October Baby is the wonderful faith-based movie on an abortion survivor inspired by a true story.  This fairly decent article in the NY TImes (yes the Times) is only a result of the support of evangelicals for the movie:

But at a time when the issue is once again causing agitation in political circles, a small film, “October Baby,” about a woman who learns she is, as the movie puts it, a “survivor of a failed abortion,” is making a dent at theaters across the country.

The movie, the first feature by a pair of filmmaking brothers from Birmingham, Ala., opened the same weekend as the chart-topping “Hunger Games,” but with the backing of evangelical groups and churches, “October Baby” managed to open at No. 8 and, through Sunday, had made $2.8 million, more than three times its production budget. It is expected to move to more than 500 screens on April 13.

How proud Barack Obama and his local Clone Timmy Kaine must feel this week!

First, the Supreme Court stands ready to abort his “Crowning Achievement” Obamacare and the Democrats are circling the spin wagons to declare that, somehow, a victory. Tim Kaine, as head Cheer-girl for the ObamaCare disaster has been trying to change the subject of late demanding tax hikes on oil companies so the price of gas will climb even higher.

Last night, the US House brought up Obama’s proposed budget that adds more crushing debt even faster than the President has already piled up the trillions!

And not a single Democrat voted in favor of it.

It is ironic that the first truly bi-partisan effort of the US House of Representatives was a complete repudiation of Barack Obama’s massive spending bill.

It went down 414 – 0.

Ironically, Obama’s BFF in Virginia Timmy Kaine knows exactly how that feels. He had a similar vote cast on his final budget before leaving office as the Republicans and Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly found unity of purpose in killing the Kaine budget.

It speaks volumes about these far left Liberals when even their own party does not like their ideas.

But, hey. Those job killers stick together. Thick as thieves, they are!

Senator John McCain has endorsed Mitt Romney for President. Liberal losers stick together. If anyone was confused enough to wonder if maybe, just maybe Romney was now a Conservative, this endorsement should serve to remove all doubt. Mitt is a true New England RINO big government liberal. McCain’s kind of guy.

And just like McCain pretends to be a Conservative when he wants to win elections only to reach across the aisle and embrace every loony far left entitlement program to the delight of people like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

Apparently, the reach across the aisle is not so far when you are already sitting in a liberals lap.

People need to pay attention not only to the Romney record, but also to the record of the friends he excites.

In a normal world an endorsement from John McCain would be a kiss of death to anyone pretending to be a Conservative.

You gotta love those Liberals at Public Policy Polling. They do their best to spin the numbers and influence public opinion with their polls. Many media outlets simply report the results without even bothering to let you know that the good folks at PPP are Democratic Pollsters.

That doesn’t mean that the polls are not valid, because the data is absolutely valid.

The interpretation of those numbers is where the term Democratic Pollster becomes relevant.

Most people assume that a poll simply calls people and reports the results. And while that is true, in order to make the poll actually mean something relevant to the topic being polled, especially in political polls, the results must be weighted.

So what is poll weighting?

I will try to make this as simple as possible in case a Democrat (or a Progressive) reads this. Logic and complex thought is simply beyond their abilities, bless their hearts!

If you ask 200 Democrats who they will vote for in the Virginia Senate race, Tim Kaine or George Allen, a very high percentage will say Tim Kaine.

And if you ask 200 Republicans the same question, George Allen will be the top answer.

But if you ask 200 people who are not a member of either party, the results will be entirely different.

So, how do you make any sense of this? Do we throw out the answers by Democrats and Republicans and only consider the Independents?

Well, that would inaccurate too because Republicans and Democrats will vote in the election.

So, why not just use statistics that tell us how many Republicans, Democrats and Independents there are in the state, and call them in the exact proportions?

Well, that’s one way to do it, but you would have to call a large number of people and not even use the data from a lot of them.

That is where weighting comes in. We know that currently , 39% of Virginians consider themselves Republicans and 36% are Democrats, leaving the remaining 25% as neither, usually called Independents.

So, the optimum sample of Virginians to give you a good idea of how the candidates might do if the election were held today, we would need to call 39% Republicans, because we know most – but not all – will pick Allen over Kaine. And we need to call 36% Democrats, most but not all picking Kaine. And 25% need to be neither party.

So how did this PPP poll do in correctly picking the right mix of Republicans, Democrats and Independents?

Well, they were perfectly on target for Democrats. Exactly 36% of the 600 people called said they were Democrats. So, they get an A+ for Democrats.

But they didn’t do so good with Republicans. Out of the 600 people they called, only 33% said they were Republicans, not the 39% we had hoped for. So the Republicans were under-counted by 6%.

Which also means that there were too many Independents. Instead of 25% Independents, they added the 6% that should have been Republicans! 31% of those called were Independents.

So, if you call the exact right number of Democrats (36%) and fewer Republicans (33% instead of 39%) you can expect a Democrat to do better than he actually will in the election, right?

So let’s “weight” these numbers so that they more accurately represent the voters in Virginia and see what this poll is really telling us.

Don’t worry about the math. I am using a calculator. And we will do a very simple weighting example so the Progressives can follow.

The PPP report said that they called 600 people. And we have the percentages of Democrats (36%), Republicans (33%) and Independents (31%).

Let’s change those percentages to real numbers. It makes it easier to see.

Of the 600 people called:

216 Were Democrats (600 times 0.36 if you want to check my math).

198 Were Republicans (600 times 0.33)

186 Were Independents (600 times 0.31)

Add those three up and we get 600. Good. The math is correct so far.

So when the PPP poll reported that Tim Kaine has 47% and George Allen has 42%, we can actually look at the numbers:

282 said Kaine (600 times 0.47)

252 said Allen (600 times 0.42)

That only totals 534, so 66 people were either clueless or were voting for someone else.

So, what do we know so far?

Well, we know most Democrats are going to pick Kaine and most Republicans are going to pick Allen.

We know that PPP called the right number of Democrats and too few Republicans.

And too many Independents.

So, the 282 people who picked Kaine had the correct number of Democrats and too many Independents.

The 252 people who picked Allen had too few Republicans and too many Independents.

So let’s do the correction, shall we? (Sorry Dems, this can get a bit complicated.)

Republicans were under-sampled by 6%. So let’s fix that.

6% of 600 is 36 people, most of whom would have picked Allen. So let’s add 36 to Allen’s total votes, which was 252. That gives us 288 votes for Allen compared to 282 for Kaine.

Which comes out to an Allen lead – 48% to 47%.

Now let’s look at the left wing spin in the poll results from PPP.

In four polls PPP has conducted this year on the Virginia Senate race,
Democratic former Gov. Tim Kaine has gained every time on George Allen, former
holder of the state’s other Senate seat and another ex-governor.  The two were tied in February, then Kaine inched ahead by two points in May, to three points in July, and he now leads by five (47-42).

That would make you think that Kain is gaining ground. But if you look at the number of Democrats vs. Republicans called, every one of these polls has more Democrats than Republicans. And going by the last 2 elections, that is absolutely inaccurate. some of these polls had as many as 39% Democrats polled.

And then there is the “margin of error”. This is another calculation that means that the accuracy of the poll can be off by some calculated percentage. This PPP Poll’s MOE is 4% plus or minus which means that the unweighted results of the poll could be Allen 46% and Kaine 43% instead of the Kaine over Allen 47% to 42% as they reported.

PPP did the same thing in 2009 in the Virginia Governor’s race. At one point, PPP reported that Democrat Creigh Deeds had cut Bob McDonnel’s 14 point lead in half!

And the Progressives cheered at the wonderful news.

But PPP really fudged the numbers. Comparing the in September 2009) to their August poll, Deeds appeared to be mounting a comeback. What they didn’t tell you was that the August poll talked to more Republicans and the September poll talked to more Democrats. Here is what I wrote in 2009 about PPP:

Now, in looking at the internals in the poll, there are some glaring differences in the two sample groups. In the August 4 poll, they surveyed 35% Republicans and 32% Democrats. In the current poll, 38% were Democrats and 31% were Republicans. So, Republicans polled went from +3 to -7 – a swing of 10%. It seems that the only shift has been the in the sample. Deeds polls higher with women, and the latest poll surveyed more women (59%-41%) compared to the August 4 poll (55%-45%).

So, was Deeds really the comeback kid that PPP wanted to make the Democratic base think? Or were they just intentionally skewing the numbers to excite the Democratic base?

We all know that McDonnell beat Deeds by almost 18%.

My advice, take the PPP polls with a grain of salt. They are not usually what they appear.

If you really want an accurate poll, you need to look at Likely Voters, not simply Registered Voters as this poll does. They ask questions to determine how and when you have voted in the past. If you only vote in Presidential elections, then you are not very likely to vote in a state only race. And most polls of Likely Voters favor Republicans. Especially the last few years.

Roanoke College did a poll of Likely Voters for this race in September and it showed Allen leading by 3%. Rasmussen did one later in September and it showed Kaine up by 1%.

So, the bottom line in these polls is that this is a very tight race. I would call it even. Be careful of pollsters, particularly Democratic Pollsters like PPP. If you properly weight their results, the data is somewhat useful, but with a sample size of 600, none of these are going to be very accurate. I prefer a sample size of at least 1,000 and 1,500 is even better.

This poll called more Democrats than Republicans, which is not accurate at all and completely out of touch with the political landscape of Virginia. 30 more people in this Democrat skewed poll picked Kaine. The 5% “lead” is actually 30 people out of 600. This was done to give the left wing media the opportunity claim Kaine won the Associated Press debate.

The numbers have not moved. This race is dead even. Period.

Lt. Gov. Bolling and A.G. Cuccinelli

Yesterday’s chain of events has Republicans buzzing.

First, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who has become a folk hero among Conservatives had a bombshell of an announcement when it was disclosed (somewhat prematurely) that he plans to run for Governor of Virginia in 2013. Word is, he planned to make the announcement next week, but the news somehow made it’s way to the media.

But the timing is not exactly what Cuccinelli had in mind. One would speculate that he would have preferred to announce next week after this weekend’s Republican Advance (Republicans don’t retreat) to not disrupt the conversations at the annual Republican event.

But it is big news regardless of the timing. And it delighted Cuccinelli’s fans to say the least. And it has driven fear into the hearts of Democrats, Liberals and especially Progressives in the state.

And it also prompted a response from Lt. Governor Bill Bolling that a number of “engaged” Republicans and Conservatives find, frankly, disappointing.

Bolling’s office released the following statement, which says (in part):

“Needless to say, I am very disappointed by Mr. Cuccinelli’s decision to run for Governor in 2013.  During the 2009 campaign, and since taking office in 2010, Mr. Cuccinelli had repeatedly stated that he intended to seek re-election as Attorney General in 2013 and that is what I and other Republican leaders had expected him to do.  Unfortunately, he has now decided to put his own personal ambition ahead of the best interests of the Commonwealth and the Republican Party.

“In 2009, Governor McDonnell and I gave Virginia Republicans a blueprint for how to win statewide elections in Virginia.  It started with our decision to join together and offer a united vision for the future of our state.  In order to make that possible, I decided to seek re-election to the office of Lieutenant Governor and support Bob McDonnell’s campaign for Governor.  Unlike Mr. Cuccinelli, I set aside my personal ambition and did what was right for the Commonwealth and our party.

Bolling comes off as feeling “entitled” to the job of Governor and bitter about facing competition. One colleague of mine called the Bolling statement “petulant whining”.

Most agree that it would have been stronger politically for Bolling to have welcomed Cuccinelli and all potential challengers to create a robust debate and an opportunity to give Virginians a choice in November 2013.

The Bolling statement reads “Unfortunately, he (Cuccinelli) has now decided to put his own personal ambition ahead of the best interests of the Commonwealth and the Republican Party.”

There is no political queue and no heir apparent in Virginia. And it is totally inappropriate to accuse Cuccinelli of putting his personal ambitions ahead of the best interests of the Commonwealth. Such a statement is both ironic and hypocritical.

Both of these gentlemen are more than qualified to be Governor of Virginia. Bill Bolling has done a remarkable job as Lt. Governor and has worked with the McDonnell Administration and has been a major part of the success of the Administration. His record is substantial and stands on it’s own merit.

Ken Cuccinelli has done an amazing job as Attorney General as well. He has done more in the interest of Liberty and state’s rights than any other Attorney General.

And the success of Bob McDonnell – our former Attorney General – is proof that one can successfully jump from AG to Governor and do well.

Bolling’s statement also mentions a “deal” that was struck in 2009 to avoid a costly primary and unify the party around Bob McDonnell. And we all applaud Bolling’s sacrifice in that deal.

And while Cuccinelli has stated his intentions to run for reelection as Attorney General, that is certainty not binding and it is perfectly acceptable for him to change his mind without being accused of putting personal ambition ahead of the best interests of the Commonwealth.

I have come to know Attorney General Cuccinelli as a very logical man. I have no doubt that if he did not believe that running for Governor was in the best interest of the Commonwealth, he would not do so.

Lt. Governor Bolling has a unique opportunity to prove his mettle and his leadership in the 2012 General Assembly session beginning next month. With a 20-20 split, his vote will be the most important one in the Virginia Senate on many bills. But the true test of his ability to lead will be in the organizational fight that comes first.

Democrats are demanding equal representation on every committee in a “power sharing” arrangement. And while a few years back, when the situation was reversed and the Democrats held the tie breaking Lt. Governorship, they were perfectly willing to grab the power and share nothing until a lone Democrat refused to go along with the plan. Of course, that Democrat was Virgil Goode who would eventually switch parties. But it was Goode’s refusal to go along with the other 19 Democrats that led to power sharing in 1996, not the good will and voluntary acquiescence of magnanimous Democrats.

Absent a turncoat Republican defecting, the Republicans, with proper leadership from Bolling, should take control.

Times are different this time around. The Senate Democrats have ignored – even broken – Senate rules by improperly killing legislation in prior sessions. And they redrew the Senatorial Districts in what can only be described as a power protection scheme for Democrat’s jobs. Absent these transgressions, a power sharing arrangement would be worth considering. But this bad behavior on the part of Democrats does not merit the reward of power sharing.

Bill Bolling has a difficult task ahead. How he leads will make or break his case to run for Governor.

Not a predetermined pecking order.

The statement from the Lt. Governor has placed a negative tone on an election that has not even started. And that is not in the best interest of the Commonwealth, although the Democrats are jumping with joy at the prospect of the internal fighting within the Republican Party that Bolling’s words are sure to spark.

What is in the best interest of both the Commonwealth and the Republican Party is to bury this silly nonsense, deal with the matter at hand (the Senate fight) and act like the Virginia Gentlemen that we know both to be.

Virginia deserves that!

A councillor (local government elected official) affiliated with the Liberal Democrat Party in the UK has resigned her party affiliation and switched to independent over her party’s failure to bring about the EU referendum promised in the last General Election!

Only one LibDem MP defied his party and voted for the EU referendum:  Adrian Sanders.  He must be a distant relative (although I must ask:  Why be a LibDem?  But it used to be the place for principled liberals who could not stomach Labour.) and here’s is explanation from his web site:

I voted for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU in Parliament yesterday.

I got a call yesterday from a reliable source that told me Virginia Senator Donald McEachin placed an angry phone call to a Richmond Republican Committee official complaining loudly about the write-in campaign that has been secretly launched to oust the liberal McEachin from his Senate seat.

Here is the information you need about Floyd Mays:

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and the results are in for this weeks’ Watchers Council contest!

Ah, choices….we all make them in life, and this week’s winner discusses his choices freely, choices based on what he values as opposed to what he doesn’t. And that’s freedom, isn’t it? Here’s a slice from The Razor’s fine essay Chosen Paths: Why I Don’t Resent People Making More Money Than I Do :

Our system has its flaws. I have personally lost a job in a futile campaign against offshoring and labor dumping through the government’s meddling in the labor market. I worry about things like the cost of education and the future value of college degrees. Just like many liberals I too resent seeing the same people who caused the financial meltdown still in power instead of the chains they deserve. But for all of its flaws, it’s still the best at providing choice to anyone who demands it.If you want to become a doctor, you can become one. If you want to start your own business and sell tutus to little girls studying dance, you can. If you want to start a restaurant or cook at one, there is no bureaucrat needing a bribe or law preventing you. Our system excels at providing choices to people whereas other systems provide outcomes. You are a farmer, but you will sell your produce to us at a price we determine. You are a doctor, but we will determine how much you are paid for each patient. You want to sell shoes in my district, you will have to pay me a flat fee every month (that’s how my friend Jan Mohamed was shaken down in Tanzania under socialism).

It takes much more than education and hard work to become a millionaire or a billionaire. To reach those heights one needs luck, family connections – a variety of things that are out of reach to all but a very few. But if you are young and your goal is to make a solid middle class salary of $100k a year, or $200k for the top 2% of households, you have to choose a career that pays well and you have to marry or live with someone with the same goal. There’s nothing magical about that formula, and no reason to resent those who have achieved that goal.

As my late mother-in-law said, usually when I had come home complaining after a rough day at the office or the Wife had a particularly tough night on call, “You chose this path.” And we have, all of us, chosen our paths. The Wife and I could have chosen to forgo having children, moved to a major city and gotten higher paying jobs; but we chose to live in a rural area with our rescued animals and our son. She could make much more money as a dermatologist or cardiologist, but she chose the lower paying specialty of family medicine because she wanted to be an old country doctor.

In our Non-Council category the winner was a superb piece by The Investigative Project On Terrorism entitled Abbas could be next Domino To Fall submitted by Right Truth, an examination of why the corrupt, unelected Arab dictator of the ‘Palestinian’ Authority could easily be the next victim of the Arab Spring.

Here are this week’s full results. New Zeal was unable to vote this week and was affected by the mandatory 2/3 vote penalty:

Council Winners

• *First place with 2 2/3 votes! The Razor–-Chosen Paths: Why I Don’t Resent People Making More Money Than I Do
• Second place with 2 votes – Bookworm Room-The USS Carl Vinson rocks!
• Third place with 1 1/3 votes – The Noisy Room -The Occupiers’ Siren Song
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Right Truth-White House Reaction to Violence in Egypt
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Simply Jews-The Assassination Conundrum
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Joshuapundit – FBI and DEA Foil Iran Plot To Murder Saudi Ambassador
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – New Zeal – Communists Lead “Occupy Los Angeles” Movement – Nationwide Takeover Planned
• Sixth place with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – al-Qods!

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 2/3 votes! – The Investigative Project On Terrorism- ABBas Could Be Next Domino To Fallsubmitted by Right Truth
• Second place with 1 2/3 votes – Iowahawk – En El Telefono submitted by Joshuapundit
• Third place with 1 1/3 vote -Michelle Obama’s Mirror – The People of OWS: like the People of Walmart – only not as smart submitted by The Razor
• Fourth place with 1 vote -Seth Godin – The forever recession (and the coming revolution) submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Gateway Pundit – Her Name Was Ruth submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Accuracy in Media – Van Jones Media Mouthpiece Gets Russian Cash submitted by New Zeal
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Buckhorn Road – Sacramento restaurant closures provide a lesson in free-market economics submitted by The Colossus Of Rhodey
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Urban Infidel – Occupy Wall Street Revisited – Zucotti Square: Bio-Hazard Colony Emits Weapons Grade Odor submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Raymond Ibrahim – Egypt: Destroying Churches, One at a Time submitted by The Watcher
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Small Wars Journal – Drone Wars? Not Quite submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Labor Union Report – Occupy Wall St’s Neo-Communist System of “Collaboratism” Revealed submitted by VA Right!
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Ben Stein – Go Occupy Yourselves, My Darlings submitted by The Political Commentator

See you next week! And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that!

Elizabeth Warren, the far left Progressive that is running against Senator Scott Brown has set the liberals hearts all aflutter with a YouTube video that has made the rounds. In the video, the Massachusetts Senate wannabe says the following:

“There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody! You built a factory out there? Good for you! But I want to be clear: You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You built a factory, and it turned into something terrific or a great idea: God bless! Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”

Eat the rich, class warfare, stuck on stupid rhetoric spewed from liberal lips to Beelzebub’s lobes. This is a double down on the “pay your fair share” mantra that President Obama has pushed out in his talking points.

But the destroyer of jobs party, and Warren, has it exactly backwards.

When a community is in need of jobs, they do whatever it takes to attract companies to pick them over other possible locations. They build roads, bridges, schools, provide tax incentives, and a whole lot more to attract good, high paying jobs. In many cases, these projects were paid for with municipal bonds, or some other sort of borrowing. The money to pay the financing will come from the taxes generated by the factory that they hope to attract.

See, the schools where the local workers were educated depend on taxes from the workers pay provided by the factory. It is called symbiosis.

In order to attract businesses, the infrastructure must already exist. No company will locate in a town that cannot support their needs. For that matter, neither will the people.

The schools were not built to educate workers for a factory that did not yet exist. The workers were educated to provide a pool of employees that will attract employers. Same with the roads and rails. It is how the free market works!

But if Elizabeth Warren wants to tax these businesses for doing exactly what the infrastructure improvements intended them to do – provide jobs – then they will simply move to another place that needs jobs and is happy to accept them without lashing out at the job creators.

And when the jobs move out, the infrastructure will crumble and decay, other businesses will move away and the town will sink into a depression and rely on borrowed money until that is terminated.

No, Lizzy. The infrastructure provides incentive for businesses, the businesses provide jobs and the jobs pay paychecks which are taxed, and the money left over buys goods, which provides more tax money. So the business already pays for the schools and roads by providing jobs.

You Progressives want to make conditions so bad that the businesses will move on to greener pastures. There will always be another place that understands what it takes to attract and keep jobs. Progressives will never understand that.

It’s not from the Onion; I promise!

Obama lets states opt out of No Child Left Behind

It shows us the way to get rid of pesky Federal programs by simply not enforcing them.  Read what our liberal President said about NCLB:

“Today, our kids trail too many other countries in math, in science, in reading. And that’s true, by the way, not just in inner-city schools, not just among poor kids; even among what are considered our better-off suburban schools we’re lagging behind where we need to be,” the president said.  *  *  *  Mr. Obama emphasized that the waiver would not lower standards, but would in fact raise them because to get the waiver the standards would have to be raised. And he said the current law perversely encourages schools to lower their standards so they do not miss their mandated goals.

Was President Obama listening to Cong. Paul in last week’s debate?  He called for abolishing NCLB!  The President says that NCLB is ironically causing an whole generation of kids to fall behind!  (It is what generally happens when conservatives try to be liberals.  The CBS article cites President Bush and former MA Senator Ted Kennedy.  Why no one in the WH said – why are we helping Ted Kennedy? – is beyond me!)  President Obama said this as well:

“Our kids only get one shot at a decent education. They cannot afford to wait any longer. So, given that Congress cannot act, I am acting,” Mr. Obama said.

President Paul could hardly have said it better!  Of course, I am sure the President Paul waiver would not have any sort of strings attached at all.

So, perhaps the President is looking to the day when he’ll be defeated by Cong. Paul in November and thinking about future employment:  He could apply to be President Paul’s Secretary of Education!

Wow! That was fast! Wasn’t it just yesterday that disagreeing with President Obama was an automatic indication you were a racist?

It seems that the wheels are falling off the Obama bandwagon faster than a government funded solar panel company can file bankruptcy. The rumblings have been there for some time, and Maxine Waters deserves credit for pushing over (arguably) the first domino. Not that the mass exodus from the Administration was not a sign that things were not going so well at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but the liberals were not really allowed to notice. The rest of us did, but we were supposed to ignore the warning signs.

It seems that “Mad Maxine” Waters says the Congressional Black Caucus is getting tired of covering for Obama.

Same Failed Approach, New Spin

This is significant. President Obama has now dropped below 39% in the latest Gallup poll.

As the Independent voters abandon him in droves, the Liberals were not far behind. And for the Progressives, the once promising career has faded into a ghost image on some long forgotten teleprompter.

As the Republicans took center stage the past few days, those who had forgotten about the Constitution and government meddling have had several days to recall what life was like before the left wing ideologue Obama  came into office. One of the biggest reasons for the drop is the sudden turn around in the Mainstream Media. As things have gone from bad to worse, they have suddenly awakened and realize that their one sided coverup coverage of this failed presidency must be stopped.

The media has not turned against him, they have just slowed down on the spin and started covering things somewhat objectively. They are still leaning far to the left, but many have moved back into the same solar system. To the left, it must look like the press has turned on Obama. But rest assured, they are still licking his boots.

They are just doing it a bit less enthusiastically.

Could you imagine if the press treated Obama like they did Bush, magnifying every thing he did that could be spun to his disadvantage?

Biden would probably be president by now, if the truth were told!

You remember Tim Kaine, the former Virginia Governor who left the Commonwealth in debt up to our eyeballs with a plan for massive tax increases, right?

Then you should also remember that his replacement, Governor Bob McDonnell politely showed Kaine and the Democrats that a bit of mostly painless fiscal conservatism and common sense could balance the Virginia budget without tax increases.

Virginia is but a microcosm of the country. While Tim Kaine and the Liberals are insisting that raising taxes is the only way possible, Conservatives know there is a better way. Bob McDonnell proved it.

Tim Kaine is once again demanding more and more money from citizens. What the rest of the country calls Keynesian Economics, those of us in Virginia who watched the budgetary destruction of the Tim Kaine Administration now call Kaine-sian Economics.

There is an interesting parallel between the Obama Tax Raising plans and the budget left by Tim Kaine on his way out the door. Both received exactly zero votes, Kaine’s plan in Virginia and Obama’s plan in D.C.

US Senate Candidate Tim Donner has a good response to the wasteful ideas from the Democrats and Timmy Kaine:

DONNER RESPONDS TO KAINE ATTACK

Great Falls, VA – July 24, 2011 – In his Sunday op-ed in the (Newport News) Daily Press, Tim Kaine attacked U. S. Senatorial candidate Tim Donner’s opposition to raising the debt ceiling by attempting to equate it to a willingness to default on America’s debt obligations. “This is the false choice consistently voiced by liberals, despite the fact that it has been proven that more than enough revenues are available to meet our debt obligations whether the debt ceiling is raised or not,” Donner explained.

Chairman Kaine then lays his cards squarely on the table, proposing the most reckless of all options – raising the debt ceiling with no strings attached, and postponing the debate over spending cuts until after we add another $2.5 trillion to a national debt that now tops $14 trillion.

Digging deep into the Democrat play book, Mr. Kaine employed the usual liberal code language in stating his position.  In favoring a “balanced approach,” he means raising taxes in the middle of an economic downturn. In saying Republican plans “ask nothing of wealthy individuals and corporations,” he is joining President Obama in a call to class warfare and demonizing the very instruments of economic growth needed to save the economy. In calling for “new revenue sources and strategic investments,” he is reverting to the same failed and discredited liberal creed of taxing and spending that has not only been an abject failure, but has in itself created the mammoth debt crisis we are now trying to solve.

“Let me be clear that, because of the failures of the political establishment, none of the options now available are simple or desirable,” Donner pointed out.  “But this is a moment of truth when we have an unprecedented opportunity to draw a line in the sand and accomplish the clearly stated desires of the American people to stop runaway federal spending, as expressed in the landslide elections of 2010.”

“Thus, I am in favor of holding the line on raising the debt ceiling unless it is accompanied by the vital structural reform outlined in the cut, cap and balance plan passed by the US House, but rejected by the Democrat-controlled Senate,” Donner reiterated.  “This bill would have advanced the same constitutional amendment to balance the budget and place a hard cap on spending that has been a foundation of my campaign for permanent change in Washington from the day I announced my candidacy. Anything less is simply not acceptable when it means adding trillions more to a national debt that has already become a millstone around the necks of our children and grandchildren.”

Tim Donner is a Northern Virginia businessman and small government advocate.  He founded One Generation Away, a free market education, research, and public policy
organization and has served for years behind the scenes on the boards of small government, free market and values-based organizations such as the Virginia Institute for Public Policy and Radio America.

For more information on Tim Donner please visit DonnerForSenate.com.

One of my many places I look at for anti-ICLEI stuff had this interesting pro-ICLEI article with this title:

“Tea Party Opposes ICLEI and Sustainable Development in Cities”

I have told people off blog for some time that the surest sign of our efforts having an effect is there will be articles (I was expecting Salon or Slate first) critical of the fight.  Here’s an early example from a posting at Triple Pundit – it even mentions this blog!  Boyd Cohen calls those who do not agree with left-wing globalist science to be “Climate Deniers”  (Sounds ominous like “Holocaust Deniers”; give the left credit for adroit use of language!  Before I would laugh that off, there has already been a public call for Nurenberg-style trials for climate deniers.)  He also basically argues that to oppose ICLEI is silly and ridiculous:

I know that the Tea Party is ultra conservative and opposes action on climate change and of course even doubts climate change exists or that it is man-made.  But I just had a hard time understanding why any organized group could be in such opposition to Local Governments for Sustainability.  What would they prefer? As my friend, Guy Dauncey likes to say, the future has to be green because the alternative is brown, ugly and dead.

But when they laugh at my blog mate, it gets personal!  (Actually Dr. Cohen was quite nice about it!)

So I had to tweet inquiries to those making negative comments and see if they’d elaborate on their problems with ICLEI. Really, I just wanted to know what their issues were.  The best answer came from @varight who’s profile reads: “World news with a Virginia Right twist. Exposing liberals with the light from the right.”

In response to my question about what issues do they have with ICLEI, he responded:

“Simple. ICLEI = Agenda 21 = UN = One World Government = Loss of Property Rights. ‘Sustained Development’ is code for UN control”

@varight’s response is that ICLEI is associated with Agenda 21 and the UN which to him and his Tea Party affiliates means that ICLEI is promoting government control of everything and taking away individual freedoms.

Let’s go over the ICLEI issue again…

1.  ICLEI is unconstitutional.

The US Constitution is clear.  No state is allowed to enter into an “…treaty, alliance, or confederation…”  (Article I, Section 10) without the express consent of Congress.  There is no such consent.  The Supreme Court in two cases have held states cannot have foreign policy positions.  ICLEI represents its members at UN climate conferences:

ICLEI holds up the flag for Local Governments at UNEP Governing Council

February 24, 2011

At the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GC26/GMEF), that took place from 21-24 February 2011, in Nairobi, Kenya, ICLEI has been flying the flag for Local Governments. ICLEI was in attendance as a Local Authority Major Group Co-Facilitator, a representative of the interests of local governments.  (Emphasis mine)

Maybe we need more:

In collaboration with partners such as UN-Habitat, Cities Alliance and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, UNEP is working on making cities more liveable, better prepared for the multiple environmental challenges they are facing, as well as giving them a stronger voice in the international climate negotiations.

The Constitution forbids states and local governments having a voice, strong or weak, in international climate negotiations.  For more, read this post.

2.  ICLEI has political goals.

The ICLEI Charter is clear:  It has political goals:

(7)  Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth’s regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being.  This means ABORTION!
(9) Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.
This means statist and socialistic solutions to poverty not free-market ones

(10) Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels promote human development in an equitable and sustainable manner.
More share the wealth nonsense
(11) Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable development and ensure universal access to education, health care, and economic opportunity.
This is the political heresy that health care is a “right” and the people have a “right” to economic outcomes that the left conjures up regularly.

(12) Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural and social environment supportive of human dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being, with special attention to the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities.
Political correctness!
(13) Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive participation in decision making, and access to justice.
(14) Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life.
Propaganda and indoctrination – especially our kids!  (emphasis mine)

These political goals are inimical to the ones in the Declaration:

 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

Contrast that with Dr. Cohen’s alternative:

So the Tea Party opposes any initiatives promoting sustainable development because there is an implicit assumption that such a program could impact their ability to drive Hummers without paying fuel taxes or to own McMansions in the suburbs, or convert their suburbs to embrace more smart growth and resilient city strategies like increased density and transit, more parks and district energy systems.

And Agenda 21:

Chapter 3.1 Poverty is a complex multidimensional problem with origins in both the national and international domains. No uniform solution can be found for global application. Rather, country-specific programmes to tackle poverty and international efforts supporting national efforts, as well as the parallel process of creating a supportive international environment, are crucial for a solution to this problem. The eradication of poverty and hunger, greater equity in income distribution and human resource development remain major challenges everywhere. The struggle against poverty is the shared responsibility of all countries.  (Emphasis mine)

Which world vision is consistent with the American Dream?  The Declaration or Agenda 21.  Our constitutional system?  Our sovereignty?  Personal liberty?  To ask the question is to answer it.  For you cannot have two masters. The Bible answers for you will hold fast to either one master or another.  My answer to Dr. Cohen is what the greatest Hanoverian once said, “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Update: This post has a link to the X-rated Weiner Photo taken on the Opie and Anthony show.

Congressman Anthony Weiner is a serial liar.

During his weepy press conference today, he denied using government resources to do his dirties.

According to 40 year old Las Vegas Blackjack Dealer Lisa Weiss, Weiner used his government office phone for phone sex, then went off to vote on the ObamaCare bill:

From Radar Online:

What’s more, the blonde woman has revealed details that show the liberal congressman lied during his tear-jerking confession Monday at a press conference in New York and that he DID use government resources for his extra-marital activities.

Rep. Weiner said he was “deeply ashamed” and repeated 21 times that he accepted responsibility for his actions.

But he also denied he used government resources during his online sexcapades.

Not so, according to Weiss.

Speaking exclusively to RadarOnline.com, Weiss said she shared 220 messages with Rep. Weiner beginning on August 13, last year — and they were often exchanged during work hours.

In an explicit exchange on March 3 — the same day he voted on a health care bill in the U.S. House of Representatives — Weiner bemoaned that he had to end their conversation because he was “off to class.”

The casino worker, who said she once worked as a Democratic campaign worker, also claimed she had steamy phone sex with Rep. Weiner — using a Government telephone.

Said Weiss: “After a while I said to Anthony, ‘Why are writing these messages when we can just speak?’

“I gave him my number and he called me from his office and we proceeded to talk dirty for at least 30 minutes.

It seems that Anthony Weiner simply can’t keep his lies straight.

And after lying about Andrew Breitbart, who broke this story, perhaps Breitbart should file a fat lawsuit against the Liberal Weiner. And maybe other liberals will think twice about blaming the messenger.

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I am pleased to see former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson announce for President.  I believe the liberty message is served by having more than one messenger.  Even unannounced but serious candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann has some Ron Paul characteristics – she was one of the first members of Congress to embrace Paul and his message.  BUT…

BUT…I exhort both candidates to consider what I have suggested before:  If one candidate (either Paul or Johnson) is a clear drag on the other’s chance to win, that candidate should drop out and the other candidate should select him as his running mate.  With all due respect for Governor Johnson, who I admire very much – he vetoed 900 bills as NM Governor and was brave to start a message on the legalization of marijuana (I am not sure where I stand on this!), I strongly suspect that Paul will be the one who selects Johnson as his running mate.  Here’s why:

Ron Paul is that rarity in politics:  A larger than life figure admired by millions around the world.  When you think of this sort of thing, you think of FDR, JFK or Reagan.  It is amazing that a person not associated with charisma has such a following.  It’s the triumph of his ideas.

Paul’s tremendous following will not easily transfer to another candidate.  He brings antiwar liberals, libertarians, evangelical Christians (like me), social conservatives, Tea Party activists and as Paul put it in 2008, even an anarchist or two!  That will be hard to convince to go to Gov. Johnson.  I like and admire Johnson; I would be eager to help him.  But it would take time and effort to get the Paul coalition behind Johnson.

Paul’s issue is age and health; he’ll be 77 when he takes office.  Two strong libertarian candidates would be able to cover more events and keep the liberty message high.  Let’s hope Paul can run for President and select Gary Johnson as his running mate.

A deal was (finally) reached late last night that will avoid a government shutdown – as long as Congress approves the final draft of the agreement and the President signs it into law. So, it’s almost over, but not quite.

And while the amount cut was far short of the $100 Billion figure talked about before the election, and short of the revised $61 Billion “pro-rated” figure that later emerged, it was significantly higher than the $4 Billion figure the Senate Democrats reluctantly settled on.

And it seems that Democrats were “leaking” information that were outright lies. Which may have backfired on the Democrats.

When the Democrats began saying that Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) had agreed to $33 Billion in cuts and later information claimed Boehner had agreed to drop controversial “Riders” to defund ObamaCare and Planned Parenthood, the talk of a primary challenge to Boehner and others may have had an effect on the final agreement. But then again, Boehner denied there were agreements on any of those items. But, perhaps the biggest lie from Democrats was that the TEA Party was insisting on ending funding for Planned Parenthood. Social issues are simply not on the TEA Party’s agenda, but to the extent that using taxpayer’s money to pay for abortions, NPR and numerous other wasteful and probably unconstitutional programs are concerned, the TEA Party is all in. Remember, TEA stands for Taxed Enough Already.

But attempting to claim that the TEA Party are extremists who want to end abortion is a sure tell that liberals are lying. (Their lips moving is another.) It’s not the program. It’s the spending, stupid!

Calculating the Grade

So, the negotiations that started at $100 Billion became $61 Billion and turned into $33 Billion (reportedly) yet Boehner was drawing his line in the sand at $40 Billion. The agreement came in at $38.5 Billion. As I recall, Boehner was not one who signed on to the $100 Billion in cuts or moved the mark to $61 Billion. So, his goal of $40 Billion was ten times what the Democrats signaled they were willing to accept. And Boehner got most of that. Grade: A

As far as de-funding Planned Parenthood and ObamaCare, these were obviously highly desirable but had zero chance of being acceptable. The Democrats and Obama were willing to not only send our military into harms way in three wars, but use their spouses and children as hostages, threatening to de-fund widows, women and children and let them starve to keep Federal dollars flowing to Planned Parenthood. When the families of our military in harms way are used as pawns in this way, there is absolutely nothing these despicable Democrats will not do. In the end, these were pulled from the bill, but Boehner managed to get a written guarantee that these would be brought up for a vote in the Senate, something Harry Reid has been blocking. Boehner didn’t cave on these issues, he used them as bargaining chips and now we will have Democrats on record with votes on repealing ObamaCare and de-funding Planned Parenthood. These will become powerful weapons to use against Democrats in the 2012 Senate elections. This is absolutely a win. Grade: A+

Going to the brink without blinking, squeezing every ounce possible out of this situation, takes skill. Sure, it is disappointing that the $100 billion fell by the wayside. But $38.5 Billion is historic. It sets the stage for the next two showdowns looming on the immediate horizon. And in many ways, these next two are going to be several magnitudes above this latest round.

Next up: Raising (or not raising) the Debt Ceiling.

I have a far better feeling about this now. We will raise it, that much is for sure. But Boehner will exact a heavy price for this. With the FCC, the EPA and almost every Federal Agency bypassing the Legislative branch and enacting “global warming” agenda items and seeking control of everything from media to guns, there are a lot of bargaining chips on the table to play with. And this includes ObamaCare and Planned Parenthood. And Boehner has demonstrated that he has the ability to use the chips properly. And Democrats are at a decided disadvantage. There are very few similar programs that are darlings of the right. The best Democrats can do is go after Defense spending. Democrats want to abort babies, Republicans want to fund National Security and keep us safe. Democrats are at a definite disadvantage here. And there are cuts to Defense spending most would be willing to make. Stop dropping bombs on Libya would be one. It is going to cost Democrats a lot to raise the debt ceiling and avoid shutting down or defaulting.

Last up: The Paul Ryan budget

Now the Billions become Trillions. The discussion turns to financial sustainability. Saving Medicare and Social Security. And thanks to the Boehner negotiations of last night, new studies on the costs of ObamaCare and the waivers granted to date will (hopefully) be ready to add some real numbers to the bottom line for our future, as opposed to the B.S. numbers Obama has claimed.

We still have a long way to go. It’s a long road and a little wheel and it takes a lot of turns to get there. While many will lament the size of the cuts are only $38.5 Billion and not $100 Billion, the sad truth is, even $100 Billion is only a drop in a large bucket. The only significance of either number is as a symbolic victory. Did Boehner blink? Absolutely not. He got far more than most thought possible, didn’t shut down the Government and did not give away his position on the “nuclear option” of shutting down the government. One would still have to think Boehner will shut it down if all else fails.

So, in the words of Bachman-Turner Overdrive: “You ain’t seen nothing yet. B-b-b-b-baby!”