To California Republicans...

I told you so.

Back in 2003, Republicans were falling all over themselves to support and vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger in the recall election.

True, he was saying all the right (or maybe Populist) things. He would blow up boxes, he would cut up the Legislatures credit cards. He was a fan of Milton Friedman. He was a moderate on social issues (Gay Marriage should be between a man and a woman).

Fast forward five years. He was quoted in the LA Times last week saying

"I think the important thing for the Republican Party is now to also look at other issues that are very important for this country and not to get stuck in ideology," the governor said in an interview broadcast on CNN. "Let's go and talk about healthcare reform. Let's go and . . . fund programs if they're necessary programs and not get stuck just on the fiscal responsibility."

Five years later the state budget is $28 billion in the red. Spending under Schwarzenegger went up faster that it did when Grey Davis was governor. And our "Republican" governor, walks and talks like a Democrat.

I had a gut feeling that something like this would happen. Part of it was because he a was a big supporter of Proposition 49 in 2002 (which set aside money for after-school programs). This showed me he had a tendency to see government as a means to solving problems.

My choice was Tom McClintock, (who spoke briefly at the Rally for the Republic) a strong fiscal conservative. He is a frequent guest on local talk radio, and at the time, I was impressed by his ability to explain the complexities of the State budget, and the mess it was and is, in layman's terms.

I hope that in the future, Republicans will shy away from the personality cult that surrounds many polititians, and look more closely at the views they hold.

You can read the whole story here.

Scrooge McDuck on Monetary Policy

I came across this today over at reason.com. It amazed me that a cartoon show had more wisdom than the bozos in the Congress and the White House.



Keep Grinning.

More BS from a member of Congress

Today on "Your World with Neil Cavuto", Representative Frank Pallone (D-NJ) was on the program, discussing a new round of economic stimuli. But this stimulus would not be in the form of for of a tax rebate. Instead the money would go to infrastructure (transportation, school construction and health care).

So, I guess the new word for more spending, is “stimulus”? We have a new word in the Obamaspeak dictionary. How stupid do they think we are? Of course there are some people who will be fooled. But no nation has ever taxed and spent itself into prosperity. Our nation was prosperous in the 19th Century because there was no income tax (except for a brief period during the civil war I believe) and much less regulation

And of course I don’t see anything in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution that authorizes Congress to “stimulate” the economy this way.

Usually Cavuto is pretty good about nailing politicians with goofy economic ideas, but he was pretty quiet today.

You can see the whole interview here.

The first African-American President.

Even if you don't agree with Barrack Obama's policies, you have to agree that last November 4th was a historic day. Men and Women from all different backgrounds, ethnicities, income levels, age groups and religions, joined to elect the first President of African-American origin.

But there is one question that lingers. Would people be dancing and celebrating in front of the Ebenezer Street Baptist Church where Dr. King preached, would Jesse Jackson be moved to tears, if a conservative such as Micheal Steele, or J.C. Watts had been elected the first African American president.

The RNC wants our feedback

RNC Chairman, Mike Duncan said that republicans "are going to take a deep breath and listen to the American people." The party is creating a new online forum that will allow people to explain "how we let them down" and "what we can do to restore confidence in our party," he said.

This is a good opportunity liberty-minded conservatives to speak our minds. I just wish I were more optimistic that they will be listened to. I'm afraid the RNC is just looking for a way to elect more people with "R"s after their names, who turn out to be like Schwarzenegger and McCain.

In 2002, Karl Rove said he wanted the party to become more inclusive. But how often has worship of the Inclusiveness God led to an abandonment of principles. If Republicans go back to what worked in 1994, less Government, Consititutional standards and personal liberty. We need more articulate people like Dr Paul, and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson spreading message. Especially we need the grassroots to get involved in the local party organizations.



Keep Grinning

Up on the housetop...

There are no reindeer. Yet anyway. But, I made my yearly climb to the roof. I gave in to my wife’s “urgings” to put up the Christmas lights.

Now I’m one of those people who thinks we could celebrate the birth of Jesus quite well without tripling our electric bills and burning more fossil fuels. But my desire to have a peaceful household won out over my convictions.

Most of my neighbors who decorate their houses for Christmas got it done the first two weekends after Thanksgiving. One house I pass on the way to taking my son to work had lights up two weeks before Thanksgiving.

The home improvement store my wife works at had Christmas decorations down for sale shortly after Halloween. In fact, they sold out of outdoor lights last weekend.

We haven’t gotten the tree up yet. That job belongs to my wife and kids. After that the challenge is to keep the cats out of the tree. Then we begin the countdown to Christmas and watch as gift cards from one merchant or another fill up the tree branches.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Have a Merry Christmas everyone, and as always…

Keep Grinning

Old Friends

Last week I had a couple of opportunities to visit with old friends.

I went to homecoming at my high school on November 2nd. The game itself was exciting despite the fact that we lost. But the fun part was running to an old buddy I served on the school newspaper with.

It was good to catch up and reminisce about the times gone by.

The next day I visited with some seminary friends. Sadly, our mini-reunion was prompted by the death of one of our friends who was a year behind us in school. Still despite the fact that I had not seen these guys in almost 30 years, we were able to pick up where we left off.

We decided to try to get our class together for our 30-year anniversary. The guys who got ordained should not be too hard to track down. It's the others who will be a challenge. Our last mailing list is from 1978, and the school is now closed. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Keep Grinning!

Losing Weight

How do you lose weight? Expend more calories that you take in. The formula is simple. The execution is hard.

I have been exercising and watching what I eat the past two months or so. Coke or other sodas are gone from my diet. Also, I don’t get that daily bag of chips any more. Other changes are trying to minimize red meat, eat more fruits and veggies, and don’t put any sugar in my coffee and cereal.

A few years ago, I went from 195 to 165 in about 6 to nine months. I grew tired of the exercise routine through. I was using the workout center at my job site. But I had to leave at 5:30am to get there early. After 5:00pm, it was way too crowded. Eventually I slipped back to my old habits, and the weight came back.

There are a few tips I have learned in the meantime.

• Don’t weigh yourself too often. This is a long term commitment. I get on the scale once every two weeks (paydays). This helps me see the big picture and keeps me from getting obsessed with the process.
• Don’t give up the foods you like. Just eat less. I love pizza, so when I have some, I limit myself to two slices. If I am still hungry, I make a salad or have an apple. That usually takes care of it. If you eat out, cut the portions in half, and eat the leftovers the next day.
• Don’t beat yourself up if you fall off the wagon. Let’s face it. Around the Thanksgiving / Christmas season, you may be going to parties and family gatherings. Lots of food is going to be there. If you over indulge, just get back on the program as soon as possible. There are worse things you could have done. Like vote Democrat (but that’s a different column.)
• Vary your workouts. I usually do the treadmill. If I vary the speeds, going from a fast walk to a slow trot and back, the time goes a lot faster. I also do the stationary bikes. Doing one cardio workout, doing one of the stations for strength training, then the other cardio workout, breaks your workout time nicely.
  
• Have fun!!

-Keep Grinning!

Possums

I hate possums. My dog hates them more. In fact, she has killed three of them. And I hate disposing of dead possums more than I hate the possums themselves. (I found out the local Animal Control will come and pick up dead possums)

The funny thing is that my dog is very gentle with the inside animals. We have two cats she gets along with, and when the guinea pig comes out, Sadie will sniff and lick it, but not do anything else.

One morning earlier last week, she was going nuts looking out the back window, so I went outside to check what was going on. Once I got outside, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was this little rabbit.

I walked over to it and it did not seem to be afraid of me. So I got my daughter, who works at a pet store and she was able to pick it up and put it outside. (Now I’ve got to fix the hole in my fence.)

When we walk out to see it, the rabbit hops up to us, so it must have been someone else’s pet. Anyway the rabbit hangs around mostly at night. I think it goes to the next-door neighbor’s back yard during the day. He keeps his gate open and there’s a lot of shade. We’ve been putting out food and water for it, and so has the lady two doors down.

We’ve been trying to find a private agency that rescues and adopts out rabbits. The only one we have found is about an hours drive away. We really can’t keep it, and if we take it to the County shelter, they will euthanize the rabbit. It is really sweet and cute, and will do well with a good home I think

Keep Grinning.

Random Notes

Is this a threat?

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday that he would possibly send troops into Pakistan to hunt down terrorists, an attempt to show strength when his chief rival has described his foreign policy skills as naïve, the AP reported

In addition, "The Illinois senator warned Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that he must do more to shut down terrorist operations in his country and evict foreign fighters under an Obama presidency, or Pakistan will risk a U.S. troop invasion and losing hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. military aid."

That must be causing Musharraf to have some sleepless nights.

Happy Anniversary.

August 1st was the 19^th anniversary of the legendary Rush Limbaugh program. Happy Anniversary, Rush. Here’s to many more years of broadcast excellence.

Baseball Notes

Baseball’s non-waiver trading period ended the other day. The Dodgers shored up their bullpen, acquiring Scott Proctor from the Yankees to infielder Wilson Betemit. Listening to Yankee games on XM, I heard their announcers complain about Proctor’s tendency to walk the lead off batter. Statistics show that when the first batter of an inning gets on base, he scores 40% of the time. Hopefully he can improve in this area in the next few months.

The Angels stood pat…oh and this just in, the sky remained blue.

My opinion is that they needed an impact bat at 3^rd. People will argue with Chone Figgins’ success since late May. However they need someone to bat behind Vladimir Guerrero. Figgins could have been packaged in a trade with a prospect or two to get a power-hitting third sacker. The problem is, most teams wanted Joe Saunders, and the Angels pitching depth is down with the injury to Bartolo Colon, and Ervin Santana pitching more like Carlos Santana, than Johan Santana. The other problem? No one seemed to be offering any power-hitting third basemen.

In addition, Vladdy needs to be a little more selective on what he swings at. If he had Barry Bonds’ plate discipline, he would be unstoppable. This “nose to toes” strike zone has got to stop. Maybe chin to shin would help.

Golf

The Bridgestone Invitational at the Firestone Country Club got underway today. Tiger Woods has won this event two years in a row, and also one three straight times from 1999 to 2001. He finished the first round at -2, one stroke behind the leaders.

Hunter Mahan is one of three golfers leading the pack at three under par. Right now there is no hotter golfer. Mahan has finished in the top-10 in his last four starts, and in the top 25 in his last six. He is making a charge to be on the President’s Cup team.

-Keep Grinning