Simple Man Politics

Welcome back to Simple Man Politics my friends I know it has been a while since I have written anything and I am sorry. However life has a habit of getting in the way sometimes and you have to take care of business so you can do what you like to do. That has definitely been true in my case recently, but I am well on my way to a full political rant recovery, so please bear with me.

Today I am going to write a little bit about a guy I have been listening to for quite a while on the radio and who has recently gotten himself his own show on Fox News. The guy I am talking about is none other than The Stormin Mormon Glenn Beck. To say the least this guy is a human lightning rod and fireplug that seems to thrive on political controversy, and I think both political parties are scared of him, but the left most of all.

However the thing I would like to talk about today is an interview that he gave to Katie Couric recently. In this interview he discusses the 2008 Presidential Election and makes a startling public statement that I think really floored the Republican Party as well as the Democratic Party. He not only said that he would not have voted for Obama, but that he may have even supported Hillary Clinton over John McCain.

Now I will tell you that I was really surprised by this statement, but after hearing his explanation I understand why he said what he did. Yes Glenn Beck does agree with John McCain on foreign policy and national defense issues, but he seriously disagrees with McCain on some domestic policies. The most notable of these domestic policy issues are John McCain’s support of Cap and Trade, Amnesty for Illegal’s, and Campaign Finance Reform.

What Beck basically says is that we as a nation would be no better off and maybe even worse off with McCain than with Obama. He cites that with McCain supporting those domestic policies that our economy would be in just as bad a shape and that there would more than likely have been no opposition from conservative independents or Republicans. I think that Mr. Beck may be right about this.

While I am a conservative who had voted for John McCain in 2008 I am also an independent voter with no party affiliation. With hindsight being 20/20 I have to agree that John McCain would quite possibly have been a bad choice for America to make. Unfortunately I am not a great fan of Hillary Clinton either and I would have had a hard time to vote for her even though she is a hawk on defense and foreign policy as am I.

For now though it appears that Glenn Beck has the spotlight, the soapbox, and the microphone. He also has his own organization known as the 9/12 project, which is designed with getting the grass roots conservative movement motivated. While I don’t support all of Becks views I have to agree with him that we need to strictly adhere to our nation’s constitution if we are to get out of this economic mess and remain strong as well.

I for one will be keeping an eye on Glenn Beck to see if he winds up being just like all of the other media personalities out there who are floating their own agendas and telling the American people a bunch of lies. For now though it seems to appear that we are safe from this where he is concerned. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and I will be back again soon my friends, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

I know I haven’t really tackled this issue on its own and I have only addressed it generally when discussing Obama’s other plans, but today I am going to address this issue as its own subject on Simple Man Politics. The reason being that it is about to go to the senate and ultimately get voted on very soon, and that's healthcare.

I will tell you that most of the people I know are very much against this idea. However there are a couple of people whose opinions I highly value who have so far said nothing to me about it and they are medical professionals as well. Since one of these individuals is also an Obama supporter I am very curious about that opinion in particular.

Healthcare was a topic that was touched upon by both John McCain and Barack Obama during their campaigns to get into the White House. John McCain had the idea of taxing people’s health benefits as part of his healthcare plan. Barack Obama said that healthcare was an important issue for him, but gave no indications to how he would deal with it.

Of course now President Obama has presented his version of a healthcare plan to both houses of congress for approval and passage. Just like all of his other programs, it requires enlarging government and trillions of American tax payer dollars. It also appears to have been built on a model similar to that of our Canadian brother’s healthcare plan.

Considering the fact that the Canadian healthcare system has proven to be an abject failure I find it hard to believe that our government will go in that direction. The horror stories that have come out of Canada about long waits, lack of treatment, lack of healthcare professionals, and bureaucratic red tape I cringe at the prospect.

As usual the White House and congress are looking at how they are going to pay for this cumbersome and unwieldy monstrosity they call their healthcare plan, and have decided to once again tax the wealthy to pay for it. The reason being is that the wealthy can afford it and should pay for everyone who doesn’t have insurance rather they can afford it or not.

There are also congress persons who believe that you should be forced to either pay for your own healthcare plan or take the nationalized plan and if you don’t then be fined and they want a provision that forces all hospitals to perform abortions. Obama himself wants total control over how much Medicare will reimburse hospitals and healthcare providers.

Organizations including the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) and the GAO (Governmental Accounting Office) have said that there will be no financial relief for the American tax payer in this plan just more of an already unrecoverable tax burden. They also state that this will drive many healthcare providers into bankruptcy.

Scott Rasmussen of Rasmussen Reports a pollster is the latest in his profession to come out with the latest polling data and a new poll that shows that the vast majority of Americans are against the Obama plan. Data has also been introduced that shows Obama and Democratic Party approval ratings continue to slide with this issue.

Here are a couple more interesting tidbits of information for you all. Apparently when it is all said and done only about 10% of uninsured Americans will wind up with healthcare. Oh yeah and 12 million illegal immigrants will get healthcare too and we will have to pay for them also.

I don’t know what you all have done about this yourselves, but I have emailed both of my Senators and all of Arizona’s congresspersons telling them to vote no for this bill or I will vote no for them in their next elections. I do agree that healthcare is an important issue, but I do not agree that this particular plan will address and solve the problem.

That is all we have for you today here at Simple Man Politics, but we will be back again soon with more of what is important in the world of politics. Have a marvelous day my friends and CIAO4NOW!!!!!

I’m here to tell you that we have an awesome Commander in Chief…..NOT!!!!!! I was watching Special Report with Bret Baier on Fox News Friday night and I heard one of the most ridiculous things about President Obama that I have heard so far. Our fearless leader and Commander in Chief wants our veterans who have suffered service injuries while fighting overseas to pay for their medical care with private insurance. I swear can you even think of a more compassionate plan for our service people than that one, Obama must really care about those he commands, MY BUTT!!!!!

This is the guy who wants to nationalize healthcare so that everyone has medical insurance, because it is good for the people. Of course I guess our military personnel are not the equal of the entitlement mentality types who believe that the government owes them everything from medical insurance and money to god forbid maybe even work. That is if you can get their lazy asses to put down their pot and get up from in front of their cartoons long enough to even work part time.

Oh wait a minute I know why the entitlement crowd deserves everything and our military personnel don’t even deserve medical benefits, it is because the entitlement types voted for Obama while most of the military voted for McCain. Well hell if Obama is going to try to pay off the unions with card check, environmentalists with global warming policies that promote the lie, then why not try to payoff the welfare crowd for their votes as well.

Our men and women in uniform have no choice but to do as they are ordered to do. It doesn’t matter that they may not agree with our nation’s policies regarding national security and defense, but they do it anyway because that is the job they volunteered for. They go out all over the world to fight and sometimes die for this nation and when they are injured the man that is ultimately responsible for putting them in harms way wants to deny them the medical care that they deserve.

I don’t know about all of you, but this really pisses me off. Obama telling these fine men and women that they need to purchase private insurance to care for the wounds they received in battle for this nation is a big sign of disrespect to them and is a badge of dishonor that our President has earned and should have to wear if this travesty comes to pass.

That is all for now but I am sure that there will be more there always is. Have a great day and I will see you all again soon, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

P.S. Check out these links.


http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/03/vets.health.care/
http://blog.beliefnet.com/reformedchicksblabbing/2009/03/obama-adminstration-considerin.html
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61312
http://washingtonindependent.com/33332/what-would-the-obama-administration-want-to-make-vets-buy-private-insurance-for-their-health-care

Hello to all the readers of SimpleManPolitics. As requested by Tim, your fearless blogger, I'll be posting from time to time here to give him a break as he starts his other blog. I'm honored to have the opportunity to contribute, and I look forward to hearing back from all the readers, whether you agree or disagree with me.

Today as I was doing my customary research, I came across an interesting article at Townhall.com by Congressman Thomas Price. Essentially Price felt he had an idea of what was wrong with the Republican Party, and went on to give a list of things he felt needed to be changed. However, his list was so vague that there was no substance to it at all. Typical political BS if you ask me.

What really got my attention though was the many comments left in reply to his writing - all from angry conservatives unhappy with the Republican Party. You see, the theme that many Republicans seen to be singing lately is the theme of becoming moderate, moving to the left, and making change. Well, the conservatives aren't happy about this.

Many conservatives are leaving the party and some find themselves only voting Republican because they feel the Republican choice is the lesser of two evils. You'll probably be shocked to find out that studies show 1 out of 5 "self proclaimed" conservatives actually voted for Obama. They hated John McCain that much that they'd vote for a leftist Democrat - Barack Obama. Now that's scary and a sad place for the Republican Party to be.

Simply take a look at the past 10 years in the Republican Party. It's no longer so conservative. The party continues to move towards the left. Too many Republican senators and representatives vote based on popularity and concerns of re-election instead of voting based on the principals that the Republican Party stands for. Those who are truly concerned about the people of America will not be as worried about re-election as they are doing what is right for the people.

The Republican Party didn't lose the last election because of the Democrats - they lost because of their own party. People no longer have a reason to vote Republican. Conservatives are no longer happy with the platforms that Republican leaders are running on. When you have "centrists" like John McCain running with a staunch conservative like Sarah Palin, it just doesn't work out. The people didn't trust John McCain because he wasn't a staunch conservative. This was the disaster that lost an election to the most liberal politician in Washington - Obama.

Listen up Republican leaders. It's time to actually walk the walk. You can claim to be Republicans, but look at the decisions you make. Right now there are republicans in Congress blindly following along with the crowd. Take a look at Orin Hatch, who decided to confirm Geithner in spite of the tax fraud say that he was "qualified" for the job.

Now, you may be wondering why I, a Republican, am writing negatively about the Republican Party. Well, that's because I call it like I see it folks. I'm not blind. I see the problems in the party. Who knows, if it doesn't change, I may be out there finding a new party myself. There are many conservatives out there looking for a new party that is "truly" conservative. There are actually some choices out there, such as the American First Party, which is beginning to grow.

Now I don't have all the answers here, but I can definitely see when a party is dying. Unless true conservatism is truly held up once again in the Republican Party, I believe it will die. Perhaps Michael Steele, the new Chairman of the party will make a difference. We can only wait and see. Until then though, Republican leaders better walk carefully. There's a mob of angry conservatives out there.

Well my friends it is finally over and I must say that I am not surprised at the results. After almost two years of campaigning for Barack Obama, and more than a year for John McCain the American people have spoken and Barack Obama is now the President elect of the United States of America. Barring any dramatic change in the final tally of votes in this election the result is likely to stay the same. I don’t personally believe that there will be a significant change in the final tally of votes either. All I have to say is nice try John and way to go Barack. Having just said that there are a few things I feel I should say to all of you.

The first thing I want to tell all of you is that I am not happy with the outcome of this election. I think there are a lot of things that John McCain could have and should have done differently in his campaign. The most important thing I think he could have done was not to support the bailout bill. That potential debt placed upon the next two or three generations of Americans is unwarranted and dangerous to their financial security as tax payers. Proposing to buy up mortgages good and bad renegotiate them for the homeowner and then absorb the debt created from buying high and selling low is wrong to.

Another thing I believe that John McCain should have done differently was to go after Obama’s associations more aggressively. Since this race started I still have not heard any satisfactory answers in this regard. I believe that most of Obama’s associations were indeed with very radical and criminal people. I really wanted to know more about Ayers, Wright, Khalidi, Rezco, Johnson, Raines, and ACORN. Anyone who tells me that these people have had no direct influence on Obama’s political and belief systems is very naïve.

I think that McCain could have hit back a little harder with Barack’s spread the wealth agenda to. It is definitely un-American to take from someone who has earned and give it to someone who has not. I don’t care what anyone says this is the pathway back to a welfare state. As for the scam that 95%of people would get a tax break that is a lie to. Approximately 40% of those people Barack is talking about do not even pay taxes so how can they get a tax break that is better than zero taxes. I think McCain had some very good ammunition when on the topic of taxes and the economy.

One other note with regard to the election results from last night. It appears that all of the lowlifes that I had mentioned in one of my blogs last week have been reelected. It just amazes me that people are willing to settle for less than savory individuals they are used to over people who are not, and with the same mind vote for a candidate that says he represents change.

I have been asked if I am going to discontinue this blog after the Presidential election, I am not going to. Politics and the consequences of politics do not end with the election of a new President. There still has to be someone out here in the real world who is willing to watch these people and tell you the truth about what is really going on, and in this case it is going to be me. Then again I wouldn’t have it any other way. I hope you will put behind you your disappointment or enjoy your victory if that is what it is for you and then stand together and support your country. Remember my friends united we stand and divided we fall.

As for those I think should have lost but didn’t. People like John Murtha, Barney frank, Ted Stevens, and Barack Obama I say to you enjoy your victories tonight. But remember one thing I will be out here and I will be watching you and if you screw up I am going to get you because the keyboard is mightier that the sword.

Have a wonderful Wednesday and I will see you all on Friday CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Here we are folks it’s the last day before the most important election that I can remember in my lifetime. I have been watching all of the coverage that I can on the Presidential election and on the house and senate races to. I have been doing that this weekend instead of spending all my time with my family, although I must tell you that my significant other is politically motivated also. Fortunately the one thing we don’t have to do is vote because we already voted by absentee ballot in the battleground state of Florida. The reason I have been watching, listening, and reading all of the stuff that I can on the elections is so that I can give all of you an accurate representation of what is happening in the races. There are a few things that I have found out in the last few days that make me feel like I made the right decision with my vote, and I voted for John McCain.

I found out that Barack Obama is really a redistributionist. He believes in it so fervently that he would have the US Supreme Court pursue that agenda aggressively and would appoint Supreme Court Justices that would promote that ideal from the bench. He would put these Justices in there and have them interpret redistribution as if it were the law of the land. In other words legislate from the bench. He would further strengthen these Justices position by an amendment to the US constitution.

Another thing I found out about Barack Obama’s position has to do with the coal industry. I found out that he would go out of his way to bankrupt the coal industry. He said that in his own words in an interview with a prominent San Francisco newspaper. In the same interview he also said that unfortunately our electric bills would go way up. He said this in this interview as if it doesn’t really matter to him one bit. He even went on further in the interview to say that although the industry would try to build more coal powered plants that the very effort by these companies to do so would destroy them financially, so much for creating more jobs. If I lived in Pennsylvania or Ohio or any state where industry relies on coal power technology I would be wary of this guy as President.

This week I have heard from Obama’s surrogates that his idea of wealthy has gone down from 250 thousand dollars a year to 150 thousand dollars a year and only those making less will get a tax break. With this knowledge I find it hard to believe that 95% of the middle class will get the tax break. As far as that number goes it isn’t true anyway because over 40% of those people classified as middle class pay no taxes anyway after they take the child tax credit and other tax credits that are out there. This is all part of Obama’s redistributionist policy because it isn’t a tax break he wants to give us it is a check from the government where the funds are supplied by those who earned the money he wants to take. Another reason for this is so that he can basically pay reparations to the black American community for past wrongs visited upon them by the US. As if their own people aren’t the ones responsible for slavery in the first place.

I will be honest with you John McCain was not my first choice for President. I really wanted Mike Huckabee to win the Republican Party nomination. The two things that helped me decide to support John McCain was the fact that I didn’t know much if anything about Barack Obama and what I did know I didn’t agree with and the other was John McCain’s choice for his VP running mate Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin and her family are the very middle class people that this election is supposed to be about. How many other moms out there can relate to her? She is a successful business owner as well as a successful politician. She has raised her children and still is raising them even with running businesses, towns, a state, and now running for Vice President. She is an awesome person.

The last thing I want to mention here is the subject of polls. I know all the polls out there say that Barack Obama is winning the race. According to the numbers it would appear to be true to. That does not mean that the election is over so you should just stay home. I have discussed this with a lot of my friends and associates and I will tell you what I do know about polls. Almost every election at the end of it all the polls were wrong so I never pay attention to any of them but one. The only poll that ever counts is the poll all voters will participate in on November 4th, 2008. That’s the election where every one is counted.

I will not be posting on Tuesday but I will be back on Wednesday with a post on the election and its results. I hope you all have taken what I have said in my posts and have used it in your decision when you cast your ballots tomorrow. Whether you vote for McCain or Obama like I always say get out there and vote it is your constitutional right and your obligation to your nations well being. If you don’t vote then don’t complain about the results if you are not happy with them. Have a great day CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Happy hump day my friends! I’m not going to talk about the economy today, although I know that’s what is on everyone’s mind right now. Today I’m going to discuss racism and racism in the Presidential campaign.

First let’s discuss racism and the mindsets of various groups on the subject. I will be the first one to say that racism is an ugly thing and I used to be one of the most racist people you have ever met. I know from a vast amount of experience that racism is still very prevalent in our society today. It isn’t just relegated to people in the south because I have travelled all over this country and have seen it everywhere from Minnesota to California to New York. Racism is not just assigned to one group of people or used against one group of people either.

For purposes of this post however I am going to use racism against blacks as the topic, bearing in mind that a lot of blacks have racist views as well against whites and Hispanics and I may touch on that. I will tell you that I know why people are capable of so much hate when it comes to color of the skin and the primary reason is fear.

With regard to black people there was not a lot of contact between blacks and the early Europeans who settled here and those in Europe. What contact there was, was limited to the African continent where they were in their natural habitat and in the islands of the Caribbean. In those settings they were viewed as savages due to the way they had to survive against the elements, land, and the other tribes they were at war with. Understandably this created fear in the Anglos who came into contact with them.

Unfortunately for the Africans these conditions also created an environment where the tribes who won battles and wars against opposing tribes could rid themselves of their enemies by selling the people whom they defeated into bondage and thereby created the slave trade and the Europeans were the perfect customers requiring cheap labor for their plantations and factories both on the dark continent and in the new world and Europe as well. While the Europeans still feared them on their own ground in chains and on the Europeans ground they were controllable and they lived like that for a couple of centuries before slavery was abolished. The sad truth though is that it was Africans who created the slave trade not the whites.

As a result of this, there is a lot of hate and mistrust between the black and white communities to this day and there is plenty of racism on both sides. I will add this one caveat though and that is that while the blacks may believe that they were oppressed, and I am sure they were, they have their own people to blame for that oppression not just whites.

Also I will tell you that when compared to another race of people here in the United States who was also oppressed they didn’t have it as bad as they. Those people are the Native American people. During the time of slavery in the US there was a concerted effort to wipe them out. Every treaty ever made with them was broken. They were removed from their ancestral homes onto reservations where living conditions were even more deplorable than most slave operated plantations and factories. It was even said that the only good Indian was a dead Indian because they weren’t even intelligent enough to learn basic social skills considered valuable by both whites and blacks. I think they are the ones who are entitled to compensation. I sympathize with the black community on the issue but let the blacks get compensation from the people who sold them in to slavery they are still in Africa.

With regard to racism in the Presidential campaign I have looked at all the web, TV, and print I could get my hands on and the only people I found who have inserted or attempted to insert race into the race is the Democrats. There have been no racial comments made by John McCain, his surrogates, or the Republican Party. Race wasn’t even mentioned until Barack Obama brought it up as an attempt to scare his supporters and the minority voters into supporting him based on race. Of course there was the Reverend Wright thing to but I think anyone with an ounce of common sense knows he’s an idiot and a racist anyway.

That’s all for today and I’m sorry it’s late but I hope you have all found it informational. I will see you all tomorrow. Have a great day, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Good day to all of my friends out there. It’s Monday and we all know what that means…it means that it is time for another installment of your Simple Man Politics. Today’s post will be mercifully short compared to some of the marathon posts I have put up in the past, so lets get started, we’re burning daylight.

Today we are going to talk about the pre convention poll numbers and what they actually mean or should I say don’t mean. Let’s start with Barack Obama and the Democratic National Convention. After the DNC, Obama received a 5 point bounce in his poll numbers last Tuesday vaulting him out in front of McCain - 49% to McCain’s 43%. In the Gallop poll conducted by the Republican Party, Obama hit 50% for the first time in the election while McCain dropped to 42%. A 5 point convention bounce in the polls is not uncommon and was to be expected for Barack Obama.

John McCain over took Obama for the first time in the polls after the Republican National Convention according to the USA Today Gallup poll Where he received a 5 to 6 point bounce. These numbers are right in line with historical expectations. The Today’s Gallop poll includes some reporting from prior to McCain’s acceptance speech. As of Sunday Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll indicates that with the leaners included that McCain and Obama are tied at 48% and that Obama’s lead has been erased.

The Nielsen Media Research also reported that RNC earned more than 34.5 million television viewers while the DNC earned approximately 30.2 million television viewers giving the RNC 4 million more viewers than the RNC which is incredible considering the types of conventions we saw from the respective parties. The DNC was definitely the big show seemingly like the Academy Awards and the RNC was more like a big town hall meeting so you would have thought the numbers would have been reversed.

Now basically what all of this means, as far as the polls go, is that the bounces in the polls were normal and to be expected, although in McCain’s case I do believe that Sara Palin as an addition to the ticket might have done a lot for the RNC viewership and McCain’s bounce in the polls. I do believe however that as the days and weeks move toward November 4th that the race and the numbers will tighten up considerably unless one of the candidates really screws up and falls out of favor with their party base or fails to appeal to the independent vote.

That is all I have to say for now other than to tell you what you already know, and that is that you have to decide for yourself who you will support. A person who commented on one of my blogs named Gladys said correctly that if you are at least 18 years of age or new to this country then please register to vote and then VOTE!!!!! I will also be posting more often now that the conventions are done and we are inside 60 days till the election so keep your eyes peeled for more of my posts in the coming weeks. I hope you like the video to. Have a great day and CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Well here we are. Its Friday again and we have made it through another week thank God!!!!! But as is usual for me on Friday I have to write about what has happened on the political scene in the last couple of days. Luckily for me we have had the end of the Republican National Convention and part one of Barack Obama’s interview with Bill O’Reilly, which was interesting I might add. On that note let’s start with Obama’s interview last night.

Yesterday Barack Obama sat down for an interview with Bill O’Reilly the host of Fox News Channels the O’Reilly Factor. The interview will be aired in four parts with part one being aired last night. The interview seemed to be on the war on terror and was remarkably well done and O’Reilly was at the top of his game and he kept Obama from trying to spin or make the interview about his talking points. They discussed everything from the Iraq war, Afghanistan, and Iran to the problem of getting Pakistan to do its share in the terror war. In the interview Obama stated that the troop surge in Iraq had worked which surprised me. He said the surge had worked not just because of the soldiers we have over there but because of the Sunni awakening in the Anbar province by way of example.

He also went on to say that we need more resources in Afghanistan to bring security and stability to that country. He was very candid about Pakistan being a part of that problem by not going after Taliban and Al Qaeda personnel and bases in the tribal areas and stated that we should withhold military aid until Pakistan does what it agreed to do instead of using our military aid to prepare for war with India.

On the subject of Iran Obama stated that if Iran obtained nuclear weapons it would be a game changer which sounds good but I have no idea what that means. He did say however that all options for dealing with Iran are on the table military, diplomatic, and economical although he did stop short of saying he would prepare for the military option citing it as inappropriate for either McCain, or himself to tip their hands has to their Presidential policies towards Iran during their campaigns for the White House.

Last evening John McCain gave his acceptance speech at the RNC. (Republican National Convention) The speech followed a video biography of John McCain narrated by actors Robert Davi and Fred Thompson. The speech was remarkably well written and delivered. The polling this morning showed that McCain’s acceptance speech had 500,000 more viewers than Obama’s and that according to the ABC tracking poll McCain and Obama are now neck and neck after McCain’s convention points bounce. John McCain really made the case for why the McCain-Palin ticket is the right choice for America in this election, citing both his military and legislative experience and Palin’s administrative experience. He also did a very good job of describing his economic and energy policies, and how he would deal with national defense and the war on terror. I don’t really believe that John McCain is out of touch with the blue collar kitchen table issues that most of the voting public are dealing with and worried about.

Also it seems that my Wednesday post was somewhat offensive to some readers and for this I apologize. However if the press and the Republicans had treated Hillary Clinton the way the Democrats had treated Sarah Palin I would have reacted the same way I did in that post. I wrote nothing in that post that was not true and I will not apologize for my words or actions. As for people’s disappointment or anger at what I said I can’t please everybody no matter how hard I try. I said what I said and there is no taking it back so it is time to move on.

In closing that is all I have for today but I will be back on Monday with political commentary and I hope you all will continue to read my blogs. and enjoy the video. Have a wonderful weekend,
ciao4now!!!!!

Hello all my friends, I hope this finds you all well. Normally I would not be posting another blog so quickly, because I have just posted one. However, with Labor Day coming up, the fact that I won’t be around, and John McCain making his Vice Presidential pick the day after the Democratic National Convention, the very convention where Barack Obama and Joe Biden accepted their party’s nomination for President and Vice President, I feel it is necessary for me to write this blog post today. Also the next post will be on Wednesday during the Republican National Convention.

Early Friday morning August 29, 2008, the McCain campaign indicated that he had made his VP pick. Some of those considered to be on the short list like Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty indicated that they were not the nominee that McCain had picked and that they had no knowledge of who the pick was. Shortly there after John McCain announced that his pick was Sarah Palin, the female Republican Governor of the state of Alaska. On the heels of the Democratic National Convention, where Barack Obama became the first black American, to be nominated by a major party for President, a party that also could have had the first woman nominee for President in Hillary Clinton, this was a major shock to all the media and political insiders. It also prompted an instant attack by Obama and company. They automatically attacked her for being to young, having no foreign policy experience, and having a special needs child instead of an abortion, how nice.

Sara Palin has not been in politics very long. She was raised in a middle class home, her parents both working for a school in Sand Point, Idaho. Her mother was the school secretary, and her father was a science teacher and track coach.

Sarah attended high school at Wasilla High School in Alaska where she played on the girl’s basketball team, and was their captain and a fierce point guard earning the nickname Sarah Barracuda. She also led the Fellowship of Christian Athletes there as well.

In 1984 Palin won the Miss Wasilla beauty contest, and finished second in the Miss Alaska pageant where she won a college scholarship. She now holds a bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Idaho, and a minor in political science.

Her career scope is pretty varied. She worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while at the same time working as a commercial fisherwoman with her husband whom she married on August 29, 1988.

In 1992 Sarah Palin began her career in politics. Running for city council in Wasilla, as a supporter of a controversial new sales tax, she served two consecutive terms on the council. In 1996 she defeated the incumbent mayor of Wasilla where she served two consecutive terms as well. Sarah Palin was also elected President of the Alaska Conference of Mayors. In 2002 Palin lost a bid for Lt Governor to Loren Leman. Palin received an appointment to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission where she served from 2003 to 2004 when she resigned in protest of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders for what she claimed was a lack of ethics. In 2006 Palin won the gubernatorial election for Governor in Alaska defeating incumbent Governor Murkowski running on a clean government campaign. On August 29, 2008, Sarah Palin was named as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee by John McCain for the party.


All in all I would say that Mrs. Palin has had a remarkable life for someone from the middle class. She is really just a normal everyday regular Joe type. Make no mistake about it though I think she is an excellent choice for VP and very dangerous to the Democratic ticket for the White House. She has a little bit of legislative experience in her city council terms, and a lot more executive experience in her two terms as a Mayor and her first term as Governor in Alaska, which I think makes her more than qualified to be in the White House with regard to executive experience versus Obama. As far as experience in commanding the military she is currently the Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard. She also has some experience with dealing with foreign nations as ships from many countries dock at Alaska’s ports. But I am sure she will leave foreign policy to John McCain who has approximately 26 years in that arena, as well as dealing with issues of the military, and intelligence. As far as the economy and the budget goes with Palin’s executive experience, and McCain’s legislative experience I think they have that very well covered.

I hope you all have a grand weekend, and an awesome labor day, and I will see you on Wednesday to talk about the Republican National Convention. I hope you guy’s enjoy the video too, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

P.S. Check out this new site I found. http://politics4conservativewomen.blogspot.com/

Hello everyone and welcome to my last post of the week. I hope you all are really getting something out of what I’m doing here. Since Wednesday was part one of the war on terror in Afghanistan, it is now time for part two of the war on terror in Iraq. Let’s get this thing done…we are burning daylight.

The Iraq war, also known as the Second Gulf War, began March 20, 2003. The invasion led by the US, UK, and troops by other nations as a multinational coalition. The purpose of the invasion was the removal of Saddam Hussein from power and regime change for the Iraqi people. While removing Saddam Hussein from power proved relatively easy stabilizing the country and securing it proved quite difficult due to unrest among the various peoples of Iraq as well as the emergence of foreign fighters including Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Amongst the excuses for entering into the war in Iraq was the idea that Saddam Hussein possessed WMD, (weapons of mass destruction) and/ or had operating programs for production of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, and that these weapons posed an imminent threat to the security of the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. This was supported by intelligence from a variety of nations including British Intelligence. There was also intelligence from Russia linking Iraq with terrorism, and Germany supplied intelligence in preparation for the war. It has been concluded that neither Russian, nor German intelligence confirmed the presence of WMD in Iraq. Weapons inspectors also found no evidence of WMD, and the Iraq Survey Group determined that Iraq’s WMD programs ended in 1991 and that there were no active programs at the time of the invasion.

Another reason for the invasion was the accusations made by some US officials that Saddam Hussein was harboring and supporting Al Qaeda and the support of families of Palestinian suicide bombers. No proof of a collaborative relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda has been proven to have existed. Other reasons for the invasion include Iraq’s human rights abuses and Iraq’s oil reserves.

Both of our Presidential candidates have very different views of how to deal with Iraq. John McCain believes that the surge in Iraq has worked and advocates’ staying there until the war is won, and supported the war from the onset. Barack Obama says he has been against the war from the beginning, and advocates a 16 month timeline for troop withdrawal. There is even a side by side comparison of the two men on their positions for how to deal with Iraq.

Regardless of how any of you may feel about the war in Iraq and the reasons for us being there we are there now. While intelligence and investigation has proved there were no WMD in Iraq at the time of the invasion, we know that at one time Saddam Hussein possessed WMD as evidenced by intelligence, photographical, and eye witness accounts of the use of WMD by the Iraqi government against the Kurds in the north, and against his own people right in the heartland of his nation. We also know from one of his top generals, Georges Sada, that WMD elements were relocated outside of Iraq and into Syria prior to the invasion. As far as harboring Al Qaeda goes, even if he didn’t harbor Al Qaeda, he had some relationship with terrorist organizations because their camps were found in the north of Iraq after the invasion of Iraq was completed. These camps were used to train, equip, and finance terrorists.

There is no mistaking the fact that Saddam Hussein was a bad man, and the world is better off with out him and his Baathist regime in power. We also know that while the initial invasion and deposition of the Iraqi government was successful, we also know that violence and atrocities like Abu Ghraib as well as abuses against its own citizens were the rule rather than the exception for quite some time after the invasion. However with the success of the surge of 2007 and the fact that the Iraqi people and their own government are finally starting to take over their own country and appreciate their new national identity as fragile as it is. I don’t see how we can just up and leave and run the risk of the whole Iraq experiment in democracy becoming an absolute failure.

That is all I have to say on the subject of the Iraq war right now. As usual I can only find the facts and present them to you; you still have to decide for yourself where you stand. Have an awesome weekend, and I will see all of you right here next week, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

I’m back and ready to jump right in today, how about you? Today’s subject is going to be about Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp and its infamous guests. I have had some feedback from people who want me to discuss this topic, so I picked today for it. So let’s not waste anymore time and jump right in…we're burning daylight.

First, a little history on the naval base at Guantanamo because some of it applies to the topic we are going to discuss. Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is the oldest military base outside of the United States and inside a country where we have no diplomatic relationship with the host country. The lease was set up in the wake of the 1898 Spanish-American war, established in the 1903 Cuban-American Treaty, and its terms were modified in the 1934 Treaty of Relations. The current Cuban government considers the US presence there to be illegal, although the current government did cash one of the rent checks from the US after they came to power. The rest of the checks remain in a drawer in Fidel Castro’s office. The US government considers this a validation of the lease which also states that the lease can only be broken by mutual agreement of both governments.

Since 2002 there has been a military prison at the naval base (Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp). There were four detention camps here known as Camp Delta, Camp Echo, Camp Iguana, and the now closed Camp X-Ray. It is here that the enemy combatants (detainees) that have been captured in our war on terror are being held. They are being held here because it is not on US soil, but Cuban soil, and would not result in having to accord them the same rights as US citizens, or to give them the Geneva Convention rights accorded to legal combatants (uniformed soldiers of a recognized government), since they are illegal enemy combatants of a terrorist organization, and to guarantee the safety of American citizens by keeping them out of the United States. This was to be the location where any useful intelligence could be extracted from these individuals to be used in the war on terror. This ability has since been severely damaged by the US Supreme Court in its decision. (BOUMEDIENE ET AL. v BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ET AL)

Both of our Presidential Candidates have very different points of view on the Supreme Courts' decision, although they both agree that the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camps should be closed. For more on their views there is a side by side comparison that you can read to see where they stand on Gitmo, and the detainees.

Now personally I side with the Bush administration on this one. If you’re an Al Qaeda, or Taliban bad guy you don’t deserve the same rights given to US citizens, as well as any of the rights under the Geneva Convention given to uniformed soldiers of a recognized government. As for water boarding, or what ever other method they chose to extract information from these and other members of these terrorist organizations I could care less because their sworn mission in life is to kill as many of us as possible before they meet Allah and get their seventy virgins, and for the record I realize these scumbags don’t speak for the vast majority of Muslims who practice the faith, and have condemned these animals actions. As for the US Supreme Court they should be ashamed for the decision they made and it is evident to me that the next appointee to the US Supreme Court is extremely important so that we don’t suffer any more injustice at their hands. That appointee should be a strict constitutionalist, as well as a conservative.

That is all I have to say for now, and I hope you all have found this very informative, regardless of how you feel about my personal views on this subject. Like I always say, all I can do is give you the facts, but you still have to decide for yourself. That’s just good simple politics for me. Have a great day, and I will see you all on Wednesday, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Hello and welcome all my friends to today’s installment of Simple Man Politics. I have been trying to figure out all weekend what to write for today’s post, and it occurred to me that today is the first day after summer break that both of my children (teenagers) will be back in school. So I thought to myself, why not write about education, the candidate’s views on the subject, and my own opinions based on my being a parent (and a pretty awesome one at that).

A Few Statistics
Over six million middle and high school students read below their grade level. A third of high school graduates do not immediately go on to college. American 15 year olds rank 28th out of 40 countries in mathematics and 19th out of 40 countries in science. About 30% of students in their first year of college are forced to take science and math classes because they are not prepared. America also has one of the highest dropout rates in the industrialized nations. About 70% of high school students graduate with a diploma, and the percentages are lower for African Americans, and Latinos. Roughly 30% of new teachers leave their jobs within five years of beginning their careers.

Obama on Education
Both of our current Presidential contenders believe that some form of comprehensive education reform is in order. Barack Obama believes that the goal of No Child Left Behind, (NCLB) was the right one, but has failed for lack of funding and implementation by the education department. A flawed design of the law has diminished its effectiveness, and undercut the support for it as well. Consequentially the law has failed to supply, support, and pay the caliber of teachers needed in every classroom. He would reform No Child Left Behind, make math and science a national priority, and address the dropout crisis amongst other things in his education plan.

McCain's Point of View
John McCain believes that No Child Left Behind, (NCLB) has focused our attention on the realities of how students perform against a common standard, and that we can no longer accept high standards from some students, and low standards from others. However he does see the need for some reform in our educational system including addressing the underlying cultural problems in our education system. He believes that parents should have the right to place their children in schools that benefit them academically, and to remove them from schools that don’t. McCain also believes that schools are responsible for educating our children and should be held accountable when they do not. You can read more about it in his education plan.

My Personal Experience
This past school year was the first for my children in Arizona, and my daughter attended a middle school where language was definitely a problem. Two thirds of the student body were Hispanic, and better than half of those were the children of illegal aliens, which led to the emergence of gangs. The teachers and faculty were overwhelmed by everything and could never gain control of their school. As a result my daughters studies suffered. Being her fathers daughter, she had a zero tolerance policy where it concerns bullies, and couldn’t resist taking them out when the opportunity presented itself, which resulted in suspension twice last school year. She has transferred to a new school this year, and it is much better academically and provides a safer environment in which to pursue her educational career. My son’s school however, has been top shelf from day one, and has great department for the educationally gifted.

The Bottom Line
I personally believe that both candidates believe that a quality education is something that our children have a right to and deserve, although they may go about it differently. I also believe that the schools are responsible for educating our children, but that we as parents are responsible for staying actively involved in our children’s education, which is often a hard thing to do when you have to bust your hump day in, and day out to make ends meet.

One of the things I think they can do to make the quality of our children’s education better is to make English a required language in our schools. If you can’t speak the language then learn it. If you can’t learn it, then they should have schools for people who don’t speak English that cater to foreign languages till such time as the student acquires a sufficient working knowledge of English to enter the public school system. I also think that educating illegal aliens is not our job either. Let them go back where they came from and go to school, so their countries can benefit from them. As far as gangs go, pass the right laws so that our law enforcement officers can come in and clean them out of our schools without having to fear they might be sued for violating the civil rights of someone who isn’t here legally in the first place.

Last but not least, hold your senator’s and congressmen accountable as they are the ones who make the laws we have to live by, and you do that at the voting booths. That’s all I have to say for now, but I will see you all Wednesday for another fun and fact filled post. Have a great day, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Hello all my loyal readers, its time for Wednesdays installment of Simple Man Politics. Today’s subject is religion and politics, and I’m sure it will be very touchy for some people. Please understand that I do not wish to make anyone uncomfortable, but the subject must be addressed. I will try not to be to abrasive.

Like race in politics (see Mondays post), religion in politics has also been around just as long and has been used for everything from the control of governments and people, to waging wars and erasing rival faiths and religious beliefs counter to those of others who which to be viewed as the righteous ones, and who want power. However, it has also been used by governments and different faiths for good as well. We’ve seen evidence of these things throughout recorded history right up till today.

Currently our faith, or should I say the Christian faith, in particular is being challenged everywhere especially in this country. From banning a monument to the Ten Commandment’s in Alabama to removing the pledge of allegiance from our schools because of the phrase one nation under God. It is continually being challenged in the pro life vs. pro choice fights, between the political parties and other groups with interests in that subject, as well as by gay rights advocates, the ACLU, and people of other faiths from around the world who have decided to come here for a better life.

One of this countries greatest beliefs is the in the freedom to practice your own religion with out being persecuted. As a result people have the freedom to worship Allah, Buddha, Krishna, and a whole host of other entities to obscure to mention as well as Satan. But when someone of the Christian faith attempts to worship, or display some sort of symbol glorifying their faith, or voice an opinion about something that states a Christian point of view, they are told they can’t do that because it’s politically incorrect and that it may offend people of a different culture or religious belief.

This country was founded by people who supported, and wanted to live life by Christian principles. However, because we are a nation of immigrants and due to our immigration policies, we have had to accept other people and their beliefs into our country. I personally don’t have anything against different people coming here to better their lives, or to be safe from religious or political persecution. If you are going to come here though, I think you should have to accept us and our Christian beliefs, since we have been forced to accept you and yours - after all, we were here first. By the way, you should have to learn English too, because it is the language most spoken here, and is recognized as the official language of the United States of America. If you don’t want to do these things then I kindly ask you to leave, since it is abundantly clear you have no wish to be an American.

As far as our Presidential candidates are concerned John McCain claims to be Protestant, and attends a North Phoenix Baptist church. Barack Obama, until recently was a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ, until he withdrew his membership there because of inflammatory remarks made by his former pastor Jeremiah Wright. However, both of these candidates are not very well received by Evangelicals, and other Christian groups for their views on abortion, and gay rights.

Well folks that is all I have for you today on the subject of politics and religion. I hope I didn’t offend any of you by inserting some of my own views on this subject into the content of this post. Since this is my blog though, I do reserve the right to put in my own two cents worth on any subject I write about. If you were looking for a more statistical analysis I’m sorry I didn’t include any figures this time. I believe this subject should have been discussed more from the heart than from the calculator. I hope you all have a great day, and I’ll see you all on Friday for the last post of the week, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Hello everyone, I hope everybody had a nice weekend, and is ready for the first Monday of the week. Its time for another installment of Simple Man Politics, and I’ve had a couple of people ask me when I’m going to address race in politics this political season, so that is what I’m doing today. I will try not to be to longwinded, so, let’s get started.

Race and politics have had a long history together all the way back to the beginning of civilization. They have been used together to control societies, start wars, to promote one religion over another, and to control governments, and used together can be a potent and devastating combination.

In the current election cycle the threat of race in politics has been in the back of everyone’s mind for quite some time, but until recently had only been a thought. Now it's become a reality, and from the most unlikely source Barack Obama. You may ask how Obama could play the race card - he’s not a racist because he's black. It’s simple; he played the race card as weapon against McCain and the Republicans and as a scare tactic against his own supporters. Now you want to know how he did this and I will tell you. With statements such as, “oh and by the way he’s black” and “he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills”. As far as accusing John McCain and his campaign of playing the race card against him, I can find no evidence of that any where, and I’ve done a whole bunch of research too.

Some people seem to be worried that Obama’s remarks are racist and while I wouldn’t call Obama a racist, I most certainly would not accuse McCain of being a racist either, since he has gone out of his way to keep "race" out of the presidential race. McCain has even gone out of his way to chastise those who have attempted to play the race card against Obama and has denied he supports their positions to do so. Now I said earlier that I wouldn’t call Obama a racist, but he definitely had a very close association with a racist for more than twenty years - his pastor Jeremiah Wright. He has even gone so far as to say that this man was his mentor. Of course now he says he never heard any of the things that it has been proven Wright has said, even from the pulpit. I find that hard to believe. By the way the reverend Wright and his congregation gave Louis Farrakhan an award and Wright himself accompanied Farrakhan to Libya, and Farrakhan is certainly a racist and an anti-Semite.

Well boys and girls I can honestly say I’ve addressed the politics of race in this political season. Now all I can do is go out and get the facts and report them to you. It is still up to you to look at both of these candidates and decide for yourself who will best represent you in the next four years. Until I see you all again Wednesday, have a great day.

Well we're at week # 2. So what should I write about today, or even for the whole week? Let me think… I know, we’re going to discuss immigration, border security, and the candidates’ positions on these subjects. For good measure, we'll also discuss these subjects as they pertain to the Governor of my state, Arizona, and her positions. We'll do this in three parts, each a separate post. We'll start with John McCain, then second Barack Obama, and then third Governor Janet Napolitano. So hold on…here we go.

John McCain’s original position was one of the co-sponsor of a bill, known as the dream act with Senator Ted Kennedy, which would have given virtually immediate amnesty to 12 million illegal aliens currently in the U.S. without securing our borders first, if at all. He has since reversed his position and has stated that he wouldn’t vote for his bill if it came to the floor of the senate for a vote. Currently McCain is committed to a two step program on immigration and border security, although he is still for some sort of path to citizenship for illegal aliens after the border is secured.

Step one involves the use of barriers, both physical and virtual, on our borders, as well as funding for training and infrastructure and US Attorneys offices in the Border States. It also involves contracting the use of Department of Homeland Security software and infrastructure, and the deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and other appropriate aircraft for the border regions. This step also requires the continued application of the US-VISIT comprehensive visitor security program.

Step two involves prosecuting employers who continue to hire illegal aliens by using an electronic employment verification system. The system will use biometric data and be user friendly with regard to verification of a workers identity and ability to work legally within the USA, by providing quick responses to potential employer’s inquiry. It will also protect the employees' identity and allow both employer and employee to correct any errors in information within the system.

Target auditing by the Department of Labor to cut out employers abusing the system is also a part of step two. It attempts to meet America’s labor needs by implementing temporary worker programs for both low and highly skilled workers reflecting the labor needs of the US while protecting the employment opportunities of US workers. This also ensures that highly skilled workers trained and educated in the US can stay and work after graduation. McCain also plans to reform the cap system for the H-1B visa program and the H-2A visa program to reflect market conditions. This would make sure that qualified Americans have a fair chance to apply for available positions. It insures that workers return to their own countries after their temporary period in the US.

John McCain also said he would address undocumented living and working in the US, and require them to enroll in programs to resolve their status. This program will also use background checks to identify criminals for prosecution and deportation. The remaining undocumented will learn English, pay back Taxes and fines, and pass a citizenship course as part of their path to legal status. It insures that no illegal person receives a green card before those legally waiting. It will account for all social security numbers attained illegally, and will make all undocumented immigrants either leave or follow the path to legal residence. He states that he will also eliminate the family backlog of people waiting for their green cards legally outside the country for as long as 20 years.

Well there is John McCain’s position on border security and immigration as simple as I can make it. I hope this gives you a good idea of where he stands. It seems that he has given a lot more thought to keeping these people here than to border security, but that is just my opinion - you have to decide for yourself. See you on Wednesday for part two of this week’s blogging effort. 'Till we meet again, have a great day.