Today's Good Sign

The Obama campaign and its accomplices in the media and polling businesses have done their best to sell the idea that Obama's election is a fait accompli. However, their actions tell a different story. Here is today's good sign that this election is a lot closer than they want you to believe:

DES MOINES, Iowa - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama returns to Iowa on Friday where he'll headline a midday rally in Des Moines.

If polls could be believed then Sen. Obama wouldn't waste any precious time in these last few days in a state he seemingly has in the bag. Sen. McCain has never been especially popular in Iowa due to his stance against ethanol subsidies. Iowa neighbors Obama's state of Illinois and his victory in their caucuses early in the primary race gave him much needed credibility. If he is nervous about Iowa I'm feeling better about the whole game.

Separately, instead of in a clear plastic bag, this morning our newspaper came in a bag that said in large print:

DEFEND FREEDOM
DEFEAT OBAMA

PAID FOR BY NRA-POLITICAL VICTORY FUND. WWW.NRAPVF.ORG
NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE'S COMMITTEE

Congratulation to World Series champions - Philadelphia Philliess

Tonight the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4 - 3 to win the 2008 World Series 4 games to 1. Despite the fact that I predicted the Rays would win the series (mostly to bug Ben Keeler), this really is no surprise as you had an experienced team that has been contending for a few years and has a lineup full of MVP caliber players (Rollins, Howard, Utley, Lidge) facing a young team that hadn't been anywhere near contender status previously. Congrats as well to the Rays on a season much more successful than any of the "experts" expected.

As an Indians fan I'm glad to see Charlie Manuel vindicated for how he was tossed aside by GM Mark Shapiro. Charlie may not be the best public speaker (okay, okay he's is awful in that area), but he understands baseball players and knows how to get the best from them.

FOX News Going Downhill?

Sadly, FOX is about to take a major step backwards. Politico.com has an article titled "The man behind 'Fair and Balanced'" looking at Brit Hume as he is retiring following this election. Brit Hume is retiring?!? This may have been reported earlier, but if it was then I missed it. No idea who is slated to take his place. He will definitely be missed as a knowledgeable and sober voice on television. I've enjoyed seeing him calmly respond with facts (and a little sarcasm) when a panelist claimed something obviously incorrect. Too many conservatives (Hannity, etc) get bombastic and shout at their guests. Hume never even raises his voice and is more effective because of his ability to remain rational even when dealing with liberal silliness. I realize that was a bad comparison since Hume does a panelist show while Hannity has an interview show and invites all sorts of goofs as guests.

Enjoy your retirement, Brit. Your professionalism will be missed.

Goofy Quote of the Day

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) gave his response to the conviction of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). Even though he is his longtime friend and a strong supporter, I don't think he did Stevens any favors with these comments:

"I'm deeply disappointed," he said in an interview. "It surprises me. I don't think he had a jury of his peers. That's the way it goes. I'm sure there will an appeal. If you watch the conduct of the court and with the one juror leaving and going out and of course the action of the prosecutors themselves, there will definitely be an appeal and it will go for a long period of time."

Can Stevens still win?

"I think he can win. He's the best thing for that, for the Senate. Alaskans know this. This is a trumped up charge. If you look at not reporting, supposedly gifts -- he reported everything he got. I think it was wrong when they prosecuted him on this issue."

Daily News: You worked with him all these years. Some people will look at the verdicts as a statement on his years of services.

"I think that's going to be, you know, a matter of opinion. I can remember Richard Nixon, you know, his years of service, what he's done, and everybody were ridiculing him and he ended up being the greatest president in the history of our century.

"The senator will be reelected. He will appeal it. When he does go, he will win it because there's no way this is a jury of his peers."

Now, I'll admit to thinking Nixon's true record was much better than how history has judged him. However, even through my somewhat biased glasses I don't see Nixon as a top ten president (he certainly isn't the worst either). Beyond that the sentence is just oddly worded and linking the recently convicted senator to a president who was forced to resign can not help his case with the voters.

You make less than $250K so why should you care about Obama's tax increases?

I bet most folks have run into friends, family members, neighbors etc., who are unconcerned about the tax implications of this election. A lot of folks just don't care or don't believe it will impact them personally. Sen. Obama clearly understands this and threw out a big number - $250k or a quarter of a million dollars - as the income level that will see an increase in their tax burden. That is a neat dividing line. Most voters make far less than that amount and those that make well above that amount are a small enough segment of the voting population that it is safe to threaten to raise their taxes. You can explain to those people that raising taxes will deepen and lengthen the recession or explain how an overtaxed business owner will hire less employees, not give raises, not expand, etc. Problem is that argument doesn't seem to get through to a lot of people. The mindset remains that as long as I make less than a quarter of a million dollars a year it won't matter to me. The better argument to make is to let people know Obama is lying. When they look suprised that you are certain he's lying, ask those people "what from Obama's limited history would lead them to believe he is telling the truth?" When he ran for the senate he campaign on a promise to work for a middle class tax cut. Never happened. When his racist demogogue pastor became public knowledge his first answer was "I could no more disown him than I could my White Grandmother." Within a month he not only disowned "Rev." Wright but had also tossed his grandmother under the bus as a "typical white person." Another example is public financing for his campaign. Last year, both he and Sen. McCain gave their word to live with the limits of accepting public financing. However, he showed his word is worthless by continuing to go with private contributions. Ask them who will force Obama to keep his word? A senate lead by Harry Reid? A house of representative run by San Fran Nancy Pelosi? Not hardly. They are left with just taking the word of a guy who has never voted for a tax reduction or against a tax hike.

Bottom line: If you believe Obama will only raise taxes on the rich then you likely would also be inclined buy a bridge from a snake-oil salesman. And remember income taxes are far from the only way they can reach into your pocket.

Disclaimer: While I cited Obama's refusal of public funding after promising to abide by those limits as evidence of his untrustworthiness, I am not a fan of tax payer monies being spent on campaigns. Let candidates spend their own money or the money of people dumb enough to donate to their campaigns, but don't use money confiscated from citizens to fund their quixotic job hunts.

Feds disrupt skinhead plot to assassinate Obama

This is disturbing:

Two white supremacists allegedly plotted to go on a national killing spree, shooting and decapitating black people and ultimately targeting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, federal authorities said Monday.

In all, the two men whom officials describe as neo-Nazi skinheads planned to kill 88 people - 14 by beheading, according to documents unsealed in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Tenn. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.

While it is no surprise that we have some crazies among us, it is distressing anytime we get a reminder that some people will take violent action over political differences. Obviously, the good news is they were caught before they carried out their evil. The bad news is with our nation having a population of over three hundred million these are probably not the only nuts out there. The question we should ask ourselves is what influenced these idiots. Where do those ideas germinate? The article says they met online and found common ground. However, their twisted minds were poisoned long before they met.

No matter what your personal political leanings, keep the safety of all the candidates in your prayers. We should be able to disagree, even vehemently disagree without resorting to violence.

BREAKING NEWS: Sen. Stevens Guilty

CNBC is reporting that Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) was found guilty on all counts in his corruption trial. Making this all the more interesting is Stevens is up for reelection next month. I've argued for years that Stevens should resign from the senate mainly because his penchant for pork barrel spending is a contributing factor to our growing national debt. He definitely should have stepped down when he was indicted so someone else could run in the election. I'm sure we will all be treated to a protracted appeals process since guys like this never let go easily.

Side note: During the trial, former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell was a character witness for the defense. We can only hope that voters think as little of his endorsement of Sen. Obama as the jury thought of his attesting to the honesty of a crooked politician.

Asked by lead defense attorney Brendan Sullivan if he could describe Stevens' character and integrity, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state described them as, "in a word ... sterling."

"If you made a deal with Ted Stevens you knew it was good," Powell said. "[He] never would do anything that was improper."

Or is this the October Surprise?

Unleaded gasoline is $2.08 this morning. We are basically seeing fuel selling for half the price it was at the top a few months ago. A good deal of the economic pessimism stemmed from the dramatic increase in fuel costs which impacts the cost of everything. Will this change the outlook of many voters? Don't know. I do know that the increase of price was correctly or not blamed on President Bush and in turn hurt Sen. McCain's chances. If people are spending thirty dollars or so to fill their tank as opposed to eighty dollars they should have more money left in their pockets. That's a good thing.

Want to find the lowest gas prices in your area? Go to GasBuddy.com.

Is this THE October Surprise

The term October surprise has come to mean an event or revelation that happens late in an election season that dramatically changes peoples view of a candidate. Is this video the October surprise? A month ago Sen. Obama was walking around a Toledo suburb stumping for votes and mistakenly gave an honest answer to a citizen (Joe the Plumber) who actually asked him a tough question (something no reporter has bothered to do). This video of Obama being interviewed in 2001 (HT Drudge Report) reaffirms the answer Obama gave in Toledo. The key take away from the interview is this line: It was a tragedy that "redistribution of wealth" not pursued by Supreme Court. This is called a "two-fer" in that it hits on two separate concerns to have over a potential Obama presidency. The obvious concern is the play on the wealth distribution theme he mistakenly admitted to in Toledo. The second and more important (at least to me) revelation is his acknowledgment that he sees the Supreme Court as a legitimate tool to obtain changes so distasteful to the general public that they could not be advanced correctly through legislation. This last week of the election, the McCain campaign needs to strongly make the argument that Obama's view of the role of the judiciary is outside the Constitution. I don't want to see Supreme Court justices out on the campaign trail, but it would be great to see a scathing take down of Obama's nonsensical opinion of the supreme court's role by Justice Scalia.

Most important election

The most important election this cycle (except the presidential race) is the one Bill Russell is running to unseat the disgusting and corrupt representative of Pennsylvania's 12 congressional district. I'm, of course, referring to Rep. John Murtha. Murtha has been embarrassing his constituents for decades in congress, but they kept returning him to Washington because he was very good at bringing wasteful federal spending back to his district. For a long time he went with little or no opposition. However, his disgusting behavior in declaring our Marines guilty of cold blooded murder before any evidence was seen made him seem vulnerable. In 2006 he had a serious challenger. It didn't matter as his constituents chose pork over honor. This year, Murtha is being challenged by Bill Russell, a Desert Storm veteran, former Army lieutenant colonel and Army reservist who survived the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. A couple months ago I assumed Murtha would again survive the challenge and be sent back to waste more money. Then something surprising happened, in a misguided attempt to "help" Sen. Obama in the presidential race, Murtha recently declared folks in his district are mostly racist rednecks. I don't know about any of y'all, but I ain't likely to vote for someone who calls me names and hopefully folks in Pennsylvania's 12 District also have at least that much pride.

Here is Michelle Malkin's take on this race.

Answering the defectors

Charles Krauthammer has a column today explaining his decision to vote for Sen. McCain and knocking down the weak-sisters who defected to endorse Sen. Obama.

Contrarian that I am, I’m voting for John McCain. I’m not talking about bucking the polls or the media consensus that it’s over before it’s over. I’m talking about bucking the rush of wet-fingered conservatives leaping to Barack Obama before they’re left out in the cold without a single state dinner for the next four years.

I stand athwart the rush of conservative ship-jumpers of every stripe — neo (Ken Adelman), moderate (Colin Powell), genetic/ironic (Christopher Buckley) and socialist/atheist (Christopher Hitchens) — yelling “Stop!” I shall have no part of this motley crew. I will go down with the McCain ship. I’d rather lose an election than lose my bearings.

Read the rest. I will quibble with his description of Christopher Hitchens as a conservative of any stripe. Hitchens supported the War on Terror, but he never was anything except a steadfast liberal.

Don't lose hope!

The media and the pollsters have been attempting to create an air of inevitability regarding Sen. Obama's election. It is a transparent ploy to discourage Republicans and in turn reduce voter turn out. Don't buy into their narrative. Write a different result.

Here are somethings to consider as the election nears. Share them with people you know who are undecided or leaning towards voting for the Hopey-Change guy just assuming that any change is improvement.

The comprehensive argument against Barack Obama. This is a long, well-researched breakdown of various reasons to have reservations about Sen. Obama. However, despite the title it is hardly comprehensive.

PA Governor 'Nervous,' Sees McCain Surge. If Gov. Rendell thinks the Obama campaign is in trouble in Pennsylvania it is because he is seeing internal polling that McCain is stronger in rural Pennsylvania than they previously believed. If Obama loses Pennsylvania he can thank Rep. John "My constituents are racist rednecks" Murtha for all his help.

The Bill Ayers Problem. Some people think the Ayers situation has played out and the electorate isn't interested. That could be true if Sen. Obama hadn't been dishonest when initially asked about Ayers. However, instead of being honest, Obama tried to minimize his history of relations with Ayers by saying "He's just some guy in my neighborhood." Since then he has reluctantly and gradually admitted more and more involvement with an unrepentant domestic terrorist. If there was nothing to be ashamed of then there would have been no need to lie. There is more to this story. The question is when will the story be told? What has come out so far is troubling but not as much as his 20 years in "Rev." Wright's hateful, racist church. The rest of the story must be much bigger for him to have bothered lying about the relationship. Evidence is growing that Ayers (an accomplished writer) actually was the ghost writer for Obama's book Dreams of my Father. Why does that matter? It matters for two reasons. There are some people who jumped on the Obama bandwagon partly because they read and liked the book and thought it reflected well on his intellect (perversely including Bill Buckley's son). Equally important is this would come across as a deliberate lie and some people don't like that.

The HOPE ON Project (Help Ohio Prevent Electing Obama Now) is a thirteen part series of posts spearheaded by Tom Blumer of BizzyBlog explaining Obama's unfitness for higher office. Here are links to the first three - One, Two, Three. The rest of the posts in the series will be added each day leading up to election day.

Like it or not, race will play a role in this election and how the results are interpreted. The Bradley Effect theorizes that polls are less accurate in elections with a black candidate. This effect usually leads to polls overestimating the vote for the black candidate. Also, in this election season Sen. Obama and his supporters have at times way overplayed the race card. I sense a growing resentment among voters over feeling like you always have to watch your words to be sure you're not offending the easily offended.

There is anecdotal evidence that McCain is getting some crossover support from voters who would normally vote for the Dem presidential nominee. Some guy named Jack Zettler is the Democrat candidate for county auditor. Well, just in our neighborhood I've seen a half dozen homes with yard signs for both Zettler and McCain. I highly doubt these are lifelong Republicans crossing over to vote for Zettler. My guess/hope is these are Democrats with reservations about voting for Obama.

Lastly, though I don't trust polls until it is within a week of the election, here is a headline to keep you positive: AP presidential poll: Race tightens in final weeks The tightening was credited to the third debate and Obama's answer to Joe the Plumber.

How long until we run out of acceptable words?

People with weak arguments will often attempt to stifle opposition. One way that is done is by claiming certain things are unacceptable to say. On matters of race, we have evolved over time to recognize some terms (the "N" word for example) are not to be used in any context. In time it went from the truly ugly racial epitaphs being forbidden to a general fear over using any word that could be confused for a racial generalization or stereotype. Since there was such success at stifling speech with the fear of being labeled a racist those of that mindset decided to go a step further and have declared that certain words or sayings are actually loaded "code words" used as substitutes to send racial messages. After the GOP convention some idiots decided that Mayor Giuliani and Gov. Palin were racist for derisively mocking community organizer as an occupation. A couple days ago, Jonah Goldberg, a columnist with National Review Online, was accused of using a racial code word for using the word "cakewalk." Turns out that used to be the name of a slave dance in the old south. While I suppose that's true, there is no doubt the columnist was referring to an easy victory and intended no racial overtones. Now, we have a moronic columnist in Kansas City declaring that criticizing Sen. Obama's economic plans as a form of socialism is using an ugly racial code word. What? Read this snippet of the column and tell me why this goof is still employed:

The "socialist" label that Sen. John McCain and his GOP presidential running mate Sarah Palin are trying to attach to Sen. Barack Obama actually has long and very ugly historical roots.
McCain and Palin have simply reached back in history to use an old code word for black. It set whites apart from those deemed unAmerican and those who could not be trusted during the communism scare.

Shame on McCain and Palin.

What a marooon!

I wonder if we could get these race baiting clowns to give us a complete list of forbidden words. It might be worth it IF we could get them to agree not to add any more words to the list the next time they feel they are losing an argument or an election.

Don't take yourself or your job too serious.

I admire a good work ethic as much as the next guy, but there is such a thing as taking your job and your contributions too seriously. Here is a classic case in point:

In June, Washington Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden went in for a routine checkup and asked his doctor about what looked like an ingrown hair on his forehead. It sometimes bled, but Bowden didn't think much of it. The doctor, though, felt greater concern and decided to do a biopsy. "When the biopsy came back," Bowden said yesterday, "it wasn't the good kind."

That's how Bowden learned he had squamous cell carcinoma -- a type of skin cancer for which doctors recommended surgery within a month. Unwilling to abandon his job, even for a week, Bowden ignored the advice. He spent the second half of the season working as usual, and worrying in private about the growth on his forehead -- and whether it was spreading.

Immediately after the season, Bowden had the cancer removed in a five-hour procedure

I'm not a doctor (don't even play one on TV), but even I know the rule of thumb on surviving cancer. It's all about early detection and early treatment.

You may be asking "what is the essential job Bowden couldn't leave in the hands of a subordinate for a short while?" He is the general manager of a baseball team, the Washington Nationals. Good thing he didn't take time off or they might not have managed the worst record in baseball. Actually, it doesn't matter what their record was since even if they were a contending team he should have dealt with his cancer. Part of any manager's job is to ensure your assistant is ready to fill your shoes if something happens. Anyone can get hit by a bus or by lightning. No one is indispensable.

Gene Hickerson - Rest in Peace

National Football League Hall of Famer, Gene Hickerson long time guard for the Cleveland Browns died this morning. Hickerson was one of the best guards of all time and opened big holes for great running backs Jim Brown and Leroy Kelly to run through on their way to the Hall of Fame. Even though he was a six time Pro-Bowler and was named to the NFL's Team of the Decade for the 1960's, Hickerson had to wait until 2007 to be selected for induction to the Hall of Fame. Sadly, by the time that honor was bestowed upon him he was no longer able to enjoy it as he was suffering from Alzheimers.

Rest in Peace number 66.

We can officially stop taking Colin Powell seriously

This morning on NBC's Meet the Press, former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell announced his endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for president in next months election. That's perfectly fine, it is his right to endorse anyone he chooses. My problem is with his ridiculous explanation of his poor choice. Powell incredulously claimed his support for Obama was not based on race. Bear in mind, for the last few decades Powell has claimed to be a Republican out of political expediency and was advanced in a large part because of the sponsorship of Republican administrations to which he ingratiated himself. Powell went on to say he partly based his decision out of fear that McCain would name conservatives to the Supreme Court. So, Powell has been a Republican since the early 1970's and he is just now figuring out that Republicans or conservatives are likely to nominate justices who will read and follow the U.S. Constitution??? You'd think with any sort of clue he'd have noticed that before. Bottom line: Either he is a Republican as he has claimed and he is now supporting a neophyte Democrat solely because of race or he was never really a Republican or conservative but just played on on TV to advance his career. Regardless, coupling this with his dishonorable actions in the Plame Affair shows he is clearly someone not to be taken seriously or trusted.

Gov. Palin visits West Chester

Gov. Sarah Palin visited our little township of West Chester, Ohio today. A great time was had by the audience. To warm up the crowd the Bellamy Brothers played a number of their old hits. They were followed by the marching band from Lakota West High School. Lakota West's band is nationally renowned having played in the Rose Bowl Parade earlier this year. Then the speeches started. The Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds went first and it was quite apparent that he understand Gov. Palin's popularity as he attempted to portray himself as a reformer in the same mold as the governor. I'd give him a "C" grade. He likely has never addressed a crowd this size before and stumbled early saying "I was borned in . . . " Reynolds was followed by Rep. John Boehner who did a much better job firing up the crowd. Regardless of how well Boehner did there was only one person that this crowd was there to see - Gov. Sarah Palin. I don't like identity politics, but the women in the crowd were highly energized and enthusiastic. Palin did not disappoint she hit the key themes of the McCain campaign and the crowd ate it up.

This rally was very important for the McCain/Palin campaign. To win Ohio they need a very strong turnout in Butler County. In 2004 President Bush won Ohio by 117,000 votes with over 50,000 of that victory coming from Butler County alone. High turnout is a reflection of enthusiasm levels and Palin equals conservative enthusiasm. What I think people like about her is she is unabashedly conservative. Far too many Republicans with excessive time in D.C. seem to temper their views in order to avoid being left off party lists. Outside of D.C. we don't like that, we want people who are confident enough in their positions that they can defend them passionately.

BREAKING NEWS: Ohio Secretary of State Appeals to U.S. Supreme Court

This morning we learn that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is appealing to the United States Supreme Court a lower court order directing her office to ensure voter registrations are valid before the election. In other words she was told to do her job and she doesn't wanna. Ridiculous. I'll make it easy for her. Throw out any registration submitted by ACORN or any other source except the voter themselves. If a person is too lazy or too stupid to register themselves then they are not likely to make good decisions in the voting booth.

Separately, this whole situation is easily fixed. We want voting limited to residents of a precinct who are United States citizens. We don't want people voting in multiple cities or states. Okay, no problem. In the computer age it is relatively easy to cross reference registrations in a national data base using social security numbers. If a social security number is used to register in Florida and also used to request an absentee ballot in New York it should be obvious that there is a problem. After the 2004 election there 20,000 or so people found to be registered in both states. Some are likely people who just didn't notify the election board before moving, but not all. Bottom line: The way our elections are being gamed does not give me much confidence in a fair and honest outcome.

Fr. Andrew Greeley Should be Defrocked

While I'm a defender of priests in general and deplore how because of the misbehavior of a few deviants all priests are mocked by late night comedians as pedophiles. Having said that, here is an example of a priest I can not defend. In the Chicago Sun-Times, Fr. Andrew Greeley writes a regular column. His most recent column makes indefensible and unfounded claims of racism against Gov. Palin and Sen. McCain.

McCain increasingly acts like an angry, befuddled cancer survivor and treats his rival like a field n----- who is just barely human. He does not talk to him, will not shake hands with him, will not even look at him,

Beyond disgusting. As bad as the ugly nature of the accusation is the dishonesty of Greeley in his description of Sen. McCain towards his opponent Sen. Obama. This creep is supposed to be a Catholic priest and here he is giving false witness against his fellow man. Millions of Americans have seen Sen. McCain shake Sen. Obama's hand before each debate and then proceed to treat him with respect. Greeley's behavior is every bit as embarrassing to the church as any of the other scandals. Some could argue his is worse in that while the others committed evil in private he deliberately committed his in a public forum. I'm not one to argue the degree of sins. I'll just say Greeley needs to reassess his hateful ways before he can be respected as a Catholic priest again.

BROWNS thump defending champs

Okay, now who saw that one coming? Wow! The Browns have looked awful this year and entered tonight's game with a 1-3 record and one of their best players (Kellen Winslow) sidelined with an illness. The New Jersey Giants entered tonight's game with a 4-0 record and a reputation as one of the best teams in football. So, what happens? The Browns commit 10 penalties and still manage to beat the Giants by three touchdowns. The Browns quarterback Derek Anderson, who was thought to be in danger of losing his job to fan favorite Brady Quinn, has a very good game throwing for two touchdowns and over 300 yards.

Good show Browns! Let's see ya keep it going.

BREAKING NEWS: Iran claims US plane violated airspace, forces it to land

Not much info on this story yet. Could be a false claim, but this one sounds valid. If true, keep the crew of the plane in your prayers.


Side note: I'm a little ashamed to admit that my first thought was "I wonder if it was a Navy plane." My only concern should be that the plane was one of ours. However, after a couple decades in the Navy old habits die hard.

UPDATE: Now the Iranian are updating the story to be a Hungarian plane.