So, on my way to lunch at the deli, I heard Rush mention Romney’s speech, which was going on at that very moment. Then Rush say’s Romney is dropping out of the race. I nearly ran off the road. (No, not really. I’m just trying to illustrate my surprise. I’m actually a very good driver. Honest.)

Romney’s out. All the talking heads have been saying for weeks that Romney was the closest thing to a “true conservative” that we had (to which I scoffed). So now that he’s dropped out, what will his 293 current delegates do? They can’t cast their votes for him, so will they go with whoever is most popular or whoever is most like Romney politically? Hmmmm.

Let’s just say, in my little pipe-dream world that all of Romney’s delegates switch to Huck. That would put the current count roughly at 700 for McCain, 500 for Huck. If the trend continues, Huck will likely carry the rest of the deep South for 200 delegates. McCain eeked out victories in Missouri and South Carolina where Romney and Huck split the conservative vote, so I’m going to say Huck can carry Kansas and North Carolina for another 110. I think he can also count on the “old south” states of Kentucky and Virginia, so there’s 110 more for somewhere around 950 comfortably in hand.

I have to cede the Yankee states (VT, RI, PA, and the District) to McCain for around 170 delegates. I also think he’ll take the bluer states in the Northwest, Ohio, and New Mexico gaining another 190. That gives McCain 1050-ish unquestionable delegates.

So now it becomes a battle for the Mid-West where just over 200 delegates are still up for grabs. I think those states will lean towards Huckabee, but realistically, it’s going to be an uphill fight. David versus Goliath if you will. Although, a 70 year-old, five foot tall Goliath doesn’t really fit the analogy very well.

[Edit: When I listed the “Yankee states” I intended to include MD.]

Tuesday, January 22nd, at 10 AM, I’ll be observing a moment of silent prayer.

It was on January 22nd, 1973 at around 10 AM that the supreme court sided with the plaintiff in the infamous Roe vs. Wade case. I didn’t know until recently that the Roe case started out right here in Dallas, Texas.

Jane Roe was the pseudonym for Norma McCorvey, a 9th grade drop-out and runaway who was taken under the wings of a couple of feminist attorneys. She was a pawn in the political battle over abortion. Those attorneys had Norma sign an affidavit and from that point on, Norma, as Jane Roe, was no longer welcome in the feminist, pro-abortion movement. All they needed was a name and a piece of paper to trot before a liberal court. They didn’t care about Norma just like they don’t care about the tens of millions of women who have suffered the physical and psychological effects of abortion. And they certainly don’t care about the incredible number of lives that have been stolen thorough this barbaric practice.

48,589,993 abortions were performed between January 1973 and December 2006.

That means that as of this writing there have been over 49 million American’s executed on the alter of our “modern” culture.

What’s really amazing is that the woman who’s name is forever associated with those 49 million deaths, the helpless pawn, has been speaking out against abortion since 1997. You can read Norma McCorvey’s testimony here. Please do. It speaks not only to the madness of “abortion rights”, but also to the love and grace of a mighty God.

Clicky clicky.

Remember when I said that I was puzzled by the buoyancy of our current economy? I just had another thought, one that I’m ashamed to say I should have thought of a long time ago, but allow me this “duh” moment if you will.

Despite off-the-chart oil prices, despite the over-inflated housing market, despite two ongoing wars, the economy is still pretty good. (Not as good now as it has been the last couple of years, but pretty good nonetheless.)

What keeps an economy growing is basically spending. As long as people are spending money, the economy grows. The conservative notion is that lowering taxes and keeping people employed results in more people with money to spend. So, more to spend, more people spending it, good economy. But when gas prices are high and mortgage payments are high there is less money to spend. When a large chunk of the population is out of the country getting shot at, there are less people to spend their money. Less money, less people spending it, bad economy.

I just couldn’t fill in the gaps. That is until today.

In the last two years, I’ve gotten completely and angrily sick of seeing the same commercial on cable TV fifteen times a night. It seems like not a single commercial break went by without that fatherly looking guy in the sports coat telling me I my life would be better if I refinanced my home with Country Wide. Totally aside from the fact that I don’t like commercials in general and even more so when they’re repeated over and over, there must have been a heck of a lot of people out there following fatherly sport coat guy’s advice. Otherwise, Country Wide would have changed their marketing tactic.

Smart people refinance their home to get a better interest rate or to roll in some other existing debt for tax purposes. But there are very few smart people out there. The rest of the populous refinances their home in order to pull their equity out and buy “stuff” they don’t really need. Lately the Fed has cut interest rates every time the economy quivered thinking that the big crash was just around the corner. Lower rates encourage people to take our more loans and spend more money, thus propping up the economy. But what happens when people (the less smart ones) get comfortable living a lifestyle they can’t afford by living on credit and mortgaging their home way past it’s actual worth?

The economy has not been propped up by tax cuts. It’s been propped up by people living on credit. “Duh!” And now, the Fed can’t cut the rates much more than they already have. People have mortgaged themselves well beyond the real value of their homes (thus the housing market is artificially inflated) and now the banks who wrote all those nut-case mortgages can’t collect because the people can’t pay their mortgage payments with their maxed out credit cards.

This is pretty scary when you look at it in historical perspective. The people were living beyond their means and playing the stock market with borrowed money in the Roaring 20’s lead up to the 30’s “Great Depression”. When the stock market slipped, people owed more on their stocks than the stocks were worth and they lost everything. Admittedly that’s a very simplistic explanation, but it does mirror nicely the current housing market situation.

Anyway, I just thought I should correct my earlier grim forecast with an even grimmer one after I had my head-smacking, “duh” moment.

Ok, so the post title is a little sensational, but let there be no mistake: the tree-hugger-centric world view sees humanity as a virus. And this AP article makes it as clear as glass.

The story covers last years rise in birth rate in the the US. We’re having more babies while Japan, Canada, and all of Europe are struggling with birth rates that are not keeping up with mortality rates. Long story short, those golden idols of Liberal socialism are having fewer and fewer babies, so why is the world’s only super-power having more babies? Here’s the AP‘s take on it.

“Experts believe there is a mix of reasons: a decline in contraceptive use, a drop in access to abortion, poor education and poverty.”

Are you kidding me?! The Liberal media is so completely out of touch with reality that they can only assume the higher birth rate is due to more poor, stupid people and the evil Conservative Conspiracy taking away the poor, stupid people’s access to abortion!?!

It couldn’t possibly be due to the fact that life in America is good. The economy is good. People are healthy and prosperous. Conservative capitalism works. NO!! It CAN’t be THAT!!!

What’s even more infuriating is that after the AP writer gives us the “expert” opinion, none of the actual experts quoted in the article say anything that comes close to that pile of putrescence.

GAH!!

Read the whole article… IF you’re not going to be operating a vehicle or heavy machinery or have access to a fire arm lest you go postal afterwards.

With all the cleaning and reorganizing going on at our house, I found a radio that I could take to work. I’ve been listening to the day-time political talk shows when I can and I was surprised at how tough they all are on Huckabee. Limbaugh and Hannity both came down pretty hard on him for some issues where they say Huck is too far left (meaning too far away from the Republican platform).

I view these guys first and foremost as entertainers. You have to evaluate all their talk through the lense of sensationalism. But at the same time, they do have full staffs that spend hours and hours sifting through interviews, articles, and historical reports that I just don’t have time to do. So, when these guys say stuff like Huck is against school choice, or Huck is a big-government tax-and-spender, I have to at least check the facts.

Like I said many times in reference to spiritual matters, blind faith is deadly. You have to know what you believe before you can believe what you know. I like Huck, but it is my responsibility to know for certain why I like Huck and make sure it’s all true.

I won’t even bother arguing the whole scholarships for illegals thing. Huck’s answered that one over and over. I don’t see any real evidence that Huck is soft on immigration.

Nor will I bother arguing about Huck being “soft on crime.” To be honest, I haven’t seen enough evidence to call this one, so I’m deferring on the issue for now.

I am for school choice. If you don’t like the way your local public school does things, if you don’t like what they teach or how they teach it, you should have options. One option is private school. That’s expensive and not everyone can afford it. Then there’s home schooling. Obviously this has requirements that some families can not meet. Then there’s vouchers, the hotly debated idea that you should be able to use your tax money to send your kid to another district. Here’s were sound-bite politics have come to hurt Huck. But rather than explain it all here, I’ll just like to some others who’ve already explained it quite well.

Kevin Tracy changes his stance after a phone interview with Huck.
National Review Letter to Ed explains Huck’s stance on vouchers in Arkansas.

I am against big-government. But here we have to split some hairs. One of the main causes for problematic, big government is federal involvement in state and local issues. There are very few issues in which the federal government should be involved. National security, international relations and interstate affairs are pretty much it.

Gay marriage is a federal issue because all 50 states need to have the same standards for what constitutes a marriage (interstate affairs). Otherwise you could be married in one state but not in another. Likewise, federal involvement makes sense for uniform driver’s licenses (and IDs) to insure that all states agree on who can and can’t get a driver’s license and how to prevent fake IDs.

I feel pretty strongly that education is a local issue, not a federal one. I (like Huck) do not believe that the federal government should mandate school vouchers. Educational standards, like “No Child Left Behind” are great, but only for creating a standard measure against which the states can compare their own educational performance.

Some people are put off by the fact that the NEA (a very big-L Liberal organization) endorsed Huck. But in this article you’ll see that they endorsed Huck based on his track record for improving education in Arkansas, even though they don’t agree with him many issues. Keep in mind that as governor it was Huck’s job to manage education. As president, his role will have to be different.

Now, when I say I’m against big government, you can infer that I’m against raising taxes to fund unnecessary government programs. (That’s tax-and-spend.) Huck did get beat up pretty bad in a report by CATO. They gave Huck a D overall based on his tax policies in Arkansas.

Huckabee earns an overall grade of D for his entire governorship. Like many Republicans, his grades dropped the longer he stayed in office. In his first few years, he fought hard for a sweeping $70 million tax cut package… He even signed a bill to cut the state’s 6 percent capital gains tax—a significant pro-growth accomplishment.

But nine days after being reelected in 2002, he proposed a sales tax increase to cover a budget deficit caused partly by large spending increases that he proposed and approved… In response to a court order to increase spending on education, Huckabee proposed another sales tax increase.

I believe that most of the attacks against Huck on this issue come from fiscal-first conservatives. Fiscal-first conservatives (like Dick Chaney and CATO) reject any candidate that supported any tax hikes ever. However they will push for close relations with China or immigrant amnesty because these things are “good” for the economy. This is a major dividing line in the Republican party. To me (a social-first conservative), the rule of law, and the sanctity of life are more important than the economy, so China and illegals lose and necessary taxes can be forgiven.

This comes down to defining unnecessary programs. It’s the governor’s job to keep roads and infrastructure up-to-date. It’s the president’s job to keep national defense up-to-date. Would you be willing to pay more federal taxes to keep our soldiers properly equipped? I would. Would you be willing to pay more state taxes to keep highways and bridges safe? I would.

So is Huck a tax-and-spend guy? I’m not convinced either way yet. I still haven’t found any details on Huck’s 2002 spending package. Thus, I can not make an honest assessment of this issue yet.

And by “Late Breaking” I mean that I’m late in writing this post. I had intended to do this much earlier in the day, but my job keeps getting in the way of my recreational blogging. Gosh!

So, New Hampshire is old news. As expected the “Religious Nut Jobs” faired poorly. What was a bit of a surprise (to some) was that Hillary pulled off a win. The only reason anyone was really surprised was because the pollsters were so excited about telling everyone she would lose. Personally, I fully expected her to come roaring back after her humiliation in Iowa.

The crying thing… Now that caught me off guard. Am I surprised? Not at all. I’m convinced that Hillary would donate both kidneys if she thought it would garner more votes. Do you think it was staged? Pshyeah!! Duh! Even what she’s saying in that oh-so-tender voice backs up my opinion of her.

So, what’s next? The “true conservatives” (Huck and Fred) are skipping to South Carolina conceding Michigan to the RINOs, which I think is a wise choice. Pick your battles. Honestly, I thought they should have skipped N.H. too. Rudy is jumping all the way ahead to Florida. This puzzles me a little. I think Rudy has been stung early and I’m surprised he’s not putting up more of a fight to keep his name in the media and at least in the top four or five on the leader board. But, meh. What do I care. I’ll be happy when he drops out and goes home to his wife du jour.

She finished third! I can’t believe it. Third!

Hillary spent $20 million on her Iowa campaign, about the same amount that the Bronco Bomber spent, and yet she lost to Edwards who spent less that $6 million. She campaigned her butt off. The Media (with a big “M”) fluffed her at every turn. And still she came in third!! This is the best Christmas present I’ve ever gotten in January.

What I love about Hillary is her disgusting, grinch-like, touch-me-not, self righteousness. After coming in third, here’s her sound bite (emphasis added):

“I want the people of America, and particularly Democrats, and like-minded independents and Republicans who have seen the light to understand … that the stakes are huge, that the job is enormous, but that I believe we’re going to make the right decision.”

Yes ma’am. I agree. We are going to make the right decision. The Iowans already did. The rest of us are just waiting our turn. Can you believe her gall? Those “who have seen the light” are, in her mind, people who see her as some shining star of political omnipotence in spite of the termites in her smile. She really is worse than a sea-sick crocodile.

And OBTW, in case you hadn’t noticed, my man Mike beat the pants off of Mr. Boston Millionaire Liberal-In-Sheep’s-Clothing. (That’s Mitt Romney, in case you weren’t sure.)

Now, let’s have a little perspective. Winning Iowa is not winning the White House. Many have won Iowa early and faded later in the race. But if you consider the wealth of media coverage and the lack of money spent, Huck is doing awesome. I’m also glad to see that Fred fared pretty well, tying for third with McCain (who’s a RINO like Romney). I think he’d make a stellar VP.

[Editor’s Note: I wrote this a few days ago. I’ve now come up with two likely outcomes, but I don’t want to seem like I’m betting on both horses in a two horse race. Thus I’m posting this one unaltered. I may post my other theory later.]

I’m one of those guys that likes to predict things. Tammy gets pretty aggravated at me when we watch movies or TV because so often I’ll tell he how the show is going to end after only watching the first ten minutes. (My opinion on the vacuity of Hollywood writers’ talent is well documented.) What really makes her mad is that I’m usually right. Example:

During the first commercial break…

Me: Do you want to know what happens?

Her: No!

Me: Ok… Then I won’t tell you that that blonde girl is going to be a total jerk to the new kid, but the rest of the school will rally around him and the blonde girl will end up hated by everyone. Then she’ll realize what a jerk she was and there will be a big hugging scene and maybe a musical number were they all make friends. Oh, and that not-as-cute brunette? She’ll get the guy.

Her: Shut up!

After the show ends…

Me: (With a smug grin on my face.) That’s what I figured.

She: I hate you.

Now, go back with me into the mists of time. Back to the days of the Kenneth Star report and the Monica Lewinsky scandal. This was in early 1998. When Slick Willy finally confessed to America what he’d been up to (“Confessed” is used here loosely since all of America already knew.) Tammy asked me if I thought Hillary would dump the scum bag.

In a moment of pure clairvoyances I said no. “She can’t leave him now. She’s been shoving him up the political ladder for 20 years. She won’t give up on him until she’s the president. Then maybe she’ll leave him.”

What’s really amazing about that statement is that it was made two full years before Hillary entered public service for the first time as a New York senator.

Here’s another example. This one happened on opening day of the first LotR movie in December of 2001. There was a preview for “Collateral Damage”, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. I told a coworker, “You know, Arnold is going to president someday.” Granted it would require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but still. This was two years before Arny ran for and was elected The Governator.

So with my track record established here, I want to make some predictions. This time, though, the I hope I’m wrong.

There’s something about our current economy that just doesn’t make sense. The economy is still growing. Despite the media’s constant doom and gloom message over the last couple of years. Despite retardedly high oil prices. Despite two wars that have dragged on for five years and removed tens of thousands of reservists from the economy. Despite a housing market that is so inflated and out of whack it’s a wonder anyone in California actually owns a home. Despite the current, slow but certain collapse of the mortgage industry. And despite a dollar that is about to take a real nose-dive in the international market.

I’d love to say that it’s all thanks to Bush’s tax cuts. I think those helped for sure, but I can’t accept that as the sole explanation.

So anyway. Here’s my prediction:

I’d love for Huckabee to get the republican nod, but regardless of who she runs against, Hillary will be the democratic candidate and the Clinton War Machine will do what it does best and turn every mote in the eye of her opponent into a mountain while somehow ignoring the forest of planks in her own eyes. The election will be close, but this time the old Clinton democrats will edge out the conservative base.

With Pelosi (or someone similar) running congress, Hillary will be able to repeal all of Bush’s tax cuts as well as bloat the budget with all sorts of socialist programs. I’m not sure she’ll get her health care dreams, but she’ll do enough. She’ll also yank the troops out of Iraq as quick as she can.

The good news is that by the time she can get the troops out, the “Surge” will have run its course, and the war will be winding down anyway. Iraq will not be stable, but it won’t come crashing down as the last U.S. cargo plane lifts off from Baghdad.

The bad news is that her tax hikes will burst whatever thinly stretched bubble is keeping the economy buoyant. The dollar will genuinely crash along with the housing market and the stock market. Oil, because it’s globally traded using the dollar, will go through the roof. “Recession” is probably not strong enough a word to describe the U.S. economy that will follow. In 2010, republicans will surge back into congress and produce gridlock for two years before we manage to be rid of the Clintons once and for all.

Pretty grim, eh? Let’s start praying now that I’m wrong.

[Ed: As I said above. I have developed another theory that’s much less gloomy, but I’m not sold on it yet. Pray anyway!]

My distaste for Wal-Mart is well documented. I need not go into detail. (If you haven’t read about it, use the search form on the right to find the posts.)

But even more powerful is my distaste for (nay, my steadfast resistance to) the campaign by a powerful, vocal minority in this country to establish, embrace, and glorify a culture of sexual immorality in the United States.

If you don’t go to Wal-Mart for your Frisbees and hair dryers, where do you go? Usually, Target is the next option. But Target has made some decisions that bug me too. They made a big media splash a couple years ago when they kicked out the Salvation Army bell ringers. And just recently I’ve learned that Target offers homosexual “couples” the same benefits as married spouses.

So now, I’m caught between two evils. Do I take my money to Wal-Mart and finance the communist, atheist, super-power of China or do I shop at Target and line the pockets of a corporation that embraces a destructive sub-culture against which I have serious moral objections?

Fortunately the decision has been made for me.

The Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay lobby in the U.S., has called for a boycott of Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart does not offer “domestic partner benefits”. (That’s a very politically correct way to say that Wal-Mart refuses to pay for Chuck’s doctor bills just because he’s shacked up with their employee Larry.) The HRC is calling on all homosexuals and their friends to take their money to Target instead, because of Target’s “gay friendly” employee benefits.

Now, it seems pretty obvious to me that Wal-Mart would make this decision. Never mind the fact that it’s bad logic: If we give benefits to a shacked up Chuck and Larry, what’s stopping a shacked up (and unmarried) Chuck and Mary from getting the same benefits?! Beyond that, Wal-Mart has never been the champion of workers rights anyway. Why should this be any different.

Regardless, the HRC has thrown down a gauntlet of sorts. They have challenged the “religious right” to put up or shut up. If Target’s sales go up noticeably and Wal-Mart’s correspondingly go down, they will claim victory for their cause undoubtedly causing big waves in the media. On the other hand, if the numbers are reversed, or, for that matter, if there is no impact at all, there will be no victory and no media frenzy. Yes, that’s right. Even if Target’s number go down, there will be no media coverage, I assure you.

And so, when I am forced to choose between the turn-coat communist and the openly pro-gay, I must make a moral choice rather than a political one.

This issue is very important to me because I work with youth and I have seen first hand what the culture of tolerance has done to our kids. I can not stand idly by while our society degrades to the point where homosexual activity in the bathrooms and locker rooms of our middle schools is overlooked and accepted. (Yes, middle schools. I’m talking about 13 year olds. And yes, it’s really happening.)

So who’s with me? <MyBestRedNeckAccent>Let’s all go down to the Wal-Mart</MyBestRedNeckAccent>.

Read the USA Today article about the boycott.
Read the AFA alert for more info that was not included in the article above.

I absolutely love this endorsement ad in which *THE* Chuck Norris endorses Mike Huckabee.

Other Huck Endorsements:
Founder of American Family Association (AFA) Donald E. Wildmon
Author and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar
Author and Moody Bible Institute board member Jerry Jenkins
Author of “A Purpose Driven Life” Rick Warren
and many many more.