Quick Notes: Hawaii Edition

I have been on vacation with my family in Hawaii since last week. I will be home soon and will resume a normal posting schedule then. William F. Buckley use to say that no one can live politics 100% of the time. I have been enjoying other things over the last couple of weeks including some diving.

This is the wreck of the Carthaginian in Maui, Hawaii. It's one of my favorite dive sites. This time, I also had an encounter with a sub on the wreck:


The bottom of the Carthaginian is about 100 feet down. It really is a great dive.

In the coming weeks, I hope to have another global warming post (in honor of Earth Day), and I may have another interview with a Georgian running for office this year. Back in October, I ran a series of posts with Maria Sheffield. Mrs. Sheffield is running for Insurance Commissioner in Georgia. I said at the time that I hoped to run interviews with other candidates, and I am working on that now. I try to focus on National and International issues. However, a number of my readers are Georgian's and I feel I owe it to them to bring them information on those candidates running for office in our state.

Whether you agree with President Obama or not, his election should have taught everyone an important lesson. That lesson is: all elected offices are important. In 2008, the voters elected a man with less than one term as a Senator to the highest office in our nation. That means we should pay careful attention to all of our elected officials, and at all levels. I am trying to help by discussing some of the candidates that don't receive as much attention.

I hope to be back to a normal schedule by Sunday. Are there any topics you would like to see discussed? Anything I have covered that you feel needs more attention or more debate? Is there an issue that I haven't covered that you think needs to be discussed here? This is your chance to help guide the direction I take for the next month. Leave a comment here with your thoughts, or email me at politicalfriends@hotmail.com.

Quick Notes: Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to you!

Over the next week and a half, my posts will be somewhat infrequent as I celebrate the season with family and friends. I hope you and your family have a safe and fun Christmas and a very happy New Years.


I am working on a post about the Health Care Bill we are about to be saddled with. I think the Senate is in for a rude awakening on this. Both left and right are very upset about this bill. I am also working on a post about a school on the West Coast that banned LEGOs from the school.

If you are looking for something to read today, I recommend these articles:

1. Peter Wehner writing on the Commentary Magazine online site lists some of the backlash that might be waiting the Senate and President Obama over the Senate's Health Care Bill.
2. William Kristol at the Weekly Standard sounds a similar note with a lesson on what a "Pyrrhic Victory" is.
3. Thomas Sowell writes about the "Science" Mantra. I read Sowell any time I can. I like this quote from his article:

As for politicians, Senator Barbara Boxer has urged prosecution of the hackers who uncovered and revealed the e-mails! People who have in the past applauded whistleblowers in business, in the military, or in Republican administrations, and who lionized the New York Times for publishing the classified Pentagon papers, are now shocked and outraged that someone dared to expose massive evidence of manipulations, concealment and destruction of data-- and deliberate cover-ups of all this-- in the global warming establishment.

Enjoy these articles, and once again, have a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Quick Notes: Broken Promises and a Book Club

There are two important links I wanted to get to all of my members. Don't forget tomorrow is Blog Aciton Day. I will be posting my entry here with a link back to the official website. This year's topic is Climate Change, so I am sure you will want to check back.


Broken Promises. The Heritage Foundation has a short article up discussing the broken promises from the health care debate. Were you looking for transparency? It ain't there. Think you can keep your current health insurance if Reid and Pelosi can pass their health care reform? Think again. Check out the piece here, and look around the site. You might find some interesting stuff. This is epically important for those of you who don't agree with me. Much of the Heritage Foundations research is hard to refute.


Book Clubs. Ever wish you could be in a political book club? Want to find out the core of conservative belief's? Red State has started their own book club, and have handed out homework. You can get all the details here. The first assignment is A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard. Don't own a copy? That's ok. It's only 9 pages long, and Red State has a pdf of it you can read for free. I posted my notes on the first homework here. If you decide to participate, let me know. I hope to get a few of my readers involved in the discussion. Like the last link, I am especially interested in getting those of you who disagree with me to check this link out. I am interested in hearing your opinions on some of the selections.


I like the book list Red State is going to cover, but I feel they may be missing a book or two. If you go look at their list, let me know if you can come up with any titles you would add.

Quick Notes: The Stock Market, Maryland, and Twitte

Time for another issue of quick notes. In this issue we look at the stock market, religious freedom, and a new way to keep up with yours truly.


Wall Street Votes on President Obama. Today's market closed down almost three hundred points. By almost three hundred I mean 299.64. Wall Street continues to vote on what it thinks about the future. The votes aren't good. You may believe Obama is the new messiah, but Wall Street doesn't. If President Obama's spending policies don't change, we may one day wish for a 7,000 stock market.


The Maryland Constitution. I am reading Enough is Enough by Rick Scarborough. Mr. Scarborough traces some of the religious origins of our country and quotes the Maryland Constitution. While founded by Catholics, their constitution tried to protect the religious freedom of all Christians. It said:


All persons, professing the Christian religion,are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty; wherefore no person ought be any law to be molested in his person or his estate on account of his religious persuasion or profession, or for this religious practice; unless, under colour of religion, any man shall disturb the good order, peace and safety of the State.


This passage comes very close to how I believe the founders viewed religious freedom. So long as your beliefs didn't harm the rest of the society, you should be left to your own beliefs.


Twitter. Last night I signed up for a twitter account. You can now follow me on http://twitter.com/andyspolitics in addition to this site. There are a number of times I would like to post a very short thought. I will now do that on Twitter. If you aren't familiar with Twitter, it takes about 3 minutes to create an account. I am still an infant on their, but I have found it really easy to post there, and to find others there.

A Quick Note: Washington

I have two books that I am reading every day. One is a daily devotional entitled "What Every Christian Ought to Know Day by Day: Essential Truths for Growing Your Faith". The other book I am reading daily is "The American Patriot's Almanac: Daily Readings on America". Today's entry from What Every Christian Ought to Know had a paragraph I wanted to share with my readers:

A little known fact is how George Washington, the father of our country, died. He was sick, so the physicians bled him. When he didn't get well, the bled him again. When he still didn't get well, the bled him a third time. Without realizing it, they bled him to death! (Could it be that ever since, the politicians have been bleeding us to death to get even?) --emphasis in the original.

I thought this was amusing and decided to share it. Enjoy and have a good week!

Quick Notes: What Do You Believe In?

A co-worker suggested this post a few weeks ago. Now that the election is over, and the holiday season is about to be upon us, I think it is a great time for it. My friend suggested a post simply exploring what the readers of my blog believe in. When it comes to politics what do you believe?


Personally, I believe the U.S. Constitution should be the backbone of our government. I also believe the Constitution should be read in the original intent of the founding fathers. What about issues the founder's could never have predicted, such as the internet? The Founder's allowed for these things, they included an amendment process.


I believe our government spends way too much on programs the federal government shouldn't be involved in. I believe we need to have more problems solved at the local and state level. I would point to the Department of Education as a great example. There are 50 states. Many of these states have different problems facing them. Let the states be more involved in the curriculum of there schools to help solve these problems. And if the federal government isn't involved in the school system, we shouldn't be taxed to pay for it. I don't believe the $700 Billion bail out is within the scope of what the Federal government should do.


I also don't believe in man-made global warming. If it is science, it isn't consensus. There is a lot of scientific evidence and fact on bot sides of the argument. Most global warming claims are made based off what computer models predict might happen. They aren't made off of real world observations. More importantly, I don't believe the government should legislate based on a "best guess" theory. If there is science supporting both sides of the global warming argument, the government should stay out.


These are just a couple of examples. What do you believe? Do you agree with me? Is there something I didn't touch on that you think is important for our government to do or not do?

Quick Notes: Pre-Tuesday Edition

This is likely to be my last post before the country heads to the voting both on Tuesday. Most blogs and news outlets are spending their time today predicting what will happen on Tuesday. I have decided to make a post that you can sit back and enjoy no matter who you support:

Go Vote! I would be a terrible political junkie if I didn't tell everyone reading this site to go vote. Whether you support Obama, McCain, or some third party candidate, take the time on Tuesday and cast your ballot. Our country has had somewhere around a 50% turn out rate on Election Day. That isn't good enough. Voting isn't a gift, it is a responsibility. Go do your duty!

What if no one gets 270 votes? Our election process is based on a Presidential candidate getting a majority of the number of electoral votes, and not popular votes. That means Obama or McCain must get 270 electoral votes to become President. Well, what happens if neither of them gets the required 270 votes? According to the Twelfth Amendment of the U. S. Constitution, the House of Representatives would then meet and elect the President. There are a few rules that govern this. Most importantly, each state only gets one vote. That means Texas = Rhode Island = New York = Alaska when it gets to this stage. It wouldn't matter the percentage of Democrats or Republicans in the House. The Senate would meet and vote for the Vice President using similar rules.

To carry the "what if…?" out a little further, if the voting process in the House drags out to Inauguration day, what would happen? Jefferson's election got thrown into the House and it took some 36 ballots. Should the House of Representatives be unable to declare a President by the end of January, then the current Vice-President would become President as if the President was removed from office. You read right, say hello to President Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney would then be able to nominate a Vice President for confirmation by the Senate until the House could decide what to do. This is potentially the most entertaining possibility of all the different political tales being told.

Starbucks and You. Finally, if you do go vote on Tuesday, Starbucks wants to reward you. They are running spots saying if you come to a Starbucks on Tuesday and tell them you voted, they will give you a free coffee. Just one more reason to go out and do your duty.

Quick Notes: Biden and Russia

Once again, it is time for an exciting issue of Quick Notes. There has been some "exciting" news on the Presidential front, and some distrubing news on the international front. On to my thoughts...


Democratic VP Candidate Joe Biden: After a really poor performance by the chosen one last Saturday at Saddleback, Presidential candidate Obama tapped Joe Biden for his VP candidate. I think the best you can say for this pick is that it was a "safe" pick. Biden is a little closer to the middle of the road than Obama. Of course, Obama is so far out in left field it doesn't take much to get closer to the middle. Biden has some of the same "elitist" baggage that Obama has. During the announcement today, Sen. Obama introduced Sen. Biden as the next President. "President" Biden then refered to Obama as Barack America. I am hoping for a number of slip ups like this over the next couple of days to really make the DNC convention exciting.


Russia: Russia has pulled some troops out of Georgia, and entrenched others. I think very few people believe that Russia is ready to give up Georgia. Russia now controls the port of Poti. I believe this gives Putin control of oil shipments leaving Georgia. At the very least, it is a huge hold on what comes and goes to Georgia.


Talk and threats aren't going to work to get Russia out of Georgia. It is time for the United States, the United Nations, and NATO to act. I purpose the following response:


First, the International Olympic Committee needs to remove the 2014 Olympic Games from Russia. These games are set to be held a few miles from Georgia. There is no better insult to democracy than to go through with them. A boycott isn't enough. Athletes shouldn't be penalized for the actions of a nation that acts like this. The games could be sent to somewhere else, somewhere that might send a clear message to Russia. Perhaps the Ukraine?


Second, The G-8 should immediately disolve and reconstitute itself as the G-7, minus Russia. This has been an imperial grab by mother Russia, and Putin needs to know the other nations of the world will not accept this.


Third, the Ukraine and other former Soviet states should be offered expidited admittance into NATO. If Russia's actions are a message to tell the U.S. and NATO to back off, our response should be clear. We will not back down from bullying tactis.


Finally, Russia has been very unhappy with the missle agreement the U.S. has agreed to with Poland. We should offer the same agreement to the Ukraine.


Russia wants to make a play to control all oil in that part of the world, and control all of the former Soviet states. The rest of the world needs to show mother Russia that the days of the empire are done. If Russia wants to be part of the mature world, it needs to act like it.

Quick Notes – Great President, Drill Here, and the Political Machine

It has been about three weeks since the last issue of "Quick Notes". A lot has happened in that time, and there is a lot happening today. Without further ado, here are your Quick Notes:

"W" the Great President. Ann Coulter wrote a very strong defense of President Bush last week. She argues that future generations will look at President George W. Bush as a Great President. Her best reason: no attack on U. S. soil from Al-Queda since Sept. 11^th. As Ms. Coulter points out, how many people would have thought on Sept. 12^th that we could go seven years without another attack from Al-Q here? I remember quite clearly people on TV and around the water cooler saying that it wasn't a question of if, but only a question of when. Everyone was certain we would be hit again, and many thought it would be a matter of days, perhaps a month. Instead, we are in 2008, and still no Al-Q attack here.

Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less. American Solutions is running an online petition to get Congress to allow more oil exploration in the United States. I don't believe any serious effort can be made to reduce oil and gas prices without more domestic exploration. As of this writing, the petition is at 1,034,451 signatures. Their original goal was 1,000,000 signatures. Having passed that, they are shooting for 4,000,000. Go sign the petition, and get your bumper sticker.

Political Machine. I want to end this Quick Notes with something fun. Stardock software has created a game called "Political Machine". In the game you select a candidate for President and run their campaign. The 2004 version was very detailed and considered one of the best political simulators available. I tried the 2004 version once and had to have the newest one. The game is cheap ($19.95) and is very well done. You can choose from an existing candidate (like Obama or McCain) or create your own (maybe Rush Limbaugh for President). If you are a political junkie, you will love this game.

Quick Notes - Political Friends Turns 200

This post is the 200^th post on this site. I feel the website, my readers, and I have come a long way over the last 199 posts. I created this blog with the intent to provide a spot that people could discuss politics and solutions without the conversation breaking down into name calling. For the most part, I feel that I have done that. Some of the comments on my posts have taken the discussion in directions I never thought of. With all of this in mind, I present to you a "lessons learned from 199 posts" done in the Quick Notes format.

Global Warming. I never stop being amazed at how heated some of the comments are when I talk about global warming. I saw Charles Krauthammer on Fox News this week call himself an "agnostic on global warming". I think I am probably closer to a "global warming atheist", but I like his term for it. Anytime I write about global warming, I am guaranteed to get some very heated and passionate comments.

Obama. More recently, I have gotten some very passionate responses when I write about Obama. Obama appears to be the Democratic nominee, so I will probably be writing about him a lot between now and November.

Book Reviews. Some of the controls I have plugged into this site give me a lot of feedback. For example, I can see how many people are on my site in a given day, how long the average reader is here, and what sites they are coming from. What has surprised me is that my most heavily read posts are Book Reviews. I am glad, because I really enjoy writing about them, but I need to figure out a way to get more people to comment on them. My most heavily read post on this site is my book review of the Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming.

Your Comments. I have also learned to be very thankful for my readers comments. You never really know when you write something what people are going to think about it. Some of the posts I have made in here I expected lots of comments on and got none. Others, I didn't expect any comments from, and got more than I could handle. So I am always excited to see what my readers think of each of my posts.

Thanks for the continued support. Now, let's go do another 200.

Quick Notes -- Issues for November

Don't worry; another segment of my interview will be coming up soon. Between now and then, I wanted to hit on what I think the issues in November are likely to be. It is still too early to tell which of the three candidates are going to be our next President. However, if we can guess what issues are being discussed in November, we might get some insight towards who might be ahead right now, no matter what the polls tells us.

Iraq and the War on Terror. This is McCain's number one issue. It is also the number one issue for a significant number of voters on both sides of the aisle. We have had a number of victories in Iraq and Afghanistan on the military and the political fronts. If this keeps up, McCain may be able to hang his hat on that. If there is another terrorist strike in the U.S., there is no telling what the voters will do. On the other hand, if things in Iraq take a nose dive for a few months during the summer, Obama or Clinton may be able to use the War in Iraq as their number one issue.

The Economy. No matter what you think about our current economy, you can bet candidates from both parties will be talking about it. If the Republicans can do a good job talking about the negatives of ethanol, and the need for more oil production here in the United States, this could be a good issue for Republicans. However, they have to couple it with real answers, and it will be a tough sale. People will look for leadership, and if the Republicans don't talk about solutions, you can bet the Democrats will get big points from the economy.

Gay Marriage. California may have given an issue to the Republicans that the Democrats wanted to see left alone till after November. Many conservatives and centrist aren't comfortable redefining marriage. The California Supreme court has done that, and there are groups trying to get a California Constitutional amendment on the ballot for November. I expect Democrats and Republicans are going to have to explain to voters how they feel on gay marriage.

The Second Amendment. Like gay marriage, this is usually a thorny issue for Democrats. The last few elections, Democrats have tried to avoid talking about gun laws. In 2004, Kerry even went looking for a hunting license. The U. S. Supreme Court is hearing a case involving a D.C. handgun ban. This could keep the Second Amendment debate going on until well into 2009.

This list is by no means an exhaustive one. I have also only highlighted issues I think might benefit McCain, if he handles them correctly. What issues do you think might have an impact on the November election? Are you a "single issue voter"? If so, what is your issue?

As an aside, I have added a link to allow my readers to buy their own authentic Political Friends t shirt. I think they are the wave of the future, and if enough people buy them, I might be able to afford a real journalist for my next interview.

Quick Notes -- Global Warming

It has been some time since I wrote a new installment of "Quick Notes". I am on vacation with my family, but thought I would share a few quick notes with my readers. The vacation is one of the reasons you see the odd times for my responses. Thanks to everyone for your comments. On my recent posts, and on to the new quick notes:

Ted Turner: I normally wouldn't take Ted Turner very seriously. However, in a recent interview, he voiced an opinion that many believers of Global Warming have, but don't share except in private circles. The opinion is what the real solution to Global Warming is: Population control. If we could limit the world's population, then we could solve global warming. This is interesting because most of the discussion around Global Warming is reminiscent of the eugenics discussion during the early part of the 1900's. This theory in a nutshell (the emphasis being on "nut") was to control who could and couldn't have children. This was a serious discussion with an assortment of laws passed to try to combat the "problem" (see the parallels?). For more information see here.

Enter Turner's quotes. According to Atlanta Journal and Constitution writer, "One way to combat global warming, Turner said, is to stabilize the population." Turner goes on to say later in the article that families should be restricted to one or two children. What about Turner's own lifestyle? I have heard he has three homes and five children. But I am sure the cure to Global Warming doesn't apply to him.

Data doesn't fit the theory? Data must be wrong: One of the more recent actual scientific developments on the Global Warming front revolves around scientific buoys reporting sea temperatures throughout the world. According to Global Warming, the sea should be rising in temperature and it should be rising in temperature more dramatically than the land. However, there are around 3,000 buoys that measure deeper ocean temperatures and periodically report this data back. What do these buoys show? Sea temperatures have remain relatively constant over the last four to five years. Scientist are perplexed because this isn't what they were expecting. Under the Scientific Method (a little known, and rarely used technique for doing scientific research), scientist should now re-evaluate their theories. If the data doesn't match, the theory could be wrong, or at least have aspects that are incorrect. However, scientist are instead trying to figure out why the buoys aren't reporting back the data they expect.

One other note. One of the articles I found for this piece mentioned clouds. I have often ranted that climatologists don't understand how clouds work, but they know that clouds are important in the Earth's climate. If they don't understand clouds, shouldn't every model they build be suspect? From the article:

Kevin Trenberth at the National Center for Atmospheric Research says [heat from the ocean is] probably going back out into space. The Earth has a number of natural thermostats, including clouds, which can either trap heat and turn up the temperature, or reflect sunlight and help cool the planet.

That can't be directly measured at the moment, however.

"Unfortunately, we don't have adequate tracking of clouds to determine exactly what role they've been playing during this period," Trenberth says.

Very Interesting...

Quick Notes – Presidential Politics and Others…

Welcome to another edition of Quick Notes. I am enjoying the "Quick Notes" part of this blog more and more. I find many of you like to comment on the items I probably wouldn't have written a full post about. Keeping that in mind, here are three more topics for your review:

Mitt Romney. Mitt has released his delegates and now endorses McCain. I hate to hear this for a few reasons. First, I am still undecided with regards to McCain. Romney is trying to do the best thing for his party, and what he believes is the best thing for his country. Second, I just started Hugh Hewitt's A Mormon in the White House, and I am pretty sure that Romney won't be our nominee even at a brokered convention this time around. However, keep an eye on him. If he takes the right job between now and 2012, he might be a very strong candidate in the next race. I will be watching him…

The Clintons. While discussing politics the other day with my wife, an odd thought occurred to me. Chelsea Clinton is 29 years old. If her mom should win this election, and become a two term president, guess who is constitutionally eligible to run in the election after that. You got it. We could have 24 years of Clintons instead of 16.

In Other News… The Washington Post has reported that a "long range Russian bomber" buzzed the U.S.S Nimitz. A second bomber circled 50 miles away. The Nimitz scrambled fighters to intercept the Russian bombers. This is one more thing to keep in mind when picking a presidential candidate this season. One more thing to remind us that the Presidential Race isn't the only thing going on in the world.

Quick Notes

I wanted to share two quick things with everyone..


First, in the coming weeks, I plan on participating in the Mystery Topic Challenge more frequently this year. Some of these posts may or may not pertain to politics. I hope you enjoy them. If you want to find out more about the Challenge, or even participate, stop by Blog Ninjas and learn more.


Second, I have written about Ayaan Hirsi Ali a few times on here. Some of my readers have emailed me asking for more information and the latest news on her. I saw an article in the New York Times from her today and thought I would share it.