Free Republic

primary voters often are forced to choose between their hearts and minds, ideals vs. electablility etc. with an eye on the other side's selection. deciding between who they would want to win in the fall versus who they think has the best chance to win in the GE.

the Huckaboom has served to remind DEM primary voters of the possibility of a GOP nominee from the religious right, which when combined with the words obama/hussein/muslim/madrassa etc. serve to give potential DEM primary voters a subliminal pause when they consider how obama's background could be used against him by such a GOP nominee.

and the ever-present possibility of another terrorist attack during the fall campaign must never be discounted.

Huckabee's ascendance in the polls has not translated into windfalls of money, as would be expected (especially with a tax-exempt base of supporters/networkers) Huckabee's early trickle of money has only doubled, or tripled at most.

the more one learns of Huckabee's history in Arkansas (the master tobacco settlement, the curious dimunition of other potential GOP rivals for the state spotlight, even the peculiar circumstances by which Huckabee gained the Governor's office initially), the more one could make a powerful case that Mike Huckabee's candidacy (and media-driven ascendancy) benefits the Clinton's.

the most curious question then becomes, "on purpose"?

'tis music to a "radical incrementalist's" ears.

tyvm

All Walls Are Temporary

there is an old saying about "fighting fire with fire" which doesn't make sense to me anymore. it seems to me that fire would best be fought with water. with that in mind, i will now strive to piss on Mike Huckabee and his supporters as much as is divinely possible.

firstly, it should be noted for the record that every mass political movement contains a percentage of idiocy that positively dwarfs that of almost any individual's or the population as a whole, simply because any political movement that achieves mass popularity can be found to be but a reaction to the circumstances that preceded it and caused it. and as with the popular saying about fire, the masses seem always determined to "fight idiocy with idiocy".

secondly, if i but had the power it would not be so, because power so corrupts. but religious fundamentalists, under the U.S. Constitution, have every right that everyone else has, to organize and assert themselves in the public arena in furthering their proscriptions/beliefs into law. whether they should be able to do so from a foundation of tax-exempt institutions is a debate for the future, which in turn will be a reaction, if religious fundamentalists continue to succeed as they do today.

reason and logic in the civic arena should rule the debate. morals derived from experience and faith have a place in the debate, but once one religion becomes disproportionately influential, the other religions will be compelled to try to match it. then religions, rooted in the logic and reason of centuries ago, now meta-morphisized into only faith, will rapidly distort questions concerning the raising and spending of public money, demanding that it be directed to the ludicrous, while calling it sublime.

this applies to 'progressives', 'neo-cons', and 'baptists' equally, whether in the form of the 'war on poverty', the 'war on terror', or the looming war over the role of a semi-standardized belief in God and the traditional values associated with it, in future public policy. for every solution has consequences, some unintended and unforeseeable, some perhaps not. and from every negative consequence will come some good.

over 200 years in practice of the history of the U.S. has shown repeatedly that action and reaction are primarily the result of a dedicated, activist minority. yet it is also true that in every case, the majority allowed change by foregoing the use of it's power to stop change. the old saying "evil triumphs when good men do nothing" comes quickly to those who have sought to maintain the status quo and failed.

ultimately Government, hence Politics, is about the raising and spending of money for publicly directed purposes. every policy, large or small, momentary or generational, should be subjected to as thorough a cost/benefit analysis as humans are able by as many as practicable. each citizen must be an accountant when assessing public policy in order to hold public officials accountable. it is proper for each individual to use their faith and beliefs in the accounting process. then they should assert themselves in public with "it is MY opinion", "it is MY belief", or even up to "it is my religious teaching/belief" on the questions of the day.

but when their assertions begin with "GOD says", "GOD requires" or "GOD demands", the injection of spiritual/existential faith and unsubstantiatable belief is intruding upon reasoned debate and will quickly succeed in destroying the use of reason and experience upon questions of public expenditures.

and of course, the same applies to "Science says", "Science shows", and "Science demands", especially when the Science is, as yet, undefinitive. most unfortunate it is that there is, as yet, as much disagreement over what constitutes "definitive" in Science as there is with Faith. such is the nature of humans when dealing with questions concerning how to force their neighbors to act. even more so when incomprehensible sums of money are involved.

yes, STATISM is also a religion, one that currently has even more consequences and almost as many differing versions of it's principles and applications as does Faith in God's Word (which is also just about as many different versions as there are people who subscribe to the tenets of it, for it is entirely arguable that no two people's belief systems are identical)

while it is impossible to remove sentiment and emotion completely from any question, emotions are even more an enemy of reason and logic in the public sphere than they are in an individual. the struggle to sublimate emotion and muster as much reason as possible to public questions will be a never-ending one for humanity.

A Constitution proscribing limited and carefully delineated powers to various branches and subdivisions of Government, is the most powerful tool yet devised by man to assist in reason's perpetual struggle with emotions of the day.

A fundraiser for Hillary Clinton scheduled for Dec. 15th in Oxford, MS, at the home of plaintiffs attorney, Dickie Scruggs, has been cancelled, according to a MS Democratic State Executive Committee member.

Scruggs was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury into allegations that he attempted to bribe a judge. Scruggs is brother-in-law to Sen. Trent Lott who recently announced his forthcoming resignation.

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=5041

OXFORD (AP) — A Dec. 15 fundraiser at the Oxford home of attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs for the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and featuring former President Bill Clinton has been canceled, a campaign official said Thursday.

“In light of new developments we have canceled the event,” said Blake Zeff, a campaign spokesman.

Zeff did not elaborate on the announcement.

http://www.picayuneitem.com/local/local_story_334121353.html

trent lott’s brother in law, clinton fundraiser,
lead tobacco lawyer in the master-tobacco settlement
(estimated in 2000 to be over $206 BILLION)
centered in the texarkana courthouse,
was indicted yesterday for trying to bribe a state judge
in Katrina related insurance suit.
(one day after Lott’s resignation announcement)

during the tobacco litigation, officeholders included

president bill clinton
gov. g.w.bush (later president)
gov. mike huckabee (later candidate for president)
tx atty general morales (later convicted)
tx atty general cornyn (later senator)
ark atty general pryor (later senator)

http://trickydickless.blogspot.com/

hmmm... let's see, would it be anything like,slavery, conquest/colonization, gunboat diplomacy, wars, fractional-reserve banking, and it's ever faithful friend... inflation?

i give you credit for being smarter than i previously thought, and you call me ignorant.

in which case, perhaps you’re right.

a double (triple?) helping of sophistry there, displaying a complexity of which i did not expect you capable, but then i suppose it could've been just a lucky shot.

my aren’t you deathly afraid that somebody, somewhere is having a good time?

you may be right (now there is a scary thought)

maybe the Israelis don’t have nukes (and have only been bluffing-lying, kinda like Saddam)

that would sure explain their hyperventilating at Iran’s enrichment program

$4000+ per second is damned expensive flypaper

good one...

maybe "Gladiator" ?

there is no truth to the rumour that the working title is "Mouth Wide Shut"

Yessir, and just imagining President Hillary with the 'unitary' powers of a 'wartime' CiC, complemented by the Patriot Act, MCA, warrantless wiretapping, et al, furnished by you-know-who, is enough to make anyone who witnessed her firsthand in Arkansas begin to make contingency plans for either a fake identity or an extended 'vacation' overseas.

Hillary would, if unchecked, make Richard Nixon look tame. Hence the moniker "Tricky Dick-less".

... keep up the puritan-mercantilist-militarist nonsense and they bloody-well will. see what a few dozen thousand of them can do to electoral results nationwide? stop trying to make the G.O.P. party into the G.O.D. party whose symbol is a cross made out of missiles painted with dollar signs and wrapped in the star of David.

Watch Ross very closely. He learned his politics at the foot of Winston Bryant in the shadow of Bill Clinton.

Ross' high-profile commentary this past week is very curious, as is Carville's. Publicity seeking is normal for Carville but quite out-of-character for Ross.

I suspect that both men are serving the same master.

Mark Warner's announcement this week suggests, portends, or confirms, that the powers that be in the DEM party have decided that the Clinton machine is the way to go, (same as they did for Kerry, a sure, self-financing loser, on purpose) and have already begun to clear her path.

I expect they will succeed and Hillary as "unitary executive", assisted by the now permanent Patriot Act, will provide the GOP with the necessary rationale for returning to it's proper conservative roots.

It makes a kind of weird sense that after Bill did his JFK impression and W emulates LBJ, that we should get another Nixon.

Be prepared, for Hillary is most certainly "Tricky Dick-less".

Iran's nuclear apparatus attacked by U.S. or Israeli forces

Nader drops out, endorses Kerry

Arafat dies

A supreme court justices announces retirement

Ken Lay indicted

DOW drops another 500 points

Sharon's govt. falls

a terrorist attack in the U.S.

The 3rd Quarter GDP figures come out friday morning. Any number above 3.3% or below 2.7% should have a significant effect on the weekend news cycle. (sans any "other" events)

The 500 point loss on the DOW this month coincides with the tightening of the Presidential race beginning with the first debate, as well as Spitzer's actions and the Fannie Mae upheaval. When the political perceptions are combined with basic economic data, the profit outlook becomes decidedly "murky" for the next quarter or two.

I believe you accurately touched on one specific fear that Wall Street has, that seems to become more probable with every passing day, and would explain a large part of the past few weeks losses on the DOW.

It is the very real possibility that the election will be finalized in many court battles in many states, in a most disruptive and destabilizing manner.

Based on the headlines of the past week concerning voter registration irregularities and electronic voting challenges, it seems very possible that a winning margin of dozens of thousands of votes in a key state will still have to be adjudicated.

If Bush continues to trend upward during the next week, to a lead beyond the margin of error in battleground state polls, then the fear will subside and some significant buying will likely take place on 1Nov and election day. But if the race remains too close to call, there is little penalty for investors to wait until later in the week after the dust has settled.

Of course, in this day and age, both a terrorist attack and a last weekend surprise 'political' attack are major concerns.