#8 – Huntsman:   Who?  No thanks.   As VP?  Who?  No thanks.

#7 – Santorum:   Nice guy, but I don’t think so.  As VP?  Possibility for someone like Perry who is from the Southwest.

#6 – Bachmann:  Liked her in the beginning as she was standing firm on cuts, but lost interest during the debates;  Too many miscues for me.  I just can’t take her seriously as Presidential material.  Kind of like how Sarah Palin started out.  As VP?  Possible, hey Dan Quail and and Spiro Agnew made it…LOL

#5 – Paul:   Come on, Seriously?  I don’t want to go back to powdered wigs and fancy pants thank you.  As VP?  He’s too old and too much a loose cannon for my tastes.  Don’t get me wrong, he has some good ideas, but as VP he will have to follow the lead and I don’t think he could do that.

#4 – Perry:  Just because it works for Texas, is no guarantee that it would work for the rest of the 50 states.  Plus he has put his state into debt (raised Texas debt by up to 184% by some accounts).  On the immigration issue, I understand wanting to help innocent children of illegal aliens get an education, but please force the closing of the borders to illegal immigrants (and terrorists!) once and for all FIRST.  As VP?  I don’t see him as a team player with any of the font runners.

#3 – Gingrich:  I like him.  He can be full of himself, but probably with good reason, because he probably IS the smartest one in the room.  He obviously can run an organization having been the Speaker of the House.  He knows what needs to be done and he really doesn’t come off as the “establishment” choice.  I would support him for the Presidential nominee and I hope he continues to have good numbers in the polls as he helps to keep the race interesting and on point.  As VP?  I could vote for that, but I see him as a more of a hands-on kind of VP that would actually help a President navigate Congress as well as being a very good mouthpiece/adviser to the Executive Office.

#2 – Romney:  I don’t trust him.  I liked him last time around in 2008 because he was the savior of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.  He stepped in and fixed what was certainly a disaster in the making and managed it to a $100 million profit.  I had hoped that President Bush would bring a CEO style of governing with a more conservative approach to spending, so Romney appealed to me.  But as I read and hear more of Romney I just don’t think “conservative” is in his blood.  And as the “establishment” candidate I get the gut feeling that business as usual will be what happens if he wins the Presidency.  I just don’t trust him.  As VP?  Not sure he would take it.

#1 – Cain:  I like him, I really really like him.  He appeals to me on a number of levels.

In no particular order:

Race:  With the average person and “Tea Party” people supporting him, he proves that we as a country have moved past race when it comes to the Presidency.

Fiscal Responsibility:  Looking at his career, it is clear that fiscal responsibility was, and is, part of his management style and his success as a business leader.  Boy, do we need Fiscal Responsibility!

Establishment, NOT:  Our government has to change and business as usual has to be stopped.  Like Ronald Regan, I believe that Herman Cain will call a spade a spade and will not hesitate to let us, the people, know when Congress is doing thing wrong.  And I believe he will do this in a bi-partisan manner with no regard for Republicans vs. Democrats.

Sexual Harassment:  In the Clinton Administration it was called “Dating”. (Sorry, I just had to do that)  Let’s see, the latest allegation is from some blond floozy with Gloria Allred in tow…Yeah, like I am going to believe that story.   I don’t believe any of it.  I think it is political operatives, probably from BOTH parties bringing this stuff forward for an eager media to exploit.

Of the People:  I see Herman Cain as a person supported by regular people, yes, Tea Party people, but more than that, real regular people.

As VP?  Yes, but with who? Gingrich, maybe?  If I have to vote for Romney vs Obama, at least I would feel better if Cain was the VP.

All it took was one PFC Bradley Manning, with a computer and an email account, to expose state secrets of countries and embarrassing comments about many world leaders.

How secure do you feel when all it will take is one guy on the geek squad in any of the approximately 20,000 US airports to download pictures to a USB drive?

Your government says that it can’t happen…Oh, Really.

More Cartoons by Jerry Holbert

THIS election cycle is about the fiscal health of our state and country;  it’s about spending, jobs, taxes, Jobs, representation, and JOBS!

Some would have this election be about ”social issues” i.e. gay marriage, abortion, and immigration.   At least that’s what the Democrat attack ads are saying.   They have been trying to paint their opponents as radical right-wing wacko’s who are “Tea Party” followers and outside of “mainstream America”. It’s a red herring.  This is just to distract people from looking at democrat voting records.

I have yet to hear any Tea Party followers espouse on social issues as their agenda.

I do not belong to the Tea Party and I have not been to one of their rallies, but I do believe in many of the things they believe in – Less Government, Less Spending at both the State and Federal level.

Yes, there are social issues to be solved, but right now, today, we need to reign in this big and unresponsive government of OURS and get it back on track first.

So I am voting Republican this year.  That means I will be voting for Carl Paladino for Governor.  I have looked into both candidates’ records.  Cuomo is nothing more than the same bull that we have been getting for years.  Paladino is actually someone who has accomplished something with his life without hanging on to his dad’s coat tails.   It’s pretty obvious he is no politician, but I count that as a good thing this year.

Chuck “I never met a camera I didn’t like” Schumer and his stooge Kirsten Gillibrand (was a blue dog Democrat and now a Liberal Democrat) need to be replaced.

I will vote TWICE for Tom Reed as my representative for Congress in the 29th District.  Yes, TWICE because NY is so screwed up that the present Governor will make us vote once for the person to complete Congressman “Tickle me Elmo” Massa’s term (just until January) and once again for the next term of office to begin in January.

I will vote for Patrick Gallivan for State Senate and Sean Hanna for the State Assembly as they represent change that is badly needed in New York State government.

I did look into the other positions up for election and decided to “run the table” with Republican’s this year…first time I have ever done that! But this year is different.  This year, I think, it really does matter.

One more thing, in the Town of Canadice we will be voting on two propositions to extend the terms of office for the Town Supervisor and the Town Highway Superintendent from 2 years to 4 years. When everyone is talking about term limits, why are we extending these terms of office?
It’s not like running a “campaign” is such a big deal in a town this small.  A few years back there was consensus that we needed a change in the Town Highway Superintendent position.  Because the job was an elected position, the Town Board had very little control.   The only way to replace him was at the election. With this proposition passed we would have had to wait 2 more years before he could be replaced.   I think I will be voting NO on both.

Well, that’s the View from Here
I will give the Republicans one more chance…but I will be watching!

Obama/Biden campaigned on fixing government…for the people

The problem, Candidate Obama says, on his own website:

Lobbyists Write National Policies: For example, Vice President Dick Cheney’s Energy Task Force of oil and gas lobbyists met secretly to develop national energy policy.

But Obama met secretly with 10 Unions and then gave them a multi-billion dollar tax break on his proposed Health-Care bill.

Another problem says Candidate Obama, again from his own website:

Wasteful Spending is Out of Control: The current administration has abused its power by handing out contracts without competition to its politically connected friends and supporters. These abuses cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year.

But we just learned that President Obama’s administration just gave out a lucrative $25 Million – NO BID – federal contract to a company owned by a prominent Democratic campaign contributor

Candidate Obama has said that he would “close the revolving door on lobbyists”, and yet President Obama has selected many former lobbyists to be a part of his administration.

The point is, that it hasn’t been Hope and Change this past year.  It has been business as usual!  He has revealed himself as a Politician and Liar.

So now comes the State of the Union address; his spokesman Robert Gibbs said when asked on Fox News Sunday about the upcoming speech:

WALLACE: The president gives his state of the union speech on Wednesday night. Will he emphasize the populist line, fighting for the little guy, that we heard so much in his speech in Ohio on Friday?

GIBBS: Well, absolutely. The — what you’re going to hear from the president is the same thing you heard from him over the past several years.  And that is that for far too long people in this country felt like Washington was about the special interests and not about them. That’s why they’re frustrated.

Excuse Me!??  We felt like “Washington was about the special interests” and not about us!

Maybe because we saw you give away $100 Million to Louisiana to by a vote for his health-care plan!  (See Modern Day “Louisiana Purchase” below)

Or maybe it was  the “Nebraska Compromise” that cut a Multi-million dollar funding break for Nebraska in order to help pass his federal health care bill.

Or maybe it was the Union sweatheart tax break give-a-way I mentioned earlier.

President Obama can read from the teleprompter once again, and try to  re-use his rhetoric from the campaign, that he is doing all this for the little guy. But I am not buying it this time.  No way.  This time I will see him as the Politician and lier that he truly is.

This time it will be different!

“Was” because she has since caved stating, “It is a vote to move forward to continue the good and essential and important and imperative work that is under way.  I’ve decided that there’s enough significant reforms and safeguards in this bill to move forward but more work needs to be done.”

What she did not say was that on page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”

The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”

This section applies to exactly one state:  Louisiana

In other words, the bill spends two pages describing what could be written with a single world:  Louisiana.  (This may also help explain why the bill is long.)  Really, you should see the actual text!  This was inserted to coax Senator Landrieu to cave; she did.  And what would it cost the taxpayers?  According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million.  According to many who have figured it out: Closer to $300 million!

The first Louisiana Purchase cost the taxpayers $15 million dollars and it almost doubled the size of the country at that time (1803).  It encompassed all or part of 14 current U.S. states and two Canadian provinces.

The second “Louisiana Purchase” will BUY one Senator’s vote and cost about 10 times the original and then will only go to help one State; one area of one state actually, and help push through the biggest expansion of government ever attempted and the takeover of 1/6 of our economy!

Seventeen years have passed (17! That long?) since we have had a serious 3rd party candidate and since term limits was discussed in the public square.  I believe it is time to have real choice in our State and Federal elections by “cleaning house” and helping to elect candidates who are truly looking out for us.  In addition, we need to consider imposing term limits on our representatives at the State and Federal level.

This year, as I look towards the next elections in New York and as I look towards 2012, I will be looking for candidates who are NOT incumbents, and who are standing up for reduced spending and reducing the size of State and Federal government.  If that means that I have to vote for a Democrat, Republican, or some other “party”, I will do it.

It will mean that I have to do more “homework” to find out their positions on my issues and try to figure out how these people will govern.  But just re-electing someone because they happen to be of my chosen party, just won’t do it for me this time.  To me “incumbent” means corrupt.  And until I can shake that feeling, I am breaking away from party labels.

I would also like to have a Statewide Constitutional Amendment that would impose term limits on the State Assembly, the State Senate, and the Governor’s Office.  Term Limits are probably the quickest way to get rid of an entrenched political “class” of professional politicians.  Fifteen state legislatures have term limits ranging form 2 to 4 year terms and can be elected to 2 or 3 consecutive terms – generally they can serve 6 to 12 years max.  Governors in many states (36) have term limits, usually set at 2 consecutive 4-year terms.  These are good starting points I believe.

Term limits should also apply to our federal elections as well.  No more “jobs for life” for our Congressional and Senate “representatives”.

3rd Party Candidates & Term Limits – The Time has Come

I know that I live in Canadice.  The home of the FREE and the brave; where you can hear people say: “We don’t take kindly to those city-folks coming in and wanting to change our laws to be like Rochester’s laws.”  “Why, we can’t even burn our trash in the burn barrel anymore!”

I get it.  More laws = less freedom.  But that was then, and this is now.  Somehow, along the way from then to now, the sense of “being neighborly” has seemed to disappear from view and practice.

Back then, your dog probably ran free.  Sure, you were always taking a chance that your dog could get shot while running deer, or that they would not come home because they were dead on the side of the road.  But your dog was out of site – out of mind.

But now, people generally do not let their dogs run free; they take them for walks.  And many of those people walk around with little bags in their hands…  I like them.  Unfortunately, there are not enough of those people around.  At least, I don’t see them much at my end of the lake.

What I see, are people without those bags, and plenty of “dog rockets” around to prove it!

NOT for future accomplishments.  No, the Swedish Academy said it was for his previous accomplishments – up to and including those first 12 days one presumes.

I have heard that Mr. Obama is also one of the finalists for the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, since he has such special chemistry during his many many speeches.  (See Chris Mathews -  Obama Speech Caused ‘Thrill Going Up My Leg’)

He has accepted the honor and will forever be listed as a Nobel Peace Prize winner, along with people like Jean Henry Dunant – founder of the international Red Cross, Martin Luther King and Gandhi.  Of course, that list also includes Al Gore for his work on Global Warming.  (I think Gore also won a second Nobel Prize for Science, because he invented the INTERNET).

And this just in, Sarah Palin has just won the Nobel Prize in Literature for her new book -  Going Rogue: An American Life.  Of Course, no one has read her book, as it will not be released until November 17, 2009 but it is expected to be high on the New York Times Best Seller list.  Way to go Sarah!

On a side note, rumor has it that Paul David Hewson (AKA Bono of U2 fame) is on the short list for an Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this year, for his deep desire to make a MOVIE…lol

I think this is the end of the Nobel Peace Prize.  C-Ya!

“The only thing this plan would eliminate is the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud, as well as unwarranted subsidies in Medicare that go to insurance companies — subsidies that do everything to pad their profits but don’t improve the care of seniors.  And we will also create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts charged with identifying more waste in the years ahead.”

First, there is absolutely no legislation written in any of the Bills before Congress that says in any way on how this would be done.  So I believe the President lied; To the Congress and to the American people.

Second, if these “billions of dollars in waste and fraud” exist, why are they not fixing Medicare and Medicaid (two government programs) NOW?

But what gets me, is the President of the United States WAS lying; to Congress AND to the American people.  And nobody seemed to care!