(Thanks Dave M. for the link.)

Good ol’ Huck was all over the news this morning for his surge in the Iowa polls.

According to one media poll, he’s in a “statistical tie” with Romney for first place. That is to say, he trails by less than the margin of error.

What’s even more striking about Huck’s Iowa surge is the apparent durability of his support. According to the same poll, 59% of Republicans admitted that they may change their mind about who they’ll vote for, but a staggering 98% of those who say they’ll vote for Huckabee also say that they will not likely change their vote (using the poll’s words, they either “Definitely Support” or are “Very Enthusiastic” about Huck as opposed to “Good Chance of Switching”).

You can read more about Huck’s Iowa surge at:
Huck on FoxNews
Huck in the Washington Post
Huck on CNN

It’s earlier than usual this time around, but the year of presidential politics has begun. You may have noticed I added some links in my sidebar for Huck. I’ve met Mike Huckabee personally when he visited my church. Our pastor grew up in Arkansas and he and Huck “go way back.”

I’ve also been following Fred Thompson’s campaign and I get regular emails from them. Mostly “rah rah” stuff and requests for more money. Fred didn’t make the big splash I (and probably he) expected. I prefer Huck, but if he falls behind in the primaries before I get to vote, I may switch to Fred. Fred strikes me as the more electable of the two.

I got the following from an email that Fred’s campaign sent out:

It’s “Tax Penalty” Day in Massachusetts

Mitt Romney says his government-mandated health care plan is one of his most important accomplishments as governor. But what does his plan really accomplish, and is this the kind of health care plan YOU would want to be forced to pay for?

Today, November 15^th, Massachusetts residents who fail to register with the government and show proof of health care coverage will be slapped with a tax penalty for this year!

For individuals, the amount will be on average $219 this year and they will receive a punitive fine as much as $2,000 over the next year.

Small business owner? It’s even worse; you’ll be fined $295 per employee who isn’t enrolled in Romney’s government-mandated health care plan!

So what sort of services does Romney’s health care plan provide?

Per the state website: $50 co-pay for abortions

While court mandate requires Massachusetts to cover “medically necessary” abortions in state-subsidized health plans, Mitt Romney’s plan covers ALL abortions – no restrictions.

After it passed, Romney vetoed dental care for Medicaid recipients from his health plan, but did nothing to prevent coverage of abortion on demand for a mere $50.

Romney has tried to distance himself from his Hillarycare-type plan, but you can watch the video where he takes full credit. There’s nothing conservative about Mitt Romney’s health care plan. It’s a government subsidized health care plan that requires citizens to register with the state, slaps working people with tax penalties, and provides $50 abortions on demand.

And what’s really scary to is that Mitt is more conservative than Rudy and somehow, the two of them remain high in the polls. Does anyone really know what these two guys stand for? If you call yourself conservative, you can’t possibly support Mitt and Rudy.

In news that would only surprise people who’ve been living in a fallout shelter since the 1950’s (and maybe a few supercilious journalists), yet another study has been released documenting MSM‘s love affair with Democrats.

This time, Harvard University, <sarcasm>bastion of conservative ideology</sarcasm> , and a few other like-minded think tanks conducted a comprehensive survey of political coverage among newspapers, network and cable news, and even public broadcasting. The results are… not news.

You can read an analysis at Investor’s Business Daily, or see the complete data break down at Journalism.org, but here are the highlights.

In print, 6 in 10 stories about Democratic candidates have a positive bias, while less than 3 in 10 stories on Republicans show them in a positive light. On the other side of the coin, newspapers published negative stories about Republicans four times as often as they did Democrats.

I think the number that struck me the most and surprised me the least was that, while seeming to be the most “centered”, public broadcasting aired only eight percent of it’s stories praising Democrats and … get this … zero positive stories on Republicans. Yeah… zero.

The MSM‘s Democratic concupiscence is not only apparent in the way they raz Republicans. It’s also in the amount of air and ink devoted to Democrats in general. Positive, neutral or negative, Democrats get approximately 50% of all media coverage. Republicans get around 25%. Hillary and Obama together have had more media coverage than all Republicans combined. This is even true in talk radio, long considered the point of origin for the “vast right-wing conspiracy”.

Getting into the finer points, I was utterly un-shocked to learn that CNN topped the list as the most Republican hostile cable network. I was honestly a teeny tiny bit surprised to find that MSNBC was the most positive toward Republicans; rather than FoxNews. But then again, MSNBC was also the most positive toward Democrats, so maybe their just a little happier in general now that Couric is gone.

(Warning: This post got way too long because it really encompasses two separate issues: Deceptive media practices and ignorant, psuedo-religious ideology. Please read this with that in mind.)

I got an email from the AFA today asking me to buy and wear a button in support of traditional Christmas. Reason for the season kind of stuff. Not unusual. But the headline was about a school near Chicago that had “banned Christmas”. That’s a pretty bold statement. I appreciate the AFA but I’m keenly aware that they can get a little carried away in sensationalism, so I always do some background checking on their stories.

Initially, I found a bunch of blogs decrying the Oak Lawn school board for attacking tradition in favor of political correctness. The usual rancor you would expect. But all the rants linked to the same story from Chicago’s CBS affiliate. I read the story and even watched the news video clip and it seemed to me that it was all being over-blown. (Also something I’ve come to expect.)

This story and video report on a school board meeting at which a bunch of white folks say a lot of pretty stupid stuff* and the Muslim mother at the center of the controversy comes off as the most logical and level headed person at the meeting. So I begin to think, “Well, nobody is ‘banning Christmas’ here. It’s just a little Muslim mom asking that her kids be allowed to fast according to their religion. That’s nothing to get all mad about.”

But then, I found an older video which made much more sense. The blog links I had followed were referring to this video of the previous story in which the school did explicitly ban the celebration of “Halloween”, “Christmas”, and any other seasonal religious holiday. It was a knee jerk reaction to the display (and subsequent removal) of some Ramadan decorations. Instead, the school opted for sterile, politically correct “Fall” and “Winter” celebrations.

Now, normally, I would be upset about the religious ban, but the school board made the right decision in the end (according to the later story, allowing Christians and Muslims to celebrate). What I find really disturbing is that the CBS web site clearly replaced the first story with the second, using the same URL to cover up the upsetting story with the soothing one, hiding the story about religion being banned from school with the story in which the school’s “tolerant” final decision is made and the “good, white, Christian folk” are displayed using very poor logic* to condemn the school’s earlier decision.

Is anyone else bothered by the link switching going on here? If I linked to a story about religious intolerance and that link was later changed to a story about religious tolerance, I’d look like an idiot. Perhaps that was the TV station’s intention. Either way, it stinks.

* Now, I want to expand on this “stupid stuff”:

I’m very conservative and very nationalistic. I’m also a very vocal Christan and I tend to stand on the side of keeping Christmas Christian and public. But I really get aggravated when people use poor logic and bigotry to support their point. It makes the rest of us look bad. Here are some quotes from the parents at the school board meeting:

“If Muslims want the school holidays, menus and school traditions to become tailored to their needs or beliefs, then they should go to private school next to their mosque.”

So, tell me, sir: Why aren’t your kids in a Christian school? If your kids are in a public school, you should expect them to be exposed to multiple cultures. If you expect your public school to celebrate Christmas, you should not be surprised when they also learn about Ramadan. Your double standard in unconstitutional.

“They’re trying to take away holidays and stuff for the kids,” said resident Gene Boerema, dressed in a Santa Claus costume.

Wow. You really came out to support your religious beliefs, huh? Cuz we all know that Santa delivered baby Jesus and put him in a brightly wrapped box under a decorated pine tree. A Santa costume at a school board meeting? I think someone just wanted to make the news. People who turn serious issues into a circus really irritate me.

“We’re letting you come here, were honoring you, don’t dishonor us.”

Seriously?! You “let” people of another religion “come here”? What “here” are you talking about? “Your” school? “Your” neighborhood? “Your” country? You may need to brush up on your American history a little bit. “Here” isn’t “ours”. “Here” actually belonged to “them derned Injuns” first and the multitude of people to came “here” from somewhere else, I assure you, were not all Christians. It is very ignorant of you to assume a religion that is foreign to you is foreign to America. Now, if you’re talking about illegal immigrants using tax-payer funded schools and health care, that’s one thing. If you’re talking about Islam as something inherently foreign, you’re only exposing your own bigotry and stupidity.

Ok. I’ve ranted far too long. I’m going to have to let this one be and go take some deep breaths.

Can you believe the elections are still 17 months away?! The way things are going in Washington, you’d think they were next week.

Last I heard the Alien Amnesty bill is dead… for now. The senate rules require 60 votes to bring a bill up for consideration in the full senate and it only got 45. This thing has been so mutilated in committees that some even those who where all gung-ho about it voted to kill it.

The bigger story here is the impact that this bill has had on the GOP. Some have said that John McCain has destroyed his chances for President by getting in bed with Ted Kennedy on this bill. Others say that the divisions among republicans brought to light by the immigration debate have split the party so badly that the democrats have a slam dunk for president in ’08.

The Dems were very successful in 2006, some say, because of their “We hate Bush” platform. Don’t be surprised if Republican White House contenders take up a similar rallying cry to try and salvage their bids for the office.

Speaking of the ’06 Democrats, Pelosi’s posse has discovered that running on a campaign against Bush and Republican corruption was the easy part. Now the proverbial other shoe has dropped and America has noticed that all that promised reform and house cleaning has not been done. Lo and behold, the Democrats are as (or more) corrupt than the Republicans they were supposed to be cleaning out. Pelosi’s congress now has an even lower approval rating that the previous congress. In fact, Pelosi’s congress has a lower approval rating that Bush!! The latest numbers proport that as few as 29% of Americans are happy with this congress. “We hate Bush, but we hate Pelosi more!”

Despite this, the Dems in congress are forging ahead with that left-wing agenda. This week they are pushing through a bill to spend tax dollars on embryonic stem cell development regardless of the fact that private industry is strongly supporting stem cell research and is finding more and more that embryonic stem cells are not helpful. Adult stem cells (donated from the patients themselves rather than harvested by destroying a human life) have proven far more effective. Just last week a study was released in which a team at MIT said they were able to produce useful stem cells with the attractive qualities of embryonic cells by using adult cells.

The push for embryonic stem cell research in the congress is not inspired by science. It is nothing more than an attempt to codify the idea that humans are expendable until their mother hears them cry. The abortion industry needs bills like this to strengthen their position because with conservatives on the Supreme Court, it may soon get much harder to make money killing babies.

I referenced the Republican National Committee’s phone center shake up in a previous post. It just so happens that blog-buddy Ghosty works in that field and his company absorbed some of the staff that the RNC let go. He has some inside scoop on that story on his blog, Agent’s Don’t Do Housework.

Thanks, Ghosty!

You heard it here first, people! (Unless you saw the link on Drudge… or read it in any number of AP printings. But let’s not split hairs.) Breaking news from Iraq (and I’m really not making this up).

Early reports state that U.S. military commanders in Iraq have authorized cease fire talks with several militant groups. Now, hold your jeers and spoiled vegetables. I’m not saying the war is over, but it’s worth some attention. I’m curious to see how this plays out, not only in the media, but also on the ground.

We all know how well cease-fires work with Islamic terrorists. Just ask Israel, Chechnya, Lebanon, etc. But if nothing else, this makes me wonder if the U.S. leadership in Iraq is opening up to other methods. Were a cease fire to be signed, I would not expect ticker-tape parades and our boys coming home. On the contrary, I’d be looking for the proverbial other shoe to drop. Still, I think this could possibly signal some good news from the war front. Maybe our guys are starting to think of something other than, “Let’s put our boys in humvee‘s with big bull’s eyes on the sides and we’ll kill the first guys to shoot at them.”

What has become of our dear old George?

It seems to me like G Dub has embraced the “lame duck legacy” format almost a year too soon; as if Pelosi’s win last November broke his spirit and now he’s just grasping for straws, trying desperately to come up with some presidential legacy other than, “Oh, he’s the dumb one who started the war.”

I don’t believe that. I don’t believe he’s dumb at all. It takes a very able and quick minded person to become President of the United States. But clearly, George has given up the ghost.

We knew back when he was only Governor G Dub that he had unconventional views on illegal aliens. Now, he’s trying to push through this amnesty bill that is really tearing his party apart. Just last week the RNC let go its entire fund raising phone bank. They had their spin, but the people on whom the ax fell made it very clear.

“There has been a sharp decline in contributions from RNC phone solicitations, [a] fired staffer said, reporting that many former donors flatly refuse to give more money to the national party if Mr. Bush and the Senate Republicans insist on supporting what these angry contributors call ‘amnesty’ for illegal aliens.”

Granted, it’s not a huge surprise that George is hanging his hopes some kind of “Proclamación de la Emancipación”. But I was completely blown away to read this. With the storm clouds gathering around his “immigration compromise”, he has announced that he has seen the light in global warming! Whaa? That’s as silly as Bill Maher becoming a Southern Baptist; Billy Graham coming out of the closet; Brittany Spears claiming to be a Rhodes Scholar!! It’s just too ridiculous to be taken seriously!

C’mon, George. Really. What are you thinking. We love you, George. You don’t have to try and impress us. In fact, the harder you try, the worse it looks. Just stick to what you know, George. You know… “Strategery!” Because if this is some kind of joke, no one is laughing. (Other than the people who read this blog, because let’s face it, I’m friggin’ hilarious.)

Being a Texan is pretty cool sometimes. Forget about having the coolest salsa TV commercials. (“New York City!! Get a rope!”) How about having a relatively unknown US Senator who puts donkey dancers like John McCain in their place without batting an eye.

PLEASE read this article that tells the story about Sen. John Cornyn out-classing John McCain in a recent committee meeting.

Essentially, McCain comes in barnstorming a meeting on the immigration bill (the first time he’s been a meeting in months), being his usual high-and-mighty, photo-op-seeking, grand-standing, jerk. Using the worst kind of coarse language and thus proving himself to be nothing more than a school yard bully, McCain accuses Cornyn of trying to torpedo the immigration bill. Cornyn stands up to Mister-CNN-Sound-Byte and thoroughly puts him in his place, pointing out that he had not been in any of the months of negotiations on the bill.

McCain retorts with a limp, “Nuh huh” comment (more school yard bully tactics), using more profanity. Then, McCain proves Cornyn’s point by joining a big press conference on the immigration bill, then promptly skipping town and missing his 43rd straight vote in the Senate.

You go Cornyn! Texas!! Whoop!

(Incidentally, Cornyn trying to torpedo the ludicrous immigration bill just proves to me that he’s doing a good job of representing me in Congress.)

When mass killers meet armed resistance is an article posted a couple of weeks ago in response to the VTech shootings. It tells the real story (the one that never seems to make the news) about several mass shootings in the last few years in which armed private citizens put a stop to the killing. This is an absolute must read for anyone who thinks that gun control stops crime.

The only thing gun control does is provide criminals with the confidence that they will not meet any resistance. Arms carried by legal, law-abiding citizens break that confidence and stop criminals in their tracks.