Romney or Giuliani?

So it's time for Fred supporters to find a new candidate...

I'm going to wager a guess that McCain and Huckabee won't see a bump from this. (At the very least, they won't get it from me.) Romney or Giuliani? I like them both and would be satisfied with either as POTUS.

UPDATE: I hope that this is true and that the eventual nominee is smart enough to take him up on it.

Fred Is Out

Depressing. Hopefully he'll be the GOP candidate's VP.

We may yet be writing President Thompson. Who knows what four or eight years will bring?

Heath Ledger Is Dead

Terrible, terrible news. And so the world loses both a father and a tremendous young talent. Who knows what iconic characterizations will now never be.

Summer Isn't a Verb for Me

But Huckstering is. He sure likes to push that political snake oil. (via Instapundit)

Maybe that's why he gets no love from my fellow Arkansas-based bloggers.

Thompson Now Tied for Second in SC

That's some serious Fredmentum. He also has a new ad:


Tonight his campaign is asking supporters to donate $10 apiece to continue making media buys. (It was supposed to be $10 at 10:00, but I'm sure they won't mind if anyone runs a bit late.) I gave my ten. If you'd care to join in with your ten, here's where you can do it.

UPDATE: They must mean a statistical tie as the number are Huckabee 19%, Mitt Romney 17%, and Fred Thompson 16%. In any case, looks like Fred is closing fast.

Your Wedding, Your Day

Your cake:

...she commissioned a life-size cake that resembles her. ...

The cake-alike has a white tiered skirt, veil, pink bouquet and dramatic up-do.

Go there to see the picture.

Hmmm. I don't think I'd want to eat a food item that resembled me. Further, I don't think I'd want to watch a room full of people eating bits of food that resembled bits of me.

Let Me Guess...

... a Huckabee supporter came up with this bad idea. Better to vote for the best than to screw things up by convincing yourself that you can outfox the system. Anyhow, isn't the belief in man's ultimate predictive power (and thus, central planning) more of a liberal idea?

Aftermath of Oklahoma Ice Storm

Remember the ice storm? They're still cleaning up.

We visited my Dad in Tulsa yesterday, and he took us on a tour. In most areas, every house had piles like these:




Lots of streets looked like this:

Where does it all go? To places like this:

For scale, there's a man on the far right in a bright red jacket.

Two of Huckabee's Economic Claims Examined

From The Club for Growth:

Mike Huckabee claims he cut taxes over 90 times and suggests that he would stem the loss of manufacturing jobs. As Huckabee prepares to convince Michigan that he is an economic conservative, the Club for Growth PAC analyzed what Mike Huckabee’s record says about these two issues.

FACT #1: Manufacturing jobs decreased significantly while Huckabee was governor of Arkansas. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, statewide manufacturing jobs in Arkansas decreased nearly 20% from 1996 through 2006, or nearly 1 out of every 5 jobs. ...

FACT #2: Huckabee neglects to mention that his tax hikes surpassed his tax cuts, making him a net tax-hiker. Huckabee also neglects to mention that almost all of his tax cuts were tiny tweaks that benefitted few and did little in terms of serious tax reform.

Read the rest of it for a partial list of tiny tweaks.

A "Summer Camp" That Sounds So Fun You Might Wish You Were a Kid Again So That You Could Go

The Tinkering School.

It's Ann Althouse's Birthday!

Here's where you can go wish her a happy one.

The Big Thompson Turnaround

When this happens, I would like this to be noted.

The Rightosphere Speaks

Well, those of us who responded anyway. Out of this sample, Fred is clearly the favorite.

I guess that's a form of endorsement. He can add it to that other, perhaps more prominent, endorsement he got today.

Live-Blogging the South Carolina Fox News GOP Debate

I plan to do so in this space while baby wrangling and watching the live stream at FoxNews.com.

UPDATE 8:04: Off we go... I'm going to try it with newest posts on the bottom this time. Brit Hume is moderating, and the live feed on FoxNews.com is surprisingly good. So far. (Link to the live stream is in the orange banner at the top of their page.)

UPDATE 8:09: McCain says he'll veto any pork spending and make the spendthrifts famous.

UPDATE 8:13: Talk about how to grow revenue by cutting taxes. Frankly, I don't care that much about growing tax revenue. Is our goal to make sure that the government has the maximum amount of money possible?

UPDATE 8:14: Both Giuliani and McCain harp on cutting spending. Good.

UPDATE 8:16: Paul mentions the Austrian Business Cycle Theory. There's a link to explain.

UPDATE 8:18: Fred indicates that Giuliani cribbed his tax plan and then gets down to brass tacks on economic policy. He and McCain both assert that the tax cuts must be made permanent so that people aren't left questioning whether or not their taxes are going to rise.

UPDATE 8:23: Romney seems to be echoing Limbaugh that real conservatism wins elections.

UPDATE 8:25: Thompson steps up to talk Reagan Revolution. Points out that this primary is a battle for two wings in the Republican Party: those who believe in the Reagan Revolution and those who believe the Reagan Revolution is over (Huckabee). Wow, Thompson on a serious roll here. Wild applause. (UPDATE 9:07: Video available here.)

UPDATE 8:26: Huckabee talking bull about cutting taxes again. You don't get credit for that if you raise them more than you cut them.

UPDATE 8:29: Look, I love Reagan, but you'd think he was some kind of demi-God. It's all who can out Reagan who.

UPDATE 8:30: Ron Paul asked about his supporters who are into 9/11 conspiracy theories. He says he doesn't endorse what they believe and doesn't believe it himself. Gets applause for insisting on addressing what the other candidates are talking about rather than going on about his supporters.

UPDATE 8:33: I like this FoxNews.com feed. The debate has gone to commercial, but you can still see everyone milling around on the feed. Kind of fun.

UPDATE 8:36: Huckabee talks tough by indicating that he would kill people who threaten us and send them to Hell. Thompson agrees and makes a joke about sending attackers to their virgins--gets a laugh.

UPDATE 8:42: Ron Paul thinks people are looking for an excuse to bomb Iran and doesn't like it.

UPDATE 8:46: McCain says General Petraeus should have been TIME man of the year. Heh.

UPDATE 8:48: There may soon be a Palestinian state. How do you prevent such a state from becoming a training ground for terrorism? Giuliani says they must recognize Israel, and we must have a stable Iraq. And I miss a bit because the feed glitches for a minute.

UPDATE 8:50: Ron Paul wants us out of the Middle East entirely and to trade with everyone in the Middle East. McCain says he doesn't want to trade with Al Qaeda because they only trade in burkas.

UPDATE 8:52: There seem to be a lot of scream-y Ron Paul people in the audience.

UPDATE 8:54: Thompson says you can tell things are going well in Iraq because you read so little about it in the NYT. Haha.

UPDATE 8:57: Over at Instapundit: Hey, they're even live-blogging at The New York Times, and with this surprising observation: "Mr. Thompson rocks tonight." Neat. And, yes he does.

UPDATE 8:59: Huckabee defends Israel to Ron Paul, who isn't concerned with helping Israel. Ron Paul says we help Israel's enemies too much and Israel would be better off without us. Giuliani then defends Israel as an important and close ally.

UPDATE 9:02: Thompson calls Huckabee out on complaining that our money to Pakistan goes to Pakistan's military by saying that that's where it is suppose to go to help train their forces to fight terrorism.

UPDATE 9:08: Off into this Change talk. So much talk about this vague Change in this election. You'd think Change itself was the penultimate value in government.

UPDATE 9:09: Huckabee says he wants to talk about his tax raises, he says what he raised was "hope." Sounds like a Democrat...

UPDATE 9:12: Thompson talks about his record which is nice because his is good. Brings up his NRLC endorsement. Thompson really does rock tonight.

UPDATE 9:13: Huckabee says he created jobs in Arkansas. GOVERNMENT doesn't create jobs. Could someone tell certain supposed conservatives that.

UPDATE 9:14: Giuliani challenges this silly Change talk. Says Dem Change is taking change out of your pocket. Asserts the obvious that needs to be said: Change isn't good or bad, it's what kind of changes there are, so vacuous Change talk is silly.

UPDATE 9:16: Giuliani talks about his experience with foreign policy. Giuliani is awfully likable. (Just figured I'd note that since everyone thinks "likability" is so important.)

UPDATE 9:17: Huckabee asked about his statement that wives should submit graciously to their husbands and if that statement affects his electability. Huckabee dodges for a minute with jokes about how religion is off limits except for asking him all the religion questions. Says he statement was Biblically consistent. Doesn't really address the aspect of electability.

UPDATE 9:21: Happy to hear Ron Paul mention that Republicans used to want to get rid of the Department of Education but have grown it instead.

UPDATE 9:23: During the commercial, I check out The Corner. LOL Actually, there are lots of LOLs over there.

UPDATE 9:24: Yes, I just used LOL as a noun.

UPDATE 9:25: Fred: "All your debate are belong to me." He's getting good buzz all over the blogosphere. We'll see how that translates to the real world.

UPDATE 9:27: I like how precisely Romney speaks. I like people who speak precisely and take care to say exactly what they mean.

UPDATE 9:28: Fred, "We need to be a nation of high fences and wide gates." Nicely put. Talks about cracking down on sanctuary cities. Hits on attrition through enforcement. Needs to explain this. Say the magic words, "They will deport themselves. Look at the states that have cracked down on illegal immigration, the illegal immigrants leave." Juxtaposes his ideas on illegal immigration with his competitors.

UPDATE 9:32: Huckabee says something I like! Busts the myth that legal Hispanics are pro illegal immigration. Then ticks me off again by saying that everyone should be able to walk around with his head up, i.e. the illegal immigrant. You shouldn't walk around with your head held high when you're doing something wrong.

UPDATE 9:35: Giuliani says he can handle illegal immigration just as he handled crime and welfare-ism.

And that's a wrap. Hope you enjoyed it. I did. Of course, my favored candidate did especially well. This was especially good. If you like him, help him out. Now is the time when a donation would be especially effective for him.

UPDATE: Ann Althouse also live-blogged the debate and is watching the focus groups. They loved Thompson and choose him as the winner.

UPDATE: A big thanks to those of you donating to Fred. Looks like he's now surpassed his goal for tonight. Nice. Now he can run those radio spots.

I leave you with some Geraghty as I head to bed.

A Bleg

But not for me. For Fred.

He has a shot to make a strong showing in South Carolina. He is currently touring the state, and his campaign has already bought television advertising. Your donation will help to supplement those efforts with radio spots and direct voter contact.

There are plenty of reasons to hope that Thompson gets the nomination.

If you like this blog, and you like Fred (or if you just like Fred--I suppose you don't have to like my blog) consider tossing a few dollars his way. Every little bit will make a big difference.

UPDATE: Hey, I'm not the only one blegging for Fred. After I published this post, I went to Instapundit and saw this.

The 106th Carnival of Homeschooling...

... is up.

And here, the meanest mom on the planet. Heh.

The Highest Priorities of Primary and Secondary Education

As John Locke saw them:

The great work of a governor is to fashion the carriage, and form the mind; to settle in his pupil good habits, and the principles of virtue and wisdom; to give him, by little and little, a view of mankind; and work him into a love and imitation of what is excellent and praise-worthy; and, in the prosecution of it, to give him vigour, activity, and industry. The studies which he sets him upon, are but, as it were, the exercises of his faculties, and employment of his time, to keep him from sauntering and idleness, to teach him application, and accustom him to take pains, and to give him some little taste of what his own industry must perfect. For who expects, that under a tutor a young gentleman should be an accomplished critic, orator, or logician; go to the bottom of metaphysics, natural philosophy, or mathematics; or be a master in history or chronology? though something of each of these is to be taught him; but it is only to open the door, that he may look in, and, as it were, begin an acquaintance, but not to dwell there: and a governor would be much blamed, that should keep his pupil too long, and lead him too far in most of them. But of good breeding, knowledge of the world, virtue, industry, and a love of reputation, he cannot have too much: and, if he have these, he will not long want what he needs or desires of the other.

From section 94 of Some Thoughts Concerning Education, available both online (free) and at Amazon.

I tend to agree with him. While we don't, most of us anyway, have governors, I think this type of education can still be had--that is, if the parents are willing to provide it themselves.

Not Everyone Is Impressed with Crying

My brother, a Democrat, is now in Hong Kong on business. While in a shopping center, he saw the Hillary cry moment played on a JumboTron-type television. When she cried, the crowd started snickering and the person he was shopping with said something along the lines of, "So... guess you'll be needing to run Obama then."

If certain Democrats are worried about international perception, they may want to ask themselves, "How does it play in the international community when a potential leader of the free world cries on TV?" A hint: Not well.

Kim du Toit Has a Speech...

... for the Republican candidates.

I watched the so-called “Republican forum” last night on Fox, and let me tell you that and the end of it all, I wouldn’t vote for any of those mealy-mouthed fools. All of them spoke like they had won the nomination, and were appealing to the so-called “center”.

What bollocks.

In case any of the candidates’ campaign people ever bother to read this, allow me to give you a closing speech that will win you the Republican nomination, and probably the Presidency as well.

Here it is.

Limbaugh Mentions Club for Growth

Neat. I'm a big fan of theirs.

Kenya Coverage

Here.

Are Huckabee's Religious Image and Statements About His Record at Odds?

Henry Rearden thinks so. He also addresses Huckabee's repeated claim that his tax increases were largely in response to the courts.

Some Voters Really Are Irrational

Here's an example:

Alison Hamilton of Portsmouth, New Hampshire said she, like most of the people in the group, had been considering Obama.

But after seeing Clinton become emotional, she said she was going to vote for Clinton.

"That was the clincher," Hamilton said.

I won't get into whether or not Clinton was being genuine--let's just assume she was. Regardless, voting for someone because that person cries or gets emotional in front of you is just plain foolish. If you're going to cast your vote so unseriously, you shouldn't cast it at all.

Huge TVs, Dancing Walkmans

Glenn Reynolds is at the Consumer Electronics Show. I'll have to ask my brother, who is working in Japan, if he knows anyone with a dancing Walkman.

Live-Blogging the New Hampshire GOP Fox News Debate

8:35 UPDATE: Now it's done. Thus ends my first attempt at live-blogging. And they're over to Brit. Wow. Debates go fast when you're live-blogging them.

8:31 UPDATE: In making the case for his making the best President, Thompson addresses likability by mentioning that he's never lost a political race. Good point.

8:28 UPDATE: Someone here suggests Huckabee is looking to be McCain's VP. Hmmm.

8:23 UPDATE: Huckabee has twice said that he left Arkansas with more natural resources. Did he convince God to add more metals or water or something to our state? How do you increase natural resources?

8:19 UPDATE: Huckabee just said that silly thing about vertical up-not-down politics. I hate that. What does that mean? Will somebody please ask him?

8:14 UPDATE: Commercial time. Because I haven't posted it in a long time, here's where you can go to support my favorite candidate, Fred Thompson.

8:12 UPDATE: I like Fred pointing out that encouraging people to come over is not compassionate. Mexico needs to reform to makes things better for ALL the people of Mexico, not just the people who leave. Fred should have mentioned attrition through enforcement though.

8:08 UPDATE: They keep talking about deportation. Jump in and explain attrition, Fred! Point to the states that have been passing laws that make illegal immigration less attractive and how their illegal immigrants are leaving on their own!

8:07 UPDATE: Huckabee repeats the myth about illegal immigrants having especially strong families.

8:05 UPDATE: Huckabee says that no one, referring specifically to illegals, should live in the shadows. Isn't that part of being illegal? I mean, by definition? Huckabee tells Romney to talk to the hand, he's talking only to Wallace. Wallace repeats a question Romney just asked Huckabee. Heh.

8:02 UPDATE: Romney's right. He points out again that letting illegals stay and get in front of the immigration line is unfair. McCain falls back on saying that Romney once said McCain's plan was reasonable. So what? Address the issue.

8:01 UPDATE: McCain says that he would secure the borders and have the governors of border states confirm that the borders are secure. The problem is that no one trusts a bunch of politicians to confirm our border security. McCain says it's mean to deport people. Okay...

7:59 UPDATE: Uh oh. Wallace brings up McCain's Immigration Bill and the idea of it being a form of amnesty. He we go off into the weeds.

7:55 UPDATE: Aside from being the best on issues, Thompson is very good at making his digs at opponents without coming off like a horse's rear end. He does a good job of attacking Huckabee's misunderstanding of the Guantanamo issue by explaining it directly to Huckabee in a non-pointed way.

7:53 UPDATE: Giuliani mentions the check he didn't accept from a Saudi prince. "I handed it back and told him what to do with it." LOL

7:48 UPDATE: Ouch! Wallace confronts Huckabee with a litany of Huckabee's foreign policy foibles. Huckabee says he has more executive experience than anyone else because he ran Arkansas' government for ten and half years. I guess whether that's a pro or con depends upon what you think of Arkansas' government...

7:45 UPDATE: Romney makes a good case for executive skill being the most important skill for a President to have because times and issues change.

7:37 UPDATE: Yay! Fred gets it off of change. I'm tired of change talk. Thank you, Fred for reiterating that we're spending the money of future generations. Thank you, Giuliani for pointing out that the change the Democrats want is change for the worse!

7:35 UPDATE: To Romney's credit, he always comes across as ultra-competent. I find that a likable quality.

7:34 UPDATE: Ann Althouse is also live-blogging.

7:30 UPDATE: Change again. Bah. Change, change, change. Change, schmange. Everybody wants change, it's the kind of change that matters.

7:29 UPDATE: Fred brings up my worry about the Fair Tax: since you can't trust politicians, we could end up with BOTH a consumption tax AND an income tax. Talks about his plan for a simpler, flatter tax.

7:27 UPDATE: Giuliani points to a pretty good record on addressing poverty in NYC. Brings up Workfare, which I love. All welfare for the able-bodied should be workfare.

7:25 UPDATE: Huckabee's talking about Fair Tax again. That's empty talk in my opinion. You can't run on "I'm the Big Tax Cutting Guy" when you have a record which totally contradicts that. At least he says he doesn't want to bleed the rich.

7:22 UPDATE: Wallace asks Huckabee about his economic populism. Huckabee responds by giving us more of it.

7:20 UPDATE: I like Fred's honesty on the major changes it will take to fix Social Security. I like Romney bring up private accounts.

7:17 UPDATE: Just FYI, the post every two minutes pace will not go on the whole time. I just wanted to follow the Huckabee and taxes issue.

7:14 UPDATE: Huckabee's hiding behind the court, but the court didn't dictate all those tax increases.

7:13 UPDATE: Romney calls Huckabee out on it. Huckabee's weaving and dodging, but Romeny won't let him off the hook.

7:11 UPDATE: Huckabee keeps saying that he lowered taxes, but the net is what counts. He lowered some taxes, but he raised more than he lowered, resulting in a net tax increase.

7:09 UPDATE: McCain criticizes pork. Thank you, McCain.

7:06 UPDATE: McCain says that he'll go for tax cuts if they're paired with decreased spending. I have an idea, how about if we just force the government to cut spending by starving it out? McCain says he'd ask for the line item veto--how would that work given that it was found unconstitutional?

7:04 UPDATE: The debate opens with talk about taxes. Romney does well pointing out that McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts and that Huckabee presided over a net tax increase.

Alien Microbes

Looking for "microbes that are radically different from all known organisms" and imagining what they might be like if found.

Reminds me of the section in this book on what aliens from each planet in the Solar System might be like if they existed. I used to spend hours upon hours looking at that book when I was a kid.

New Hampshire GOP Debate

Some quick thoughts:

• This is the best debate format. Kudos to ABC and Charles Gibson.
  
• This must have been attack Romney night. McCain especially was all over him. Huckabee was on him for a bit. Unfortunately for both McCain and Huckabee, the sniping didn't come off well.
  
• I don't like Huckabee's new talking point about how we need vertical politics about bringing the country up not down instead of horizontal politics about left and right. What does that mean? Someone should have asked him. No one should be able to get away with such empty talk in these debates.
  
• Everyone needs to do more explaining and keep in mind that there are plenty of people at home who, while being intelligent and reasonable, don't know every word in the dictionary. For example, don't just say that we'll solve illegal immigration by "attrition," tell the people what that means. At our house we spent much of the debate rephrasing candidates' answers to be more communicative.
  
• Note to all GOP candidates: talk about and explain the free market more. For example, in health care: everyone should have been making free market analogies to explain how the market brings more choices and less cost. If I want a pair of shoes I can select from an endless variety of stores and get pretty much the exact pair of shoes that I want. Why? Because there's a market and people compete for my business; they compete to give me the features I want; they compete to lower prices to entice me to buy. Same goes for health care. If we're all out buying policies, and we can actually see the costs of those policies and the costs of our medical care, health care will operate like a market, providing us with more choice and lower prices.
  
• Fred is the best on issues. He should talk more and take note of the previous two points.
  
• When it comes down to it, I am very happy with the GOP field. Fred is my number one choice, but I would also be very pleased with a President Giuliani, Romney, or McCain. Paul... well... maybe if he could have a co-President and be barred from ever touching anything to do with foreign policy. Huckabee, no can do--I'm a small government kind of girl.

UPDATE: More on tonight's debates here.

RediClinic Review

I will never go to a regular doctor for a minor, routine illness again. Sick and wanting an appointment immediately, I went to one of those medical clinics in Wal-Mart. I got in almost immediately, everyone on the staff was extremely friendly, and it only cost $59. Wow. I was pleasantly surprised and impressed.

CLARIFICATION: RediClinics do accept insurance. The total of $59 is split whatever way between the insurance company and the customer. So if your copay is $20, you only pay $20. Since so many people are interested, here's the list of services they offer along with their FAQ. And no, I am not in any way affiliated with RediClinic aside from my visit to one as a customer (a word I like better than patient) the other day.

UPDATE: Reader Dave Parmly emails:

I was a grudging supporter of these redi-clinic things until my wife developed a very painful UTI and was stuck waiting 6 hours to be seen at the after-hours clinic (since her doctor couldn't see her on 20 minutes notice, natch). She called to tell me this and I went online while she was driving, found a Minute Clinic, saw that they would diagnose UTIs, and she literally made a U-turn to drive there. 30 minutes total, in and out, Rx in hand and she got a free flu shot while she was waiting. Facility was spotless, clinician was very professional and she even got a card in the mail 2 days later from her clinician. Her comment: "My doctor never sent me a card."

Thoughts on the Iowa Caucus

First the good news: (1) Fred makes a strong showing. (2) Obama wins for the Democrats. (I may not agree with Obama on any policy issues, but I like that unlike Hillary he makes his positions plain which allows for real political dialogue.)

The bad news: Huckabee wins Iowa. As I posted in the comments of another blog, "Maybe 'Idiocracy' was a documentary." Yes, that's too harsh. But seriously, what in heck? Clintonesque slick speak, it's what voters crave.

UPDATE: Huge PJM roundup here. (via Instapundit)

Fred Surge in Iowa

Let's hope it continues lest we end up in the nightmare scenario. (Via Instapundit who offers relevant thoughts here.)