E!! The True Conservative Story™

Here’s a gem from Mark Hemingway, one of my faves @ NRO:

Paranoid much?   

I see that Rick Perlstein isn’t just under the impression that McCain’s “Celeb” ad is racist, but also that it’s a deliberate attempt to invoke comparisons between Obama and Hitler, and was even shot to look just like Triumph of the Will — “I actually wonder if the Republicans had a crew on the scene to capture just the right angles,” Perlstein says.

I would say something about how pathetic and silly this is, but Ross Douthat beat me to the punch:

Here’s a tip for liberals: If your candidate is going to stage enormous rallies in front of tens of thousands of chanting Germans (with monuments to Prussian military might in the background) in the middle of his Presidential campaign, it isn’t the GOP’s fault if the footage comes out looking a little like Hitler at Nuremberg.

Some who have been reading E!! for a bit may have noticed that (a) I am not a huge McCain fan and (2) I really enjoy tracking the campaign ads both in Nevada and nationally.  If you’re also interested in these things, see Dean Barnettt’s blog post on the Obama “celebrity ad.”  He analyzes its effectiveness and explains its psychology in a way that had me nodding right along.  Good stuff.

It’s business climate, that is! 

(Don’t listen to anyone who says (about the summers in southern Nevada), “But it’s a dry heat.”  Any place you can get third degree butt burns from your leather car seats or heat exhaustion when walking to the mailbox is seriously Hot.)

(PS  The surface of the sun is also a “dry heat.”)

Read the latest here.

If you don’t live in Nevada or D.C. then you haven’t seen this new targeted ad slam against Harry Reid by the newly formed American Future Fund.

The ad quotes Reid:  “Coal makes us sick; oil makes us sick.  Global warming is ruining our country; it’s ruining our world…” and then informs viewers, “Reid says ‘no’ to energy exploration in Alaska and off our coasts and ‘no’ to the safe development of our massive oil shale reserves.  Reid says ‘yes’ to higher energy taxes that consumers will end up paying.

Call Harry Reid at 202-224-3542.  Tell him to allow the Senate to vote on S. 3202 – and drill for oil right here, right now.”

You can view AFFs’ seven-point energy plan (which also plays the Reid ad when the page first loads) here and if you wish, sign their petition here. 

Curious after seeing an AFF ”Drill Here, Drill Now” bumper sticker over the weekend, I contacted them.  Their director of communications, Tim Albrecht, told me they were founded earlier this year as a 501(c)(4) corporation.  They are located in Des Moines and advocate for conservative, free-market issues.  (And since AFF only paid to have the ad run in NV and DC, I’m sure Tim would appreciate it if you’d do them the favor of passing on the link!) 

This craigslist ad offers young swing state campaign workers paid training, guaranteed job placement, free housing with a “host family,” built-in community, parties, and acadamic credit. All they have to do to get this sweet deal is move to one of these cities until the election (and sell their fresh youthful souls to the Democratic party…)

I am always amazed when politicians get caught digging greedily in the candy jar of some special interest, like this Ted Stevens scandal.  Hubris makes one bold I guess…if by bold you mean Dumb.

Check out these signs.  (Hat tip to Ramesh on The Corner at NRO)  LOL

This past Friday, Louis Dezseran @ the Nevada Policy Research Institute posted a disturbing commentary on excessive government pay and perks.  Here are some excerpts (emphasis mine):

Last year, 162 Washoe County employees each cost taxpayers more than $100,000, while 61 Clark County employees each cost taxpayers more than $200,000. One Clark County official made $266,562 – almost double the salary set by law for Nevada’s governor. 

An open records request found that the City of Las Vegas paid more than $21 million for overtime, the State of Nevada spent over $29 million, and Clark County paid the most at more than $32 million in one year.  One Vegas city employee made more in overtime than he made in base salary. Multiple Clark County fire officials made close to $100,000 each in overtime.

Further, state and county audits found that some public employees received overtime pay despite it not being approved in advance by supervisors, that several law enforcement personnel received more overtime than their contracts allow, that some law enforcement officials were paid for overtime they did not work, and that some Laughlin police officers received both regular salary and overtime pay for the same shifts.

Public employees in some counties receive extra holiday pay for working on such faux holidays as “Family Day,” “Nevada Day” or the employee’s birthday.  Some public employees enjoy inappropriate round-the-clock use of taxpayer-funded vehicles. 

Finally, some county employees taking college classes are fronted the entire cost of tuition and books, then are paid time-and-a-half for hours spent in class.

It is commonly argued that police and firefighters have jobs that are more dangerous than the average citizen’s, so higher pay is appropriate.  But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, law enforcement and firefighting actually do not rank in the country’s top ten most dangerous occupations. Lower-paying occupations in construction, mining, fishing, roofing, farming, trash collection, manufacturing and the military see more deaths and injuries on the job than do either law enforcement or fire fighting. 

Where is accountability to Nevada’s taxpayers?  Where is the fairness to our private sector employees who earn far less than our government workers for doing essentially the same jobs?  And where is the outrage that irresponsible payroll spending by our elected officials has helped create Nevada’s current economic situation?

I encourage Nevada residents to contact their state Senators and representatives in the Assembly and let them know we expect them to pass economic reforms that will limit government spending on the salaries, overtime, and perks of our public employees.  If you receive a response, please email me or post a Comment so we can track results.

It seems the Blogivists Family (aawww - how cute!) and its Do Something cousins at the Sam Adams Alliance have been noticed by the New York Times political blog “The Caucus.”  Today Nicky Cheese listed that and other instances of notice by the media in recent days, including my l’il ol’ post that got picked up by Politico @ RealClearPolitics last week. 

(I had to laugh when our 12-year old daughter exclaimed, “OMG! Are you, like, SUPER EXCITED?!”)

Congratulations to all at Blogivists and - Recruit!!

This McCain campaign ad is a must see.  LOL

Not sure if anyone else caught Laura Ingraham’s interview with Danielle Bologna on her radio talk show last week?  This is the San Francisco woman whose husband and two sons were brutally murdered last month by Edwin Ramos, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.  Thanks to the policies of America’s most famous “Sanctuary City,” authorities failed to place an immigration hold on Ramos despite TWO prior convictions on gang-related FELONIES…AND an arrest on gun charges in March.

Click here to contact San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome’s office and let him know what you think about this!  You can also contact your Senator and/or Congressman with your thoughts about illegal immigration.

My three cents:  ALL illegal immigrants - not just those who violate ADDITIONAL laws after breaking our immigration laws to get here - should be reported and deported on “first contact” with a U.S. citizen and/or our authorities.  Our immigration laws are not (and should not be treated as if) they are casual suggestions. 

For an example of the proper care and handling of illegal immigrants, see this story re: a major raid and dozens of arrests in northern Nevada last fall and this follow up story describing the consequences for a company’s failure to comply with immigration law:  a Reno McDonald’s franchise owner was ordered to pay $1M in fines for knowingly employing illegal immigrants.

A couple of Nevada lawmakers are trying to get a bill passed that will do something about illegal immigration in Nevada - but unfortunately there does not seem to be wide support in the Nevada Assembly.

It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of John McCain - but for those in northern NV who would like to see him in person…he will be hosting a Town Hall meeting this Tuesday, July 29th at Reed High School in Sparks. The doors will open at 8:00 am.  To RSVP for the event, click here or call (702) 425-2299. The campaign staff says no confirmation or reply is needed to attend the event.

The Hill is reporting that the Senate just passed the 2008 Fannie & Freddie Prop Up bill (72-13).  The monster housing bill will now go to the White House for W’s Johnny Hancock.  For what it’s worth, all 13 ’no’ votes were GOP-ers.  Senator DeMint (R-SC) had delayed the bill over objections to F & F lobby rights, but in the end the R’s struck a deal with the Dems and passed it.  

The bill will allow re-fi’s of up to $300 billion in distressed mortgages, give tax breaks galore in order to help the market, tighten future oversight of F & F - and (this is the real kicker) give the Treasury temporary authority to approve an unlimited line of credit for F & F.  Now isn’t that sweet?!  We, the taxpayers, are going to foot the bill for a bottomless pile of cash for two government-sponsored enterprises being run by people of questionable judgment.

If you wish to see this in a positive light, just read the first paragraph of today’s Washington Post story which says, “In a rare weekend session, the Senate today ended months of legislative wrangling and gave final approval to a sprawling housing bill that seeks to halt the steepest slide in home prices in a generation, rescue hundreds of thousands of families from foreclosure and restore confidence in the nation’s largest mortgage finance firms.”

(GAG!!)

Why-oh-why is it the job of Congress to interfere with the natural forces of the market, rescue people from foreclosure because they financed over-priced houses with adjusable-rate mortgages they now cannot afford, and restore confidence in two companies that probably deserve to fail due to poor management?  Where in the Constitution does it say that the State is responsible for protecting its citizens from the natural consequences of their own poor judgment?!!

The Nanny State gets fatter while our dependence upon her grows…

Here’s a little tip for all you aspiring extortionists:  when attempting to shake down your target, don’t paste your signed demands to his door – and don’t have the document notarized at the local UPS Store.

Send your thanks for this sage advice to former Nevada Democratic Party official and campaign consultant Michael Zahara in care of the Clark County Jail in Las Vegas, NV.  Zahara was arrested this week on charges that he tried to extort $5,250 from his former boss, Nevada Assembly candidate Sanje Sedera. 

Zahara taped a notarized letter to Sedera’s door threatening to tell Sedera’s family, business associates and family members that Sedera, a former resident of Sri Lanka, had committed mortgage and IRS fraud and was involved in “terrorist rebel activity.” 

Sedera, who has been a mortgage broker in Las Vegas since 1996 and who dropped out of the campaign to help with relief efforts in Myanmar, contacted police immediately after finding Zahara’s missive taped to his front door.  Sedera says the claims are baseless.

See more details in this Las Vegas Review Journal story.

Here’s a strange fascination for this election season:  The Arizona Democratic party is using one of the GOP’s own to shred U.S. Rep John Shadegg (R-AZ) in this new campaign ad.  Set to the classic David Bowie song “Changes,” the ad includes quotes (and provides sound bytes) of controversial statements recently made by U.S. Congressman Dean Heller from Nevada (R-Carson City).

In a segment which first aired on KTVK-Channel 3 on March 3, Heller re-stated an old mantra about the men who go to D.C. only to become corrupted:  “Instead of changing Washington, Washington changed us.”  Then, on July 8 in the Las Vegas Review Journal, Heller expressed concern over the influence of trial lawyers, environmental lobbyists, and labor unions in Washington D.C. and said “its’ time to clean house in the Republican party” and “the next couple election cycles are going to do that.”

When first reported, Heller’s comments were seen either a gaffe or a bold move - depending on the hearer.

The Daily Kos snarked, “Dean Heller’s foot, meet Dean Heller’s mouth.”  Others in D.C. agreed and quickly came out against Heller’s remarks.

But Chuck Muth, one of Nevada’s best-known conservative pundits and a constituent in Heller’s district, supported Heller’s comments without equivocation. Muth blogged, “Longtime liberal columnist Michael Kinsley famously defined a “gaffe” in politics as “when a politician tells the truth.”  If you accept that definition, and I do, then Nevada Republican Rep. Dean Heller committed a gaffe of canyon-sized proportions this week.  I hope he keeps it up.”

As Muth told the Las Vegas Review Sun, “[Heller] was the first one to voice publicly what an awful lot of conservatives around the country are saying.”

Some in D.C. agree.  As reported here by PolitickerNV, The Club for Growth said “Heller is spot on” and cited cases in which Republicans are losing seats in special elections.  Spokesperson Soloveichik said, “We’re seeing a lot of housecleaning because people are disenchanted with what Republicans are doing.”  Referring to corruption scandals and lamenting that Republicans can no longer be taken seriously as stewards of fiscal conservatism, Soloveichik said, “They’ve abandoned their principles.”

My three cents?

I’ve been getting quite a few comments and emails from frustrated conservatives who believe money and power has corrupted many Rupublicans in Washintgon D.C. and that we should “throw the bums out.”  If their sentiments are shared, Shadegg and/or other Republicans may well have cause for c-c-c-Concern come November.

John Derbyshire @ NRO on Obama’s speech:

If you got a leg tingle from that, one of your computer cables is stripped & resting against your leg.

Is it just me, or have presidential candidates been getting worse and worse these past few decades? These two are appalling. I shall not vote for either. Fact, I wouldn’t trust either of them to mail a letter.

K-Lo says Obama’s speech in Germany was “a case of premature inauguration.”

Never heard of it?  Then see this short video I first viewed on Nicky Cheese and that was picked up and discussed on Pragmatically Political for an easy to understand explanation of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) aka Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). 

In essence, the method allows voters to rank their candidates in order of preference and thus eliminates the “spoiler” argument against voting for third party candidates.  (You’ll see how it works when you watch the video.)  I love the idea but don’t know enough about it to know what possible negatives might be.  Research, discuss, and then comment.

UPDATE:  See this website for a few editorials on this subject (on the right sidebar) as well as gobs of other information on various electoral stuff.  (Thank you, Sharon!)

Well, it seems we are obsessed with Obama here at E!! today - so let us finish it out in grand style.  See this Corner post by Victor Davis Hanson for his thoughts on the Obama Phenomena.  Says Hanson: 

What is fascinating about the tingly-leg press is that they are exhibiting the very symptoms of arrested development and star-struck immaturity that they always accuse American in tot of suffering.  The usual critique of the elite media is that we are a nation of mindless followers, who go from one fad to another, and value looks, youth, and pizzazz over substance.

But the current spectacle suggests something worse - that the press who claims they know better and are more sophisticated are, in fact, far more infantile than most Americans, and essentially Access Hollywood, People Magazine, and the National Enquirer dressed up with network logos and NY-DC bylines. 

Hanson’s post is called “A Somewhat Embarrassing Spectacle” and as I was reading it another title crossed my mind:  “The Society of the Spectacle” by Marxist theorist Guy Debord.  A philosophy and critical theory text that provides a reading and reinterpretation of Marx’s work including examination of the commodity of fetishism and its application to modern mass media, Debord’s book reminds me of this whole Obama phenom in this way:

Commodity fetishism is the belief that commodities (like gold, or private property) have inherent value rather than value added to them by and through labor.  The concept is at the root of Marx’s criticisms of capitalism because (Marx thought) a society that values commodities in and of themselves, absent the effects of labor, is bound to separate the “use-value” from the “exchange-value” of things such that it finds itself over-valuing essentially useless commodities while vastly under-valuing the commodity of human work.

Whatever you think of this theory, it occurs to me that Marx would find the commoditization of Obama himself unique in both society and history.  Here we have not gold or land but a man who possesses great “exchange value” (he may replace our President) because the starry-eyed admirers of his sparkly personage have deemed him precious despite his lack of discernable labor-value (i.e. measurable or tangible achievements upon which we could base his merit).  Obama vacuity matters not a whit; at present he is a national treasure.

If any another candidate or elected official told a lie like this, they’d be raked over the coals.  How long will this nonsense goes on - ? - before someone in the mainstream media has the guts to say that there is something seriously wrong with someone who (a) blatantly lies about his accomplishments or (b) is so clueless he doesn’t even know what Senate committee he sits on. 

Did anyone catch Obama’s pander fest with the Israeli press this morning?

When finished with his inane remarks, Obama informed the crowd that a campaign surrogate – who he elegantly introduced as “This Guy” – was going to step up to the podium and decide which questions to take because (Obama said) “I don’t want to upset anyone”…and because…

“I want you to like me.”

Dear Barry:

This is not a contest for Prom King.  You are competing to be the next commander-in-chief of the United States of America.  You should seek to be respected - and by some, even feared – not LIKED. 

E!!

PS  I have a vision of a blushing, gushing, breathless Obama giving a Sally Fieldesque victory speech on November 4^th:

“You like me…you really LIKE me…!!!”

:-/

I just love good old fashioned journalism (i.e. patiently researched stories that include sources and/or back-up info so readers don’t have to fact check).  Here’s a great example over at American Thinker.

The upshot?  As stated in the article:  “An analysis of federal election records shows that the amount of money journalists contributed so far this election cycle favors Democrats by a 15:1 margin over Republicans, with $225,563 going to Democrats, only $16,298 to Republicans.”

American Thinker goes on to list the exact amount of the political contributions by journalists at every main stream media outlet in America.  If you have any doubt about the existence of Media Bias, you need to read the whole article.  (Surprise:  note the numbers @ Fox News Channel - ?!)

I promise to give up all shameless self promotion when I’m a famous nationally syndicated writer/editor.  But for now, I’m tickled to announce that yesterday’s E!! post on Dem/Progressive want ads for campaign help (and the lack of any for the GOP) in Nevada got the attention of Politico @ Real Clear Politics here.

Today’s edition of Chuck Muth’s Nevada News and Views draws some interesting comparisons between Nevada and Colorado politics apropro of this piece by Fred Barnes @ The Weekly Standard.   Barnes breaks down the dynamics of the recent Democratic surge in Colorado; Muth cites similar examples from Nevada and says we may be headed in the same direction this November.

Is Muth on the money with his analysis that Democrats are way ahead of the GOP with grassroots efforts in the great swing state of Nevada?  If you’ve been watching the local political and non-profit Want Ad pages (as I have) you’d have to say Yes.  See here and here and here and here and here. All are “Hiring Now” ads for Democratic and/or Progressive campaign workers and/or canvassers in Las Vegas (where most of Nevada’s population resides).

I couldn’t find even ONE ad for/from the GOP.  What gives?!  (Please send me the link(s) if you can find any.  I’d love to be corrected!)

As reported by the Nevada Appeal here, about 90,500 Nevadans were out of work in June.  Our unemployment rate climbed to 6.4 percent - the highest level in more than 14 years.

Though this is bad for many residents of the state, it may be good news for Conservatives who worry that Nevada may turn Blue on this November’s electoral map.  As jobs stay scarce, businesses struggle to make payroll, and gas prices stay high, fiscal conservatism - including the desire for balanced budgets and lower taxes - will (should!) sieze the hearts and minds of those who might otherwise swing Left in both the state and national elections this fall…IF conservative candidates can convince constituents they stand for these values.

Courtesy of Free Republic.  (Scroll down to first post once page loads.)  I’ll take two, please!!

See here for a fun news aptitude Quiz from the Pew Research Center.

I scored 12 out of 12 or in the top 3% of about 1,000 who were polled to set the median scores.  (At the end of the quiz, you can compare your news IQ to fellow Americans by age, education, and gender.)

Of those polled, the Guys scored in the 56th percentile while the Ladies scored in the 39th.  College grads scored an average of 63 while those with a high school education (or less) scored 29.  People age 50+ scored 56; people in their 30s and 40s scored 48; and people age 18 to 29 scored a 30.

(Hat Tip:  Little Green Footballs)

!!

Did anyone else feel the urge to choke the living daylights out of Chuck Schumer this week?  If not, you must have missed the Senate floor speech in which he re-opined the tired line that if only the Saudis would produce “half a million barrels more oil a day, the price [of oil] would come down a very significant amount.” 

Why does this statement make my blood pressure rise and my fingers twitch?

Because the tiny impact area within ANWR – a size ratio equivalent to a dime on a 4 x 8’ table – is projected to produce ONE MILLION barrels a day, every day, if only we would drill.  And because Schumer’s (true) statement that a greater immediate supply would reduce prices falls short of saying what is also true:  that even the ANTICIPATION of a greater FUTURE supply would decrease prices in the Now.

Schumer’s other infuriating comment – that more drilling would “stop the speculation that keeps driving up the price of oil” – also missed the proverbial mark.  Speculators wouldn’t “stop” if the Saudis drilled more, because speculation in free markets never stops.

Instead, speculators (also known as investors, also known as buyers and sellers, also known as people trying to earn money for their families and futures) would anticipate the increased oil supply, begin to sell for less, continue to drop prices as volume increased, and thus reverse the current market trend of charging a per barrel premium for what is currently a too-scarce commodity. 

Perhaps  “speculation” would then stop being a dirty word and be seen as what it really is:  the natural response of the market to the forces of supply and demand.  

For those not convinced that these tenets of ECON 101 are true, please note that we’ve already seen the evidence.  As Larry Kudlow reported the other day on NRO, oil prices dropped $9 per barrel the day after the offshore drilling moratorium was lifted by the president.  This is no coincidence.  It is case-and-point and perfectly illustrates what speculation really IS – not a crime against humanity, but the market doing what markets tend to do:  try to anticipate the future and adjust.

It is maddening that the same people who want to spend billions on economy-choking “climate change” measures that might (MIGHT!) reduce temperatures by one quarter degree over the next one-half century cannot see the wisdom of opening a tiny piece of ANWR in return for a sure thing over the next one to ten years.

Gallup is reporting the lowest Congressional job approval rating since Gallup started polling 34 years ago.  This dismally low number reminds me of…hm…Something…oh Yes!  It’s Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently saying the following in re: to comments about a possible presidential veto by Senator Mitch McConnel (quoted from Mark Hemingway’s June 30 column @ National Review Online):

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “A veto by the President? Gee whiz, who would be afraid of him? He has a 29-percent approval rating. How in the world could anybody be afraid of him vetoing a bill?  I cannot imagine why anyone would care about that. . . .  I say to my friend and I say I don’t know how many people are up here for reelection, but I am watching a few of them pretty closely, I say to all these people who are up for reelection:  If you think you can go home and say, I voted no because this weak President, the weakest political standing since they have done polling, I voted because I was afraid to override his veto — come on.”

So, Senator Reid… If a 29% presidential approval rating renders W. “weak,” what does a 14% approval rating render you and your feeble Congressional pals?

From the website Americans for Tax Reform: 

Cost of Government Day (COGD) is the date of the calendar year on which the average American worker has earned enough gross income to pay off his or her share of spending and regulatory burdens imposed by government on the federal, state and local levels.

Cost of Government Day for 2008 is July 16.  Working people must toil on average 197 days out of the year just to meet all costs imposed by government.  In other words, the cost of government consumes 53.9 percent of national income.

How about some suggestions for how we can all celebrate the Day we stop feeding our income to the Insatiable Monster that is Government?  Talk sarcastically amongst yourselves and report back.

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of commentary suggesting that Conservatives need to get angry about the frightening Leftward socio-political swing our country is in danger of taking no matter who wins the election this fall - and to do/say something about it.  For a little taste of what this might look like, click below for my recent column/rant in Liberty Watch Magazine:

 http://www.liberty-watch.com/volume04/issue04/trueconservative.php

I’m now on vacation through the 13th.
Please stop back in a couple of weeks and we’ll see what’s cooking then.

Happy 4th of July!
 

I think we must stick with the traditional ingredients of cold-filtered Conservatism and persuade people - through the intelligent and passionate presentation of facts and ideas - that it is well worth preserving.

PragmaticallyPolitical writes in re: to the election quandary:

It’s not a sacrifice of values to recognize that Barr (or any other 3rd party candidate) won’t win.  However, if you want to make a political statement, DON’T DO IT IN A SWING STATE!  Libertarians for Barr are far less detrimental in Illinois or Utah than in Ohio or Nevada.

In re: to my comments and questions about voting Independent/Libertarian vs. Republican this fall, reader Nicky Cheese made these comments: