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9/2/10, Oh yes: First ?Hillary 2012? ad hits the airwaves »»

9/2/10, Sabato: Every time the House has flipped ? »»

9/2/10, USAToday.com Notes Poll Showing Bush Blamed for Economy, Skips One Showing Voters Favor GOP On Issues »»

Yesterday the Gallup organization released a poll showing that Americans trust Republicans over Democrats on most major issues heading into the general election season. Today the same polling outfit released a poll that found a large number of Americans blame George W. Bush for the faltering economy.

Guess which one Gallup partner USA Today hyped?

Here's how USA Today staffer Susan Page began her September 2 online story (filed at noon today):

Nearly two years after Barack Obama was elected president, Americans still are inclined to blame his predecessor for the nation's current economic problems.
In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, more than a third of those surveyed said George W. Bush deserved a great deal of the blame for economic woes and a third said he should get a moderate amount of it. Not quite another third called that unfair, saying Bush warranted not much or none of the responsibility.
The 71% saying Bush should get blamed was a modest decline from the 80% who felt that way about a year ago, in July 2009.

A search of the USAToday.com website failed to turn up a story specifically devoted to the September 1 Gallup poll that gauged voter preferences for the parties based on the issues.

Staffer Susan Page did make a brief reference to the poll in a September 1 "analysis" article regarding President Obama's Oval Office speech about the end of combat operations in Iraq, but that occurred in paragraphs 17 and 18 of her 20-paragraph story:

But the Iraq war is no longer the driving issue for Americans facing job layoffs and home foreclosures. In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 1,021 adults Friday through Sunday, those surveyed rated the economy, jobs, government corruption and federal spending as the top issues shaping their vote in November's congressional elections ? and preferred congressional Republicans over Democrats on handling the economy by double digits.
The war in Afghanistan ranked eighth in a list of nine issues.

Here's an excerpt from Gallup.com's website regarding the top issues poll:

PRINCETON, NJ -- A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds Americans saying the Republicans in Congress would do a better job than the Democrats in Congress of handling seven of nine key election issues. The parties are essentially tied on healthcare, with the environment being the lone Democratic strength.
The Republicans' advantage on most issues is an indication of the currently favorable political environment for the party. Of particular note is the parity between the two parties on healthcare, an issue on which Americans historically have viewed the Democrats as superior.
A similar USA Today/Gallup poll conducted in October 2006, just prior to Democrats' major gains in that fall's elections, highlights the potential implications of these findings. That poll, which includes several issues measured in the current survey, found the Democrats leading on all eight issues tested at that time, including some usual Republican strengths like terrorism and moral values.

In more bad news for liberal Democrats, Gallup.com released another poll today that shows that "Republicans Hold Wide Lead in Key Voter Turnout Measure":

PRINCETON, NJ -- Two months before this year's midterm congressional elections, Gallup finds 54% of Republicans, compared with 30% of Democrats, already saying they have given "quite a lot of" or "some" thought to the contests.
This "thought" measure is an important variable in Gallup's well-established classification of "likely voters," which is put into use closer to Election Day. The current gulf in thought between the parties mirrors the partisan gap in Gallup's voter enthusiasm measure that is tracked weekly.

We'll have to see how USA Today covers this later today or tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath for the paper giving it much attention, if any.

9/2/10, HOW FREE STREAMING VIDEO threatens the porn industry?. »»

9/2/10, AP Howler of the Day: Kasich 'Keeping Pace' With Strickland in OH Guv Race »»

KasichAndStrickland0910 Talk about an in-kind contribution.

In a short item about a Democratic Governors Association election complaint about Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate John Kasich, the Associated Press's Julie Carr Smyth showed that she is willfully ignoring Buckeye State reality, or has been living a hermit's existence for the past few months.

In describing Kasich's standing against Democratic incumbent governor Ted Strickland, Smyth claimed that Kasich "is keeping pace with Strickland in polls and fundraising" (a picture of the relevant paragraph is here).

As you can see, that's sort of like a baseball writer claiming that "The Cincinnati Reds are keeping pace with the Chicago Cubs this year":

RCPonKasichStrickland090210

For those who aren't following baseball closely, the Reds have a 21-1/2 game lead on the Cubs with less than 30 games remaining.

Who do you think you're foolin', babe?

(Answer: Relatively disengaged voters who need to given the impression that the sinking Strickland campaign is really on track to victory, instead of heading towards the first defeat of an incumbent governor in the Buckeye State in 36 years.)

Democrats are upset that Kasich appeared on Fox News and was able to give out the name of his web site and encourage viewers to donate to his campaign during Bill O'Reilly's show on August 18. Awwww.

The election complaint is carried at a Huffington Post item courtesy of Sam Stein, a former NewsWeak (spelled that way on purpose) reporter. Two years ago, Stein claimed that Republican presidential nominee John McCain couldn't possibly have vetted VP pick Sarah Palin because no one had visited her town's local newspaper and looked through its archives. Well Sam, that just might be because the paper's archives going back a decade were available online, and contained hundreds of entries. This Internet thing is pretty cool when you have a clue about how to use it.

Ben Smith at Politico, who is not being linked because of his outfit's outrageous attempt to shut down the College Politico, seems to think that this complaint has as much validity as Stein's unproven claim against Team McCain two years ago:

It seems to hinge on a chyron and, to my eye, is more in the great tradition of thin, high-profile election-year litigation than about winning in court.

Speaking of "in-kind contributions," maybe Julie Carr Smyth can estimate how much value favoring Strickland we should place on her demonstrably false claim in a national news story that Kasich is only "keeping" pace with him, when the fact is that Kasich has an averaged-out double-digit lead?

Cross-posted at Bizzyblog.com.

9/2/10, Feds Sue Sheriff Arpaio, Investigate Chuck E. Cheese ? Border Secure! »»

9/2/10, LOTS OF INFORMATION at the Electronics Knowledge Center?. »»

9/2/10, Shallow water rig explosion in Gulf of Mexico; meanwhile, in Greenland? »»

9/2/10, Rachel Maddow Cites TPM's Interview With Tom Tancredo »»

9/2/10, Rachel Maddow Calls Out Republicans For Hypocrisy On HCR Benefits »»

9/2/10, Governor Perdue Declares state of Emergency in North Carolina for Hurricane Earl »»

9/2/10, Tropical Update for September 2, 2010 Hurricane Earl and Tropical Storms Fiona and Gaston »»

9/1/10, Escaping History Not an Option »»

On the credenza behind his Oval Office desk, President Obama has placed a bust of Abraham Lincoln.

This is admirable, in that Lincoln represents the very definition of American greatness. Perhaps, though, Mr. Obama might take some time to ponder something the 16^th President wrote in an 1862 message to Congress: ?We cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us.?

That was true during the Civil War, and it remains true today, which is why the image Mr. Obama used last night ? that we have now ?turned a page? in Iraq ? is unsettling.

In the sense that our combat operations have been completed, he is right. And as the President said, our Armed Forces have fought with valor and tenacity, and deserve the gratitude and honor of a proud and thankful nation.

However, it is noteworthy that President Obama opposed the war in Iraq from its inception and, as a Senator, voted against the ?surge? that enabled American forces to quell the rising militancy of Iraq?s Islamist terrorists.

This should be said, not to encourage contempt for the Commander in Chief but because it calls into question his strategic judgment. No one is right all the time, and Mr. Obama?s placement of a major new combat force in Afghanistan under General Petraeus was a brave choice, one opposed by the President?s left-wing base.

It is when his judgment is driven by his statist impulses that our eyebrows should raise. Mine did when, last night, Mr. Obama called upon America to ?tackle (our) challenges at home with as much energy, and grit, and sense of common purpose as our men and women in uniform who have served abroad.?

This calling is wholly unrealistic ? domestic needs never animate national will with the same intensity as does a military crisis. Part of the reason is that we presume prosperity; for most Americans, it?s always just around the corner, and thus fighting for ?energy independence,? as Mr. Obama called for last evening, will never produce a martial spirit.

Another reason is that a military adversary is tangible and visible. Our enemies have faces. Things like deflation, unemployment, energy production, and technological innovation do not. They are concepts, not targets.

No national calling can ever be created similar to that inspired by immediate and serious threats to our survival as a people ? threats like al-Qaeda and Nazism.

As troubling, if not more, was the President?s inference that we can now afford the luxury of turning inward, as if the cessation of American combat operations in Iraq means we can shift our gaze more exclusively to our own economic needs.

Mr. Obama?s penchant is to ?transform America,? as he said repeatedly during his presidential campaign. Mr. Obama and his colleagues on the Left view the national landscape as a gigantic machine with which they can tinker and to which they can make whatever ?improvements? they wish in some sort of domestic bubble. ?Make the World Go Away? is, for them, less an Elvis Pressley anthem than a political demand.

Mr. Obama is bright and sophisticated. He is mindful of the realities of a grim world. Still, he seems dragged into global leadership with a grudging sense of duty, not a mature understanding that to be the American President is to lead freedom?s march, not merely walk with it. He must remember, as Lincoln did, that ?we cannot escape history.?

Another young President understood this well. ?Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves; and we can shirk neither. We have become a great nation, forced by the fact of its greatness into relations with the other nations of the earth, and we must behave as beseems a people with such responsibilities.?

Theodore Roosevelt saw international leadership not as a burden to be born but an opportunity to be greeted with resolve and optimism. May Barack Obama learn from his example.

9/1/10, Tom Ross: A history of funding various left wing activism »»

He was quickly confirmed to replace Erskine Bowles as head of the UNC system, but serious questions linger about his judgment.

Noteworthy:

"A friend to many far-left organizations and a relative novice to higher education, Thomas Ross makes for an unfortunately predictable choice to be the next President of the University of North Carolina System. From a career in law to his seven years as Executive Director of the far-left funding mechanism - Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation - and President of Davidson College for three years, Ross is set to succeed current UNC President Erskine Bowles in January 2011. What is really alarming about the North Carolina Board of Governor's choice of Ross as the heir apparent is his long history of steering hundreds of thousands in contributions to dubious organizations like ACORN.

...A friend to many far-left organizations and a relative novice to higher education, Thomas Ross makes for an unfortunately predictable choice to be the next President of the University of North Carolina System. From a career in law to his seven years as Executive Director of the far-left funding mechanism - Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation - and President of Davidson College for three years, Ross is set to succeed current UNC President Erskine Bowles in January 2011. What is really alarming about the North Carolina Board of Governor's choice of Ross as the heir apparent is his long history of steering hundreds of thousands in contributions to dubious organizations like ACORN.

...After scrutinizing Ross's record, it seems clear that the UNC System is positioned to take a decidedly left turn, and the new President's credentials leaves much to be desired. One can only hope that the implications of his leftist background and being a neophyte to the realm of higher education won't be passed on to the hundreds of thousands of North Carolinian students he will oversee."

It's just more Business As Usual at the statewide level.
Read more...

9/1/10, Did Obama say anything of note last night? »»

9/1/10, September 1, 1939: ?The Unnecessary War? »»

Last night, President Obama announced the end of combat operations in Iraq and pledged to withdraw from Afghanistan, beginning next summer. While all Americans yearn for peace, we need to proceed in the world not on the basis of hopes for change, but with a clear-eyed view of the world as it is. And to recognize the world as it is, we need to know more about the world as it was.

Today is the anniversary of the beginning of World War II in Europe. When Hitler attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, he tore up all previous agreements, he answered the feeble pleas of the League of Nations with blood and bombs. Soon, all of Europe was plunged into a new and more terrible war than they had survived just twenty years before, the Armageddon of 1914-1918 they still called ?the Great War.?

Shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese in 1941, and immediately after Hitler declared war on the U.S., Winston Churchill came to the White House for a lengthy visit. He was asked what this now-expanded world conflict should be called. ?The unnecessary war,? he replied, without hesitating. Of course, journalists (and U.S. military recruiters) were hardly going to call it that. Thus, the Second World War quickly came to be adopted as general usage, abbreviated WWII.

What Churchill meant, of course, was that there never was a war easier to prevent than the Second World War. If only the Western democracies had taken a firm stance in 1936, when Hitler marched into the Rhineland, war could have been averted.

The Rhineland was German, to be sure, but the treaty that ended World War I called for it to be de-militarized. France had been bled white?losing two million young men?in the trenches. What French Premier Clemenceau (?The Tiger?) demanded at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 was just 30 kilometers between France and the bigger, stronger Germany. He pleaded with President Wilson and British Prime Minister Lloyd George.

?You British have the English Channel. You Americans have the Atlantic Ocean. All I ask is for 30 kilometers between me and the Hun (the Germans).?

When peace negotiations in Paris threatened to break down in 1919 because of disagreements among the victorious allies?Britain, France, and the U.S.?Lloyd George broke the deadlock. He offered Clemenceau the French Guarantee Treaty. Wilson soon signed it. It said: If Germany ever rises up to threaten France again, we will protect you with military force.

President Wilson regarded the French Guarantee Treaty as a mere afterthought. He banked everything on the Treaty of Versailles, the document that contained his beloved project, the League of Nations. When the U.S. Senate, after months of bitter debate, rejected Wilson?s treaty and his league, the petulant Wilson refused even to submit the French Guarantee Treaty to the Senate.

So, in 1936, when Hitler tore up the Versailles Treaty and defied the League of Nations, France cried out for Britain and the U.S. to come to her aid. The French army, still powerful at this point–was ready to move against Hitler?s small force in the Rhineland.

In Washington, President Roosevelt was prevented from giving any aid to the French by powerful isolationist sentiment, in the country and in Congress.

Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin?s Conservative government immediately invited the French to London for ?talks.? And Baldwin proceeded to talk to death any idea of French and British military action to resist Hitler in the Rhineland.

Hitler later described how he had been so overcome by anxiety he went to bed, crippled with intestinal cramps, at the time of his great gamble in the Rhineland. He had given orders to his lightly armed troops to beat a hasty retreat at the first sign of French resistance. We also know his own generals were plotting a coup to overthrow the Nazi regime?if Hitler?s wild gamble failed.

But it didn?t fail. And his great success in the Rhineland convinced him that he had a supernatural destiny to rule Europe, perhaps the world. From there to the German attack on Poland on this day in 1939 the Western democracies followed a steep descending path to an even more horrific war than Europe had endured in the First World War.

What does all this have to do with us today? Does the course of U.S. foreign policy look more like Churchillian resolution and defiance of tyranny or like Stanley Baldwin?s flaccid response to outright aggression?

For example, what should America?s allies think when Zbignieuw Brzezinski, a key advisor to President Obama, says we should shoot down Israeli warplanes if they try to fly over U.S.-controlled airspace in Iraq on their way to bombing Iran?s nuclear plants?

Or, what should Americans think when we begin today in Washington more talks designed to create a ?Palestinian state? on the West Bank of the Jordan River? The Palestinians on the West Bank danced in the streets when the Twin Towers collapsed.

They fired their rifles into the air in celebration. They gave candy to their children to express their joy at the murders of thousands of Americans. Yet, the Obama administration is giving these people billions in U.S. foreign aid?and our diplomatic blessing.

Osama bin Laden once referred to the U.S. as the ?weak horse.? He said people in the Arab world always seek to follow the strong horse. Does anything in recent U.S. foreign policy suggest a strong horse?

War is unnecessary. Careful U.S. diplomacy?backed by military might ?second to none??has always been our best defense.

8/31/10, Why Lisa Murkowski Lost »»

[It's been 1 year and 4 months since I wrote my last blog post here. For readers of The Next Right, I left my position as the RNC's Deputy Research Director back in May and am currently a Senior Communications Strategist with New Media Strategies in Rosslyn, VA. It feels good to be back in the blogosphere.]

Lisa Murkowski has now conceded. I have a great amount of respect for Joe Miller, but I have been a loyal supporter of Lisa Murkowski since her 2004 campaign. As a conservative from Alaska, I have disagreed with her positions on a few issues, but I believe she has been a good Senator for Alaska. Murkowski has been a thoughtful policymaker among her peers as well as an articulate leader on several key national issues including energy security.

Yet despite the enormous amount of admiration I have for her, I believe Murkowski has no one to blame except her own campaign for what is a stunning primary defeat. Bottom line up front: Lisa Murkowski's primary campaign should serve as a lesson in what not to do when you are being attacked by your opponent.

There has been a lot of talk about how wrong the polls were, the ballot initiative concerning abortion, and why Lisa Murkowski decided not to "go negative" on Joe Miller. Yet it's just not as simple as that. Here are four very interconnected reasons why Lisa Murkowski lost:

1. When attacked by Miller on health care via paid media, Murkowski chose to respond directly only via earned media.

Joe Miller didn't raise a lot of money, but he had enough money to buy a swarm of radio ads throughout the summer claiming that Murkowski wouldn't vote to repeal President Obama's health care reform package. Murkowski's direct response to this claim only showed up in the newspapers, talk radio shows and TV.

Now, as an Alaskan, one might think that this is a relatively good strategy seeing as though most of Alaska media is dominated by one newspaper, one television station and a handful of talk radio outlets. Plus, Murkowski's response was a good one: that Joe Miller's claim was an outright lie and that she voted several times to repeal portions of Obamacare and co-sponsored other pieces of legislation to do the same. (More on this in point #3.)

But do the math: Joe Miller's several radio ads and robocalls constantly spreading this claim vs. the maybe one story per day Lisa Murkowski got rebuffing this claim. Republican primary voters probably heard Miller's message 5 to 10 times as much as Murkowski's direct response during the summer. You can't bring a knife to a gun fight.

2. Murkowski's paid media message strategy centered on "I'm a conservative too."

It wasn't as if Murkowski didn't have the money to respond; she had millions to spend on paid media. So what kind of paid media did she put up as her closing argument? Watch below:

Summary of her closing argument: "You don't like Obama? Me neither." When you're being attacked in paid media in a Republican primary in this environment, the right response in paid media isn't to say "Here's evidence that I'm a conservative." It shows a certain sign of weakness to the electorate, maybe even a hint of phoniness.

3. Murkowski had the right response to Joe Miller ready to go, but never used it.

That's right. Lisa Murkowski had exactly the right response to Joe Miller's claims about her support/opposition for Obamacare. And the Murkowski campaign put it in a 2 minute web video. (Watch it all the way to the end for the kicker.)

If you're thinking what I'm thinking, you're right: what a brutal response! Joe Miller was in the audience at a health care town hall Lisa Murkowski hosted, where she made her opposition to Obamacare very clear. Did this video appear in a 30 second TV ad? No. Instead, the campaign left it on YouTube to garner 1500 views.

4. While Miller's supporters had all the motivation in the world to show up, Murkowski gave no motivation to her base of supporters to go vote for her.

Elections aren't won by people who rest on their laurels and hope those laurels carry voters to the ballot box out of a sense of respect to the candidate. Elections are choices made by voters between candidates.

In this political environment, no more motivation was necessary to get Joe Miller's supporters out to vote, whether or not there was an initiative concerning abortion on the ballot. And while there were a lot of national stories about Murkowski's refusal to run negative ads on Joe Miller, the fault in the campaign's strategy was deeper than that. The campaign decided to run Murkowski on her laurels instead of comparing her record and experience vs. Miller's record and his experience. The campaign decided not to run what I would call "compare/contrast" ads that give your base of supporters a reason to make sure you win and your opponent loses.

There is one particular example of the complete antithesis to Lisa Murkowski's 2010 primary strategy: Congressman Don Young's 2008 primary strategy against then-Lt. Gov., now-Gov. Sean Parnell. Watch the ad below:

When Parnell and the Club for Growth attacked Don Young over spending and earmarks, Young didn't cower into a corner saying "I'm a conservative too." Agree or disagree with Young's position, he turned the negative into a positive very creatively and effectively, and Parnell's 30 to 40 point lead 5 months before the August 2008 election disappeared. That's what I call a "compare/contrast" strategy: giving your supporters a reason to come to the ballot box.

-----

I would welcome other persepctives from Alaska, DC or other places as to why this happened to Lisa Murkowski. But I firmly believe that her campaign stuck to a particular strategy that ended up being a detriment to her re-election.

On the other hand, there could be a silver lining to her loss: in the long term for the Republican Party, this could serve as an example to candidates (both incumbents and challengers) on what to do and what not to when attacked by an opponent.

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8/22/10, A new day? »»

8/18/10, New York State of Mindlessness »»

It's (Still) The Economy, Stupid!

By George Scoville | @stackiii

I have fought every impulse in my being to weigh in on the Cordoba House debate, and to pontificate, lecture, and moralize from atop my libertarian mountain. Now that I'm actually writing about it I find myself stricken nearly dumb by the irony of what I'm about to suggest on a blog entitled THE NEXT RIGHT. But it has become clear that The Current Right has completely forgotten about The Last Right, and this could prove to be the foil for The Next Right -- at least that's my worry. I do not intend to debate the morality or legality of the construction of Cordoba House in either this post or in the comments - so if you're looking for an ideological fight, you've come to the wrong place. The Right has a new messaging problem, and if anyone intends to supplant the Democratic Party in any meaningful, long-term way, it will require pretty swift action.

The Republican Party is polling considerably well among registered voters (Gallup) on a number of factors: party identification, 2010 vote preferences among independents, and 2010 candidate preferences. The Republican Party also seems to be riding a wave of enthusiasm (RCP) that spreads quicksand all over the Democratic Party's uphill battle as November draws near. Finally, the Republican Party has retaken the lead on the generic ballot (PPP). Whatever successes the Republican Party currently enjoys it owes in large part to both the Tea Party movement and the fact that President Obama and the Democrats over-estimated their "mandate." This cannot be overstated, especially in light of the fact that only a handful of Republicans are engaging their Democratic counterparts substantively (The Weekly Standard).

Now, set all that aside for a moment. Step back 26 years to 1984.

Ronald Reagan wasn't polling well, hitting a 35% approval rating in 1983 (Gallup). The economy was in recession. Unemployment was high, though it dropped from 10.8% in '82 to 7.4% by Election Day '84 (Salon). We were at war -- each day every American faced an existential threat. Federal spending was at 22.9% of GDP (EconLib), in large part because Reagan's defense budget crested far above projections he made on the campaign trail in '79 and '80. But Reagan handily won re-election in 1984 because he kept the message simple -- this worked:

Why, then, is former Speaker Newt Gingrich -- a sort of de facto leader of today's Republican Party, an icon of the 1994 Republican Revolution, and potential 2012 presidential hopeful -- foisting a divisive cultural narrative (WaPo) onto an election cycle already dominated by anti-Big Government and anti-spending narratives that, heretofore, have been working (Pew Research via NPR)?

Ezra Klein is pickin' up what I'm puttin' down:

One political question about the Ground Zero Islamic complex/mosque/theater-space/swimming pool: Why are Republicans trumpeting this? And why, a week or two ago, did they start talking about the 14th amendment? Republicans are going to win a lot of seats this year. And they're going to do it on the backs of the economy. Getting into social issues -- particularly social issues that might anger minorities -- is a dangerous play. It loses them long-term votes that they just don't need to lose. It paints their party as intolerant and opportunistic. And it's unnecessary: It's not like they're hurting for things to talk about.

The Cato Institute's Gene Healy blames the Professional Right:

All this posturing is getting tiresome. The "mosque" controversy isn't about property rights or religious freedom. It's a bogus issue seized by the GOP establishment to distract the rank-and-file from the party's reluctance to shrink government.

Will Wilkinson, also of the Cato Institute, blames the amateur Right:

This idiotic foofaraw could be a distraction only if the GOP rank-and-file actually cared more about the size of government than the cultural politics of American identity. But they don’t. It’s not even close. American conservatism is a movement consumed by protecting and asserting a certain fabricated conception of the traditional American way of life against imaginary enemies. Support for small government is no more than a bullet point on the Right’s “What We Believe” cheat sheet, mouthed at opportune moments. I approve of what Gene’s trying to do here rhetorically, but the fact is that complaining about Muslims and keeping holy the memory of 9/11 and Ground Zero — the legitimizing altar of aggressive American imperialism — is a direct manifestation of contemporary conservatism’s essence.

Personally, I don't really care who is to blame for the propagation of this narrative -- whether Gingrich is demagoguing, or the conservative, evangelical base needs some pandering. The bottom line is that playing with this narrative is like playing with fire, and could be as dangerous to the Right long-term as a Gingrich marriage proposal. In many ways the conservative base is like the fuel in a gas can, fuel that powers the political machine that winds up carrying water in elections -- but for God's sake, don't hand the Left a big, fat box of strike-anywhere matches. 2010 and 2012 can -- and should -- be a slam dunk for right-of-center candidates. Let's not botch it.

Update:

Ben Smith (POLITICO) notes that Gingrich's caustic remarks echo those of Mussolini:

A regular correspondent wondered why Newt Gingrich's recent declaration on the planned downtown mosque sounded so familiar, and found this:

Gingrich:

There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia.

Mussolini:

There will be a mosque in Rome, the Fascist ruler said, only when a Roman Catholic church is permitted in Mecca.

The quote is frequently attributed to Il Duce, though I'd be grateful to any Italian-speaking reader who has a primary source.

Sorry, folks - you can call me a wet blanket all you want - independent voters just won't trade one statist polemic (Obama) for another (Gingrich).

Cross-posted at Liberty Pundits.

Further reading:

Jacob Sullum, Reason Magazine

Doug Mataconis, Outside the Beltway blog

Doug Mataconis redux, Outside the Beltway blog

David Harsanyi, Reason Magazine

Ben Smith, POLITICO

Garrett Quinn, boston.com

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8/16/10, A bike and pedestrian artery for our community »»

8/5/10, "The Name of the Rose" »»

7/20/10, Katy's Conservative Corner Has Moved »»

7/13/10, Blogging RightOnline, Changes coming to KCC »»

Hello Readers,

You may have noticed that your blogger has taken the summer off. That's right. After an early season visit to Chattanooga for her cousin's wedding, which conflicted with the NC GOP convention, she has been living at the beach all summer. Emerald Isle is her second home and the politics in Carteret County are fun. It's probably the "reddest" county in North Carolina.

Next weekend, however, she will return to blogging at the RightOnline Convention in Las Vegas!

RightOnline is the right's answer to the left's NetRoot's Convention. Put together by the Americans for Prosperity, the RightOnline conference follows NetRoots around the nation each year, to stop the spread of their liberal message. Americans have had enough of it and want to hear something fresh. In short, they want to hear the good news, rather that that "hopey changey stuff", of the left that Sarah Palin so aptly described.

While the left will have depressing speakers such as union leaders (ugh), Harry Reid, and Joan McCarter of the Daily Kos, RightOnline features such inspiring speakers as:

Judge Andrew Napolitano, Fox News

Congressman Mike Pence

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann

Herman Cain, Nationally Syndicated Radio Host

Erick Erickson, RedState.com

Stephen Moore, Wall Street Journal

John Fund, Wall Street Journal

Ed Morrissey, HotAir.com

Guy Benson, Radio Host

Stephen Kruiser, Fox News Contributor

Phil Kerpen, AFP Foundation

Just reading this list is enough to make a right-wing mother-to-be go into labor!

(Note: Your blogger is not in that delicate condition, but the list does excite her!)

Hope to see lots of North Carolineans there, but if you can't make it, KCC will cover it for you. With this long list of speakers, it won't be easy to keep up with and your blogger prays that they stream it on UStream. If so, she'll run it on KCC. It's not too late to make your reservations, and we hope to see you there.

Additionally, this will be our next-to-last post here on Typepad. It's been a good platform for these long years, but Katy's Conservative Corner has long needed a change and WordPress will provide more features and flexibility and benefits. We may get started with a barebones look, but it will develop in time.

Our next post will be the final one, letting readers know that KatysConservativeCorner.com has moved, forever and ever.

Finally, our email address has changed. It is no longer Katysconservativecorner@gmail.com Everyone and their brother added us to their list, whether we wanted it or not. So, when a keylogger struck your blogger's laptop, we shut down the account.

God bless you all, and see you soon, over on WordPress.

7/1/10, The Devastating Symbolic Attack On America »»

1/4/10, New day, new blog »»

1/3/10, The prisoner »»

I am a moderate claustrophobe, so this story about how many unemployed or underemployed Japanese have been reduced to living in slots in the wall ("capsule hotels") literally made me shiver. And then Ross Douthat directed me to Tony Judt's essay about living with Lou Gehrig's disease. Contemplate the horror of this man's life:

In effect, ALS constitutes progressive imprisonment without parole. ... By my present stage of decline, I am thus effectively quadriplegic. With extraordinary effort I can move my right hand a little and can adduct my left arm some six inches across my chest. My legs, although they will lock when upright long enough to allow a nurse to transfer me from one chair to another, cannot bear my weight and only one of them has any autonomous movement left in it. Thus when legs or arms are set in a given position, there they remain until someone moves them for me. The same is true of my torso, with the result that backache from inertia and pressure is a chronic irritation. Having no use of my arms, I cannot scratch an itch, adjust my spectacles, remove food particles from my teeth, or anything else that--as a moment's reflection will confirm--we all do dozens of times a day. To say the least, I am utterly and completely dependent upon the kindness of strangers (and anyone else).

During the day I can at least request a scratch, an adjustment, a drink, or simply a gratuitous re-placement of my limbs--since enforced stillness for hours on end is not only physically uncomfortable but psychologically close to intolerable. It is not as though you lose the desire to stretch, to bend, to stand or lie or run or even exercise. But when the urge comes over you there is nothing--nothing--that you can do except seek some tiny substitute or else find a way to suppress the thought and the accompanying muscle memory.

But then comes the night. I leave bedtime until the last possible moment compatible with my nurse's need for sleep. Once I have been "prepared" for bed I am rolled into the bedroom in the wheelchair where I have spent the past eighteen hours. With some difficulty (despite my reduced height, mass, and bulk I am still a substantial dead weight for even a strong man to shift) I am maneuvered onto my cot. I am sat upright at an angle of some 110° and wedged into place with folded towels and pillows, my left leg in particular turned out ballet-like to compensate for its propensity to collapse inward. This process requires considerable concentration. If I allow a stray limb to be mis-placed, or fail to insist on having my midriff carefully aligned with legs and head, I shall suffer the agonies of the damned later in the night.

I am then covered, my hands placed outside the blanket to afford me the illusion of mobility but wrapped nonetheless since--like the rest of me--they now suffer from a permanent sensation of cold. I am offered a final scratch on any of a dozen itchy spots from hairline to toe; the Bi-Pap breathing device in my nose is adjusted to a necessarily uncomfortable level of tightness to ensure that it does not slip in the night; my glasses are removed...and there I lie: trussed, myopic, and motionless like a modern-day mummy, alone in my corporeal prison, accompanied for the rest of the night only by my thoughts.

Of course, I do have access to help if I need it. Since I can't move a muscle, save only my neck and head, my communication device is a baby's intercom at my bedside, left permanently on so that a mere call from me will bring assistance. In the early stages of my disease the temptation to call out for help was almost irresistible: every muscle felt in need of movement, every inch of skin itched, my bladder found mysterious ways to refill itself in the night and thus require relief, and in general I felt a desperate need for the reassurance of light, company, and the simple comforts of human intercourse. By now, however, I have learned to forgo this most nights, finding solace and recourse in my own thoughts.

The latter, though I say it myself, is no small undertaking. Ask yourself how often you move in the night. I don't mean change location altogether (e.g., to go to the bathroom, though that too): merely how often you shift a hand, a foot; how frequently you scratch assorted body parts before dropping off; how unselfconsciously you alter position very slightly to find the most comfortable one. Imagine for a moment that you had been obliged instead to lie absolutely motionless on your back--by no means the best sleeping position, but the only one I can tolerate--for seven unbroken hours and constrained to come up with ways to render this Calvary tolerable not just for one night but for the rest of your life.

I cannot imagine what that brave man is living through. I literally cannot imagine it -- the psychological horror is too great for me, with my claustrophobia, to contemplate. God help him and comfort him through this endless crucifixion. Read Judt's entire essay for a glimpse at the nobility of the human spirit.

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11/3/09, Election Day 2009: A National Party No More? »»

“Uncivil war,” they’re calling it.

Family issues, more like.

The political mayhem surrounding New York’s 23rd House District special election has reached a crescendo, here on this final day of the campaign. November 3, 2009, is the day of reckoning for a grassroots conservative base eager to flex its muscle and make a statement about the future of the Republican Party going forth to the nationwide 2010 elections and beyond.

Commentators and observers of all stripes and sides have weighed in on the race, which proves to be a harbinger of things soon to come. Where they differ on is what exactly is soon to come. Is it the impending decline and relegation of the GOP to a permanent minority? Or is it, as those in the “tea party” movement see it, the beginning of a precipitous ideological takeback in the Republican Party of Reagan-ite/1994 proportions?

What’s most striking is the giddiness and dead-set certainty of both Democrats and ~~Republicans~~ conservatives in the rightness of their vantage points on the issue. Perhaps, as most conservatives would love to proclaim, “Dede Scozzafava is merely the first casualty of this war.” Perhaps NY-23 is just the beginning of “a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials.” But therein lies the inherent problem with such lines of reasoning.

Democrats falsely assume that the strength of the Republican Party lies in the successes and failures of its “officials.” Sadly, NY-23 has shown that the NRCC, RNC, and MSM have joined the left in underestimating the raw power of the conservative (notice, not Republican) electorate. As if they needed reminding: the “Republican right” isn’t really Republican at all, at least not as much as it is ideologically conservative. As hard as it is for the D.C.-West Coast axis to believe, it appears that there may yet remain an American political party that is not subject to the whims of its talking head elites and special interest groups but that is truly of, by, and for the people who comprise it.

It’s quite a stretch to say that Hoffman-Scozzafava signals a movement to “purge” moderates from the party. Scozzafava was no moderate. Charlie Crist is a moderate. A moderate Republican who believes in card check and free-willy government spending is no moderate and certainly is no Republican. So this notion that conservatives are to blame for the death of “Big Tent” Republicanism is patently absurd.

If anything, it’s Scozzafava that has done the most damage to moderates in the Republican party by endorsing the Democratic candidate. Her bewildering move only proves her detractors right and only further cements the seeds of distrust in conservatives nationwide about other Republican moderates, of whom she claimed to be a part.

The AP is already pre-spinning a potential Election Day sweep by the Republicans as a moot point. No surprise there, but just as moot is the idea that NY-23 represents the beginning of the end for a bruised and battered Republican Party.

10/23/09, A Brief Hiatus »»

9/2/10, N.C. Democrats Jettison Gas Tax Relief »»

9/2/10, Easley Scandal Fallout Continues »»

7/6/10, Blog moved to new location »»

9/2/10, Taking Credit And Shifting Blame Shamelessly »»

9/2/10, Were You There With Beck? Many of my Friends Were »»

9/2/10, 2010 Mecklenburg County Commission At Large Race »»

Been a while friends, but your humble blogger has been busy (I work for an 8th District candidate) trying to get the candidate to defeat Larry Kissell in November. I figured now was the right time to talk about the Mecklenburg County Commission race with May 4th just over a week away. The full list of candidates: Darryl Broome, Charles Jeter, Tim McLeod, Jim Pendergraph, Dan Ramirez, David Rice, Larry Shannon, and Corey Thompson.

Of those, I've never met Broome or Rice, so for me they're non-factors. We're down to Jeter, McLeod, Pendergraph, Ramirez, Shannon, and Thompson.

I make it point not to lie to the readers of this blog and I'm sorry for feelings I've hurt in the past. As most of you know by now, I deal in political reality so when I post something, you know its important to me and the future of this city and county. For those reasons, I'm biding adieu to McLeod (who is a very nice guy) and Larry Shannon (who has some truly awful signs - green with white lettering... in cursive).

That leaves with four candidates vying for your attention - Jeter, Pendergraph, Ramirez, and Thompson.

I've yet to personally meet Charles Jeter. However, he has shown a solid base of support in North Meck due to his time on the town council in Huntersville. I'd like to have a beer with Jeter and listen to his band. Normally, in most years, I would vote for Jeter - but I'm not planning to do so. I'll explain why in a minute.

Name recognition will decide this election. There are four legitimate candidates that are going to be the top four names on election night. Problem with that, of course, is the top three go to November... and that's why I can't vote for Jeter.

Most, including myself, believe former Sheriff Jim Pendergraph will sail through May 4th and November into the County Commission. The former Sheriff is a unique candidate in this race due to that name recognition and a general admiring from most Mecklenburg County residents. Pendergraph helped institute the 287g program in Mecklenburg and brings a lot to the table. Pendergraph won't need my help to get through.

That brings us to Dan Ramirez. This race will be the sixth time Ramirez's name will be on the ballot since 2002. That, folks, is ridiculous. He has lost in 2004, 2007, and 2008. It surprised some when he decided not to run for Mayor last year because he loves running so much. Now Ramirez is hoping to earn his third election the County Commission - and his third nonconsecutive term. I'm afraid of Ramirez winning on name ID alone because he is not the most conservative guy. Ramirez is just as culpable as Jennifer Roberts for the current budget shortfalls because of his addiction to spending. That's why I'm not supporting his bid, but many old guard Republicans are and that's unfortunate. The "win no matter what" sentiment would make Ramirez a good fit, but you look at how freely he spends taxpayer money it should make you re-think that mindset. I will not be supporting Dan Ramirez May 4th and for the above reasons, you shouldn't either.

Finally, that brings me to my friend Corey Thompson. I met Corey last October as we worked together on the Bokhari for City Council campaign. I was instantly impressed with his commitment to his principles and desire to make a difference. When he told me he was running for County Commission, I was ecstatic. On a strictly personal level, I can't think of a more honest man running for the right reasons. Thompson has a strong team that has worked very, very hard to get him in position to win in not just May, but November as well. Bokhari serves as campaign manager and fellow 2009 City Council alum Matthew Ridenhour serves as chief campaign strategist.

Corey has attended more events, knocked on more doors, and been more active that any other candidate in this race. If it were just about hard work, he would be a shoo-in. As I said, political reality tells me he'll be fighting with Jeter because I have no confidence Mecklenburg Republican primary voters. Of course, I'd love to be proven wrong. When it comes down to it, Corey Thompson is a better candidate than Jeter. I'll be voting for Corey Thompson on May 4th. Besides, Huntersville would lose a great member of their town council - he should stay right where he is.

For more information about Corey Thompson, visit http://coreythompson.us/

9/2/10, Corey Thompson Announces Run For County Commission At-Large »»

COREY THOMPSON

Candidate for Mecklenburg County Commission At-Large

www.coreythompson.us

PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ? FEBRUARY 11, 2010

?CMS Teacher Pledges To ?Do More? In Filing For County Commission?

Charlotte, NC- Corey Thompson, a 34 year old Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teacher, has announced his candidacy for the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners. Thompson plans to file as an At-Large candidate on Monday, February 15^th, at 4:15 PM at the Mecklenburg Board of Elections. This is the first time that Thompson has run for an elected office.

?I believe that the citizens of Mecklenburg County are looking for leaders who can identify with their day-to-day struggles, who will remain accountable to the public, and can restore trust in our elected officials. I believe that is exactly the type of leadership I can provide,? Thompson said.

The filing on Monday will serve a purpose other than just submitting the appropriate paperwork and fees to the Board of Elections. Thompson also plans to hold a school supplies drive in conjunction with making his candidacy official. In doing so, Thompson wants to raise awareness about his message of community involvement in helping solve problems throughout the county.

Thompson added ?In the wake of the current economic recession, our county leaders have had to make tough decisions in shaping our budget, especially in regard to education. County Manager Harry Jones recently stated that we all need to be prepared to ?do less, with less? in the coming days. I believe that the hard-working citizens of this community are growing tired of waiting on the government to solve their problems. That?s why I?m pledging to ?do more? with the help of the people, because I am confident that everyday citizens can be far more effective than a government with misguided priorities.?

School supply contributions can be dropped off to Thompson?s campaign team between 4:00-5:00 PM Monday in the Board of Elections parking lot, located at 741 Kenilworth Avenue. Those items collected will be donated to Classroom Central on behalf of the people of Mecklenburg County. Thompson will also make brief remarks to family, friends, and supporters after filing.

Thompson and his wife Jenny, also a CMS teacher, are natives of Mecklenburg County. The couple are proud parents of a 2 year old son named Charlie. Corey is a graduate of The Citadel, and has held numerous leadership roles in local organizations.

Thompson concluded with a final challenge: ?I want people to ask themselves one question. Is Mecklenburg County better off today than she was two years ago? If the answer to that question is ?no,? then I?m asking for the opportunity to earn your trust and your vote to help our community get back on a path toward prosperity. I believe in the spirit of Mecklenburg. I believe in our citizens, and with their help, I am confident that our best days are ahead of us.?

9/2/10, Caddell On The Midterm Elections »»

9/2/10, What American President Would Do That? »»

9/2/10, 8/11/10 Council Meeting »»

9/2/10, Five to Thrive »»

As I've been speaking with voters, I've been sharing my vision for North Carolina; a healthy economy, small business growth and job creation, improving education, getting tough on crime and restoring honesty and integrity to state government and our elections process.

Now I'd like to tell you how I plan to do that. North Carolina needs real solutions. I have them. I believe it will take . . .

FIVE to THRIVE

Five to Thrive is the name for five pieces of legislation I'm going to be introducing on Day One of next year's legislative session.

I've worked with citizens, and with business and community leaders to craft these bills because all the talk in the world isn't going to solve our problems. Action and leadership focused on the right priorities will keep North Carolina a leader in the nation.

This is the direction our state desperately needs and this is the leadership that I'll bring when you elect me. The first piece of FIVE to THRIVE legislation will restore fiscal responsibility to our state budget process.

It's not often you hear North Carolina mentioned with states like California and New York, that is, unless the conversation happens to be about budget deficits.

A recent report shows North Carolina facing one of the largest budget deficits in the nation. Only California, Connecticut, Minnesota, Texas and New York are in worse financial shape.

When asked about North Carolina's financial woes, my opponent and current NC Representative responded, "Most states are struggling with the financial crisis, but North Carolina is faring better than other states." (http://www.scribd.com/doc/29954803/The-Daily-Tar-Heel-for-April-15-2010)
Technically she is correct. We are faring better than other states - five of them. She fails to mention we are doing worse than 44. My opponent's solution? "Broaden the tax base." As if the $1.4 Billion tax increase last year wasn't broad enough.

My solution? I'll be introducing the GROWTH in BUDGET ACT which will limit government spending increases to the average increase of inflation and population growth. The Growth in Budget Act will require a two-thirds majority vote of the General Assembly to exceed this limit and will establish an emergency reserve trust fund. Any funds unspent as a result of this act that exceed 5% of the general fund appropriation for the prior fiscal year will be returned to the taxpayers.

Just as families and businesses across North Carolina have had to tighten their belts and live within their means, so must state government.

The GROWTH in BUDGET ACT is the first of my Five to Thrive solutions. I can't wait to tell you about the other four over the coming weeks so stay tuned! The complete text of all five bills will be available for online viewing on my website after October 1.

It's time for real leadership in North Carolina and together, we can make a difference.

9/2/10, NCGOP Chairman's Race »»

The race for NCGOP Chairman has changed some and it is now down to two people - Chad Adams and Tom Fetzer. I have thought long and hard about this race and have now made up my mind. Before, giving my decision I want to lay out the race as I see it and tell why I have decided the way I have.

First , let's consider the candidacy of Tom Fetzer. Tom is a solid conservative who knows his way around the political structure and the hierarchy. He was elected Mayor of Raleigh which is a big accomplishment for a Republican. Tom did a great job as Mayor and proved to be what he said he was. Tom would make a great US Senator or Congressman. He would probably even make a great Governor of this state. He would be a prolific fundraiser as state chairman and he would be well accepted by the Washington based RNC. He has good conections in Washington ad he would do a great job leading the party in the reelection battle for Richard Burr, a god friend of Tom's.

Chad Adams in his role with the John Locke Foundation allowed him to eastablish himself as a leader. Chad had much contact with the grassroots of the partyy throughout the state and he proved to effective at bringing the mkessage of the John Locke Foundation to them. He has energy and a passion for restoring the party. He would likely need help raising the funds needed but he is committed to raising the funds the party needs. He is not as well known by the RNC crowd as Tom is but he has the personality and the style to get along and to be accepted. He has good conections with the grassroots of the party in North Carolina.

I think the bottom line in this race is the need for the new Chairman to renergize the base of the party throughout the state and to listen to the activists who get things done for the party. The grassroots of the NCGOP have become dissatified and they feel that the state party pays more attention to what Washington wants that what the state needs. The members of the State Executive Committee feels that the meetings are designed to keep them from saying what they want and to push a preformed agenda down their throats regardless of what the committee thinks. In defense of the leadership, a big part of that problem lies with members of the committee but that is a topic for another day. With this in mind, the biggest Tom Fetzer has is that he will be percieved as a Washington Chairman bringing more of the same to the job. That perception will cause far too many of the activists to stay away. It is primarily for this reason that I support Chad Adams for NCGOP Chair.

Chad can do the job. He will work full time. He will be responsive to the grassroots (if he isn't he will fail). Chad will figure out how to raise the money needed. He will provide the type of leadership the activists have been longing for. He will be a different leader and that is desired by those people who the party needs to gain back its brand. The Democrats have stolen the NCGOP's brand and the party needs to claim it back in no uncertain terms. I believe Chad is the candidate who best recognizes that and he will kead to get it back.
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9/2/10, Perdue Takes The Helm »»

Yesterday's inauguration in Raleigh brought North Carolina's first female governor into power, but that is not the real story. Yea, yea yea history is made with he first female governor blah blah blah. The electorate in North Carolina has a short memory and does not demonstrate itself as being very bright. Of course their are a number of important factors to this election that need consideration.

First, lets go back a short time and think about the big story, or stories to be more correct, that covered the scene and the media leading up to the election. Corruption corruption corruption conviction conviction conviction jail time jail time jail time. Get the point? The big story was the culture of corruption in Raleigh that went from the General Assembly, DOT, Boards like the Transportation Board, Lottery Commission and even out of Raleigh to local elected officials. The press moaned about the shame and how we needed to change and bring integrity and honesty back to North Carolina long known for clean government. Please! So what is the point? The point is that the electorate once again sent the same old crowd with the same old people back to Raleigh. Does anyone out there think anything will change? Is anyone out there paying attention? Does anyone out there care? That's all right when your taxes start going up and up remember why. Remember that you sent the same corrupt crowd that has been in the thick of the problem that has led us to where we are back to the helm to fix what they did, never to this day admitting that what they have done was wrong. Good Luck!

The second part to this story is who voted them in? I worked the polls on election as did many others I know. We were observers and promoters. I always love doing this because I would go outside and ask voters about the people they voted for. I worked a poll in Southeast Raleigh. I asked people one of three questions: 1. Did they vote for Beverly Perdue? 2. Who did they vote for for Congress? or 3. Do they think Kay Hagan will make a good Senator? All of the people I spoke with except one, voted a straight Democrat ticket and were proud to vote for Obama. None of them knew who Beverly Perdue was, none of them (except one who knew she voted for a woman for governor but did not know her name) knew who they voted for for governor and not one of them had any idea who Kay Hagan was. The liberal Democrat machine did its job. They elected a gang without the voters knowing who they were electing. It sure protects them from the corruption charges defeating them when they literally bus folks in who have no idea who they are voting for. North Carolina went from Red to Blue by the votes of many uneducated voters.

The third point is the disgraceful campaign run by the Republicans. With the exception of leaders like Skip Stam who worked hard to win in the State House, note here the Republicans held their own and did not lose ground in the General Assembly, the effort by Republicans was one of the worst in my memory. The McCain campaign was run by a bunch of bungling idiots who should all immediately retire from politics forever! The State GOP seemed to be more concerned with not offending anyone that with winning the election. The party apparatus seems to have forgotten that conservatism is what brought them to the table in a state run by Democrats for 200+ years. The GOP staff was better at making Republican activists angry than with getting them work harder to win. The NCGOP has a critical decision to make this June. They will elect new leadership and they had better get it right or they will not get enough seats in 2010 to sit at the redistricting table after the census. That, my friends, means another ten years of gerrymandered voting districts that will keep the Democrats in charge in spite of the fact they generally get fewer votes statewide for General Assembly races than the Republicans.

The final piece of the story may be the biggest. The mainstream media in this country has proven themselves to be the greatest threat to our freedom. In the 2008 election they finally abandoned any precepts of reporting the news and instead created an alternate reality in order to elect Barack Obama and a bigger majority in Congress for their liberal socialist agenda. The news was distorted and the media flat out lied to the public to achieve their goal of a socialist government. They will now push hard for, among other things, The Fairness Doctrine to shut up their opposition, Conservatives, to regain their monopoly on the "news". They will work very hard for the socialist elitist policies they have longed for since the sixties. They failed to get control in and after the sixties but they see their chance now. We has all better wake up. Look what has already happened: we have a political recession, nationalizing of financial institutions, nationalizing of the auto industry, a campaign to make all America believe that the only salvation is to rely on money sent to our mailboxes by our benevolent mother the Federal Government and a clear push to nationalizing our health care system. The conservative majority in this country and the entrepreneurs who have made this country the greatest one on earth better wake up and not allow the left to take away our freedom.
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9/2/10, A Comment On The Limitations of Electoral Politics »»

9/2/10, A Fair Tax [Penalty] Indeed »»

9/2/10, Raleigh N&O As Biased As Ever »»

The McClatchy Company?s Raleigh News & Observer?s editorial page, once strongly pro-John Edwards, is now just as strongly pro- Barack Obama.

But John Drescher, the paper?s executive editor, assures readers the N&O goes to great lengths to make sure its editorial biases don't creep into its news columns.

With Drescher?s assurance in mind, let?s compare newsobserver.com?s coverage of yesterday?s pro-Obamacare rally in Raleigh with its coverage of the Apr. 15 Raleigh ?tea party? rally.

Today?s headline

Pro-health reform rally draws 350

The headlines for the Apr. 15 rally:

"Tea party" gets pretty hot
Thousands of conservatives rally in Raleigh against taxes

As you can see, today?s headline gives no hint of the political orientations of the Obamacare supporters; and neither does the story which follows.

All the rally individual participants quoted today and all the sponsoring organizations are described, not by political orientations, but simply as supporters of health care reform and health care for all.

On the other hand, the N&O?s ?tea party? headline makes the unqualified and unsubstantiated claim the rally participants are ?conservatives.?

In the "tea party" story itself, the N&O uses the ?conservative? label three more times.

Yet most Raleigh ?tea party? participants were quick to tell reporters they had no strong party affiliation and considered themselves "unaffiliated" or ?independents.?

But the N&O chose to spin what the participants said. Here?s an example:

At age 65, Jim Lewis had never been to a protest, but the nationwide wave of anti-tax "tea parties" -- and the dismay among conservatives with the Obama administration's spending plans and bailouts that sparked them -- finally gave him cause enough.

If Jim Lewis had said ?dismay among conservatives? had led him to the rally, you can be sure the N&O would've eagerly quoted him instead of spinning to make it seem such ?dismay? helped bring him to the rally.

Here?s another example of N&O political spin from the ?tea party? story:

The protests -- which coincided with the deadline for income tax filings and were named to evoke the Boston Tea Party -- resonated with conservatives, who turned out by the thousands to more than 30 of the events around the state.

As polls measuring shifts in public support for Obama?s policies were showing then and continue to show, for the most part liberals were and are supporting his policies while conservatives were and are opposing them.

Its among independents that Obama?s support has dropped significantly.

So it seems reasonable to conclude the ?tea parties? have resonated rather strongly among independents.

But the N&O can?t bring itself to tell readers that.

Instead it misleads them by misusing the ?conservative? label.

A couple of other items - - -

In the N&O?s "tea party" report we find this:

The protesters were almost entirely white, a fact that hecklers in passing cars pointed out more than once. "All you white rednecks!" yelled one woman as she drove past the courthouse.

Today the N&O says nothing about the racial make-up of the Obamacare supporters.

Why not?

If it was proper to report the racial make up of the "tea party" participants, why not that of the Obamacare participants?

Also, many participants in yesterday?s rally were bused in from as far away as Wilmington and carried identical, professionally-produced signs. You can read more about all of that and view photos here at Conservative Nation.

But you won't read about any of it in the N&O.

The N&O has reported Dems' charges made with little or no proof that "town hall" meetings at which citizens have expressed outrage at the Obama administration's plans to socialize medical care are really just protests ?organized? by GOPers.

But when there?s easily documented proof that an Obamacare rally, which took place just a few blocks from its office, was heavily organized by Democratic Party interest groups and the state's NAACP chapter, the N&O says nothing.

Editor John Drescher?s right when he says the N&O?s political biases don?t ?creep? into its news columns.

They gush in.

Hat tips: Instapundit

Locomotive Breath

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9/2/10, Why Are Obama's and Dems' Numbers Dropping »»

President Obama's MSM flacks include ABC's Charlie Gibson and NBC's Brian Williams who pump hard for him in what their producers call "our networks' news reports."

But Gibsons's and Williams' producers and Obama's other flacks such as Maureen Dowd and Paul Krugman must be worried.

As hard as they pump, spin and outright distort for Obama and his Dem congressional allies, both the President's and his congressional Dem allies' approval numbers continue to drop.

Why?

At least part of the answer is that tens of millions of Americans no longer count on MSM to tell us "that's the way it is today."

Instead, more and more Americans are paying attention to citizen journalists like Mike Williams whose news letter report today, Sunday, Aug. 23, follows:

Obama continues to slip in the polls. Rasmussen reports that 27% of voters now strongly approve of his performance as president, while 41% strongly disapprove. This gives him an index rating of -14.

Obama?s ten-year budget deficit projection is staggering. On Friday he raised it by a mind-boggling two trillion dollars. Then he walked out the door for a summer vacation at Martha?s Vineyard.

Is it constitutional for Obama to require every American to have health insurance?

Is Sarah Palin right that Obamacare envisions ?death panels? for end-of-life medical treatment? Obama says he?s offended, but others think Palin has a point. For sure America?s vets do.

Does Obamacare include taxpayer-funded abortions?

Did the White House illegally use taxpayer dollars to push Obamacare? More here.

Didn?t Bush try to tell us that Social Security is in trouble, and didn?t the Dems blow him off? Guess what?

Watch a Marine take Rep. Brian ?Brown Shirts? Baird (D-WA) to the woodshed at a town hall.

Is Iraq in trouble? Maybe, maybe not.

Would you be surprised to learn that Greenpeace has been lying about global warming?

Did the UK release Lockerbie mass murder Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi as part of a commercial deal?

Is Obama trying to recreate America in his own image?

Is Obama in over his head?

Mike

9/2/10, Gotta Love Soccer Fans »»

9/2/10, Your Government Wants To "Reinvent Journalism" »»

9/2/10, Do Our Kids Need To See This Art ? »»

9/2/10, I need to get back to blogging »»

9/2/10, The NCLM fake grassroots network »»

The citizens of NC who have come together over the last eight years to raise their voices to the State Legislature about ending forced annexation have had the city lobbyists, the NC League of Municipalities (NCLM) on the run and this continues.

In response to the success of the grassroots citizens, the NCLM has created what they are calling the LINC network; which stands for Legislative Information Network of Communities.

The NCLM has been using this tool to fight the citizens efforts to change the annexation laws to end forced annexation. They have recruited city residents go along with city officials to visit legislators in Raleigh for the purpose of having these citizens tell legislators that being annexed into the city was the greatest thing to ever happen to them.

Well, anyone who pays attention to city politics knows that there are always people, who I would describe as city council "groupies", who would do anything to gain brownie points with elected officials, so I'm sure the NCLM has been able to find some of these types who would fall all over themselves to do this. I doubt they can find very many people who have been FORCIBLY annexed that are happy about it who would go.

The NCLM is in gear for the 2010 Short Legislative Session and have sent out their first "LINC" email announcing a weekly conference call to brief municipal LINC members on legislative activity that they need to respond to. Opposing the citizens calling for an end to forced annexation is a priority item on their agenda.

The NCLM has also pulled a new tactic this year in their ongoing attempts to run away from the citizens coming to Raleigh to ask for an end to forced annexation. They changed the date that they had set for their yearly 'Town Hall Day' to June 16th after months of advertising it for June 2nd.
StopNCAnnexation obtained permits for the Bicentennial Mall and the Halifax Mall for June 2nd and started advertising this year's rally early in the year.

StopNCAnnexation began holding a Citizens Rally in Raleigh on the NCLM's Town Hall Day starting in 2005, and the NCLM has been trying to avoid the citizens on that day ever since. The Bicentennial Mall is the location that the citizen rally has usually been held. This year the NCLM has also blocked anyone from using the Bicentennial Mall on June 16th.

I don't think this latest move by the NCLM should stop the citizens from showing up at the Legislature on June 16th. No one has ever needed a permit to visit the legislative buildings and walk the halls to meet with legislators. Let's not let the NCLM have June 16th all to themselves in Raleigh this year.

If you were planning to attend the Rally on June 2nd, change that date on your calender to June 16th, and I'll see you there!

Cathy

Read more...

9/2/10, Second Chance to hear Conference Speaker Daren Bakst »»

9/2/10, Action Glenwood »»

9/2/10, Wray Fray Continues »»

9/2/10, Scott Yost on Guilford County Commissioners Profilgacy »»

9/2/10, George Hartzman Class at Shepherd?s Center of Greensboro »»

9/2/10, My news story about social media on WRAL TV »»

9/2/10, The case for which I had jury duty. »»

9/2/10, Advice to Students »»

9/2/10, Teacher effectiveness is news worth reporting »»

9/2/10, So now what? »»

9/2/10, Ok, now this is just getting ridiculous »»

9/2/10, Can Obama Escape the Taint of Blagojevich? - TIME »»

9/2/10, How Much For Your Wings? »»

9/2/10, Labor Day »»

The cicadas peaked last week, and then they died in mass numbers. Their demise didn't make the headlines or Larry King. It's a subtle change like the summer solstice passing weeks ago, and ever since our world has been screaming, sliding, slipping, and singing away from summer, rushing headlong into fall.

Labor day for many is the symbolic end of summer, though we know that summer really ends the day that school starts, or the pool closes and not the official end on the 22nd or 23rd of September.

This weekend it's a last trip to the beach or a final day at the lake, school has started and the morning traffic has nearly doubled in volume. Yellow buses by the dozens have replaced the colorful summer camp buses and those with kayaks or white water rafts stacked precariously on their roofs, that travel the winding roads beneath the cool shadows of the North Carolina Mountains.

I Love holidays, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Memorial Day. I enjoy them all except Labor Day for I find no reason to celebrate the end of summer.

After the deadly Pullman strike and riots in 1894 President Grover Cleveland pushed legislation making Labor Day a national holiday, once a political holiday with speeches parades and labor rallies, it has now devolved into a lesser holiday. Labor Day is a painful reminder that life is fleeting, it is rushing by at an amazing pace. And Yes "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it." And, I fear summer I may have missed it.

Labor Day marks the beginning of the NFL and college football seasons. Though the fans at Chapel Hill and Columbia won't get into full football mode until they can wear their Go Tar Heels and Go Cocks! sweaters and on a cool October afternoon stand and cheer the sacking of Clemson and NC State quarterbacks.

Labor Day marks the passage of time, more so than New Year's Eve for it is the death of summer and the start of the period of emptiness, where less humid afternoons are shortened by darkness that comes too soon to really enjoy.

The period of waiting, it will last until fall's first frosty morning arrives and with it a renewed sense of purpose. I await the first crisp breaths of fall until then, I mourn the loss of summer.

(With all due Homage to Ferris Bueller)
Read more...

9/2/10, Another CMPD Officer Arrested »»

9/2/10, Badnarik to come teach Constitution class in Columbia, SC? »»

9/2/10, A walk toward success... »»

9/2/10, A Mind is Terrible Thing to Waste »»

By: Theosebes

The little girl's shoulders shook as she tearfully hugged her big brother good bye. The mother stood by with her hand on her son's shoulder, painfully dealing with the transition from high school student to college freshman. The scene was touching and brought back personal memories of just a year ago as I too experienced this emotional release in 2008 when my daughter entered the university for the first time. Yet there was peace knowing that the college she was attending was built on this mission statement: "Biblically centered education, scholarship and service- equipping men and women in mind and character to impact the world for the Lord Jesus Christ."

The first institution in America was founded in 1636 by a Puritan named John Harvard. He left his library of 400 books to found a "seminary" with this understanding, "The maine end of [a student's] life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottome, as the only foundation of all found knowledge and learning." (Samuel, Eliot Morison, The Founding of Harvard College). Today the mission statement for Harvard is vastly different. "In brief: Harvard strives to create knowledge, to open the minds of students to that knowledge, and to enable students to take best advantage of their educational opportunities." Harvard no longer espouses that the study of God and Jesus Christ is the foundation of all found knowledge and learning, but rather there is a denial of God and the belief that humans can create knowledge. Education has devolved from its superior beginnings in America when the Progressive agenda took root, walking away from the classical preparation that made the true pursuit of knowledge and truth foundational and moving toward an education of experience, resulting in an incremental ?dumbing down? of Americans dating back to the early twentieth century.

Parents today may send their children off to prestigious learning institution, feeling secure in the campus security, the dorm life, and the extra-curricular activities these schools may offer, but because parent's have also been indoctrinated into a Progressive mentality, it doesn't occur to them to be wary of the propaganda taught at most universities. Glenn Beck points out in Common Sense that the educational system has "fallen prey to political patronage and the Progressive agenda." Beck also quoted Woodrow Wilson, once president of Princeton University, (another one of America's first colleges founded to meet the needs of training ministers) who said, "Our problem is not merely to help the students to adjust themselves to world life....[but]to make them as unlike their fathers as we can." Beck, Glenn Common Sense, Pg 91.

When did the fathers of our country become unworthy of study and emulation? Who should we fashioning our lives after, if it is not the great men and women in history, our American history? Who should children view as worthwhile role models if it is not their fathers? When did the colleges and universities become enemies of the parent instead of a support system to help the child to succeed in becoming an adult?

According to Gary Amos and Richard Gardiner, in their book Never Before in History, the standard for graduation in the 1700s from Harvard was as follows:

Every student who, on trial, shall be able to translate from the original Latin text, and logically to explain the Holy Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, and shall also be thoroughly acquainted with the principles of natural and moral philosophy, and shall be blameless in life and character, and approved at public examination by the President and the Fellows of the College, may receive the first degree.

The Masters Degree required the following:

Every scholar who has maintained a good standing, and exhibited a written synopsis of logic, natural and moral philosophy, arithmetic and astronomy, and shall be prepared to defend a proposition or thesis; shall also be versed in the original languages, as aforesaid; and who carries with him a reputation for upright character and diligence in study, and shall pass successfully a public examination, shall be admitted to the second, or Master?s degree.

Today according to the Harvard website, graduation requirements to earn the bachelor?s degree, a student must complete 128 credits and maintain good academic standing (2.0 GPA). At least 64 credits must be completed at Harvard University. A student must fulfill all of his or her requirements and be in good academic and financial standing with Harvard University, with no disciplinary or administrative procedures pending, to graduate and participate in May Commencement. Each school of study of course has differing requirements for its emphasis,

but it is interesting to note the very different tone that one finds today at one of America?s most renowned universities and the requirements of two hundred years ago.

Most interesting is the requirement that the student must be upright and blameless in life and character and having a thorough knowledge of the Bible in the 1700?s Laws and Statutes for Students of Harvard College. One would be hard pressed to find such a high standard for graduation from any school today, let alone America?s oldest institution of higher learning: Harvard University.

Academic standards are set without regard for the character of the individual and no where is the Bible seen as an indispensable factor for a well rounded scholar.

Our lower institutions of learning have an even tougher climb to reach the excellence of early American schools. The New England Primer was the text book that emphasized both Christian charact

er and literacy and classical education was a standard for many colonial Americans, along with apprenticeships to provide skilled training.

Today?s classrooms would not be allowed to have a New E

ngland Primer, as it would offend those who believe in the separation of church and state. The Primer utilized Bible stories to help teach the alphabet and the Westminster Catechism was also part of the text. Samuel Eliot Morison said, ?American revolutionary leaders, both North and South, Madison, Wythe, and Jefferson, the Rutledges and Pinckneys, as well as Hamilton, Jay, and the Adamses, and Trumbulls, could never have rendered their distinguished services to the young republic without that classical leaning which is denied to most Americans today. (Samuel Eliot Morison, Three Centuries of Harvard (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1936), 136.

How do we expect our children to excel in grade school, middle school and high school when the standards of education are at an all time low? When Progressivism has a choke hold on real education, when indoctrination is the ring of the school bell, and the diploma of good citizenship is given to a student who can spew out the correct responses on a test that measures the ability to think green, distrust the government and treat people equally. We are not raising an army of brilliant thinkers as the founding fathers were, but rather a generation whose work ethic, morality and character are easy to mold by those who believe they know what is best. Yet this ?knowing? leadership also attended the schools of Progressive instruction and they too are not in the same league as the excellent scholars, thinkers and statesmen that the Founders were.

How can we as parents pursue an education for our children, that reflects excellence and strives for a standard that few achieve, a standard that early Americans set and achieved? We as parents do know what is best for our children, even in regard to education, though the local school district and the Obama Administration would say the contrary. American schools are failing our children not because students are not learning to read, write and do basic math, but because the standard of excellence, the standard of ?blameless in life and character? is not the key element in a child?s life. When we take away the foundation of Biblical scholarship and morality and replace it with an ever changing ideology of humanism, then the goal becomes only to clone robots who espouse the philosophy of the powers that be. When high moral character and biblical ethics are separated from the education of a child, only the outer shell will appear polished. Test scores may reflect understanding and in academics that child may find success, but the inner person will struggle for meaning that was never addressed in this pursuit of knowledge.

A wholly educated person is educated in mind, body and spirit and is a danger to the Progressive agenda, because that person has the ability to reason, to consider ethical ramifications and to speak against the wrongs that the government is foisting on the ?tired and huddled masses?. This is why education is the most crucial weapon that we have as parents and that the Progressive desire to hold in complete control. There is recognition that if the masses can be educated just enough to know how to follow their ?teachers?, then an army of ?yes men? can be established. This is why parents must do their due diligence to be connected with their child through every part of schooling, even the choosing of the university. This too should becomes a family affair as the family releases the life, mind, and spirit of their child to an institution that will either reinforce the values of the family unit and build it into a stronger entity, or will do the work of a cancer and slowly destroy the value system of that individual, creating in that student an individual who questions the loving authority that nurtured it and instilling a group think mentality focused on experience and skills needed for a future society.

The future of America is in the children that we raise. Mediocre is not an option. Parents must become more deeply engaged in the philosophy of the educational process, as well as breaking the chains that have imprisoned our minds as well. We must re-educate ourselves, recognizing that we all have had a dose of Progressive indoctrination, and we must return to the educational pattern that helped establish this nation. Those who rule on high in Washington are products of this century old heist of the American mind. Like the old proverb, they too have been the frog, slowing dying in an ever warming pot of water. But the fire can be extinguished and the death of brilliant minds stopped. It is not too late to stop the march of this Statist ideology but it must become personal and we must return to the pursuit of truth that Harvard was built on at its inception: "The maine end of [a student's] life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottome, as the only foundation of all found knowledge and learning.? Without this foundation, we may truly say, the mind is a terrible thing to waste.

9/2/10, California Appeals Court Stands for English Only »»

By Theosebes

In 1914, President Theodore Roosevelt stated, "We have room for but one language in this country, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding house."

Last week, the First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco rejected arguments that English-only exams violate a federal requirement that limited-English-speaking students "shall be assessed in a valid and reliable manner." Nearly 1.6 million students in California have limited command of the language, according to a OneNewsNow article. The court of appeals, in a three-to-zero ruling, upheld a San Francisco judge?s decision that ruled against the bilingual-education group in his 2007 decision.

The lawyer for the school district, Marc Coleman stated that they are considering an appeal to the state Supreme Court. But Aloysius Hogan, a spokesman for English First, thinks that due to the solid three-to-zero ruling this would be a tough challenge.

Last week, I had the privilege of introducing a ten year old Ukrainian boy to a group of school children. This young man was adopted by a couple last December and knew absolutely no English when he arrived aside from ?hello, yes, no, and mommy and papa.? The day of the assembly, he spoke in very good English to a group of children his age and fielded the questions that these children had for him about the orphanage he had lived in and about Ukraine. His native tongue is Russian and he had been learning to read Russian. Here in his new home, he had to learn a new alphabet and is now reading very well for only being here for eight months.

Credit goes to his parents, I am sure, for their dedication in helping him learn the language so quickly. But this young man has had a much more difficult life than most children ever experience in the United States and is already putting the majority of bi-lingual children and adults to shame.

If an orphan child can come to a new land, learn a new alphabet, learn to read and speak in English, in eight months, then why can?t a high school or any elementary school child do the same? I would suggest that there is laziness and a lack of care. The examples these children have at home demonstrate arrogance for not adopting the language that defines America and its heritage. There is no reason other than laziness and pride that keeps individuals back from learning the language of the land. With effort, the lives of the adults and children who do not have a command of the language would improve by making it easier to live in a country with a single language, making it easier to be neighborly and do day to day tasks in the community.

I agree with the Court's decision and believe that pressure needs to be applied to the homes of non-English speakers, holding them responsible for getting their children ready for the world. It is not the government?s job, but rather the individual who chooses to live in the United States of America.

9/2/10, Big boss man »»

9/2/10, Southbound »»

9/2/10, Supremes: Improvidently or not, inmates will remain locked up »»

9/2/10, Ross at UNC -- but if baseball comes calling... »»

Tom Ross, the former judge, courts administrator and foundation president who has been president of Davidson College for the past three years, is said to be the choice of the search committee of the UNC Board of Governors to succeed Erskine Bowles as head of the UNC system. If that's the case, he'll be the second Greensboro boy in a row to head the 17-campus UNC system. Like Bowles, Ross grew up in Greensboro, where his father was with Burlington Industries.

Ross is also politically savvy, having been a Democratic Party official in his home county and served as chief of staff for former U.S. Rep. Robin Britt, D-N.C. If I remember correctly, Ross is a distant cousin of former Gov. Jim Hunt, who himself was born in Guilford County though he has lived most of his life in Wilson County.

THURSDAY UPDATE: Susan Donaldson Ross, Tom Ross's spouse, says that story about the Hunt connection is not correct. Jim Hunt is related to the Ross family of Pleasant Garden in Guilford County, she says. Tom Ross is related to the Ross family from Charlotte.

Hunt, in fact, appointed Ross to be judge of the N.C.Superior Court judge iin 1984-- the youngest such judge at the time. I ran into Hunt at lunchtime today and told him I heard we were about to have a new UNC president. He winked and said, "We've got a great future." D.G. Martin, by the way, also a Davidson grad, had mentioned Tom Ross as a candidate for the UNC job way back in February.

Ross's elevation puts him in a better spot to watch one of his favorite things: UNC basketball. Ross went to Davidson and is an avid Wildcats fan, of course, but he also loves Tar Heel basketball, and he and his wife Susan kept a condo in Chapel Hill during his foundation days so he could watch the Heels.

Funny thing, though. He once quipped that the only other job in life he really wanted , beyond president of Davidson College, might be Commissioner of Baseball. Well, me too. Baseball could sure use his talent and judgment.
Read more...

9/2/10, Quantifying the Enthusiasm Gap »»

9/2/10, GOP leads in Alaska Gov, House »»

9/2/10, AZ Gov Loses Head Over Headless Bodies »»

9/2/10, To The Mattresses »»

9/2/10, Democrats Accuse Fox News Of Illegal Support To Ohio Republican Candidate »»

Democrats allege in a legal filing that, by plugging an Ohio gubernatorial candidate's website in a chyron, Fox News illegally contributed to the Republican's campaign.

A seven-page complaint filed Thursday by the Democratic Governors Association with the Ohio Elections Commission accuses Fox News of making an illegal in-kind contributions to gubernatorial candidate John Kasich (R-OH), reports Sam Stein.

During an Aug. 18 appearance on Bill O'Reilly's show, the network displayed the candidate's website at the bottom of the screen as he spoke, which the DGA says constitutes an in-kind contribution. Kasich's campaign raised over $21,000 from the FOX News solicitation, according to the complaint.

DGA Executive Director Nathan Daschle told Stein that there was a difference between running a website URL on screen and just allowing a candidate to pitch his or her website on their own

"We did our homework," he said. "We talked to other networks and other networks told us they have policies against putting up campaign websites like Fox did... Certainly other networks will have candidates on the air. But people don't take it as far as Fox does."

But as Stein points out, there is another possible motivation for the complaint -- feuds between Democrats and the network can reel in the donations. A recent $1 million donation by Fox News parent company News Corp. brought in a similar amount for the DGA.

Kasich is not the only GOP member pulling his URL on Fox. Nevada Republican Sharron Angle, Sen. Harry Reid's Republican opponent, has said she goes on shows which allow her to give out her web address.

"Well, in that audience will they let me say I need $25 dollars from a million people go to Sharron Angle.com send money? Will they let me say that? Will I get a bump on my website and you can watch whenever I go on to a show like that we get an immediate bump," Angle said.

The DGA complaint is embedded below.

ohio fox -

Ohio - Democratic - FOX News - John Kasich - United States

9/2/10, Is Appearance Of Impropriety Now Enough To Open An Ethics Investigation? »»

The Office of Congressional Ethics told the Ethics Committee that the conduct of three members of the House in the time leading up to the vote on the Financial Regulatory Reform warrants further investigation. But OCE also dismissed similar investigations against five other members. So what's the difference between a legal campaign contribution and a "legislation-for-contribution" scheme that violates the honest services law -- and does the OCE really believe that the three members they referred to the Committee violated it?

The difference -- says David Mason, former commissioner and chairman of the Federal Election Commission -- can be hard to figure out. That has left lobbyists and legislators involved in the recent inquiry surprised at being investigated for campaign contributions they thought were perfectly legal under campaign finance laws.

OCE appears to have referred the cases for further investigation not because there was evidence of any quid pro quo, but because people might think there was based on appearance of impropriety, Mason writes. So three Congress members who remain under investigation appear to be in trouble not because their contributions were tied to official acts, but because there was the impression that they might have been.

Mason believes the referrals for full investigations should serve as a warning to both lawmakers and lobbyists because it now appears investigations are being opened because of a wide range of activities -- from those that are clearly illegal to those that are more commonplace in the lobbying world and not specifically prohibited under law.

Writes Mason:

The problem for PAC managers, fundraisers, lobbyists, and others potentially affected by such inquiries is that the triggering behavior appears to run from the plainly off-limits (such as tying a particular contribution to a particular vote or earmark) to the apparently routine (such as building personal contacts with members).

One watchdog group thinks that the conduct of five lawmakers which OCE said did not warrant further investigation is nonetheless unethical, and shows that the current system is broken.

"That a majority of these cases were closed without further investigation show that in our current system it's what is legal that's the problem" said David Donnelly, campaign manager for the Campaign for Fair Elections. "The OCE may not have found any proof of corruption, but everyday Americans know that big money campaign donors and lobbyists have a stranglehold over our electoral system."

OCE first opened an investigation into eight lawmakers who received significant campaign contributions from financial services interests just ahead of the vote on regulation of that industry.

The three lawmakers who were referred for further investigation have held finance related positions. According to a roundup prepared by the Sunlight Foundation, Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) held a fundraiser at the home of a lobbyist who was advocating on the bill when the House was debating a series of amendments to strengthen the legislation. A fund-raising luncheon for Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) a day ahead of the vote on the bill was specifically aimed at the financial services sector. But a connection between Rep. John Campbell and the financial industry lobby is not clear -- he hosted two events a couple days ahead of the vote, one at the home of a defense industry lobbyist.

House - Office of Congressional Ethics - OCE - The Office - Campaign finance

9/2/10, Presentation Thursday Night »»

9/2/10, Latest Job Listings for Republican Offices on Capitol Hill »»

9/2/10, Tennessee Speech Photos »»

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