I’m going to join Hipparchia and Philip Barron of Waveflux in backing John Edwards as the Democratic nominee for President.

He may be having problems in the Democratic primaries, but I don’t have the slightest doubt that he can beat any of the Republicans still in the race, because he is ready to fight. If the media hadn’t decided not to cover his campaign, he would be in much better shape than he is, because he has a better message, and a better vision of what needs to be done to fix the country.

“It’s time for tourniquets, not aroma therapy”, is the title of Hipparchia’s post, and people who say things like that should back up their words, so I will vote for him in the primary, for whatever good that may do, and support him any way I can.

I’m not going to avoid criticizing or praising anyone, but he is the only one left with a reasonable if long chance to win who actually seems to understand the problems people are dealing with today. Some have suggested that if this thing goes to the convention undecided, we could end up with Al Gore, whether he wants it or not. [Wow, just like the VSP, a totally unsourced “some” followed by a provocative statement – I could be writing for the MSM or be on a cable show. 😈 ]

A lot of people have written about Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), on this 35^th anniversary, but don’t misjudge the opposition because that isn’t the real target. You have to understand your opponent to win against him.

Overturning Roe v. Wade is their stated goal, but the real goal is overturning Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), because that’s the case that affirmed a right of privacy and started the eviction of the state from people’s bedrooms. If they can engineer a reversal of Griswold v. Connecticut, the case on which Roe was decided, they can not only eliminate all abortions, but contraception as well.

In the last seven years these people have been rather open about their feeling that people don’t have a right to expect any kind of privacy, which is in line with their thinking that they should be able to legislate how everyone else should live their lives. Their goal is Calvinist Geneva.

In a promo for tomorrow Morning Edition, the speaker on NPR compared watching the stock market to sitting in a slasher movie waiting for the next victim to be attacked. You know it is going to be vicious and bloody, but you feel compelled to watch anyway.

Over at Pensacola Beach Blog there is another version, a kinder, gentler Market Wrap-up from a bygone era, with some footage from Hoovervilles. [I wonder if we’ll start referring to refrigerator boxes as Georgian mansions?]

Patricia Hollarn, the Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections, has done her best to summarize Amendment One on the sample ballot, but it’s still a solution in search of a problem. They are just shifting the tax burden, instead of fixing the system.

To make it worse, you will note that the school district taxes are exempt from the the supposed reductions. Those who remember the Reagan years already know what’s going to happen. Tallahassee will now reduce aid to education and the school districts will have to raise their taxes to make up the difference. What you thought you were going to save has just been shifted, not eliminated.

People need to vote no because their taxes are about to be reduced anyway, just as soon as their property gets assessed again. Most of the increase in tax bills was a result of increased assessments from the housing bubble, and now that the bubble has burst, the assessments will go down between 20 and 40%. The local governments already know this is coming, which is why they are against this amendment. They will have to cut services as a result of the new assessments, because you can’t raise taxes in an “economic slowdown”.

So I get a call from Common Sense Issues for a few questions. CSI is non-partisan [Republican] interest group that is not associated with any campaign [especially not the campaign of that good Christian, real Republican hero of the voter, Mike Huckabee].

They are doing it wrong. The first question should have been “are you a registered voter”, followed by “are you voting in the Republican primary” and the call terminated if the answer is “no” to either question.

It was a push poll dumping on McCain and Romney over their wealth and support for taxes, or something.

[Read more →]