Iowa Primer

It's a caucus.
It's a simple, popularity-based gathering of democrats and republicans in Iowa to choose a presidential candidate. It used to happen in March but everyone wants this quadrennial celebration to be over and more expensive earlier and earlier each time.
People will gather at homes, schools and other places, like polling places, they will gather under the name of a particular candidate to show their support, then the tabulation will be completed and everyone will go home and watch the results.
It's not magic, it's merely being able to gain support.
So what will happen? On the GOP side, it could be a horse race between Huckabee and Romney, with Romney taking a few point lead.
On the liberal side, it may be the populism of a millionaire trial lawyer may be taking hold of democrat dreamers. John Edwards is leading in the latest polls, then Hillary and then Obama.
What's even better and more revealing is that Edwards and Obama are very popular as the second choice of Iowa voters. The Zogby poll revealed Hillary only scored 12 percent as a second choice.
What does it mean?
It means that Hillary is the Howard Cosell candidate. You love her or hate her.
Hillary hasn't done herself much of a favor. Last week she went to all sorts of events and spoke then left with NO QUESTIONS!
Interesting how the decisions made on the campaign trail influence voters.
Will Edwards win? I don't know. I'm worried because Edwards says "wont" for the word "want" and sounds like a hick. Is America ready to elect a president who says "wont"?
Don't think so-let the media games begin.

Benazir Bhutto

Every four years or eight years we change presidents.
This is a miraculous event where people of all ages, incomes and backgrounds all have the same right to go and choose a new leader--the President of the greatest and most powerful nation in the world--and after the voting is completed then an inauguration occurs. Power is transferred and it's all over.
There are no gangs of guerillas shooting at each other, there are no tanks in the streets and no miltary uniforms on our new president.
It is the most amazing event that only a few other real democracies in the world can accomplish. And then, there is Pakistan.
A former prime minister is running for president and she is assassinated in the streets of one of the cities where she was campaigning.
The culprit is said to be Muslim extremists who feared a woman being in power and democratic reforms.
This isn't the first attempt on her life, it happened in October and she even wrote about it in the Wall Street Journal before her death.
It's a small world after all. If some don't realize we are in a world war against Muslim extremists, then we should be looking for a president in the next election who does realize the situation is grave.
Now, a democratic friend is dead and will be placed in a grave because she was working and campaigning for election.
What a sad day for democracy and freedom.

We all have a bad day

Did you see the picture of Hillary?
I've tried to link it here and will continue, but she really looks pretty bad. She looks her age, and in the harshness of a Associated Press photograph, they forgot to use the "Doris Day Filter".
If you're old enough to remember, there was the time in any Doris Day movie when there would be a face shot of Rock Hudson, and his handsome visage would fill the screen. Then, a shot of Doris Day, and instead of a sharp image, they would have a filter of gauze that would fuzz the face and turn her into a beautiful, smiling angel.
It was incredible because the audience didn't realize what was happening. We do now.
Hillary had her picture taken in Iowa and she looked pretty hangdog. That's what happens when you get along in years. The campaign isn't happy, and neither is the candidate. She should have known better than the have a picture taken outside at an unplanned event the campaign didn't control, but that's life in the big league politics for president.
Let's face it, men and women age differently. We'll have to wait and see if this will impact things, probably not. Right now Hillary and Obama are neck and neck in Iowa. It's going to get worse before January 3rd and the caucuses occur. Can all the campaigns get out their voters on a cold, maybe snowy night, to participate in a popularity contest? Or will folks stay home to watch reruns of TV shows or rent a movie?
We'll find out soon enough. My prediction is Hillary and Obama get darn close to winning the Iowa caucus, Edwards and Kucinich drop out, and it's on the New Hampshire where Obama struggles. The momentum is always with Hillary but choosing so early is fraught with disaster for the democrats this year.
On the GOP side, it looks like Huckabee is on a roll and Romney comes in second after spending gobs of his money.

Merry Christmas, God Bless Us Everyone!

Hope you had a great Christmas.
There are those who think a great Christmas is when sales tax receipts for cities, towns and municipalities increase at 10% or more.
Nope. It's about the belief in a woman who was told she would bear the Son of God. A young Jewish girl who believed. Later, probably in March or April, but we celebrate it in December around the beginning of Winter, the birth of Noel and God became flesh.
There are those that remind us that Jesus was merely the son of a carpenter, an upstart who explained his Father in Heaven wanted people to live differently.
Before Jesus, and in some religions since, religion was based on fear. You should be scared to death and suffer. Everything you have had happen to you is because of a vengeful God.
But Jesus, a Jew, said love one another be happy. The commandments said that, but there was so many "Thou Shall Not's" that people forgot about the good things.
Others criticize Jesus and Christians because they don't believe the Jews should have the land that God gave them. To be fair, someone sleeping on a rock and dreaming that God said this was your land would be pretty sweet.
I had a dream that some guy's Ferrari was really mine, but I don't think he's going to let me take it home.
That's really the heart of the battles that have plagued the middle east for 5 centuries or more.
Then there are those who believe that God is God, and God can't become man.
They say that those who believe that God's Son was born not only is blasphemous, they say that those who believe that way are multi-theistic, like the Greeks or Romans.
Does it matter what others say? No, what matters is allowing everyone their rights to believe what they believe just as long as they don't hurt others who believe differently. Religious tolerance is the key to democracy and religious freedom.
United we stand, divided we fall. If we take our faith personally, and reject those who attempt to force their religion on us----those who boast it's their way or the highway----then we win. If we let those who believe we are wrong because we believe a certain way---everyone loses, especially religious freedom.

Presidential Race Changing

The Democrats and Republicans are revolting!
Maybe that's what Independent voters say, but the truth is the presidential race is turning into a state of flux.
In Iowa, where the caucus system will determine the popularity of candidates and thousands of votes will be counted in schools and other meeting rooms, voters are finally beginning to pay attention to the presidential election.
Hillary Clinton was up, Barack Hussein Obama is catching up or beating her on the Democrat side, while Rudy was ahead, and now Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee are battling for votes.
What does it all mean?
Not much. Politics becomes more and more a crap shoot driven by mistakes than by successes, and the mistakes are elaborated on by the media. And in a 24 hour news cycle--what else are they going to talk about?
In 1980 Ronald Reagan ran for president on a simple message. It took just a few seconds to recite and earned him the office twice. What was it?
"I believe in less government, lower taxes and a strong national defense," Reagan would say.
Now, what do any of these candidates stand for, tell me in five seconds or less.
Can you do it?
Perhaps that will change, until it does, it's going to be a long year.

Will Smith: All Grown Up

He's got the top money making movie this week, but the truth is that Will Smith grew up on TV.
I remember when he first appeared on the small screen. Wasn't he the one who asked, "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?" No, that was Gary Coleman and that must have been a long time ago.
Smith became the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and started to sing, no that's not what rappers do, don't they just talk to the music?
Well, he had a hit TV show and a record deal and then---he started snorting all the profits.
After that he got clean and started to get into movies. Let's see, there was "Bad Boys", "Independence Day", "Men in Black", "Wild, Wild West", "Hitch" where he was a life coach then some different films "Ali" and "Pursuit of Happiness" which put Smith into the realm of "dramatic" star.
Now, another dramatic performance, and sadly this means that Smith will probably try to pull a John Belushi. You may remember Belushi, he was a Saturday Night Clown, but because he wanted to change his image---bad choice---then his habitual drug use eventually killed him.
It was kind of like Robin Williams attempting to become a dramatic movie star but every once in dramatic roles you expect him to say "Nanoo Nanoo!"

I Am Legend? Liberals Lose!

I watched "I Am Legend", that new Will Smith movie. The liberals aren't going to be happy with this Hollywood Block Buster.
First of all, I have never purchased a movie ticket to go and see a Will Smith movie before, always waited until it came out on video.
If I had rented this one, it would have been back to the video store the same evening and exchanged for something better---which would be anything else on the shelves.
IAL is a boring, tragic and depressing story, and being the type of person I am that story doesn't appeal to me. I should have known better but there was a group, and when groups get together they will ALWAYS do things that they wouldn't do individually. Gosh, sounds like I did something wrong?
I guess I did, going to a movie that is now Number 1 at the box office and now kids will all want to go see this.
Well, take that liberals. The movie is based on the theory that a cancer cure causes people to turn into flesh-eating-sunshine-shunning-super-strength-mutants (sounds like a great video game).
And why will liberals hate the movie? Because it was biology that caused the world to end, not global warming. They are right that man had something to do with it, and more than likely they will say, "If we only had socialized medicine then we could solve our medical problems and prevent these mutants from roaming the Earth."
Sorry, we already have mutants roaming the Earth, look around, some of them are running for President.

ICE!!! COLD!!! AND WET!!!!

The world may be coming to an end.
I heard the meteorologists tell us so. The rain and fog may...might...OH MY GOD it's going to freeze up and all will be lost!
Well, maybe it won't be that bad, because they really don't know, and perhaps the fronts won't come down as fas as they predict, and maybe the temperature won't be combined with rain....well, we can only hope.
Well, I'm sitting here on Saturday night...blogging! Alone, watching tv.
Such is life.

Governor Romney Explains

Governor Mitt Romney gave a "big speech" to try and settle down that finicky electorate that is nervous about Mormons.
Why are people curious about Mormons---two words---South Park.
Not some park on the other side of the river, but South Park the cartoon series. (Search YouTube keywords South Park Mormons)
Remember, more people are watching South Park each week than vote in a presidential election every four years.
The problem isn't with Mitt Romney, he seems like a pretty nice guy, he's been a governor of a small northeastern state, but the problem that he has run into is being a Mormon.
I have worked closely with two Mormons in politics, both seem like nice guys, but they weren't running for president.
Romney attempted to do something in his speech, calm down those who may oppose him based purely on the BELIEFS of Mormons, not just being a Mormon.
If you have read anything about how the Mormon faith began and its founding principles, you may know of some of the things that raise concerns. Joseph Smith, the founder, claims to have found a new testament of Jesus Christ when, after the resurrection, Jesus came to the United States. Smith claims he found some gold tablets, written in what he called "reformed Egyptian" and translated the plates, despite the fact he had no linguistic training in other languages.
There are also claims that the Hebrews came to the New World 600 years before Christ and built cities and fought the natives.
Maybe that was the basis for the creation of the Mormon faith, if so, it appears to be different than the Bible's teachings and has been characterized as a cult by religious experts.
If that's how it started, okay, but are those the tenants of the faith that Romney believes in now? Or are those beliefs outside the main stream of Christian evangelicals?
Or does Romney think that the original things Smith explained were a little smudged around the edges?
Which is it?
Here's the rub: Romney appears to be bright and smart. But the Mormon faith appears to smudge the basic tenets of the Christian faith, and that's the problem Romney faces with voters. No where in the Bible does it state that Jesus travels to the New World, and no where in the Bible is there a reference to Hebrews going to the New World to battle the native people.
How does Romney solve this issue? You'll note how the media explained Romney's speech and "not addressing voters concerns about Mormons". Romney can't fix this without rejecting the conservatives of his faith and alienating the rocked-ribbed Mormons who are pouring lots of cash into Romney's campaign.
Mormons are wonderful people who have strong families and strongly held beliefs that take them around the world on mission trips spreading their faith.
Is this effort sincere? Certainly, but is it an accurate reflection of generally accepted principles of Christianity, or is it misguided because of Joseph Smith's creation of a new religion?
If Romney explained it this way, "You know, the Hebrews have many things in the old testament that were required to be good Jews. Some of the stories may be parables to make a point. My religion may have had some requirements and stories that may have been parables and may not be accurate based on what we know now. I won't talk about that, just as other organized religions may cringe about at one time demanding that everyone agree the universe rotated around the Earth at one time or their religions support of slavery."
"My faith believes in family, faith and friends, and these principles and beliefs are the ones that I will bring to the office I seek, and I will encourage and protect others to live their faith as best they can in today's world."
Then he should say, "Now it's time for me to get out there and ask for conservatives from both parties to support my vision for the great country that America can be. God bless you, and God bless America!"
Will it work? We'll have to wait and see

BCS---Bungled Computer System

So why aren't the University of Oklahoma Sooners number one?
They just defeated the number one team in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) ratings (Missouri) so it just goes to figure that the Sooners would be number one.
But, instead of the Sooners getting the top spot, other teams get the nod to be in the game for the national championship.
But instead of common sense, it now appears for Sooner Fans, and I am one, that BCS should stand for Bungled Computer System