Savage Republican

I sent the following letter to Congressman Kennedy and the RPM Chairman Ron Carey. I find it increasingly difficult to support a candidate that votes more for his special interests friends and less for the people that he wants to have send him to the Senate!

Congressman Mark Kennedy
1415 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Fax 202/225-6475

Congressman Kennedy,

Two years ago, during the Bush Campaign, I was one of many grass roots activists who whispered “I sure wish Congressman Kennedy would run for Senator Dayton’s seat!” The week after you announced your intention to run, I contacted your campaign office to sign up as a campaign volunteer. I spent the last 2 years writing letters to the Star Tribune and writing blog posts in your support (I contribute to a blog called The Savage Republican www.savagerepublican.com). I spent many hours talking up your campaign to anyone who would listen to me. I have been one of more your avid supporters.

That all came crashing down this past spring. With gas prices pushing $3.00 a gallon, votes against increasing our domestic production of oil have dampened my enthusiasm for your candidacy. I find it increasingly difficult to support a candidate that cares more for he can do for the alternative fuels industry and less for what he can do for the hard working middle class citizens of the state of Minnesota!

I certainly understand the need for alternatives to oil based fuels, however, as long as hybrid cars cost a full year’s salary for people like me gasoline is a necessity! Voting against drilling in ANWR and voting to continue a ban on off-shore drilling are votes against your volunteers! As long as gas prices continue to hover around $3.00 a gallon I know that I will not be able to drive to your St Paul campaign office very often for volunteer activities – it is simply too cost prohibitive for me and I certainly will not have any extra money for things like campaign contributions.

In two weeks, we will be having your endorsing convention. I am having a hard time justifying my support for your candidacy and I am taking a hard look at your two challengers. Something has to change between now and then if you stand any chance of retaining my (and my husbands) support in the endorsing convention on June 1.

The average hybrid fuels vehicle sells for $25,000 to $30,000. If someone in my circumstance has a hard time justifying that kind of expense, just imagine what the person who only makes $15,000 to $20,000 a year has to go through.

In a poll on the Congressman’s website, the Congressman asked “what can Congress do to reduce oil prices?” He gave four options and not one of them included increasing the supply of oil in order to match demand! THIS IS SIMPLE ECONOMICS – something that one would think a Certified Public Accountant and business owner would understand! America puts it’s national security at risk when we continue to rely on questionable allies like Saudi Arabia, Canada and Venezuela for the majority of it’s fuel oil. Yes, we should continue to do research on renewable fuels. Yes, we should build more refinery capacity. However, instead of rescinding the Federal gas tax, we should be taking that money and putting it into increased domestic production aka more domestic drilling.

As I said, it is Economics 101. Maybe we should send Congressman Kennedy and Senator Coleman a refresher course!

Ya gotta love the hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty of lefties. Strike that. It would be funny if only it didn’t lead to economic disaster, real unfairness and loss of freedom.
Today in Prairie Pravda Chris Rasmussen of Minneapolis writes how Sen. Larry Pogemiller should lose his seat in November for proposing a tax on sports memorabilia that is “regressive” because the “little guy”. That this tax on the “little guy” will possibly scuttle the stadium deal. That it’s only the children and their parents who want a memento of their first twins, Gophers, Vikings, etc game that will have this tax fall on them.
And Rasmussen sees absolutely NO irony in that the stadium bill, as now envisioned, is going to be paid by people who have no choice in the matter. Thousands upon thousands of “little guys”. When Rasmussen’s “little guy” willingly buys “a cap, pennant or jersey to wear home as a souvenir” that “little guy” pays directly for what he uses. He calculates the total cost of his purchase versus the enjoyment and makes a decision. My widowed mother has no such luxury in the “stadium deal” (which is no deal for her or many other “little guys”). She will be forced to pay for something that she neither wants nor will ever use or benefit from. And she is one of the “little guys” Rasmussen supposedly defends. And sees no irony in Pogemiller’s decisions.

There has been a lot of buzz, in recent weeks, about the release of the movie “The DaVinci Code” based on the book of the same name. While I have not yet had the opportunity to read the book (I would need at least 3 more hours in each day in order to add more reading to my plate), I have read enough about the book to have a pretty good idea what it is about, but I digress…

What struck me the most about the discussions was the reaction to the book/movie. Remember that the basis of the book and the movie is that the deity of Christ was “made up” some 300 years after his death. You have Christians writing lengthy scholary papers disputing the allegations in the book, you have Christians suggesting protests or boycotts of the movie, you have Christians talking about lawsuits. Contrast that reaction with the reaction of the Muslim world where they had rioting, looting, burning and murder all because of a series of cartoons that “insulted” Mohammed….

A world of difference, don’t you think?

I have tried to maintain a rather neutral tone when speaking on this subject because I realize that there are a lot of Muslims who are Muslim in name only, just like there are Catholics in name only (that is they were born into a Muslim/Catholic household but they never practiced the faith). However there have been a couple of stories this week that have just about pushed me over the edge.

First is this story. It just stuns me (and saddens me) that ANYONE would rejoice in the death of a child!

The second is this story. What kind of sick, twisted degenerate would string up a wounded 12 year old boy from a power pole – leaving him there to die! As the mother of a 12 year old, this story hit me hardest! I can just imagine the horror that child’s mother felt upon learning that her husband had been brutally murdered and her precious child tortured in this manner.

“Terrorist elements named Jundollah (God’s soldiers), headed by Abdolmalek Rigi, claimed responsibility for the attack,” General Eskandar Momeni, a deputy commander of Iran’s police force told Iranian media. “

I’m sorry, but anyone who commits murder in the name of their God, whether it be Islamists or those who shoot abortion doctors, are not speaking in the name of a “peaceful” god (as Islamists claim Allah is). Murder is murder and sick is sick and these people are just evil!

According to KSTP News, Eagan police are looking for a young man who is suspected of armed robbery. According to store surveillance video, the young man is seen walking into the store, pouring himself a cup of coffee and then walking up to the counter to pay for the cup o’ joe. When the clerk opens the register, he throws the coffee in the clerks face and grabs a handfull of cash and runs out the door!

Sadly, this is not the first time that this has happened. Thankfully the clerks in both incidents were not badly burned by the coffee.

However, this just goes to prove an old adage that gun control freaks refuse to acknowledge…..take away the guns and crooks will find something else to use as a weapon!

I have a couple of lengthy posts in the works, but to tide you over I have a couple of quick items to ponder.

Why is it that when Republicans point out a Democrats record on something it is an “attack” but the Dems have no problem making up LIES about his/her Republican candidate in order to get elected?

Why is it that the same organization that can not even come up with an ID card to protect it’s own employees, is one that thinks it can impliment “tamperproof” biometric id cards for illegal aliens?

The St Paul Pioneer Press alerts us to this story out of Lakeville.

“Minnesota educators leading students in the Pledge of Allegiance would be barred from using a Spanish version of the pledge under legislation announced Monday by Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall.”

What brought this fine example of government “interference” was word that the principal of the Kenwood Trail Middle School in Lakeville was leading the children in the Pledge of Allegiance in English AND Spanish! The principal says he was doing it to “practice his Spanish”. OK……

Our ever-judgemental friends at the Star Tribune (Prairie Pravda as Amendment X calls it) had this headline in reporting on the situation.

“Reciting ‘Pledge’ in Spanish raises hackles”

Compare that the the Pioneer Press’ headline which simply said “Bill would bar Spanish pledge in Schools”. Just reporting the facts ma’am….no bias here…..

Thankfully, the Lakeville area has a Rep with an ounce of common sense.

“Rep. Mary Liz Holberg, R-Lakeville, said the controversy has stirred much talk in her community. The consensus? “The pledge is not the thing to practice your Spanish on,” she said. “I think the majority believe that if you’re in this country, you should speak English.”

On one hand, I hope that this is just electioneering grandstanding. I would like to think that there is not an overwhelming demand for this. Then again, given that we already have “Nuestro Himno” maybe it is necessary.

We’re all hearing it. Again. “If you sit home on Election Day…”, “It will be worse under the Democrats…”, “Can you say SPEAKER Pelosi ?”, “Don’t waste your vote by…”, etc., etc., etc….
I hate taking issue with my friend Captain Ed (or with Lady Logician ), however, I’m tired of hearing the threats of my voting lockstep. Captain Ed takes a view like Lady Logician.
He says that we conservatives will be marginalized. And what are we now? When I’m taken for granted, when I’m threatened with the alternative, when rather than being told that I can vote FOR someone instead of voting against the alternative, I’ve already been marginalized. I’ve heard the song and dance for over five years. I’ve endured “No Child Left Behind”, “Medicare Prescription Drugs”,”Ethanol”, no border security or even attempts to secure the border, the Gang of Fourteen, Harriet Miers, $200,000,000,000 for Katrina and Chocolate New Orleans, no drilling in ANWR, John McCain trying to kiss and makeup and on and on. And I’m NOT marginalized?
GWB had an small opportunity to at least look like he was making an attempt to try to appeal to conservatives with his Monday night speech. The result? Here, here, here, here and here.
And this from my friend Professor Joe Olson (law professor at Hamline Law School and a national expert on the 2nd Amendment and founder of MNCCRN ). The article has this resounding quote:
“the latest surveys reflect a significant shift in the political landscape as growing numbers of conservatives who have long and loyally kept their brooding private are now going public about their deepest dissatisfactions with George W. Bush [and thereby “moderate” Republicans]. ***, but conservatives won’’t be satisfied this time around with more token efforts on issues like marriage and dire warnings that “the Democrats would be far worse. Conservatives have heard that song before and know it never has a second verse.”
And the toothbrush reference? One I’ve used before. As a child when I had an appointment with the dentist, I brushed my teeth until my gums bled. I was going to brush away every single cavity and put one over on Dr. Schoenleben. And the Republicans seem to have that same childish outlook with their voting records and the appointment they have with me on November 7th.
Brush real hard kids!

Last week-end, Coleen Rowley was published by the Star Tribune. The subject of her piece (which I posted on here) was the Moussaoui trial and how it showed we could treat the Global War on Terror in the courts as opposed to on the battlefield. The tenor of my initial post was a bit snarky. What I would like to do here is to show why her theory will not work against the global jihad in which we are currently engaged. Many of the links I have posted here are from Dr. Bruce D.Tefft, Director of Terrorism Assessment Center for CRA-USA in Alexandria Virginia. I got to know Dr. Tefft in a political discussion group that we both belong to. These links are from newspapers and other “open sources”. When put together, this information shows why treating the GWOT as a police action (which is the tactic that candidate Rowley espouses) is the wrong action!

1) Public trials in the criminal justice system require revealing intelligence that needs to be kept secret. Names of covert agents would have to be revealed as the agent is required to testify in court. Remeber the furor of Valerie Plame and the leaks of the identities of working agents in the T.J.Waters book? You think that “leaking” Valerie Plame’s name was a blow to national security? Just wait until an agent who is working under cover is killed because he testified in court against the cells he had infiltrated.

2) Hurricane Katrina – what does Katrina have to do with fighting terrorism in the courts vs with the military? Simple – take a look at how the government and civilian authorities like FEMA reacted to the devistation of Katrina. Now, look at what happened once the military took over. Do you really think anything has changed since then????

3) The government can’t even secure it’s own departments – how do you expect them to secure our borders, our ports, our airports and our cities? The government can’t even secure it’s own databases!

4) The FBI (Ms. Rowley’s former employer) is still trying to figure out HOW it is going to tackle terrorism. It has had a huge turnover in leadership that has slowed the re-organization of the FBI into a “terror fighting” organization. The US Senate grilled FBI Director Mueller over the organizations dismal handling of the terror investigations it had worked on. Given the misses that they detailed, how can an organization this inept fight a cold?

5) Intelligence organizations rarely get the “whole picture“. They may find out a piece here and a piece there, but rarely do they know the full intentions until it is too late. We had a piece here and a piece that about OBL, but in the end, did anyone really think he would fly airplanes into the World Trade Center towers prior to him actually doing so?

7) TIMING – Criminal cases take time to thoroughly investigate…time that (according to many who know) we simply do not have! When you have a group of people who are actively working at bringing about Armageddon (and wanting it quickly) you don’t have the luxury of taking your time – you need to act quickly!

As a Christian, I am taught that Islam is a “cult” – not the true religion. As a thinking person who has read the Koran, I understand what the book teaches (this is the topic of another post). Given what I know about Islam and what Dr. Tefft’s organization has shown us, we know that the right thing is to treat this as the war it is and not a criminal matter. Which is why John Kerry was wrong for America 2 years ago and why Coleen Rowley is wrong for the 2nd Congressional District today!

Earlier I posted this opinion on what will happen if conservative voters stayed home in November in order to “punish” politicians that they deem to be “not conservative enough”. Well, Jim Geraughty over at NRO’s TKS blog has this insightful take on the subject.

“Who are the Republican lawmakers most angering the conservative base? Well, let’s say Sens. Trent “I’m tired of hearing about Porkbusters” Lott, Ted “Bridge to Nowhere” Stevens, John McCain for cosponsoring Kennedy’s immigration bill and campaign finance reform, Arlen Specter for being a pain in the tushie over judges, Chuck Hagel for being the New York Times’ favorite Republican senator to criticize Bush, and other minimally-conservative Republicans like Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Well, they’re not going to lose in 2006. Most of ‘em aren’t even up for reelection this year.”

True enough Jim however I would add one more to that list…President George W. Bush! Now,.what about those that ARE up for election in 2006.

“In the Senate, a bad year for the Republicans would mean the loss of Rick Santorum (who has lifetime American Conservative Union rating of 88 out of a possible 100, and a 92 in 2005) in Pennsylvania, Jim Talent (93 rating lifetime, and a 96 in 2005) in Missouri, Conrad Burns (91, and a perfect 100 in 2005) in Montana and Mike DeWine (80 lifetime, only 56 in 2005) in Ohio. Of course, Ohio voters who sit this one out will replace DeWine with Sherrod Brown, who has a lifetime rating of 8 and 4 for 2005. And they won’t get to revisit that decision until 2012.
If the GOP base doesn’t show up in Minnesota, you get Amy Klobuchar instead of Mark Kennedy (90 rating lifetime, 84 in 2005).
If the GOP base doesn’t show in Maryland, you get Ben Cardin (lifetime rating of 6, 2005 rating of 0!) or Kweise Mfume (lifetime ACU rating of 4) instead of Michael Steele.
If the GOP base doesn’t show in Tennessee, you get Harold Ford (19 lifetime, 21 in 2005) instead of Ed Bryant (lifetime ACU score of 98!) Van Hilleary (lifetime score of 97!). Another GOP candidate is Bob Corker, Chattanooga mayor.
If the GOP base doesn’t show in West Virginia, you get Robert Byrd (lifetime rating of 30, 20 in 2005) as Appropriations Committee Chairman, instead of businessman John Raese.
If the GOP base doesn’t show in Washington, you keep Maria Cantwell (11 lifetime, 8 in 2005) instead of businessman Mike McGavick.
Okay, maybe Chafee goes down. But you’ve lost how many solid conservatives to remove this one guy?”

Along that logic, I have this question for my Minnesota readers (and the Logical Husband and Amendment X)…ok, maybe Governor Pawlenty goes down but how many solid conservatives (John Kline, Mark Kennedy, Michelle Bachmann etc) do you take out to get that one person? Punishing these people will leave us with the very same people who are the source of our dis-satisfaction – Trent Lott, Arlen Specter, Olympia Snow, John McCain, Chuck Hagel and Susan Collins! Is that what you really want to accomplish?

That’s ok, you say…once they learn their 2006 lesson they will be back in the fold for 2008 and then we can take back over! Well consider some of the things that could happen between now and then…

“what kind of lengths do you think the Democrats will go to in order to keep power once they’ve got it? Does the “Fairness Doctrine” ring a bell? You think Pelosi and Reid wouldn’t try that tactic to hinder conservative talk radio? How about McCain-Feingold 2.0, with a particular focus on controlling “unregulated speech” on the Internet and blogs?
Think the MSM was cheerleading for Democrats in 2004? How much more fair and balanced do you think they’ll be when their task is to defend Democratic House and Senate majorities AND elect President Hillary Rodham Clinton? My guess is, they’ll make the CBS memo story look accurate and evenhanded by comparison.
Think the GOP can prevail in close races once they’re out of power? Ask the members of the military who had their ballots in Florida blocked. Ask Doug Forrester how well his anti-Torricelli campaign worked when he suddenly faced Frank Lautenberg at the last minute. Ask Dino Rossi. Ask Democrat Tim Johnson if he’s glad the last county in South Dakota to report its results just happened to have enough of a Democratic margin to put him over the top in 2002.
Once the Democrats regain control of Congress, a GOP takeover is going to be exponentially harder than it was in 1994. You’re never going to catch the Democrats as flatfooted again.”

The Logical Husband has long complained about the Republican Party’s uncanny ability to shoot itself in the foot at the most in-opportune times. Yet here we are, conservative voters who are more than willing to shoot ourselves in the foot in order to punish an unresponsive leadership. What kind of logic is that?

As I said before, I understand and share your frustration with those in DC who are deaf to the needs of the American people and only care about how it will get them re-elected! I understand the need to get more conservatives into DC (and St Paul), but sitting home in November is NOT the answer! You want to hold Governor Pawlenty accountable for his pandering to the middle? Get busy and help get a true conservative Majority in the State House and Senate. Ditto DC…you want to hold Lott, McCain, Graham and the rest of the RINO’s accountable? Work hard to get true conservatives elected in Minnesota, Washington State and Tennesee! As Captain Ed said – not one dime to the RNC/MNGOP…..only give to the Conservative candidates who are willing to do what is best for the PEOPLE in DC and in St Paul!