The story flaming across the headlines about that little slice of otherwise anonymous private property a couple blocks away from Ground Zero has certainly summoned emotions; both sides of the issue have made sound and succinct arguments on their respective behalf.

Those believing this is wholly about private property rights make a good case; it matters little what people do with their private property so long as they do so within the rule(s) of applicable law. Despite a generation of Liberal-creep on our private property rights, most Americans can agree on this point of law. Yep-check one for the pro-Islamic center (or whatever they’re calling it now to deflect hysteria amongst the general population).

Those believing the very idea of putting a symbol of Islam in such close proximity to that place where 3,000 innocent civilians died at the hands of a few Muslims using their faith as the rationale for executing them, calling it “insensitive”, are also correct; why allow placement of a zero-value-added thumb in the collective eye of people that will never forget (and in some cases never fully recover from) what happened that day? It feels like they want to make a shrine to what the Martyrs accomplished 2 blocks away. Yep-check one for the anti-Islamic center…they’re right too.

Both sides have a point, and both sides are right. What to do then?

Howard Kurtz has a piece over at WaPo that does a decent job of linking and pull quoting the most relevant (though I accuse him a little of cherry picking to help make his personal point) reactions from both basically coherent sides of this issue.

What is not mentioned in Kurtz’s piece, or anywhere else for that matter, is the real driving factor behind all this emotion; there is no foundation on which to place any trust that the Muslims behind this plan aren’t up to some nefarious “other” agenda… remember, it was proven on 9/11 that we can never be 100% sure of anything.

We were told in the days immediately after, and for 8 years hence, to be ever-vigilant but to go on with our lives. Of course that guy doesn’t work here anymore-he’s been replaced by one far more interested in apologizing to Islam for American transgressions than in coming together WITH Islam to help them rid their ranks of those still seeking to out-DO 9/11.

We’ve learned because of 9/11 that we’re never completely safe, we’re never completely secure, and we’re never fully immune to acts of terrorism all around the country at any time and in any place. This is the innocence America lost that day, and to be asked by supporters of this plan to forget all that we’ve learned now is just to ask too much. And, it should be lost on no one that those who defend the development of this so-called Park51 project on the grounds of fredom of speech and religion are the very same people who mean to exempt opponents of the plan from exercising these same rights in expressing their opposition to it.

Most unfortunate for everyday Americans is that we’ve had control of the discussion taken away from us by Politicians. Instead of allowing this dialog to finally take place amongst we, the People in the aftermath of that horrific day of inhumanity, our Political heroes have seized the topic to make a few points of their own in hopes of making big scores against their opponents and trying to find the right side to be on in order to garner a few more votes…midterms are not that far off you know.

We know we’ve been told since 9/11 that Islam is a religion of peace. We we’ve been told to move on; the whole of the Nation of Islam is not our enemy…only a small segment is…and that we should embrace this religion as openly as we do every other religion in America because it’s who we are as a People. Of course, who ELSE we are as a people is a society that expects mutual respect and understanding one with another alongside that tolerance we’re expected to show.

And here is where the argument continues to break down. Islam continues to fail at cleansing itself of that small percentage of its membership we accuse of being radicals or fundamentalists or whatever the term is these days. Islam continues to choose silence on the issue of this “small number” of its faithful, and it continues to seek concessions from America and Americans while making no effort to offer concessions it return.

America is many things, but Americans…in light of all the public trust our Government has squandered…seek to trust AND verify. The Imam(s) asking us to trust them on this Park51 development proposal are asking this without giving us any reason to. They are hiding behind the laws, and under the skirts of the Politicians in support of this development plan, and many of these same Politicians are calling us bigots hoping to shame us into shutting our mouths about it…this is no way to conduct a national dialog on an important issue.

They do a lot of that whenever we oppose a thing they think they can curry some favor with in the polls.

Personally, I see the completion of this development project as a boon to all of us who have seen our religious freedoms destroyed in recent years by these very same Liberal mouthpieces who are so hell-bent on seeing Muslims exercise theirs in Lower Manhattan. I hope the Liberals know what they have asked for at Park51, because they are certainly going to get it…we really meant it when we said “Never Forget.”

Even before I saw this Politico piece I was planning to point out how odd it is that Obama keeps picking the wrong side of all the major issues of the day.

Seventy percent favor Arizona’s immigration law so Obama calls in the DOJ dogs to take the State to Court. Sixty percent favor repeal of healthcare reform so Obama takes a victory lap around the country, with a hand out for donor dollars, telling us we’re just afraid of what we don’t understand (and, of course, gives us the obligatory “the GOP is nothing but a bunch of fear mongers” speech).

Nearly 70% are opposed to the ground zero mosque…heck, even within his OWN party there is a deepening chasm…and what does the leader of both the free world AND the not-going-to-be-in-charge-much-longer party do? He steps in it with both feet, speaking out in support of the mosque when (as the WaPo rightly points out) he never really had to even open his mouth on the matter.

Sixty five percent of us are angry at the Federal Government, so what does Obama do? He changes the bloody subject in the National dialog and picks a fight with the GOP over Social Security…an issue his first term hasn’t even mentioned so far, and one he’s had no intention of trying to address as he spends the country willy nilly into the abyss of economic collapse.

Rasmussen has him at nearly 60% disapprove, and it all sorta makes sense. He seems more interested in being President of (and choosing sides with) the least among us…that 30-40% of us out there that go along with any old thing he says and does, paying little to no attention to the mid and long term effects of his ineptitude.

It’s no wonder then that even Politico’s Roger Simon (not the smart one mind you, but the one who gets bitterly drunk and writes straw man articles about how people who oppose the mosque are equivalent to slaveowners and segregationists) sees Obama’s as a one-term Presidency.

Politicians in general, and Democrats (most especially) in particular, don’t give a rip about the human condition of those to whom they pander to sate their lust for personal power and self-aggrandizement. Countless times over the past several generations we’ve been made to suffer their whims and fancies and cultural experimentation but, while targeted demographics have enjoyed short-term benefit…by and large the whole of the Country has ultimately been all the worse off for these things.

Not only do the left and right hands have no idea what the other is doing, it would appear they are not even part of the same body. What else explains the misguided notion that investing in Unions and propping up under-performing teachers might enjoy a greater return than feeding the poor? Further, why would Democrats think the best way to cure obesity would be by starving those very same poor people?

Granted, in the video that follows, Malcolm X’s context here is in regard to African American’s separating from the rest of American society (full video HERE) but if you replace the words “whites” and “the man” with “Federal Government”…and replace “Negro” with “American citizens”… you will see the wisdom of his words on a much larger scale than he could possibly have possessed at the time that he uttered them. View the shortened video HERE:

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[update: Benishek statement on Allen's announcement, is pasted below the fold:]

Jason Allen has announced that he will NOT seek a recount in his primary race against Dr. Dan Benishek:

Petoskey, MI – Michigan First District Congressional candidate Jason Allen, R-Alanson, will not pursue a recount of the official election results certified by the State Board of Canvassers on Friday.

“Over the last few months we had a spirited campaign and I am truly humbled by the support I have received across the First Congressional District,” Allen said. “This past week I have been speaking to Republican leaders across the state, my supporters and most importantly my family, to determine the best course of action. As a result of those conversations, I have decided not to pursue a recount.”

After all the precincts had reported on election night, the Secretary of State website showed a one vote difference between Allen and his primary opponent Dan Benishek. The certification process resulted in the numbers changing to give Mr. Benishek a 15 vote lead.

“It is time to put the primary behind us and move to the general election. It is time for all conservatives to band together to defeat Gary McDowell. I look forward to working with Dan Benishek in the fall campaign. The First Congressional District is long overdue for conservative representation in Congress. I believe Dan Benishek will be an outstanding Congressman for Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula,” Allen said.

The record turnout in the Republican primary holds promise for a strong showing November. Over 70,000 voters turned out to vote in the Republican primary, which has historically seen about 40,000 voters participating in the last 10 years.

Jason Allen is to be commended for doing the right thing here, and stepping aside so that Upper Peninsula Michiganders can get on with their lives, and the Candidate they chose can get on with fighting the Dem. opposition through to victory in November.

We appreciate you Mr. Allen, and we root – now – for Dr. Dan Benishek.

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The Washington Examiner is reporting that President Obama has sent “ethics czar” Norm Eisen to the Russian front, and is shuttering the last vestiges of his romantic comedy titled Transparency and Open Government choosing, instead, to hand ethics and transparency over to Obamafia lawyer and White House Counsel Bob Bauer:

Bauer’s own words — gathered by the diligent folks at the Sunlight Foundation — show disdain for openness and far greater belief in the good intentions of those in power than of those trying to check the powerful. In December 2006, when the Federal Election Commission proposed more precise disclosure requirements for parties, Bauer took aim at the practice of muckraking enabled by such disclosure.

On his blog, Bauer derided the notion “that politicians and parties are pictured as forever trying to get away with something,” saying this was an idea for which “there is a market, its product cheaply manufactured and cheaply sold.” In other words — we keep too close an eye on our leaders.

In August 2006 Bauer blogged, “disclosure is a mostly unquestioned virtue deserving to be questioned.” This is the man the White House has put in charge of making this the most open White House ever.

As Moe Lane would say…

Heh-heeh-heh. Heh! Heh-haah-haah!! Haaah-haaahhh-HAHHH!!!!
MWBHAAH-HAHH-HAAA-HAAAAAH-HAAAA-HAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

OK, OK, I’ve got control of myself nowHA-HAAH-HA-HAAAAHHH!!!!!
No, realAH-HAH-AHH-HAAAHHHH!!!!!

Today’s Manchester Union Leader has a story that stopped me dead in my tracks; “GOP activist questions Congress candidate Guinta’s finances.”

Full.Stop.

Unless you are Charlie Rangel you do not wake up in the morning, slap your forehead, and remember a $500,000.00 bank account you have failed…twice…to disclose. This is, according to the Union Leader, exactly what has happened in the case of Frank Guinta. This revelation raises every political red flag I can muster in light of Pelosi’s “most ethical Congress in History” and her Democrat sidekicks Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters:

CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE Frank Guinta lists a previously unreported personal bank account holding between $250,000 and $500,000 in new financial-disclosure documents filed with the House of Representatives.

The disclosure comes after Guinta loaned his campaign $100,000 on March 28 and $125,000 more on June 27, bringing the total amount Guinta has loaned his campaign so far to $245,000.
[snip]
In an interview Wednesday, Guinta denied that he has received any loan, maintaining that the savings accrued from years of work and frugal living. His previous reports listed three bank accounts with combined savings of between $17,000 and $80,000. Asked how he could have forgotten to list an account with $250,000 to $500,000 not once but twice in earlier disclosure reports, Guinta called the omission “an inadvertent oversight.”

Indeed. So was (were) Rangel’s “alleged” transgressions. In fact, a closer look at Charlie’s shenanigans (page 35, Count IX) as penned by the House Ethics Committee sounds eerily similar to Guinta’s predicament and leads me to think there’s a bigger problem here than just a bad memory.

The Union Leader piece rightly asks why Guinta would even HAVE that much money in a single account given FDIC coverage when you consider his other disclosures which prove him to be fairly savvy in matters of investing money. I ask the same question. Politicians like this, the GOP absolutely does not need right now.

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[UPDATE: A day later, the second actor in this frat house nonsense...State Rep. Candidate Halloran...has now fallen on his own sword, and withdrawn from the race. There IS justice...and there is STILL an opportunity for Democrats to learn something; be better on the issues and maybe you'll get elected and keep your seats. Suck at this game, as you have for many years...and resort to sophomoric pranks and stupid and destructive jokes... and you won't.]

[h/t NowHampshire]

It all started on Facebook. NH State Rep. D.J. Bettencourt (R) posted an update “about the plane crash that killed former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.” According to Seacoast Online (Portsmouth), State Rep. Keith Halloran of Rindge (D) commented with the following:

“Just wish Sarah and Levy were on board”

Not finished, yet another Democrat (State Rep. Timothy Horrigan (D) of Durham, came back with this little gem a little further down thread:

“Well a dead Palin wd be even more dangerous than a live one…she is all about her myth & if she was dead she cldn’t commit any more gaffes.”

In the case of Halloran, according to the SeacoastOnline article, “[l]eaders from both political parties called on [the] Democratic candidate for New Hampshire’s House to apologize Wednesday for posting a death wish for Sarah Palin on Facebook.” It appears Halloran has issued the standard Democrat apology…shallow, meaningless, and insincere…but Horrigan’s fate is more grim. The Manchester Union Leader tells us he has resigned along with his shallow, meaningless, and insincere apology.

I won’t even bother pointing out the level of howls and screams we’d be subjected to in the news cycle were these insensitive fools to be Politicians with an “R” after their name. I would like to remind folks, however, that we live in truly wonderful and delicious times when the party that runs our country is made up of such outstanding members of society, with all the care and empathy and worry for their fellow man of a serial killer, that it would even occur to them to wish for someone else’s death (or revel in the notion of it). And on Facebook no less…not the sharpest tools in the shed those two…

So much for civil political discourse.

Jason Allen and Dan Benishek faced off in what proved to be a very tight GOP primary on August 3 for Michigan’s 1st Congressional District seat once occupied by Bart Stupak. At the end of the night, Benishek was up by a single vote.

In the days since, as each precinct and each county has been working to review and verify and certify, Allen and Benishek have had to ready legal teams and file paperwork and assemble staff in order to prepare for a recount fight…should one come. That decision rests soley on Allen’s shoulders.

Over those 9 days Benishek’s margin has crept up, not down, and with every county that has certified their numbers in preparation for the official meeting with Michigan’s Board of Canvassers on August 23, the margin widens. Latest numbers [subscription required] indicate Benishek is now up by 17 with 3 counties to go:

With only three counties left to either announce or complete their Election Night canvass, 1st Congressional Republican candidate Jason ALLEN has not yet decided whether to pursue a recount if he’s still down after Friday’s official certification by the state Board of Canvassers.

Currently, Allen is down 17 votes, a number both Allen and leader Dan BENISHEK agreed on today. The big county observers will be looking at is Otsego, where Allen has the potential to squeeze out a couple extra votes.

The cited article from MIRS News goes on to suggest that a recount will cost between $75,000 and $100,000 of already cash-strapped Michiganders’ hard-earned dollars, and will likely drag on for quite some time.

Dear Mr. Allen: Is it in the best interests of the people of the Upper Peninsula…or is it in the best interests of you personally… to spend more time and more money on recounts at a time when conceding and working together WITH Benishek will almost guarantee a defeat of the Democrat in MI-1 in the General election in November?

A letter, re-printed with permission below the fold, suggests that you “do the right thing” by Michiganders and end this while there’s still time to keep your honor and dignity…and political future… intact.

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We’ve seen it splattered all across the front pages; more spending for jobs, more spending for bailouts, more spending for Unemployment, more spending for Teachers and Unions and special interests. We’ve also seen deficits rise and the National debt reach numbers that don’t fit on WalMart calculators.

America is bankrupt and they (the ruling Political class) don’t even know it…or they don’t seem to care anyway. What else explains why they’d happily starve the “least among us” or force them to trample each other to death, fighting over a paltry scrap from the Master’s table?

And for all that so-called “stimulus” money that promised jobs we still don’t have, homes we still can’t afford, and infrastructure improvements (that would keep America working for a generation) that remain undone, why are we paving roads that cars can’t drive on?? Why do I have to find out about it while skimming state news about National candidates instead of seeing it splattered all across the so-called Media?

Why, with all the troubles and travails our fellow Americans continue to suffer, are we spending $150K on real bridges to nowhere? Granted, my reference is piddly little old New Hampshire…granted it’s a pretty bridge (however useless it might be for improving the lives of the locals) and granted, it’s only $150K; chump change to the rich and powerful to be sure. But I have personally been on this road many times (traveled it often to several sweet fishing spots) and I can tell you the bridge is nice to look at…and of no intrinsic value to our economic recovery. Watch the video…and pay close attention to the pic at the very end.

Hey Harry? Nance? You paying attention to where all our money is going as you spend it willy nilly in that mad dash of yours to cross the finish line first in the General election?

H.R.1586 began its life as an “ACT To impose an additional tax on bonuses received from certain TARP recipients.” My oh my, has she come a long way since 2009. Now, she is the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act, and carries with her $26.1 BILLION dollars in Teacher bailouts (and for other purposes).

By a vote just completed in the House (247 yay to 161 nay), and after Speaker Pelosi intimated that she “hoped” food stamp monies would not be cut in order to pay off the Unions that helped her and the Democrats get elected in ’08, the House just agreed to the recently passed Senate amendments and readied this bill for the steady left hand of President Obama.

Remember now, the money will be going to Teachers (including the ones insisting on Viagra benefits) and it will be going to Police and to Firefighters too. “It’s for the Children” they cry…and with this money perhaps we can avoid any future preventable deaths of children like the one recently in Philadelphia; an innocent child dead because the closest Firehouse was closed due to lack of funding.

I have already described the actions of this Congress as impudent. I, along with many others, believe the idea of “bailouts” has become far too pervasive in our Political culture…and I believe the disconnect between the Political aristocracy in America and the rest of us helpless rubes is going to ruin this country for generations to come…unless major change takes place very soon.

That a “bailout” of this magnitude can’t stand on its own merits and must – instead – be buried in an FAA funding bill speaks volumes. That Democrats running Congress these days, desperate to avoid being fired by the electorate, would continue spending money we don’t have…even if it means taking food off the tables of an already economically devastated “class” of Americans…only proves they have nothing but their own interests in mind, and not one clue about the effect of their actions on the people they no longer adequately represent.

[update-I just saw this LA Times piece which actually explains why the Dems aren't running on their record of accomplishments...heh]

There’s no other conclusion to draw. President Obama, on the heels of so many historic legislative accomplishments, continues instead with his strategy of hoping to inspire the Democrat base with the energy and verve he thinks they’ll derive from the steady drumbeat of hammering on history.

Obama’s recent speeches and weekly radio addresses are clear indicators that he has not only conceded 2010 to the Republicans…but that he’s actually begging them to take back Congress before it’s too late. Obama knows he is in over his head, if the numbers of Democrats that are peeling away from him like dead skin from a bad sunburn are any indication, and he understands that November 2 is exactly the sort of life preserver he’ll need if he is to have any chance at a second term in office.

Despite the fact that George Bush is 2 years gone, and 4 (technically) from having had much GOP-style impact on legislation, Obama just can’t seem to quit him. We, the People, know from personal experience however that George Bush has had nothing to do with the pain and suffering of the current American collective; blame for that rests solely at Obama’s feet.

Today’s party of “NO” might be the Republicans…and they’ve said NO with good cause… but our NO warnings have gone unheeded and Obama has gotten all that he has asked for. Unfortunately for him, most of the rest of us remember that it was the Democrat party that was the party of NO before it reinvented itself into the party of “YES WE CAN.” Funny what a being the majority will do for the collective memory of our Political Heroes, ain’t it?

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[img via Moonbattery]

Honestly, I don’t care about the frequency with which our King and his Queen vacation from the tough grind of their having to talk out of both sides of their mouths. And I’ve long since grown accustomed to taking a shiv in the back at the 4th rib from the Monarchy on a fairly routine basis. And I’m fine with them going places I’ll never be able to afford to see or getting really cool stuff I’d never dream of being worthy of owning…but, can we please stop now with the nonsense of being asked to believe that our rulers are just private folk; simple and humble and understated like the rest of the riff raff that walks the streets and pays their bills?

Please?

And could someone please tell the White House and that Gibbs creature to shut the hell up already?

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Talk of revolution and rebellion and secession is on the rise. Protests in the streets, angst from the American citizenry on display at town hall meetings, grassroots uprisings in neighorhoods all across a once-docile and submissive America…these things are becoming increasingly commonplace.

Why?

Well, if Rasmussen is to be believed, it’s because 91% of Americans are fed up with the Federal Government and the so-called Political Class, and they aren’t going to take anymore abuse. Sound familiar? Worse still, those that “rule” us think things are just fine and suggest even MORE Government intervention in our lives will be needed to heal what ails the collective. From Tabitha:

There is a fundamental disconnect between the people that we have elected to put in office and the people that make up the United States of America. We can have long conversations about how and why it happened, but the fact of the matter is that the people that are in Washington right now are there because we put them there. We are the ones with the power to change that.

At a time when the country has gone nearly bankrupt, not enough people are working to pay the National bills (let alone their own), record levels of Americans are stuck at home with their hands held out to the Federal Government, America’s debt hovers around a number our grandchildren can’t afford to pay down…and being in a position around the world that finds us a laughing stock in terms of our will to fight and win wars…there is little reason to be confused about Raz’s numbers. What remains is finding the will in the American people to actually do something about it.

And our leaders? They think we’re on the right track. Tabitha points to a Tapscott piece in the Examiner worth taking a clip from:

So how do we explain these two Americas? Rasmussen says his data shows that “the American people don’t want to be governed from the left, the right or the center. The American people want to govern themselves.”

President Reagan understood this. In his first inaugural address, he reminded us that “from time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?”

Reagan in 1981 and Rasmussen in 2010 are pointing to the same fundamental truth: Our Political Class wants to govern Mainstream America, indeed thinks it’s their right and privilege to tell the rest of us how to live because they think they are smarter than we are. But that attitude flies in the face of what America is and always has been about, though imperfectly so, to be sure.
[snip]
Such attitudes are unsustainable in a democratic republic and will sooner or later get the Political Class tossed off the train for good.

I’m just going to come out and say, up front, that I do not condone the idea of an armed insurrection. It’s foolish on a number of levels, not the least of which is the unnecessary cost of American blood and treasure.

I am not going to condone a rebellion…or a revolution…or a secession by a collection of States that still believe the 10th Amendment actually means something, though I’ll be moving to wherever such a thing might occur. As an American and as a patriot, however, I am also not going to condemn these things in large part because of the instructions we were given 234 years ago that still mean something to me today [emphasis mine]:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

My people were here 70 years before that was written. They will be here 70 years from now (God willing) and I expect of them what is expected of us by our Forefathers. Their only means of separating themselves from tyranny and despotism was by way of the gun and the cannon and the bayonet. Their service and their sacrifice, however, and their wisdom and their foresight gave us a much more accurate and deadly weapon; the ballot box. How smart we allow ourselves to be about what is happening to us at the hands of the Government that no longer serves the interests of the people or the founding documents on which their livelihoods are based, our Forefathers left up to us to figure out.

America has a difficult set of problems. We caused them, and only we – “we, the People” that actually cast these votes – can solve them.

For wholly different reasons, I suggest you first have a reading (if you haven’t already) of Erick’s piece this morning about the Elites vs. “we, the People.” It sets the stage nicely for a review of several other little tidbits of news in recent days.

First, we have Harry Reid being praised for slicing through GOP resistance to a State aid bill (with the help of the Maine cupcakes, of course) which “promises cash-strapped governors $16.1 billion to help meet Medicaid payments next year, and $10 billion would go to state and local school boards to preserve teacher jobs.” There’s a slight problem though..well, ok – several slight problems.

This bill is called the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act, and I’d note there is nothing in this title about Teachers Unions or Medicaid. And, there most certainly is nothing in there about taking food off the tables of the poor in order to pay for it. It takes the Politico piece for us to find out what the crooks and hobgoblins in the Senate are up to:

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Dan Benishek won last night’s primary in Michigan’s 1st Congressional District…by ONE vote. Yes folks, one vote… which proves that every vote does indeed count. But Dr. Dan hasn’t yet won this thing officially because last-minute wonder Jason Allen (rushing to move in to the District barely in time to be eligible to run at all) is gearing up to challenge the count. And, the actual tally has yet to be certified by the State. Guess what that means? Yup…lawyers.

Dr. Dan needs our help…and he needs any spare change we can dig up to help him find a lawyer that will ensure his own rights are being upheld…and that the voices of MI-1 residents are heard.

My esteemed colleague Moe Lane visited with Dr. Dan today about the election results last night, and what lies ahead for the campaign. As always, Moe has done an excellent job with this…give it a listen and THEN – give all you’ve got to help Dr. Dan finish this thing. Benishek is the real deal, and he needs our support in order to get to Washington and start cleaning up the mess they’ve made of things down there.

I suppose being the front-runner in a campaign is a double-edged sword; most folks have likely heard of you before, but everyone behind you is gunning for you. In Frank Guinta’s case he also has a paper trail as the former Mayor of Manchester that he just can’t seem to run away from fast enough.

Now, for the record, if he clears New Hampshire’s September 14 primary I have already said I will vote for him – Carol Shea-Porter is the worst thing that’s ever happened to my beloved adopted home. Having said that, and with little more than a month to go before the primary, now is the time to find the right fit for the person we need in Washington to clean up the mess…not make it worse. In the matter of Guinta, so far I’m not sold.

The latest flap starts with Beth LaMontagne’s Article on August 1st in the Manchester Union Leader. She tells us that NH-1 GOP House candidate Frank Guinta:

…”may not have asked for any federal earmarks when he was mayor, and he says he won’t ask for them if elected to Congress. But he now says he did take advantage of funds specifically earmarked for Manchester, including for sewer overflow, an anti-crime Operation Streetsweeper, and a bridge named for U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg.”

We’ve been here before with Guinta; being against a thing NOW after having been FOR it in the past…or used it to his advantage…and when pressed, blaming everyone else for having forced him to go along with it. His Mayoral paper trail (here, and here) regarding earmarks for Manchester during his watch puts him at direct odds with his campaign rhetoric, especially when you consider that he is poking the pointy stick at Shea-Porter over…

wait for it…

earmarks.

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I know there is a great deal of anger and frustration out there… amongst the 70% of you who are racists that believe immigration laws should be enforced… about Federal Judge Susan Bolton’s willingness to be bought by Obama and the Holder DoJ, but all I can do is laugh…and I mean gut-wrenching, jiggly mid-section guffaw. Seriously…relax people, get some popcorn and consider the pretzel logic of this hilarity:

“Requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully-present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked,” Bolton, a Clinton appointee, said in her decision.

I just can’t stop myself…I feel like that kid in church that just loses it when his big brother does something goofy in the middle of the sermon…

So, if I have this right, what this “Judge” has just told us is that the time spent while we wait for Law Enforcement to “run” our licenses and plate numbers is time during which our liberties are being restricted. Please let me be the next white guy to get pulled over so I can tell a State Trooper he is not allowed to run my numbers because it would be a burden on me, and it would restrict my liberty…that right there is made of teh awesome…but wait! There’s more:

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On reliable authority (from those much smarter than I) I’m told that this notion of abandoning the traditions of the Electoral College is well within the rights of the “some several States” as afforded them in the 12th Amendment to the US Constitution and that sending Electors from each of these “some several States” with specific instructions to cast their ballot for the person with the majority of the national popular vote is well within the boundaries of what the Constitution envisioned.

I just disagree. I remember how poorly Democrats took the Bush victory on Electoral College votes where his Popular numbers favored his opponent…to me, this is just the means to make sure no Democrat ever has to meet a similar fate as the one poor Al Gore was made to suffer.

Massachusetts has become the most recent State to pass a law requiring that its Electoral College representatives must vote for the President and Vice President according to the one(s) that have already won the popular vote across the country. This is defended at the website “NationalPopularVote” with this snippet:

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I really want to like this guy Guinta; if he clears the primary I’m going to have to vote for him. It’s getting harder rather than easier though, because he seems far too adept at blaming everyone else but himself for his troubles. This is not a good sign.

I wrote in this space recently about my concerns with Guinta’s position on the Stimulus bill. His fans supporters and minions took me to task on the credibility of both my claims and my sources, and that’s ok – this is a blood sport after all.

But in my follow-up research on the details of this Stimulus flap, I found some troubling remarks…even from his own blog page (in which he attempted to clarify himself)…which seem to indicate he’s not all that good at taking responsibility for things that don’t go his way or run counter to his talking points of the day.

Below his entry there are several articles and op-eds that Guinta has pasted in to set some background and context. In these, he is quoted as pointing blame in a lot of different directions; from the Aldermen to the School Board to Governor Lynch himself. Guinta, it seems, has an excuse to fit any occasion. So, when the latest kerfluffle about where he stands on Cap & Trade bubbled up, I did a little digging.

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[h/t Drudge]

Tag teaming on James’ way excellent piece on Rangel I thought I’d pigpile with a walk down Nancy’s memory lane as she did the snoopy dance on election night in ’06, basking in the glow of victory:

“The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history,” Pelosi said.

Yep…Nancy heard us, but she just couldn’t pull it off. From the video, just for funs and giggles:

Today, the American people voted for change and they voted for Democrats to take our country in a new direction…and that is exactly what we intend to do. The American people voted for a new direction to restore civility and bipartisanship in Washington D.C. and Democrats promise to work together in a bipartisan way for all Americans.

I can’t go on…tears of nostalgia and wistful reminiscence of the first day of America’s return to the bounty and splendor and group hugs we enjoy today because of the work from Pelosi and Reid and Obama just keep me from seeing clearly enough to type anymore.