Does Nikki Worry About Being Alvined?

Published: The Huffington Post 2011.06.27

A story has now surfaced that South Carolina may revert to a caucus system.

Could Nikki Haley's paranoia be getting to her?

After 2010, I had a strong suspicion that the GOP played games on the Democratic side of the fence. How else does someone like Alvin Greene get onto the ballot?

Jim DeMint was a shoo-in for the GOP race last year -- no one was seriously going to primary him. That left a machine, well-oiled and ready to do something. If I was DeMint's campaign manager last year, I would quietly approach the most ardent of my supporters and have the quietly change parties and vote for a guy like Alvin Greene. It would essentially knock the serious opposition out of the box while catching the Democrats sleeping. The Democrats got Alvined last year.

Now coming into 2012 the shoe is on the other foot. President Obama does not have any serious opposition in the primary. He has a well-oiled machine with nothing to do in the primary.

Wouldn't it be a hoot to see the DNC come up with a strategy to Alvin the South Carolina GOP Presidential nominee?

Isn't Steven Colbert from South Carolina? Could you imagine a write-in vote for Colbert on the GOP Ballot? How much fun would that be?

Or better yet, pick one of the seven dwarves or Snow White and actually get the Democrats to vote for that person. Pick the one who would never win in the general and who would drain the most money out of the Koch Brothers. The beneficiary would have to be down in the national game going into South Carolina and running out of money.

Another option could be that the Democrats make it known they will support one of the GOP candidates in the primary and actually host a forum. Make the GOP do a dog and pony for the Democrats. After all they will have to appeal to the Democrats in November -- let them start during the SC Primary.

If there are still 7 or 8 candidates still in the running for the GOP nod when the South Carolina Primary rolls around an influx of thousands of Democrats taking their field could turn the GOP upside down.

When the Democrats Alvin the GOP nominee -- they throw a monkey wrench in the GOP process. Anyone who wins will be tainted from a GOP perspective.

The losers could say -- oh the Democrats decided to play in the primary so they should be ignored. The winner could say - oh the Democrats decided to play in the primary so they should be respected. (We all know how much the GOP respects the Democrats...) Absolutely no real information could be gained from such a primary.

The more I think about this "veto" it is a defensive maneuver to keep South Carolina from being embarrassed on the national stage once again.

Inside a caucus, the party elders can deem their favorite to "win" representation for their state. How much fun is that?

Who Should Really Get Blown-up Over an Inflatable Doll?

Personally Published (Opinion) 2011.06.17

Great headline and story:

Tyell Morton, Indiana Teen, Could Face 8 Years Behind Bars For Blow-Up Doll Senior Prank.


Cliff Notes Version: The kid, a senior at Rushville High School, puts an inflatable doll in the girls' bathroom and the school goes ape doo-doo.

The story only listed Rush County Prosecutor Phil Caviness by name as the person who is going after the kid. He claims the prank cost $8,000 to mitigate. I guess if you want to run at tab up that high - you can do that at McDonalds (I'll take 2,000 happy meals to go).

Caviness is up for election in 2014. I hope the graduating class of 2011 will remember the graduating gift Mr. Caviness has bestowed upon the high school. I hope the rest of the voters can see this guy's budgeting techniques.

Tyell has been held in jail for this. I am sure he did not get to graduate with his class on June 5th.
Judge David E. Northam, who is up for election in 2012, has allowed Tyell to go home on a $30,000 bond.

Do you really want people this uptight running anything?

It is really a shame we can't go back and prosecute the prosecutor and judge for they did at age 18. They have forgotten what it is like to be a kid. Too bad the bullying programs schools now have to implement cannot be applied to these guys.

There are some holes in the story from a reporting perspective.

Would it be fair - since Tyell may get racked up for 8 years over this to put the names of the people out there who will be taking the time of his life? After all - they are the ones calling the cops on him.

Here is an excerpt from the Rushville High School Principal Matt Vance' Welcome Letter (Link):

"Our students and staff are some of the best in the state of Indiana and we will strive to continually improve. Our theme is "Excellence is our Expectation", we want to strive for excellence is every way possible."

Now I am not going to rip the students here, they are the vessels the education is poured into. However, let's look at the "Excellence" of a staff and administration that would allow a kids' prank to get this kind of press.

How excellent was it that this wasn't handled behind closed doors?

Let's look at what the qualities of the education this outfit is giving their kids. They are fair game since they gave up one of their students to a media frenzy...

Here is who is running the show at the high school...

From the high school web page: (Link)
Administration
Mr. Matt Vance, Principal
Mr. Jason Bass, Assistant Principal
Mr. Robert Hadley, Assistant Principal
Mr. Dave Green, Athletic Director
Mr. Jerry Craig, Assistant Athletic Director

It is interesting that the Athletic department has 2 people on equal level with assistant principals. No one from the Math, Music, Art, Language or Science Departments is on equal par with these folks. Athletics does get more play on the site than does the academics.

That must mean they are really into sports in Rushville!

Looking at the focus on sports at this place, I imagined a real powerhouse athletic outfit. So I went to Varee.com, a page that shows the results for the school this year. Of the 16 sports this high school participates in only 2 - boys and girls basketball show winning records. I am not knocking the kids here, but for a place that is putting all this emphasis on sports - you have to deliver. If they were in Philly, we'd be rightly calling for the coaches' heads on a platter.

I wonder how the non-jocks fare at this school. I went to the Teacher Pages for the school and neither of the Business Teachers even have a web page up. But I did get to see the "Excellence is our Expectation" tag line all over the site. For all the talk about small business and prepping kids for the real world one would think the business department would be fully ramped up?

According to SchoolDigger.com, Rushville is 180th of 385 public school in Indiana.

Drilling further about this school district on Homefacts.com, they gave this school a cumulative grade of C-.

It makes me wonder if anyone down there knows the meaning of the word Excellence.

If the legal system in Rushville and the school are going to call Tyell's performance into question - then their performance needs to be called into question too.

Do I hope to embarrass these public officials by putting their names out there in the same way an 18 year-old kid's name is out there? Yepper !

Give this kid an apology - then fix your school and judicial systems.

Yo Ed, Who’s Team You Playin’ On?

Ed Schultz has been ranting all week about Anthony Weiner and how he should resign.
He comes on at 10 pm with the rolled shoulders ready to pounce on a guy who is already down.

The impassioned pleas and how pure the Progressive Movement is and how he’s just sorry about Weiner’s issue.

Here is the link on the whiney rant: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30012522#43334201)

I could only watch for a couple of minutes before thinking:

“Who does this guy think he is?”

“Didn’t he just get off a suspension for what, again?”

I flipped around and fell asleep.

_________________________________________

I was in a dream on a football field where I had a whistle around my neck and a blue baseball cap.

I watched a scrawny running back hit the line, stumble and fumble the ball.  (That’s not good I thought, it’s a boneheaded move that happens in the game, but I could live with that.)

Then I saw one of the overweight offensive linemen with rolled shoulders pick up the live ball and hand it to the red team.

The stunned defensive back looked at the lineman with the expression of “Sure, I’ll take that…” and started running the other way.  To make matters worse – the lineman jumped on the scrawny running back so he couldn’t get up to at least catch the new ballcarrier.

I used to coach all sorts of sports, but after the red team’s touchdown I lost it on the offensive lineman.  I was never this out of control as I grabbed the offensive lineman’s facemask so that I could make sure I could see what wheels aren’t spinning in his head.

“What the #$%$ are you doing?”

“He couldn’t keep his act together – he sucks as a running back.”

“Why did you give the red team the ball?”

“Because I know we’re better than them.  We have to put a better team out there.”

“Why did you jump on the running back?”

“So he won’t be able to get back in the game.”

“OK Genius, now that you took your teammate down – who’s running that ball now?”

“I dunno.”

“Ok Champ - you want to say you play for the Progressive Team – here is your job – you only have to do one thing.    

Block for your teammates.  You are not fast enough to run the ball.  Given your responses here, I wonder why you even signed up to play.  We have enough problems with the red team, the blue team doesn’t need you ripping on them from their own side of the field.

Politics is the only team sport that means anything.

When your man goes down you help him up.

If he drops the ball you pick it up and give it to him.

You do not bad mouth your own guys.

So let me ask you, how do you think your teammates see you?”

“I’m Big ED – they should be happy they ‘Got ED’”

_________________________________________

At that I awoke to a commercial about a prescription to cure a condition called E-D.

What Penalties for Breitbart?

Personally Published (Opinion) 2011.06.07

"I'm doing this to save his family, okay? And if this guy wants to start fighting with me again, I have this photo."

Here is the source material for this: Andrew Breitbart Takes Over Anthony Weiner's Press Conference (VIDEO)

Does that sound like Andrew Breitbart is blackmaili­ng a member of Congress?

Breitbart could have easily said,

"I want the nuke plans to give to my Russian comrades or I show the picture."

It makes no difference - you will behave a certain way or I will do nasty things to you. I don't know the difference between blackmail and extortion, but it sounds the same to me.

Anthony Weiner is making decisions on National Security and Andrew Breitbart has publicly compromised him. Is it worse because this isn't a local trash hauler leaning on township officials for their contract? Are these felonies?

Look, I had a good time making fun of Anthony Weiner's situation on this - jokingly I posted that Weiner should have to serve two days naked on the floor of the Congress. Or the only way we are going to see Justice Thomas' Tax Junk if it is stapled to Andrew Weiner's Junk.

If Anthony Weiner really wants to get past this - here is the opening. It will serve the greater good but cause him even more personal pain.

He needs to say to Breitbart,

"Let's have it, let's have it all.
I am not going to allow you to blackmail me or extort me."

When he does this the Justice Department should have a pair of cuffs handy for the Breitbart Perp Walk. Politics aside, you cannot put an elected official in a compromising situation. It doesn't matter if it is the local tax collector, state representative, governor, congressman, senator, or president.

Anthony Weiner then needs to get a hold of this material and release it with another painful news conference. Go naked to the world...

He is then cathartically released as an Elected Official.
There is nothing left to hold over this man's head.
He becomes a totally free man.

Andrew Weiner is a tough enough guy to weather this storm.

He will become a devastating force once again in the Congress because he has come totally clean. The inquiry into Justice Thomas' shaky finances can be attacked with gusto.

As part of this process he will have gotten rid of one of the most damaging elements in this society, Andrew Breitbart.

Weiner has not done this personally, but actually in this episode Breitbart has entrapped himself by overplaying his hand publicly.

Doesn't Catherine Ferguson Get a First Amendment Too?

The week before we melted down bin Laden, Rachel Maddow ran a 10 minute story on the Catherine Ferguson High School ( Link ) . You can see from her report what is happening to this academy.

In Summary, this is a school for unwed pregnant kids. The school augments their public school funding by urban farming in Detroit ( Link ). Yes, the Detroit that serves so often as Michael Moore's palette of what is wrong with our country.

Looking at how this school describes itself as well as the numbers associated with it show a real success story. From the Detroit Public School website ( Link )

When a teenaged/pre-teen girl discovers she's pregnant, her life changes far more than she could ever have expected...

The school offers early education classes for infants and toddlers along with business partners who can help needy students meet their child's basic needs such as food, clothing and medical care...

Everything at the school encourages young mothers to stay on the right 'life' track. This structure has led to a graduation rate of over 90% at Ferguson with most of the girls going on to college...

The numbers here are outstanding. An attendance rate of 97% ( Link ) tells me the only reason a kid is out of class is to deliver their child.

This facility can easily be looked at as Vo-Tech for Mom. Seriously, if you want to set an example of how to break the cycle of poverty - this is it.

The kids going there, yes ninth graders are kids having kids, are pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. They become the example to not only the child they are about to raise; but to others in the community that education is the great equalizer.

Everyone is allowed to make mistakes. How you recover from the screw-ups defines how you grow.

If you are Pro-Choice - these girls, I am sorry; women, have made the Life-Choice to gut it out with their kid under tough circumstances and need to be supported.

If you are Pro-Life - these women have made the Life-Choice to put their future where YOUR mouth is. You also need to support these women.


Why does this school need to be supported?

The Detroit Public School System is outsourcing education. (I guess strangling a school system first makes it easier to say it isn't working.) They have decided to close 45 of their facilities and Catherine Ferguson is one of them.

I guess the thing that caught my eye on this was not the educational factors here (I am sure a ton of bloggers can do a better job on that than I can), but how the protests were handled here.

These women need this facility open and they are willing to peacefully fight for it. I am sure they are teaching those quaint Amendment things as part of the curriculum, especially the one about being able to peaceably assemble to air your grievances.

The school district forcibly removed these women from the facility, claiming they owned it. Hmmm, what does "Public" mean when it says "Public" School? It means the common ground owned by everyone - including those kids (women). What these women are being taught in the real world here is that our systems are fraudulent; especially, as they are being manhandled away.

What about those manhandling men?

I thought they took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution? Are they really Americans anymore? Or will they use the Nuremburg defense of, "I was told to do this by my boss, and I have to follow every order"? I do not see how Detroit School's Chief of Police Roderick Grimes can consider himself an American for following orders that destroyed these people's First Amendment Rights.

I am putting this police "Chief" in sharp contrast to what happens when people like the (not-so-) Reverend Phelps or Jones come to town with their travelling freak shows and their rights would NEVER be abridged.

It is almost like - "These are little black pregnant girls - We can trample on their rights." And I hope this "Chief" gets angry with this assessment, because he is part of the problem. He needs to look in the mirror and ask, "Is this really the country I want"?

The revolution in Egypt took place because those with the guns and the power on the ground knew when NOT to use them. This "Chief" could use a sabbatical in Cairo to learn about police restraint. He needs to learn how to stand up for the U.S. Constitution. This is something bigger than the paycheck he receives from the Detroit Public School System - it is a solemn oath that he is violating.

The Maddow link above can show you what it looks like when "The State" takes over?

Ferguson student and occupier, 17-year-old Ashley Matthews is why the lessons of Freedom need to be taught properly. The audio is lousy as she describes her arrest:



Athletics isn't the way out of poverty - brains are. Ashley is showing there seems to be a pretty good crop to be grown in Detroit.

Stopping The Fictional History Tour

Published: The Huffington Post 2011.06.06

The appalling lack of knowledge of Sarah Palin does not seem to stop her.

It is almost to the point where I think she is sitting in the back of her bus making stuff up just to see if it will get covered. As she goes from town to town, she has to be laughing at the fact she is seriously being covered while saying this stuff.

The most dangerous thing about this is she is opening a window of acceptable stupidity. The more off-the-wall stuff that comes from her -- the more she is covered and -- the more people listen. If she were to win the GOP nomination next year she could accept in a speech constructed solely of one syllable words and grunts and it would be taken as if from on high.

Think about what this woman could do in the White House. On second thought -- don't. We theoretically have an election system that can protect the rest of society from people like her.

This is a game where our country gets yanked around by a now fully documented uneducated person from the furthest reaches of our country.

She has rebuffed all attacks from the side of intelligence. No number of intelligent rebuttals can make any headway on this political vampire of the Midnight Sun. The only way to put a stake in the heart of this political dance is to go unreasonable. She needs to be flanked from her stupid side.

Tina Fey is the perfect stalking horse. So why not let her actually stalk Sarah Palin?

If I had my way, I would get a corporate sponsor for Tina Fey and the old Partridge Family Bus. Get Danny Bonaduce (the perfect stand-in for the ex-first dude of Alaska) to drive it with Shirley Jones to navigate. With all the feel good sensations generated by the bubblegum music, the name of the endeavor could be "The Second Coming Bus Tour". (I wonder if Spinal Tap would be available?)

The current Palin bus tour would be renamed as The Fictional History Tour based on the grasp of Sarah Palin's facts. The Second Coming Bus Tour would take the exact route of The Fictional History Tour only delayed by 2 days. The bands can play as a warm-up. Tina Fey could do a recap of each stop with a "translation" of what the first person said. Two days would be more than enough time to create the material needed to respond to the fictional history of the first tour.

I would be willing to bet that you would be able to get more people out on The Second Coming Tour than the first one.

Another reason to call this "The Second Coming Bus Tour" with Shirley Jones in tow is that the Mama Partridge has an Oscar under her belt. It is for a movie called Elmer Gantry. One of those films that deals with religion and power... Maybe not a bad Netflix download?

You could do a reality TV show based on the travels that would rival the Grizzly Mama's travels.

The point is stupidity sells.

Sarah Palin is making a killing on it.

The only way to stop Sarah Palin may be to intelligently out-stupid her.

As I said, if I had my way.