Perhaps the fund should have been created (I have no good reason why it shouldn’t have been.), but the way it was gone about was wrong. Just a bit more of the mob styling of the Presidents political bent. Sad that we have to endure another 2 years of this. Let’s hope that by November they become a little bit more bearable.

We’ve got bigger fish to fry right now. Like finding a way to stop the health care “reform” that they have planned. And the third bailout. And… And… And… The list goes on. Stop screwing around with the damn birth certificate. All you’re doing is allowing something minor to distract from the real issues. Why would you want to do that? Drawing at straws?

There is still much work to be done. And a few tea parties that should be attended as well!

There’s some speculation that she’s doing this in order to focus on a run for the Presidential nomination in 2012, but I’m not so sure that all jives. I think it’s more likely that she will take a little time to get out of the spotlight, regroup, and then push towards a much more public speaking life. She mentioned that she felt that she’s done so much traveling the country and speaking. And maybe that is for a push for 2012, but more likely, it’s because she was getting some pressure to be the Governor instead of a spokesperson for the GOP.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that she’ll be the savior that the Republicans are looking for anyways and if she were to get the nomination, it would be a poor choice. Although, current trends continuing, she could win. I really don’t know that the “down-home country politician” is what the majority of Americans are looking for. And, while she certainly has the conservative chops, she just doesn’t have the perceived popularity to get the vote.

I guess time will tell what her path will be. She’s not very hard on the eyes, so let’s hope she doesn’t disappear altogether…

I have to admit that I’m on the fence here.  I want to believe Paul when he claims that all government spending should be earmarked.  It does make some sense.  But, he’s human and a politician, which automatically discounts anything he says were his intentions.  Paul also claims that the earmark process is a function of transperancy.  True?  Perhaps.  If each and every penny is earmarked, we have a very defined set of purposes for each penny.  We would no longer have a gross amount allocated to a department or entity to spend as they will.  But it’s not realistic.  Who want’s to go about earmarking $410 billion worth of spending?  Of course, the arguement there is that Paul got his way and limited government, the budget would be a fraction of that amount and would be more than manageable as earmarks.  But, back to reality.  Limited government is a ideallist dream.  It’s my ideallist dream as well.  But, we’re a long way from attaining that dream.

Let’s look at some numbers now.  The bill was $410 billion.  The total amount of earmarks is somewhere around $5.4 billion dollars of that.  That’s equal to 1.32% of the total bill.  Of that $5.4 billion in earmarks, $73 million of that belongs to Paul’s district.  One billion is equal to $1000 million.  Which makes Paul’s earmarks equal to 1.36% of the earmarks.  Oh, and in the bigger picture? Paul’s earmarks are about 0.18% of the bill.  Shame on you Ron Paul.

Perhaps, instead of creating a ruckus about less than 1.5% of the total bill, we should deal with the other 98.5% of the $410 billion.  Even if we eliminate all earmarks, we only eliminate 1.32% of the budget.  Perhaps earmarks should be eliminated.  But, they also are being used as smoke and mirrors.  A clever distraction from the real problem.  A problem of overspending and cronyism that extends through both parties of our government.  “Look at how wonderful this bailout bill is!  It has no earmarks!”  Nevermind the reckless overspending it includes.  Nevermind that it is little more than a thinly veiled “earmark” itself.  And don’t get me started on our President who has claimed to want to reform earmarking.  I’ve got a request, Mr. President.  Reform the other $403.85 billion, then worry about the earmarking.

First, the Blagojevich issue.  If Blago did what they are claiming he did, then he should lose his job and be punished to the extend of the law.  If.  Until they show irrefutable proof that he did what they are saying he did, he’s innocent.  Right?  Innocent until proven guilty.  I believe that.  When, and if, he is convicted of his crime, we can go back and look at the things that he did (Senate seat) and see if they should be reversed.  If that isn’t possible, well, then they’ll just have to vote whomever it is that he’s named to the seat out in the next cycle.

Bottom line is this.  He’s innocent, until they prove otherwise.  So, until then, he should keep his position and do his job.  Which is exactly what he has done, and I’ve not seen too many people that agree with that.  Should he have stepped down?  If he’s guilty, then he probably should.  But since he’s maintaining his innocence, he shouldn’t.  Nor should he be forced to.

Next, the Hussein issue.  There’s been a bit of a stink about the fact that our next President intends to use his full name (Barrack Hussein Obama) during his inauguration later this month.  Part of the issue is that a lot of the main stream media folks were not mentioning that middle name and others were chastised for doing so.  Why?  Because it is a fairly common name in the Muslim community.  And for many Americans, the Muslim community is associated with terrorism.*  And they didn’t want Mr. Obama associated with terrorism while he was running for President.  But now that he’s elected?  He’ll use it.  Hypocritical? Yes.  A big deal? Hardly.  If you ask me, it’s a bunch of sore loser Republicans trying to dig something up to try and bring him down a few pegs.  And it probably isn’t going to work.

Leave it alone.  He’s been elected.  If you find something truly damning, like he is a member of some underground Communist group that plans to overthrow the UN and install a one world government, then we want to hear about it.  But, if the best you have is that a politician is being hypocritical about the usage of his middle name, please just keep it to yourself.  It’s petty.

Oh, and Happy New Year!

* I can’t leave this post without mentioning how stupid it is to think that all Muslims are terrorists.  Christians can be terrorists too.  Ever heard of the Crusades?  Not very different.  But this is an arguement for another day.