by Alex Gimarc                                Mon., March 10, 2008

Interesting Items 3/10 -

Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy -

In this issue:

1. Economy
2. FARC
3. Clark
4. Homeschooling
5. Franken
6. Kivalina

1. Economy. With the loss of yet another House seat to a democrat last week – former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s seat in a Republican district - the time has come for the Stupid P arty to reconsider its election strategy at the congressional level before it gets completely blown out of the water. The loss was an 8% swing from the district’s anti-Kerry vote in 2004, which may mean this year will be much more like 2006 than 2004. P art of the problem is with the disaster that the Illinois Republican P arty has become. P art of the problem was Hastert himself. P art of the problem was the candidate himself, a three-time loser, retread from previous failed campaigns for higher office who brought little to the table in terms of conservative, defensible positions on issues. On the other hand, he was able to self-finance his campaign. It is time for the Stupid P arty to buck up and get off the dime. If we do not sharply contrast ourselves with the democrats, we will lose and lose badly in November. What would I do? I would tie the recession, the mortgage crisis and the energy problem ($3 gasoline) firmly around the collective necks of democrat incumbents nationwide. My message would be simple: There was no recession until we put these socialist bozos into the majority. It took them a mere year to destroy the economy with tiny, tiny majorities in both houses of congress. What do you imagine they will do with larger majorities? We put them in charge and they proved they couldn’t hack it. We reward them with reelection for doing this? It is a simple, defensible message. And it is time to run with it.

2. FARC. The narco-terrorist organization that we and Columbia have been fighting for decades had a bit of a leadership change last week. The Columbian military executed a strike on a FARC camp a mile deep into Ecuador, killing a bunch of them along with the number two terrorist. They also captured three laptops afterwards. The laptops held a nice intelligence gold mine, with evidence that Hugo Chavez of Venezuela had recently given FARC $300 million to fund their terrorist operations against the government of Columbia. I expect the laptops are now being analyzed by American intelligence organizations – hopefully ones associated with the Pentagon rather than the politicized incompetents in the CIA. Information in the laptops also indicated that FARC was pursuing uranium so they could construct and operate dirty nuclear bombs for use in Columbia. Chavez’ complicity in funding terrorism against his neighbors will not set well with those neighbors, even the nominally friendly leftist ones. And it will certainly not set well with a nation like Columbia that has a trained and ready military. Chavez responded to the attack as all tyrants would be expected to – by changing the subject away from FARC and to military operations by Columbia in Ecuador. He demanded an apology and sent his troops to the border. Given that Chavez has decimated the officer corps in his own military after it p articipated in a failed coup against him some years ago, the military capability of his own forces may not be all that impressive. By weeks’ end, Chavez had backed down. To date, the government of Ecuador has been very, very silent on the strike and they did accept the apologies of Columbia for the incursion. When you get in bed with terrorists and their supporters, you end up doing things that they do and acting like them. Chavez has been sidling up to Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il and Assad in recent years. Appears he has learned well. One last thing was discovered on the laptops: Evidence of emissaries claiming to be associated with Barack Obama was prominently mentioned in files found on the laptop. The “gringos” were reportedly telling the FARC leadership that when Obama was elected, they (FARC) will be taken care of. How nice. Obama is not yet elected president, and his emissaries are already out in the real world, pandering to terrorists. Echoes of Jimmy C arter’s sterling foreign policy successes abound thirty years after his infestation of the WH ended. Hot Air, Tues.

3. Clark. Former Governor Frank Murkowski’s Chief of Staff, Jim Clark took a guilty plea last week as p art of the ongoing corruption investigation here in Alaska. Clark spent over $68,000 in money from former oilfield service company Veco on Murkowski’s failed reelection bid in 2006. Clark also agreed to assist the investigation and testify when and if needed. Sentencing will take place later this year, which has fueled local (and very cynical) speculation that the feds will drop the bid indictment just in time for the democrat candidate for House or Senate (maybe both) to steal a win in November. I hope they get this over with and that they get everyone involved. It is long past time to clean up oilfield politics here in Alaska. ADN, Tues.

4. Homeschooling. A California state court of appeals wrote an opinion last week that essentially makes homeschooling illegal in California. The ruling requires all parents who homeschool their kids to be accredited, credentialed teachers. It is based on a California law from the early 1960s that promotes public education as a way to instill patriotism, cultural values, and love of country – none of which are taught in the government schools any more. The ruling also ignores SCOTUS precedents over the last two decades. There are over 116,000 children being homeschooled in California. All of them and all of their parents are now at risk. Expect to see this travesty appealed to the California State Supreme Court. Expect it to become a huge issue in November’s elections. The courts, the government schools and the teacher’s union have given liberty loving Californians yet another reason to leave the state – regardless of how this ends up. Fully half of California’s $12 billion deficit has been caused by high end taxpayers packing their bags, selling their homes and going elsewhere. Liberalism costs property, liberty and lives. It must be fought at every turn, for this is what will happen when we won’t. Malkin, Thurs.

5. Franken. The guys at PowerLine Thursday reported yet another example of “do what I say, not what I do” out of democrat candidate for US Senate Al Franken. Franken, who st arted out as a writer for the old Saturday Night Live and then went into politics via Air America has decided to run for US Senate as a democrat candidate against incumbent Norm Coleman (R, MN). Franken has been running around the state bashing Coleman, and painting himself as a friend of the little guy. Apparently Franken failed to buy unemployment insurance for his employees in New York from 2002 – 2005, and owes $25,000 to the state of New York. As with all leftists, the rules only apply to everybody but them.

6. Kivalina. This one’s a couple weeks old, but needs coverage. The winters get long and cold up here, and when you are out in the Bush, in a small village, with not a lot else to do other than keep warm, the mind wanders a bit. The latest example comes out of the village of Kivalina, which sits on the far western coast of Alaska. Rocket scientists in Kivalina dropped a lawsuit on Exxon-Mobil and 23 other energy companies for causing global warming. The town sits on the coast and like most coastal villages up here, has to move when the weather rearranges the coastline – which it odes with some regularity. The locals have decided that the reason for the storms on the Chukchi Sea rearrange the coastline are all the fault of the oil companies and electric utilities and want the lawyers to make them whole. One almost hopes that they win and the lights go out for them forever. ADN, 2/28/08.

More later –

           - AG

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.