Take a deep breath, people

So this may not make me very popular with some of you, but I gotta get something off my chest.

So I'm listening to Rush today and at the end of the show he signs off by saying something like , "I'm headed out folks, but before I go I thought you'd like to know that illegal immigrants may get the tax rebates [being discussed in Congress].  Have a nice day".

So I'm like, "huh, that's weird.  Maybe I should look that up".  And I go to DrudgeReport, since I assume that's probably where Rush found the news.  Sure enough, there is this link on Drudge right now...

Illegal Immigrants May Get Rebates as Part of Stimulus Package...

Go ahead and read that article.  I'll wait.

...

So let's break this down a little bit...

1.  The illegals being discussed are paying taxes.

2.  The rebates are for people who paid taxes.

3.  Because of 1 & 2, the illegals are gonna get a rebate.

Um...

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM HERE?

Seriously, some of you folks out there need to calm down a little bit.

It seems like I am constantly hearing that illegals are stealing from Americans because they come here, don't pay taxes, and take advantage of all of the "free" stuff we offer like healthcare and social security.  I've never bought into the problem being as bad as some people keep saying it is, but truthfully I've not looked into it enough.  And that's a discussion for another day.

Anyway, so now we have illegals who pay taxes.  So they aren't "stealing" anything from us as far as government benefits are concerned.  Yet they shouldn't get a rebate because they aren't here legally???

You can't have it both ways!  If you want them to pay taxes, they should get a rebate if rebates are going out to people at their income level.  It's that simple.

Am I defending them coming here illegally?  No, of course not.  But we really need to put our focus into something else here, folks.

Like maybe pay attention to the fact that someone who is not a conservative is currently the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.  And that said frontrunner wants to give amnesty to all of the illegals, including the ones who aren't paying taxes.  How about we focus on that for a few seconds instead of getting all fired up about folks who are paying taxes getting their money back?

Also, to the people who think the IRS should be working with Homeland Security, etc to help find the people who are getting fake IDs.  Um, do you REALLY want the IRS to have more power, especially power that involves people with guns?  I didn't think so.

CALM DOWN PEOPLE.  TAKE A DEEP BREATH.  FOCUS!!

Friday Political Linky Love

A few articles caught my attention this morning, so I figured I'd pass them along.  Mainly because they back up my premise the other day that conservatism is under attack in the Republican Party (especially if John McCain gets the nomination), and that Ron Paul would stand a good chance of winning if he ran on a Third Party.

First, this article on Ron Paul's Christian faith and the influence it has on his political life, and the role it should have in our government.  One of the best perspectives I've ever read on this subject.

Next, this article by Pat Buchanan on how a McCain presidency would be worse than Bush's from a conservative standpoint.  Basically, everything that Bush has done that has been conservative, McCain has voted or fought against.  And everything that Bush has done that hasn't been conservative, McCain has voted for.

And finally, this article by Peggy Noonan on really the division that is going on in both Repbulican and Democrat parties.  But it does mention the idea that many will not vote this year if a clear conservative is not running on the Republican ticket.  (Note - this article got a link on Drudge today, so it may take a while to load)

Great Ron Paul Interview

I know I'm probably wearing y'all out with Ron Paul stuff again, but I'm not going to stop until the country realizes that I'm RIGHT.  :)

I just listened to a great interview with Ron Paul about his opinions on the situations we are facing in our economy right now and thought I would pass it along to any who might be interested.

You can listen by clicking on this link.  The interview is titled "January 23, 2008 - Ron Paul Glenn Beck Interview (18 min) Dollar / Economy "...

http://www.ronpaulaudio.com/index.html#new

Or you can read the transcript by clicking on this one...

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/196/4897/

Here are some excerpts that I found pretty good...

GLENN: Okay. So now, you mentioned tax cuts. Congress, both sides of the aisle are talking now about $800 tax rebates to the poorest people in America. I don't know about you, but I've never seen a job created by a guy who's at the bottom of the ladder. This seems just like a plan to get people to spend which to me is what got us here in the first place.

PAUL: Yeah, you are right. And all you do is you encourage consumption and we're overdoing consumption right now. It's not a tax rebate if you send somebody a check for $800 for not paying taxes. That's a welfare check.

GLENN: Thank you.

...

GLENN: Nobody understands that, well, they say let me give $800 to the poorest, they are really not doing that much because the dollar is worth so little. The poorest are being hit by inflation harder than anybody else.

PAUL: That is exactly right. The do-good liberal who said we have to take care of everybody -- and they are well intentioned. The more debt they run up to give to the poor, the poorer the people get because they cannot keep up. Take, for instance, even Social Security recipients. Their inflation rate might be 10 or 12% and we give them a cost of living increase of 2%. So they're losing. And you just can't keep that cycle going. You have to balance the budget, you have to live within our means and then we have to restore confidence to the dollar. So it's a major, major undertaking. But we have to reverse it.

I think the most immediate thing is to cut back on spending, not increase spending, and get the money back into the hands of the market of savers and investors and people who are spending. But government economic planning does not work and that's what we're coming to the realization.

...

PAUL: Well, it's not easy but what I would do is not want to close down the Federal Reserve because that is dramatic and it wouldn't happen. It would be chaotic, too. All I want to do is legalize the Constitution, let you and me use gold if we want, which means you have to remove sales taxes and capital gains tax off gold and let it circulate just like currency circulated around the world. So if you want to save for your kids' education, you can put them in gold bonds and if the dollar, if you've got, the dollar's going down more rapidly than the price of education goes up, you could save in gold. You could get paid in gold and if we --
GLENN: Hang on.
PAUL: Then paper will not be used anymore.
GLENN: Wait a minute. But what you're proposing, you're this close to being arrested if you -- I mean, if you went and actually did that, they already have. The liberty dollar guys. They have tried to arrest the guy and say, you are trying to compete with the currency of the United States of America. What you're talking about now, you can be arrested for.
PAUL: Yeah. So the Constitution is being violated by law and it's supposed to be the other way around. And this is why I used to term this legalize the Constitution, this legalize gold and silver which is in the Constitution. So you would have to change the tax code. You'd have to persuade the congress to do this, but it would be less chaotic. This is exactly what I proposed in the early 1980s when I was on the gold commission, competing currencies. Economists think you can have competing currencies easier today than in the past because the world's always have competing currencies. Just allow gold and silver to do the same thing.
GLENN: When you were on my program on television, you said something that I didn't correct because I didn't -- I mean, it sounded so outlandish but I let it go because I didn't have the facts and you sounded so convinced of it that I thought, hmmm, I've got to check into that and I'll correct it the next time he's on or I'll correct it the next day. What you said was, if we got rid of the income tax, the Government would still take about the same amount of money in as they had ten years ago.

PAUL: Approximately.

GLENN: We looked into it and it's accurate. Can you explain that and how do we get that message out to people?
PAUL: Well, it's just that the growth of spending is so rapid that people don't realize that freezing budgets would be a tremendous benefit and that's one of my proposals in my economic reforms is just, freeze nondefense and nonentitlement spending which would go a long way to coming to the balance. I think $1 trillion less 10 years ago, I think government was adequate size 10 years ago. But we have this notion that everything that is to have perpetual growth. Just think of our friends in the Republican party that used to run against the Department of Education. What did we do when we finally got in charge? We doubled the size of the Department of Education. We create new departments. We never slow up. Do we do anything to unwind the dependency of the farmers on centralized planning for farmers which pushes cost of food up? You know, it just doesn't make any sense. The people demand change, or they did in '94 and the year 2000, no wonder they're aggravated with us.

...

GLENN: Will you run as a third candidate if you done get the nomination?

PAUL: No, I don't want to do that. I have no plans of doing that. This is a tough enough job right now.

GLENN: Really? Well, why is that? You don't think -- I mean, if it was McCain and Clinton, you don't think there would be a lot of people going, well, jeez, I can't vote for either of them?
PAUL: I think it's the system that bothers me the most. You know, the job of getting on the ballot, I probably spend millions of dollars and half of my effort just wondering if I could even get on the ballot. Then the debates wouldn't be available to me and you probably wouldn't have me on your program or something.

GLENN: Yes, I would.

...

GLENN: I mean, you know, we just -- I just happen to disagree with you, but I respect you, sir, for your opinion. I have said this, you know, behind your back. So let me say it to your face. I think you are the closest we have running to a founding father. You seem to be the only guy who has actually read the federalist papers. So I appreciate your efforts, sir.

Thinking about Underdogs

I'm sure most of you can think of several ways that the "underdog" has beaten the odds over the last several months.  Many examples of this tore up the BCS college football rankings all season long.  There are a couple more that have my attention lately...

Eli and the Giants

I'm sure none of you are surprised that I'm mentioning this after my last blog post.  But wow, what a great game at Lambeu Field on Sunday.  It was exactly what I had hoped it would be.  I figured the missed field goals and Favre getting the ball first in overtime would seal the deal for a Packers win, but it didn't.  The Giants believed in themselves more and once again the underdog prevailed.  Looking ahead to the Super Bowl, the Patriots are favored by about two touchdowns.  I don't think it will be a blowout though.  I expect a close game like they had when they played each other a few weeks ago.  I'm not going to say the Giants will win, but I BELIEVE they can do it.

 

Ron Paul

Yep, gotta talk about Ron Paul again.  He's not doing all that great.  He's had more success than some in the media had anticipated.  He's had less than what his supporters had hoped for.  But he's still fighting and I'd say his odds are still ok.  His positions on the economy set him apart from any other candidate on either side and the economy is getting a lot of attention.  Plus, today "Jane Roe" announced her support for his candidacy.  That could be big for his campaign.

But like the Giants, Ron Paul is still very much an underdog.  I'm not going to say he will win.  As a matter of fact, I'll go as far as saying he won't win the Republican nomination.

The Republicans have lost their way.  McCain has all the momentum and it looks like he will win the nomination.  Just that statement alone proves to me that Republicans are not trying to be conservative any more.  Ron Paul and Fred Thompson are the most conservative candidates.  Fred is likely going to drop out soon.  Unless Ron Paul really gets a ton of momentum between now and February 5 (Super Tuesday), he may as well drop out of the race on February 6.

Not the presidential race.  The race for the Republican nomination.  He should run on a third party ticket.  ESPECIALLY IF JOHN MCCAIN WINS.

If McCain wins, there will not be a conservative in the race.  He's trying to say he's got a proven conservative record.  He's lying.  He has fought against conservatism since Bush took office.  He authored the most unconstitutional bill in the last few years (McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill).  He fought for amnesty for illegals.  He thinks the government needs to have a bigger role in fighting global warming.  HE IS NOT CONSERVATIVE!

If McCain wins, there will not be anyone running who can mobilize Christian conservatives.  Especially if he is running against Hillary.  I'd be surprised if anyone listened to John McCain and thought he was a man of Faith.  I'm fine with him trying to keep it a side issue, but many Christians will not be.

Christians and conservatives will not have anyone who motivates them to vote if John McCain is running against Hillary Clinton.  If this happens, people will vote for McCain strictly to vote against Hillary.  Clearly that is not good for America, regardless of who wins.

Unless Ron Paul switches to another party.

If Ron Paul is in it, conservatives will have no choice but to vote for him.  They should be voting for him now!  I have no idea who is voting for McCain now, but I just can't believe conservatives are doing it.  I can't believe the Christians are either.  Ron Paul will take those votes from McCain.  He will take votes from Hillary too.  People who are against the war in Iraq and who are for civil liberties will vote for Ron Paul instead of Hillary.  If he runs third party, HE CAN WIN IT!!

Just like the New York Giants, I'm not going to say Ron Paul will win the presidency if all of this happens.  But I BELIEVE!

And that's enough for now.

 

I want to end this blog post by urging all of you folks who live in Tennessee and read my blog to take a deeper look at Ron Paul.  Tennessee votes in the primaries on February 5.  You may have seen the signs that say "Google Ron Paul".  Do that.  Go to the first few sites that are linked.  Go to his campaign site and see what he has to say about the issues.  Go to wikipedia and see his record on those issues.  Go to YouTube and watch some of the longer videos about him (especially the town hall meetings or the longer interviews he's done with Glenn Beck and Tim Russert).  If you will do this, I think you will understand why I think this man is the one who should be the one to lead our country in the next 4-8 years.  You may not agree with him on everything, but you will know that he is genuine and he is conservative.  If you vote Republican, vote Ron Paul.

Football Fever

Wow, what a great weekend of football!

Saturday's games weren't all that surprising.  Seattle should be glad that Green Bay had a rough first two minutes or it would have been a total butt-whoopin!  :)  And the Jaguars were complete idiots for playing under the hope that New England would make a mistake.  Um, have they not watched the previous 16 games that the Patriots have played?  They deserved the loss.

But yesterday's games were quite possibly the best two football games I've ever watched in one day.  Of course, it doesn't get much better than both Mannings playing in one day.  But then for both games to be so close and have so much energy was really something.  The Colts and Chargers left all they had on the field yesterday.  The amount of injuries in that game was staggering.  But it was the Chargers who played with the most passion and in the end it was the Chargers who deserved the win.  I hate that Peyton didn't win, but being realistic, neither of them have a chance against the Patriots anyway.

And then was the Cowboys and Giants.  Wow!  What a great game for Eli!  Maybe, just maybe, he has finally silenced his critics.  On paper his performance may not look great.  But if you read the reaction from the press and the fans, you'd know that it was 80 yard drive at the end of the first half that won the game for the Giants.  In less than a minute Eli and his offense showed Dallas that they were not going to be beaten.  I think the Cowboys were completely stunned after that and they never recovered.  Of course, I give a ton of credit to the Giants defense too.  Those guys are playing inspired football.  Playing third stringers in some positions!  The Giants front office needs to get on the horn with their defensive coordinator right now and give him a HUGE raise and extension before some team looking for a head coach calls.  Try to keep him another year or so guys!

So this weekend the Patriots will likely completely blow out the Chargers.  And the Packers-Giants game could be another great one.  I'd love to see Eli make it to the Super Bowl, but Favre winning will be an ok consolation prize.  Two Mississippi quarterbacks playing for a chance to get to the Super Bowl.  It doesn't get any better than that!

Friday thoughts

Couple of things have grabbed my attention lately...

Iowa Caucus

Well, the first "primary" is over and it went pretty much how the polls were saying it would.  Huckabee won on the Republican side and Obama won on the Democrat side.

Ron Paul came in fifth, which was lower than I had hoped.  The only good to take out of that is that he was very close to Mcain and Thompson who basically tied for third.  And he was way ahead of Gulliani.  Paul grabbed a lot of the independent vote, which could help him in future primaries.   He's got a long way to go for sure.

But to me the big news from last night's caucus was Hillary Clinton finishing....THIRD!!!!  Wow!  Now, I realize she basically tied John Edwards in second, but still the fact that she lost by 9% to Obama is pretty surprising.  And also surprising is how many independents voted for Obama.  This means many people were specifically going to the Democrat primary to vote AGAINST HILLARY.  Woo Hoo!  Obama has a ton of momentum now.  Good to see.  Not that I would vote for him or anything, but at least there is a better chance that Hillary will not be president.  :)

If the results from last night end up being fairly consistent across the rest of the country, then we'll have a Huckabee vs Obama election.  Wow.  Two people who we have no idea what they will really do once in office.  Kinda scary.

NFL

Playoffs start this weekend.  A lot of interesting games were played over the last few weeks that could make the playoffs wide open.  On the NFC, I really believe it is anyone's game.  New York and Washington have a ton of momentum right now, which Dallas and Green Bay have kinda struggled.  On AFC, it looks like the Colts or the Patriots, but I wouldn't be too surprised if Jacksonville or San Diego give them a run for their money.  Gonna be fun to watch!

 

Stupid is as Stupid Does

Ok, so a man buys a portable GPS unit for his car.  He's using it to help him get somewhere and it tells him to turn right.  So he turns right.  Then almost gets killed by an oncoming train.

Here is the article.

Notice the first sentence - "A Global Positioning System can tell a driver a lot of things — but apparently not when a train is coming."

Um...

WHAT??

So a GPS unit is supposed to keep people from USING THEIR BRAINS.  How about look right before you turn, buddy.  Come on!  Last time I check, trains are pretty big and loud.

This has got to be one of the stupidest things I have read in a long time!  The guy was stupid for sure, but the way the article spins the incident is amazing to me.  Not one time did the writer even mention that the driver might have been at fault.  Wow.