February 14, 2008, Conservatively Speaking

Obama’s size 13s left king-sized footprints all over Hillary in the Potomac Primaries stomping her in Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. That put Obama clearly out front in delegates. Clinton looks more and more like political road kill but, she may just be and fight like a cornered rat and still have enough left to bite. The New York Times reports that the Clinton campaign believes “she has been boxed into a must-win position” in Texas and Ohio on March 4th. If she loses Hillary may be out of the running for the Democrat nomination. So expect an imbroglio of epic proportions with the bullseye squarely and literally on Obama’s chest.

Clinton continues to prowl the political battlefield killing the wounded axing another key staffer - after all losing can’t possibly her fault. Associated Press said of Clinton’s drubbing the “list of excuses is long, but the justifications are wearing thin.”

DELEGATE COUNTS: McCain 821; Huckabee 241 with 1,191 needed. Obama 1,223; Clinton 1,198 with 2,024 needed.

McCain also swept the table winning the trifecta in Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC and pushed him closer to wrapping up the nomination. It was momentarily close in Virginia as the West and South votes showed up first. But, in the end McCain handily prevailed. Maryland and Washington DC were never a contest. It is now a mathematic impossibility for Huckabee to overtake McCain’s lead there are simply not enough delegates left.

Waves of conservative endorsements are washing up on McCain’s beachhead. Former Florida Governor and Presidential brother Jeb Bush endorsed McCain this week saying, “Like no other candidate in the field, John McCain has made tremendous sacrifices for this nation. … He is beholden to no interest other than that of the public good.” Gary Bauer served as Ronald Reagan’s Undersecretary of Education and is a conservative activist also endorsed McCain saying: “I don’t see a future in committing political suicide.” Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison also endorsed McCain yesterday - a BIG DEAL IN TEXAS. If as rumored former President HW Bush endorses him the party is over in Texas.
SURVEY/USA has CLINTON and MCCAIN significantly ahead in Ohio’s MARCH 4TH PRIMARY voting.

California tax revenues are continuing to run below budget projections, Controller John Chiang reported Friday, thus underscoring the state’s twin deficit and cash flow crises. Many project the deficit is far above the $14.5 billion announced and some believe it will exceed $20 billion and maybe much more. This is a fiscal crisis of record proportions. Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez said it would be “fair” to raise taxes $7 billion and cut costs about as much to cover the $14.5 billion State deficit. Even after having his scheme to stay in office six more years failed and virtually every tax increase was rejected by voters he still doesn’t get it.

Mike Huckabee said last weekend that when he was in college he and his buddies used to cook and eat squirrel in a popcorn popper because it was the only ‘cooker’ allowed in the dormitory. I’ve eaten squirrel and I agree with Mike - it is not my favorite. But, if you or someone hunts the critters might as well use them for food. I had a dog that loved the things and was constantly on the alert when I’d shoot one out of a tree. To farm-boys like me squirrels like rabbits, and deer are just another form of rats that will eat your livelihood.

One dozen long stem red roses were selling for $130 a dozen in New York City on Tuesday morning. By St. Valentine’s Day this morning those prices could double.

Legend is Valentine’s Day evolved from St. Valentine, a Roman era Priest who was executed on February 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries. Saint Valentine, it is said, was a priest during the reign of Emperor Claudius ‘the Cruel’ and defied him by marrying Legionnaires against his edict — Claudius believed unmarried men fought harder because they had no worries of wife and family. Valentine was sentenced to be beaten to death.

Legend is that the first Valentine was when St. Valentine left a farewell note for his jailer’s daughter who had become his friend, as he faced execution and signed it “From Your Valentine”.

In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honor St. Valentine.

The Roman festival of Lupercalia was February 14th the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl’s name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.
Saudi Arabia’s religious police have banned red roses ahead of Valentine’s Day, forcing couples in the conservative Muslim nation to think of new ways to show their love.Saudi Arabia’s religious police, the so-called Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, has banned red roses and in fact anything scarlet which is widely seen as symbolizing love. It is not unusual for the Saudi vice squad to clamp down ahead of Valentine’s Day, which it sees as encouraging relations between men and women outside of wedlock. Saudi Arabia imposes an austere form of Sunni Islam which prevents unrelated men and women from mixing, bans women from driving and demands that women wear a headscarf and a cloak. Sexual relations outside marriage are strictly banned and severely punishable by law - especially women.

An average of 97,000,000 watched the Super Bowl at any particular moment with beverage ads being the most popular and remembered. Bud beer got the highest score at 49; Pepsi was second at 28 and Coca Cola at 25 was third. 38% said they visited the go-daddy website after seeing its ad; 22% went to the Coke website and 21% went to the Pepsi Cola website. Hyundai’s advertisement for the Genesis had the most positive impact on its brand, with 46 percent of respondents indicating it helped the brand. SalesGenie.com had the highest “brand damage” score, but still managed a small net improvement score.

Busch’s performance in this study reinforces the persuasive power of combining likeability with the right messaging… Regardless of how many hits they receive, Sales Genie, missed an opportunity by turning off almost as many people as they turned on.”

A leatherback turtle has been tracked swimming from the coast of the Papua province in Indonesia to Oregon the longest swim by any such critter so far recorded. The turtle then headed to Hawaii before the battery on the satellite transmitter gave out. The 12,774-mile journey took 647 days.

Six judges who have suddenly discovered that the electric chair is unconstitutional after 95 years in use were all appointed by Nebraska’s last liberal Democrat governor, Ben Nelson. The lone dissenter was appointed by the current conservative Governor. Instituted in 1913, the chair was first used in 1920. Since then, fifteen murderers have been executed in this manner. The last time was in 1996 to execute a man who had terrorized Bellevue, Nebraska for four months. Beginning in September of 1983, he kidnapped, tortured and murdered two local boys, ages 12 and 13, and then committed sexual acts on their mutilated bodies. After his capture he confessed and was sentenced to death but successfully appealed the sentence for 15 years. Now Nebraska can not impose death on anyone - no matter how heinous their crime.

A Wisconsin man’s 1991 Chevrolet Silverado has officially passed the 1,000,000 mile mark. Frank Oresnik’s credits the longevity of his trusty pickup truck - he calls it “the old girl” - with regular maintenance.

February 10, 2008 was the so-called global protest against SCIENTOLOGY espoused by an enigmatic group of Internet hackers and activists, calling themselves ‘Anonymous’, that has declared war on the Church of Scientology. The group’s goals include bringing an end to what it calls both the Church’s restrictions of free speech, and its violation of basic human rights, not only those of its members, but also of its detractors.

The Church of Scientology is often accused of racketeering and fraud. Their claims range from its ‘cultishness’ to ‘mind control and brainwashing’ to much darker allegations. Protests were seen in Holland, Australia, Ireland, USA and elsewhere.

Last December Germany announced plans to ban the American-based Church of Scientology and, if implemented, could result in the country becoming one of the first in Europe permanently to outlaw the organization. The government’s thesis appears to rest on “total suppression of the individual” and was incompatible with the country’s constitution.
Hamburg’s Interior Minister, Udo Nagel, the chief proponent of the ban, described the organization as a “psycho-ideology” which aims at the “total suppression of the individual”. American actor Tom Cruise is prominent in Scientology and was briefly refused a permit to film a movie in Germany about a plot to kill ADOLPH HITLER because of it. Germany’s Protestant church has compared Cruise to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister, and recently argued that he was using his celebrity status to promote Scientology.
In WINONA, Minn. Bella, a 3-year-old golden retriever/collie mix who was once rescued as an abused puppy, returned the favor to her owners by alerting them the house was on fire. With help from Maddie, a 6-month-old golden retriever, Bella helped get Sue Feuling and her 9-year-old daughter, Mckenzie, out of the house last week. The dogs didn’t make it because the home owner speculates Bella must have thought someone was still inside and went back inside barking to look and died.

May 12th it will cost you 42 cents to mail a one ounce letter a one penny increase from just one year ago. LAUGHABLY the post office made and makes much of its so-called FOREVER STAMP that you can use to mail a one ounce letter anytime regardless of what you then paid for the stamp. Of course you MUST pay the current fee when buying the stamp. “Increasing cost” is blamed for the increase and that includes skyrocketing pay - by 2010 taxpayers will shell out an astonishing $100,000 a year for a letter carrier.

The Radio Advertising Bureau, overall political spending for the 2008 general election could total about $3 billion with perhaps $300 million going into radio.

California’s Republican Party is in disarray and under overt attack by loyalist many of whom who have simply lost faith in it and its leadership. It is broke - technically bankrupt and in Chapter 7. The man who would have bailed it out with a $3 million check wrote a scathing letter demanding change but did not include a check.

Reports that an Australian citizen was hired by its beleaguered chairman to run the party’s day-to-day functions and may not even have legal status have created a firestorm.

Optimists for a resurrection are as scarce as hen’s teeth. Some are moaning that the Reagan Revolution has been lost. Many who could lead simply won’t. Governor Schwarzenegger shows little interest in grabbing the tiller and steering a new course around the rapids ahead.

The best hope is for a bounce at the bottom but there is no bottom in sight as the withering party - projected to lose 250,000 registered voters this year alone — continues its downward plummet. If national trends do indeed begin in California this situation is a miserable moment.

Rep. Tom Lantos (D) CA., who as a teenager twice escaped from a Nazi-run forced labor camp in Hungary and became the only Holocaust survivor to win a seat in Congress, died Monday. He was 80.

Berkeley, California’s 9-member City Council were “sharply divided” at its February 12, 2008 meeting on whether they should apologize to Marine recruiters earlier deemed “unwelcomed intruders,” says Wednesday’s Sacramento Bee. According to the newspaper the mayor would not back down, and neither would most on the City Council despite attempts by some members to rescind the harsh and controversial language. The Council did vote 7-2 that it has no authority to evict the Marines. According to reports as many as 1,000 protesters ranted and raved in front of City Hall demanding the City Council stand its ground while across the street demonstrators roared that the “numb Nine” had crossed the line. One man drove there from Colorado.Two were arrested, both from out of the area but the whole brouhaha was more sound and fury signifying little more than Berkeley’s continued peculiarity and perversity.
Wal-Mart says its shoppers are redeeming their holiday gift cards for basic items - pasta sauce, diapers, laundry detergent - instead of iPods or DVDs.