Archive for August 27th, 2008

Well. Maybe PUMA has some validity to it after all!

[H/T Ft. Hard Knox]

From Ft. Hard Knox:

“Everybody’s watching what’s going on in Beijing right now with the Olympics. Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure. Their ports, their train systems, their airports are vastly the superior to us now, which means if you are a corporation deciding where to do business you’re starting to think, ‘Beijing looks like a pretty good option.’”

Sure. It’s easy to develop infrastructure when you’re a totalitarian regime that displaces people and property at will, builds using slave and prison labor, manipulates markets, and murders anyone who gets into their way. Sort of like Chicago City Hall.

Nothing happened at Tienanmen Square.

From the NWI Times:

Stopping in Crown Point Monday, two statewide GOP candidates announced how they would support the governor’s initiative of restoring discipline to classrooms.

Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Tony Bennett and Attorney General candidate Greg Zoeller praised Gov. Mitch Daniels’ idea of providing legal immunity for teachers who “act in good faith to preserve order in their classrooms or other school settings.” Daniels, who is seeking re-election against Democrat Jill Long Thompson, wants to ask the General Assembly to pass the proposed law next year.

Zoeller said school boards often have trouble with the cost of defense, which can run around $20,000, so many school boards opt for settling. He said once the new law is passed, if a teacher is threatened with litigation and the school board decides that the teacher acted appropriately, then he has a client.

“I’m going to come in with everything I’ve got,” he said, adding neither the teacher nor the school board will be financially responsible for the defense. “There won’t be any settlements … We don’t settle cases.”

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Posted in Attorney General Race, Elections, Indiana Politics | 5 Comments » | Read more..

Long rumored to be a potential challenger to Minority Leader Brian Bosma for his Republican leadership post in the Indiana House, State Representative Randy Borror received a major appointment late last week by Bosma. Borror has established himself as a leader in the Indiana General Assembly on Economic Development issues and this appointment is further evidence that House Leadership intends to rely on him for handling those issues.  Press release and details below.

Rep. Borror Appointed as Alternate
to State Budget Committee

(Statehouse) Aug. 22, 2008 — Republican Leader Brian C. Bosma (R-Indianapolis) announced today his appointment of state Rep. Randy L. Borror (R-Ft. Wayne) to serve as the House Republican alternate on the State Budget Committee. Rep. Borror replaces state Rep. Larry L. Buell (R-Indianapolis), who is retiring from the Indiana General Assembly.

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Posted in Brian Bosma, Fort Wayne, General Assembly, Randy Borror | No Comments » | Read more..

The Obamassiah is using his “divine providence” and Chicago style thuggery to silence a 527 running ads linking The Obamassiah to domestic terrorist William Ayers.

In actions that hearken back to the days of Clinton and the Clintonistas in which they abused process by using the IRS to perform audits from hell on The Heritage Foundation and the National Rifle Association, the Obamassiah is using his Senate position and likely the whisper of “if you want to keep your job after I’m elected” to persuade the DoJ to prosecute the American Issues Project.

Michelle Malkin also reports that The Obamassiah’s team of attack lawyers are going after TV stations that sell time to AIP and air the ad with SLAPP suits. You may ask “but there’s anti-SLAPP laws” - at the state level yes. Not at the federal level.

(Below is an op-ed written by Mike Sodrel on the issue of energy and recent his trip to ANWR.)

I want to commend Congressman Mike Pence and my former Republican colleagues for taking a stand on energy independence for America. We are currently importing over 60% of our energy and exporting over $700 billion U.S. dollars a year.

Like most Americans, I’m tired of hearing what won’t work. “We can’t drill our way out of this problem” isn’t a solution. The fact is, we can’t resolve this problem without drilling either. It is going to take an “all of the above” energy policy to reach energy independence.

Our economy and our national security depend on America becoming energy independent. Energy independence is necessary to lower our trade deficit and our budget deficit. We must have American energy to grow our food and grow our economy.

Drilling is not the only solution to energy independence. In order to become energy independent, it will take an “All of the Above” energy policy. We need more wind energy, solar energy, water energy, and other renewable sources of energy.

Selling oil from our strategic oil reserve is the wrong thing to do. That oil reserve was created for our national security, not to manipulate the price of oil. We will need this oil to provide for our defense and essential services if foreign oil shipments were interrupted.

We can’t keep putting food in our gas tanks either. Using corn and soy beans for ethanol and bio diesel won’t work in the long term. It is driving up our cost of food. This hurts the people who can afford it the least.

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“Obama has two months.” - Clinton Delegate

In my humble opinion, as speeches go, Hillary gave a great speech that puts her in the lead for a potential nomination in ‘12 should Obama not win this year.

(Originally posted at Prosper Group Think, but reprinted here with permission)The GOP has unveiled its convention agenda and US Rep Mike Pence is scheduled to speak on Wednesday, traditionally VP day.

Now, this may mean nothing- but VP speculation is by definition completely baseless. Here’s why Pence would be a good choice:

1. Mike Pence would absolutely destroy Joe Biden in a debate. I mean, it wouldn’t even be close.
2. Like John McCain, Pence cannot be painted as just another Bush lackey. He is known for opposing some of Bush’s worst mistakes- including the failed Medicaid Prescription Drug debacle. He’s also known for opposing the massive spending increases of the Bush Administration.
3. The recent surge in the polls for McCain has come, in part, because of a slow return of Republicans back into the fold. Adding Pence to the ticket may speed that return of Conservatives and also blunt the potential negative impact of Bob Barr. (Look, he’s polled as high as 7% in some states)

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Posted in Elections, Indiana Politics, John McCain, Mike Pence, Presidential Politics | 7 Comments » | Read more..

From the lefty site Bilerico:

Congressman Baron Hill (IN-09) was the keynote speaker for breakfast. Hill is a good speaker, but I think he misread his audience a tad…

Hill got fired up quickly and gave a mostly inspiring address. But when speaking to a room in which the majority of folks backed Clinton in the primary, it’s probably not good form to say, “we must make sure Hillary Clinton releases her delegates.” That bit of the address came off as heavy-handed and preachy. I heard from a few folks afterward, and even Obama supporters thought Hill’s comments were a bit much.

But wait! It gets better:

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Newsday.com reports that “College presidents from more than 100 schools” are calling for the national drinking age of 21 to be lowered to 18, arguing that lowering the drinking age would curb binge drinking. Indiana University is not part of the petition, although IU President Michael McRobbie “strongly believes people should be able to consume alcohol when they’re 18″, according to IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre. Herald-Times columnist Mike Leonard wrote a commentary on the topic that was published on Sunday.

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