And So it Begins

On Thursday night, the GOP had its first debate of the 2012 election cycle. The headlines going into the debate were calling for it to be a boring night, with no major headlines expected to be made. Most analysts and other political pundits were looking at Former Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), and whether he could separate himself from the rest of participants who were considered long shots, at best. However, some strategists believe that Pawlenty just needed to stay alive, keep his head above water. That is exactly what he did. He was not stellar, but he proved he belonged on stage. I have a feeling he will be much tougher in his rhetoric and policy answers when the presumed front-runners join the race such as Former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, business mogul Donald Trump, former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney. The real story of the night had to be the former CEO of Godfathers Pizza, Herman Cain. The relatively unknown Cain has become a star overnight. Herman Cain’s answers were well thought out, and fairly mainstream. Post debate Fox News Focus group declared him the winner (which I did not see). After watching the debate once, I was not quite sold. I forced myself to watch the debate again, and I could see now what the focus group saw. They saw a man who carried himself more so as a professional than a politician. He spoke directly to the American People, specifically primary voters. He even had the courage to not raise his hand when the group was asked if they would release the Bin Laden pictures. He was the only one.

Herman Cain is not your run of the mill politician, especially since he has not held office before. Some Republican strategists have cautioned people not to get their hopes up too high for Cain. He is still very much an unknown, who has yet to go up against someone formidable, for example, Newt Gingrich who is considered a Policy heavyweight. Few believe he has what it takes to gain enough support to continue to past Iowa, let alone win the nomination. However, it would seem after this debate that his stock is rising, along with his base of support. He has recently announced that he would be making a very important announcement in Atlanta on May 21.

All in all, Herman Cain is a candidate that people should keep their eye on. He is not what people would call the “stereotypical” Republican. He is an African-American from the southern state of Georgia. He is widely considered to be a moderate, and could attract some independent voters in a head to head matchup with Obama. I will be watching the next debate very closely. It is assumed that by the next debate, which takes place June 13 in New Hampshire, the field will be close to filled if not entirely filled. That means that the overnight sensation in Herman Cain could see the thunder stopped, before it even had a chance to start. For someone who is political junkie, all I can say is I will be watching very closely.

It’s a Flee for All

Over the course of the past week, including today, Democrats from two state legislative bodies from Wisconsin and Indiana have fled their states to avoid voting on controversial legislation.  In Wisconsin, Republicans introduced a prospective law that would end collective bargaining for public unions.  Today, Indiana Democrats fled their state after Republicans introduced similar anti-union legislation.  Both bodies can no longer take votes because they are short of quorum.   Members of both legislatures are said to have fled to Illinois where there is a Democratic Governor, which means less of chance that the state government works to send them back.  How can Americans stand for this?

Are we entering a time where it is okay for elected officials in the minority to run away from issues that they disagree with.  I want you to think about this.  The reason these Democrats are in the minority is because less than four months ago, the American People spoke.  During the 2010 elections, Americans called for less government, less spending, and a return to Reagan Era conservative values.  American’s should be outraged, even if you aren’t a resident of these two states.  Politicians aren’t elected to run away from things they disagree with, but to work together and figure out the best solutions to the problems on the table.  Instead, these politicians are showing they have no spine.

As Americans, whether conservative or liberal, we need to stand up to politicians like this.  We need to remind them, they represent the people and cannot just run away from their problems.  If you are a conservative, we need to continue to look at politicians like Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), and Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) who will stand by their conservative principles.  These leaders were elected to fix the budget crises in their states, and so far they have worked to do just that.  So as a Conservative, I say, continue the fight.  And I leave you with this:

Labor unions would have us believe that they transfer income from rich capitalists to poor workers. In fact, they mostly transfer income from the large number of non-union workers to a small number of relatively well-off union workers.

ROBERT E. ANDERSON, Just Get Out of the Way

 

 

Take Some Time and Learn

Today’s political atmosphere is more volatile than ever.  As American citizens, we cannot go a day without listening to some political rhetoric from the left, or the right.  However, is that a bad thing?  I am not sure, I will leave that up to every individual.  But for me, it’s great.  I eat sleep and breathe politics.  I love watching CSPAN and Fox News.  I love listening to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.  To me, they are educators who want nothing more than to keep the politically savvy and not so savvy educated.  Whether you are a Republican or Democrat you can learn a lot by watching cable news and listening to radio.  These personalities are people who, for the most part, have no political ambitions of their own.  Whether your cup of tea is Fox News, CNN or MSNBC you can learn a lot by just watching an hour of programing a day.  Personally, I believe that Fox News is the most fair out of them all.  However, that is not to say they don’t have a slight right-wing bias.  There are so many different outlets whether it is print, online, T.V., or Radio that is up to you.

Now as we continue to move closer to 2012, it is extremely important for people my age (18-25) to become involved in politics, and news on a daily basis.  You may not think that decisions that people in Washington make affect us, but they do!  As a college student, you are on your way to a life, and career.  It is in your best interest to stay informed.  Recently, I started a twitter account.  I am starting to get the hang of it, and actually enjoy it.  I already follow over a 100 people, or organizations.  My favorite outlet to follow is “Breaking News.”  This account constantly updates throughout the day with a wide variety of topics from politics to sports.  As we some of us begin the next chapters of our lives, you will start to see the things that people in Washington do affect us much more frequently.  At this point in time, the future looks to be very eventful.  You should want to know what is going on around the world, and in our country.  Politics for me is the most important and will continue to be.  2012 is a huge year and we all need to start paying attention.

The Presidential election is about 21 months away.  That means it’s time to start getting back into the swing of things.  As most people know, this is the time of year when Presidential Candidates start to make their intentions known.  The first Republican Primary debate is already scheduled for May, of this year!  As the candidates start to announce their intentions, it behooves you to learn about these candidates.  Even President Obama will have a primary challenge, even if it is against low profile candidates who have virtually no chance.  Take some time to learn about who these people are, what they believe in and maybe some votes that they have taken (representatives or senators) or supported (governors, ambassadors, generals etc).  I will list some candidates who I consider to be “for real” below for the republicans, and of course the President.

Democrat:

President Barack Obama

Republican:

Gov. Haley Barbour

Amb. John Bolton

Gov. Mitch Daniels

Sen. Jim Demint

Speaker Newt Gingrich

Gov. Mike Huckabee

Gov. Sarah Palin

Gov. Tim Pawlenty

Gen. David Petraeus (although, most people believe he is next in line as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  He is also in line to be the first possible five-star general since General Omar Bradley in 1950).

Gov. Mitt Romney

Sen. Rick Santorum

Sen. John Thune

Billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump

Also, I will list some news outlets and programs that I read and watch on an almost daily basis.

Newspapers and Online:

New York Post

Wall Street Journal

Washington Times

Politico.com

Newsmax.com

Drugereport.com

Huffingtonpost.com

Time.com

New York Times

T.V.

The O’Reilly Factor

Hannity

On the Record- With Greta Van Susteren

Special Report with Bret Baier

And of course all Local Programing.

Happy learning, and please don’t hesitate to ask questions!

Tomorrows the Day

Well the time has come, it is time to vote in the 2010 midterm elections.  This is an election that has major implications on our country as a whole.  This year, we are voting on senators, congressmen and women, governors, and of course local politics such as mayors, and judges.  But what is really at stake?  Do we want to allow President Obama to continue to have a blank check when it comes to his borderline socialist government programs?  Or do we want to allow the government go back to the good ol’ days of checks and balances.  Back in 1994, during the Republican Revolution under President Clinton, he did not have a choice but to work closely with his Republican counterparts in Congress.  And you know what, it worked.  Clinton moved from the left back to the center, because the country spoke in outrage over the leftist president.  This year, like in 1994, the Republicans are poised to make huge gains in the House of Representatives.  The Senate at this point is still up in the air.

Let’s take a look at the House of Representatives.  The House is made up of 435 members.  Right now, the House is controlled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats.  For Minority leader John Boehner and the Republicans they must pick up 39 seats from the Democrats in order to be the Majority Party.  With less than 12 hours before election day, political analysts from both sides of the isle predict that Republicans could pick up anywhere between 50-75 seats.  On the other hand, Democrats are only looking at a net gain of 2 house seats from the Republicans.  Today, Gallup Daily released a poll that asked which party you were most likely to vote for in Tuesday’s election, it has Republicans at 55 percent, as opposed to the 40 percent that Democrats have.

Now, in the Senate things, like I said, are a little more fluid. The Republicans need nine seats to deadlock the senate at 50-50, and ten to take a majority.  Right now, analysts are saying that it looks like the Republicans will pick up 7-8 seats, and if turnout is heavily in favor of the minority party, they could become the majority party by the end of Tuesday!  The races in Washington, California, Nevada, Illinois, West Virginia, Colorado, and Wisconsin all must break to the Right if they want to have any chance at taking over the Senate.  In terms of Senate races, we could be in for a long night Tuesday, and possibly beyond to see whether or not the Republicans take control.

How about the Florida Races?  Marco Rubio is the man that is not only on his way to the Senate, but he is the right man for the job!  Governor Crist has done nothing but show what type of person he is with all the flip flopping he has done on Florida’s issues such as offshore drilling, and whether teachers should be paid based on performance.  Congressman Meek who is running as an Democrat, is polling well behind both Rubio and Crist and is likely to finish with below 20 percent of the vote.  Rubio is someone who is pro smaller government and taxes, he is for LEGAL immigration and a tougher crackdown on illegals.  He is also a person who believes in the working man.  He wants people to succeed and will continue to push for small businesses in Florida.  For governor, Rick Scott is the lesser of two evils, in my opinion.  Alex Sink is bad for a state that has a record high in unemployment.  Scott who has been in the spotlight for shady things he did during his career in business, has taken a microscopic lead of only a few tenths of a point.  We need a governor who will continue our states lawsuit against Obamacare! That governor is for sure, Rick Scott!

My Predictions:

House- Will shift to a majority of Republicans.  They will gain anywhere between 55 and 70 seats.

Senate:  I believe that voter turnout for the Republicans will be extremely high tomorrow, and the Republicans will take a 51-49 majority in the upper chamber on January 3rd.

Florida Senate: Marco Rubio will cruise to victory, with anywhere between 49-51 percent of the vote.  We will be seeing a lot of Marco in the next few years, especially in the national spotlight.

Florida Governor: After a long drawn out battle, and negative campaigning I believe that Rick Scott will be our next governor after winning by less than 2 percentage points.  This race could be headed to the courts.

California, Nevada, West Virginia, and Washington:  I believe that Republicans have the ability to (and will) take control of these senate seats.  Democrats are not happy, and I feel as if they feel they almost have no reason to go out and vote.  These will be the seats that shift the balance of power in the senate to the Republicans.

Mosque-itos

On the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 Islamic Terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, and used them as weapons of mass destruction against predominantly American citizens.  In lower Manhattan, two of those airliners were flown into the Twin Towers, at the World Trade Center.  We are approaching the nine year anniversary of that infamous and painful day.  I still remember where I was when I found out about the attacks on thousands of innocent people.  Do you?  The problem with America today is, we are beginning to forget that horrible day.  We forget that we are at war with Islamic terrorists world wide.  Our brave men and women are overseas right now defending our freedom, in memoriam to those victims of 9/11.  However, recently there has been been a spike in people wanting to stand up for those lives.  Unfortunately, the issue that people are taking on is a highly controversial one.  Just like in every other issue this country faces, their are supporters and opponents.  Both sides of the issue have high profile support. Such as Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich for the people against, and President Obama and Mayor Michael Bloomberg who support.

On Tuesday, May 25, 2010 a New York advisory Panel approved a plan for a 13 story mosque and Islamic center to be built only two blocks from Ground Zero.  The people behind the project say that they are Americans who are just trying to practice their god given right of freedom of religion.  And who truly wouldn’t agree with being able to practice their religion freely? Not me, that’s for sure!  My only question to the developers of this project is simply this: Why does it have to be two blocks from where Islamic terrorists destroyed the lives of over 2,700 people.  You have a right to build this center, there is no question about that! However, if you claim to be peaceful, why can’t you understand why the American people are so against this project. According to Rasmussen, 58% of New York voters oppose the plan to build the Mosque at this sight, while 54% of all American voters feel the same way.  The developers of the 13-story Cordoba mosque two blocks from Ground Zero say the project is “about promoting integration, tolerance of difference and community cohesion through arts and culture.”  Why can’t this project be completed uptown (some estimates claim there are over 30 Mosques in Manhattan alone & this area is not a heavily populated one other than for businesses)?

This issue rose dramatically from being a New York issue, to a National issue rather quickly. Most prominent politicians had decided to stay out of the debate, until this past weekend.  President Obama on Friday, at an iftar ( a meal to break the fast of Ramadan) at the White House decided to tip his hat to the developers of the center.  Until this time, the White House told the media that the President would rather stay out of local issues as their were much more pressing ones on the national level that he needed to continue to focus on.  Why did the President decide that now was the best time to enter into this debate?  In my humble opinion this wasn’t a smart move by the President whose party is largely divided on the issue and in a very tough election year.  Some media outlets are portraying the issue as a campaign issue for November, while other ones (liberal outlets) have barely commented on the issue until very recently.

Unfortunately, for the Democrats this issue is just icing on the cake to some Republicans.  Right now, Republicans are portraying the Democrats who support the project as being out of touch with the American people.  Lucky for the President, he is not up for election in November.  His party is not as lucky though.  In the House of Representatives there are a total of 257 Democrats seats up for grabs, while the Republicans have 178.  In the senate 19 seats are up for election for the Democrats, while 18 are up for Republicans.  On the left, candidates in highly anticipated elections, such as that of Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid have distanced themselves from the President’s comments and has in fact, come out against the comments.

In conclusion, I believe the Mosque will ultimately be built.  Should the Mosque be built two blocks from Ground Zero? No! Should a Shinto pavilion be built at Pearl Harbor? Or how about a Church next to Auschwitz?  The building that they are trying to build over should be given landmark status due to the fact that one of the landing gears of one of the planes landed on it.  It should be part of a future memorial, not part of a 13 story Islamic center.  I am 100% for people being able to practice their religion freely.  This is not a matter of people being able to practice their beliefs without being persecuted.  This is an issue of remembering the lives of the innocent people that died that day, including the heroic first responders.  Hopefully the rumors are true that the project developers are open to the idea of relocating the site.  If not, like I said above the project will get completed.  It will continue to outrage Americans who are against the project, and continue to separate the Democrats who are brave enough to make it an issue.  Let’s hope for memorials sake we continue to cherish the lives that were lost on that dreadful day, and turn that site into a landmark! What do you think?

Silly President, the Economy is Yours!

On January 20, 2009 the United States inaugurated its 44th President.  Barrack Hussein Obama took the oath of office, and inherited the worst economy some would say since the Great Depression. There is also the matter of the two ongoing wars and other problems that were on the minds of Americans which has left the country in a general sense of “malaise”. Fast Forward now that  President Bush has been out of office for a close to 19 months, the big question that must be asked and answered is when does the current president begin to take responsibility for what the country is going through right now?  I believe after the “honeymoon period” is over (normally about three to six months after taking the oath) is when the President needs to stop mentioning his predecessor. I am sick of hearing the mantra “blame bush”.

I am not writing about the presidents policies individually, so I will not mention any particular one by name. However, when “the chosen one” took office our federal debt was recorded at $10.627 trillion.  Since that date, the President has signed legislation that has been aimed at taming the uncontrollable deficit.  However, since this time he has done nothing but increase the deficit.  The type of legislation that is passed under this administration is harmful to my generations well being, and that of our children’s.  The record deficits that are being accumulated right now are concerning to economists, and ordinary citizens alike.  The biggest problem that I have is, as recently as this past weekend, President Obama has brought up President Bush in speeches.  He says that Bush’s policies were “disastrous” to our country.  I am not here to defend the former President’s policies (although I could, and would), I am here to inform you all, that there is no more blame to go around.  When will this president just understand that this is his economy now?  We are about 3 months away from the midterm elections, and the American People are not satisfied.  Americans do not want a president who blames the person he succeeded during his potential eight years in office (let alone the fact that the democrat party has been in charge for the past 4 years and Dodd & Frank did more to cause the mortgage meltdown that GWB who was on record as warning the system would collapse).  The American people want & tend to demand a leader who will stand up and read off of his teleprompter that he is in charge.  He is the one who will help get America back to the place where she once stood proud.  I do not want a leader who blames other people.  If he wants to keep the Democrats in power this November he better start telling the American people what is going to work over the next two years (or more), and stop hiding from the truth. Oh and by the way, the current debt is at an astounding, and record breaking $13.306 TRILLION.  In the words of former President Bill Clinton, “It’s the economy, stupid”.  Well Mr. President (Obama) it’s now YOUR economy!

Living the Life

What does the President and his family do in tough economic times?  Well they go on lavish vacations of course, on the taxpayers dime.  This past weekend the First Lady, Michelle and their youngest daughter Sasha spent some time in Spain.  This trip comes during a time when the President urges Americans to spend less, and save more.  Is it right for the President to preach fiscal restraint when him and his family have gone on numerous vacations this summer? Remember, a lot of the trip is payed with our tax dollars to provide travel and security.  The best part is about this most recent trip to Spain is that the President wasn’t even with his family.  He decided to go home to Chicago, which causes us even more of a headache.  Mr. President, why don’t you stay home and figure out what to do with our economy, our immigration problems, and the two wars we are fighting?

In 2010 alone the Obama’s have gone on 3 vacations.  The first one was to Asheville, North Carolina, the second was to Bar Harbor Maine, and now this weekends visit to a 5 star hotel and lunch with the King.  The first family also have trips planned to Panama City Beach, Florida and Martha’s Vineyard.  Since being inaugurated in 2009, the Obama’s have vacationed a total of 10 times.  Now, I am not saying that the President should not be able to vacation.  He has the most stressful job anyone could imagine, so he deserves some rest and relaxation.  However, the amount of times that he has vacationed is a little much, and should be toned down.  Yes, Mr. President I have to watch how I spend my money, so should you!  Oh, I cannot forget to mention that the President has also shot 41 rounds of golf since being sworn into the office.