Granted, he says that it’s still way too early to know for sure. Typically, front runners have to announce their decision in the October before the midterm elections in order to secure any support… actually, that’s just what happened last year. So let’s forget about that.

According to the Associated Press, Huckabee says that among the factors he must consider are the results of the mid-term elections, his self-perceived ability to unite the Republican Party under his banner, and finally the status of his talk show on the FoxTabloid Channel.

So as we always do, let’s read in between the lines. (Isn’t it nice having a trained intelligence analyst to do this for you?) First and foremost, Huckabee says that he’s leaning against a 2012 run for the White House. That means that of the three stated factors that will influence Huckabee’s decision, the overall expectation is slightly negative. Pretty straight forward, right?

Let’s figure out why it’s negative.

Factor 1: The results of the mid-term elections.
For the love of God, the Republican Party REALLY needs some wins to hang its hat on. When we look back at the direction our country is heading, these mid-term elections will probably be in the top three most important in our lifetimes (at least as conservatives). If we are able to delay the socialized health care bill until March or April (not unreasonable), the odds are that Democratic leaders will drop it in order to minimize the damage it will do to their majorities in Congress. The only way to kill it then is to win the majority back in either the House or the Senate (we only need one), which I think is very likely unless there’s a catastrophic melt-down in Republican Party unity or leadership. Quite frankly, we NEED to win in 2010 in order to keep the far left agenda of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama in check.

So this bodes well for Huckabee, right? Yes and no. The results of the mid-term elections will affect Huckabee’s decision in three ways. First, it will determine what kind of momentum the conservative movement has and what kinds of conservatives are playing well where (I’m not sure if Huckabee has the research power to determine the latter point, but it’s important nevertheless). Second, Huckabee will need his HuckPAC endorsed candidates to shift the face of the establishment a bit more in his favor so he can build support where it killed him in 2007 and 2008. And finally, those candidates who win will have to owe Huckabee more than they owe other Presidential contenders.

This final way is why there are a lot of volunteers in HuckPAC both raving mad and sick with worry about the failure of Huckabee to do any serious fundraising for the PAC itself while he’s gallivanting on book tours. After all, if Candidate X gets $1,000 from HuckPAC and $5,000 from SarahPAC, Candidate X is going to be more indebted to Palin than Huckabee. The defense HuckPAC and advocates usually offer is that Huckabee often does fundraisers for candidates directly and that the phone calls made by HuckPAC volunteers make up for the lack of money HuckPAC is able to offer to campaigns. What they fail to mention is that Huckabee usually charges an arm and a leg to do these fundraisers (tens of thousands of dollars unless you endorsed him in the primary). Additionally, while the phone banks are certainly nice, campaigns usually prefer cash. Cash is a very fungible asset… in other words, it can be used to make phone calls just as easily as it can be used to make yard signs, do opposition research, or host a campaign rally or fundraiser. Phone calls from New York or California to Virginia?

Not quite so fungible.

If Huckabee wants to run in 2012, he needs to endorse candidates with the accuracy of a laser. They have to be able to win both the primary and general election for important offices, but at the same time be obscure enough that nobody else running thinks to endorse them. That’s quite the chore, especially considering that HuckPAC supporters ignorant of this are going to be demanding HuckPAC endorse every local Republican candidate under the sun. FYI: This wouldn’t be a problem if they were able to raise money.

Factor 2: His self-perceived ability to unite the Republican Party.
Because the agenda of President Obama hasn’t been an aggressive campaign against Christianity as much as it has been to grow the size of government by epic proportions, the Christian Right isn’t going to have as much influence over 2010 and 2012 as the fiscal responsibility and libertarian wings of the Republican Party. And while the Fair Tax is certainly a positive with that group, Huckabee has proven himself too easy to attack based on his record in Arkansas. Granted, Arkansas needed a lot of the spending Huckabee did down there (mostly on schools and roads), but it’s a lot more difficult to make a 30 second ad saying, “I increased spending on schools and roads and here’s why I had to…” compared to a 30 second ad saying, “Don’t trust Huckabee, he increased spending.” Especially considering that Huckabee won’t have the money to run adds when he’s really going to need them.

With that said, the faith issue COULD be more dominant in the conservative movement after the 2010 elections. Remember, a single Republican controlled house of Congress will be able to put a screeching halt on the socialistic agenda of the President. The last time Republicans had control of the Congress, issues of the Christian Right were brought to the forefront and Democrats then slaughtered Republicans in 2006. While I don’t blame the focus on those issues for our loss in 2006, Democrats might. If they do, you can expect them to poke and prod the religious conservatives into making a stand, and that would open the path for Huckabee to at least win the nomination.

The problem with this scenario for Huckabee is that he’s going to need to know for sure what he’s doing by December at the very latest, and preferably mid-November of 2010. That doesn’t give him and his staffers a lot of time to look at what issues the new Congress is going to address and assess how that will affect the 2012 landscape for another possible Huckabee run for President.

The other part of this “unity” issue is the role of Sarah Palin and Haley Barbour. Sarah Palin has such a small and obscure record that she can pretty much declare she is whatever she wants to be and her record won’t disprove it (unlike Mitt Romney). That mixed with her more universal appeal among the far-right and her ability to fundraise makes her significantly more dangerous to Huckabee than the 2008 conservatives like Brownback. Adding to the troubles facing a Huckabee 2012 campaign are the slew of Southern Conservatives looking at a run. As much talk as there is about Southerners dominating the GOP, they were shockingly MIA in the 2008 campaign (Fred Thompson was a late dud and Jim Gilmore was Jim Gilmore). If Huckabee is going to have any success fundraising, he needs the south behind him and that’s not going to happen if one or two politicians from the region decide they want to move to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC.

In addition to being worried about divisions in the party, Palin and Southern Conservatives would threaten to divide Huckabee’s base. Unity has got to be a chief concern in the mind of Mike Huckabee and his advisers.

Factor 3: The status of Huckabee’s show on FoxNews.
Even when I was a Huckabee supporter, I wasn’t a huge fan of this show. But he has loyal followers and loyal followers make for instant ratings. But here’s the catch. If Mike Huckabee wants to run for President, he has to leave the show. The problem for Huckabee is that he’s a Republican and he likes making money for himself. That’s partially why his PAC is suffering. The guy charges conservatives tens of thousands of dollars for a speech and possible endorsement, spends his weeks selling a non-political book about Christmas, and pulling in a good amount of money from a weekend television show and short radio spots. If he runs for President, all of that stops and he, his wife, and presumably his daughter are going to be forced out of their homes in order to live out of different hotels for about two years (if he wins the nomination).

However, if Huckabee’s show is starting to bore people and ratings fall dramatically, it might not be a bad thing to end on a high note, resign, and then run for President. The problem with this scenario is that if ratings are falling, his fan base is becoming smaller and less fanatical – signaling they’ve either turned to someone else for political leadership or they have become tired or less supportive of Huckabee for any number of reasons. Either way, it’s a good high note to end your television show, but it’s kind of like jumping the shark in life. Only instead of jumping the shark, the Fonz decided to run for President on the “Cool Ticket.” Either way, both shows would be canceled before anybody reached the White House.

The other thing to consider would be Huckabee’s ability to return to the broadcasting industry after resigning from a radio and television show, running for President a second time, and losing. Ratings wouldn’t be quite as high for the Huckabee spin offs and while he could still make a ton of money speaking and selling books, I personally think that he REALLY enjoys broadcasting. Probably more than politics, which exposes him and his family to a lot of garbage nobody wants to put their family through, especially twice.

In fact, if Huckabee loses the primary this second time around, he might feel more inclined to take the Vice Presidential spot if it was offered to him. He couldn’t have accepted it in 2008 and expected to run again in 2012. Let’s say that Huckabee REALLY wants to be President a LOT more than a talk show host, which isn’t unreasonable. He runs again and loses the primary for the plethora of reasons discussed above but was offered the VP slot. If the ticket loses in 2012, Huckabee won’t be able to run for President again in 2016 because he’ll be associated with failure three times (2008 primary, 2012 primary, and 2012 general election). HOWEVER, if he didn’t accept the VP slot, he would become Alan Keyes v.2.0 – that guy who always runs but will never win. What the VP slot on the ticket offers, though, is the chance of victory (regardless of how remote it may or may not seem). If Huckabee is part of a winning ticket and the Republican President wins re-election, decides not to run, resigns, or dies – Huckabee will become the instant nominee for President in 2016 or 2020.

The problem is that I really doubt Huckabee wants to be Vice President. Nor do I think he wants to take on the attack-dog responsibilities traditionally associated with being a Vice Presidential candidate. In 2008, after Huckabee lost the primary and we were debating who John McCain should pick as his running mate, I quoted the Vice President under FDR, John Nance Garner, who said, “The Vice Presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.” I think Huckabee probably agrees with that statement and that he would much rather remain at FoxNews with a hit weekend show.

Personally, I hope he doesn’t run. I think there are going to be a lot better candidates surfacing between now an 2011 and the candidates there are in the mix, the more difficult it’s going to be for any of the conservatives among them to not only win the nomination, but unite the party and lead us to victory in 2012.

On Saturday, December 5th, I’ll be speaking at public benefit for our amazing troops at Messiah Lutheran Church in Wauconda, IL (Northwest of Chicago off US-12). During this holiday season, it’s more important than ever to remember the men and women who aren’t at home with their families because they’re fighting in a global war to keep us safe from radical extremists hellbent on destroying our way of life. The organizers have kindly asked that everyone donate $5 so that they can raise money to include Bibles in the care packages being sent to our troops. Obviously, if you want to donate more than $5, nobody is going to be offended… except maybe the ACLU. Also, please bring non-perishables for the care packages that will be put together. Our troops deserve all we can give them.

The event is being hosted by the 9/12 Patriots, and I can’t beg you enough to take time out of your busy holiday schedules to join us as we honor, support, and remember our men and women in uniform. The event is scheduled to run from 6:30 to 9:00pm on Saturday night.

The speaking roster includes:
Sheila Weinberg (Founder of Truth in Accounting)
Myself (on supporting our troops)
Pastor Rick Valkanet (God & the Direction our Nation)
Laszlo Kulcsar (on being born in a Communist society)

Additionally, patriotic music is going to be performed by Solid-Aire.

You can find more information at the Meetup page. Or you can simply view the PDF flier the 9/12 Patriots made to advertise the event.

From what I’ve been told, Messiah Lutheran can hold over 340 people, so let’s try to pack the place! I’m bringing my dad and Travis and his family are going to try to make it out as well. Plus, you know we’ll be trying to get as many people as we know to come out for this thing too. Seriously, if we could reach 340 people and they each donated $5, we could easily raise $1,700 for our troops, and that doesn’t include the non-perishables that people will bring. So put it on your calender, put sticky notes all over the place, and tell everybody you know that we’re gathering to support the most important cause in the country this Christmas season.

Messiah Lutheran Church
December 5, 2009 – 6:30 to 9pm
25225 W. Ivanhoe Road
Wauconda, IL 60084

I’m not about to criticize the President for bowing to the Emperor of Japan, and while the handshake and bow combination performed simultaneously isn’t uncommon, it’s not exactly “right” according to protocol (it was NOT offensive, just weird). In addition to that, the State Department and Japanese Foreign Ministry were on completely different schedules during the 23-hour stay our President had in that country… and it wasn’t just the sleeping schedule that was off. The President was actually left waiting in his car for over five minutes before he could be greeted and the conduct of our diplomats traveling with the President has been questioned by Japanese media outlets. While the Japanese Foreign Ministry deserves some of the blame for that, so does our State Department.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time there have been mess ups regarding Obama appointees in the department of diplomacy. You’ll recall the mistranslation of the “Reset” button that Secretary of State Clinton handed to her counterpart in the Russian Federation (ironically, the word printed in Latin letters was “Overload”). Earlier this year in London, the First Lady put her hand on the back of Queen Elizabeth II of England, causing quite a sensation. And it wasn’t until late May that the Obama Administration was able to find somebody to be the Ambassador to the Holy See who wasn’t flat out rejected by the Vatican for being pro-abortion. (Miguel H. Díaz was finally approved, but he lacked the experience the Vatican was looking for and likely was put so low on the list because he only donated $1,000 to Obama’s campaign instead of the FEC maximum of $4,600 for he and his wife).

I’m not going to question or insult President Obama, the First Lady, or Secretary of State Clinton about their actions. Like President Bush in the lead up to the Iraq War, I believe they were given bad information (or even no information). What I am going to question are the hiring practices of the Obama administration when it comes to diplomats and State Department staffers. In just 10 months, the current Administration has had so many breeches of protocol and gaffes that it’s becoming painfully obvious that it’s more than just a coincidence.

As proven with Ambassador Díaz, the Obama Administration went out of its way to make sure that all spots, regardless of their importance, were filled with political appointees rather than the most qualified candidates for those positions. If you’re a conservative looking to attack the President on matters of foreign policy, this is the one spot where you’re going to find a lot of traction. And what’s more: I’ll finally back you up on it.

Gaffes are bound to happen when you have so many personalities of countless cultures and backgrounds all on the same stage. Thankfully, we live in a time when these mistakes are rarely blown out of proportion (with the exception of domestic political opponents of the gaffer). With that said, international relations is more important than ever in our globalized world and one would think there would be a recognition of that by the leader of the free world. While I usually agree with the President’s foreign policy, the lack of importance shown by his Administration by sub-standard hiring practices is frustrating to say the least. The President and his entire Administration should want to get this stuff right more than they want to reward the political supporters and financial backers of the Democratic Party and the Obama Presidential Campaign. Unfortunately, that’s not the current mindset of the Obama Administration.

So this is how my day after Thanksgiving has went so far. I get a call from my wife, telling her that a group of boys are in the backyard hitting my dog with a broom handle. If anybody on this site has ever seen my dog, you’ll realize how foolish this is for any young boy to do (she is half German Shepherd half Husky, big, and WILL bite if provoked). So I was left with but a couple of options. One, hide outside until they do it again and then beat them with baseball bats (as suggested by a co-worker, don’t worry, that’s not even a real option, but humorous none the less). Two, file a police report. Or three, go through the laborious process of tracking down neighborhood parents and having them address the issue.

So number three is what I’ve chosen. Right now I am waiting for the last mother to come home, and I started thinking: this is a major reason I am a conservative. When I was a child, if I went on my neighbors property with out permission, I was yelled at. If yelling didn’t work? My butt was whooped (that’s what the butt is there for was always the sentence I heard before the spanking). And you know what? I got a lot of whoopins, but I was a respectful kid. I only did the same bad thing once. Of course I could always find other bad things to do, but that’s besides the point. The point is, I think of my son Gage, who is right now only 6 months old, and while I don’t WANT to have to spank that cute little butt, the fact is that it WILL happen. Don’t get me wrong folks, I’m not condoning child abuse. But spanking your child’s butt for being a brat is NOT child abuse. 

In fact, while conservatives say that such and such will ruin our contry, and this and that will devastate our nation, I say this: unruly liberal parents will be the death of our great society. Liberal parents, who don’t watch their kids, don’t punish their kids, don’t expect better from their kids…those parents are creating monsters that feel as though they are owed something. Its already started with my generation. How many worthless people do each of you know in their early 20’s? I know at least half a dozen, maybe more, and I’m willing to bet each of you out there know at least a half a dozen as well.

Children need discipline, and children need responsible parents. So before any ultra liberals out there decide you’d like to breed, think about it long and hard. Our country is depending on your decision. 

With that said, after I talk with the last mother I’m still not sure whether or not I will file a police report. If Jasmin (my dog) bites one of those kids (and I wouldn’t blame her) and there isn’t a record of WHY she bit, she’ll be taken away and put to sleep simply for doing what is natural. What a mixed up society this is. I don’t know, what would you, dear reader, do?

When I was a kid, I watched a lot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Probably a lot more than was healthy. From that, I learned two things. Turtles have three fingers and it is a customary and traditional greeting in Japan to bow. As it would turn out, Turtles didn’t really have three fingers. HOWEVER, my observation that bowing was a normal greeting was spot on. It was reaffirmed in the classroom starting in First Grade and later at various events and observances throughout my life. Americans shake hands (which was weird to the rest of the world until the 19th and 20th century) and the Japanese bow to one another. It’s simply a fact of life.

Well, in a recent interview with Katie Couric, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee had this to say:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

“I think that, as a private citizen, for him to bow and show deference and respect is one thing, but as the president of the United States it’s not appropriate to bow to foreign leaders because he’s representing the country.”

“It was just that the whole picture of the president of the United States in that capacity, bowing, was offensive to me,” Huckabee said. “But, you know what, I could be wrong.” He later added: “I think that that was inappropriate, and I still do, no matter what the polls show.”

You know what, Governor Huckabee? YOU ARE WRONG!

First of all, our founding fathers bowed to one another and foreign leaders, representatives, dignitaries, and social guests to show respect for both them as individuals and their countries. The hand shake really wasn’t used until the early to mid-1800s until several years before the Civil War. Would Huckabee prefer that we DON’T show respect to our international allies?

Seriously, what is it about Katie Couric that causes Republicans to make utter fools of themselves? Huckabee, of course, was silent when the President bowed to Pope Benedict XVI – of course, Catholics make up a larger voting block than Japanese immigrants. Does that mean this is political? Well, either Huckabee is a hypocrite lacking ethics in his political dealings or he’s actually riding in the “Short Bus” with Sarah Palin in Iowa for his book tour.

Either way, I owe people an apology for ever supporting this guy. I thought Huckabee had more foreign policy sense than he actually has and I thought he was above idiot pandering politics. I was wrong on both counts.

This piece, which will show up in next weeks IUN Phoenix as well, was pretty fun for me. As I’m sure many of you imagine, there were some pretty…out there stories regarding the “swine flu” vaccine, and some made me physically angry (because they had no damn proof! I hate conspiracy theorists!) and others made me laugh (ok, those ones didn’t have any proof either, but they were the less dangerous theories). I hope you all enjoy this one.

 

I am a parent. A proud parent, a loving parent…and a concerned parent. Naturally, when talk of the swine flu, now known as the H1N1 virus, began to turn serious (we’re talking death here), I sat up and paid a little closer attention. The two highest groups of citizens at risk are the age ranges between 0-4 and 65+. I began to look up some information, any information, regarding this “swine flu epidemic”, and was a little taken aback by what I had initially found while browsing the web. The site that surprised me the most was the Politico, and one article in particular caught my eye. “Swine Flu Vaccine Will Kill You First” (http://politicolnews.com/n1h1-vaccine-dangerous/), the title of the piece I found very unsettling,   suggests (in what I found to be “conspiracy theory-esque” style) that drug companies are the ones pushing for this vaccine in order to make money, and not just on normal capitalistic terms, either.  The site gives reason to believe that the drug companies (is it just me, or does the term “the drug companies” itself offer reason to believe that this is a conspiracy theory?) go above and beyond just wanting to make money, and the main reason given is that the drug companies began to do research on the H1N1 virus over a year before the initial outbreak. Is there anything to this story in particular that lends any credence? None that I could find and this site was the most highly acclaimed site to offer up such stories. Sure, anybody with a computer and a blog can spread stories that terrorize Americans into believing that vaccines will make your child explode, but when I began to dig further into these sites I found broken links, 404 errors, and undocumented claims. Coincidence? Not if you examine other conspiracy theories like 9/11, “birthers”, and FEMA camps. Manipulation like this is common coming from “fringe” lunatics.   

                However, there are some very real concerns regarding “bad batches” of the vaccine for the H1N1 virus. Just today it was reported by the Associated Press that an area in Canada perhaps had one of these “bad batches”, because of a high concentration of people in an area that had severe allergic reactions to the vaccine. Although this is a very real and very scary scenario to consider when thinking about whether or not you’re six month old child will receive the vaccine, it is important to consider that America is much stricter about what drugs are administered in our country. I know, I know…as a conservative I’m supposed to hate any and all government regulations. However, in the case of groups like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC), I have to say: hats off. Very rarely are Americans subject to food or medicine poisoning, and in those rare instances the problems are usually quickly discovered and the problems are addressed. They have a great record when it comes to emergency situations.  

                This is the reason that I am subject to believe data that was sent to me via email from the Indiana Department of Health, and also data found on the CDC website (www.cdc.gov).  In fact, the two little factoids below are straight from the Indiana Department of Health’s Weekly Influenza Report for week 45 (last week).

 • During Week 45, 100% (29/29) of specimens that were positive for influenza were 2009 H1N1.

•  Since September 1, 2009, 98% (411/418) of specimens that were positive for influenza were 2009 H1N1.

                This tells me that the “swine flu” is still very real and very much something to be aware of. Is it the “end of the world”? I doubt it, and it is important to note that cases of the swine flu seem to be less prevalent, more than likely because the vaccine has been released to the general population. Is it a little disheartening to see reports of vaccine shortages? Of course, but like I said above, the FDA is very strict about methods used to create vaccines and safety is their first priority. The vaccines that are created in America take much longer than the methods used in Europe, simply because the FDA needs to further test the European method before stamping their approval on the process. Side effects are, naturally, more controlled and normal for vaccinations with very few occasions where people had allergic reactions.

 For those of you out there that would like to see what the CDC has to say about the side effects, the below is an excerpt from the web site.

“ The flu shot: The viruses in the flu shot are killed (inactivated), so you cannot get the flu from a flu shot. Some minor side effects that could occur are:

• Soreness, redness, or swelling where the shot was given
• Fever (low grade)
• Aches
• Nausea

If these problems occur, they begin soon after the shot and usually last 1 to 2 days. Almost all people who receive influenza vaccine have no serious problems from it. However, on rare occasions, flu vaccination can cause serious problems, such as severe allergic reactions. A federal program has been created to help pay for the medical care and other specific expenses of certain persons who have a serious reaction to this vaccine. For more information about this program, call 1-888-275-4772 or visit the program’s website at: http://www.hrsa.gov/countermeasurescomp/default.htm .

The nasal spray (also called LAIV): The viruses in the nasal-spray vaccine are weakened and do not cause severe symptoms often associated with influenza illness. (In clinical studies, transmission of vaccine viruses to close contacts has occurred only rarely.)

In children, side effects from LAIV can include:

• runny nose
• wheezing
• headache
• vomiting
• muscle aches
• fever”

The fact that the CDC is keeping a close eye on side effects (aka: doing their job) does help to quell that inner voice that tells me absolutely all government establishments are useless. Because, quite frankly, they’re not.  Was it stupid of Joe Biden to make a comment that he wouldn’t be riding on any public transit systems because of the “swine flu”? Absolutely. However what we have to remember is that groups like the FDA and the CDC are bureaucracies. Some leadership changes may be made from administration to administration; however the majority of the people that work in these agencies are lifetime professionals and do a damn good job. So with this all said, the question is asked: will Travis Lee Gearhart have his son vaccinated for the swine flu? Hell yes.

Back in June of 2006, HAMAS militants kidnapped an Israeli solider who had crossed into the Gaza Strip. That Sergeant’s name is Gilad Shalit and the first video and audio of him was released relatively recently to the press, showing that he’s currently in good health. Since then, it’s been confirmed that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators (from HAMAS) are currently meeting in Egypt to discuss terms for Sgt. Shalit’s release from prison.

Under the current deal being ironed out, Shalit would be released to Egyptian custody and in exchange, Israel would release approximately 450 Palestinian prisoners. Then, when Shalit was returned to Israel by Egypt, another approximate 650 Palestinian soldiers would be released. In other words, the Israeli’s would be releasing about 1,100 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one captured Israeli soldier.

Should Israel be negotiating with HAMAS? Yes. No. View Results  Loading ...

In 2004, President Bush and his political allies criticized the Philippines for negotiating with terrorists in Iraq for the release of three contractors in exchange for the withdraw of Philippine troops. I wonder how many people are going to have the gall to criticize Israel for negotiating with terrorists. After all, Israel is touted as an ally in the War on Terrorism, and yet here they are on the verge of surrendering over 10% of all the Palestinian prisoners currently in Israeli custody in exchange for one soldier – is that how our allies in the Global War on Terrorism are expected to conduct themselves?

Well, it may not be so cut and dry. While HAMAS’s leaders drew up this massive list of names, the deal hasn’t been formalized yet because Israel claims that about 70 of the 1,100 do not meet the criteria for release. In other words, 70 out of the 1,100 are considered too dangerous to release back into the Palestinian Territories. The converse of that then leads us to believe that the other 1,030 of the 1,100 imprisoned Palestinians shouldn’t be in an Israeli prison any more than Sergeant Gilad Shalit should be held by HAMAS militants.

HAMAS negotiators and leaders are currently debating whether or not to settle for the 1,030 prisoners Israel is already willing to agree to. I don’t know who the other 70 prisoners are or what their crimes were, but it seems difficult to believe that HAMAS wouldn’t be willing to give in to a prisoner swap with a ratio that was over 1,000 to 1 in their favor. I realize that HAMAS – like most terrorist groups and Democrats – can be pretty unreasonable. But as unreasonable as they can be, they know a good deal when they see one.

I predict that they’re going to continue pressuring the Israelis to add at least some of the 70 controversial names to the release list, but they’ll be willing to take whatever they can get before Eid al-Adha, a Muslim festival that will occur at the end of November. With that said, I don’t know the 70 names being debated right now. If these are insanely important, high-level HAMAS leaders and this is their only shot at busting them out of prison, the negotiations could last well into 2010.

There’s an interesting but anonymous post on a local political blog here in NW Indiana that discusses state and regional issues. In this particular post, the writer, who only identifies himself as “Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs,” makes the case for the Indiana Republican Party to ban the Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC). Not being a member of the RLC, I’m only able to judge the collective based on publicly available information and their behavior (which has been an issue in county politics).

As the name implies, the RLC is pretty much the Ron Paul faction of the Republican Party. At first, it seemed like they might be a very helpful organization for keeping our party on message, but as many like “OZPINHEAD” are pointing out, the RLC’s tactics have been pretty damaging to the conservative movement here in Northwest Indiana and other parts of the country. In fact, the Florida GOP is already in the process of ridding the ranks within the state party of RLC members – which is a very drastic and controversial step.

Now, OZPINHEAD obviously has something against the local Tea Party Patriots group, probably because many of its members helped the RLC crash a county GOP meeting last month while leaving Democrats unscathed. I wasn’t at the meeting, so I don’t know for sure what happened, but I’m giving the Tea Party Patriots the benefit of the doubt here and assuming he’s just playing guilt by association to the extreme. Plus, I may be a little bit bias. Half of the videos of my public speeches on this website came from events hosted by that group and I’ve participated in several more activities than that.

Likewise, I’m not quite ready to go all out and call for the “Hoosier Purge of the RLC.” In fact, I actually like a lot of the things the RLC is fighting for and I know of a handful of good candidates who stand to get RLC backing in the upcoming elections. I still see the RLC as a potential power for good… using that potential and having that potential, however, are two very different things.

Thus, I have two questions to ask you:

1. Does the behavior of the RLC in your state reflect positively or negatively on them?

2. What, if anything, has your state Republican Party done to keep the RLC in check?

Should your State Republican Party ban RLC members from holding party offices and positions? Yes. They're obnoxious and destructive. No. They're a needed voice in the GOP. View Results  Loading ...

I know I’m probably going to get a lot of first time commenters about this post, which I don’t mind. But please understand that I have to manually approve all first time comments and I’m not going to tolerate SPAM or obnoxious behavior. I pay for this website out of pocket and it’s my right to limit your freedom of speech in the comments section if you’re becoming an obstruction to a constructive conversation.

Check out this SPAM message I got.

To: Kevin Tracy

From:
Chris Hepburn
chris@chrishepburn.com

Message:
I will try and be brief an evil woman by the name of Elizabeth Gracen stole millions from charity.
Gracen first shared a bed with that scumbag Bill Clinton to obtain a Miss Arkansas crown
(That is well documented elsewhere)
Gracen is still sharing a bed with Clinton now and he protects it from prosecution.
I am so very ill all that stops me from ending my life is a dream of seeing Gracen go to jail.
Everything is explained on my website www.chrishepburn.com
I rant and rave I am not well I spent 2 years crying myself asleep under bridges in Paris as Gracen took everything I haf and left me to die on the streets of Paris .

If anybody has the nerve to go to that website address, please tell me what’s there… unless you get a gazillion viruses, in which case I already know.

But here’s my question. If some idiot from Nigeria who can’t spell “have” correctly knows I’m a Republican, why are there still people who doubt that fact? Another question: how stupid are those people who doubt I’m a Republican when this “Chris Hepburn” from Paris, Nigeria can figure this out and they can’t?

Ladies and Gentlemen, I stand before you and declare that I am as honest of a Republican as you will find. When my party is wrong, you already know that I’ll speak out – but most of the time when I speak out, it’s because my party isn’t behaving like my party or people in my party aren’t behaving like people in my party. I’ve made many sacrifices for the GOP over the past decade and I’ve asked for nothing in return except responsible party leadership with strong, conservative ideas that respect everyone’s god given rights and the rule of law.

So for those of you doubters out there, pay attention. “Chris Hepburn” actually knows what he’s talking about, even if every word of his SPAM e-mail is a load of crap. I’m a Republican.

“Obama’s outreach here continued the type of pragmatic bridge-building he has used in Europe and the Middle East in hopes of earning goodwill that will produce payoffs down the road.

In China, though, the challenge is of a different magnitude. The Chinese government is America’s biggest foreign creditor, with $800 billion of federal U.S. debt that gives it extraordinary power in the relationship. Its military buildup is rubbing up against America’s influence in Asia. And Beijing feels the global recession, sparked by U.S. financial industry excesses, vindicates its authoritarian leadership.”-Associated Press line.

What was troubling about President Obamas trip to China was that while many other Presidents show up and are greeted with the release of a dissident or a trade concession as a show of gratitude and a way to “break the ice”, so to speak, Obama walked away with neither. In fact, just recently, China has talked of boycotting foreign made vehicles (which in China means American) because of Americas use of trade embargo’s against Chinese pipe. Of course those at the steel mill celebrated this and were happy China wasn’t “dumping” pipe onto our shores, but how much business is actually gained if whole countries don’t buy our cars (not that I blame them in this instance)? Just another instance where free trade is shown to prevail, and another instance where our embargo’s will ultimately hurt ourselves more than China. But regardless, the point of this isn’t about free trade, but about our relations with China. 

Of course I’m not strictly blaming this all on Obama. Trade protectionism has become far too common in our country, and he’s just following suite.

However, a quote from Xue Chen, a researcher on strategic affairs at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, sums up the trip fairly well: “The U.S. has a lot to ask from China…on the other hand, the U.S. has little to offer China.” Naturally Chinese people were enthused by Obamas pragmatism, as many in America also are, and just as naturally the Chinese government censored a nationwide broadcast and censored Web transcripts of a town hall-style meeting he held with Chinese students in Shanghai.

China is yet another reason why America needs to pull it’s collective head out of it’s arse and start back down the path of economic growth. Chinese leaders aren’t stupid, and they see that they are beginning to emerge as the new super power. We send the most popular President in over a decade over to China, and what do we receive? No concessions on trade, no straight answers on anything (especially global emissions standards, kudos to China on that one), and if we were lucky a t-shirt reading “I went to China and all I got was this t-shirt and lead poisoning.” Let me reiterate my statement above: this isn’t Obamas fault, my friends. It wouldn’t have mattered if that was McCain or Palin or Huckabee or Paul or Romney or Bush or Reagan over there right now. They are holding pocket aces, and we have seven three off suite, and our hands are both showing right now. We can’t bluff it. We have to make some serious economic changes and beat them at the money game. Period.