The Pursuit of Happiness vs. Rick Steves
The other day Rick Steves (travel guru and pothead) was interviewing the author of "The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World". It was all done in a kind of smug "Europe is so superior to the US" kind of way. Pretty typical. But I actually gleaned a bit of insight out of the interview, although probably not the one intended by the author or the interviewer. We've all heard the statistics, that the... [read more]

Initiative
Now that the election is over and I have had time to reflect, I have to admit that I am a better person for having run for office. I knew I was a long shot. Given that I started my campaign at the 11th hour, when the Top Two Primary was ruled constitutional, I did not take nor solicit any donations for the obvious reasons. As a result, my chances for winning were minimal. However, I learned a lot by... [read more]

David Barnett and the Cowlitz Tribe lose $76,500 on their commissioner corruption bet.
As most here hopefully know, David Barnett and the Cowlitz Tribe are working very hard and rather insidiously, to ram one of the largest casinos on the planet down our throats here in Clark County. Some of that was detailed here: So, not only did Barnett and the Cowlitz lose the money bet... they've lost the entire war and they've done so on so many levels. Tom Mielke was 4282 votes behind on Election night. Typically, that's far enough behind... [read more]

Automakers Bailout Could Have Taxpayers Paying For Laid Off Union Workers
Now that I am back from a wonderful vacation in Italy with my bueatiful (pictures are coming of the trip as soon as I get the chance to edit them down to size), it is time to get back to some serious stuff. As you know the bailouts keep piling up and anyone who reads this blog knows that I am against them all. I am against them for multiple reasons. First, these are all panic driven "Let's make it... [read more]

Does Darold Ray Stemson Deserve to Die?
A small media buzz is developing around the pending execution of Darold Ray Stenson. An exotic bird rancher by trade, the Callalam County resident was convicted in 1993 of killing his wife and business partner. Stenson was to meet his maker on December 3, but two judges have now stayed the execution order. You can read here more about the legal arguments in the last-minute appeals. For his part, Stenson has long maintained his innocence in the slayings, though he... [read more]

My solution to this economic mess
I and many others have lifetime savings in IRA's but because of our ages we are unable to tap into them at this time, except through 72T's, which offer only meager withdrawals at best. I and many others have spent years dutifully saving and now through no fault of our own, we need to spend more out of my IRA' plans than a 72T's will allow for a few years. If (even on a temporary basis) the 10% penalty for... [read more]

My oldest son writing on "Love in the Time of Darwinism"
I read a really interesting article today, which hit home on a lot of different levels. "Love in the Time of Darwinism" talks at great length (far too much for me to blockquote) about the subject of the modern male and how he's reticent to engage in relationships (let alone marriage or child-bearing) with the modern female. How many of you have heard me talk before about this very notion Their argument, in effect, was that the [single young male]... [read more]

It's Time to Bail Out the Seattle Times
The Seattle Times is looking for spare change between the sofa cushions, as it begins to sell off real estate assets in order to unburden itself from massive debt obligations, and now may be the time for Seattle's conservative minority to make itself known. Bill Richards has been doing great work covering the business side of the Times operations for Crosscut - a well-balanced regional news and opinion web site which I have contributed material to - most recently in... [read more]

Shocking New Report from Western Washington's Largest Abortion Chain
In a stunning new annual report, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington (PPWW) reveals that it saw a significant drop in customers in 2007 ... with one major exception. The total number of "medical visits" fell 15%, from 150,000 in 2006, to 127,000 in 2007. The number of emergency contraception sales - a significant source of largely illegal revenue - fell 13%. Government records show a $1m drop in revenue from Medicaid billings for emergency contraception. And their number of Take... [read more]

Are Americans Really Informed Enough to Even Cast Reasoned Ballots?
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (IGI) released results of a 118-question survey taken of 2,508 respondents, the purpose of which was to determine what the level of civic knowledge was among American adults. The respondents were selected to form a cross-section of American society and the results were shocking. You can take a portion of the test (the 33-question subset dealing only with civic knowledge) and see how you stack up. I was dissatisfied with my 84.85% (a B by most... [read more]

NYT Sources: Iran Has Enough Material for One Nuclear Bomb
It appears that there is now credible evidence that Iran has produced enough weapons-grade material, as reported by the New York Times on Wednesday.This is something that I wrote about last month, by way of a story run by Israel's DebkaFile. That piece was focused mainly on the proximity of intelligence details about Iran's nuclear capability to the tough-talking remarks of now-Vice President-elect Joe Biden at a Seattle fundraiser. I did, however, I pose several key questions that President-elect Obama... [read more]

BREAKING: Presidency purchased through illegal credit card fraud.
Many people will not have heard about the millions of dollars in illegal donations to the Obama campaign due to the vigorous suppression of this story by the mainstream media in the late weeks of the campaign. But Obama voters who still have a shred of personal integrity, might want to learn more about how Obama financed his record breaking Presidential run. Read more here from Kenneth Timmerman. Timmerman has produced many excellent books exposing various frauds and inner workings... [read more]

Sound Politics Meeting of the Minds
Shanghai Dan is in town next week, and in discussion we thought it would be a good time to have a beverage and the first Sound Politics Meeting of the Minds (MOTM). Since everyone is spread out, I'm going to suggest the Bellevue Rock Bottom as a meeting place. Tuesday, November 25th is the date, 5:30 pm until whenever. I'll bring something with "MOTM" on it and put it on the table, which will be somewhere in the bar area... [read more]

"That article made me sad"
So said my 26 year old son to me in an IM after he read this article I sent to him. I responded that it should have made him angry and he agreed, "that too". The commentary of the young men interviewed by the author is exactly what my 26 and 28 year old sons (and their friends) have been saying for years. They have been chased, cheated upon and stalked in equal measure. They are sick of the game... [read more]

Republicans: Do You Know When and Where Your Monthly Leg. District Meets?
Scroll down for updates. Now crossposted at the brand new From the Roots Up website: "Putting the Party Back in the Hands of Grassroots Republicans" It occurred to me today, that if we Republicans want to see our party get back to winning again, and a key to this is more involvement from grassroots Republicans, we need to make it possible for more grassroots Republicans (more than say, the 10 or so who currently show up at Republican leg. district... [read more]

Heterophobes strike back
http://www.backlash.com/content/news/2008/news_2008_11.html November 15, 2008 5:45 a.m. Heterophobes strike back by Rod Van Mechelen Recently an associate and I argued the issue of "gay marriage." She considers it a human rights issue, and decries the discrimination she and her friends see: "Welcome to California. Where chickens have more rights than I do. ... That was one of the most common signs I saw yesterday at the Los Angeles Mormon temple. ... MTV News talked to protesters outside the temple and got... [read more]

They Really Are Dense
The New York Times is running a really interesting election metric map. The most interesting variable is the first: population density. Interactive Map: Electoral Explorer The denser the population, the more Democrat. The more spread out, the more Republican. The inflection point seems to be about 3 per acre. That really maps into the dialect in the book "Grand New Party" and some of my thinking on the subject. If you add the national race together with the Governor's race... [read more]

LA Times Media Commentator Says Fairness Doctrine Paranoia Is Baseless; Millions of Conservatives Breathe a Sigh of Relief
Rainey Demonstrates His Lack of Ability to Properly Use Search EnginesThe "Fairness Doctrine" issue - the possible re-imposition of political balance requirements for radio broadcasters - is going to be a hot one for the next year. Many eyes are trained on President-elect Obama with concerns about how far left his agenda will be, and the "Fairness Doctrine" is near the top of many conservative watch lists. According to James Rainey of the Los Angeles Times, conservatives don't need to... [read more]

Fair and Balanced Socialism; a "third-way'ers" take on the Fairness Doctrine
Welcome to the world of tomorrow ladies, gentlemen, and ambiguous newcomers. We currently live in a bright, wonderful, and altogether frantic world of Internet newspapers, blog-o-sphere rants, and a multitude of almost infinite TV channels with an even more diverse set of hosts, topics, and biases. This wouldn't be America if we didn't have the luxury of choosing either Fox News' Republican finger-pointers with their Murdoch-Bible and concealed weapons permits, or NBC's Demo-vangelists who smile condescendingly as they report with... [read more]

Obama Administration's Vetting Questionnaire: Cuts Like a Knife
This is the typical combination of traditional vetting and political acid-testing that occurs with White House hiring; I'm not sure why it makes CNN.com's front page. A 63-item questionnaire covering every little detail (except drug use) is something that is justified for people seeking one of the 7,000 or so jobs for which the transition team has to find warm bodies. After all, many of these positions have a political component and require the jobholder to support the views and... [read more]

The New RNC Chair-my two cents worth
Stories abound about who is jockeying (or not) for the RNC Chair. Steele, Gingrich, Thompson. All excellent choices, so why not let them run it as an Executive Committee? Steele would be an excellent "face" of the Party. (Executive Director) Gingrich is a great strategist and policy wonk (remember Contract with America?) Make him Executive Director of Policy and Platform. Thompson is a new "Great Communicator" (read Executive Communications Director & Spokesman). Together as a Committee they'd put great energy,... [read more]

When Times Are Tough, the Obama Campaign Wants to Sell You Another Campaign Tee-Shirt
David Plouffe, the campaign manager for Obama for America, just sent me an email to make sure I send him $30 or more to refill the DNC coffers. (In exchange, I will receive a tee-shirt that, we assume was made with union labor. So the net to the DNC should be around $5.) So, despite Obama's record-shattering fundraising, and the absence of any need to fund a legal defense against campaign fund-raising violations, the DNC is bankrupt. Where did all... [read more]

Hank Paulson is On the Loose and We Were Concerned About Palin's Wardrobe Expenditures?
The era of 'I told you so' is about to commence, but for now let's just deal with the facts. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has just side-stepped the portion of the $700 billion bailout package that we were told was its central reason for being made into law. As reported by CNNMoney.com [bold added]:NEW YORK(CNNMoney.com) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday that the government would broaden the reach of its $700 billion bailout plan to support non-bank financial institutions... [read more]

Pork of Seattle
Port of Seattle is increasing taxes by 11% next year. Creighton was the only one who indicated he wanted to reduce levy rates further. "A lot of these projects seem to fall down the list in terms of priority. ... If we're not going to be as aggressive as we can in reducing the tax levy this year, what year can we be?" As opposed to Pat Davis, who thinks that because every other tax measure passed that the time... [read more]

Out of the mouths of babes: Waking up to the fractured world we call politics
My daughter has been a frequent co-contributer to this blog, mostly behind the scenes in the form of ideas, inspiration and occasionally comments. But several times she has also appeared in the form of blogs I have reposted, with understandable fatherly pride. The responses have been amazing as she is a gifted writer. This is no exception, and may be her finest post to date. She sent me this in response to the vitriolic comments over a blog I posted... [read more]

Still waiting for your apology to HROC, Eric. What's the hold up?
So, Eric... you've been all about getting Darcy to make a phone call conceding to The Sheriff. But you seem strangely quiet about your unnecessary bashing of HROC. You remember, don't you? Here... let me help: House Republican Candidates Being Ill-Served by Leadership Now, man up, Eric. Given the results, it's fairly clear that you were totally wrong. In the interest of fairness, I'm sure that you'll expend as much effort admitting you were wrong as you did attempting to... [read more]

Transition Spokesperson Establishes President-elect Obama as 'Ruler'
Valerie Jarrett, co-chair of the Obama-Biden transition team, and the person rumored to be President-elect Obama's choice to fill his vacated Senate seat, has finally let the cat out of the bag. "Given the daunting challenges that we face, it's important that President-elect Obama is prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one." Ms. Jarrett made this statement while speaking to Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press, in one swift sentence she has confirmed the fears of... [read more]

The RNC wants your input for rebuilding the party...
I would encourage everyone to visit http://ideas.rebuildtheparty.com/, and sign up and provide your input for "rebuilding" the republican party. The newly-launched site, www.rebuildtheparty.com was apparently launched just a few days ago by a large coalition of conservative activists, including several state party chairs' and staffers from several presidential campaigns who are lobbying for a new RNC chairman and other national party leadership who will work toward fixing the structural and foundational problems with the republican party "brand". The "plan for... [read more]

Darcy Burner: Yet Another Nutroots Failure
There's always a silver lining. Even in a very blue year, with everyone with a (D) and your neighbor's dog riding Obama's coattails to victory, Nutroots throb Darcy Burner lost her race. This makes a lot of sense to most normal people, because Darcy Burner likes to embellish the image in her mirror a bit. And with good cause, as she's got little to show in the way of accomplishments. The Bush Deranged Left Darcy's base loves to crow on... [read more]

Obama and the Albatross of Affirmative Action
The silver lining in this election is a perspective end to the long standing anti-white male affirmative action program, which is hypocritical and immoral at best. One could see Jesse Jackson crying in a photo at the Obama election. One might consider that Jackson is crying for joy. I believe that he is crying for grief, that the basis for a once needed affirmative action program has long outlived any validity for existence. It has been left in place, as... [read more]

Several thoughts while watching the red dawn...
So, it is pretty clear that the GOP has had its ass handed to it. So where do we go now and what do we do? Several thoughts occurred to me while watching the red dawn. This is our biggest and best opportunity in over 50 years. We're at the bottom. The dictatorial social conservatives and the pre-emptive war neocons have successfully run the party into the ground. We now have good reason to eject them from the drivers seat... [read more]

New Burner Ad - Very Funny
Check this out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbnMnMrfvM8... [read more]

PAULBEARERS, RONBOTS, PAULISTINIANS... PAY ATTENTION!

by RagnarDanneskold, 01:14 PM, 12 Comments

Former Ron Paul Senior Aide & Bob Barr backer, makes plea to Libertarians to back McCain/Palin By Eric Dondero I now believe, two days before Election Day, that this campaign is just too critical to risk on such a strategy, and if Libertarians won't put the liberty of our country ahead of our party ambitions, who else in this country will? It is now my strong feeling that libertarians nationwide, and most assuredly my fellow Libertarian Party members, should strongly... [read more]