June 28 Thoughts

Michael Jackson, RIP

-This is my first post since the death of Micheal Jackson, who was the Frank Sinatra of my high school years. Thriller was climbing the charts when I was in 9th grade. I remember when the DJ was forced to stop playing "Beat It" at a 9th grade dance because people were adding a certain word to the chorus. (And if you can't figure out what that is, ask me in person.) And no one that I knew could do the moon walk, although a lot of us thought we could. I hope that his estate works out to the point where his kids are well taken care of. I also think the similarities between the life of Elvis and Michael Jackson are eerie.

Cap and trade
-I think that we need to be good, conscious stewards of our planet. But this is not the way to do it.
Here is the other side of the story:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31585732/ns/us_news-environment//
This will transfer jobs alright...give employers another excuse to off-shore work.
The author of this editorial also does not remember that there has not been one new nuclear plant in the US since the 3-mile island accident.

We also need more hydroelectric dams. I know of two good places in Eastern Utah that will make good dam sites...and it does not involve a controversial site east of Vernal. My ideas are on the Green River in the Grey Knolls area. The other place in on the Dolores River just downstream from the mouth of Burro Canyon. Both places are very desolate, but accessible. The Grey Knolls site on Ute Nation Tribal land and it will be a bigger boon to these natives than a casino would be. Especially if they are given control of any recreational facilities, including marinas, campgrounds, cabin sites and motels. Once enough electricity is generated to pay for the dam, the profits will go to the Ute Nation as well.

Sanford
-It's a bummer, because I thought he had a legitimate shot at being our next President. I hope that his wife and children are well.

Who will be the GOP nominee in 2012?

These are the people I think have a legitimate shot at beating Obama in 2012
-George Petaki...where was he in 2008? He is a real fiscal conservative and is a consensus builder.
-Rick Perry...longest serving governor in Texas history.
-Sarah Palin...if she stops whining.
-Tim Pawlenty...it is a good thing he is waiting on the sidelines for the Coleman/Franken thing to work out.
-Haley Barbour...he has a slim shot if he picks the right VP.

Pretenders

-Mike Huckabee...his TV show on fox was a step in the wrong direction...but it did change my opinion about him.
-Mitt Romney...the bottom line, he proved that he was electable in a blue state, but not re-electable. This fact is bigger than his religion.
-Newt...need I say more.

The best VP for the GOP in 2012. Matt Ryan.

Fish Don't Vote

Before you do anything else, please view this...if you are paying more for food this fall, here is why:

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=6133761&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/

Digest this video for a while, and I will come back to this issue later.

Also, Bob Bennett may be breathing a sigh of relief right now. The state dems seem to be focused on the Governor's mansion this fall. Because Huntsman is more of a moderate, they feel that the state may like a blue-dog like Jim Matheson or Peter Caroon. Both were silent about their future plans. Salt Lake County may have half of the state's population, but the dems will need a good amount of support from the other populated counties in the state.

Orrin Hatch's "come to Jesus" moment.

Tonight, I will expand on what I said about Hatch on Saturday.

This is what I said last Saturday.

Senator Hatch then spoke. He says all of the right things and still seems to have a lot of energy. He is as enthusiastic about his job as he was in the 80s. (I bet he still votes to confirm Sotomeyor, in spite of what he says.) He also said that he will become the chair of the Senate finance committee if the GOP gets a majority back. I do not see that happening in 2010.

Now to focus on his most infamous statement from that convention. He said, "you may think that George Bush and the Republicans are to blame for all of this deficit spending...don't you believe it!"

That was a very powerful and empathetic half-truth. The truth: in 2001 when GWB was inaugurated, the federal budget was in surplus. Two things happened, the dot com bust and the September 11th terrorist attacks. We understood that there was the need to go into the red a little bit to help pay for the consequences of these events. No one could blame Bush or the GOP for that folly. These events could have been blamed on Clinton, anyway.

But the economy improved by 2004, but we were now at war with the Taliban in Afghanistan and the post-Saddam insurgency in Iraq. This had to be paid for. No quarrel with a little red ink there at all.

The 2004 election was rough. The dems could have won the White House. But they nominated Kerry. We in the GOP should be thankful for this mistake. America should be thankful. We had GWB back and still held a majority in Congress. But the GOP delegation in Congress began to hear the breath of the donks behind them. Pelosi was the whipping girl. Bush policies were unpopular.

Did the GOP stick to their guns? Nope. They passed the medicare part-d act. A brand new, costly entitlement program. Not a Republican thing to do at all. The GOP was in the majority in Congress when part-d became law, GOP votes were needed for it to pass.

Then the wheels came off when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. Was this a Republican problem? Before Katrina, the state took the lead in distaster relief and recovery. The federal government was there to help out, if needed. Unfortunately, the hurricane hit Louisiana, arguably the worst-run state in the Union. It turned into a political football and the GOP had to punt. The GOP was on defense from this point on. The excessive spending in response to Katrina needed a few republican votes to pass.

Did the republicans in congress fight excessive speding after Katrina. Exhibit A is TARP. A lot of republicans, including Hatch, Bennett and Cannon, voted for it. A trillion dollars that has been proven to be a BIG mistake.

Exhibit B is the number of spending bills that Bush votes when he was the president...oh, wait. Yea, an empty envelope is an exhibit.

Can President Obama use GOP follies as an excuse for his excessive spending? No. That is silly. That obsurdity is why I will not vote for him in 2012 even if the GOP nominates Ron Paul. Are Mr. Hatch and the Republicans completely innocent in all of this as claimed in last Saturday's speech. No. Mr. Hatch, that is a lie! That is what I believe. It does not matter how loudly you say it, we know the truth. I don't care if you do ever become the most powerful senator in Utah history, I am not going to vote for you for that reason.

Mr Hatch and Mr Bennett, please admit that TARP was a mistake and that you are sorry that you voted for it. Then you will be more believable.

Some thoughts about what is going on in the news

Miss California--Canning her says more about the Miss USA pageant than it does about Carrie.
Letterman vs Palin--Says more about Letterman than it does about Palin.
Tehran Protests--Says a lot about the leadership in Iran, doesn't it?

See a trend? Often our actions do indeed speak louder than our words. You know, I don't get a lot of readership on this blog. It's more of an outlet for me than it is for anything else. Politically, I am as active as anyone I know. I have two former state legislators in my neighborhood. Their actions speak loader than their words. So do mine.

If I wanted a lot of readers on this blog, I would post pictures of Megan Fox topless. But alas, I guarantee that you will not see anything here that you would be embarrassed to show to your grandmother.

But if you like this blog, there are three things that you can do. 1. Tell your friends. 2. Link it to your blog. 3. Visit the advertisers.

That's all.

Flag Day Thoughts

Haley Barbour is running for President. He is very qualified to be our President. However, if the GOP wants to prove that we have a big tent, that we have moved into the 21st Century, that we are open to minorities, women and all...we can do much, much better than Haley Barbour.

Please do not be fooled by Mitt Romney's endorsement of Bob Bennett. This was a pay back. Bennett was Romney's liaison in the US Senate. Mitt owed him a favor.

One thing I did today was research what the GOP chances are of getting back a majority in the Senate. The 2010 election does indeed have the potential to be the most dramatic campaign in the history of the US Senate. A lot of seats could change hands. There are just two juicy possibilities for the GOP that have me excited. One is the election in Hawaii, where the very popular GOP governor could take a seat long held by democrat Daniel Inouye. The seat once held by Secretary Clinton could go republican, and the seat once held by President Obama could go republican. On the other side of the coin, Kit Bond is retiring and will likely be replaced by a democrat. And Jim Bunning is a long shot at getting re-elected. The best case scenario for the GOP is to gain 6 seats. The best case scenario for the demorcrats is to gain 6 seats. The most likely scenario is that the GOP picks up 2 seats. Why, this is an election year for class III. And the republicans are still a majority in class III. I think the GOP realistically can get back the majority in the Senate in 2014, when the 8 new democrats that were elected this year are up for re-election. This is especially true if the White House house is then occupied by a Republican.

More Americans are independant than are affiliated with a party. We are likely to see the majority party in congress swing wildly for the foreseeable future.

Report on the State GOP Convention

First of all, I did not get a chance to speak to a lot of the candidates before the convention, as I had one of my rough nights and arrived only about 20 minutes before it all got started. Therefore, I had to rely on my notes and the Republican Women hand out to make my choice on the party chair.

Second of all, I think that the facility in Layton is a good enough conference center for a smaller group than we had. The Salt Lake County delegation was put in the back of the room, for a change, but the amplification in the back of the room was missing. So the people in the back had trouble hearing. Only about 60 percent of the delegates showed, so some people were able to move forward. I wish the convention would have been held again at UVU, where the facilities are just about perfect if you bring your own lunch.

As a delegate, the most difficult decision for me was the choice for state party chair. Both Dave Hansen and Steve Harmson gave good speeches. Jared Law gave the biggest surprise by withdrawing his candidacy in his speech and endorsing Dave Hansen. Brain Jenkins is someone whose name shows up frequently, and did better than ususal. Hansen won the day. I am OK with Hansen.

Morgan Philpot won for vice chair, but there was something about his speech that bothered me. He said that he would rather stick by principle and loose than compromise and win. This attitude is partly why the Republicans have lost nationally. Politics is about compromise. It must be understood that a power in this country comes from the people. Conservative ideals are not dead, but at the end of the day, I want to win. I would have said instead, "conservative ideas will still win the day and we do not need to compromise. It is those who have that have lost." It was a little difficult to see one of my mentors loose.

Christy Achziger won for state party secratary. She is from Tooele. It is good to see one of our smaller counties get a voice on the executive committee.

After the vote, there was a speech by Ken Blackwell, former mayor of Cincinatti and a candidate for GOP national committee chair. A very moving and impressive speech. Too bad Ohioans choose someone else for their governor in 2006. He was a victim of "Bush burnout." Hopefully, we will see him in Congress.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Blackwell

There were speeches from the major office holders in the state. Governor Huntsman said goodbye in a taped message. Gary Herbert gave a nice speech as incomming Governor. Some exected him to name a Lieutennant, but he said he wait until Huntsman is confirmed by the Senate. He said that he only has a long list right now. He will be a little more conservative than Huntsman and does not support civil unions. Again, I will wait until I see how he leads the legislature in January.

Senator Hatch then spoke. He says all of the right things and still seems to have a lot of energy. He is as enthusiastic about his job as he was in the 80s. (I bet he still votes to confirm Sotomeyor, in spite of what he says.) He also said that he will become the chair of the Senate finance committee if the GOP gets a majority back. I do not see that happening in 2010.

Senator Bennett spoke after Hatch. Bennett mentioned his views on the stimulus attempts by the Obama administration. But did not mention that he voted for TARP. I do not have a good gut feeling about Bennett. Out of the Utah Congressional delegation, he has the lowest level of energy. I will address more about the senatorial situation, later.

Both Bishop and Chaffetz had a lot of energy in their speeches. Bishop only mentioned Pelosi once, and only to mention that Cap and Trade will have little effect in her district because nearly all of SF's electricity comes from hydroelectric sources. Here in Utah, most of our power comes from coal plants. Chaffetz, who has become the star of the freshman class in congress, talked about a stare down he had Charlie Wrangell.

After the congressional delegation spoke, Mike Shurtleff spoke. He spoke of many of his successes as Attourney General. And he spoke provided rhetoric about why he wants to be a US Senator. I will again address this issue later.

We had speeches by the leaders of the state house and senate. Dave Clark gave a 30 second speech. Thanks, Dave.

Only one of the party initiatives passed. It was an assertation of state sovreignty.

Now about the senate race. If there is one member of the Utah Congressional delegation that seems old and tired it is Bob Bennett. On the other hand, the GOP needs to think about winning. If Bennett is the one that gives the party the best shot, then the candidate should be Bennett. I respect Jim Matheson, and I would like to see more "Blue Dog" democrats in Congress...from other states. I do not want to cede a seat in the Senate at this time. I am not at all happy with Bennett at this time. But I want this seat to stay republican.

I am not endorsing a candidate yet. Bennett and Shurtleff have an advantage simply because the already have been elected to office. They will get more free publicity from the press than the other two. I am willing to help the other candidates, Eager and Bridgewater make up the difference.

There are three Republicans that would like to unseat Bennet at this time. Here is a link to everyone's campaign web-site.

Bob Bennett:
http://www.bennettforsenate.com/

Cherilyn Eager
http://www.eagarforsenate.com/

Mike Shurtleff
http://markshurtleff.com/

Tim Bridgewater
http://www.timbridgewater.com/Tim/Main.html

New IPO for GM

KSL reported on Thursday that Bob Bennett and other GOP senators will introduce a bill in Congress to provide oversight over the governmental control on GM.

On Deseret News, Bennett says that every person who filed a 2008 tax return should get a share of stock in GM.

Nice try, but I do not think that either comment goes nearly far enough.

When GM emerges from bankruptcy, the government should be required to sell the stock. Same for AIG, Amtrack and every other government owned business that the federal government owns a piece of. In fact, I think that there should be a constitutional amendment to that fact.

The private Business Amendment:

Article 1:

To guarantee free enterprise in the United States, neither the United States government, nor the government of any state or territory withing it's borders shall hold more than a 10 percent majority in any private business enterprise, partnership or corporation without the approval of two-thirds of both houses of Congress except in time of war or to spare the overall welfare of the nation from great calamity. Under either of these exceptions, the treasury will sell the government stake in such business enterprises within six months after the war or crisis has ended.

Article 2:

Neither the President nor a member of the President's cabinet nor member of Congress nor a member of the Supreme court nor Federal judge nor General Officer nor Flag officer in any United States military service shall serve on the voting board of director of any private corporation or other private business enterprise that does business with congress until at least two years after such service has terminated.

In the interest of equal time.

I found this Q & A about Tim Bridgewater from the Deseret Morning News archive. It is when he challenged Jim Matheson in 2004.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,595069766,00.html?pg=1

Let's see how consistent he can be.