D- 33.3
R- 39.1
I– 27.5

This is the greatest margin for Republican party ID in any poll taken, perhaps in the history of modern day polling. With the enthusiasm shown in the Romney/Ryan rallies, together with the lack of such by the Dems as evidenced by their generally much lower early voting numbers, this is shaping up to be the landslide that many smart people have been predicting. My take is at least 53-46 Romney, with at least 330 EV’s.

Apparently the election we just had, as well as previous embarrassing attempts by other school districts in the name of political correctness, has not changed the thinking of school teachers and administrators. Instead of berating this kid about flying the U.S. flag on the back of his bike and ordering him to remove it, they should be lecturing those complaining students about what that flag represents to veterans who have sacrificed to defend our country and the corresponding rights and freedoms that they enjoy.

I would love to know if this school has a U.S. flag anywhere on display in the school, as do most schools around the country. If they don’t, then shame on them. If they do, then let’s call them the hypocrits that they are. They can display a flag on school grounds but the boy cannot. One might also ask why those same students haven’t complained about the school flag.

This polite and friendly boy is a fine example of bringing out the best in our youth today. Those complainers and cowering administrators are examples of what is wrong in our country today.

In every case the Republican early vote is much better than 2008, and the Democrat early vote is down in every state except for West Virginia. Given the low approval rating for Obama in that state, I can only surmise that many of those registered Democrats are voting for the Republican.

There are two states that have statistics broken down by race, Louisiana and North Carolina. In Louisiana, the black early vote thus far for 2010 is 19.5%, vs. 35.6% for 2008. In North Carolina, the black early vote for 2010 is 16.9% vs. 26.5% for 2008.

One state, North Carolina, has comparative statistics available based on age. For the age group 18-29, the early vote thus far in 2010 is 4.8%, vs. 14.9% for 2008. For the age group 30-44, the early vote for 2010 is 10.4% vs. 23.5% for 2008.

There are a couple of conclusions we can draw from this analysis. First, Republicans are certainly more enthused than Democrats in voting this year vs. 2008. Also, two of the Democrats core voting blocks, young voters and blacks, are turning out in far fewer numbers, while older voters, those most angry over Obamacare, are turning out in much greater numbers. Those older voters also cannot be happy with no Social Security increase for the second straight year.

There is still a week to go and anything can happen, but based on these early voting numbers and the trouble that candidates like Barney Frank is in, I like our chances.

Let’s look at early voting, for instance, and the fact that for the first time since its inception, the suburbs are surpassing the city in turnout. In some cases, the ratio is 3-1.

…With just one more week of early voting left, Cook County Clerk David Orr, a Democrat, doesn’t mince words: “There is certainly a scare here for the Democrats.”

Quinn and Giannoulias have real concerns about turnout of the black vote in Chicago:

Though midterm elections always show a drop in voter participation from the preceding presidential election, there are 40,000 fewer registered black voters now than in the 2006 midterm.

And though the historic presidential run of Barack Obama registered new voters of all races and ethnicities in droves, producing a spike of 190,000 voters in 2008 in Chicago, that gain has nearly been erased in the current canvass. There are today almost 160,000 fewer voters than two years ago. For whatever reason — the highly mobile young may have moved, the elderly may have died — they’re gone now.

Here’s one more thing to consider. In all of Chicago’s 50 wards, only two have picked up, rather than lost, registered voters since 2008. They are Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s 13th Ward, with 584 new voters, and Ald. Ed Burke’s 14th Ward, with 44 new voters. Madigan’s increase speaks to disciplined organization, Burke’s to a heated contest in which his state representative brother nearly lost in the last election.

In other Chicago wards, decreases range from 1,000 to 4,000 voters. Eighteen African-American wards took a big hit.

With Downstate voters expected to turn out for Republicans, and suburban women the wild card in this election, Democrats have got to deliver their base in Chicago or Quinn and Giannoulias are cooked.

Marty Lamb is running against Jim McGovern, the current Congressman from the MA 3rd congressional district. Last night they held a debate which was sponsored by the League of Women Voters, with Stefani Traina as moderator, who is the director of the MA League of Women Voters.

When Marty attempted to lay out the record of Jim McGovern, his actual voting record, this partisan hack interrupted him and came to the defense of McGovern. Lamb engaged in some discussion with the moderator at that point before the debate continued. This moderator also chided the audience, telling them they needed to stop clapping and cheering.

I have always suspected the League of partisanship. This moderator leaves no doubt about it now.

“It’s an important moment, because you couldn’t have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of checks and balances, and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing what he thinks.”

Jim Geraghty of NRO online said it best back in 2004:

“From his comments before and after his “apology” — a thin gruel of legalistic weasel words that stretches the definition of that word — Rather has made clear he believes that those clad in pajamas and typing on computers are in no position to judge him. Our role, in his vision, is to passively imbibe his disinformative propaganda the way geese receive cornmeal to make fois grae. He sits behind his anchor desk, confident that his status is impenetrable and that any attack made by the Pajamahadeen against his position would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical errors we may have proved. He steadfastly believes that CBS television stations remain the ultimate persuasive power in the news universe, and he intends to use it.

But Rather should not be too proud of this technological agitprop dispersal system he’s constructed. The power to hype a fake memo is insignificant compared to the power of the blogosphere.”

In late May of 2010, Wellesley, Massachusetts public middle school students took a field trip to the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center – a controversial Saudi-funded mega-mosque run by the Muslim American Society of Boston. There, the students were separated by gender and the boys were asked to join the Muslim adults in their prayer. Several of the public school boys took part.

These are the same schools who won’t allow Christmas carols to be sung, call the Christmas vacation “winter vacation”, and call the Easter vacation “spring vacation”. No Christmas trees are allowed in school. Yet, these same people who allow students to pray to Allah would never think of taking a field trip to a church or synagogue. For these school teachers and administrators to allow the group to be split by gender so that the boys could pray, shows their complete lack of judgement in organizing this field trip.

Where is the ACLU and Americans for the Separation of Church & State? Oh, I guess a mosque is not a church, so no problem.

The Wellesley schools superintendent, Bella Wong, belatedly apologized yesterday, but it’s a little too late for that almost four months later.

This is another example why private and home schooling is the way to go.

A NJ teacher was complaining at a town hall meeting this week about the many teachers who had been laid off, about how she can’t pay her bills, and how uncaring the Governor has been by, she claims, lambasting the teachers. Christie’s response blows her and the union away. If they had taken the one year pay freeze and agreed to contribute 1.5% of their pay toward their health insurance, most of the layoffs would not have happened. But the union said no way, not one dime.

This should be required viewing for all Republican governors and candidates. Furthermore, select portions of this video should be part of a national Republican ad, showing just how out of step the unions are with those of us who have had pay freezes and pay cuts, and who do not get 100% of their health insurance paid for by their employer.

Here’s the video as taken from a camera crew from ACT for America who infiltrated the event held at Masjid Al-Rahman, Musri’s mosque, in March of 2009:

It will be interesting to hear Crist try to spin his way out of this one. And why are the Feds missing in action in preventing these Hamas fundraisers? Inquiring minds want to know.

RCP: “Stop Spending”: CNBC’s Santelli Warns Liesman “November 2nd Is The Day” from RCP Video on Vimeo.

Rick Santelli wins the day again. After his rant last year on CNBC which helped launch the Tea Party movement, we have this gem of a video where he puts down that Obama flack, Steve Liesman, also of CNBC. You have to love this guy. He states his case in terms that everyone can understand, and he doesn’t care who he might offend.

I just hope the lefties at CNBC don’t pull him off the air for this repeat performance.

Next Sunday is Fathers Day, and many of us will reflect on what our dads accomplished during WWII, earning them the term, “the greatest generation”. My dad served on a destroyer that took part in the Battle of Okinawa, a battle which has lost its place in history because of the events a few months later in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

But this was a battle not forgotten as 1 out of 7 naval casualties in the entire war resulted from the Battle of Okinawa. Only the battle for Stalingrad had greater civilian casualties. The U.S. Navy lost 36 ships out of about 1500, with over 350 damaged. It was an armada greater than that which took place in the Normandy invasion. The Navy lost almost 5,000 men, with a similar amount wounded-the greatest loss of life in any one battle. Many were killed when the Japanese began their kamikaze suicide raids on our ships. Eight carriers were hit, but all survived. In the end, over 3,500 kamikaze planes were destroyed.

The commanders on Okinawa, General Mitsuri Ushijima and General Simon B. Buckner, were the two highest ranking officers to die during WWII (Joseph Alexander, The Final Campaign: Marine in the Victory on Okinawa.) This fact alone will attest to the life and death struggle taking place both on Okinawa and on the seas surrounding it.

Sixty-five years ago yesterday, June 12, Japanese troops on Okinawa began committing mass suicide when it became clear to them that a U.S. Marine victory on the island was a certainty. Sixty-five years ago today the U.S. 24th Corps attacked Japanese-held caves on Okinawa with flamethrowers. And sixty-five years ago tomorrow, the U.S. military leadership in the Pacific received orders from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to prepare for the invasion and occupation of Japan. On June 21, 1945 the Sixth Marine Division raised the U.S. flag on the southern end of the island, as they had earlier on the northern end, and the Battle for Okinawa was over.

But we will never forget. The character and courage shown by some of our greatest generation will never be forgotten, even if today’s media choose to do so.

And Tim James is the moderate in this race.

These are the languages in which the State of Alabama offers driver’s license exams: Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Thai, and Vietnamese.

I wonder how many of them can read “no left turn” and “no passing” signs on the road after they get their license? Maybe they should post all road signs in 12 languages. As Rush would say, illustrating the absurd with the absurd.

Four years ago this month, on the day before Easter, I lost my dad of 82 years.  He had spent his last nine years in a nursing home as a result of a stroke.  During those years, although he could barely speak, he never lost his memories of his earlier days when he served as a radioman aboard the Destroyer USS Wadsworth in World War II.  He served in all of the major Pacific battles after Guadalcanal, culminating with the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945.

It was 65 years ago when on Easter Sunday morning, 1945, the Wadsworth arrived off Okinawa, which was D-Day for the Battle of Okinawa.  The ship completed an advance sweep ahead of the transports, then took up fire support off the island.  For the next 15 days, the Wadsworth’s guns blasted troop concentrations, gun emplacements, and caves where the most fanatical Japanese were hunkered down.  Then, on April 17, she undertook her first radar picket assignment which would scout for incoming enemy planes.  Here is an account from Wikipedia of what that assignment was like:

“From 17 April to 24 June, Wadsworth carried out nine assignments on station, repelling 22 attacks by enemy aircraft, shooting down six, and assisting in the destruction of seven others. In addition, the combat air patrol fighters that she directed splashed 28 enemy aircraft.

During one day of that duty, on 28 April 1945, Wadsworth repelled six determined attacks by 12 enemy aircraft. The raids—which came from all points of the compass—commenced at sunset and continued for over three hours. One enemy torpedo plane closed fast on her port beam as Wadsworth skillfully maneuvered to keep the enemy on the beam to allow a heavy concentration of antiaircraft fire. Frustrated in his first attempt, the enemy pilot then brought the plane around a second time, circling to the right to commence an attack from directly astern, strafing as he came.

Wadsworth maneuvered to port as the plane went into a power dive that took him within 30 feet of the waves before he passed the destroyer to starboard at a distance of about 100 yards. The Japanese then zoomed sharply and turned to cross in front of Wadsworth. He then opened the range before boring in low and fast on the third attack.

Wadsworth’s determined adversary then dropped a torpedo at 1,200 yards. The destroyer turned “left full” and the “fish” passed harmlessly by her starboard side. Meanwhile, under constant fire from every gun in Wadsworth that could be brought to bear, the enemy plane came on, attempting to crash into the ship.

The Japanese bore in through the flak-peppered skies. His wing struck the forward port 40-millimeter gun, and the main body of the plane spun into the gig rigged outboard, carried away a life raft, and then smashed a 26-foot motor whaleboat before falling into the sea. Providentially, the enemy did not explode; the ship did, however, receive a shower of debris and gasoline. That had been the ship’s second narrow escape. Only six days previously, on 22 April, Wadsworth’s gunners had shot down a suicider that exploded in the sea only 20 feet from the ship, showering the ship with fragments. Fortunately, only minor hull damage resulted, and only one sailor was wounded.

At Hagushi anchorage on the morning of 24 June, Wadsworth, relieved of radar picket duty, put her fighter-director team ashore. Since her first arrival off Okinawa, she had sounded general quarters 203 times, detected and reported the approach of hundreds of enemy aircraft, and successfully fought off all that attacked her. Her exploits during that time earned her the Presidential Unit Citation (US).”

In happier times my dad and I would watch Victory at Sea episodes and he would relate his experiences in those Pacific theater episodes.  He was proud of his service to country, and I am proud to have had him as my dad.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/20090918state_plots_dog_surcharge/srvc=home&position=3

Not content with an increase in the state sales tax in August from 5% to 6.25%, these bozos now want a $3 surcharge on municipal license fees for your little pooch.  A democrat state rep claims that the additional fees are needed to pay for the cost of the rising number of strays.  Those who take good care of their dogs will now have to pay the cost for those who don’t.  Maybe the initiative petition that was passed last November  

http://www.wirenh.com/News/News_-_general/closing_tracks_in_Mass._could_leave_greyhounds_homeless_200811283255.html

outlawing greyhound racing in the state after this year, is contributing to the stray problem through the abandonment of these dogs by owners who would otherwise need to move to another state that has such racing. 

I wonder if these reps have any clue as to the number of dog owners there are in the state?  Picking on their fidos in a “man bites dog” story can come back to “bite” them next year at the polls.

I guess they will call this surtax a fee on “undocumented doggies”.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2619400/Tory-landslide-predicted-at-next-election-in-crucial-Sun-poll.html

But another story from the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6127514/Sentenced-to-death-on-the-NHS.html

hits closer to home.  The people are seeing how state-run health care has now led to what essentially are death committees, whereby doctors and other medical staff are prematurely determining who is close to death and not worthy of adequate medical treatment to improve their situations.  And many of these patients conditions are actually improving while they are being given a death sentence.

This is what we are heading toward in the U.S. if Obamacare and the public option become law.  This is why seniors and others have been blistering these reps at those town meetings.  But the press just writes them off as right-wing extremists.

Well, when the Tories take firm control in Britain next spring, the Democrats will finally have their wake-up call, but by then it will be too late for them.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10582301/President-Obama’s-Address-to-Students-Across-America-September-8-2009

 
As shown in this link, the Department of Education has sent out a menu of classroom activities for PreK-6 students. Since Obama has been unable to convince most Americans about his health care plan, especially seniors, perhaps he can persuade the children that this is a right that all of them are entitled to. He can instruct them on how best to get their parents and grandparents to come around to his way of thinking.

If President Bush had ever done this, you can imagine the teachers and administrators reactions. If the comments in the link are any indication, there will be high absenteism that day.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20090806swampscott_passes_on_statue_honoring_troops_this_johnnie_wont_be_marching_home/srvc=home&position=also

Now that the town has rejected the statue, the owner is looking for a new home for it.  If he were to look outside of MA, I’m sure it wouldn’t take him long to find one.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124718265362620253.html#mod=djemEditorialPage

The City of Los Angeles business income tax is one of the harshest and oppressive in the country.  The tax is on gross revenue, not profits, so you can lose money for the year and still pay the tax. Typical Hollywood accounting.  But Hollywood types, like writers and other creative people, get enormous exemptions.  They are the “beautiful people”, though.

Since the state’s tax proposals were turned down by the California voters last month, the bureaucrats have stepped up their tyrannical approach to obtaining new sources of revenue with agencies such as the Department of Corporations and the Housing and Building Departments reopening old, previously settled claims, and demanding back monies and damages.

I wonder if the Obama people are taking notes on all of this for application on a national level?

Lastly, it would be nice to know how much the founder, Rick Newcombe, has contributed to the Democrats over those two decades and voted for the people who put California in its current situation.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/31669585

an 18 cent gas tax is being repealed and changed to a user fee, while other new taxes are being placed on tobacco and oil production.  They are calling this “tax neutral” while it really increases revenues because of the “flim-flam” going on here, which many are calling unconstitutional.

Being a legislator in California may be hazardous to your wealth, since the California Citizens Compensation Commission voted today to cut legislators’ fringe benefits by 18%, to go along with the 18% cut in pay they had previously voted upon, both to take effect on December 1.

All those years of unrestricted illegal immigration and out of control environmental policies, and their consequent economic impact, are finally taking their toll, and the chickens are coming home to roost.

While Savage may not have many friends at this website, he is still an American citizen with the same free speech rights that the rest of us enjoy.  To lump him in with terrorists who would cut your throat or chop your head off without the slightest provocation strains credulity.  To ban him from entering the United Kingdom shows a complete disrespect by their government for the Constitutional rights accorded to all American citizens.

Further, the UK is in direct violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to freedom of expression.  Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , to which the US and UK are signatories, provides that

 ”Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print…”

The European Court on Human Rights has held that the “freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society.”  The Court went on to say that this freedom of expression is not only applicable to information and ideas that are favorably received, but “also to those that offend, shock or disturb.”

If this were happening to Rush, the outcry would be deafening.  But the slippery slope begins with an easy target, and soon could become an avalanche.  Some of us may disapprove of what Savage says, but we should defend to the death his right to say it.