The New Day—December 21, 2017 Thursday, Dec 21 2017

I am back.  I do legal matters on Pacifica Legal Lines, but that is where that will stay.  Beginning today, I talk about all my other passions here.

I am alternating between ecstatic joy over the passage of the Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 by Congress, which will do tremendous good for the country, and for America’s ability to do business with the rest of the world, and disturbance of spirit over the fact that there is absolutely so much wrong with a country that has lost its way.  In the past year I have watched families and marriages wrecked over the anger displayed over politics, a subject area that was supposed to be untouchable when it came to the family dinner table.  Family was supposed to trump politics, and the only time American & Western society broke that time-honored code was during the 1960s, with the Vietnam War in America and the Sexual-Drug Revolution in the West as a whole, and it nearly tore the fabric of our civilization apart, and drove us all into a cultural winter from which we have not emerged.

Once I told a family member who rejoiced over his role as a left-wing activist in the changes of that period about all the “benefits” that his “revolution” brought our civilization.  I pointed out how I could see it every Sunday in the lives of those who came into the church I attended.  What hallucinogenic drug use caused, the pernicious influence of evolution, the attack of political correctness on faith and patriotism, the loss of dignity of veterans and PTSD after Vietnam and both Gulf Wars, the rampant divorce, unwed births and homosexuality on family, the destructive effect of feminism on marriage, the emotional and physical effects on women by abortion on demand, and so many more things.  The end result of my expose at the “benefits” of his work brought forth a blind, sputtering rage by that family member, that resulted in an estrangement from me that has continued to this day.

I no longer wish to simply stand by and be a spectator on the world, nor do I want to spend all my energy raging against the darkness.  I would rather speak of what can be done about it.  So, I will be concentrating my efforts on what kind of activities that people are doing that are positive.  Not a feel-good kind of blog, but one that takes on the facts of the day head-on, and shows people with solutions executing them successfully.  For simply railing against an ever-darkening world and culture is a waste of time.  But putting together solutions is just the thing.

For example, here is a first class case of American chutzpah, quite appropriate for this season of Hanukkah.  In the face of a UN Security Council vote saying it was illegal for America to build its embassy in West Jerusalem and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel—and I mean, illegal under American law, American Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley basically told them to go to Hell, that nobody was going to tell the United States of America where they can put their embassy, and that she was going to kick ass and take names.  She called it, in her speech two days ago, “an insult….we will not forget…”   She is definitely carrying out the will of her boss, the President of the United States, and that of a large majority of her fellow Americans.

It is a very pleasant thing to see it when our political leaders actually act like Americans want them to.  It is now, a very nice day.

—-Consigiliare Pacifica—

 

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February 19, 2017 Monday, Feb 20 2017

I am sitting at the side of my last pet, a lovely tuxedo named Elena.  She is dying, and all the efforts that could be made for her have not prevented the end from coming.  A fast-moving lymphoma is sending her home, yes, home.  Ecclesiastes has a passage that talks about the human spirit, rising to be with God, spoken by Solomon with certainty, but then asks whether the spirit of the animal goes into the earth, with considerable doubt, the implication being that the spirits of beloved animals are with us in Heaven.  I choose to believe that, because that is more in line with the character of God than a wasteful discarding of sentient life.

In the midst of a world gone mad, I am confronted with the fact that life is, most of all,  personal.  I am grateful that God is not a myth, and that He is not evil, and that my angry rages against Him over the years have not been met with wrath and rejection, but with silent understanding and compassion.

I will see my Elena again. For that I am grateful.

More on what I must write about later.

FEBRUARY 20, 2017:

Now back to the world gone mad.  I am not crazy wild about Donald Trump, but I am crazy wild about his attacks on a media that has been an affront to decency since after the Second World War.  There is no justification for the lies told, that President Trump, and former NSC Chief Gen. Mike Flynn should be thrown into prison and Trump impeached.  Here it is, the FBI found, after getting phone intercepts and direct mike surveillance, that when Flynn met with the Russian Ambassador, he leaked NO national secrets, did not promise reversals of Obama policy, did not attempt to undermine national policy.  And all he did, was fail to tell Vice-President Mike Pence that he mentioned sanctions to the Ambassador, though according to the FBI and NSA, there was absolutely no illegal promises made, that would interfere with the Obama administration’s sanctions, in violation of the  Logan Act’s prohibition of private individuals from engaging in attempts to undermine Presidential policy.

Other than lying to Pence, Flynn did nothing, though that lack of honesty to the Vice-President would be a firing offense.  All told, it opened a door to the ability for Pres. Trump to get an appointee who may even be more skillful in “draining the swamp” in the intelligence establishment.  Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton would be ideal for the job, as a long-time veteran of the foreign intelligence and foreign policy Republican establishment, and what is more, a very conservative one.

The fact is that the intelligence operatives who leaked the information about Gen. Flynn to the media, beginning with the Washington Post, all of whom were Obama administration holdovers, are now guilty of serious federal felonies.

18 U.S.C. 798 states as follows:

“Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates…to an unauthorized person, or publishes…any classified information obtained by the processes of communication intelligence from the communications of any foreign government, knowing the same to have been obtained by such processes shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.”

It matters not that the leakers intended to reveal a deception by Flynn. The law’s intent clause refers only to the intent to reveal. Any underlying motivation to serve the public good by disclosing a lie or misrepresentation is of no legal consequence under the statute.

It doesn’t matter that Donald Trump was politically hurt by the leaks.  In fact, the political motivation of these rogue officials makes their actions even worse.  There is no worse reason to attack a president’s policy holders with illegal behavior  than to find a way to destroy his presidency out of partisan political hatred or out of ideological zeal.  That fits the definition of treason.  And if this begins to reveal a “shadow government” remotely run by the likes of Barack Obama, then there needs to be a lot of people frog-marched to the nearest federal courthouse.

Ciao.

–The Old Alcalde–

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6 February 2017–The Storm Clouds Continue to Gather Wednesday, Feb 8 2017

I am continuing to marvel on how the events of the world are manifesting a certainty of the conflicts that are predicted in the Ancient Word.  Brexit, the split of opinion between East and West Europe, populism rising in Europe, populist movements electing new leadership in the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan,  Argentina last year, Brazil’s removal of Dilma Roussef, the increased tension between Russia and Ukraine, Japan’s determination to confront China’s aggression in the South China Sea, Israel’s aggressive stance toward Iran without American help, and of course, the emergence of President Donald Trump.

In the last two days some momentous things have happened, that have received hardly a word in the American media.  First, more drama in Brazil.  In extremely important municpal elections all over the country, over 60% of the seats held by the Socialists were lost to a Trump-like conservative coalition of parties.    It is no secret  that a large amount of the effect of the winds of change in Brazil is the massive growth of the evangelical Pentecostal church, which now numbers almost a quarter of the population, and is expected to overtake Roman Catholicism by 2030.

At the same time, Israel is abandoning the restraint it has been forced to retain in settlement construction in Judea and Samaria (aka ‘The West Bank’), and has now authorized the construction of more than 5,500 new homes on abandoned Arab land, or on land confiscated from those families of jihadist activity.  The dirty secret of all the talk of a ‘two-state solution’ in that region is that both biblically and by the traditional rules of war (the defensive Six-Day War of 1967), all of the land from the Jordan to the Mediterranean is the rightful land of the Free State of Israel.  But that fact has been disregarded for 50 years by the world community, in favor of a nation that was never a nation.  The growing antagonism will only lead to war.

The growing movement of Israel’s finds of oil and natural gas, especially the latter, has resulted in Israel becoming both energy independent and an exporter of petroleum or natural gas to other nations, such as Jordan, and even to Western Europe.  Such a development would have been deemed a pipe dream even 20 years ago.  It’s developing reserves have already placed the tiny country into the top 40 in the world of energy producers; with new discoveries both on and off shore, the amount available would boost it into the top 10, making it a competitor of all but the richest of oil sheikdoms and the likes of the U.S. and Canada.  When that happens, expect that Russia and Iran will tighten ties with the rest of the Middle East’s Muslim states, and the prophecies of the ancient prophet Ezekiel will begin to take on a wondrous, though terrifying present-day form.

In the meantime, more evidence that the effort of the globalist movement to use “climate change” as a means of obtaining control over the free markets of the world, and thereby over its people, is built on falsified data.  From the London Daily Mail:

The Mail on Sunday today reveals astonishing evidence that the organisation that is the world’s leading source of climate data rushed to publish a landmark paper that exaggerated global warming and was timed to influence the historic Paris Agreement on climate change.
A high-level whistleblower has told this newspaper that America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) breached its own rules on scientific integrity when it published the sensational but flawed report, aimed at making the maximum possible impact on world leaders including Barack Obama and David Cameron at the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015.
The report claimed that the ‘pause’ or ‘slowdown’ in global warming in the period since 1998 – revealed by UN scientists in 2013 – never existed, and that world temperatures had been rising faster than scientists expected. Launched by NOAA with a public relations fanfare, it was splashed across the world’s media, and cited repeatedly by politicians and policy makers.
But the whistleblower, Dr John Bates, a top NOAA scientist with an impeccable reputation, has shown The Mail on Sunday irrefutable evidence that the paper was based on misleading, ‘unverified’ data.
It was never subjected to NOAA’s rigorous internal evaluation process – which Dr Bates devised.
His vehement objections to the publication of the faulty data were overridden by his NOAA superiors in what he describes as a ‘blatant attempt to intensify the impact’ of what became known as the Pausebuster paper.
His disclosures are likely to stiffen President Trump’s determination to enact his pledges to reverse his predecessor’s ‘green’ policies, and to withdraw from the Paris deal – so triggering an intense political row.

More is yet to come, but as said before, the “birthpangs” of news indicating that the Second Coming is drawing  nigh indeed, just as the Master promised in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 (Luke 21:28).  Until I post again, I am with love.

–The Old Alcalde–

 

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January 12, 2017–The Return Thursday, Jan 12 2017

Incredible, that I  have not posted here in nearly 9 YEARS!  Scandalous!  As the kid said to ‘Shoeless Joe’ Jackson, “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”  But I am back, and ready to be relentless.  It is amazing how 9 years ago, I was cheering on Mike Huckabee and then John McCain against first, Hillary Clinton, then Barack Obama.  Now Huckabee is a sometime commentator, failed repeat candidate, John McCain is a senior statesman to some, despised turncoat to others.  And with his recent admitted antic of turning over salacious hacked stories of possible lurid activities by Pres.-elect Trump to the FBI, out of the NSA, with all sorts of intelligence questions surrounding both the stories and McCain’s actions, the Arizona Senator is definitely showing his age and a sorry side of him trying desperately to stay relevant.

But here is some comment on things that are relevant.

Gene Healy in Reason.com wrote an article about the impending exit of pretender-President Barack Obama called ‘Goodbye, Obama.’  It was definitely NOT a complimentary missive.  The most devastating legacy of this man is, according to the article, that he is the first President to truly have undisguised contempt for the responsibilities of the Chief Executive (or his reasonable facsimile thereof) to the Constitution, in its separation of powers, in its limitations on regulatory power, to the restraints of the Bill of Rights, of the limits on the war-making power of the Commander -in-Chief.

From the stretching of his war-making powers to practically embrace everything from surges in Afghanistan to launching more drone strikes in a weekend than George W. Bush launched in eight years in the White House (some of which targeted American citizens), to a degree of data collection of private Americans’ (and that means ALL of us!) that would stagger George Orwell, to the abuse of executive orders the likes of which would have made our Founders start looking for rope, Barack Obama has now made the Office of the President inviting to any narcissistic demogogue.  And many people believe that is what we now have.

So now we have the usual suspects engaged in throwing off tradition and decorum, when it suits the Left to do so.  Congressman John Lewis (Marxist D-Georgia)(truly the definition of “pompous ass, entitled pompous ass”), has joined with Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) to attack Sen. Jeff Sessions as racist, based on comments allegedly made by him more than 30 years ago, which has since been withdrawn by his original accusers.  For the same reason I got furious over supposed comments by Donald Trump 12 years earlier being broadcast all over network TV and the Internet, or some half-baked accusation by a woman from 1975, or back in 2012, Mitt Romney supposedly tackling a kid in the snow…at age 15….because the kid may have been gay….I am furious now.  There is a statute of limitations on shame….but not in the eyes of these Marxist scum.  And yes, scum.  Especially Lewis.  His whole “hero” status is because in 1963 Bull Connor beat him up in Birmingham alongside M.L. King. Him and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, three more arrogant and corrupt individuals, totally unknown.  They are why most white people of my generation cannot think about the civil rights movement without having the likes of them in our minds.

For that reason alone, I hope Sessions sails to confirmation, and with it proceeds to fulfill these dirtbags biggest fear….moving Congress to impose national voter ID, with a picture, tamper-proof, on the front.  Voter suppression never sounded so good.  So sick of leftists stealing elections and then leveling false accusations against conservatives.  I pray for justice, so that the day of felons and illegal aliens and multiple voters–all arranged by organizers funded by union dues forced out of employees that don’t approve of their activities–comes to an end.

In the meantime, Senator Marco Rubio showed why I wish every day that he was the one  getting set for the White House, rather than the Donald.  Rex Tillerson showed why he should NOT have been selected Secretary of State designate by the President-elect.  The man had no willingness to concede anything that would show a conscience.  Not Vladimir Putin’s murder of multiple political opponents, or the Russian military’s slaughter of tens of thousands of anti-government civilians in Aleppo, Syria, by Putin’s orders, not the extrajudicial killings of the Dutarte regime in the Philippines–6,200 in 6 months!–not the cyberwarfare of Russia and China, all public record.  Nothing!  He is more Realpolitick than Henry Kissinger ever was, obviously wanting to protect American-based multinational corporations ability to do business rather than lead.  And Marco Rubio simply dissected him and left him out to dry.  Tillerson was going to get my benefit of a doubt, but not after today.  I have to say it, I hope he is rejected by the Senate, because he is unfit.  Trump should have picked Mitt Romney!  Maybe he’ll get another crack at that soon….after the Trump voting base gets their lesson in reality politics.  Kudos to Marco Rubio.

Finally, George Neumayr, in ‘The American Spectator’ February edition, ripped up Obama’s ‘farewell address’ as the pathetic piece of narcisstic self-glorification that it was.  75 references to himself, and celebrating the very thing George Washington said he feared in his famous Farewell Address; the dismantling of the Judeo-Christian moral and spiritual foundations of this Republic.  If there is one thing I hope for with the new President, it is that all of Obama’s hatred of “all things true, all things honest, all things pure, all things lovely, all things noteworthy or worthy of praise” (see Philippians 4) comes to absolutely nothing.

So, back to battle.  It never ends……

—The Old Alcalde–

 

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7 March 2008–Huckabee–The Long March Goes On Saturday, Mar 8 2008

I am unimpressed. I am unrepressed. I am undeterred. I am unbroken, and unbowed. I am for Governor Mike Huckabee, for President of the United States. In 2012 or 2016, perhaps, but still for him. He is the best man for the job. Now. And he will be the best man for the job in those future years. No Mormon billionaire who seeks to buy off the conservative movement by taking over its talking heads by buying off Clear Channel Communications, or a minority interest in Fox News will do. No half-baked political hack that is “chosen” for us by our supposed “conservative leadership” will be acceptable, especially when their real motivation is that he is a southern rural country boy who their blue blood from the Potomac and the Hudson consider unfit to breathe the same air as they. And they accused him of provoking class warfare!

In the meantime, I will badger John McCain to make him his choice for Vice-President. Not that I think I and my fellow Huckabee supporters will have to try hard. Frankly I think Senator John likes him. I have to admit “Old Man McCain” is growing on me. After the betrayal by people I used to admire, I am beginning to change my own loyalties. So, off to being a loyal real conservative Republican–voting for McCain, but ready to work like a slave for his election—if he chooses the right man—Gov. Huckabee, as his running mate—and the eventual Vice-President of the United States, to become the 45th President of the United States in 2012 or 2016.

As the Crusaders would say, “God wills it!”

—The Old Alcalde—

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20 February 2008–Huckabee, The Long March IV Wednesday, Feb 20 2008

This primary process is just about over. McCain will be the nominee, but Huckabee bloodied him in a Northern state with 38%. Not bad, and will do much better in Ohio and Texas (where I believe he will win). Possibly now setting himself up for a Vice-Presidential bid? Shhhh…no one’s talking yet.

The following post was earlier written on Red State, in response to a pretty arrogant and misinformed complainant against Gov. Huckabee. You can imagine what was said by that guy. So watch out below.

“Don’t spill you KoolAid. Oops….
You did!”

Uhhh,….Actually, I don’t drink KoolAid. Haven’t since age 12. You’re dreaming again, just like Club for Growth and Cato’s image (or shall I say ‘mirage’? Yes, I can.)of Gov. Huckabee’s record. I’ll be quick.

1. The tax increase on diesel fuel was on interstate trucking traffic only. It was done to meet a situation of a budget shortfall and disastrous roads in Arkansas. The alternative, since they were dealing with court orders on balanced budgets with no further room for budget cuts (which had already been done by 11-18%), was to simply hike the general sales tax. Conservative tax theory states that, when necessary, as here, strictly-targeted taxes, such as user fees, etc., are preferable to general taxes.

2. The general sales tax increase was, again, in response to a court order to raise revenues to cover a budget shortfall. The Governor was not allowed to erase the shortfall by more budget cuts. And it was only a 7/8 of a cent rise, which at 6% is still much lower than most states.

3. The cigarette increase was of the same kind, to make up for the budget shortfall, was targeted for state Medicaid programs, and to prevent a loss of 3/1 ratio federal funding. Know any governors who would turn down tens of millions of dollars of federal matching funds for indigent health care? The alternative? Go back to the people for fresh looting and explain why his conservative principles have now lost federal money and caused him to either demand more money in general taxes or close down much of the state Medicaid program, which would probably violate federal law/guidelines, triggering a rush of lawsuits by your friends and mine—that’s right—Democrat trial lawyers!

4. On the Mexican consulates–Sorry, no KoolAid again, except the green stuff that your downing. They were one of over 40 countries that Gov. Huckabee visited and set up trade missions or consulates in order to further business relationships with Arkansas business and ensure LEGAL activities representing their foreign nationals in the state. Remember he had a firm called Wal-Mart that has given a major second chance for prosperity for the state. There is no truth to the notion that the Governor personally encouraged the Mexican governmsnt in issuing Matricula Consular cards to anyone, much less to illegals.

5. On changes in position at the onset to a campaign, that is much more typical of people who are having to conform earlier-held positions to the new realities of seeking the Presidency. Ronald Reagan advocated broad tax increases to end the large budget deficit in 1976. It was not until a conversation with Jack Kemp and Arthur Laffer that Reagan chose to champion the broad tax cuts he achieved.

6. Oh, and Mitt Romney raised taxes by $721 million in just 4 years, as opposed to Huckabee’s record over 11 years. Rudy Giuliani had increased taxes as mayor as well in New York.

7. On anything ethical? On all issues, including the $70,000 furniture they were all dismissed in court as nonsensical and void of merit, the work of Mike’s enemies, who are part of the Bill Clinton machine. Once again, a little problem with hallucinatory green ooze, hmmm?

8. On foreign policy: I admit, that was Mike’s weakness, initially. However, on closer examination, Gov. Huckabee explained in a later debate in New Hampshire that he was really referring to the actions of Donald Rumsfeld in stubbornly refusing to listen to the counsel of battlefield commanders concerning the battle with insurgents and with his cavalier failure to provide proper battle armor for vehicles against IEDs. Furthermore, on the issue of Iran, he noted that jumping into war may not be wise when the populace already is overwhelmingly against their own leaders and strongly sympathetic to the USA (candlelight vigils in Tehran, celebrations in Gaza on 9/11).

9. On the military: He made the adjustments in that area in the most responsible way. The Governor promised, if elected, he would match Pres. Reagan’s buildup of the military in the 80s to 6% of GDP, roughly doubling the amount of military spending, including large increases in land forces, the Marines, and especially in restoring Pres. Reagan’s 600-ship Navy. A purpose in it? Oh yes, it’s called a resurgent Russia and a dangerous China.

10. On immigration: Wanting kids who went to school in Arkansas from ages 6-18, and who, because of their age, were eligible, due to section 245i of the Immigration and Nationalization Act, to apply for legal resident status, IS a great deal different than supporting mass amnesty without exception and providing no border security, allowing mass incursions of the next 15 million illegals into the country.

Sorry, I’m drinking champagne. I’ll chat more later, I imagine.

—The Old Alcalde—

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11 February 2008–Long March II–Huckabee for President Tuesday, Feb 12 2008

Well, hello. The statements below, and the title above are a copy of an earlier article posted on my blog at Red State. I think my sentiments and understanding need no elaboration. So I hope they are encouraging to those who should be, and thought-provoking to the rest.

I am watching the way this selection process is going, like everybody else. What I think is going to happen is nothing less than miraculous. On Saturday morning, the Rasmussen Poll, which normally releases composite results based upon a 4-day tracking process, used only the two days beginning Thursday and the day Mitt Romney suspended his campaign, to post a lead of 55%-24% by Senator McCain over Governor Mike Huckabee. On Sunday morning, Rasmussen revealed that the 3-day composite poll showed that the nationwide margin had changed to 49%-29%. And this morning the numbers had narrowed to 46%-34% McCain, using the entire 4 days of polling. In order for that to happen, the following two days would have to look like this:

Saturday:
McCain-37%
Huckabee39%

Sunday:

McCain-37%
Huckabee-49%

Similar surges are being indicated in the Survey USA, AP, and Newsweek polls, both nationwide, and in the Potomac primary, particularly in Virginia. There is no indication of how the numbers are changing, if at all, today, or how it will go tomorrow. But with a smaller percentage of early voters compared to some of the Super Tuesday states, particularly California, the turnout and the sentiment of that turnout on Primary Tuesday will tell us much of whether the calls will be louder for Mike Huckabee to withdraw, or whether it will be a day even more like Saturday, or the Tuesday before that. A day on which the American political environment becomes completely turned on its head.

In my belief that Governor Michael Huckabee will create that surprise, and will become the leader of a new restructuring of the Republican Party, and the conservative movement in particular. I show myself as either an utter fool, standing in the way of all the conventional political wisdom of all American political experts, of all persuasions, or, as the successful proponent of an extremely fortunate guess.

Based upon what I’m beginning to see, and considering the fact that at least 10% of voters no doubt have voted early, and that the endorsements of the party and its opinion leaders are overwhelmingly for McCain, mostly unwillingly, that McCain has a huge lead among delegates (although Louisiana and Washington may yet slightly alter that), and that the wealth of fundraising is totally on McCain’s side, the odds are completely against me. And I am completely assured that I will have great reason to rejoice tomorrow at this time.

Mike Huckabee will eventually be able to describe the victory he will achieve in the words of Mohandas Gandhi, as he described his lead of India’s victory over British rule with the following:

“First they ignore you. Then they disdain you. Then they mock you. Then they condemn you. Then they fight you.
…..Then you win.”

Let’s see the fun.

—The Old Alcalde—

Why I LIKE MIKE HUCKABEE

Supports Israel
Man of Faith
Stood By His Wife During Spinal Cancer
Will Appoint Conservative, Pro-Life Judges
Against Judges Legislating from the Bench
Supports Pro Life
Supports Marriage Amendment
Supports Vertical Politics vs Left Against Right
Will Secure America’s Borders
Endorsed by Jim Gilchrist-Founder of Minutemen
Supports Building Border Fence
Opposes Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants
Wants to Provide a Path to Citizenship For Illegal Aliens
Supports the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Believes in Well Rounded Education
Set Up Tax-Free Savings Accounts For College Tuition
Took Arkansas Schools from below average to 8th in Nation-Quality Counts
Implemented Smart Start, Smart Step & Next Step In Schools
Significantly Raised School Test Scores
Believes in High Standards for Schools, Tough Tests, Strong Accountability
Promotes Financial Transparency
Promotes School and Teacher Accountability
Rewards Excellence in Teachers
Holds Parents and Students Accountable For Performance
Supports Homeschoolers
Author of 3 Inspirational Books – Co-authored 3 Books
Supports Fair Tax
Faced ALL His Duties as Governor-Including Carrying Out 16 Executions
HIS Constituents WANT HIM BACK
Wants Energy Independence
Wants Agricultural Independence
Wants Defense Independence
Wants to Put America to Work on Infrastructure
Welfare rolls Declined by Half
For Eminent Domain-Protection of Personal Property
Supports Castle Doctrine Law-A Man’s Home is his Castle
Public Official of the Year 2005-Governings
One of Nations Best Governors-Time Magazine
Dist Public Health Legislator of the Year-Amer Public Health Assoc
AARP Impact Award-2006
Honoree-Government Technology Magazine
Leader of Leaders-Chairman of National Governors Assoc
Uninsured Children fell from 18% Down to 9%-Time Magazine
Wants to Promote Health Care vs Disease Care
Established Tax Free Savings Accounts For Medical Care
Has Personal Discipline to Loose 110 lbs and Trains to Run Marathons
Can Rise to Emergency Situations-Op K.A.R.E-75,000 Katrina Victims-WSJ
Good Financial Steward
AR Rds from “Worst Roads-1999” to “Most Improved-2004”- Overdrive Mag
Revenue Stabilization Law-Prevents Deficit Spending
Took $200 Million Dollar Deficit to $850 Million Dollar Surplus
REPEALED a Tax When No Longer Needed-Short Term Save After Sept 11th
Balanced His State’s Budget 5 Times
During 10 Years as Gov, AR Taxes Rose ½ as Much as Other States Rose
Got Voter Approval For 1/8 Cent Tax Increase For Parks and Recreation
Friend of the Taxpayer-Americans for Tax Reform
Signed Presidential Taxpayer Pledge
Eliminated Capital Gains Tax for Sale of a Home
Lowered Capital Gains Rate
Expanded the Homestead Exemption
Indexed Income Tax to Inflation to Prevent Move to Higher Tax Brackets
Supports Making Bush Tax Cuts Permanent
Doubled the Child Care Credit
Doubled the Standard Deduction
Eliminated Marriage Penalty
Supports Limiting Earmarks
Wields a Tough Veto Pen
Helped Nursing Homes
Champions Families and Traditional Marriage
Reaffirmed Marriage Vows
Has Been Married to the Same Woman For 34 Years
Sold His Guitar Collection to Buy His Young Wife a Washer and Dryer
Nursed His Wife Himself
Helps His Wife Up Steps Instead of Running on Ahead-Pres Campaign
Against Racism
Against Centralized Power
Against Gun Control
Lifetime member of the NRA, member for over 15 years
First Governor to have concealed-carry permit
Removed restrictions on carry permit holders
Protected gun manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits
Opposes reauthorization of the Assault Weapon Ban
Opposes expansion of the unconstitutional “Brady Bill”
Opposes waiting period for purchase of firearms
Opposes background checks on private firearms transactions at gun shows
An avid hunter and conservationist, and a member of the Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation and BASS.
Won’t Pull Our Troops Without Honorable End
Supports Veterans Bill of Rights
Supports Veterans Health Care
Supports Spelling Out Veterans Rights and Then Giving Them to Veterans
Supports Processing Veterans Claims Within 6 Months
Supports Fullest Accounting by Government Relative to POW/MIA Status
Supports Giving Same Rights to National Guard and Reserves
Supports Giving Vets Military Returement and VA Compensation
Endorsed by Calif Rep Duncan Hunter, Now a Senior Advisor-Huckabee Campaign
The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act (1997 Act 984)
The Fetal Protection Act (1999 Act 1273)
The Physician Assisted Suicide Ban Act (1999 Act 394)
The Woman’s Right to Know Act (2001 Act 353)
The Safe Haven Act (2001 Act 236)
The Choose Life Specialty Plate (2003 Act 344)
The Human Cloning Ban (2003 Act 607)
The Right to View Ultrasound Test (2003 Act 1189)
The Right to Receive Nutrition & Hydration (2003 Act 1322)(Terry Schivo Case:Endorsed by her brother)
The Parental Consent for Minor Abortion Act (2005 Act 537)
The Unborn Child Pain Awareness & Prevention Act (2005 Act 1696)
Unborn Victims of Violence Act
VOTE ONLY FOR MIKE HUCKABEE

—The Old Alcalde—

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2 February 2008—Why I Am Still For Huckabee, Even Now—Part V Sunday, Feb 3 2008

I imported this information about Mike Huckabee from his website, MikeHuckabee.com, that in bullet-sized form repeats pretty well all the major policy positions that he has taken, and their distinctiveness from his main two Republican rivals in the primary season, John McCain and Mitt Romney. Hope this helps clarifies matters for those who are wavering voters, and leads them to vote for Governor Huckabee.

Huckabee for President Volunteer Issue Guide
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1. With ten-and-a-half years of experience running state government, Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas has more relevant executive experience than any candidate in the race – either Republican or Democrat.

2. Recognized and tapped by his peers for leadership, the National Governor’s Association selected Governor Huckabee as it’s Chairman.

3. TIME Magazine honored him as one of the five best Governors in America.

4. Governor Huckabee is a fiscal conservative who cut taxes almost 100 times in the state of Arkansas, including the state’s first broad-based tax cuts, and turned a $200 million deficit into an $850 million surplus.

ISSUES
1. TAXES/ECONOMY –Governor Huckabee supports The FairTax because it will restore the “Made in America” label, making American goods 12-25% more competitive, boosting economic growth, increasing our exports, and securing American jobs. It also prevents criminals or illegal aliens from avoiding taxes, and makes the taxes we all pay 100% transparent.

2. GOVERNMENT SPENDING – Governor Huckabee is committed to reducing government spending. One way he’ll do this is by reducing the cost of welfare. Governor Huckabee will work with states to reduce welfare roles through programs like the one he implemented in Arkansas, which reduced welfare roles by 50%.

3. HEALTH CARE –Governor Huckabee will implement a consumer-based healthcare system that emphasizes preventative medicine and wellness. Because 70% of our $2 trillion dollar healthcare costs is spent treating chronic, preventable diseases, this approach will make healthcare more affordable for everybody while keeping us healthier.

4. FAMILY VALUES –Governor Huckabee supports a federal constitutional amendment to protect the right to life. He Successfully fought for Arknasas’ marriage amendment and strongly supports a similar, federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

5. IMMIGRATION –Governor Huckabee will secure the border (with physical barriers, electronic surveillance, and more border-patrol personnel and detention facilities). He will also end sanctuary cities and increase penalties on, and enforcement against, employers who hire illegal immigrants. Governor Huckabee will make sure the border patrol has adequate funding to end our “catch and release” system so that everyone caught trying to enter illegally, overstaying their visa, or committing a crime will be held until they’re tried, convicted, and deported. Gov. Huckabee has also signed the Numbers USA “No Amnesty” Pledge.

6. WAR ON TERROR AND IRAQ – Governor Huckabee knows it takes a large, well-equipped military to ensure our national defense and to deter conventional military confrontations. He also knows we need large, well-equipped intelligence and Special Forces operations for our national offense – so we can effectively find and eliminate terrorist threats at home or abroad. Governor Huckabee will be a Commander in Chief who knows that IF WE HAVE TO FIGHT A WAR, our President has to fight it the way our GENERALS tell him it can be won, not the way we want it to be won.

7. ENERGY INDEPENDENCE –Governor Huckabee will implement a program to end the import of foreign oil in the next ten years by increasing domestic oil production in the short term, and then replacing oil-based energy infrastructure with alternative and renewable energies.

8. CLEMENCIES – Arkansas Governors grant clemency, but the parole board grants parole. Wayne DuMond’s parole was granted by the board and NOT Governor Huckabee.

9. TAXES –When Governor Huckabee left office, the tax rates remained exactly the same as when he first came into office. Governor Huckabee returned almost $400 million to Arkansas taxpayers, and he also DOUBLED the standard deduction for individuals and married couples, DOUBLED the childcare tax credit, and eliminated the marriage penalty. He also repealed capital gains taxes for home sales, lowered the capital gains rate by 25%, expanded the homestead exemption, and set up tax-free savings accounts for medical care and college tuition. Gov. Huckabee has also signed the Americans for Tax Reform’s pledge not to raise taxes.

10. SECOND AMENDMENT–
• Lifetime member of the NRA, member for over 15 years
• First Governor to have concealed-carry permit
• Removed restrictions on carry permit holders
• Protected gun manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits
• Opposes reauthorization of the Assault Weapon Ban
• Opposes expansion of the unconstitutional “Brady Bill”
• Opposes waiting period for purchase of firearms
• Opposes background checks on private firearms transactions at gun shows
• Will nominate judges who interpret the constitution as the Founders intended, rather than as a “living document reflecting current political trends or opinions”
• An avid hunter and conservationist, and a member of the Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation and BASS.

Permalink: http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=1332

—The Old Alcalde—
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2 February 2008—Why I Am Still For Huckabee, Even Now—Part IV Sunday, Feb 3 2008

This is from earlier this evening, something I wrote on my blog on Red State.com, BelisariusVII. I think that you will understand why I am so stirred to action, as you read, and listen to the video at the bottom.

Just a warning—it will throw you a curve. A downloaded video for Barack Obama, by a radically committed supporter of Mike Huckabee.

You’ll understand, though. If you trust me.

Well, I am back. The approach of Fat Tuesday has certainly created a good metaphorical piece of imagery for what is going on with this super primary on Tuesday. It has certainly promoted a kind of insanity and the idea that anything goes. We are told that only certain people can be trusted to fight a war, to fix an economy, to fix Washington, to bring hope, to ensure that this class or that group will have their pet interests and hoped-for-or-presumed-rights advanced or protected. We even are led to believe that my own candidate is unqualified to lead, simply because he has the nerve to answer a call from Heaven to lead the people of the churches he pastored, just as he followed that call to lead the people of his state, a poor, neglected, forgotten place in the eyes of many, just as he hears that same voice to ask the people of his country through his chosen party to grant him the place of leadership of the free world in a time that is, and promises to be even more, a time of darkness and titanic struggle.

I have chosen Mike Huckabee. I am biased, I am partial, I have already decided. Why? Yes, I have sought to bring up issues of the problems of other candidates: particularly McCain and Romney, though I have emphasized the reality of the man I support over the image that has been created by a media that is just simply uncomfortable with him.

Uncomfortable, because they cannot handle a former minister, who, is not simply going to follow the idea that being a Conservative Christian Republican means that you have to ignore the poor, ignore the broken, the despised, the lonely, and the stranger in our gates, and not say too much about the child in the womb or the institution of marriage–while finding a way to the hearts of those whose own brokenness have driven them to become our enemies in that struggle.

We have decided that being Conservative means that we cannot ever criticize the man who is STILL Our President, yet we cannot love him too much, ere we receive his stigma. We cannot conceive of the notion that hating a government-regime of darkness cannot also mean that we seek to prevent the plague of war from destroying both Americans and Israelis….and Iranians and Muslims. To say that such is possible, and that we should keep trying to work with the rest of the world (as Pres. Bush has tried to do and as Mike Huckabee wants to do), somehow means that you are weak and that you are not a true conservative.

We are told that to end the unrestrained activity of a globalized system of trade, which destroys the livelihoods of factory workers in South Carolina, of computer programmers in Northern California, of textile workers in Delhi, and farmers in Michoacan, while piling up trillions in fragile and unstable wealth for financiers who bind them in mortgage-backed securities made through predatory practices upon the unsuspecting, and who then use their questionably-gained wealth and power to spread their own infectious poison of globalism around a suffering world while they talk to themselves in the pleasure fields of Davos, to fight against that means that YOU ARE NOT A CONSERVATIVE and that YOU MUST HATE THE FREE MARKET!!

And we are told that the desire to end the income tax and replace it with something that does not tax you for what you do but for what you buy–and only when new–something that has been the stated dream of Conservatives since Russell Kirk began telling a people led astray with Social Liberalism that there was a better way–is not workable, undesirable, and even dangerous to the free market, and therefore it means that YOU ARE NOT A CONSERVATIVE!!!

I am told what to believe. I find that the establishment has crowned John McCain, and that Mitt Romney, through his corporation and their fellows in Thomas Lee Partners and the Carlyle Group, have bought Regnery Publishing, Clear Channel Communications, cut their deals with Fox News through the News Corporation, and therefore, metaphorically speaking, “bought the printing press” and the voices of every single conservative commentator on radio or television, as they all tell us to vote only for their choice….Mitt Romney.

It is not the man’s wealth that is a problem. Nor would it be an unhealthy desire to buy such companies as he did, if he himself were not the direct beneficiary, just as it was McCain and his friends who are the direct beneficiaries of McCain-Feingold as they structured the law to attempt to silence only those voices that could potentially be arrayed against him.

But Romney and McCain did. They sought to fix the process. And with that fix, they were no longer mere opponents in an election–they were opponents to democracy. And that is to do the unthinkable…and the intolerable.

I have enclosed the video that is now circulating the Net that supports and sets to music the speech Barack Obama made in Iowa. Why would a conservative Christian put a pro-Obama video in a blog committed to Mike Huckabee? Because for all the reasons that Obama cannot, Mike Huckabee represents for those who are told we should not.

Change. Freedom. Truth. Life. Youth. Hope. Peace. Strength. Patriotism. Victory. America. My Country. God.

So I am in this fight. One voice. One keyboard. And I will not be silent. Not ever.

Si, se puede–Republicanos–conservatismos.

—The Old Alcalde—

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1-2 February 2008 Saturday, Feb 2 2008

I wrote the following post on my Red State blog tonight, concerning my support for Mike Huckabee, and meeting him on Thursday evening here in San Diego.  I didn’t think he was going to bother with campaigning in California, but I’m glad he did.

Anyway, here’s the Red State post.

After the rant which I posted on Wednesday night (1/30), I had a chance to decompress on Thursday and today.  The wife and I saw Mike and Janet Huckabee on Thursday evening for about 10 minutes in between a press conference and a conference address to about 1,000 pastors in San Diego.  It was not a time I spent peppering him with my own questions, the media had done enough of that.  We just enjoyed reminding him of our original meetings with him in the early days of his political activity.

It was November 1991, when he had just started as a senatorial candidate in Arkansas, talking at one of the earliest of Christian Coalition conventions in Virginia Beach, when we were the second such chapter coordinators in all of Houston, and when Ralph Reed drove a Mazda and was just getting his first victories in the Virginia legislative elections.  The biggest speaker was, of all things, Vice-President Dan Quayle.  We sat at a banquet table on a Saturday night in the “Road to Victory” Seminar, and chatted away like brand-new-old-friends for almost four hours, trying not to laugh while watching the keynote speaker, the late Rep. Guy Vander Jagt of Michigan, trying to inspire patriotism by reciting the entirety of the lyrics to “God Bless the USA.” (God rest him, he was a good guy who would sadly lose to a pro-abort woman the next year after 26 years in office).

I am unconcerned about the fact that I am now become a shill for Huckabee in relating to you how we just knew, in a crowd full of office-holders, candidates, and movers and shakers, that this man was different.  We met him at the Road to Victory candidates’ forum, held late afternoon, to a crowd of less than a hundred, where he spoke as one “evangelical” candidate among about 20.  The crowd paid more attention to several candidates than to Mike, none of whom are in anybody’s present-day mental Rolodex, an oversight which, in retrospect, was certainly strange.

I have to admit, that, as much as anything else I remembered about him, I found startling how truly comfortable he was with himself.  We talked about our respective Arkansas educational backgrounds: he went to Ouachita Baptist University, I to Harding University (Church of Christ).  When I told him that I was a graduate of Regent Law School in its former life at Oral Roberts University in the 80s, he poked good-natured fun with me about how a good ol’ Texas boy from the “One True Church”, could have gone so wrong in hanging out at “ole’ Holy Roller U.”  I jokingly told him I had become a heretic, and that there was no hope for me, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit had ruined me forever.  He showed his ecumenism on that issue by saying that, as a recent President of the Arkansas Baptist Convention, he nonetheless didn’t think that the Holy Spirit took a vacation when the canon of Scripture was completed.

He listened patiently as I described the struggles I had in my solo law practice.  He talked about the struggles he had as a young pastor in a successful attempt to encourage me.  He enjoyed being a pastor, and a successful one.  His departure from the spiritual ministry into politics was not a mask for frustration or disillusionment, either in his faith or his calling.  Gail and I got the clear sense that, he was making this change in his life from preaching to politics because a Master above any of us simply said for him to do so, and he was just going to obey.  He wasn’t upset about leaving the ministry either, but rather excited about the new road the Lord had laid for him.

The impression I clearly got, his much greater weight then aside, was the same thing everyone is seeing now.  Pastor-now-Governor Huckabee was simply a man at peace with himself.  He was just displaying the virtues that you would, in a burst of idealism, expect to see in a person with a strong relationship with the Lord Jesus.  The immediate admiration we had for him continued even after lost contact with him for 16 years, all because of the indelible effect he made on us.

I am writing all this for a very important reason:  there is simply nobody else who has this kind of pure, unadulterated unflappability, that joie du vivre, making you absolutely sure that no matter the circumstances, Mike Huckabee would always have a good joke, a certainty of what to do next, and a keen sense of command of the setting.  You could trust him—implicitly, to lead you where you need to go.  The only other statesman who had that same ability was Reagan.

That leads me to my primary point.  The next President of the United States is going to have to have all of those keen attributes and more.  Whether we like it or not, whether Mike believes it or not, America is going to enter a new war, a real one, much bigger than the actions in Iraq or Afghanistan.      We will need someone who is not a knee-jerk reactor to events such as in Iran, someone who remembers that being a conservative and a patriot doesn’t mean that when Iran has the nuclear missile we start bombing city centers in Tehran and Isfahan, certainly not in a nation where the people loathe their leaders, and have a great support and admiration for the United States.

At the same time, it is serendipitous that Governor Huckabee is proposing the buildup of U.S. armed forces budget to 6% of GDP.  That, in raw terms, would cause our armed forces to morcoe than double.  There may be a Russian or Chinese conflict coming to a theater near you, and you’ll be ready for anything.

I just don’t see the issue of our caution in dealing with the criminal and deadly government of Iran as a detraction from Governor Mike’s capability to lead.  Indeed, he sounds like the nice guy with the 8th degree black belt (Chuck Norris?)–you know he can easily kill you, but instead he is a complete gentleman, and a truly decent and compassionate man.

But think he’ll “go wobbly” on Iran?  Does he have the resolve to lead the U.S. and the world to victory in a world war that I believe is inevitable?  I believe Mike Huckabee does.

I’ll share about his military plans later.

Hasta al pronto.

—The Old Alcalde—

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