Quote of the day from Jesse Ventura

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura while campaigning with Kinky Friedman, a candidate for Governor in Texas as quoted in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

On other issues, Ventura was no less effusive. Regarding the proposed
Mexican border fence being debated in Congress (which Friedman supports):

"It may be designed to keep people out, but what if it keeps you in 10
years from now? I, for one, don't want to live in East Berlin."

The problem with the immigration debate is that no one wants to deal with the real issue which is that there is a huge demand for immigrant labor in this country and that demand is filled by illegal immigrants. Politicians, as they usually do, take the easy way out and attack the immigrants (who don't vote or contribute money to their campaigns) instead of dealing with the demand side of the equation (voters and contributors.)

We can build walls, massively increase funding for immigration cops and deportations but until we focus on demand issues we will simply be pouring money down a rat-hole. If there are jobs to be had and their are people desperate for work then those jobs will get filled.

More honesty and integrity... (I guess this is what conservative values are really all about.)

Remember the 2000 campaign? Then Governor Bush promised to restore honesty and integrity to the Oval Office. Maybe he had his fingers crossed behind his back when he said that. He promised to change the tone in Washington. Maybe he muttered "suckers" under his breath every time he said that.

The level of corruption among our current crop of Republican leaders is amazing. Remember, this is the group that impeached Bill Clinton for lying about an affair. But now, if you are Bob Ney, a Republican Committee Chairman in the House and you plead guilty to selling your Congressional office to the highest bidder, well, you can go ahead and keep your job.

And while Ney is selling his services, the Department of Education is doing all that it can to violate contracting rules to make sure that only Bush loyalists are getting contracts.

According to the New York Times,

In a searing report that concludes the first in a series of investigations into complaints of political favoritism in the reading initiative, known as Reading First, the report said officials improperly selected the members of review panels that awarded large grants to states, often failing to detect conflicts of interest. The money was used to buy reading textbooks and curriculum for public schools nationwide.

They not only stacked the review panels but they specifically tried to drive away companies from pursuing contracts.

the director of Reading First, Chris Doherty, urged staff members to make clear to one company that it was not favored at the department.

“They are trying to crash our party and we need to beat the [expletive deleted] out of them in front of all the other would-be party crashers who are standing on the front lawn waiting to see how we welcome these dirtbags,” Mr. Doherty wrote.

We are getting to the point where it seems like we get a weekly scandal from these guys. George W. Bush did change the tone in Washington. He changed it for the worse.

Great Political Commercial from Virginia

President Bush Speaks

I was going to write today about the President's speech to the nation last night. As it ends up, I was too busy watching the Vikings beat Washington on Monday Night Football to pay attention to more bull from this administration.

Besides, I couldn't have done much better in summing up the speech than my friend the Pink Lady did here.

Funny thing is, I actually supported the invasion of Iraq. I think 41 should have done it. I think 42 should have done it. Not because Iraq posed a threat to the United States but because Saddam gassed his own people and was a destabilizing force and an already shaky region.

The advantage, of course, to 41 or 42 doing it would have been that competent people would have been in charge both at the Pentagon and at State. We would have invaded using the Powell doctrine of massive force instead of the Rumsfeld doctrine of just enough force to really screw things up and we would have provided our troops with the proper gear needed to survive.

Celebrating Excellence

I have an uncle named Floyd Forman. Floyd is married to my mom's twin sister, Donna.

For the last 26 years, Uncle Floyd has been the head coach of the Manning (Iowa) Bulldogs. During that time he has won a state championship and been inducted into the Iowa Football Coaches Hall of Fame.

Friday night, my uncle was honored again. The Manning Community School District honored Floyd by naming their football field "Floyd Forman Field." The minutes from the School Board Meeting where the decision was made to honor uncle Floyd say the following,

"Recommendation has been made to name it the “Floyd Forman Field” in honor of Coach Floyd Forman. He is a top notch educator, and a number one role model for the District students. He has served the district for 26 years as an educator, coach and athletic director, and is respected by his peers, students, parents and community members alike."

So congratulations to Uncle Floyd. To read more about his career, click here.

Blogs you should check out

I've added three new blogs to the list of links on the side of your screen. I encourage you to check them out. Southern by Mile High belongs to the Mrs. who occcupies the other side of the basement. I'm pleased to say she was inspired to start this blog by yours truly.

The other two new links belong to a couple of friends who I blame for the election of George W. Bush.

While Time, Newsweek and the rest of the mainstream media were infatuated with Howard Dean and Joe Trippi's over-hyped and under-performing online grassroots efforts, Mr. Quip was quietly engineering what I consider to be a great online (and offline) grassroots campaign. In my opinion, had Mr. Quip and his team been working for John Kerry instead of W., Kerry may very well be President today. (Of course that assumes Mr. Quip could have overcome being hamstrung by John Kerry and poor campaign leadership.)

Black & White & Read belongs to a friend of mine who helped W. raise money back in 2000. Ms. BWR is another friend with great grassroots organizing talents. She is a very good trainer and I would hope she would one day launch a career doing such work. (And stop helping Republicans beat good Democrats.)

Republicans and Campaign Ethics

Colorado's 5th Congressional District includes El Paso County which is the heart and soul of the Republican party in the state. You just don't get any more Republican than that county or that district.

Now, however, retiring incumbent Congressman Joel Hefley says he won't be voting for the Republican nominee to replace him in November. According to this morning's Denver Post, Hefley says the Republican nominee is just too sleazy to vote for.

"Rep. Joel Hefley refused Wednesday to endorse the Republican candidate for the 5th Congressional District seat he's vacating, calling primary winner Doug Lamborn's campaign "dishonest" and "sleazy."

"I spent eight years trying to get rid of the sleazy factor in Congress," said Hefley, a Republican who chaired the House ethics committee and three times reprimanded then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. "It's not something I can do to help put more sleaze factor in Congress."

Interestingly enough, Hefley says one of the reasons for his concern is that he believes many in the Republican base in CD 5 will stay home because Lamborn's on the ballot and that will hurt the Republican's chances to win the Governor's race. I can't imagine that Hefley's comments are going to help anything.

I have two thoughts on this. One, I'm not convinced Lamborn's campaign was all that sleazy by normal political standards. (Then again, I did spend the last eight years in Texas.) Two, good for Hefley. Cleaning up politics is tough work and we ought to push for higher standards. I once voted for a Republican candidate for Congress because he was a good guy and the incumbent Democrat is a sleazeball.

The real question is, can this election cycle get any worse for Republicans?

Final Standings for the upcoming NFL Season

Here it is. The final standings for this season in the NFL. I'll even tell you how the playoffs and Super Bowl will go. I picked every game of the regular season to figure this out.

AFC EAST

Miami 12-4
New England 12-4
Buffalo 4-12
NY Jets 4-12

AFC NORTH

Cincinnati 11-5
Pittsburgh 9-7
Baltimore 8-8
Cleveland 0-16

AFC SOUTH

Indianapolis 15-1
Jacksonville 11-5
Houston 5-11
Tennessee 5-11

AFC WEST

Denver 13-3
Kansas City 10-6
San Diego 10-6
Oakland 3-13

NFC EAST

NY Giants 11-5
Dallas 9-7
Washington 7-9
Philadelphia 5-11

NFC NORTH

Minnesota 16-0
Chicago 11-5
Detroit 4-12
Green Bay 3-13

NFC SOUTH

Carolina 14-2
Atlanta 10-6
Tampa Bay 8-8
New Orleans 4-12

NFC WEST

Seattle 13-3
Arizona 5-11
San Francisco 2-14
St. Louis 2-14

AFC PLAYOFFS

Wild Card Round: Jacksonville over Miami, Cincinnati over New England
Divisional: Indianapolis over Jacksonville, Denver over Cincinnati
Championship: Indianapolis over Denver

NFC PLAYOFFS

Wild Card Round: Seattle over Atlanta, NY Giants over Chicago
Divisional: Minnesota over NY Giants, Seattle over Carolina
Championship: Minnesota over Seattle

SUPER BOWL

MINNESOTA OVER INDIANAPOLIS

Comments anyone?