terry turner is a closet democrat

On February 28, 2009, in Sarasota, by Henshaw

Sarasota CommissionI’ve been getting quite a bit of mail for the upcoming Sarasota commissioners election. Today’s best hit piece is on Terry Turner. I haven’t written about Turner because there isn’t much on his website other than he’s endorsed by the Sierra Club. Citizens for a Better Sarasota have sent out a mail advertisement that questions why Terry Turner is a registered Republican. They make a compelling case. Since 2003 Turner has donated $36,600 to Democrat candidates and causes. In that same period he donated $250 Republicans. It kind of makes you wonder why he’s registered as a Republican? He’s given money to John Kerry, Christine Jennings, and Hillary Clinton. I’m surprised he didn’t change his party affiliation before running for commissioner. Turner has also got in trouble for donating to an anti-development group in 2007. It’s not clear this will have any effect on the race. Despite the fact Sarasota is mainly Republican, the city limits favor Democrats.

In 2008, Republican presidential candidate John McCain won just three of the city’s 27 voting precincts. And Democrat Christine Jennings may have lost her bid for Congress against Rep. Vern Buchanan, but she carried the city of Sarasota. And in 2006, Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, easily carried Sarasota over Katherine Harris, though it is her home city.

That sums up the same problem facing most cities in the United States. Democrat city planners run all these towns. Is it any wonder urban areas are in such sad shape? Is it really that surprising then that Sarasota is run by clowns?

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re: movie time: in the lives of others

On February 28, 2009, in Miscellaneous, by Henshaw

A small follow up to my post from Tuesday about the movie In the Lives of Others. The movie is over two hours long so me and the soon to be mrs. nemov watched it over two nights. I don’t want to go into much detail so I won’t spoil it for anyone else, but it’s a fantastic movie. While I’m not sure about the whole “conservative” angle of the movie it’s a terrific insight into the totalitarian world of the Iron Curtain. The movie serves as stark reminder of the dangers of a state that has too much control. While it seems like it could never happen in the United States it doesn’t take much for a ruling elite class to impose its will on the population.
Given the amount of communist sympathy that exists among movie makers (see: Che) it’s a good to see a movie that sheds some light on the horrors of socialism.

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quake live

On February 28, 2009, in Miscellaneous, by Henshaw

Quake Live
Despite the fact I don’t play computer games anymore I’ve always kept an eye on id Software. Their games are legendary. I can still remember the first time I played Wolfenstein 3D in 1994. Doom followed soon after and then Quake. I have to admit I played a lot of Quake III in college. The game was a blast and I had two roommates who could play at the same time. Nothing is better than fragging your roommate and hearing him scream right down the hall.
id Software has now developed an online version of the same game called Quake Live. Quake Live is free to play and It looks better than it did eight years ago. It can be played through Firefox or Internet Explorer. It’s an amazing testament of how far technology has come that this is possible today. Quake Live is still in beta but I signed up and went through the walk through. I imagine Quake Live is going to be reducing productivity around the world, but it’s great for office deathmatch parties. Now if I can only find a railgun only level to play.

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sheer unadulterated brilliance

On February 27, 2009, in Politics, by Henshaw

As the new president rolls out his new budget I’m reminded of Wile E. Coyote. Not the the one chasing after the Roadrunner, but the haughty talking self described super genius trying to kill Bugs Bunny. We’re supposed to believe Barack Obama is some kind of super genius just because he makes pretty speeches. Unfortunately much like Wile E. Coyote the plans have unintended consequences.

Sheer unadulterated brilliance! Little did the nation know it was electing a genius.

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big governement reborn

On February 26, 2009, in Politics, by Henshaw

It’s fairly good indication the president is going too far when Reuters has an article titled “Obama brings back era of big government.” I believe the grace period is over for Obama. He’s had a month to show the nation what change means and so far it’s unrestrained federal spending. This is exactly what Americans don’t want to hear. Obama’s ideas aren’t new. It’s called the 70′s. Read your economic history books. This spending is uncontrolled, unprecedented, and unbelievable.

Obama’s first budget was emblematic of a politician who, when he announced his run for the presidency two years ago, had rejected the conventional wisdom that, having little experience in national politics, he was moving too fast and should wait his turn.
“This is a matter of political judgment, not political science,” said William Galston, a Brookings Institution economist who worked in the Clinton White House. “My judgment is that his reach will exceed his grasp. But I could easily be wrong about that.”

This budget isn’t about making the difficult choices. It’s about growing the federal government and the voting base of the Democrat party. The promises of reducing the deficit are based on faulty numbers. If the president really wants to be honest with the American people he should add the Social Security and Medicare shortfalls to the books. Until those numbers are accounted for this budget is just like the budgets we’ve seen the past twenty years. In other words it’s a fabrication.

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biden is an embarrassment

On February 26, 2009, in Politics, by Henshaw

Vice President BidenIt’s surprising to me that the White House hasn’t locked vice president Biden away from microphones. Every day he opens his mouth he says something stupid. The list of lies, misstatements, and odd comments has already become too long to maintain. I’m not exactly sure what the windbag brings to the table. He supposedly has foreign policy experience although no one can point to one good idea the man has ever had. The idea that he’s a heartbeat away from the presidency is scary. I’m reminded by this every time I hear someone say they didn’t vote for McCain because of Palin. Anyone who uses this lame excuse to vote against McCain clearly paid no attention to Joe Biden. Biden’s only good at making up facts on the spot.
The president needs to do the nation a favor and ship Biden to an undisclosed location for the next four years and then pick someone competent for 2012. It’s obvious Biden has no clue how stupid he looks.

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america’s new incompetent leadership

On February 26, 2009, in Politics, by Henshaw

President Obama released his budget blueprint and said it provides “honest accounting of where we are and where we intend to go.” Obama’s rhetoric is in contradiction with the facts. Even the Washington Post points this out.

And though Obama told Congress on Tuesday that his budget team has “already identified $2 trillion in savings” to help tame record budget deficits, about half of those “savings” are actually tax increases, administration officials said. A big chunk of the rest of the savings comes from measuring Obama’s plans against an unrealistic scenario in which the Iraq war continues to suck up $170 billion a year forever.

There’s nothing honest about this ponzi scheme. The president is blatantly misleading the country. While he tells the country he’s going to go through the budget line by line the Congress keeps passing massive pork bills. During the campaign many people wondered how would Obama govern form the center when he had one of the most liberal voting records in the senate. It seems that we’ve got the answer. Obama is just giving the Congress a blank check. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have hit the jackpot. Unrestrained federal spending and a president in the White House who says he’s against waste in pretty speeches and does nothing to stop pork.
Here’s a list of some of the ridiculous items in the Omnibus Appropriations Act.

$200,000 for a “tattoo removal violence outreach program.” Yeah, that’s right.
$850 million to bail out Amtrak. It seems like Amtrak is perceptually being bailed out why are we still paying for this?
$2.2 million for the Center for Grape Genetics. Are we worried about the grapes of wrath?
$1 million for “Mormon Crickets” in Utah. Big love indeed.

How long will this madness continue? At what point will Americans say “that’s enough?!” The country has been on the path to bankruptcy for decades and now the president is spending more money that LBJ and FDR combined. The White House calls the new budget “A New Era of Responsibility.”

The Budget itself does not use budget gimmicks or accounting sleights-of-hand to hide our plans or the status of our economy. It is forthright in the challenges we face and the sacrifices we must make. It is honest in evaluating what programs work and which do not; shifting resources from the latter to the former.

What’s going on in Washington today is an outrage. The whole election was supposedly about change and yet the pork continues. If Obama is viewed as a success it will only be for the short-run. The president has no idea what he’s doing and the Congress has taken over the country.

let them eat pork

On February 25, 2009, in Politics, Tom Harkin, by Henshaw

Senator Tom HarkinThe Godfather of pork is at it again. Senator Tom Harkin has shaken the money tree for a few hundred thousand dollars for trails in Iowa. That’s right, American taxpayers are funding natural trails in a state known for corn, pork, caucus, and Tom Harkin. This pet project isn’t even in the stimulus package.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin says he’s secured $380,000 for Whiterock Conservancy to build trails. The funding, among $56 million destined for projects in central Iowa, is part of the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 to be voted on in the House today and the Senate next week.

The Omnibus Appropriations Act? Is Omnibus a character from Transformers? No worries, it’s just another 410 billions dollars to fund the nation through September. It’s the largest jump in spending since the Carter administration and this follows the Stimulus bill. This is change all right, there are 9,000 earmarks in the bill. The bill pays for Obama’s inauguration, the UN, international family planning, and migrant housing. The best thing about passing an 700 billion dollar pork monstrosity is that no one will pay attention to the 400 billion dollar pork bill that follows.

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jindal not quite ready for prime time

On February 25, 2009, in Politics, by Henshaw

As advertised I missed the Obama speech last night. From what I’ve read I didn’t miss much; however, it did catch half of Jindal’s response. There seems to be two extreme reactions to his statement and neither of them really matter. I don’t think he bombed but I didn’t think he sounded very good, especially compared to his appearance on Meet the Press. I don’t think he’s quite ready for the national stage. Plus, following Obama speaking before a joint session of Congress is always going to be a letdown. I’m not sure what people were expecting. Keep in mind he’s only 37 years old. I think that’s the bulk of his problem, he just doesn’t look very presidential. Almost all 37 year old people don’t look presidential; however, I do agree with most of what he had to say.
For twenty years the Republicans positioned themselves as the party of smaller government and fiscal conservatism. Unfortunately they governed as Democrat Lite. The problem the nation faces now is that the alternative is more of the same on a larger level. Make no mistake, this is a dangerous time for the Republic. Until proven otherwise the president isn’t stopping the will of the Congress. As hard as it is to believe the most unpopular Congress in history is now running the country.

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msnbc at its best

On February 25, 2009, in Politics, by Henshaw

MSNBC has become an unwatchable source for news. It’s hard to believe but they’re now much more bias than FOX could have dreamed. Here’s Keith Olbermann doing what he does best, come off like classless jerk.

Link: MSNBCer Says "Oh God" Before Jindal Reponse

Update: It turns out it was Chris Matthews who couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

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