Another cog in the wheel known as the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy to combat the Extreme Left-Wing Media.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Could this be the knock out punch to McCain's campaign

Mitt Romney Appoints Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio to Presidential Campaign. If McCain can not get the most popular Republican in his home state to back him he's in trouble. Let there be no doubt that McCain pushing for amnesty for illegal aliens contributed to Arpaio backing Romney.

Wednesday links and comments

This one is a few days old, but worth sharing. If there is an elder conservative voice worthy of listening to, it is Phyllis Schlafly. She recently made the point many conservatives have tried to raise. Hopefully people will listen to her.
"New Hampshire is the front line of the presidential race, and as I go about and talk to the conservative movement, they're in disarray," said Schlafly, who led opposition to the failed Equal Rights Amendment more than 25 years ago. "They don't know what to do, who to back. We're told by the media that we have a choice of one of three, (Sen. John) McCain or (former New York mayor Rudy) Giuliani or (former Massachusetts governor Mitt) Romney. Each one of them is capable of raising $100 million. I'm not happy of being told that at all. I don't think that any of the three are acceptable."
It is a year away from the primaries and I resent being told that only three candidates deserve consideration and the rest should be ignored.

On the Republican side one of the perceived front runners who has appeared to be slipping lately is Sen. McCain. Here is an example of why John McCain is not gaining traction with conservatives.
Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John McCain are set to introduce a revised version of their sweeping plan to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, in a bill that's likely to restart a tense debate in Congress.
The media loves McCain for his ability to work with liberals like Sen. Kennedy and Sen Feingold. Conservatives see the issues he has worked with liberals on and don't like the results.

Words have meanings for a reason and it is important to choose them judiciously. Major news sources like Reuters and Associated Press (AP) have been accused in recent years of choosing words in such a way that it changes peoples perception of a story. Here is an example from the AP that the New York Post caught yesterday.
To those who remember the infamous 1981 Brinks heist in Nyack, Judith Clark is a self-indulgent '60s radical serving a well-deserved 75-year prison term for her role in the violent deaths of three heroic law-enforcement officers.

But to the Associated Press, which supplies news to the world, Judith Clark is a "former freedom fighter."

That's right. A "freedom fighter."

Now, maybe "convicted cop-killer" is too graphic for the AP, even though it's wholly accurate. But "freedom fighter"?

Who's writing for the AP these days - Michael Moore?

Tony Blankley has a good column in today's Washington Times talking about the problem with politicians starting their campaigns so early. It is awfully hard to remain a fresh face for a year and a half. I am convinced that the nominee for one if not both parties will be someone not currently near the top in the polls. The declared front runners will tear each other apart and clear the field for a late entry.

Hey, Ohio has bragging rights.
For the third time in four years, the town of Montpelier, Ohio, can claim bragging rights to the world's tastiest tap water.

Michigan State Rep. Chuck Moss wrote an op-ed piece titled "If profit is bad, why choose Michigan?" that shows he understands how companies decide where to do business.
So who else will state officials invite to the People's Social Justice Paradise of Michigan, given that a majority of our state representatives are on record as indicting, as social criminals, anyone who wants to -- boo! hiss!! gasp!!! -- make a profit?
Ohio's lawmakers need to be careful not to follow Michigan's lead.

Lastly, apparently some people were surprised to find out yesterday that the stock market doesn't move in a straight line. My own guess is the DOW and NASDAQ will be higher on 31 December than they were on 1 January, but out of the 12 months in between there will be four or five negative months. Bottom line, don't invest in equities if you might need the cash in the near term. Otherwise you could end up having to sell at a price you don't like.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Virginia Apologizes for Role in Slavery

In the year 2007 for some odd reason, Virginia decided to apologize for slavery.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word apology as follows.
a·pol·o·gy (ə-pŏl'ə-jē) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. a·pol·o·gies

1. An acknowledgment expressing regret or asking pardon for a fault or offense.
2.
1. A formal justification or defense.
2. An explanation or excuse: "The consequence of those measures will be the best apology for my conduct" (Daniel Defoe).
3. An inferior substitute: The sagging cot was a poor apology for a bed.

If in the late 19th century Virginians sincerely felt remorse over the practice of slavery it may have meant something. Apologizing in the 21st century means nothing. I guess it is better that they waste their time on crap like this than on finding new ways to spend confiscated money. However, this apology makes as much sense as my apology to Britney Spears for shaving her head last week. In my defense, she won't need as much time after her morning shower to dry her hair. See, it's all about time management.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Tom Vilsack drops out of 2008 presidential race

Before most people were even aware he was running, Tom Vilsack dropped out of the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. This is somewhat surprising as I expected the recent in-fighting between Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama would encourage second tier candidates to hang in longer.

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Friday, February 16, 2007

Robert Adler - Rest in Peace

A man integral to American households, Robert Adler, passed away yesterday. Mr. Adler invented the the television remote control. His invention allows us to change the channel (or lower the volume during annoying commercials) without getting off our growing backsides. Jonas Salk only wishes his accomplishments were appreciated half as much.

Indians ahead of schedule

Last year the Cleveland Indians didn't start going through various replacement closers until late July. Showing much great efficiency this year, the Tribe has lost their closer on the first day of training camp as Keith Foulke abruptly announced his retirement.

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Indians ahead of schedule

Last year the Cleveland Indians didn't start going through various replacement closers until late July. Showing much great efficiency this year, the Tribe has lost their closer on the first day of training camp as Keith Foulke abruptly announced his retirement.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Sports Shorts

With baseball starting Spring training, FOX Sports has posted their first MLB power ranking list. It is a little silly to rank the teams before a single pitch has been thrown, but since they ranked the Indians number two, I'll cut them some slack. For those who follow the other baseball team in Ohio, the Reds are listed 26th.

Rob Neyer of ESPN.com selected the Indians' center fielder Grady Sizemore as the best overall player in the majors. Sizemore had a great breakout season last year, but I think it is a little premature.

Terry Pluto of the Akron Beacon Journal thinks the Browns should give the recently fired Marty Schottenheimer a call.

In 1999 Josh Hamilton was in perfect position to set himself up for life with a lucrative baseball career. He was the number one pick in the annual amateur player draft. Between a car crash and a losing battle with addictions to cocaine and alcohol, Hamilton fell of the baseball landscape. The Cincinnati Reds took a flyer on Hamilton in the Rule 5 draft this past December. This morning the Cincinnati Enquirer's Paul Daugherty had an article detailing Hamilton's situation. Whether he has any baseball talent left or not, I wish him luck in dealing with his demons.

The best indication that baseball Spring training is starting? Reports of stupid injuries. Actually, visa difficulties making foreign players late to training camp is first, and stupid injuries are second. When it comes to injuries, Kerry Wood of the Cubs always comes to mind.
Oft-injured Kerry Wood is out again -- this time because of a flub in a hot tub. The Chicago Cubs pitcher is not expected to throw off the mound for a few days after he slipped this week getting out of a hot tub at home. Wood landed on his stomach and chest.

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Thursday's links and comments

A few more articles about 2008 presidential candidates and non-candidates that some people want to see run.

Hillarymania
by William F. Buckley Jr. Buckley is a very smart guy with a great vocabulary, but read this paragraph and tell me whether he used the word traducing correctly.
But she not only married him, she stood by him athwart scandal after scandal. This is taken as fidelity of a singular sort, and it is exactly that. But does such fidelity imply a surrender to relativism? The adage is: I am for Harry through thick and thin. But being a faithful Mrs. Harry is a feat of personal durability not always admirable. If Bill had been caught traducing not Monica, but the local bank, would Hillary have been expected to stand by him?
That is one thing I like about his writing - it makes me reach for my dictionary.

Mary Mitchell of the Chicago Sun-Times has a column titled "Why are black lawmakers already jumping on Clinton bandwagon?" My initial reaction to the title question was maybe they agree with her on certain issues or maybe they feel she has a better chance of winning and want to be on the winning side early. I was dismayed that the question would be asked in that manner. Is the author presupposing that black lawmakers should automatically support Obama? It will be interesting to watch how the dynamics of race and gender play out in the months leading up to Democratic primaries.

Maybe there is another reason for the early endorsement. From The Hotline we get this article "An Endorsement, And A Consulting Contract."
Yesterday, Jackson confirmed that he had decided to endorse Sen. Hillary Clinton, less than six days after his public relations firm, Sunrise Enterprises, agreed to a contract with Clinton's campaign worth at least $10,000 a month through the 2008 elections - a total of $210,000.

A few days before that, Jackson was deep in negotiations with Steve Hildebrand, a senior strategist for Sen. Barack Obama's campaign. On the table was a contract worth in excess of $5K a month, beginning on 3/15/07. Separately, Obama was personally soliciitng Jackson's endorsement.(ed. sic)

"It's not about money," he said. "Quite honestly, I've turned done more money from some of the other candidates." Jackson said that when he told an official for another campaign about his Clinton endorsement, the official offered to "double" whatever Clinton offered him. Jackson told the official, whose name and campaign affiliation he declined to identify, that he was offended at the thought that his endorsement was bought.
Regardless of whether you are talking about politics or an athlete leaving Kansas City to play in New York, when they say "It's not about money," you know for sure it's about the money.


Mallory Factor writing in the The State states the case for Gov. Mark Sanford running for president.

McCain acts to soothe his online critics. Too little - too late.

From CNN: Schneider: Giuliani's got the 'Big Mo'

Jennifer Rubin of The American Spectator examines "Rudy's New Social Conservatism."

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Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Worst state governor

I'm not sure if there is an official competition for the title of Worst State Governor, but it seems like Jim Doyle governor of Wisconsin must be worried that some of the new governors may be after his title. The new governors in New York, Ohio and Massachusetts (Spitzer, Strickland and Deval) all have strong socialist leanings and impeccable anti-business credentials. Doyle responded to the challenge by proposing not one, not two, but three tax increases.
Gov. Jim Doyle will unveil a tax on oil companies on Tuesday but will bar the firms from passing it on to consumers. (ed. Good luck on that one as all costs are eventually passed on to consumers.)

Doyle also wants to raise the driver's licenses fee by $10 or so to help cover the state's cost of complying with a new federal law requiring more secure identification. A $10 increase would bring the cost of a three-year license to $28 and an eight-year renewal to $34.

Doyle has also said he wants to more than double the cigarette tax to $2.02 a pack, and he is expected to propose a hospital tax.

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A better man than I

I pray I'm never in a position to find out, but I doubt I could be as forgiving as this man.
As Christopher Williams was being extricated from his overturned car onto a backboard to be taken to the hospital, he looked over at his vehicle and the car that had just crashed into him, killing his pregnant wife and two of his children.
Christopher Williams speaks to the media Monday about the death of his pregnant wife and two children. He said he learned the power of forgiveness from his wife. "This is what she would want to do," he said of forgiving the teen driver. It was at that moment Williams said he had a decision to make. That decision, he said, was to "unconditionally forgive" the person who had just caused the accident. By forgiving, Williams said the healing process could continue without being "hampered by another step."

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Rudy Guiliani - Presidential candidate

Rudy Giuliani announced the start of his campaign for the 2008 Republican nomination for president this week. Unlike most of the other declared Republican candidates, Giuliani has considerable executive experience. He served in the Justice Department during the Reagan administration and is more well known for his eight years as mayor of New York City. There are several articles this weekend regarding his candidacy.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's article titled "Rudy the uniter" is generally favorable and attempts to ameliorate Giuliani's more liberal positions.

Les Payne of News Day pens a very negative editorial, America should shun the authoritarian Giuliani, which is closer to what Giuliani should expect to see more of if he garners the nomination.

Steve Chapman of the Chicago Tribune writes of "Rudy Giuliani: Running against Hamlet." This article gives us a glimpse of what we will see a lot of in the next couple years - namely a rehashing of his past in a way where every success is accompanied by a "yeah, but." Here is one example:
His sterling performance after the attack overshadowed mistakes by his administration that complicated efforts to cope with it. The mayor had insisted, against much expert advice, on putting his emergency command center in the World Trade Center--the city's most obvious terrorist target. On Sept. 11, 2001, when it was most needed, the command center became a useless pile of rubble.
Here is another poking at his earlier accomplishments as U.S. Attorney:
As U.S. attorney in the 1980s, he had two Wall Street brokers arrested and handcuffed at their offices, for maximum public humiliation. But he later had to drop the charges against one of them, and the other pleaded guilty to only a single minor count. Several of the other convictions he got in his Wall Street campaign were thrown out on appeal.

Some conservatives are rushing to jump on the Rudy bandwagon out of a mistaken sense that he is only the candidate capable of beating Sen. Clinton in the general election in November 2008. I strongly disagree. These early assaults on his reputation and character will seem tame if he gets the nomination. I admire Giuliani post 9/11 performance and I have been to New York city enough to understand the how big an accomplishment he achieved in cleaning up that city in his eight years as mayor, but none of that will matter in the long run. He has several major hurdles to overcome. First, his well known liberal positions will lose him some votes of conservatives who won't bother voting at all if the Republican seems to have the same position as the Democrat candidate. Secondly, as mayor he stepped some toes to get things done and in doing so made he enemies with long memories. Most importantly, it is likely he will square of against the junior senator from New York, Hillary Clinton, who would be the first female to be nominated by a major political party. Sen. Clinton can count on the votes of some a percentage of women who voted for George Bush (and some who didn't vote at all in 2004) just because of the novelty factor. Giuliani's very public history of adultery and his ugly divorce will only add to the likely larger than normal gender gap.

No offense intended to the mayor and his supporters, but we have to be able to do better.

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Thursday, February 08, 2007

One way to choose your beer

You can choose your beer many ways, taste, calories, price, whatever. However, after reading this, I think the next beer I buy will be a Labatts Blue.
Yesterday, Mr. Labatt -- the great-grandson of John Labatt, founder of the Labatt brewery -- and his wife Sonia gave Sick Kids $30-million, $25-million of which is to establish the Labatt Family Heart Centre, and $5-million for the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre.

It is the largest gift the Labatts have made. They donated $10-million in 1997 to establish the brain-tumour centre.
Besides the fact that the owner of the company gave a lot of money to a charity to help sick children the beer is pretty good as well. Give it a try.

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Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences

Earlier this week the newly hired bloggers (Amanda Marcotte, and Melissa McEwan) for John Edwards presidential campaign came under fire for past entries posted on their blogs Pandagon and Shakespeare’s Sister. Michelle Malkin posted some of the entries from Pandagon that were full of vulgarities, misspellings, and the extreme left-wing, bigoted, hate-filled garbage you might find on Democratic-Underground (Where Elizabeth Edwards has been known to occasionally post). Initially, the Edwards campaign ignored the revelations about the nuttiness of their new employees figuring (or hoping) the complaints would fail to get traction with "mainstream media." However, this morning Terry Moran of ABC news (hardly part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy) posted an entry online about the situation (with excerpts of there worst postings by Edwards' bloggers) which had this money line:
Is Edwards' association with a person who has written these things a legitimate issue for voters, as they wonder--among other things--whom he might appoint to high office if he's elected? If a Republican candidate teamed up with a right-wing blogger who spewed this kind of venom, how would people react?
According to Salon, the Edwards' campaign has fired the two bloggers since Moran's article ran this morning. However, the Edwards' campaign so far is denying they've been fired. Time will tell.

I mostly ignored the earlier reports of the ridiculous postings by Marcotte. Nothing she posted was all that shocking compared to what is normally posted at leftist sites like DU. Some bloggers like John Hawkins of Right Wing News occasionally venture into DU to get material for posts about the nuttiness of the left. Personally, I don't have the stomach for visiting those places. What prompted me to post about this story now is the various claims that this is a case of suppressing free speech. It is nothing of the sort. As the title of this post says our Constitutional protection of free speech is in no way a guarantee of protection from criticism or consequences.

There are several lessons to be learned from this situation. For several years we've seen stories in the news about human resources departments reviewing MySpace, Facebook and other online entities for embarrassing information about prospective employees. If companies realize online postings could be embarrassing then a political candidate definitely should understand that fact. For bloggers, sometimes the anonymity of the internet emboldens the writer to the point where they type things they would never say out loud. I'm no prude and I've probably uttered more cuss words than I should have, but I'd never type them into a web posting viewable by anyone and everyone. A wise person once said someone who must swear to get their point across is only demonstrating their limited vocabulary. Lastly, it should be obvious to anyone with half a clue, but if you have aspirations of being involved in the political process you should be more circumspect online than you would in private.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Q: What does a bad lawyer become when he grows up?

A: A bad judge.
A man charged in the rape and slaying of his 14-month-old daughter was released after a judge threw out his confession and reduced his bond on the eve of a scheduled trial.
This miserable cretin confessed in 2003 to having raped and killed a year old child. He shouldn't even be alive today for this rotten judge to release.

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Frivilous lawsuit alert

If you get shot by some loser with no money, what do you do? Oh yeah, sue the restaurant whose parking lot is where you got shot.
Less than a week after a 20-year-old pleaded guilty to murder in the 2005 shooting at McDonald's near King High School, one of the gunshot victims is suing the fast food restaurant for negligence.

Alexander McKinnie was 19 when a bullet punctured his foot Nov. 17, 2005, as he walked from his car to the McDonald's, 6906 N 56th St.

In a lawsuit filed Monday by attorney Mark Wright, McKinnie claims the restaurant did not take appropriate action to protect its customers from such "reasonably foreseeable criminal acts by third parties."
If McKinnie's lawyer was honest he'd explain the choice of plaintiffs as Willie Sutton the bank robber explained why he robbed banks, 'because that's where the money is'.

Remember, it is 99% of lawyers who give the rest a bad name.

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Monday, February 05, 2007

Super Bowl thoughts

Congratulations to the Indianapolis Colts. In sloppy, rainy weather the Colts beat the Bears 29 to 17. The final score does not do justice to the level of domination by the Colts. After midway through the first quarter there was never a point in the game where the Bears seemed to be in control.

Peyton Manning was named MVP of the game and some (myself included) said running back Dominick Rhodes deserved strong consideration. However, after thinking about that game it is obvious to me that the Colts offensive line is most deserving of the recognition. It was clear by the halftime break that the Colts were wearing down the vaunted Bears defense.

Hopefully, we've heard the last of the term "first black coach." Tony Dungy is a football coach. If people need to put an adjective before the word coach, I would recommend good, or great or self-controlled or many other superlatives before choosing to identify him by his skin color. His race should not be the primary adjective that comes to mind. Coach Dungy himself made a point of saying he preferred to be considered a "Christian coach." With a 114-62 won/loss record, Dungy has the highest winning percentage (.648) of any active NFL football coach. Define him by his success not his race. Don't get me wrong, the fact that Dungy and his counterpart with the Bears, Lovie Smith, were the first two African-American coaches to reach the Super Bowl was noteworthy, but all the media droned on excessively in the week leading up to the game to the exclusion of discussing matters actually relevant to the game.

In the week leading up to the Super Bowl sports commentators pondered how a winning or losing this one game would affect Peyton Manning's reputation. Hogwash! If the Colts defense had played poorly and the team lost would that change how good a quarterback Manning is? Trent Dilfer is a journeyman quarterback who happened to ride along when the Baltimore Ravens defense and running game won a championship. A Colts' loss yesterday would not have changed my perception of Manning just as the Ravens' victory a few years ago didn't change my impression of Dilfer. Quarterbacks get too much credit for teams success and too much blame for team failure.

Yesterday's game does continue the trend of AFC dominance over the NFC. This is the second year in a row where the NFC's top seeded playoff team got beat by a lower rated AFC team. The AFC has won 8 of the last 10 Super Bowls.

Lastly and most importantly, pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in Winter Haven in 10 days. That leads to today's quote of the day (H/T Tribe Report):
“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”

-Rogers Hornsby

Duncan Hunter - Presidential candidate

One of the presidential candidates with low name recognition has received some notice lately. Duncan Hunter was favorably profiled in a couple of articles recently. I don't know if he will attract the financial backing necessary to be competitive, but from what I've seen of him, he warrants a second look.
USA Today article by William M. Welch
From Townhall.com we get the "Conservative Case for Duncan Hunter In 2008" by John Hawkins.
If you're looking for someone who can represent the conservative wing of the Republican Party in 2008, California Congressman Duncan Hunter fills that bill far better that any of the top contenders who have already gotten into the race. Here's a short, but sweet primer that may help explain why that's the case.
I'm not endorsing any candidate this early in the process, but we could do a lot worse than Hunter (for example the current favorites).
Official campaign website: GOHUNTER08

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Saturday, February 03, 2007

Pro Football Hall of Fame

The voters for enshrinement to the Pro Football Hall of Fame corrected one of their most glaring oversights. Gene Hickerson was finally elected to the Hall of Fame today. In his long career for the Cleveland Browns, Hickerson opened holes for three Hall of Fame running backs to run to glory through. Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly and Bobby Mitchell all benefited from Hickerson's great blocking and it is about time his performance was recognized in Canton, Ohio.

Congratulations to Mr. Hickerson and the other selectees for enshrinement. Joining Hickerson as 2007 selectees are Bruce Matthews, Michael Irvin (?), Thurman Thomas, Roger Wehrli and Charlie Sanders. Offensive linemen are only noticed when the referee say "Holding number 74" so it was good to see Bruce Matthews joining Hickerson in this group.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Al Gore nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

What does complaining about hot weather and pushing pseudo-science as proven fact have to do with a peace prize?

2004 election was stolen

2004 election was stolen. No, not the presidential election. That hasn't been successfully done since 1960 (not for lack of trying by Dems). Rather I'm referring to the mayoral race in Wise, Virginia.
The former mayor of the tiny coal town of Appalachia was sentenced Wednesday to two years in jail for masterminding a vote-rigging scheme that helped him steal the 2004 election.

Prosecutors said Ben Cooper bought votes with beer, cigarettes and even pork rinds and directed 13 others in a conspiracy that also included stealing absentee ballots from the mail.
Now, the article does not say whether he is a Democrat or a Republican. However, since it is a negative story without party affiliation he is likely a Democrat. After Googling this character it turns out he is indeed a Democrat, not that there was much doubt.

A moment of bi-partisanship

I acknowledge that I spend more time criticizing Democrats than Republicans. Usually that can't be helped as they provide more ammunition. However, here is an instance of a "Republican" begging for criticism. I put Republican in scare quotes because this guy came to my attention by acting like a Democrat by proposing stupid nanny-state legislation.
Parents beware: Miss a meeting with your child's teacher and it could cost you a $500 fine and a criminal record.

A Republican state lawmaker from Baytown has filed a bill that would charge parents of public school students with a misdemeanor and fine them for playing hooky from a scheduled parent-teacher conference.
I think parents should be involved in their kids education. However, I more strongly believe this is a free society and if parents don't want to go to a parent/teacher conference that's their business.

Wait, this gets worse. A legislator is not really a legislator unless he is finding a way to spend, spend, spend.
Under Smith's bill, schools would send parents a notice for a meeting with three proposed dates by certified mail. Parents who don't respond or who schedule a meeting and don't show up without notice could be punished.
Currently, I get a note from my kids' teachers quarterly to schedule a teachers conference that my kid carries home from school for free. This idiot wants to spend postage on mailing the notice home by certified mail. According to the USPS website it costs $2.79 to send a local letter by certified mail. This story sums up what is wrong with our government at all levels. They don't care about costs since it is someone else's money.

That community should hold a recall election to remove him from office. He is not a responsible steward of public funds (ie: confiscated money).

Today's amateur political analysis

It can not be good for your campaign when this happens.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's re-election campaign manager resigned Wednesday after confronting the mayor about an affair Newsom had with his wife while she worked in the mayor's office, City Hall sources said.
It is bad when your campaign manager resigns over your behavior.
It is worse when it involves your having intimate relations with his wife.
It is much worse when it outs you to your strange California community as a heterosexual.

 

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