High Five to Texas, Part II

When I visited Austin in November, I wrote a post about how Texas was great about its dedication to Tenth Amendment principles. It should come as no surprise that the Lone Star State is also strong on the Second Amendment.

Greg Abbott, the current Texas Attorney General, posted a tweet last night that will put a smile on the face of every Second Amendment fan:

Here's what your smaller paychecks get you, America!

I present the bang-your-head-on-the-wall news of the day...

New poll shows Scott Brown in "strong position" for special election

New reasons to smile

Boston's NPR radio station, WBUR, conducted a poll earlier this week that shows Scott Brown is in a "strong position" to rejoin his colleagues in the Senate, assuming John Kerry is appointed to be Secretary of State, triggering a special election.

The poll was conducted with 500 registered voters on Monday and Tuesday, and Brown's favorables are very high, even though it is less than two months after he lost a brutal campaign battle against Elizabeth Warren. 

God is not dead, nor doth He sleep

Watching the news these past few days has been tough. The elementary school in Connecticut where those teachers and children were murdered is just a little more than two hours away from my apartment in Massachusetts. I have never been to Newtown, but it looks like so many of the idyllic New England small towns through which I have traveled this year, and it seems inconceivable that such a horror could happen there.

I cannot even imagine the pain for those families, losing a loved one so close to the holidays. And even for the many of us whose only connection to Newtown is through our televisions, there may be other reasons to have heavy hearts this year. A newly empty chair at the table, dreams that turned into disappointments, ongoing economic struggles, and so on. 

And yet there is always reason for hope. I believe that very strongly, and the Christmas season is a excellent time for all of us to take a few moments to find ways to renew hope in ourselves.

In praise of simplicity

'Tis the gift to be simple,
'Tis the gift to be free...

- lyrics from "Simple Gifts," traditional Shaker folk song written and composed in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett

I'm writing from a coffee shop in Washington, D.C. this morning and my online news feed is full of discussions about this fiscal cliff mess: what the President is proposing, how the Republicans are reacting, whether there is any chance of a deal, how bad it will hurt our economy if we go off this fiscal cliff, whether it's even remotely possible to avoid it, and so on.

What frustrates me is that, as usual, the debate in this town misses the main point - neither side is taking any steps to address why we're in this mess in the first place.

Yawn. The news we all knew was coming.

Democrats, you can have him.

It's official. Our former governor and World's Tallest Oompa Loompa, Charlie Crist, became a Democrat today. 

Anyone who posted this news on Twitter as "BREAKING" as anything other than tongue-in-cheek should be thoroughly mocked, as this was one of the most predictable moves in politics since dinosaurs crawled the earth.

As the Tampa Bay Times reported earlier tonight:

Rubio-sponsored amendment to protect military voting rights passes unanimously

Senator Marco Rubio's office just sent out a press release, touting an amendment he co-sponsored with Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) to the NDAA bill that is designed to streamline the process for getting absentee ballots to military personnel deployed overseas. The amendment passed the Senate unanimously. 

This is the type of issue that should be a no-brainer: the men and women who are literally putting their lives on the line to protect our country should have their rights to vote protected as well. 

Ain't that the truth!

Best depiction of the fiscal cliff negotiations I've seen so far:

High Five to Texas

I'm spending a few days in Austin, Texas and while I was in the Capitol earlier this week, I came across this sign in a hallway:

I debated Alan Grayson...well, sort of...

Earlier this month, I debated the once-and-future Congressman (sigh...) Alan Grayson on Fox 35 Orlando regarding whether ObamaCare was at fault for announced layoffs at Orlando Regional Healthcare Systems. 

Well, OK, I didn't really debate him in person. But we were both invited to comment on the story and I believe my analysis up very well against Grayson's predictable talking points:

This is a must read: "Conservative Outreach to Hispanics: A Primer"

A prominent topic of the conservative movement's endless election postmortem discussions has been the issue of the Hispanic vote. Not surprisingly, a lot of people have a lot of opinions on the subject, and it can be difficult to tell at first glance which ideas are worth pursuing.

Below, I've embedded a paper titled, "Conservative Outreach to Hispanics: A Primer," which was written by Samuel A. Rosado and Brittney Morrett, with contributions from Michelle Lancaster and Ben Domenech.

Marco Rubio: We still need answers on Benghazi

Senator Marco Rubio has a new op-ed posted on CNN.com this morning regarding the many unanswered questions about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012:

Is the lottery a tax on the poor?

Earlier today, I saw an article posted by a friend on Facebook, asking whether lottery programs were a form of regressive taxation, in other words, whether they have a disproportionate effect on the poor.

Missing the point about the fiscal cliff

Taking a nice stroll off the fiscal cliff

Since the election, the news has turned to the ongoing negotiations regarding the so-called "fiscal cliff," and the potential compromises that the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate may make.

There are many questions being debated on the editorial pages and talk radio programs and cable television news shows:

Will the Bush tax cuts be allowed to expire?

Will the Democrats' rhetoric demonizing all those "millionaires and billionaires" actually be persuasive in getting Republicans to sign on to tax increases?

Communism vs. Capitalism

From Babalú Blog, the difference between communism and capitalism in one image:

Another shameless power grab coming from MA Dems?

It's been an interesting time for me in Massachusetts this year, seeing the differences (the many, many, many differences) between that state and Florida. 

Both states have a legislature dominated by one party, but with wide variation in how much autonomous power the controlling party really has. When the Republicans who control the Florida House and Senate push their luck too far, the Florida press corps howl in protest and voters in even heavily-Republican districts tend to reject anything really outlandish (case in point: the failure of many of the constitutional amendments, which originated in the Legislature, on the ballot this year).

In contrast, in Massachusetts, when the Democrats try something nutty, it's met with shrugs  and mostly ignored as simply business as usual. At best, media outlets like the Boston Herald may cover a story here and there, but it rarely seems to slow down the Democrats' appetite for abusing government power.

Feeling Thankful

I haven't posted anything since the election because I needed some time to clear my head, figure out what my next steps would be, and frankly, because I just needed a break after a long and all-too-often frustrating election season. 

But don't worry, I'll be back after Thanksgiving. I just wanted to put up a quick note thanking all of you who visit my little corner of the internet. It's been a fun and interesting ride, and I appreciate all of you who have joined me on it. 

Still Proud.

Sigh...anyone who has spent five minutes reading this blog knows that many of tonight's results are not what I wanted, and some of them are not just disappointing, but shocking.

Ignore the exit polls. Here's why.

The polls are starting to close in the early states, and until the official vote tallies are reported by the supervisors of elections, the networks will include information from exit polls in their reporting.

Remember, polls in FL do NOT close at 7 pm. GOP-leaning Panhandle is in Central Time Zone & open until 8 pm ET. #AndExitPollsAreBS
— Sarah Rumpf (@rumpfshaker) November 6, 2012

You should completely ignore any results coming from exit polls. Here is why:

Inspirational Election Day Video from Romney

This video, posted today by the Romney campaign, is very well done: