. If only he had been willing to do some debate practice a few months ago... (sigh)

RON PAUL

Ron Paul is supported by legions of activists who are known by the derogatory nicknames "Paulistas", or "Paulbots" or "Paultards" -- depending on who you are talking to. Ron Paul veered off the path of Conservatism and into his own little world of naive Libertarianism when he talked about Iran. He seemed almost happy that Iran would be getting a nuclear weapon soon. His attitude was "Why not?"

Ron Paul was attacked by Michele Bachmann, who called his attitude "dangerous"... and most of the audience seemed to agree. Despite this collateral damage, I think Paul still has an outside chance to win Iowa. His supporters are quite fanatical and will come running from several states to support him in Iowa. He will finish in the top 4 and continue his campaign. That is almost a given.

MICHELE BACHMANN

Bachmann was good last night...solidly Conservative. She spent a lot of time attacking Newt, Mitt and Ron Paul. Unfortunately, telling the voters how bad Newt is doesn't make you suddenly the best candidate. Michele has always had a "vision" problem. Nobody knows where she wants to lead the country. Yeah...she hates Obama...but who doesn't?

I fear Michele is falling behind. If she doesn't finish in the top 3 in Iowa, she will be out by Super Tuesday because her money will dry up.

RICK SANTORUM

I'm not really sure why Santorum is even running. He's a good Conservative, yes... but... you want to come into a Presidential race on a hot streak. You want to have won a race recently. Last time Santorum ran as the incumbent Senator in Pennsylvania, he got his ass kicked.

The polls are not wrong. Santorum has little to no support, and he will not win Iowa.

JON HUNTSMAN

Any guy who goes to work for Obama is not a Conservative. Huntsman sucks and his whiny, snotty attitude has always rubbed me the wrong way. He is clearly perceived the same way by GOP voters. He has little to no support, and he'll be long gone by Super Tuesday.

GARY JOHNSON

One of the funniest people in the debate is former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. He wasn't at the debate, but he was tweeting about it all night like a kid in detention.

He kept tweeting things like "I'm the only pro-choice candidate!"

And "I'm the only pro-gay-marriage candidate".

Yep...those stances worked out so well that he's been denied access to most of the debates.

He is supported only by that 1% of GOP voters that hold those same opinions.

Live-blogging on "Street Hassle" for GOP debate

Don't know why I'm doing this, as Mailander is kind of an ultra-liberal.

But he was a good writer about the Mayoral race in 2009, so I owe him one.

I have agreed to live-blog the GOP debate tonight on his Street Hassle blog.

Not sure the technical details will work out perfectly...but we are going to try it.

Why isn't Richard Alarcon in jail?

I mean, seriously!

It is over one year now since he was criminally indicted in August of 2010!

There are other criminals whose trials and incarcerations last a shorter time than this!

Alarcon is still sitting on the City Council while the other corrupt and incompetent members refuse to sanction him or remove him from his duties.

Not only that, but he is -- incredibly -- planning on running for another elected office!

If I were a registered voter in the 7th District, I would be down at City Council meetings every day screaming my head off about this. Maybe after the Council Members heard the same complaint 500 times in a row they would get it into their numb skulls that they are forced to act here. The other option is for residents of the 7th to start suing the City for allowing Alarcon to continue his criminal fraud by serving on the City Council as the Councilman for the 7th District when he did not meet the legal requirements to run for that office.

From the Los Angeles Charter...

Los Angeles Charter
ARTICLE II - OFFICERS OF THE CITY
SEC. 211. SUSPENSION PENDING TRIAL.

PENDING TRIAL, ending trial, THE COUNCIL MAY SUSPEND ANY ELECTED OFFICER, and the appointing power may suspend any appointed officer, AGAINST WHOM FELONY CRIMINAL PROCEEDING,
OR criminal misdemeanor proceedings related to a violation of official duties as described in Section 207(c). The temporary vacancy shall be filled in accordance with the Charter.

Meet Ted Lieu: Dhimmi

Dhimmi: A Non-Muslim who lives in submission to Muslim rulers, with higher taxes, and fewer legal rights or protections.

Some of you voters in the South Bay have some explaining to do.

How did you idiots manage to elect a dhimmi to the California State Senate?

Instead of fixing broken California and its massive budget imbalances, Lieu has gone on his own personal jihad to protect and defend muslims from evil corporations everywhere.

The controversy erupted when the Lowe's Home Improvement stores pulled their advertising from a program broadcast on The Learning Channel called "All American Muslim".

Lowe's felt the show was controversial, and didn't want to be involved.

Of course, Lieu, being a liberal, feels that he needs to correct all the possible perceived wrongs in this world. Including this one.

His repulsive letter to Loews can be read here at his website.

Lieu is an embarrassment to America.

I have news for Senator Lieu... Islam is not a peaceful religion!

Everywhere it exists on earth, it has been brought -- and kept there -- by violence and murder.

If a person wants to leave Islam...guess what... they get murdered by their fellow Muslims!

Islam encourages their followers to commit mass murder of non-believers.

Islam even encourages people to murder their own family members (honor killings).

Muslim women in Saudia Arabia are not allowed to drive a car.

Senator Ted Lieu is a taxpayer-subsidized propagandist for Islam.

Maybe some of you South Bay voters should ask him why he is wasting taxpayer time and money defending a religion like Islam.

A religion that does not respect human rights....

On Monday, Muslim leaders in Saudia Arabia beheaded a woman because they claimed she was a "witch."

But according to dhimmis like Ted Lieu... it is the big corporations like Lowe's that are the real problem in the world.

Romney: My views are moderate. I'm a progressive.

OK , Mitt Romney.

I believe you.

Chris Matthews: GOP has cut a deal with Mephistopheles

MSNBC host Chris Matthews is really losing it over the impending GOP nomination of Newt Gingrich for President.

He has repeatedly called Gingrich "mean" and "nasty" and "diabolical".

He clearly fears the coming assaults that will be launched by Gingrich on his precious favorite, President Obama.

I find this really funny.

Evil Newt, Phony Mitt

I watched a rerun of the Iowa Debate to get a read on what is happening in the 2012 GOP field and I didn't like what I saw. It seems that the media is giving us two awful choices to be the GOP nominee: Evil Newt or Phony Mitt.

I'm a Rick Perry supporter, so watching his gaffes in the debates and his subsequent drop in the polls has been upsetting for me. We are just weeks away from the vote in Iowa and I'm not sure Perry can make up that ground...even though he did well in the Iowa debate.

Newt Gingrich is of questionable moral fiber. He's a serial adulterer who will cheat on his wives at the drop of a hat. However, this didn't prevent Bill Clinton from getting into the White House and I don't think it will stop Newt from getting there, either.

Newt has also been guilty of all manner and fashion of "ideological heresy" when it comes to Conservative policies. He sat on the couch with Nancy Pelosi and talked about global warming. He supported the traitorous Dede Scozzafava in the New York Congressional race. He continually spins his way out of troubling questions about big-government policies he has approved or worked on in the past.

For all his failings, Democrats are actually afraid of facing Gingrich in the general election. The reason? They can't do anything in their campaign ads to make him more unlikeable! All of his negatives are already out there for everyone to see.

MSNBC talking head Chris Matthews has a serious fear of Gingrich, saying that Newt is "the type of guy that would come after President Obama with a broken beer bottle."

Indeed, he would.

Gingrich is resonating with voters because of his former status as Speaker of the House of Representatives. He is also doing well because he is saying the things voters want to hear. He says he will destroy Obamacare. He says he will erase Obamas legacy from Washington and undo all the damage created by the 44th President.

Voters like hearing these things.

They didn't like hearing about his squishy views on immigration, or about his $500,000 credit card bill from Tiffanys jewelry store.

They did, however, like hearing his tough talk about solutions for America. His criticisms of the poor not having an established work ethic. For the Democrats, this was cruel commentary from someone whom they view as an evil and heartless man, but it rang true for many voters.

The most telling moment of the night happened when Gingrich and Romney sparred over Israel. Romney accused Gingrich of stirring the pot of violence with his comments about the Palestinians being an "invented" people.

Gingrich stuck the knife in Romney by responding that he considers himself a "Reaganite" and will continue to speak truth to power and call evil "evil"... even if it "confuses the timid".

It was a lethal blow that exposed Romney as a weak, spineless political figure with no true moral core. It only confirmed what voters had suspected all along.

Mark my words. Romney is done. This nomination belongs to Newt if he can avoid blowing up in the next three weeks.

Governor Perry at the Huckabee Forum

Talk about a great idea!

Mike Huckabee had all the candidates on this forum answers questions without being interrupted or receiving spastic crossfire from their opponents. It was a great way to learn more about them.

Governor Perry showed his adherence to the Tenth Amendment, which is what got me interested in him as a candidate in the first place.

"I'd do away with the Department of Education", he says.

"Strict Constructionist" judges on the Supreme Court.

Pro-life activist.

That's my candidate!

White House 2013!!

Terrorist attack in Hollywood

It appears that another terrorist attack has taken place in America, this time in Los Angeles, near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine.

Witnesses say that a crazed gunman, screaming "Allahu Akbar" was running around in the street firing at random passers-by in their cars.

I was actually only about a mile down the street when this happened, but I was unaware of the event until watching the news later that night.

The terrorist attack ended about as well as could be hoped for. There were some injuries, but it seems like the terrorist was the only one killed in this rampage.

Thank you, LAPD, for your professionalism in stopping this guy before he hurt a lot more innocent people.

Glenn Beck rips Obama for lying to America

This one is so good that I don't have to add any commentary.

Perry goes "Full Evangelical" in Iowa

Texas Governor Rick Perry released his latest Presidential campaign video... and liberals heads were exploding all over the media.

MSNBC host Chris Matthews, who shamelessly professes his admiration for President Obama, was horrified by the ad. He said that it was a "terrible thing for America".

Other hosts on other liberal shows called it "dog whistle" politics.
As in ... the Conservative Right has to send out a special call to action that only other Conservatives can hear.

Me? I thought the ad was just fine. Perry is appealing to the hardest Social Conservatives in Iowa. People that won't be voting for Romney or Gingrich.

I'm from the Midwest and I know how people are there. This ad will go over very well with the more Conservative voters.

The liberals? I guess their heads can keep exploding.

Rick Perry is not trying to get their votes, anyway.

December 7th, or "Why I Can't Vote For Ron Paul" Day

Although he was personally angered by Japanese duplicity in their unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt was calm and logical when he addressed Congress on December 8th, 1941. He asked for, and received, a Declaration of War against the Empire of Japan.

The Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor hoping to wipe out the American fleet and insure Japanese dominance over the Pacific for the next few years. The Japanese wanted the land and resources of Asia to themselves, and they were not shy about taking it.

America learned a valuable, and painful lesson that day as Japanese aggression killed over 2,400 Americans:

The world is full of evil and dangerous people.

People who will kill you, your family and friends, and every one of your fellow countrymen in order to get what they want.

To ignore this fact will put you in great peril.

The Chinese ignored the continued aggression of Japan from 1931 to 1936.

Eventually, during the Rape of Nanking, the Japanese would massacre 200,000 civilians.

European leaders ignored the gradual rise to power of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Over 60 million people would die during World War II as those leaders watched Europe fall.

Now, we have an American political leader named Ron Paul who believes that all aggressive behavior towards America is a result of our country "meddling" in the affairs of others.

He thinks it is perfectly OK for a genocidal regime in Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

He has an isolationist stance towards the rest of the world and wants to "bring all our troops home" from Iraq and Afghanistan.

And that is why I can't support him.

Ron Paul becoming President of The United States would put our nation in great danger.

Hundreds of millions of others around the world would instantly be risking their very lives from the threat of aggressive neighbors.

Ron Paul is correct that America does not need to be the policeman for the entire world.

But history has shown us that bad things happen when you ignore evil, and choose to do nothing instead.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

Today, December 6th, is my birthday and it is going to be a good one.

In just a little while, I'm going to go online and purchase some stock and become a part-owner of the Green Bay Packers. I've always wanted to do this my whole life, but I missed the last stock sale offering in 1997. These opportunities don't come around too often.

My best birthday ever happened when I turned 25. I was living in Taipei, Taiwan and teaching English at a variety of different schools, including the Mei Chia Christian University for women. Word got around and about 80 people showed up for a party at a local pub. Tons of gifts...I was a little embarrassed by their generosity. And the Chinese had a custom of taking their finger and swiping some frosting off the cake and smearing it on your face. So that was weird...but funny.

Yes, it would be tough to top that birthday, but today might come pretty close.

I'm about to become a part-owner of the Green Bay Packers.

Any of you want to join me?

Herman Cain: Charlatan

I never believed in Herman Cain. Not for one minute.

I always believed that Cain was a charlatan, a fraud, and a trickster.

It bothered me that anyone was willing to support him at all, much less a large percentage of Republican voters.

It had always been my belief that Herman Cain was running for office just to build his name brand. He wanted to sell more books. He wanted to increase his speaking fees. And he will do all of those things, but he will never be President of The United States.

Cains campaign eventually sunk under the weight of allegations of sexual harassment and the accusation that he had conducted an extramarital affair for 13 years. The accuser, Ginger White, had proof that she and Cain had been contacting each other and staying at the same hotels while on his speaking travels.

I had taken an instant disliking to Herman Cain from the very start. At one of the earliest debates, he answered a moderators question by saying he "didn't know why we were in Afghanistan".

Didn't know? Did he miss watching the news on 9-11?

And this guy wanted to be President?

I'm just glad and grateful that Cains campaign imploded before he got too far down the road to the nomination. Can you imagine this scandal blowing up just before the general election?

Cain says he will continue to be a voice in the Republican Party.

He can talk all he wants, but I'm not interested in listening to a guy who seriously jeopardized GOP chances to defeat Obama in 2012.

Pasadena!

Yesterday was a horrible day for me.

Watching my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin, play for the Big Ten Championship was nerve wracking and nausea-inducing. The Badgers were losing for a large portion of the game, but managed to pull out the win in the final four minutes. The Badgers were seeking redemption against the Spartans, who had ruined the Badgers season with a fluke play - a hail mary touchdown pass as time expired - in their first game back in October.

Now, I get to go back to Pasadena on January 2nd and see them play Oregon.

To be honest, I'm not optimistic about that game.

Oregon has been very powerful this year.

It's going to be another rough day for me.

An Odd Footnote to History

GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain will have a press conference today where it is widely expected that he will drop out of the 2012 Presidential race. Even if he doesn't choose to do this, the decision is actually irrelevant. The recent revelation of Cain having an extramarital affair for 13 years is too damaging to his chances, and his window of opportunity was already closing even before this news because of previous sexual harassment allegations.

Herman Cain is on his way to becoming an odd footnote in American history. A GOP contender who was at one point #1 in many polls, but was derailed because of issues that had nothing to do with politics.

The infamous ad with his campaign manager smoking a cigarette is burned into many peoples memories.

And this wasn't even the worst ad Herman Cain came out with.

If you put out piffle like this ad, you won't last long in a Presidential race.

Newt Gingrich : Serial Hypocrisy

I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm putting a Ron Paul ad on my blog.

I'm not the biggest fan of the Texas Congressman. I like some of his ideas about finances and money supply issues, but I hate his foreign policy attitudes. I believe they are naive and dangerous for our country.

However, Newt Gingrich has to be stopped. And Ron Paul has come up with a blistering attack ad that uses Newts own hypocritical comments against him.

We already know that Newt is a serial adulterer, which raises character issues about him.

We also know that Newt was having an affair with his staffer Calista at the same time he was trying to impeach President Clinton for doing the same thing with Monica Lewinsky.

Now we know he profited off of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who he enjoys demonizing on the campaign trail as the worst examples of big government.

His hypocrisy knows no limits.

Yes, he is a smart guy and a talented debater, but he is also a pretzel-like politician who is willing to twist himself into whatever political stance is convenient at the moment. Newt lacks character, and I don't want him being the nominee....which is a real danger now, as Iowa is only a month away and Gingrich is leading in most of the national polls.

Newt is a mercurial man, and I can only hope he reverts to form and implodes before the first votes are cast in Iowa.

Carter & Obama : Seems Like Old Times