So in searching the web tonight I have discovered an awful lot of stories where people steal toys and money that was donated to charity. People suck. No really they do.

The US House passed the EISA (anti-)Energy bill today by a vote of 314 to 100. This is the bill that I wrote on last week when the US Senate passed the bill with Sen. Norm Coleman’s (Sierra Club MN)  help.

The bill includes the new 35-miles-per-gallon standard, a huge increase in the use of ethanol and new energy efficiency standards for appliances and building construction.

“This legislation is a historic turning point in energy policy,” said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland because it will cut demand for foreign oil and promote nonfossil fuels that will cut greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

It is a turning point alright. Our society may have just reached its peek in productivity. These new laws are in effect, caps on production and consumption, not to mention designed on faulty and junk science. The mandates that passed in this bill are unsustainable, and likely impossible to meet…. unless we make drastic reductions in our way of life.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R MN6) & Rep. John Kline (R MN2) did not vote to end the American way of life as we know it. I will proudly haul their lawnsigns this year, should they need the help. Many thanks go out from me to both of them for standing on grounded principles and common sense and opposing this non sense EISA bill.

Sen. Coleman, on the otherhand, will need to find someone else to distribute his lawnsigns in Blaine and Anoka County, because I ain’t gonna do it. He wants to do away with my truck, as well as the trucks of millions of other Americans, so he can go pound the rebar himself. Of course this will greatly peturb the Party loyalists, and I don’t care. I have my principles, and they obviously mean far more to me than they do to Sen. Coleman it appears.

Politicians will never learn from the devastating impacts of their legislation unless it hits them personally.

I encourage everyone to contact the White House and urge a veto by the President. Then contact Coleman’s campaign office and tell him you and your truck or SUV have better things to do when he needs ya for his reelection campaign next Summer and Fall.

How’s this for a new CAFE standard?

C.A.F.E. 

Conservatives Against Federal Encroachment 

No Trucks or SUVs

Means: No Signs! & No Parades!

End the Lunacracy!

Let Them Live With “Their” Policies 

(Closed Circuit to Chief: This would be a great time to come up with a nifty logo if you have time. I have ideas in my head if you have nothing else to do.)

Gary at LFR may finally be on the bandwagon, the Fred one that is.  (Not that I ever doubted his choice)

Fred’s conser[v]atism doesn’t change in the sense that the same underlying principles still guide his policy positions now as they did decades ago. The issues might change but the principles of unwavering federalism and fiscal freedom still guide his domestic policies.

Fred’s also the only candidate that’s published detailed plans for entitlement reform, immigration reform, dealing with Iraq and Iran. That’s before we get to the issue of judicial nominees, where he’s got the best credentials of anyone. (One of his advisors is David McIntosh, the founder of the Federalist Society.

[...]

Fred Thompson is the most qualified candidate in the race. You’ll notice that the people that criticize him for his campaigning style don’t criticize his substance. That’s because it’s impossible to argue with his positions

Go read the rest.

I have the feeling there is far more coming from him on the Fred Front.

It is no wonder why Rome fell.

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian court has ruled that a couple could not name their son “Friday” and ordered that he instead be called Gregory after the saint whose feast day he was born on.

“I think it is ridiculous they even opened a case about it,” the family’s lawyer, Paola Rossi, told Reuters by telephone from the northern city of Genoa on Tuesday.

Friday/Gregory Germano was born in Genoa 15 months ago. The parents registered him as Friday in the city hall and a priest even baptised him as Friday — unusual in Italy since many priests insist that first names be of Christian origin.

“We named him Friday because we like the sound of the name. Even if it would have been a girl, we would have named her Friday,” the boy’s mother, Mara Germano, told Reuters.

When the boy was about five months old, a city hall clerk brought the odd name to the attention of a tribunal, which informed the couple of an administrative norm which bars parents from giving “ridiculous or shameful” first names to children.

The tribunal said it was protecting the child from being the butt of jokes and added that it believed the name would hinder him from developing “serene interpersonal relationships”.

And now the world gets to make Rome the butt of nanny state jokes.

The appeals court ruled against Friday because it recalled the servile savage in Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe and because superstitious Italians consider Friday an unlucky day.

Chow babe!

Wait, can I call you babe?

Money can bye you a lot of happiness over the Holidays, but thanks to Democrats in Congress, there will be no peace of mind over border security in the New Year.

Congress last night passed a giant new spending bill that undermines current plans for a U.S.-Mexico border fence, allowing the Homeland Security Department to build a single-tier barrier rather than the two-tier version that has worked in California.

Pelosi’s do-nothing Congress has finally gotten off their duffs, but unfortunately, making the country more vulnerable and less secure is tops on their ‘to-do’ list.

The 2006 Secure Fence Act specifically called for “two layers of reinforced fencing” and listed five specific sections of border where it should be installed. The new spending bill removes the two-tier requirement and the list of locations.

Merry Christmas America, or should I say?

Feliz Navidad!

Unbeknownst to the local media, the MCCL (Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life) is a Pro-Life group, not an anti-abortion group. (ahem, Bias?)

Anywho, the group has endorsed Fred Thompson for President.

ST. PAUL (AP) - A Minnesota anti-abortion organization has endorsed former Senator and TV star Fred Thompson for president.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life says the Republican earned the endorsement with his consistent opposition to abortion. The group says he opposed using tax dollars to pay for abortion and certain kinds of stem cell research.

The National Right to Life Committee announced its endorsement for Thompson about a month ago.

It is called a past record, it is a great way to see how someone would act in the future.

Ned Lamont

I know everyone is tripping over their tongues trying to make hay out of this endorsement deal for McCain, as if somehow Joe Lieberman is in fact the soothesayer for Republican Caucus going voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, but for crying out loud, the truth behind Lieberman’s decision to endorse McCain is clear as day.

Aug 18, 2006: Edwards rallies for Lamont crowd

EW HAVEN — Former vice-presidential candidate John Edwards rallied several hundred people Thursday in a rousing populist speech for U.S. Democratic Senate candidate Ned Lamont, telling the crowd Americans are eager for change and real leaders.

Aug 25, 2006: Clinton, Lamont meet in New York

“It was a great meeting. Senator Clinton thinks Ned Lamont did a fabulous job in Connecticut,” spokesman Howard Wolfson said, referring to Lamont’s upset victory over Sen. Joe Lieberman in the state’s Democratic primary.

[...]

Lamont campaign manager Tom Swan said Lamont found Friday’s meeting beneficial.
“It was clear that Senator Clinton and her team want to be helpful to Ned’s election in November,” Swan said.

Oct 26, 2006: Lamont Gets Help From Obama

HARTFORD, Conn. — Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, a vocal defender of Sen. Joe Lieberman earlier this year, is urging Connecticut voters to rally behind his rival, Ned Lamont.

The Illinois senator and potential 2008 presidential candidate sent an e-mail message Thursday praising Lamont.

“Ned Lamont has waged an impressive grass-roots campaign to give the people of Connecticut a choice in the November Senate election,” Obama wrote. “Please join me in supporting Ned Lamont with your hard work on-the-ground in these closing weeks of the campaign.”

It is called Google, you may want to try it sometime.

Any other questions?

Speaking of Lamont, he’s now doing PR for Al J@zer@.

Do you notice the giant elephant in the room that they left out of this story?

Govs may regain sole control over Guard

Do you see any mention of Katrina what-so-ever? The biggest national Disaster in most people’s eyes. One where Government, at the State and Local leveled failed, and the Federal Government took the blame.

In the event that a State Government and/or officials become incapacitated or devoid of responsibility, shouldn’t someone at the Federal level be able to act on a state’s citizen’s behalf?

Thoughts?

If this reporter is a “black man turning white“, does it mean I am getting even whiter?

“I’m a black man turning white on television and people can see it,” says Thomas, an anchor and entertainment reporter for the local Fox Broadcasting Company affiliate. “If you’ve watched me over the years, you’ve seen my hands completely change from brown to white.”

Thomas has vitiligo, a disorder in which pigment-making cells are destroyed. White patches appear on different parts of the body, tissues in the mouth and nose, and the retina.

I also have the disorder.

As many as 65 million people worldwide have the disorder, including up to 2 million in the United States.

Few people, outside medical professionals and those with the disease, had heard the term “vitiligo” until Michael Jackson revealed in the early 1990s that the disorder was behind his skin turning brown to white.

It’s not fatal, but experts say vitiligo robs people of self-confidence, evokes ridicule and unpleasant stares, and pushes some into unforced seclusion.

The 40-year-old Thomas says that’s not where the disorder needs to be. He openly talks aboueup to conceal his skin discoloration, he realized the vitiligo was becoming more obvious when he couldn’t hide it from a preschooler during a story about a playground. His two-toned hands frightened the girl, who began to cry.

So far I am lucky, and it is barely noticeable so far for me, but time will tell. I can share the feelings expressed by the reporter. It is kinda worrisome to think about what others think. We’re a weird society, and skin disorders usually do put people into the quarantine sector of most people’s minds.

Some how Mike Huckabee is still holding the lead in Iowa. No doubt because he is a candidate that the media can live with (read liberal) and one that their true love, the Democrats, can supposedly tear limb from limb in the general election sealing the deal for Democrats.Anyways, the PiPress has a story about how the Huckster doesn’t even have an operation in Minnesota. And when I say operation, I mean not one single staffer or campaign office.

That was apparent at the Minnesota Republicans’ State Central Committee meeting Dec. 8 in Blaine. Romney, Giuliani, Thompson, Hunter and Paul had volunteers at tables handing out lapel stickers, posters and T-shirts to the party’s 300 leading activists. The Huckabee campaign was AWOL.Carey, the party chairman, said he couldn’t even find a Huckabee contact in the state, much less get national campaign operatives to return his phone calls.Carey, the party chairman, said he couldn’t even find a Huckabee contact in the state, much less get national campaign operatives to return his phone calls. 

Now Minnesota doesn’t really have role in the Primary battle for the nomination, so any resources spent here could cost a candidate in the early states that do matter. That means you don’t run ads, or send tons on lit pieces, stickers, or appearances, but it is still important to have some visble operation, whether through volunteers or skeleton staff.It is clear to me the Huckster is the second worse choice for the GOP nod. I base that decision on his record as Arkansas Governor, where venerable conservative groups have rated him more liberal than Bill Clinton on many many core conservative issues and on his questionable statements on religion and Biblical prophesying from the campaign trail. And now this news that he doesn’t even have an operation in Minnesota, well that should really help expose how he is being propped up as the so-called front runner.He’s the gift that keeps on giving for the Democrats, and that is why I think he is doing so well in the media driven early primary and caucus states. Time will tell if Iowa will fall for his Hucking or not. And, for those of you who are fiscal conservatives, you may want to know that he is attacking the Club for growth, one of the most fiscally conservative groups out there.Why? Because they are pointing out how much taxes went up under his tenure as Governor.$505 million dollars according to CNN. But of course he is hiding behind Reagan, saying they wouldn’t endorse him either. Well, times have changed, and who knows what the past would have looked like. The fact is Huckabee is a Big Government Republican who bowed and genuflected to the Democrat Legislature when he was in charge of Iowa. Taxes did go up. Spending did go up. And the Huckster of today that could ‘define’ the Republican image for all of us, scares the living bejeebers out of me. I’m praying for one of them Dean moments if Iowa does select this guy. Afterall, it did torpedo Dean’s frontrunner status.