In the Military? Forget about running for President

OK, this is just ridiculous. Apparently volunteering to serve your country in the military will now disqualify you from being president. At least, according to the Democrats.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain's family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, "and he has a hard time thinking beyond that," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said Friday.

"I think he's trapped in that," Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. "Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous."

Harkin said that "it's one thing to have been drafted and served, but another thing when you come from generations of military people and that's just how you're steeped, how you've learned, how you've grown up."

As Powerline says "So it's OK to serve in the military, but only if you're drafted. Given that we now have an all-volunteer military, that standard will rule out everyone currently serving."

Let's apply that requirement to some of our past presidents. We would have to rule out:

• George Washington
• James Monroe
  
• Andrew Jackson
• William Harrison
• John Tyler
  
• Zachary Taylor
• Franklin Pierce
• Andrew Johnson
  
• Ulysses Grant
• Rutherford Hayes
• James Garfield
• Benjamin Harrison
• William McKinley
  
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Harry Truman
  
• Dwight Eisenhower
• John Kennedy
• Lyndon Johnson
• Richard Nixon
• Gerald Ford
  
• Jimmy Carter
• Ronald Reagon
  
• George H. W. Bush
• George W. Bush
  

25 of the 42 people who served as President were also members of the military at some point. And that does not include those who served in state militias.

And any of you presidential hopefuls currently serving - too bad.  At least, according to the Democrats.

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An Al Gore Two-fer

Gore has been promoting global warming as his pet cause for many years. Evidently nothing is sacred to the crusade. Here's Al Gore using a pile of 60,000 bodies in Myanmar as his soap box. Largest cyclones and death count are here. They cover a time span of warm and cool temperatures - not very indicative of global warming.

Of course, that just heightens Al's hypocrisy. I recently received an email I immediately assumed was a hoax. But, Snopes says it's the real deal.

House #1 - A 20 room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house, all heated by gas. In one month this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400. In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 12 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in the Northern or Midwestern 'Snow Belt' area. It is in the South.



House #2 - Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university. This house incorporates every 'green' feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.



HOUSE # 1 is outside of Nashville, Tennessee; it is the abode of the 'environmentalist' Al Gore. HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas; it is the residence of the President of the United State, George W. Bush.

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Change

I can't say it any better than this.

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Hollywood Stop-Loss

YAAIWF (Yet Another Anti-Iraq War Film) has made its way out of Hollywood. Let's see how it's doing on opening weekend.

I'm told #7 Stop-Loss opened to only $1.6 million Friday from just 1,291 plays and should eke out $4+M. Although the drama from MTV Films was the best-reviewed movie opening this weekend, Paramount wasn't expecting much because no Iraq war-themed movie has yet to perform at the box office. "It's not looking good," a studio source told me before the weekend. "No one wants to see Iraq war movies. No matter what we put out there in terms of great cast or trailers, people were completely turned off. It's a function of the marketplace not being ready to address this conflict in a dramatic way because the war itself is something that's unresolved yet. It's a shame because it's a good movie that's just ahead of its time."

Here's a thought - how about making an Iraq war movie that doesn't slander the soldiers involved?  How about making an Iraq war movie that celebrates the heroism embodied in those who choose to serve their country?  There are stories in this war that need to be told.  For example, a quick Google search for Medal of Honor winners turns up CPL Jason L. Dunham.  Cpl Dunham used his helmet and body to shield the rest of the Marines from a grenade, dying in the process.  His self-sacrifice saved the lives of at least two other Marines.  And this is not an isolated incident, it is happening all over Iraq and Afghanistan while the Armed Forces fight for their freedom and our safety.  Any time Hollywood wants to make a movie about that I will happily go see it.

Via Hotair's headlines.

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Obama's positions on same-sex marriage and abortion

If you are curious as to where Barack Obama stands as far as gay marriage and abortion goes, you can find out right here.

Speaking about gay marriage, Obama says this:

"I don't think it [a same-sex union] should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state," said Obama. "If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans."

That should raise some evangelical eyebrows. One tenant of the faith is that the Holy Scripturtes are inspired by God, and written by men. As they are all inspired by God, and all have the same source, they should be taken with equal weight. Of course, context plays an important role, and the tone of the writing is important as well, but both of these passages are pretty straight forward.

The Baptist Press has an interesting article about it here.

As for abortion, I think this passage says it all...

In a 2001 Illinois Senate floor speech about that bill, he argued that to call a baby who survived an abortion a "person" would give it equal protection rights under the 14th Amendment and would give credibility to the argument that the same child inside its mother's womb was also a "person" and thus could not be aborted.

So, Obama does not believe that a baby, even outside of the mother's womb, is a person, if the intent of that birth (such as in partial-birth abortion) was to abort the baby.

That's says enough for me.

From Townhall.

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The nightmare scenario

So, what happens when the next president is not selected by the Electoral College?  This may be a relevant question if a third party candidate can actually win a state or two.  Is this possible?  Maybe -  Nader has thrown his hat into the ring, and although Bloomberg has said he is not running, some people think that he may just be biding his time.  The problem is if that third party picks up enough votes to prevent a candidate from getting the 270  needed to become the president-elect.

If that happens, the House of Representatives goes into emergency session to choose the next president.  But, it is not a straight vote - each state votes as a block.  The candidate needs a majority, 26 states, to win.  If a state's representatives split evenly on the vote, then the state is thrown out.  If you  take the current Congress and assume that each representative is going to vote for his/her party's candidate, then it would fall out like this: 26 Democrat, 21 Republican and 3 ties.  So, the Democrat candidate would win.  But, of course, it is not that simple.  A shift of only one or two states could move some states from the D to the R column, or representatives voting in line with their state's general election results could change things.  In that case, the House would be deadlocked, and the job would fall to the Vice-President Elect, who is chosen by the Senate.

In the Senate, the Vice-President elect has to get 51 votes, and the current VP can not vote.  Right now, with Lieberman caucusing with the Democrats, that would be enough to elect the Democrat Vice-Presidential candidate.  If he chooses not to, then the Senate is deadlocked as well, and the job then goes to the Speaker of the House.

That's right - President Pelosi.

Sweet dreams...

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Unintended Consequences in Florida

According to the latest Rasmussen poll, McCain has a commanding lead over Obama in Florida.  It is more than his lead over Clinton, which is reversed from about every other state.  It sounds like the difficulty over Florida's delegates is having unintended consequences for the Democrats.  Obama's opposition to seating Florida is depressing his numbers, and the question is whether or not that would carry over to the general election.  It also raises the question about whether or not Florida Democrats will be enthusiastic in their support of either candidate if their delegates are not seated after all. 

It will be interesting to see if Florida gets a place at the convention, and if they don't, how it affects turnout in the state.  Needless to say, as a state that has been a battleground state in the past two elections, this could have a significant effect on the race.

via Hotair.

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Anybody but Hillary?

Well, Barack Obama won his sixth, seventh and eighth primaries in a row last night, and he won them in landslides.  He certainly seems to have the momentum, and everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.  I just have to wonder, is there a segment of those voters who are supporting him just to block Hillary?  Her negatives have always been a problem - at times over 50% of the population have said they would not vote for her.  Now, those that are Democrats have someone else to vote for with a realistic chance of stopping her.

If that is the case, it may be a bright spot for the Republican candidate.  Once (if) Hillary is stopped that voter bloc will no longer be in play.  And given the high turnout in the Democrat primaries and caucuses, that would be a good thing for the Republican candidate should those people decide it is too much trouble to vote in November.

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Did talk radio force Romney's hand?

Today, Mitt Romney gracefully bowed out of the Republican primary race at CPAC.  After reading some of his speech I have to wonder, did talk radio force his hand?  Romney says in part,

I wonder if he is more worried about what others may do in his name, rather than what he may do in the race.  There has been a lot of vitriol from a lot of prominent people for McCain, and if that got dragged out then no Republican would stand a chance come November.  By exiting now, those people can come to grips with a McCain candidacy, and even if they are not pro-McCain, they can at least stop being anti-McCain.  Romney has removed their reason for the attacks by bowing out of the race, and he has put the good of the party before his own quest for the presidency, giving it a chance to heal while the Democrats continue battling.

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Some thoughts on the Republican Primary

Well, by this time the voting in 'Tsunami Tuesday' states is wrapping up, and we'll soon find out who the real front runner is for the Republican nomination.  While I was listening to Bill Lumaye on WPTF during the ride home, a thought came to mind.

First let's set the scene.  Bill was talking politics, and Rick Martinez jumped in with some words for the conservative side of the big tent.  Basically, he thinks conservatives need to grow up and quit being 'cry babies' about McCain's candidacy.  I think most of this stems from Ann Coulter's statements that if McCain gets the nomination she's voting for Hillary.  Plus, a lot of talk show hosts have recently started talking up Romney as the next great conservative while bashing McCain, like Rush, Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Hugh Hewitt (but he's always been a Romney guy).  Rick seems to think that there's too much whining going on, and not enough action.

I don't necessarily agree with this.  I think that what we are seeing is a sudden coalescing of the conservatives behind the right most of the remaining candidates.  Before Florida, there were still a lot of conservative options, like Fred Thompson, Duncan Hunter, and Tom Tancredo.  Since Florida, they have all gone away.  That leaves Romney.  Remember that Florida was only a week ago in this accelerated primary season, so I don't think it's unusual that they have come out for Romney, and come out forcefully.  And coming out in the way they know best and the way they can have the most impact.  They had to if they were going to make any impact on 'Tsunami Tuesday'.  Also, the complaints against McCain have always been there, they were simply overcome by a lot of other talk about a lot of other candidates.

So, are conservatives a bunch of cry babies?  I don't think so.  Ann Coulter probably went too far, but she made her point.  If the nomination is still up for grabs when the primary comes to North Carolina, you better believe I will be there making my voice heard.  And so will a lot of other conservatives.

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