Herman Cain Won the Florida Straw Poll, But He is Still Last in New Hampshire. Can We Get Back to Reality Please?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Herman Cain! Herman Cain! Herman Cain! The last few days have been like this among people who have come to love Herman Cain. It’s alright to be enthusiastic about someone, but please, don’t correlate them winning a straw poll to them being a front runner for the Republican nomination for President. I took a straw poll among my neighbors and we don’t want to have pay our electric bill so I guess we don’t have to anymore, right?

Herman Cain had an impressive showing at Presidency 5 in Florida, he did. He also did very well in the straw poll. I doubt it was because more people were all of a sudden inspired by his message. I think it had more to do with Rick Perry stinking up the place and Herman Cain was there to pick up the pieces. But guess what? You actually have to win a primary to win the nomination. Do you know that Florida is the same state where Herman Cain polls 6th out of 8 candidates right now?

CNN just release a poll that shows Herman Cain received NO bump at all. He’s still polling at 7%. He is next to last in New Hampshire and polls 5th in Iowa. Nationally he only garners about 5% support. He leads no where in any poll I saw, and he is actually trailing Obama by 10 points.

So everyone, can we please get back to reality? Herman Cain may be a nice guy but he has alot of work to do if he were to win the nomination. Now, I would support him over Obama hands down. I just wish everyone would take everything in to account when talking about Herman Cain here.

GOP Candidates Take the Gloves off in Iowa.

Iowa got a taste of what elections are all about on Thursday night as the Republican candidates for President came out swinging against President Obama, and in a few cases, each other. It was a crucial debate for Iowa at least, as the candidates prepare for the Iowa Straw Poll on Saturday.

The main battle of the night came between Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. They sparred all night on who was the better representative for the state of Minnesota. Pawlenty claimed Bachmann is a failed leader who could not stop anything that President Obama and House Democrats wanted to do the past 2 1/2 years. Bachmann slammed Pawlenty as a liberal governor who is more like Obama. Pawlenty’s going after Bachmann may have been his best shot at reviving his campaign which is dwindling in support it seems. His performance in the debate however was sub par at best and if he doesn’t have a strong showing in the straw poll, he may not be able to come back at all. Bachmann is picked by many to win the straw poll which could help her campaign.

Another battle happened between Texas Congressman Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. Congressman Paul continued to stick to principles throughout the debate including his stance on foreign wars and interventionism which struck the ire of Senator Santorum who thinks America should project itself upon the rest of the world. Santorum also went after Bachmann some and rightfully so for her stance on the 10th amendment. Santorum is another candidate who must do well in the straw poll for his campaign to survive. Congressman Paul is expected to finish in the top 3.

Other candidates failed to impress me much. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich debated with the media more than the other candidates in a sign that his campaign is spiraling downhill as he looks to anything to hold on too. Herman Cain made a few statements but nothing of value. Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman has a record, and he wants you to know that he has one. Besides that though he made no big showing at the debate and his stance on civil unions for gay couples does him no favors.

The front runner in the polls right now, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney had a solid showing, especially coming off the heckler incident at a stump speech earlier in the day. None of the other candidates took any jabs at Romney which may have been a mistake according to some pollsters. Many people say that the winner of the debate was a man who wasn’t even there, Texas Governor Rick Perry. Perry will officially enter the race on Saturday but was a topic in the debate last night. The straw poll is Saturday and afterwards, we may have a better picture of what may happen down the road. Then again, we may be no closer to finding out anything.

Voters Keep Unions from Seizing Power in Wisconsin.

Unions spent millions of dollars to try to state a coup in the Wisconsin State Senate the last few weeks with recall elections of 6 Republican State Senators. They needed to win 3 of those elections last night, and they failed. Republicans will maintain control of the Wisconsin State Senate.

Unions were angry because the last stranglehold they have on America, the government, is starting to leave their grasp ever so slightly. They chose to ignore to wishes of voters who voted last November to elect Governor Scott Walker and in the end, the people scorned them. Of course, the unions did win two seats that were held by Republicans, but not many politicians are going to win a race when they face infidelity charges.

Americans are leaving unions left and right, membership keeps dropping for them. More states are passing right to work laws which means unions can’t force people to join them like they have in the past. Most union members are in the government now which is probably the only reason they continue to have some pull. Unions are hostage takers of the free market system, and make things worse for the job market. People are beginning to see that now and unions are scared that in the near future, they become completely irrelevant, which is something they should become. Unions drive up costs for employers which stifles employment and makes goods more expensive, one of the reasons why Walmart continues to be union free. With unions, you see things like Boeing not being able to build a plant in South Carolina, a right to work state, because the NLRB thinks it will hurt the unions in Washington State. This is not something we should be allowing to happen.

I applaud the voters in Wisconsin for rejecting the anti-job unions and hope that they oust the two Democrats that are up in recall elections next week. While they are at it, maybe they should have recall elections for all the Democrats who skipped town during the collective bargaining debacle earlier this year.

VIDEO: Judge Napolitano, “We’ve Defaulted Before”

In this video from Freedom Watch on FOX Business on July 26th, Judge Andrew Napolitano shows that we have defaulted before and how all the talk over catastrophe if we don’t raise the debt  ceiling is unwarranted fear mongering.

Embarrassment In Chief

There have plenty of times before where I have come on here and criticized President Obama for his actions or his views of how he thinks the world should work. We have differing political philosophies so you could probably guess that is to be expected. Most of the posts I make on here are made under the guise of me being a Republican which is what readers of this blog have come to expect. However, tonight I am speaking from my heart, as an American.

I have never, knowingly, used the word embarrassed to describe how I feel about President Obama. Following this debt ceiling debate has changed me somehow. At the beginning of it, I felt like many people did that it would be resolved in a matter of a couple weeks and some sort of deal would be reached. The problem is, it has been more than a couple weeks and we aren’t getting anywhere. Republicans in the House have come up with plans to resolve the debt ceiling dispute but the Senate has knocked them down, including the Cut, Cap, and Balance bill which in my opinion would not have cut, capped, or balanced anything in terms of real spending. It was a start though. Senator Reid even came up with a plan. I have not read it so I couldn’t tell you if it’s bad or not but my guess is that it probably is. Senator McConnell was the first Republican to cave indicating he would support higher taxes. There has been this Gang of Six with their own proposal which I have read, but I need someone to explain what it does exactly.

Then there is President Obama. In time of such crisis we need a leader who will get us through the crisis. As an American, Republican or Democrat, I would hope that whoever the President is, they could help and lead us towards the right direction. President Obama isn’t doing that at all. It has become apparent that he is not thinking of the American people in these  debt negotiations, he is only thinking of himself. Congressional leaders were making a plan of their own and Senator Reid took it to President Obama and he wouldn’t accept it because it wasn’t for him politically. This makes me so angry. I mean, wasn’t bipartisanship what he wanted? Isn’t that what he keeps talking about in these stupid primetime speeches he keeps giving? And the worst part of it is that he isn’t suggesting any plan of his own, he is literally sitting around waiting for someone else to rescue him from his own mess. That’s not how a President acts. I mean, come up with something. It will probably stink on ice but at least you would be engaged. I don’t even think he cares. I have always thought of President Obama as a smart guy, even though I don’t like his politics, he is educated. Now, I don’t even know what to think about him. He is watching America crumble and he isn’t willing to work with anyone to put the pieces back together. I just don’t get it. For the first time, I can legitimately say I am embarrassed that he is my President. The man is literally an embarrassment. I think he plans to use an executive order to raise the debt ceiling by himself. That won’t solve any of our problems but he can blame Republicans somehow. He needs to stop playing politics with my future. Because honestly, I fear for my future now. He needs to wake up, but I don’t know how to get him too. Let’s hope they come to an agreement soon, for all our our sake.

The Austrian Theory of Boom and Bust Part III

EconStories.tv documentary of the Austrian Theory of Boom and Bust. This is the final part, part III, “The Cluster of Errors.” It can be found in the video below.

The Austrian Theory of Boom and Bust Part II

Part 2 of the EconStories.tv mini-documentary of the Austrian theory of boom and bust talks about the “bust” which can be seen in the video below.

The Austrian Theory of Boom and Bust Part 1

EconStories.tv has a mini documentary out on the Austrian theory of booms and busts as presented through the views of F.A. Hayek, as told by Lawrence H. White. Part 1 of the mini documentary deals with “The Boom” which can be seen in the video below.

A Message From Speaker of the House John Boehner.

The Debt Ceiling Talks Will Probably End In Compromise Which Means…. WE ARE SCREWED!

Compromise. It is that one word that every political pundit and politician throw around like it is the only solution to our every day problems. Other people will call this word bipartisanship. Well, I have another term for compromise and bipartisanship, and that is sell outs! We are being sold down the river so they can kick the can down the road.

First off, the Republicans. Do not let the Democrats trick you once again into making a deal say they will cut spending if you will them raise taxes. You should have already learned that this is deception on their part. Didn’t they promise you the same thing during President Reagan’s second term? What happened? You let them raise taxes and then they went and tripled spending. You already know that the Democratic Party is the party of spend, spend, spend, and spend some more. So, do not allow there to be any kind of deal that includes a tax increase on one single person. But are you really listening to us? Is this not the same party under the same speaker who gave into Democrats on a short term budget deal earlier this year and over the holidays? Speaker Boehner, I thought you were going to be straight with us this time around. You are on the side of the American people right? Are you going to stand firm with us and demand real spending reforms or are you going to be the same speaker that got the Republicans kicked out of the majority in 2006 because no one knew the difference between the Democrats and Republicans?

Now, the Democrats. It is always the same thing with you guys. You want more money, more money, and even more money. It doesn’t matter that millions of Americans are already out of work because of your policies over the last 2 1/2 years does it? As long as more and more people are under government control it’s all good. Hasn’ t the failed stimulus package and the 9.2% unemployment told you guys anything? You do realize that if you raise taxes on people making $250,000 or more a year that you will actually cost Americans more jobs? You do know that many of the people you want to raise taxes on are small business owners right, and that they account for over half of all new jobs created? It is about time that you guys realized that taxes are not the issue here. Washington doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem and it is time to take away the credit card from you guys. But I already know you aren’t listening anymore. All you have are dollar signs on your minds.

The kind of “compromise” and bipartisanship that Democrats want on Capitol Hill are for Republicans to shut up and do what they want. That is not real compromise. They are not willing to make any hard choices at all. But I am afraid that the Republicans will disappoint us again. They will come together and strike a “deal” at the 11th hour and it will probably be bad for all of us. I urge all the Republicans in Congress to actually stand up for Americans and do what we sent you to Congress to do, and that is to put a stop to the runaway spending of this President and his Democratic cronies. Can you do that please? We really are screwed if you don’t.