EckerNet.Com

Yeah! Al Gore has let up on us, and the snow has returned!! Time for snowmobiling!!!

Some pretty interesting statistics about various social media….basically if you’re not already on MyFace Twittering, you’re one of the last ones.

Ok it’s bad enough that Obama is bowing to other heads of state, but at least in those cases some people legitimately should bow to them…just not our President.  But why oh why oh WHY is Obama bowing to the MAYOR of fucking TAMPA!!

Possible problem with the brakes on the Prius??? I wasn’t aware they went fast enough to need brakes

An actual statement by Obama about the left-wing:

“We’ve got to make sure that our party understands that, like it or not, we have to have a financial system that is healthy and functioning, so we can’t be demonizing every bank out there,” Obama said. “We’ve got to be the party of business, small business and large business, because they produce jobs.”

Like it or not?? Why would the Democratic Party have a problem with a health and functioning financial system??  Is he actually admitting that the left is anti-business….you know the ones that create jobs, as he himself admits??

I realize everyone is orgasmicly wetting themselves over the possibility that the Republicans have a shot at the Senate as well.  And sure mathematically it’s true….but if you really look at the races individually, allow me to steal a phrase, from the E-Trade baby, the odds are better of being mauling by a polar bear and a regular bear in the same day.

FYI….CATO reviews TOTUS’s SOTU speech via POTUS.

Note to self…..come up with acronyms to replace the words “reviews”, “speech” and “via”

In case you didn’t already see it, the AP did a fact check of the SOTU which is fairly decent.  One thing they did miss though is regarding Obama’s reference to a bi-partisan commission to address the deficit……we already have one of those….it’s called CONGRESS!  They are bi-partisan and one of their constitutional duties is the federal budget.  Deferral of responsibility is not leadership.  Captain Ed wraps up a few more.

You’ve heard that FoxNews is the most trusted name in news already….now here comes the proof.  Actually what is most interesting is how abysmal the other news agencies did.   Basically the National Enquirer is trusted more than they are.

I’m not gonna link anything here because basically there is a new link every week….but has everyone noticed that every week we hear about the unemployment application went up “unexpectedly”???  I’m not sure what is worse, that job losses are still going on in huge numbers or that despite happening every week it’s “unexpected”.  Same with the housing market slumping more every month.

Rasmussen : 1, Obama : 0…..even NPR polls are now showing Democrats in trouble.

Obama’s Credibility Gap….Yeah, there were those of us who were pointing out all along that he had a huge credibility problem.  Turns out he has a huge deficit of trust too.

DESPAIR!!  Hopenchange has officially fallen out of favor with independents….seriously watch the video, it’s very amusing.

So we’ve raised the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion….normally I’d wonder how high we’re going to go but with Captain Kangaroo in charge I’m afraid to ask.

Unlike Bush you just let criticism roll off him, ridicule apparently really really bothers Obama….which is probably bad, because he’s already blown all his political capital so the next 3 years are going to be one long session of ridicule….at least if he continues him bumbling.

How bad is it that the Secretary of Homeland Security skipped a hearing on the biggest breach of homeland security during her reign??  Well, so bad that even the Democrats got pissed off at her.

Here’s the factsheet for the upcoming federal budget….before you click on that link you might want to grab some kleenex.

I attended a public school so I might be mistaken, but didn’t we fight a war to get rid of royalty in this country?

LOL, February is “white people and America suck” month….just read it, you won’t be disappointed.

Given that our military is so insanely dependent on GPS, it seems like a bad enough to me for us to destroy the GPS systems ONLY backup system.

It’s nice to see that socialized medicine is so good, that even those that have it still come to the US to get their healthcare.

Someone want to explain why the IRS is ordering lots of shotguns??  Struggling to find a legitimate reason why they would need any.  Unless they are implementing a “Pay your taxes, get a shotgun” program since the Obama Administration has such problems remember to pay their taxes otherwise.

Heh, look, the system totally worked again!

There are very few cities that can’t lecture Las Vegas about wasting money, Washington DC is one of them…oddly enough that very same cities chief citizen is doing exactly that.

Great, Obama is going to raise taxes on the middle class.  Thought ought to help his Man of the People image…

Judge Clarence Thomas delivers a legal beat-down of the President on the recent campaign finance decision….it’s too bad that our Presidents wasn’t one a legal professor or something, then he could avoid sounding like an idiot.

Obama caught lying again.

….besides which, our Founding Fathers never thought it necessary to apologize for our country.  Least of all to tyrannical despots.

I recommend you hold onto it, as the state legislature is back in session.  And despite a nationwide recession, high unemployment and a massive budget deficit the DFL seems intent on continuing their tax&spend ways.  And since they control the legislature it’s possible that could happen.

Let your legislator know you would prefer they eliminated spending rather than raise taxes, especially in this economic climate.  And keep an eye out for the usual bafoonery the DFL is famous for.

As I pointed out a few days ago, precinct caucuses are officially the beginning of the political season.  That’s right, it’s time for the phone calling, the door knocking and sadly enough the mud-slinging.  Of course some of it is slung more ineptly and without purpose than others.

Derrick Lindstrom is the sacrificial lamb that the DFL appears to be throwing up (figuratively and/or literally) against first-term Rep. Tara Mack.  He’s trying to frame himself as a simple family man and a fiscal conservative.  No doubt a winning strategy.  It’s hard not to like the wholesome image of a family man.  And in this economic climate a fiscal conservative is worth his weight in gold.  Problem is that Mr. Lindstrom appears to be his worst enemy, destroying his image every time he opens his mouth.

No sooner does he announce himself as a fiscal conservative, then he starts talking about raising taxes.

“We need to raise taxes in a sustainable way…the DFL passed the tobacco (fee) increase to get people to stop smoking and to raise revenue. If people stop smoking, there is no revenue.”

That’s very true, it was a God awful way to raise money in the first place.  But Minnesota is one of the most heavily taxes states as it is, more taxes, however much sense they make, is hardly the answer.  We have a spending problem, not a tax problem.  I shouldn’t have to explain that to a “fiscal conservative”.

And Mr. Lindstrom, despite being a family man, appears to be hold some rather anti-family priorities.

“Tara missed 27 floor votes, that’s 27 times the people of 37A did not have a voice”

First of all, in the grand scheme of things 27 votes isn’t a huge amount but that’s beside the point.  Rep. Mack missed only two days of the session….so she could attend her grandfather’s funeral when he died unexpectedly.  I know I know…clearly her priorities are a little messed up.  I mean she could attend her grandfather’s military funeral any time, but those 27 votes….well, the world could end.

Then Mr. Lindstrom starts attacking Rep. Mack for…..not having children.  For all Mr. Lindstrom knows she has been trying and it just hasn’t happened, but that’s hardly the point in any case.  Other than just the pure nastiness of it, there is certainly a sexist streak to it.  I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a male politician criticized for not having children.  Yet for some reason it’s okay here?  Mr. Lindstrom can claim super magical perspectives all he wants, but the fact of the matter is you don’t need to have children to know that families are hurting all over the state, and that raising taxes on families that are already struggling isn’t the answer.

When it comes right down to it, Mr. Lindstrom can’t even live up to his own hype.  And given his tax&spend desires, however, much he claims to be fiscally conservative, he’s hardly what Minnesota needs right now….or really ever.

Great turnout at Precinct Caucuses, and joined a few other attendees to unwind a little afterwards, and exchange impressions of various part of caucuses.  Overall good turnout, lots of enthusiasm, and people volunteering for stuff pretty freely, which is very nice to see.  Lot of enthusiasm and passion for the issues.  Even precincts that typically don’t turn out lots of resolutions submitted a bunch, which tells me people are very impassioned and engaged in the process.

The turnout was nothing like ‘08 (thank goodness!) but for a non-presidential year, very substantial.  And considering the number of people in each precinct, the precinct meetings still lasted quite awhile.  To me that means people are involved and aren’t just sitting back and letting things happen.  They want to make their voice heard and heard now.

I only got to spend a very short time in my precinct, as most of the night I was running our “office” and serving as the collections point.  When I did get a chance to walk around to various precincts I liked the energy I saw.  I liked seeing new names on a lot of the forms.  In fact, early in the night our chair asked how many were attending for the first time, and almost half the room raised their hand.  After every one plus their grandmother turned out for caucuses in ‘08, it’s hard to believe there were still people in the district that had not already attended a caucus.  Somewhere people are still coming out of the woodwork to get involved and it’s glorious to see.  I only hope we continue to offer them something that they want so they stay involved.

At this point, after a long night and hanging out with other attendees afterwards, it’s very AM so I’ll turn it over to you.  For those of you that attended your precinct caucuses (you did….RIGHT????), how did your experiences differ?

Today is officially the beginning of the political season….heh, keep your groans to a minimum!  Fortunately if you’re tired of the current batch of political rodentia, today is your chance to do something about it.  Attend your local precinct caucus!

For those interested in the Republican caucuses you can find your precinct number and the location of caucuses here.

Either way, this is your chance to get the biggest bang for your buck, as far as impact goes.

Don’t like what the Republican Party stands for? This is your chance to offer your input and start the process to make it officially part of the platform.
In November do you hate the candidates offered? Here’s your chance to become one of the delegates that actually selects the candidates put on the ballot.
Think the party is run by a bunch of drunken baffoons? Here’s your chance to become one of the delegates that picks the leaders of the party
Think you could do a better job? Here’s a chance to become one of the delegates and have a chance to run for the position yourself.

No matter which way you shake it, this is your chance to mold the party into something you and the nation like better.  It’s your chance to meet and network with like-minded folks from your area.  It’s your chance to make sure the lessons of the Tea Parties are not forgotten or marginalized.

See you there.

Here’s your chance to sit down and chat with your 2010 GOP Gubernatorial Candidates.  Get to know each candidates and their policy positions, as well as any bad table manners they may have, as you join them for an delicious Asian cuisine!

The event will take place this Saturday, January 30th from 6:30-8:30 PM at the Song Long Restaurant, located at:

14871 Granada Drive
Apple Valley, MN 55124

The public is welcome and we only ask $10 at the door, with your meal included in the price.

This is your last chance to get to know the candidates before the 2010 Precinct Caucuses.  Once you know which candidate you support you can go to your precinct caucuses and become a delegate so you can have a chance to support that Gubernatorial candidate in the endorsement process.  If you’ve complained about the quality of candidates before, this is your chance to get to know the candidates, pick the one you like best and then join the process to make sure they are the one up for election.

If you stay home, not only will you be hungry, but you miss a chance to participate in the democratic process and ensure the GOP has quality candidates going into 2010.

See you there!

[Event is sponsored by the Senate District 37 Republicans]

[Full disclosure : I'm part of the Senate District 37 Republicans]

Tonite the Teleprompter of the United States (TOTUS) gives the State of the Union (SOTU) speech via the President of the United States (POTUS), Barack Obama. Given the developments of the last few months, especially the last week, the speech promises to be either extremely lame, or comedy gold. Given the pre-SOTU talking points being disseminated by the White House, I’m leaning towards the latter.

Reading through them, a couple tidbits jumped out at me enough, that I thought I’d give a pre-SOTU rebuttal.

Rescue, Rebuild and Restore

That’s the theme of the entire speech…doesn’t have quite the rhetorical flare that “HOPE! CHANGE!” had now does it? It’s as if our shining city on the hill has been occupied by the enemy.

A $1.3 trillion budget deficit, two wars and badly frayed global alliances also greeted the President at the door.

And Obama responded by doubling down on all of it. He tripled our deficit, expanded the wars, and frayed even more national relations by offending most of our friends and bowing to our enemies.

Within one month of his inaugural, President Obama had shepherded the most far-reaching economic recovery plan in American history. It has brought our economy back from the brink of a second Great Depression and, one year later, we are beginning to see signs of progress.

Hardly, in fact the stimulus has either had no effect, in which case it’s $787 billion of wasted taxpayer dollars, or it’s actually harmed the US economy.

Job losses, while still too high have fallen to a tenth of where they were a year ago and the economy is growing for the first time in two years.

The unemployment rate continues to climb, and in fact would be skyrocketing except that we don’t count workers who have given up on looking for a job. Plus we’ve learned the following:
- US “unexpectedly” lost 85,000 jobs in December
- Overall home sales “unexpectedly” dropped 16% in November
- Foreclosures rose “unexpectedly”
- New housing starts fell “unexpectedly” in December
- Builder sentiment “unexpectedly” fell this month
- Home resales “unexpectedly” plunged in December faster than ever before

“Unexpectedly”, this is NOT an economy in recovery.

Under President Obama’s leadership, we have begun to confront challenges that Washington has ignored for decades and enact reforms meant to strengthen families, small businesses, and American economic competitiveness that lobbyists and special interests have worked to prevent time and again.

You’ve accomplished nothing for the taxpayers. The only thing you’ve accomplished is bailing out special interests, which is probably due to the fact that you hired most of the lobbyist in Washington to join your Administration….but at least you got them to start paying their taxes again.

We are closer than ever on real health reform, we’re moving toward a clean energy economy, we’ve taken on the big banks and special interests to reform outdated and lax financial rules, and we’ve initiated far-reaching education reforms to demand excellence in K-12 and make college more accessible and affordable.

Closer than ever doesn’t count. Doesn’t matter if you got the fastest horse in the world if it drops dead a foot before the finish line.

Fact is health care reform has failed due to the fact that you ignored the wishes of the public when drafting your bailout of special interests, you have failed to get anywhere with a clean energy economy, because you concentrated only on the “clean” and ignored the “energy” and “economy” parts. You bailed out big banks and had secret meeting with special interests. And you appointed a sodomy loving pervert to Secretary of Education.

He’s matched this leadership and advocacy for the American people by standing up to those very special interests and by beginning to change the way business is done in Washington by making government more accountable, accessible and transparent to all Americans.

You didn’t stand up to them….unless by “stand up to” you mean “offer them a cushy government job”. Then yeah, you were awesome at that.

You haven’t changed the way business is done in Washington. In fact, you’ve doubled down on some of the worst aspects of Washington. Secrety meetings. Partisan bickering. Bribing legislators. Monthly scandals. Silencing the opposition. Special privileges. The list goes on…you haven’t changed Washington, and you’ve admitted that yourself previously.

For the first time ever, every visitor to the White House – what they’re doing and who they’re meeting with – will be made public

Except for the ones you’ve refused to release details of…that’s not transparent, that’s selective hypocrisy.

And we’ve limited the influence of lobbyists in government by preventing executive branch employees from receiving gifts from lobbyists, by prohibiting administration officials from lobbying the government for two years after they leave public service, and by removing lobbyists from government boards and commissions.

A large number of the people appointed to your administration ARE lobbyists. You had to waive your own rules regarding lobbyists because you were hiring so many of them!! You don’t limit their influence by hiring them.

As he’s worked to rescue the economy and rebuild it on a new foundation that will promote growth and prosperity for all Americans, President Obama has begun the hard work required to restore America’s standing and leadership in the world.

By selling out our allies to the Russians? By repeatedly insulting the British? By bowing to foreign leaders? By projecting weakness to our enemies? Fact of the matter is that you’ve pissed off all our friends and you’ve encouraged our enemies. Even the Tower of Piza has a better foundation than the foundation you “built”

After one momentous year in office, President Obama has governed as he said he would, making tough decisions instead of deferring them, thinking about the long-term well-being of the country and not just his own, short-term politics.

You took months and countless studies just to accept the recommendations on Afghanistan. You deferred to Congress’s “leadership” on every part of the legislative agenda, with disastrous results. You’ve saddled us with MASSIVE long term debt. You pushed for a health care bill that would have multiplied our looming entitlements problem. And you initiated numerous programs like Cash for Clunkers that were designed more for short-term benefit, at the expense of long-term recovery.

Sorry, Mr. President, but your charisma has worn off and your oratorical skills just aren’t enough to disguise the shit you’re shoveling. It’s best to just come clean with the country, rather than just compound the lies. Just admit it, you fucked up. Let’s accept that and move forward.

[Crossposted at True North]

A week ago, Scott Brown won his Senate seat in Massachusetts and the entire political landscape changed.  It was a major defeat for Obama, who personally campaigned for Coakley and it was a major setback for Democrats, whose agenda is now threatened.  Meanwhile conservatives and Republicans have celebrated and started prognosticating an insanely bright future for the GOP.  There is a big problem with that….the Democrats weren’t the only losers last Tuesday, the Republican Party was also big loser, and in an potentially fatal way.

It’s extremely likely that this election was a rejection of the Obama agenda.  Both candidates made health care one of the foremost issues.  Obama and other high-level Democrats campaigned for Coakley.  Even in deep blue Massachusetts the voters rejected her.  Polls continue to show that the voters are against the Democrat’s healthcare bill, they’re against Cap&Trade, they’re worried about the deficit, and they want smaller government even if it means fewer services.  The conservative agenda is clearly popular right now, it’s a gimme for the Republicans right?? Wrong.  Polls show conservatives simply don’t trust Republican legislators, and they have a lot of reason to.

But Tea Party activists have to eventually side with Republicans don’t they?? No, not at all, and Scott Brown’s election proved it.  Scott Brown got his volunteers from the Tea Party movement.  He raised over a million dollars a day via the internet.  His campaign existed largely outside the Republican Party structure.  Republicans always promise lower spending and smaller government, but when they get to Washington they feed the government hog instead.  When Scott Brown promised the same, the public, especially the Tea Party activists responded with great enthusiasm.  The Scott Brown campaign didn’t just exist outside the Republican Party structure…..it THRIVED.

The Tea Party is the most popular movement in the country, far outpacing both the Democrats and Republicans.  And now they’ve proven they can do more than just stand around and make noise in town halls and in web forums on the internet.  They can make or break an election, even in hostile territory.  The Republican Party hasn’t yet figured out that they need the Tea Party, but the Tea Party movement is slowly waking up to the fact that they don’t need the Republican Party.

Instead of going through usual Republican Party process of creating an electoral platform, the Tea Party folk have instead bypassed the party.  Instead of a top-down Contract TO America, they’ve banded together and through grassroots methods are creating a Contract FROM America.  In fact, internal divisions within the Tea Party movement, have at least partially been from mistrust of RNC affiliated groups.

The default position of the Tea Party movement appears to be that they choose to go it alone and the window is rapidly closing for that to change.  The Republican Party needs to find something to offer the Tea Party movement, or else they may very well find themselves in the minority, along with the Democrats.  Upcoming caucuses and primaries are the best, and probably last chance, for the Republican Party to accomplish that.

[Crossposted at True North]

It’s another woot-off!  You know the song…..sing it, and you know if you’re feeling wooty, there’s a woot-off.