Oh, For Goodness Sake...

The US Supreme Court will decide on Jan. 9 whether to hear a suit brought by a Muslim convert against the State of Mississippi. Apparently the man is offended by the Confederate Battle Flag in the state flag; his argument according to the AP is "that the Mississippi flag contains the St. Andrew's Cross and that the symbol represents state endorsement of a particular religion." Plus, he's seeking up to $77 million in damages and wants to forbid the display of it from public places.

Excuse me while I let out a long sigh of exasperation. Ya know, I really getting tired of these nonsense lawsuits.

James Broadwater Interview

I'm proud to present an e-mail interview that I did with Mississippi 2nd Congressional District GOP candidate (bit of a mouthful, doncha think?) James Broadwater. My questions are in bold, his responses in regular font (or blue if your browser supports the "font" tag).

1. What qualifications do you have that would make you better equipped to serve in Congress over your Republican primary opponents?

Leadership, my steadfastness in holding to Christian principles, and
the fact that, if elected, I will represent all of the people of the Second District of Mississippi.

One of the things that we need in Congress is leadership - the determination to have some backbone and to do the right thing. I think one of the most important things
that makes me a better candidate than my fellow Republicans who are my opponents in this election is my ability and experience as a leader. I have led as pastor of a church with almost 900 members. I have led as a Baptist associational leader, directing collegiate ministries for a Baptist association in California in an area that covers all of San Bernardino County and Riverside County, and the southeastern corner of Los Angeles County - an area which has 150,000 college students on 23 campuses, and I had six other directors under my leadership. I have led as director of two Baptist Student Unions - Baptist Student Union is an on-campus ministry to college students. I led disaster relief teams from my church into Los Angeles eleven times after the Northridge earthquake, working with the American Red Cross and the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief people. I led local ministers to adopt a Community Marriage Agreement in Bogalusa, Louisiana, to strengthen marriage and lower the divorce rate.

I have experience in political campaigns as well. I volunteered with the Tony Perkins for U.S. Senate campaign in Louisiana, and the Haley Barbour for Governor campaign in Mississippi. I served in a combat unit in the Mississippi Army National Guard. I led as a member of our student government in college. And I am ready to lead in the United
States Congress. If the people of the Second District of Mississippi trust me with their vote, I will not only be a member of Congress, I will be a leader in Congress. Not only have I been proven as a leader, I have also held to Christian principles against tough opposition - sometimes from unexpected places. God has told us to love that which is good and to hate that which is evil, and I have done my best with His help to do so - and that against even fellow Christians as well as close family members. I have worked for the pro-life cause for years, preaching and teaching from a pro-life perspective, attending a national Rally for Life on the Mall in Washington, DC, being a part of prayer chains and attending candlelight vigils for the murdered unborn, and serving as the treasurer for Campus Right to Life at The University of Southern Mississippi. I have preached against hypocrisy in the Church, even when church members who could affect my job didn’t want to hear it. I have done what is right even when it has not been popular, and I have not backed down. One of the verses that has been a great encouragement to me is Hebrews 11:25, which says, "(Moses) chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time."

If I am elected to Congress, the people can count on me to do what is right, even when pressured by liberal groups, the media, and certain Democrats to do what is wrong. And let me say that when what the Republican Party wants goes against what God wants, I will choose God over my own political party every time. I do not change my mind just because public opinion changes. Some things are always right and some things are always wrong, and that is true in every culture, in every place, and in every time period in history. I do not need a poll to tell me what to think or how
to vote. I have the Word of God, and it never changes - God’s Word will endure forever. And if we will live by it, then we will be a happy people.

Not only have I been proven to be a leader, not only have I held to Christian principles under pressure, but I will also represent all of the people of our district,
not only the ones who are like me. One of the other Republicans in this primary got his undergraduate degree at an all-Black college. I intentionally attended mixed colleges, having received a degree from Mississippi Delta Junior College in Moorhead, MS - a mixture of Black and White students, having received a degree from The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg - a mixture of students literally from around the world, and having received a Master’s degree from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary’s Southern California Campus - a school which has no ethnic majority, but like USM, has students literally from around the world. Even when I was starting junior high school, my parents offered to send me to a private, all-White
school, and I declined their offer because I wanted a diverse environment. I cannot imagine intentionally separating myself from everyone who is not exactly like me. Even my own wife is from an Asian country. We have friends of every ethnicity and every color of skin, and that is intentional. Racism is a sin, and we reach out to all people because God has given a mandate to do so. When He said in John 3:16, one of the most well-known verses of Scripture, that He loved the world, He meant the whole world; and when He said in Revelation 7:9 that there will be people in Heaven -who will be together for all of eternity - from every nation, tribe, people, and language, He meant that, too. Since all of us who have accepted Christ are going to be together forever, and we are of different colors and languages and accents and backgrounds, then we had better be getting along here on earth as well.

If I am elected to be your next Congressman, I will represent all of the citizens of the Second District of Mississippi, not just the ones who look like me. And since two African-American organizations - Century 21 and BAMPAC - are reporting that one-third of all African-Americans are conservative, and one-third consider themselves independent, and since those African-Americans care more about where a candidate stands on the issues than what political party he belongs to or what color his skin is, then I have a very good chance of willing this election, because I share the values that most of the people of our district believe in: the pro-God, pro-country, pro-family values that have made our nation great, and will continue to make our nation great if we adhere to them.

Why do you believe that Bennie Thompson has not been a good Representative for the 2nd District?

His anti-God, anti-Christian voting record. He has voted against a ban on the most hideous form of abortion - partial-birth abortion - three times, and has only a 12% percent pro-life voting record, according to one pro-life group. He is pro-homosexual - he has received a 100% rating from a radical homosexual group called the Human Rights Campaign. He is in favor of raising taxes, ignoring the fact that the way to run government is to make taxes low and keep them low, do only what government is ordained to do, and eliminate government waste. For his entire tenure of ten years in Congress, he has voted the opposite of the way he should have voted. And he has personally become wealthy while - as he admits himself - our district has remained - to our shame - one of the poorest in the nation.

I also said that one of my Republican opponents attended one all-Black college. Well, Bennie Thompson attended two all-Black colleges, intentionally separating himself
from all who were not just like him. And in talking with a lot of people from around our district, I have heard a lot of talk about how Thompson not only represents only
Blacks, but that he does not represent all of them, but only the ones who agree with him. Now, these are the stories I am being told. I believe that we need someone who will represent all of the people of our district, not only a select few. These are some of the reasons why I believe that Bennie Thompson needs to be replaced by someone who would do a better job with our trust.

3. Do you think Representatives and Senators should be term limited? If
so, how many terms should they be limited to?

I definitely do not believe that Senators and Representatives should be term limited. I even have my doubts as to whether the Presidency should have any term limits placed on it. It did not have any term limits in the Constitution originally. I believe that the people should be able to elect whomever they think will do the best job in any office. They can always term limit someone who is not doing a good job by replacing him or her with their vote in the next election.

4. What are your general thoughts on the new Medicare drug benefit just signed into law by President Bush? Do you support or oppose it?

I hate to say it, since I am going against the President, and he is of
my own political party, but I oppose the new Medicare drug benefit. Some of our older citizens may need some help paying for their prescription medicines, but not all of them.

And the real problem is that the pharmaceutical companies are greedy. That greed is what has driven the price of medication up. I believe that we would be better off to put a price cap on prescription medications, and that is not socialism or communism, that is putting a fair limit on how much companies can charge for the things that they make. Teddy Roosevelt was staunchly against socialism, but he also said that no one individual or no one company or corporation should have too much money, and I agree with him, because he was right. I know a family medical practice that is in our congressional district in which three doctors practice together. Two of them charge $75.00 for an office visit; the third one charges $25.00. The difference in the charges for services is that two of them are greedy, and the other one is not. Two of them want the material things and the pleasures that money can pay for, and the other is content with what he has and is willing to charge a fair price and still make a decent profit. Two of them know that Medicaid and Medicare will pay their charges, and the other has more of a conscience and is willing to help people get well and help them manage their checkbooks, even though he knows that he could get the easy money for doing the wrong thing and overcharging his patients. I know that we need tort reform, but we also need medical reform, and that means that doctors need to remember that they are in the profession to heal, and not to get rich.

So, I am against this new Medicare drug benefit, because it is wrong. It is increasing the size of our government, not reducing it. It is one step closer to socialized medicine, rather than a capitalistic, free-market economy. And when you think about it, 75 percent of the assets in this country are owned by people 50 and older. These older folks want for someone else to pay for all their medicine, just because they have made it to a certain age. Guess who is going to pay for all their medicine. Younger people, like me. I’m 40. I can’t afford to pay for their medicine. They’ve lived long enough that they should have their own house paid for and have a sizable nest egg in the bank. I have a wife, and a child in school, and we sure don’t have a house and a piece of land paid off. Most of them are much better able to pay for their own medicine than I am. We should help the people who really need help, and that includes the poor, the homeless, the infirm, the weak, the needy, etc. But that does not include everyone who makes it to be 65 years old, or 60, or 55, or whatever the AARP decides the age should be. Maybe they are moving toward socialized medicine. But I am not in favor of it.

5. Do you support the Federal Marriage Amendment?

Yes, I support it 100 percent. But the FMA is not the final solution to
the real problem which is at hand. What the FMA is trying to do is to protect our people, the citizens of the United States, from activist, liberal federal judges, including Supreme Court justices. We already have a Constitutional provision for taking care of activist federal judges. It’s called impeachment. Although these judges are appointed for life, they are appointed only during periods of good behavior, according to the United States Constitution. When they start legislating from the bench, and when they start willfully misinterpreting the law rather than going back to the writings of the Founders to see their obvious original intent, then it is time for members of the U.S. House of Representatives (for which I am running) to grow a backbone and begin the process of impeachment. This constitutional power has been grossly underused in the history of our country, but it is not too late to repent of that sin and begin to use it as it was intended. If I am elected, I will begin impeachment on these activist, errant
judges, whether I think the Senate will vote the right way or not, because it is the right thing to do.

And I know that the liberal media may try to label me as being “crazy,” “radical,” or some other such term (or they may just use the tactic of just ignoring me like they do some people), but the people who have done the right thing in the past have not always been recognized in their lifetimes as the ones who were right. The thing is not to do what you do for the fleeting recognition of other people; the thing is to do what you do in order to bring pleasure to God and to get His approval. Nothing else matters nearly as much.

6. Did you support invading Iraq and removing Saddam Hussein from power?

Yes, I definitely supported the invasion of Iraq, as well as the
removal of Saddam Hussein from power. As everyone who loves and seeks the truth knows, weapons of mass destruction were not the only reason we invaded Iraq. Saddam Hussein murdered, tortured, and raped his own people, and even tortured little children while he made their parents watch. Anyone who does that should be killed. He was found, fittingly, hiding in a hole like the rat that he is. Yes, we did the right thing in invading Iraq and removing Saddam Hussein from power, and that is one
of the areas in which President Bush has done a good job.

7. Do you believe that the situation in Iraq is being handled well by the
Administration? Do you think there are areas for improvement?

Yes, I do. We make some progress every day. We won in Iraq. We have captured Saddam Hussein. We have killed both of his sons. We are making good progress toward breaking up these tribes in Iraq who are causing trouble for our troops. I know that we have taken casualties, but not nearly as many as it could have been. And while I grieve for the families who have lost loved ones in the War on Terror, we are losing far less American lives than we would be losing had we allowed this War to be fought on our soil. If we were not going after these terrorists, then they would still be bringing this war to us, just as they did when they attacked us, without provocation and without warning, on September 11, 2001. I believe that the administration is handling the situation in Iraq very well, and no, I don’t think there are any areas for improvement; I think the situation in Iraq is being handled about as well as it can be handled.

8. What Mississippi politician, past or present, do you respect and admire the most? Which one do you least admire (not counting Bennie Thompson)?

Well, considering the little bit I know about him, I kind of admire
former Governor Mike Conner. Although he was a Democrat (as were all of our governors for about 100 years, until 1991) and I am a Republican, and although he instituted the general sales tax (in 1916), I admire him because when he took office, he inherited about a $3 million deficit from Bilbo, and he got our State out of debt within four years. In order to do this, he did institute the general sales tax in Mississippi, and a crowd of people mobbed his office at the State Capitol. But he stuck to his guns, and when he left office after only one term, he left Mississippi with a $6 million surplus. Now, I am not in favor of raising taxes, and I think I would have returned that surplus to the people, but I admire Governor Conner for getting us out from under that debt, even though there are other, better ways to do it.

I could say that I least admire Theodore Bilbo or Ronnie Musgrove or many others for embarrassing us as a State, but I can also say that I was very disappointed in Governor Kirk Fordice, because I expected more from him. He was the first Republican to be elected Governor of Mississippi in about 100 years, and what he did hurt the progress of our party, and I believe that it cost Mike Parker election in 1999. Of course, we all should say, "There but for the grace of God go I." It should serve as a reminder that all of us need to be careful to walk very closely to God because sin is always crouching at the door, and the temptations are different for different people. So, I guess it would be easy to say that there are a lot of politicians from the past who we could all put down, but I’d rather focus on who is doing a good job now, and on who has done a good job in the past, learn from their example, and see whether we can outdo them in doing good.

9. On a similar theme, who do you think was the best President in the 20th
century? Who was the worst?

I think the best President in the 20th century was Teddy Roosevelt
(1901-1909). He was a godly man, strong, tough, and unafraid. He tried to do the right thing, no matter what anyone thought. His whole life was a great story. He overcame the asthma that he had as a child by strenuous workouts. He had seemingly boundless energy. He endured the deaths of his mother and his first wife, which both occurred on the same day. He recovered, and remarried. He adored his wife and his children, and spent meaningful time with them. He was a lawman, bringing outlaws to justice out West.

As President, he strengthened our military, and because of his efforts, we were prepared to enter into World War I. His “Big Stick” diplomacy caused America to be known as a world power. He was the first President to fly in an airplane; he was not afraid to try new things. He worked to protect and to preserve our natural environment. He not only tried to be the best that he could be, he also encouraged others to do the same. And best of all, he was a committed Christian. He said that the Bible did not teach us to avoid obstacles, but to overcome them.

He also submitted to proper authority. After his presidency ended, he petitioned the President for permission to raise troops to go to Europe and fight in World War I.
100,000-200,000 men stood at the ready to volunteer to go with him. The President denied his request, and Teddy Roosevelt complied with the President’s wishes. Just as he expected people to obey his orders when he was President, he obeyed the orders of his Commander-in-Chief when he was no longer President. I admire that kind of commitment to the will of God to appropriately obey those who are in authority
over you (Romans 13:1-7).

I believe that George Washington has been our greatest President so far, and Abraham Lincoln has been our second greatest, but after them, my pick for the # 3 spot is Teddy Roosevelt, and I believe that he was the greatest President of the 20th century - with Ronald Reagan not too far behind him.

As for the worst President of the 20th century, I say that would be Bill Clinton by a long shot. Others may have been bad enough - Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F.
Kennedy, but in my opinion, Bill Clinton wins the title of worst President of the 20th
century hands-down.

Not only is Bill Clinton guilty of committing adultery while President, which is cause for
impeachment, but I believe that he is probably also guilty of treason in that I believe he sold our nuclear weapons secrets (or at least some of them) to the Chinese. I also believe that he may be guilty of other high crimes which maybe I shouldn’t mention here. (Please refer to the Jerry Fallwell video on the subject.) There were four articles of impeachment drawn up against him, but he was only impeached on two of those counts in the House; and he should have been convicted by the Senate, but some of our U.S. Senators didn’t have the character to declare him guilty, even though he clearly was guilty. (By the way, Bennie Thompson voted against all four articles of impeachment against Bill Clinton in the House.)

Bill Clinton had opportunity to capture Osama bin Laden, but according to LTC Robert “Buzz” Patterson (one of the military personnel who carried the nuclear “football” during the Clinton administration), in his book, Dereliction of Duty, Clinton failed to do so because he was too busy playing golf to be disturbed, even by his National Security Advisor. Bill Clinton did not help the economy (it was boosted more by the sale of computers and computer software than anything else), and he left President Bush with a declining economy.

The country is worse off because he was elected President, but as a Christian minister has said, I believe that we got the President we deserved, and that his election showed more about the character of our people at the time than it showed about the character of Bill Clinton. However, Bill Clinton should never hold any position of authority again, and neither should his wife, the hyphenated Hillary Rodham-Clinton.

10. What's your general view on the whole Israel/Palestine conflict?

Because of Genesis 12:3, in which God has said that He will bless
anyone who blesses Abraham (and this is also transferred to the Nation of Israel), and curse anyone who curses him, I will always stand behind Israel. I believe that Israel has the right to be where they are, and I believe that there are plenty of other places where Palestinians can live. I believe that the Palestinians should be put out of Israel, and especially out of Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

11. Are there any policy positions that you disagree with President Bush?

Yes. I believe that President Bush is 1,000 times a better President
than Al Gore would have been, but there are some of President Bush’s policies with which I disagree.

Human Stem Cell Research
In August, 2001, President Bush announced to the nation via television while on vacation at his ranch in Texas that he was basically against human stem cell research,
but that he was going to allow research to be done with about 60 lines of stem cells that had already “harvested” from preborn human babies who had already murdered by abortion. This is tantamount to using the research done by Nazi “doctors” to be used to improve the lives of others still living. It is morally wrong, and the President made a bad decision. Promising research can be done using the stem cells of willing adult human volunteers without killing anyone, and if we need to do any human stem cell research, then this is the way that we need to go.

Homosexuality
President Bush had appointed some homosexuals to some mid-level government positions, and the people in these positions do research for and influence the decision-
makers. President Bush is also meeting with a homosexual group called the “Log Cabin Republicans” once a week. Neither of these can be considered Christian behavior, and I take issue with these actions. And if “Log Cabin” is supposed to refer to Abraham Lincoln, he would have been appalled at the idea of homosexuality. Americans in his day considered it a sin so abhorrent that they wouldn’t even mention it by name.

Islam
I want to see the President affirm that Islam is not a religion of peace, but a false religion. Our Founders knew that the only true religion is Christianity. Our Nation
was founded upon Christianity, and it is upon this basis that we have prospered and have become great. Our Founders’ definition of “religion” was “denomination.” Therefore, when they said that we would never establish a national religion, they didn’t mean that Christianity wouldn’t be our national religion; it already was. They meant that we would never establish a national denomination - that America would never be officially Anglican, Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, or any other “religion,” as they would have put it. But they did establish a Christian nation. And America’s leaders should affirm that we are a Christian nation, and that all other religions are false and misleading, that the wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness (Romans 1:18), and that Jesus Christ is the only way for anyone to get to Heaven (John 14:6) and that all other “religions” lead people to Hell for eternity, from which there will be no escape.

The Medicare Drug Benefit
As I have said above, the Medicare Drug Benefit is unfair to younger people, because we shouldn’t have to pay for people’s prescription medications just because they
have reached a certain age. Besides that, it is their generation that allowed abortion to be legalized, and one-third of all babies conceived for the past thirty years have been murdered before they were ever born, leaving one-third less people to pay for their “freebie” medications. I think that their generation has gotten far too much of everything they’ve wanted, and they should be ashamed of themselves for how selfish they have been their whole lives.

Ag/Jobs Bill
The so-called Ag/Jobs Bill that is going through Congress right now, and that President Bush has indicated that he might sign, is another area of great concern for me. The bill provides that illegal immigrants, if they have been in America for at least three years, if they have “kept their nose clean,” and if they are offered a job, can be given immunity and granted the privilege of working in this country legally. This is encouraging illegal immigration, which is unacceptable. The President’s rhetoric is that he is in favor of “matching willing workers with willing employers,” but when people have already broken the law to get into this country, possibly carrying a disease that could be spread throughout America, possibly being terrorists with evil intentions to harm American citizens, then they are not operating in good faith, and should be deported back to the country in which they are a citizen. My wife immigrated into this country legally. She went through all the paperwork. She got her medical exams to prove that she did not have a disease. She paid all of her fees. She got into this country the right way, and we should welcome immigrants who love America and want the best for this country. Anyone who wants to cross the borders into America should be made to do it legally -in order to protect American citizens.

12. What tax system do you wish Congress would enact, e.g. flat income tax, national sales tax, etc.?

I want to get rid of the federal income tax, and I want to reduce the
size of government and get rid of all of the unnecessary government programs that we are supporting with our tax dollars today. There are some programs that the government is supporting which should be done by individuals, families, and churches; they do a much better job with programs like helping the poor and the homeless, and
for much less money, and they also share how people can be saved eternally, not just temporarily.

The people who serve in government work and deserve to be paid, but the average Mississippian, for example, can expect to pay 31 percent of his total income in taxes this year. Now, since God demands only 10 percent of our income to be given back to Him (of which it all belongs to Him anyway, and He has given us the strength to work and earn money), it is wrong for government to claim that they should receive more than that which God requires. Therefore, we should never have to pay more than 10 percent of our total gross income in taxes, and that means federal, state, and
local taxes combined.

13. On you website, you state that "...[P]rogramming and commercials which
undermine the Christian moral foundations of our country need to be prohibited. When television was starting to be broadcast into people's homes, they promised us that TV would always be a welcome guest in our homes. They have failed to keep their promise. It is time for us to rein them in." How would you respond to those that would argue that such an attempt to regulate what television companies air would run afoul of the First Amendment?

Freedom of speech means that we the people have the right to air our grievances to our elected government officials without fear of punishment. It does not mean that the government must agree with you, and it does not mean that anyone has the right to say whatever they want. We have laws against libel and slander, but they are not being enforced because of the fear of being accused of violating someone’s First Amendment rights. Some speech is harmful, as defined by the Word of God, and should be prohibited. We are, in every case, only given the freedom to do what is right, and we are never given the “freedom” to do that which is wrong.

14. Also on your website, you mention that you advocate limited government, strong property rights, lower taxes, and no governmental involvement in health care and charity, and you declare your opposition to socialism and communism. However, under the "American Businesses / Free and Fair Trade" section of you website's "Issues" page, you say that US automobile manufacturers should sell their vehicles at a "decent price." Furthermore, you state, "A new vehicle need not cost much over $10,000 - and it doesn't matter what kind of vehicle it is," and go on to declare, "And if automakers won't lower their prices voluntarily while still turning out a product of the highest quality without laying off workers or reducing employee benefits, then government has the right and responsibility to lower the prices for them by setting price caps on how much they can charge for a new car, truck, SUV, or van. It is time to return to common sense in America." Aren't the price controls that you are advocating for the automobile industry at conflict with your other beliefs in smaller, less invasive government? Isn't centrally setting prices by the government a
feature of socialism and communism?

No. I believe in free and fair trade, and that means that trade cannot be totally unregulated. Laissez faire (leave it alone) economics does not work, because people do not do well when left alone. That’s why we have three branches of government for a system of checks and balances, and that is also one reason why we have government in the first place.

There must be order in a society, and in this case, even though we as Americans could survive without automobiles, we have become dependent on them. They are like a necessity. Therefore, if we allow all automobile manufacturers to charge, let’s say, $40,000.00 or more for an automobile, then what’s to stop all grocers from charging $20.00 for a pound of hamburger? Some may say that the free market system would prevent that from happening, but if all grocers agreed to implement that plan, then people would have no choice but to either buy the meat at the inflated prices, or to start buying some other type of meat, or to start eating only vegetables. But what then if all the grocers agreed to sell all of their food at highly inflated prices? Sure, a few of us could grow our own food and make it all right, but what of the people who live in apartments or just don’t own their own land, or don’t own arable land? What then? What if people actually couldn’t afford to buy food at their local grocery store? Do we really want to live that way, just because all of the grocers in America agreed to sell at highly over-inflated prices?

And what if everyone got greedy, to the point where every husband and wife in America was working, and they still couldn’t afford to pay all of their bills, and they couldn’t afford daycare, so their children had to stay home alone while mom and dad were both at work? Or is that what some people want - government childcare for all of our children, so the government can be the main influencers of our children, playing both Mommy and Daddy to our own kids? Christianity supersedes capitalism, socialism, and communism, and government needs to do what is right and best, even if it doesn’t always fit into a neat little political definition.

Some Observations

In times of dire emergency, it's good to see that Iran keeps its priorities straight.

Another reason why this man should never be President. Speaking of the Angry Vermonter, doesn't his candidacy look less like a political campaign and more like a cult?

It looks like the Canadians are trying to poison our food supply. You just can't trust a country with that many French-speakers in it.

Never heckle a singer that is liked by a mobster in the audience.

Three Word Review For "Return of the King"

Pretty Dang Cool.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

A Brief Thought on Hyprocrisy

While we are on the subject of hyprocrisy, let me add a thought on it. (Ed.-- It's your blog, so ahead. Nobody's stopping you. Me--Okay, okay, I get the point) Being a hypocrite on a manner doesn't negate your argument against the manner. For example, let's say that Mr. X embezzles money from his company on a consistent basis, yet he teaches his children that it is wrong to steal. Is he a hypocrite? You betcha. But he being a hypocrite doesn't refute his position against stealing.

Rush and Hypocrisy

Mr. Dr. Lawrence points out this Rand Simberg post on Rush's lawyer stating that opening Mr. Limbaugh's medical records would violate his "constitutional right to privacy." Mr. Simberg thinks that Rush is being hypocritical (as does Chris) since Rush has stated in the past that there's no "constitutional right to privacy."

Actually, Rush isn't being hypocrtical at all. Many conservatives, like Rush, argue that the US Constitution doesn't outright declare a right to privacy. In my judgement, they are correct, it doesn't blatantly say that US citizen's have that right. But, the Florida state constitution does, in fact, straightforwardly recognize such a right to privacy in Article I, Section 23:

Right of privacy.--Every natural person has the right to be let alone and free from governmental intrusion into his private life except as otherwise provided herein. This section shall not be construed to limit the public's right of access to public records and meetings as provided by law.

Remember that the issue of Rush's prescription drugs is a matter of state law. It's a state attorney, not a federal one, who is going after Rush in a state, not federal, court; therefore, the right to privacy protection in the state constitution applies here.

Some Observations

Rudy vs. Hillary? According to a LA Times columnist, Giuliani plans on taking on Mrs. Clinton in the 2006 for her Senate seat. If Rudy can beat the stuffing out of Hillary, he'll be a hero of the VRWC for years to come. Well, duh.

"China's Leaders Back Private Property" That's the headline to a Washington Post article that tells of the Chi-Com gov't has introduced a plan to recognize legal rights to private property. That means now the Communist Party of China is to the right of the US Democratic Party.

If only all 50 governors were this frugal.

A whole lot of shakin' going on in California. Ollie North, subbing for a vacating Sean Hannity, quipped that CA has four seasons: Drought, Fire, Flood, and Earthquake.

Link

I got a nice e-mail from a fellow named Matt that runs an online community for Mississippi conservatives who enjoy role-playing games. He asked politely for a link on my blog, so here it is. You have to apply at the link, but according to Matt, "...that's just a technicality to keep the far left moonbats out. I pretty much approve everyone that isn't put off by the idea of exclusivity."

A Few Things

The Media Research Center has announced its "Best of Notable Quotations," which gives awards to liberal-biased "reporting." Categories include "Baghdad Bob Award for Parroting Enemy Propaganda" and "Media Millionaires for Higher Taxes Award."

Stephanie Summers-O'Neal, the CEO of Diversified Trade LLC, announced that she plans to run in the GOP primary for the 2nd Congressional District of Mississippi. If she manages to win the primary and defeat incumbent Democrat Bennie Thompson, she would be the first black Republican woman to serve in Congress.

Byron York sets things straight on the whole Haliburton overcharging quasi-scandal.

And NRO also provides a guide of Howard Dean's foreign policy advisors. If you're a conservative teed off with Bush's domestic policies and as a result are undecided on voting for him, this piece should make you realize that you really don't want Dean and that band of people running foreign policy.

NOTE: No updates here over the week-end since I'm heading out to my Meemaw's. See ya'll when I see y'all.

Hi Everybody!

Sorry for the lack of posts here lately, but some Real Life is getting in the way. Nothing serious, but it would take too long to fully explain. Anyway here's the answers to the short Presidential quiz:

The first President with facial hair: Abraham Lincoln
The last President with facial hair: William Howard Taft

The youngest President: Theodore Roosevelt (JFK was the youngest elected Pres, but TR became Pres. after the death of William McKinley)

The first Southern born Pres after the War Between the States: Woodrow Wilson (born and raised in Virginia).

SADDAM CAPTURED!!!

Members of the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Divison along with special op forces nabbed the former dictator. And as you can see, he's sporting the Ted "The Unabomer" Ky-whatislastname look.

Some Observations

Christmas decorations in the White House? Call the ACLU! The ever fragile wall between church and state is crumbling! Seriously though, I rather miffed at the constant use of "Holiday" at the WH's site instead of "Christmas."

A 78-year-old retired schoolteacher says that she's the illegimate daughter of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond. She claims that the senator had a "special relationship" with her mother, a black maid of the Thurmond family.

I'm sure the environmentalist wackos will blame this on the Bush Administration.

America Junior has a new Prime Minister. Paul Martin replaces the retiring Jean Chretien as Grand Poobah of Canuckdom (Martin forced Chretien to step aside two months earlier than Chretien planned) and hopes to repair relations with the US after they had been damaged when Canada refused to send it's Armored Moose Calvary to aid in the liberation of Iraq.

A question for y'all: Who was the first President with facial hair and who was the last? If you get this right, I will mail you 1 cubic foot of air contained in a box made of air. Allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery.

Here's a another one: who was the youngest President? Reward for a correct answer is the satisfaction that you are knowledgeable in Presidential trivia.

An just one more: Who was the first Southern-born man elected President after the War Between the States?

"Dean Formulates a Nuanced Foreign Policy" Apparently, "nuanced" means surrendering national security decisions to the UN.

The Iraqi Governing Council says it has found a secret memo to Saddam Hussein that gives details of 9/11 ring leader Mohammed Atta's visit to Baghdad in the summer of 2001:

Dated July 1, 2001, it outlines a three-day "work program" for Atta at Abu Nidal's base in Baghdad, the Telegraph said. Abu Nidal, headquartered in Baghdad for more than 20 years, was responsible for the failed assassination of the Israeli ambassador to London in 1982.

New Blog

Get yourself over to Chudogg where he has a snazzy take down of the proposed EU Constitution.

Fun With Google Referrals

I got a hit from a Google search: "Sowell is an idiot" If you are referring to Dr. Thomas Sowell, then I can tell you that he most certainly is not an idiot. He has more intelligence in his pinky (the one on the right hand, of course) than the entire combined brainpower of the Left. So there.

Some Observations

The VRWC strikes again!

Up in Minnesota, a liberal talk radio host quits after two days because he felt that the creator of the show, a former Democratic US House candidate, was wanting him to be nothing but a shill for the Democrat Party. This is a hand story to have when a lefties starts into diatribes of how ClearChannel and Murdoch's Media Empire stifle views contrary to their corporate interests.

Can any of the Democrat Pres. candidates boogie as well as President Bush? I don't think so.

The kids are (mostly) alright: two recent surveys of teenagers show that they are more inclined to be conservative than their parents on the issues of school prayer and abortion. But on the environment and gay rights, they tend to be more liberal.

Brilliant article by the Wall Street Journal on the Democrat's recent discovery that gerrymandering may not be a good thing.

The latest liberal to have this Eureka! moment is Jeffrey Toobin, writing in The New Yorker, who sounds like Gomer Pyle discovering that there are self-interested politicians in this world--led of course by the evil Tom DeLay! "When does gerrymandering become a threat to democracy?" says his essay's headline, and a cynic might conclude that the answer around The New Yorker is: "When Republicans can use it to hold the House for another decade."

Dark Day for Democracy

In a 5-4 decision, the US Supreme Court declared that McCain-Feingold was, for the most part, constitutional. The most vile part of the "Bipartisan Campaign Finance Act" (always be afraid of something with "bipartisan" in the title), which prohibits that evil soft money, is that it bans independent groups from political advertising 60 days before a general election and 30 days before a primary.

I have to say that I'm disappointed that President Bush signed this awful piece of legislation, especially since during his 2000 campaign that he would veto it if passed. I could go into a long, extended rant on this, but El Rushbo provides does a better job than I would.

Some (Short) Observations

So Al Gore will endorse Howard Dean, huh? Given that Clark is the Clinton puppet in this race, you would think that Gore would support the former NATO commander. Gore's trying to assert some independence from the Clinton Crowd, it appears. I wonder how Joe Lieberman, Gore's veep pick in 2000, feels about this.

South Dakota's at-large US representative, Bill Janklow, has resigned following his conviction of manslaughter. Janklow, while speeding in his car, had hit and killed a motorcyclist several months ago. Janklow had served 2 terms as Governor of SD before being elected to Congress in 2002. I just wonder where he had to be and had to speed to get there on that day.
(Ed.: I originally typed "North Dakota" for "South Dakota." It's easy to confuse the two states.)

Now we know what the "F." in "John F. Kerry" stands for.

Pearl Harbor Day

It's practical over with for this year, but I would like to extend my respect and appreciation to those US servicemen that died in the Japanese surprise attack 62 years ago. Their valour shall never be forgotten.

Some Obervations

I want my NRA TV!: In an effort to bypass that McCain-Feingold unconstitutional campaign finance "reform" law, the National Rifle Association is looking to buy a television or radio station. If it does buy a station, it hopes to bypass the spending limits of McCain-Feingold. Just goes to show that if you place ridiculous restrictions on how people can raise and spend money in political campaigns, they'll find a legal way to get around that law.

The Commonwealth Formerly Knownly As The British Empire has suspended Zimbabwe from membership. For those of y'all unaware of the situation there, the former Brit colony is a thugocracy run by a despot called Robert Mugabe who is heck-bent on destroying his country. You can read about the latest news about that country at NewZimbabwe.com

Gerrymandering at its finest, or, I should say, it's worst.

Some members of Congress are proposing replacing FDR on the dime with Ronald Reagan. Some may say that it's silly to be wasting time on such things; I say that the more time they spend on those silly things is less time they have making bad laws that harm us. Besides, I think the man that helped dismantle the Soviet Union and slash taxes deserves to be on a coin.

So SNL had Al Sharpton guest host this last Saturday, huh? I guess David Duke wasn't available, too busy on the KKK rubber chicken circuit. Well, I'm glad that someone who wrongfully destroyed a man's reputation and incited race riots is still able to get on TV and have fun.

Mark Latham has just won the leadership of Australian's Labor Party, which in opposition to PM's John Howard's Liberal Party. That means that if Latham's party wins in the next election a majority of seats in the Australian House of Representatives, he'll be the next Prime Minister. Mr. Latham has made some rather "interesting" remarks about the PM and President Bush that should concern us that support the War on Terror:

Last year, he called Howard, who was visiting Washington, an "a***licker" of the Bush administration, an expression he later defended as "a great Australian phrase." Asked about that term during an interview three months ago, Latham replied, "It looked accurate then and it looks even more accurate today."

Early this year, as Australia considered sending armed forces to participate in the U.S.-led campaign to overthrow Saddam Hussein, Latham called the American president dangerous and incompetent, adding: "We should not be placing the lives of young Australians in George Bush's hands."

Let's pause and ponder on the politicians that Vermont has produced lately:

• US Representative Bernie Sanders, an independent socialist who believes that government isn't meddling in our lives enough


• US Senator Pat Leahy, a Democrat that doesn't have the courage of Sanders to say that he's a socialist.


• US Jim Jeffords, Republican turned "Independent" that in May 2001 suddenly realized that there were (gasp!) conservatives in the Republican Party. This revelation amazingly coincided is a bribe, er, offer from the Democrats to chair some committees if he joined them.


• Former Governor Howard Dean, the now Dem frontrunner to lose against G-Dub featuring the Cheney Experience. He's angry about Bush (typical complaints about the Iraq War, tax cuts, Bush being mean to kittens, etc.) and that's why the far Left wuvs him. He also loves to call himself a "fiscal conservative," a point that is quite arguable.

This goes to show that Vermont needs to be kicked out of the Union.

In Lieu of Actual Content

The GashlyCrumb Tinies - You have a terribly wicked
sense of humour and people are drawn to your
wit. Children beware of the thin, pale man
with the black umbrella!


Which Edward Gorey Book Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

via Courreges

Mississippi Governors

Mississippi History Now has a list of profiles of 19th century Mississippi governors by retired Ole Miss history professor David Sansing.

Election Results

The Mississippi Secretary of State's website has the certified results of the 2003 state election.

Cotton Bowl

Ole Miss has been invited to play in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on 2nd. Jan against as yet to be determined Big 12 team. There's a $3 million payout to each team, making this probably the most lucrative bowl game in Ole Miss history. That's enough to keep the football team stocked in Gatorade for a week.

New Blog

Check out the Conservative Cajun, who serves up commentary as deliciously fiery as Tabasco Sauce.

Some Observations

Fun with Referral Logs!: I got a hit from a search engine where some enquiring mind asked, "give me some information on attorney Barbara Blackmon". If you are going to ask me a question, I expect you to be polite about it, not act like an uncouth Yankee. Since I'm in a charitable mood tonight, I'll answer your inquiry. All you need to know about Blackmon is that she's a trial lawyer (i.e. the people that in their quest to line their pockets with huge chunks of their clients' settlements are destroying the business climate in this state) that failed to win the MS Lt. Gov. and blamed her lost on voters not voting for her because of her skincolor. Does that he'p you?

Miller's Time has a funny list of what the Democrat Nazgul should use for their campaign songs.

Greg over at Hot Licks makes a good point over Howard Dean's goof of using the term "Soviet Union" instead of "Russia" on Hardball:

Has that clip been played ad nauseum, like Bush's 2000 interview in which he was unable to summon the words "Pervez Musharraf"?

Do you think it will be?

Will the journalists who ridiculed Bush then ridicule Dean now?

Will the pundits who proclaimed that Bush was too ignorant to be entrusted with U.S. foreign policy say the same about Dean?

Curmudgeony Clerk points out a NY Times article on scholars researching the Texan dialect. It also reports on how "y'all" is being more commonly used in the rest of the country.

You can now call him "Dr. Chris Lawrence."

Jay Bryant smacks around the "Undemocratic Democrats"

Some Observations

A year after his remarks at Strom Thurmond's birthday party, Sen. Trent Lott is still hugely popular in the Magnolia State. I'm not a huge fan of Lott because he's too much of what I call a Federal Pork Daddy, i.e. addicted to serving up pork barrel projects. During his 2000 Senate race, I read a full-page campaign ad in the Daily Mississippian, the student newspaper of Ole Miss, that touted how he got federal money to pave highways and had pictures of construction workers building bridges and paving roads to emphasize that point. And the ad declared that he made sure that Mississippi got its fair share of tax money back from the federal government. Which raised this in my mind: "Why do we need you to make sure our tax dollars get back to the state? How about you concentrate on ways of lowering federal taxes and regulation that would allow us to keep more of our money to begin with. Of course, if you did that, you couldn't brag what a wonderful provider you are to the state, and more importantly to you, you wouldn't have as much power." Unfortunately, given the skyrocketing domestic spending rate under the Republicans, he isn't the only GOP member that likes tons of pork in his legislative diet.

Mississippi State has selected Slyvester Croom, an assistant coach of the Green Bay Packers, to be its new head football coach. Croom will be the first black coach in the SEC.

Citizens for a Sound Economy has a list of those Republican congressmen who, on the basis of favoring limited government, voted against that monstrosity of a prescription-drug plan supported by the White House and Senate and House Republican leaders. Sadly, my congresswoman, Marsha Blackburn, who as state senator was a leader in opposing a new state income tax in Tennessee favor by our RINO governor, isn't on the list.

Rolling Stone highlights various artists efforts to oppose President Bush. This article is also from where today's Ridiculous Quote of the Day orginates:

Merle Haggard, who recorded his own anti-war song, "That's the News," this year, says that the attacks on the Chicks "reminded me of things I'd read about Berlin in 1938. It pissed me off."

Berlin in 1938? I think ol' Merle has been hitting the whiskey a little to hard lately. Seriously, if these musicians want to support and promote various lefty politicans and causes, so be it. What rubs me the wrong way is when they spout off about their pet causes and then cry "Censorship!" when others in the general population state their own disagreement with the musicians' (or actors') beliefs. Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from criticism.

Hollywood Hate Fest

The Drudge Report has got its hands on an invitation to a big Hollywood confab where various people in the TV/movie business will gather to "discuss the strategies... to affect what happens next November." Also, there's a list of names on the invite, including people that you heard have hear of and people connected to those people.

This fabulous soiree is entitled "Hate Bush 12/2 - Event." Ah, those love-filled liberals; they constantly preach against hate, but apparently that doesn't apply to those wascally Wepubwicans.

Hotty Toddy

The Ole Miss Rebels shut out the Mississippi State Bulldogs, 31-0, in the Egg Bowl, today. Oh, glorious day!

Some Observations

MSNBC is canceling "Buchanan & Press". I never really watched the show especially since it has Pat Buchanan on who has just become too paleocon as of the last few years. I'm a Hannity and Colmes fellow, myself.

There are three potential GOP challengers to incumbent Democrat Bennie Thompson (who is black) in Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District. (FYI: This district consists mostly of the predominantly black Mississippi Delta) Clinton Leseuer, who got 44% of the vote in the 2002 race, is planning a rematch. Also, U.S. Postal Rate Commission Vice Chairman Danny Covington, who ran in 1996, and Jackson educator James Broadwater are angling for the GOP nomination. It's interesting to note that all three potential candidates are black, which says that the GOP is having some success in appealing to blacks. If a political neophyte with a shoe-string campaign budget like Lesueur can come within 10% of the incumbent like he did last election, someone with a bigger bankroll and greater experience can evict Thompson from his seat.

Personally, Thompson has always striked me as someone who was angry at racial discrimination in Mississippi, not because of the inherit injustice of white supremacy, but because he didn't get to do the discriminating.

One last note on this topic: I wager that Yvonne Brown, the black Republican mayor of the small Delta town of Tchula, will eventually run against Thompson if he continues to win election. Brown just started her term as mayor in 2001, so it'll probably be a few cycles before she would possibly run. She's been an effective mayor due to her efforts to put some level of compentence in city govenment despite some city council members ploys against her. Mark my words, she'll be a GOP star in the next few years.

I betcha Paul Krugman is having a bad day: Third quarter growth was 8.2%, and consumer spending is up.

Natalie Maines is at it again: The Dixie Chick lead singer spouts off on The Today Show saying that the American people were misled in going to war with Iraq. I guess she wants her record sales to pummel further down the charts.

Ken Lucas, Democrat Congressman from Kentucky, isn't seeking re-election next year and according to the newspaper's sources, Nick Clooney, father of idiotarian movie star George Clooney, plans on running as a Democrat for the seat. The elder Clooney is a newspaper columnist that, to quote this article, "has published columns and made statements that Republicans would label as liberal." Wouldn't other Democrats label those statements and columns as "liberal", too?

The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy at work:

District Magistrate Niteshwar Kumar has ordered an inquiry into the failure of the steering wheel of the battery-operated bus carrying former US President Bill Clinton back from the Taj Mahal to his hotel on November 22.

Sahdeo, secretary of the Agra Development Authority which maintains the battery bus service to the Taj Mahal, has also ordered an inquiry into the incident which caused much embarrassment to the local authorities.

According to those accompanying Clinton, he had to get down from the bus and walk the remainder of the distance to Amar Vilas Hotel where he was staying.

More Sickness

Jay Nordlinger in his Impromptus column today, points out this lovely toy being sold in the streets of Gaza and Ramallah. Mr. Nordlinger responds aptly (as he always does), "Do try to remember this next time you wonder why Israelis can't get along more harmoniously with their neighbors, or why the U.S. is having trouble making headway in the 'peace process.'"

Yikes

In the comments of my post linking to Greg Griffith's General Sherman post, a person named "Mark Konrad" left a profanity stricken rant on those pesky Jews, blacks, and Latinos have ruined the white man's country, etc., etc. In other words, your typical neo-Nazi vomit. I've deleted his material on the basis that I have a "no profanity" rule concerning the comments and that I can't stand such idiotic "thinking."

Thanks to Greg, for pointing out the comment, or else I would have not noticed it.

Ole Miss vs. LSU, 14-17

The Rebels fought valiantly against the Cajun Tigers, but LSU's defense was just too powerful. However, Ole Miss's defense dished out a lot of grief for LSU in reponse. Oh, well, there's Thanksgiving night when the Rebs take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who have been having a horrible year.

Sickness

WorldNetDaily has a video clip from a Syrian TV program that depicts Jews killing a Christian boy in order to use his blood in baking bread for a Passover meal. This vile program was shown on Hezbollah TV, of course.

USS Cairo

The Union ironclad, sunk in 1862 and raised in 1964, is being examined by officials to determine whether its cannons are still dangerous after all this years. The fear is that the cannons are loaded with explosives that have survived. I saw the Cairo at its display at Vicksburg Military Park with my parents and grandparents the summer before I started 8th grade. It was surprising entact, though much of the iron cladding was gone. But the cannons, wooden frame, boilers, and parts of the cladding were still there. I have pictures of our trip that I took that I might put on the web one day.

Southern Appeal

I have a few posts over there, so check 'em out!

Attention Yankees:

Southerners hold grudges for a long time:

Near the Plaza Hotel in New York is a staue of William Tecumseh Sherman, and whenever I'm in New York and find myself within walking distance of it, I'll walk over and spit on it. To most New Yorkers, I'm sure, I appear to be just another ill-bred local, and thus I attract little if any attention. What they don't know is that I'm staging my own private mini-protest, but without the gaudy giant puppets and tables full of International A.N.S.W.E.R. agit-prop for sale.

Actually, this a just a small part on a smart piece by Greg comparing the War Between the States and today's War on Terror.

Moscow on the Mississippi

The Clarion-Ledger has a rather charming piece on a group of Russians attending historical black Alcorn State University located in Lorman, MS.

In fact, there are now 29 full-time undergrads and advanced-degree students who came from Russia to Alcorn for a higher education — higher, many believe, than they can get in their country.

"It doesn't matter if you say 'Alcorn' or 'Harvard,' " says Ivan Dylko, a journalism/political science major. "Coming to America to get an education is prestigious."

And I just got a kick out of this:

Between Dennis Crossroads and Red Lick, in a one-story house set in the middle of nowhere's navel, the smell of frying omelets, bacon, sausage and hamburgers drifts from the kitchen into the night air, where it's absorbed by the noses of seven drooling dogs, including Eddie, who's treed a raccoon.

The home belongs to Ann Brown, 77, as do the dogs, who were once her main burglar alarm. Today, they're supplemented by Russians, who room here, rent-free.

"I'm not altruistic," says Brown, a widow since 1998.

"I took them in because I wanted somebody to be here whenever I come home in the dark. Or to take care of my dogs if I'm out of town."

Let Me Get This Straight

The ACLU pitches conniptions over Nativity scenes on public property, but defends a Wiccan's right to pray before a county board meeting?

New Blog To Me

I present Greg Griffith

Judge Pickering

As y'all know, he's one of the several Bush judicial nominees being blocked by a faux-filibuster of Senate Democrats. For over two years now, he hasn't had a straight up-or-down by the Senate (he was defeated in committee back in Mar 2002 when the Dems had Senate control, but Bush renominated him after the Republican victory in the 2002 elections.) Senate Democrats, like UpChuck Schumer, claim that Judge Pickering is too "racially insensitive" to serve on the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals. However, Judge Pickering has a lot of support from many blacks in Mississippis that have met him over the years, including civil rights activist Charles Evers. Back in March 2002, before the committee vote, Evers declared that, "I'm not going to sit by and let these Yankees scuttle the nomination." And remember, Evers had a brother, the famous Medgar Evers, that was slain for trying to protect black Mississippians right to vote. So if a judge has rather troubling views on race and has made questionable judicial decisions where race is involved, you would guess that Evers would denounce him.

But Evers hasn't denounced Pickering; he's done just the opposite in his active pushing for this nomination. So heres my point: Senate Democrats, who are all white, believe that they know more about civil rights and "racial insenitivity" than a black man who has worked for years for a better racial climate and who lost a brother in that struggle.

Get Over It

Donald Adderton, the editor of the Delta Democrat Times of Greenville, MS, takes defeated lt. gubertorial candidate Barbara Blackmon to task over her using the race card to explain her lost. Let me do a quick primer for those who haven't been following Mississippi's election. In the Lt. Gov. race, there was incumbent Republican Amy Tuck (who switched from the Democratic Party last December) and Democrat state senator Barbara Blackmon, who is also black. On election day, Tuck routed Blackmon, 63% to 37% (or something like that). Blackmon soon complained,

"It is my belief as well as the belief probably of over 300,000 voters of this state that if my pigmentation were different, I would be the lieutenant governor of this state."

Mr. Adderton, who, by the way, is also black, rightly throws the facts in her face:

What Blackmon refuses to recognize is that she indeed had white voter support during the campaign until — for reasons known only to her and her campaign team — she decided to tar Republican incumbent Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck with the abortion issue. The move backfired mightily, as voters began to view Tuck as being unfairly impugned by Blackmon.

One wonders what Blackmon and her advisors were thinking to even dare to contemplate entering the politically volatile waters of abortion — especially in a Bible state like Mississippi. Blackmon should have known better, but she obviously didn't, and paid a hefty price at the polls.

Well, the disgruntled Democrat should take a long look at the reflection bouncing back from the mirror. Blackmon was smoked on Election Day by Tuck because her misguided campaign strategy blew up in her face. Race had nothing to do with it.

Blackmon was doing fairly well and was a serious threat to Tuck, until Blackmon called for the pro-life Tuck to sign an affidavit swearing that she (Tuck) hadn't had an abortion. That pretty much doomed the state senator's campaign since many were angered over the possible implication that Tuck had had an abortion but was now pro-life in order to gain Republican votes (I think that was the reasoning).

Adderton concludes with this,

While Blackmon is bellyaching over her defeat, she should look at fellow Democrat Gary Anderson, who ran an efficient campaign for state treasurer, but lost to Republican neophyte Tate Reeves. Anderson suffered a tough loss, but he has not gone around the state crying "racism." Anderson, who had every reason to complain, took his defeat like a man and is moving on.

If Anderson should run again, and the hope here is that he will, the electorate will remember his political comportment. It's a human virtue that Blackmon doesn't have a clue about.

Read the whole thing, as they say.

29th Senate District Race

There's a bit of a situation concerning the results of this race for a state senate seat in Hinds County (Jackson area). Incumbent Republican Richard White currently lags behind Democrat challenger Dewayne Thomas by 98 votes out of over 17,000 ballots cast, according an unofficial tabulation by Thomas's attorney.

White vowed a court challenge after the attorney general's office upheld validation of 546 paper ballots from Precinct 94.

"We're a little frustrated," White said. "The Supreme Court says it is mandatory (to initial ballots). That should be the official (word). We'll just see what the court says."

White alleges the ballots were not secure at that precinct and that blank ballots were removed from the premises and returned marked.

"We expect it to end up in court either way," Attorney General Mike Moore said.

The ballots came under scrutiny Friday after it was determined neither the poll manager nor the manager overseeing the ballots had initialed any of them.

Poll workers had to rely on paper ballots for most of the day when voting machines failed. Problems with the machines weren't corrected until that afternoon.

Concerns were multiplied when it was learned that poll manager Alvin McGowan had manually entered 411 of the 546 votes into the machines himself.

Moore said he's confident all ballots were properly tracked. and "they could identify the validity of those paper ballots," he said.

Huzzah!

Steve, the Grand Poobah of Southern Appeal, has invited me to join that esteemed blog. I'm greatly honored and look forward to contributing there. Don't worry, I'll still keep things jumping here.

Veterans Day

Even though the day's almost over, I wish to say "Thank You" to all that have served and are serving in our Armed Forces. Because of their dedication and sacrifice, we all get to live free.

Generosity

According to the lastest Generosity Index released by the Catalogue for Philanthropy, Mississippi is the most generous in giving to charity. Pretty impressive, considering how Mississippi ranks near dead last in personal income.

Here's a few things that I noticed about the index:

Of the top ten most generous states: All voted for Bush in 2000
Of the bottom ten: 4 voted for Bush, 6 voted for Gore

Both Mississippi, ranked #1, and New Hampshire, ranked #50, voted for Bush

Rankings of the states of the Old Confederacy:
Mississippi: 1
Arkansas: 2
Alabama: 5
Tennessee: 6
Louisiana: 7
South Carolina: 9
Texas: 13
North Carolina: 16
Florida: 17
Georgia: 20
Virginia: 39

Rankings of the New England states
Maine: 31
Connecticut: 37
Vermont: 38
Massachusetts: 47
Rhode Island: 49
New Hampshire: 50

Short Electoral Roundup

A Hattiesburg American editorial takes Blackmon to task over her comment that she lost the Lt. Gov's race because of her skin color. It's a bit similar to a post by a certain dashing young blogger.

Columnist Sid Salter provides an overview of voter turnout and compares it to the last 2 previous statewide elections.

Lloyd Gray offers a few random thoughts

From a Church Sign

As seen in Greenville, MS: "If you don't believe in God, you better be right."

Ole Miss vs. Auburn

Man! Talk about a football game! I'm proud that my beloved Rebels managed to hold on to victory (24-20) over a very good Auburn team with a very good defense. But the Ole Miss defense prevented Auburn, sitting 2 yards from the goal line, from making a game winning TD. It sounds too dry when I describe it, but believe me, if you missed this game, then you missed a great game.

Personal Stuff

I had a job interview last Friday at the hospital in Greenville, MS (well, the one that counts, anyway) for a programming analyst position. It went well, I think, and the director of IT there was very personable and seemed like a good fellow to work for. I'll find out if I got it or not this week. My mother works there (well, she's there on contract and she used to work there before we moved to Clarksville) and has put a good word in for me, and others there have, too. I'm really nervous while I wait to hear back from them, I would really like to get this job. I believe that I'm qualified enough and this would by a good place to start my career. Anyway, please keep me in your prayers if y'all don't mind. I would really 'preciate it.

Cole

Sam R. Hall is calling for Mississippi Democrat chairman Rickey Cole to resign:

The truth is that Cole cannot put a good face on the Democratic Party. He is sour. He is pompous. He is polarizing. Under his leadership, the Democratic Party is quickly slipping into nothing of substance for state and national elections. It is becoming the party of county politics and nothing more. In the coming elections, if trends continue, then legislative races will see more and more Republicans claim victories.

Oh, Please

Barbara Blackmon says that she didn't win on Tuesday because of her race.

"It is my belief as well as the belief probably of over 300,000 voters of this state that if my pigmentation were different, I would be the lieutenant governor of this state," Blackmon said at a news conference at her campaign headquarters in Jackson.

The comment was greeted with loud applause from those gathered for Blackmon's first public appearance since being defeated by incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck.

[Sigh] You and 300,000 voters can believe that to be true, but that doesn't mean that it is, Mrs. Blackmon.

Perhaps it was the fact that Mrs. Blackmon:
(a) Is a trial lawyer in a state where a lot of voters support much needed tort reform.

(b) Called for Tuck to sign an affidavit stating that she hadn't had an abortion, implying that the pro-life Tuck was being a hypocrite if she did abort an unborn child. That was a move loudly denounced by many, especially in the editorial pages,

(c) Is a liberal in a conservative state. Now, that's not to say that a dyed-in-the-wool liberal can't win in Mississippi. William Winter, the Great White Liberal Hope of Mississippi, won the governorship in 1979 despite that fact that he was (is) fairly to the left of much Mississippi electorate. But he was able to connect with voters on a few issues, like employment, that led to him being elected. Blackmon failed to do that.

(d) Ran against a fairly popular incumbent. Here, the what I call the "Ticked-Off Voter Factor," or TOVF, came into play. People really weren't cheesed off at Tuck, and if you're an incumbent seeking re-election, that's manna from heaven. I'll also note that in 1999, Tuck won as a Democrat with a solid backing from many conservative voters. I even had a few friends at Ole Miss that lean conservative who voted for her then. When she switched to the Republican Party in December of last year, she probably gained the support of those conservatives that won't for a Democrat regardless of her positions. And she probably held on to the support of a good many Democrats that still liked her after her defection.

Thanks...

...to Snippets for the permalink!

Election Predictions, Cont.

Today, I continue my review of my election predictions:

Attorney General

Actual Result:
Scott Newton (R) 38%
Jim Hood (D) 62%

Comment: I forgot to add my percentages to my prediction, but I would have put them at 52% Newton, 48% Hood. As it turns out, I was really way off on that one. And, goodness, how the mud was slung in this'un. Newton called Hood a chronic plea bargainer in murder and drug cases, Hood said that Newton was not experienced. The ace in the hole for Hood was the retiring AG, Democrat Mike Moore. The popular Moore (he served 4 terms, if that's not the definition of popular, I don't know what is) gave his endorsement to Hood that ran on TV ads right before the election. Newton lost, at least in part, for one of the main reasons Musgrove lost: he ran a too negative of a campaign. Both of them ran ads that essentially claimed that the world would end if their opponents won.

Secretary of State

My Prediction:
Eric Clark (D) 70%
Julio Del Castillo (R) 29%
Brenda Blackburn (Reform) 1%

Actual result:
Eric Clark (D) 71%
Julio Del Castillo (R) 24%
Brenda Blackburn (Reform) 6%

Comment: About what I predicted, though Blackburn managed to get 6% mainly due to to Del Castillo's weak candidacy.

State Treasurer

My Prediction:
Tate Reeves (R) 52%
Gary Anderson (D) 48%
Lee Dilworth (Reform) less than 1%

Actual Result:
Tate Reeves (R) 52%
Gary Anderson (D) 46%
Lee Dilworth (Reform) 2%

Comment: Of all my predictions, I think this one was most accruate. Unlike the other big-time races, this one was pretty free of rancor. Anderson emphasized his fiscal conservativism and years of experience in government, while Reeve's highlighted his own private sector financial know-how.

State Auditor

My Prediction:
Phil Bryant (R) 90%
Billy Blackburn (Reform) 10%

Actual Result:
Phil Bryant (R) 76%
Billy Blackburn (Reform) 24%

Comment: Bryant handily crushes Blackburn, but by a smaller marigin than I predicted.

Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce

My Prediction:
Lester Spell (D) 55%
Max Phillips (R) 44%
Bob Claunch (Reform) 1%

Actual Result:
Lester Spell (D) 66%
Max Phillips (R) 32%
Bob Claunch (Reform) 2%

Comment: Spell won easily, but better than I guessed. But like I said, Spell hadn't ticked off anybody royally, so his re-election wasn't in doubt.

Commissioner of Insurance

My Prediction:
George Dale (D) 64%
Aaron Dupuy III (R) 35%
Barbara Dale Washer (Reform) 1%

Actual Result:
George Dale (D) 71%
Aaron Dupuy III (R) 25%
Barbara Dale Washer (Reform) 4%

Comment: Dale cruises to his eighth term; while Dupuy offers less of a challenge than I originally thought. Even Washer managed to climb over the 1% mark.

That's it for now, but I'll have an analysis on the State House and Senate races some time soon.

A Couple of Quick Links

NRO has debate over whether the plan to merge two major Canadian political parties, the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance, is a good idea that will work.

This fellow is completely off his rocker. The article is a prime example of the absolute insanity that many on the Left have. You could almost swear the piece is parody written by a conservative.

Election Predictions

A few weeks ago, I made some predictions on how the various state-wide races in Mississippi would turn out. Tonight, I'm focusing on the Governor's and Lt. Gov.'s races. Let's see how well I did.

Governor's Race

My Prediction:
Haley Barbour (R) 51%
Ronnie Musgrove (D) 46%
John Thomas Cripps (Constitution) around 2%
Sherman Lee Dillon (Green) 1%
Shawn O'Hara (Reform) below 1%

Actual Result:
Haley Barbour (R) 53%
Ronnie Musgrove (D) 46%
John Thomas Cripps (Constitution) below 1%
Sherman Lee Dillon (Green) below 1%
Shawn O'Hara (Reform) below 1%

Comment: GOP turnout was good, causing Barbour to get a few more points than I guessed. He emphasized that I had Musgrove pegged pretty good. He stressed that he was "conservative, independent", but if you're a conservative, you're sticking with Barbour, not someone who endorsed Al Gore in 2000. He tried to paint Barbour has an outsider from Washington, but Barbour countered that angle by embracing it to a degree. Barbour touted his connections to Pres. Bush and national Republicans and pitched that a Governor with such connections would only benefit the state.

Cripps ended up being a non-factor for Barbour, while the other two third-party candidates never significantly threatened the 2 major ones.

Lt. Governor's Race

My Prediction:
Amy Tuck (R) 52%
Barbara Blackmon (D) 47%
Anna Reives (Reform) 1%

Actual Result:
Amy Tuck (R) 61%
Barbara Blackmon (D) 37%
Anna Reives (Reform) 2%

Comment: I was correct that Tuck would win, though I was way off on the margin of victory. I thought that the whole "First Black State-wide Elected Official"-ness of her campaign would led to a higher black turnout. Clearly that wasn't the case. Many pundits on the Left will probably conclude white Mississippians won't vote a black to such a high position. There may be a kernel of truth to that, but the real reason that Blackmon was defeated handily was that she was simply too liberal to the voters of conservative-leaning MS. Plus, Tuck probably carried over a good chunk of Democratic voters who backed her in the 1999 race.

Ah...

The joys of a 24 Kbps dial-up connection.

Random Thoughts

The first half of the Ole Miss-Arkansas was almost unwatchable, with all the penalties being called on both teams. But apparently both coaches read their respective teams the riot act during halftime, since the second half had far fewer.

Ole Miss vs. South Carolina: After the ping-ponging of 2 touchdowns for each team during the beginning of the first quarter, Ole Miss smacked around SC until the 4th quarter, when the Gamecocks decided to actually play. That led to them eating up the Rebs commanding lead down to 3 pts at the end of the game. Over all, though, an enjoyable game.

Chris Lawrence is a smart fella and I like him a lot, but he has committed what's considered a sin here in the South: He called the Confederate Battle Flag the "Stars and Bars." I'll would expect that from an uncouth, uneducated Yankee, but, from Chris? For shame. The "Stars and Bars" was the first national flag of the CSA and consisted of three vertical bars (2 red and 1 white) with a blue canton containing 7 stars representing the states that had seceded at the time.

If you don't read Day By Day...well, you're not my friend. A lot of bloggers have described it as "Like Doonesbury, but funny," which is definitely true, but would I like to come up with my own description: "Like Marmaduke, but it's not about dogs."

In Kentucky's gubertorial race, GOP candidate Ernie Fletcher has been declared the winner, becoming the first Republican governor there in 3 decades.

Caught the TV again, Amy Tuck has been declared the winner of the Lt. Gov. race by a healthy margin by the AP.

Howdy, Y'all

'Tis I, Senor Patrick reporting in. First, off, I would like to say that Mrs. Landes is doing a bang up job guest posting.

I'm still here in Mississippi at my grandparents' in Leland, and I may have a job opportunity here, so hopefully that will go well. My dad has set up the computer here with a modem and got Earthlink as an ISP, so now I can post. Though, I'm on a dial-up and posting will be limited to mostly late in the evenings.

Today's election day here in Mississippi, and returns are ssssllllooowwwlllyyyy coming in. Last time I checked, Barbour was leading 53% to Musgrove's 46% (39% precincts reporting). Tuck has a significant lead over Blackmon, 61% to 37%, in the Lt. Gov's race. In the AG contest, Jim Hood is doing far better than I expected a few weeks ago, 63% to Scott Newton's 37%. According the local TV station I have been watching, the AP has already called the race for Hood. As for the State Treasurer's race, Tate Reeves has 52% to Gary Anderson's 46%. Still, the night is young.

Have mercy...

If you think Mississippi is about to get ugly, read this.

When did our republic start growing such soulless, unpatriotic partisans?

Whining, Cheating, and Manipulation Fest Begins

Here we go.

Dry run for 2004. Fasten your seat belts.

Oy vey

I don't know quite WHAT to make of this. Perhaps hormone replacement therapy would be an option?

Tragic

Horrible news to wake up to. What will the reaction of the American electorate be?

Oh, please...

Is there anything in life that does NOT involve race to Derrick Jackson of the Boston Globe? I believe this is the second editorial he has written on a Mississippi election. Yawn.

Looks like Ole Miss isn't the only college with a mascot "issue"...

PETA focuses its attention on University of Memphis' mascot.

Is there not ANYTHING more important going on in the world?

FBI: al-Qaeda detainee spoke of fire plot

OK. Let's try this again. Sorry about that.

FBI: al-Qaeda detainee spoke of fire plot

Sorry about that link; try this one.

FBI: al-Qaeda detainee spoke of fire plot

This is interesting.

Why There Are No Posts From Saturday Night

By the way, I would be remiss if I didn't take this moment to just say, "PIG SUUUUUUEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYY."

French bombs in Baghdad

Well, look who's here. Again.

"A BAGHDAD hotel where US defence chief Paul Wolfowitz was staying was yesterday blitzed by rockets made in FRANCE.

Half of the missiles fired were modern French weapons, said experts — produced after the arms embargo imposed on Iraq following the first Gulf War." Read it here.

Our assistance secretary of defense was nearly assassinated by terrorists using arms illegally sold to them by the peaceful, cultured FRENCH.

I'd like to expound further, but I am certain Patrick would boot me off of his site forever.

Let me just add that our family boycott of France will last until the day I day. I have even given up my Chanel number 19. We mean business, and no amount of brown-nosing by French businessmen nor ambassadors will EVER change it.

Time to send the French Embassy my weekly nasty-o-gram.

The doors of the Republican Party are open

It seems some democrats have gotten off of the plantation.

In response to the MS Democrat party chairman basically denouncing the 25 or so democrats who widely and very publicly endorsed Haley Barbour the other night , the MS Republican party issued an open invitation to DISENFRANCHISED dems to JOIN THEM.

The democrats are in trouble, folks. All over the country. In a BIG way.

Can somebody help me suppress my glee?

Mother of the Year Award Goes To...

When I get to heaven, one of the first bones I have to pick with God is WHY?

"Courtney Love says she tried to make her recent drugs overdose "fun" for her 11-year-old daughter...Love, 39, said her daughter Frances Bean made her green tea as they waited at their Beverly Hills home for an ambulance to arrive.

"That's the only time my daughter has ever, ever, ever pitched in on one of my little crises," Love said." Read it here, if you have a strong stomach.

I have no words.

Is this really any better than THIS?

You be the judge.

Alicia Colon of the NY Sun chastises Rush Limbaugh listeners. Again.

"It has been years since I’ve tuned into the Rush Limbaugh radio show, but his fall from grace prompted my dusting off my old AM radio and dialing up 770. With all due respect to the dittoheads in the country, I find many of their comments supporting him in his present situation disturbing.

I can understand the allegiance they feel to the man that they consider a savior of conservatism. It was Mr. Limbaugh who was and is the antithesis of liberal network reporting. However, many of his supporters are overlooking the fact that he behaved very badly and stupidly. " Read the whole thing here.

I'm unclear on what the conservative response to Rush's situation is supposed to be. Rush has tried, apparently, two times already to "handle" his addiction and failed. He has taken full responsibility for his problem and blames no one for it. Should 20 million listeners call in for three hours a day yelling, "SHAME!"?

I've grown weary of Rush Limbaugh supporters being psychoanalyzed. Enough already!

Note

I'm going to be out of town for a few days, so unfortunately, y'all will be deprived of my rapier wit and stunning good looks for a short time. But on the upside, there'll be guest posts by Mrs. Lauren Landes and Senor "SkinnyandBalding" (I hope). See y'all when I get back!

Wictory Wednesday

Too lazy to make my own post, so I'll direct you to PoliPundit's

Terry Schiavo

The Florida legislature passed a bill granting Gov. Jeb Bush the authority to order Terry Schiavo's feeding tubes to be reinserted. Praise be to God.

Add These to My Christmas List

Jaws points out the new George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Donald Rumsfield and Ann Coulter talking dolls. They even sell a Bubba doll, too.

Senate PBA Vote

The Senate passed the partial birth abortion ban today, 64-34; now the bill will go to the President Bush who will sign it. A great victory. Shame on Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, both Republicans, for voting against it. Sheesh, even Pat Leahy and Tom Daschle voted for it, for crying out loud.

Winter Quote

Back to the New York Times Magazine hit piece on Barbour that suggests that Barbour's motives of linking Blackmon to Musgrove is based on racism. I offered an alternate explanation in this post, noting that Barbour has an interest in Tuck, not Blackmon, winning due to the power of the Lt. Gov. and how that will figure into tort reform legislation. Today, I found this Clarion-Ledger piece posted on Free Republic on the subject of Mississippi's lieutenant governors. There's are very interesting quote from liberal heartthrob former Gov. William Winter:

"The success of my legislative programs were dependent on the ability to get the support of the speaker and lieutenant governor," said Winter, who was a lieutenant governor himself before being elected governor in 1980.

Very interesting.... Applying this statement to today, Barbour probably feels that he won't get the support of a Lt. Gov. Barbara Blackmon, who is a trial lawyer, for his tort reform program. But that wasn't paint Barbour as a racist, so I guess it wasn't acceptable to the NYT writer.