Archive for December 2nd, 2008
Posted by Flap in Jeb Bush
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush
Now that Mel Martinez has announced he will NOT be seeking re-election in 2010, will Jeb Bush jump into the race?
Geraghty says don’t count on it.
Flap is NOT so sure.
Jeb is very popular in Florida and while he may not wish to seek the Presidency at this time a Senate seat would certainly keep his options open.
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“I don’t want to be married. I’m very happy with a civil partnership. If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership,†said Elton John, who cemented his relationship with David Furnish in 2005. “The word marriage, I think, puts a lot of people off. â€
Mark Simson who is gay and from Britain makes the case that gay marriage is NOT the same as gay EQUALITY.
Gay marriage is being presented by many gay people and liberals on both sides of the Atlantic as the touchstone of gay equality. Settling for anything less is a form of Jim Crow style gay segregation and second-class citizenship.
But not all gay people agree. This one sees gay marriage so much as a touchstone as a fetish. A largely symbolic and emotional issue that in the US threatens to undermine real, non-symbolic same-sex couple protection: civil unions bestow in effect the same legal status as marriage in several US states – including California. As a result of the religious right’s mobilisation against gay marriage, civil unions have been rolled back in several US states.
Living as I do in the UK, where civil partnerships have been nationally recognised since 2004, perhaps I shouldn’t carp. But part of the reason that civil partnerships were successfully introduced here was because they are not “marriages”. At this point I’d like to hide behind the formidable figure of Sir Elton John, who also expressed doubts recently about the fixation of US gay campaigners on “gay marriage”, and declared he was happy to be in a civil partnership with the American David Furnish and did not want to get married.
Amidst all the gay gnashing of teeth about the inequality of Proposition 8, it’s worth asking: when did marriage have anything to do with equality? Respectability, certainly. Normality, possibly. Stability, hopefully. Very hopefully. But equality?
First of all, there’s something gay people and their friends need to admit to the world: gay and straight long-term relationships are generally not the same. How many heterosexual marriages are open, for example? In my experience, many if not most long term male-male relationships are very open indeed. Similarly, sex is not quite so likely to be turned into reproduction when your genitals are the same shape. Yes, some gay couples may want to have children, by adoption or other means, and that’s fine and dandy of course, but children are not a consequence of gay conjugation. Which has always been part of the appeal for some.
More fundamentally who is the “man” and who is the “wife” in a gay marriage? Unlike cross-sex couples, same-sex partnerships are partnerships between nominal equals without any biologically, divinely or even culturally determined reproductive/domestic roles. Who is to be “given away”? Or as Elton John, put it: “I don’t wanna be anyone’s wife”.
Read the entire piece.
The homosexual community is hurting themselve with ordinary California voters with their insistence of redefining marriage – “whether you like it or not.”
The American voters have spoken loudly with thirty states now banning gay marriage and several having reversed civil unions.
In California when the California Supreme Court likely upholds Proposition 8, the gay community will have to decide whether they wish to force another election in 2010 (which they will lose) or change direction for more gay equality with civil unions in other states (California already has domestic partnerships which confer all of the legal rights of marriage).
Exit question: Will the gay marriage rage against Proposition 8 be redirected or will it be all consuming?
Technorati Tags: Gay Marriage, California Proposition 8
Tags: California Proposition 8, Gay Marriage
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Former California State Senator and Congressman-elect Tom McClintock and wife Lori, December 1, 2008
Former California State Senator (R-Thousand Oaks) Tom McClintock (he left office yesterday when his former aide Tony Strickland was sworn into the Senate) declared victory in his race for Congress.
In front by almost 1,800 votes with all but El Dorado County certifying Nov. 4 election results, 4th congressional district Republican candidate Tom McClintock held a victory press conference Monday.
Democratic Party candidate Charlie Brown has polled 183,840 votes to the GOP candidate’s 185,615 – a 1,775- vote difference.
“The liberal wave that swept over American lapped at the edges of this district but it was here in the 4th District of California that the wave was turned back,†McClintock said. “When the final votes were counted, the people of the 4th congressional district made a decision to stand on the traditional American principles of individual freedom and limited government – and it will be my distinct honor to carry that message to the 111th Congress of the United States.â€
Brown issued a statement Monday saying he “remains committed to ensuring a fair and accurate count where every voice is heard and will be evaluating the results over the next 24 to 48 hours to determine if any additional action is warranted on the part of our campaign.â€
The difference between the two candidates is just less than half of a percentage point. A recount is possible, although McClintock used two state elections as benchmarks against extending the count – where candidates were separated by fewer votes and fewer percentage points that the 4th District election but were not moving forward with recounts.
Speaking at Roseville campaign headquarters to an audience of supporters flanked by regional media representatives, McClintock made a formal statement of victory. Counts over the past three weeks have increased his lead by more than 1,000 votes over election-night totals..
Looks like this race is over, despite Charlie Brown’s reluctance to concede.
Watch the video of McClintock’s victory declaration.
Here is the text:
Many years ago a wise friend of mine, Larry Arnn – now President of Hillsdale College — told me that if you stand on principle, you’re going to lose some elections and those that you win, you’re not going to win by much. But those elections that you do win are going to mean something.
And that is certainly true of this election. The liberal wave that swept over America last month lapped at the edges of this district, but it literally was in the 4th Congressional district of California where that wave was turned back.
When the final votes were counted, it was the people of the 4th Congressional District who made the decision to stand by our traditional American principles of individual freedom and limited government, and it will be my distinct honor to carry that message to the 111th Congress of the United States.
The long election count has required that we compress the transition period into just a few weeks. I had the opportunity to meet with John Doolittle in Washington the week before last. I want to thank him and his staff for their extraordinary cooperation in making this a smooth transition.
I want again to congratulate Charlie Brown and his supporters on waging one of the most hard-fought campaigns I have ever faced. As I said last Wednesday, there can be no doubt of the sincerity of their views or the dedication with which they pursued them. No one knows better than I do how difficult it is to lose a close race, and I hope it is a consolation for them to know that they made a truly superb effort.
I’ve asked my wife, Lori, to join us for this press conference. She is the one who kept our family going during a brutal primary and general election. At least I got to fight back – she had to take it and then have to put up with me when I got home each night.
And I want to thank all those who made this victory possible – those who so selflessly donated so much of their time; those who so generously contributed the resources to get our message out; and our campaign staff who worked impossibly long and difficult hours. It is the close elections in which EVERY effort becomes decisive – and it is those elections that make a candidate acutely aware of the trust and confidence that has been placed in his hands. It is a lot to live up to, and I will do everything in my power to be worthy of it.
But most of all I want to thank the voters of the 4th Congressional District who have stood with me in this election. Thank you for the stand that you have taken.
You have been heard around the country: that there are many communities throughout our nation where Americans will NOT abandon the founding principles of our nation. And it is from these communities that we will now begin the fight in Congress to restore them as the foundation of our national policy.
I am honored – deeply honored – to have your charter to deliver this message to the Congress of the United States – and I will do everything within my power to see that your voices are heard and that our freedoms are restored.
Congrats Tom!
By the way, Nacny Pelosi is just going to love Tom………
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Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush tells Newsmax that the GOP must broaden its appeal to avoid becoming “the old white-guy party,†and recommends that Republicans create a “shadow government†to engage Democrats on important issues as the incoming Obama administration seeks to enact its agenda.
In a wide-ranging interview with Newsmax, the popular former governor and younger brother of President George W. Bush said the 2008 election was neither “transformational†nor a landslide. For example, he noted that Barack Obama's significant fundraising advantage over John McCain played a key role in Democratic success this year.
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Pay attention to demographics and technology.
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Sadly, the most tangible legacy of the Schwarzenegger era so far is its explosive growth in state spending. It's up by $41 billion since Davis left, jumping from $104 billion in the 2003-04 budget (the last one that Davis signed) to $145 billion in the fiscal year just ended, 2007-08. That's a 40% increase, or 33% on a per-capita basis.
John G. Matsusaka, a professor of business and law at the University of Southern California, notes this fact in a recent article and asks fair questions: "Why does it seem like the quality and quantity of government is not all that different from 2004? How many of us feel like we are getting 40% more public services, 40% better schools, roads, parks and so on?"
The honest answer is that a great deal of this money went to make government and its employees richer, not better. For instance, California's teachers are among the highest-paid in the nation, but by any measure its public schools are far from the nation's best.
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The land of bloated budgets and gold-plated public unions is collapsing. California has finally realized you can’t run up massive deficits forever. Now, GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a “fiscal emergency.†And you know what’s coming next. Get ready to fork over at least $7 billion in taxpayer-funded loans.
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Arnld couldn't deal with his own GOP base and the Democrats overran him.
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As the Obama transition team reviews the federal government’s network of agencies, President Bill Clinton’s appointees and staffers are playing a major role.
Just how big? At least 85 of the 135-odd members of President-elect Barack Obama’s agency review teams served in the Clinton administration, a Washington Wire count shows.
That’s nearly two-thirds of the members of the working groups reviewing agency issues, and the Clinton resurrection has not gone unnoticed. “Here’s how you can tell the campaign is over and done with,†wrote Ben Smith and Carrie Budoff Brown in Politico. “Clintonites are everywhere.â€
Some members of Obama’s transition teams are reviewing the same agencies they worked for in the ’90s: Pamela Gilbert, the former executive director of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, is reviewing the CPSC; Phyllis Segal, the former director of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, is vetting the FLRA; and Michael Camunez…
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Plus Ca Change
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Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House, has tapped California Rep. Kevin O. McCarthy as his top deputy, cementing an already fruitful partnership between two rising stars in the party.
The selection gives Cantor a politically astute ally at the leadership table as he seeks to translate six years of potential into a real power base within the House GOP. The move, which will be announced Monday, also solidifies McCarthy as the next Eric Cantor.
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There are 10 Republicans brand new to the Legislature being sworn in today. That doesn't include former Sen. Jim Nielsen, who served as GOP leader of the upper house in the mid-1980s.
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According to the FEC, Giuliani's committee provided information "in the form of a sworn affidavit" that Singer was "expressly informed that he was not authorized to act on behalf of the Giuliani campaign when he contributed his own funds to the TIA."
Also, at the time that he made the contribution to the TIA, Singer was no longer raising money for Giuliani and hadn't been for three months. He was, however, still a policy adviser to the campaign.
In the end, the FEC found "no evidence that the Giuliani Committee established, financed, maintained or controlled TIA such that its activites would be imputed to Giuliani" and "no evidence of coordination" between the Giuliani Committee and CER."
Not a pass – clears his campaign.
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The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.
The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.
There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.
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"I assembled this team because I am strong believer in strong personalities and strong opinions," Obama said. "I think that's how the best decisions are made. One of the dangers in a White House, based on my reading of history, is that you get wrapped up in groupthink, and everybody agrees with everything, and there's no discussion and there are not dissenting views. So I'm going to be welcoming a vigorous debate inside the White House. But I understand, I will be setting policy as president. I will be responsible for the vision that this team carries out, and I expect them to implement that vision, once decisions are made. So as Harry Truman said, the buck will stop with me."
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Team Obama is the epitome of GROUPTHINK or is it NEWSPEAK?
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A Quinnipiac poll released this week shows strong support for the incumbent Specter. Specter leads 45 percent to Matthews’ 33 percent among overall voters. Among Democratic voters, however, Matthews leads Specter 55 to 25 percent.
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If Specter stays healthy, Chirs Matthews will NOT run.
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A provocative point from First Read: "[O]f the three big national security posts, it's possible a President McCain could have picked Jones and Gates as well."
And Clinton, as my colleague Jonathan Martin points out, is hardly a sop to the left.
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The LEFT must be seething
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