How interesting to know that between the Democrat candidates there is only an 80,000 vote difference nation wide.  Just think of that, only 80,000 in total votes.  Who would ever have believed that a black man could have the potential to defeat a white person (man or woman) in the election for President of the USA?  I would hazard a guess that our forefathers would never believe it.  That and a WOMAN in the running.  Scandalous!

If John McCain gets the Republican nomination I believe his only chance to win would be to have Mike Huckabee as the VP.  It would give him some balance in the area he needs and of course it would be my pick for President in the second seat in case something, God forbid, should happen to McCain.  That's a pretty strong ticket.  We'll see.

On the news last night they showed the youth training for Al Qaida activities.  Some of them are just "babies"…reminded me of the movie we saw with Cyn and Drew..Blood Diamonds..where the youth of a tribe was taken and brainwashed into becoming guerilla fighters.  How insane, how cruel, how wrong is that?

I emailed both ChaCha and the Ambassador yesterday to inquire as to the impact the difficulties in Kenya have had on them and their families.  I worry so about ChaCha.  He may be out of the country for work but Robbie and the kids are in country, I certainly pray they are safe.  At least Peter and Rose are in the USA so they, themselves, have been fine, I hope their families have been safe too.  How totally sad.  

Greg and I were discussing the situation at dinner last night and his take on it is that due to the President trying to rid Kenya of the corruption that has been part of life for ever that the riots provoked by the opposition party could be as a result of the opposition party losing their ability to control the corruption and it impacted their “way of life and income” so much that they are fighting to bring back the old ways.  When Peter and Rose were at our house they talked about the positive changes that the President was bringing to the country, roads, communication, electricity and so on.  Desperately needed things that had fallen into disrepair from neglect or have never been installed.  It would be wonderful it these things could be done for the country without the degree of corruption that has run rampant in the county in years past.  Everyone would benefit…well, maybe not everyone, those that want to pay their families for not working, for taking things that don’t belong to them and keeping them as their own probably don’t think of it as a benefit to all.

For the past two days we haven't had phones at the office, a major cable was cut someplace that took the whole area down.  At first they said it would be fixed by 4:30 on Tuesday, ok, the guys would just have a short day.  Well, that didn't happen so when I called yesterday morning they told me that they had someone on it and it should be up "as soon as possible."  Well, that didn't happen either.  I called last night and they told me that it might be Sunday night before it was fixed although it was a business account so it had top priority.  I went a little nuts (but, I was nice to the guy, it wasn't his fault) and wouldn't you know it, its fixed today!! 

Greg is working hard on the stuff for his interview this afternoon.  He has a lot of it done but still needs to focus and finish up.  The amount of work he had to do for this is actually a lot, with only two days to prepare (which may, in some ways be a blessing..not so much time to fret) he has really had to stick with it.

Because the phones were out and so no one was able to work I took the afternoon and went with friends for coffee.  We got a lot discussed, plans made and ideas shared and were out of Greg's hair until 6 pm!  I felt kind of bad that GW wasn't able to be with us but at the same time I knew he really would get a lot more accomplished if I wasn't in the office…even if I kept quiet (which isn't easy for me…thought hits brain and runs out mouth) so it worked out for the best.

Next week is state wrestling tournament which means that all the hotels are booked from Wed. on.  We will be at the Minor Mansion until Wed. morning and then will be over where our friend lives for Wed. night.  Because most of those units are rented out as condo's they only have a few rooms left to rent on a nightly basis (and don't work very hard at doing that) they are not booked for the tournament.  Friends set it up for us so we will have a room and it will only cost us $25!!  Not a bad deal.  Then next week it's back to the LaQuinta (Minor Mansion). 

I've been checking Payperpost when I get time but haven't had much luck lately, most are videos (which I could do but since I'm not cooking chicken on a grill it hasn't been something for me to video.)  Heidi has gotten some that I've missed….you go girl!!

Now it is time to get to real work. 

 

What's happening in the primary and caucus elections is really scary on the Democrat side, as far as I'm concerned.  Hillary winning Nevada shouldn't be such a bad sign except that the voter turn out was light and if that is any indication of what the general election will be it could be a disaster for the United States, Hilary could actually win the nomination and I'm not sure that McCain has a strong enough organization to beat her.  Obama needs to get another major win to stop her charge.  Hopefully Florida will give it to him.

I know that it all boils down to the electoral votes and the count is close at this point, it's just a shame that someone like Hilary could actually be in a position to pull this off.  She's not what I want as a leader of our country (obviously).

I'm not sure that the Republican party will turn out in the strength needed to win the general election which means that I want the best possible Democrat to be the candidate and that sure as heck isn't another Clinton.

She has never been a leader of anything, not a state, not a city and the fact that she claims to have experience because she was in the White House with her cheating husband doesn't give her any claim to leadership.  The one thing that she backed and said she was going to get done was the health care issue and that got blown out of the water after which she pouted for months.  Great leader.  Sick.

Now I understand that being a woman it would seem that I should support the woman candidate.  Well, if it were nearly any other woman I probably would look at it really hard.  With Hillary I don't have to, she is not qualified.

Do I think that anyone is really qualified to be the President?  Other than the Mayor I don't know of anyone that can really understand the pressures of the office.  It is easy for an "arm chair quarterback" to say that we would do this or that, like reduce the amount of money going overseas, reduce the number of government employees, change the IRS system, increase our military with equipment and intelligence that would support them, put more operatives in the field to get the Intel to perhaps defuse situations before they get out of hand, reduce the welfare programs by enforcing the rules that require those that can go to work to do just that, to encourage the manufacture of real goods here in the USA to keep the creation of goods here rather than depending on other countries to supply most of our goods and on and on.  That doesn't take into consideration the pressure from "friends" that want special treatment, congress that wants bills passed that are filled with pork barrel spending, with idiot leaders that demand we capitulate to their ridiculous demands for money, support, or whatever the cause of the day is for them.  There isn't enough money in the world for someone to truly want that job, it's all about the power.  Who do I believe will be able to handle the power without going crazy with it?  Well, I believe McCain can, I believe that Huckebee could and I believe the Mayor could.

Problem is that Huckebee won't be able to go head to head with Hilary.  He's not nasty enough, in my opinion.  Although, he did get the governorship in Arkansas following the Clinton lock, but, not sure that being the governor of a "nothing" state qualifies him for the roll anymore than it did Clinton.

Obama is going to have to come up with something stronger than the message that has taken him this far.  He's going to have to go after Hilary and take her out if he's going to have a chance.  He can take the high road and still do it but he's going to have to really get with it pretty soon.  She won't play clean, she never has and never will.

Those are just my thoughts.  The adventure of the election is on, it will be interesting to watch.

What an interesting evening in Iowa!  I went to the Republican Caucus and Greg went to the Democrat.  Greg called when he got to his and told me that they had set the church up for 100 people and 280 were there!  Ward II met at the Methodist Church for the Democrats and all of the Republicans met at the high school.

The Republicans were, as typical, very quiet, hesitant to speak up.  That is until the choosing of the representatives for the County convention when this dweeb that was in charge of informing the people about the process couldn't be heard by anyone!  I mean, those sitting right in front of this guy, John something, the research director for PII, told him to speak up.  He didn't.  Then one guy stood up from the top row and asked if there was anyone there that could explain what the heck this guy was trying to say.  After he said, "I can't speak any louder" I thought, geez, what a wrong choice for this position!  So, I stood and explained the process of the convention, the requirements and the options for change.  I got thanked and a little applause.  There were so many first time attendees there that it was critical that they were told what the process entailed.

The result is that I am one of the 7 delegates to the county convention.  I must admit, it felt really good to be back in that world, if even for a little while. 

It is also exciting to see the number of first time attendees that were there!  It was exciting to see the excitement, the energy that came alive and the people that got up and told why they feel their candidate should get the vote of the people.  No one was particularly persuasive, they were just people talking about what they believe so it was good.

Greg said that 45% of those attending his meeting were people that had never voted before, they registered when they arrived.  This is something different in Iowa than in other states, in a primary state you have to be a registered voter to participate in the election process, in Iowa, you can register at the caucus and participate.  You can also change your registration at the site, go from one party to another for the caucus and then after the caucus you can change back to the other party or as an independent.  It's really a neat thing because when you vote in the general election you don't have to vote a party, you can chose whomever you want and no one knows, that beautiful!

With Obama winning the Democrat ticket and Huckabee winning the Republican ticket it means that the people of Iowa definitely want a change in Washington.  With the Congress having an approval rating of just 22% and with the Presidency at 36% it is obvious that something is not setting well with the country faith in the leadership. 

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks.  Biden and Dodd have already announced that they are dropping out of the race, it sounds like Thompson will too.  The picture will change now as voters that were supporting them move to another candidate.  But then, none of them really had much support so it won't make a huge difference I guess.

With Hilary coming in third in Iowa one has to wonder what Vilsack will do now.  Tonight I heard a guy say that he thought that if Hilary won Tom would be her Chief of Staff.  Now, I have far more faith in Tom than I do in Hilary so I guess that would be OK, but I doubt that Hilary will be able to choose anyone because I don't think she has a shot, thank goodness!!

So, Iowa has spoken, the nation has listened and we will watch and see the results in 5 days.

Iowa is getting all the media attention today because of the caucus tonight.  It is interesting to to hear what the talking heads are saying, part of it is that if there are pollsters today saying so or so will win the democrat side tonight they are nuts, it's way too close to call.  Many feel that Hilary is not the person they want in the White House and so that means that it comes down to Obama and Edwards, that is if Hilary doesn't take Iowa.

The Republican side appears to believe that Huckabee is going to take it, I'm not so sure.  He's getting the media but, Iowans are people that make up their own minds and the media isn't going to "force" their opinions.  It should be an interesting night!

It is interesting to hear the views of those from states other than Iowa when it comes to the voting that will take place in Iowa on January 3.  While in Arizona we had the opportunity to visit with a business owner that has a construction crew working hard, long hours building fences for homes.  His view on the immigration situation differs from those that we hear most often. 

He says that finding American workers that are willing to actually work is difficult in his profession.  That the immigrant workers that come into the states are not only willing to work, they want to work to make the money necessary to keep their families in a decent economic situation and that they now only work hard, they show up, which he says is not the case with the American workers.  The American workers want to have "cushy jobs that don't make them sweat, don't require them to put in a hard full day and get higher than average pay for less work."

Now, since I have not experienced this myself I asked another guy that has a similar occupation, he agreed 100%.  It seems that the American worker would rather take an entitlement than work.  At least in this type of business.  Both men said that without the immigrant worker their business would fail.  They agree that there is a problem but the solutions don't seem to be easy to come by.  It was the opinion of both of these men that the reason the political candidates stay away from talking about it much is that there isn't a good solution.

Another business person said that if welfare was removed, ALL welfare for able workers, then those that are "too darn lazy to work would have to work if they wanted to eat."  Well, that may well be true.  Our welfare system has become a lifestyle for many, too many.

The fact that the immigration situation is there can not be disavowed.  It is a problem when illegals come onto your property, take your things, break into your home or business, or any other situation that may arise from people desperate to leave the poverty they exist in in their home country.  I do agree that if someone is illegally on your land or in your house or in your business you have the right to protect yourself and your property.  Does that mean I believe they should be shot?  Not necessarily, but if they are a threat to your life and property, then you have the legal right to do what is necessary to protect yourself.  Shot them?  If necessary, just like you would someone that is breaking into your home in Iowa, or anyplace else!

What is the solution to this problem?  I'm not sure, but it seems that not too many years ago the Irish were banned from certain areas of cities, the immigration situation was touted then as a major problem and yet, here and now, the Irish are no longer looked upon as bad.  Same thing with most other nationalities that have come into our country….the current influx of immigrants will probably be welcomed in a few years for what they contribute to contribute to society.  Interesting thoughts that will probably come true.  Let's hope so.

This may be Iowa's last hurrah as the first state to hold a caucus since the battle to be first has spread to so many other states.  Having them on January 3 is crazy, it's a full 9 months prior to the actual election.  The only advantage is that it will lessen the number of candidates running commercials and slamming everyone else.

Today the news is that Clinton is losing her strength in the first 4 states.  Obama is gaining and so is Edwards, but it appears that the media wonkas think that Obama is the one that will give her the greatest deal of difficulty.  We listened to the democrat debate in Iowa on the way home last night.  It was actually rather interesting to listen to them "politely" tell each other how wrong they were on the issues.  What a bunch of crap…nothing they say will actually be worth the breath they used once the election is over.  It will be politics as usual, unless, but some turn of fate we actually get one of the "outsiders" in, Huckelbee or Obama as the President.  I don't believe either of them are as brainwashed into the Washington mindset yet.  There may be hope there. 

The very thought of not having to listen to Clinton and her lying, BS, mouth anymore would be too nice to believe.  I just don't believe that there are people that truly don't realize what a lier she is…or if she's not a lier, then how totally stupid she is.  All going back to the Clinton matrimonial problems when she said that Bill didn't have a relationship with Monica.  Either she was lying through her teeth or she was too stupid to know that her husband was getting his rocks off with another woman (again.)  Either way, she's not someone I want in the White House.  I assume the rest are not much better at telling the truth then she is but at least they stay off the TV in such an obvious manner.

Thompson just never caught up, he probably won't survive the primary races and the caucus.  Biden, and a whole slew of others will be gone too, hard to raise money for a campaign when the numbers are so bad.

Mitt Romney was in Mt. Pleasant yesterday morning to drum up support for his campaign.  It is interesting to hear the varied thoughts on this guy, there are those that think he is the best option for the Republican candidate for President and then there are those that listen closely to what he says and think he's a smooth liar.

It's truly sad that there aren't any candidates on the Republican side that have captured the imagination and support of the wide range of Republican voters.  It costs so much to run for President and takes so much time that most truly qualified people (on both sides of the isle) just don't want to do it, or can't afford to do it. 

At this point there is no one that I feel excited about leading our country.  No one, not on either side.  Of course, one vote won't make a huge difference but it does count, I just don't know who I will support when the election rolls around.  So sad.

This is a site I had not heard of previously but sure glad I found it now.  The information on the candidates of both parties that is on the political blog was informative without the bias that is found on many sites.  This is talking only about the bio information, not the entire site.

I was impressed with the update done on the blog regarding the political candidates, they had Thompson on and he just declared last night. 

Having the information on both parties was also an interesting change.  Normally you find just one party and the information is totally biased toward the views of that particular party, this was not the case in this particular political post, nice change.

While our kids were home, Senator Obama visted our community.  One of the volunteer coordinators is a friend of our granddaughters and asked them to help.  Of course they were thrilled.

They went to the home where Senator Obama was going to speak, they had the opportunity to see how much work it is to make an event goe smoothly, how the Secret Service works, the enthusiasm of the attendees, and the clean up afterwards. 

Two of our daughters were interviewed by different people for the news, one for the DM Register and one for Obama's website.  Unfortunately neither actually got printed or posted, but it was interesting for both of them.

Even if the end result doesn't mean the vote for Obama (which it might or might not…it's early yet) the experience to become involved in the political activity, to actually take part in it, will stay with them for a long time. 

They felt he was clear in his message, gracious with the people and tired.  Gosh, who wouldn't be when they maintain the schedule that a candidate does.  Hundreds of gatherings, thousands of people, heat, cold, road trips, air miles, nasty food and good food, different beds, away from family, and everyone telling you what you should and shouldn't do.  Just being a candidate is tiring!

I don't mean to offend anyone with the following, but it's my blog and so I'm going to say what I think about the Clinton issue.

I first want to say that I think it is wonderful that a woman is running for President.  I just wish it was one that I could support.  Not because she's a woman but because she would be the best for the position.  Not the case with Hilary Clinton, in my opinion.

See, I want someone I can trust, that I feel is bright and honest (yes, I know that's wanting a great deal.)  In the case of Hilary I have to go back to the days of the former President, Bill, and review how Hilary handled the nasty choices that he made in regard to his personal life.  I think his behavior was disgusting, he should have had better control of his private parts than to become involved with another woman….any other woman.  But, that being said, when it came out that he was dishonorable and a disgrace to the office, Hilary claimed to know nothing about it.  She continued to claim this on national TV and in press interviews.  Ok, so does that make her stupid or a liar?   

She knew of his history of messing around with other women before, she was with him nearly everyday in the White House, she was his “closest advisor” according to many and yet she claimed to know nothing about his stupidity?  Hmmm,  denial is one thing, but to go on and tell the public that she knew nothing was just not the smartest thing to do.  As I said, she is either a liar or stupid.  I just don’t want that in the White House again.