On Intellectual Redneck .Com:

I’m more or less a one issue voter: character.

John McCain earned his character the hard way — through parties at Annapolis, crashed planes, crashed marriage, crashed Keating scandal. Obama’s character is of recent vintage. He broke a promise to take public funding. He lied.

Immanuel Kant says don’t lie. Even to save a friend from an ax murder. Even to become president. Because one is morally lazy if one can’t figure it out without lying.

We haven’t had a Kantian president since Carter. Nixon, Bush 43, and Clinton were Machiavellian, although Clinton would have rather been loved — and loved, and loved — than be feared.

Obama’s has done mostly a good job so far. And yes I’m rooting for his success. I have too much money invested in his success. But he needs to watch out for overstimulation of the economy and hyperinflation. And he needs to watch out for Huckabee/Palin ’12!

On Intellectual Redneck:

Barack is going after the tax loopholers. Count me as one of them. I, like the Facebook guy, plan on never showing a profit to the IRS on my site.

During the Sui Dynasty in China, six million men were “employed” to finish the 1000-mile Grand Canal.

Men were at that time forced to work on the Canal for one month of their short lives each year. Many died while working on the Canal. Just as today, family breadwinners are dying prematurely while trying to provide for their families.

According to the Tax Foundation, Tax Freedom Day recently passed. We work 4-5 months for the government. Not just one.

How did I celebrate Tax Freedom Day? I didn’t. I have to hide all my disposable income, like a common criminal.

In Cuba, they call it beisbol. Perhaps you’ve heard of Luis Tiant, Tony Perez, and Tony Oliva. Or Jose Contreras and Rafael Palmeiro. In recent years, Cuban greats like Livan and Orlando Hernandez have risked their lives to play in the most major of major leagues.

Not where the money is, but where the freedom is. But Cuba itself has a lot to offer. We hope to live blog from there one day. Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb both played some baseball in Cuba.

We like their cigars. They love “our” pastime. And now? It’s past time.

Just as Iraq wasn’t about oil, reaching out to Cuba isn’t about solidifying Florida in the blue column. It isn’t about commerce and trade. It is about life. It is about liberty. And the pursuit of things like beisbol.

Too busy to respond.  Too busy to send thank-you notes to contributors.  Same with his boy Tedisco?  Not impressed.

Here’s what I wrote on Intellectual Redneck and Bloggers for Huckabee today, among other things:

How do I know he’ll care about the littlest of helpless people, the newborns? If he cares more about a Fox show that isn’t that good. If he pursues a tax plan that will kill some very worthwhile charities? How do I know he won’t make a bargain with the devil to get a Supreme Court justice confirmed? How do I know he won’t keep attacking Mitt Romney, violating the 11th commandment of Ronald Reagan? Why should I vote for him over Sanford or Palin. She’s busy with a family and Alaska.  He’s busy with his state.  What’s Huck so busy with? Am I not busy? Is my blog not as good as yours or as good as his show? I’ve met presidents, the Dalai Lama, and John McCain. I wasn’t impressed with McCain. For a while I was impressed with Huckabee. I asked Huckabee three times for simple requests. Hell, in the Bible the stupid donkey got slapped only 3 times. I only have to ask my Lord and savior once, and He answers. Huckabee will not win the South and the Bible Belt if he keeps on like this.

It’s Sunday, and God is busy. He pre-programmed Earth long ago. He gave us a wonderful gift called “free will.” And we are to be the wise trustees of this planet. He’s busy creating new galaxies and universes.

You have to pray for the right things. Sometimes instead of wisdom, you need to pray for patience. Sometimes instead of praying for yourself, you need to pray for others. Or vice versa. You need to pray for the soul of Brooke Bennett, and pray Godspeed that the Legislature will do what’s right, and so will the judges. The meek shall inherit Heaven.

Sometimes you need to pray for safe journey through valleys that seem like the Shadow of Death. And you need to pray for loved ones who are concerned for you.

Sometimes you need to pray that the next great leader will live compassionate conservatism, not just talk it. Sometimes you need to pray that God will look out for our brothers in impoverished North Korea and Iran, because they are God’s children, and Hell, we invented nuclear weapons.

You have to pray that religion will be the opiate of our young, not pills and weed. You have to pray that we will cling to religion, guns, or whatever else God provides us to survive. You have to pray that the Book of Revelations does not become a self-fulfilling prophesy.

God IS busy. He won’t answer ALL our prayers.

Read the full post at Intellectual Redneck.

On today’s Intellectual Redneck: Cigarette taxes will not curb tobacco use. As it becomes more of a status symbol, more kids will take up smoking. Cigarettes will also become the property of the rich, same as expensive cigars. Poor people will buy cheap cigarettes, cigars, and snuff. They will huddle outdoors in the cold, and workplace illnesses will continue to rise. More rich people will take up recreational smoking, and insurance rates will continue to climb. Mark my words.

We’ll be live blogging from the Masters all week at Intellectual Redneck .Com!  Our prediction?  Phil Mickelson.

Well, there they go again. 

I like to paraphrase Ronald Reagan and try to figure out how he’d respond to certain liberal arguments.

Yet another English teacher has written a letter to one of the local papers here in Vermont, using somewhat tortured logic to make a constitutional argument for the gay marriage bill.

How might Reagan respond? With patience. That in mind, I’ll do my best to provide the words.

Sure. Fine. I’ll accept your logic. Now, guarantee for me the right of fetuses to live, grow, and self-actualize. With no respect to whether they are destined to become straight, gay, rich, poor, abled, or disabled. If gays are born that way, good for them. At least they are born.

Then let’s work on the right of all children to have a mother AND a father. Then we will know that we have interpreted the Constitution in such a way as to protect the helpless first. That is what it means to be a liberal, right?

I dare say it’s what it means to be an Intellectual Redneck. And a big fan of Ronald Reagan.

I’m a big believer in American exceptionalism. We’ve always had a great combination of the ability to pull together and value the individual.

When it comes to the economy, we need to value the capabilities of the individual. Only rugged individualism will get us through it. In that sense, Hoover was right and FDR was wrong. There is no “we” in capitalism. There is in patriotism, however.

Therefore, “we” haven’t lost $11 trillion of wealth in this recession. If we look at it that way, that means our country is all about money. That’s how we define our greatness.

Read the whole post here.

John McCain was tired. He was angry. And he was confused. But he had a good excuse. He was old, and he’d been half beaten to death.

Mike Huckabee is none of those things. But the real model to learn from here is Ronald Reagan.

Reagan was old too. But he was very much in touch with his faith. Did Vietnam strengthen McCain’s faith or weaken it?

McCain saw campaigning as a necessary evil. He saw his sense of humor as a way to get votes sometimes and something to reign in sometimes. But like that of another old guy, Bob Dole in 1996, it had an angry edge to it.

Huckabee saw campaigning as a way to meet people, learn from them, and share his goofy sense of humor with them. Great wisdom for such a young man.

This wisdom and more, much more at Intellectual Redneck.  Breaking news and updates about the Republican Party today!

Not much really. He’s been fixed.

But he still likes to play! Unfortunately, he destroys his toys. Chews them to shreds. And I have to buy new ones. Except when I spend a lot of time playing with him and his toys. Then I don’t have to keep buying him toys.

My cats fight all the time. I think one’s jealous that I spend too much time with the other one. But when I spend a lot of time with both, they aren’t stressed and they don’t fight. Sometimes it starts by one being playful. But when I spend time playing with both, they don’t seem to start those sorts of fights.

There’s something for parents here. Spend money on video games, and they’ll spend their time on them. But they’ll also fight. They’ll break them. Who knows? But worry less about buying stuff like that for them, and you’ll be able to spend more time with them.
See all Archie the Republican Dog columns at Intellectual Redneck .Com.