Of all the passages here this one stuck out as a beacon for hope and should be a smoke signal to our “field generals” in DC who want to run this war by retreating…
“Before going to lunch with a local leader, I stop and talk with Omar, the owner of a small grocery. He’s clean-shaven, well dressed, and roughly my age. He moved to Doura about two years ago (when my unit was here), after being displaced from his town by the Mahdi Army.
I ask him why hadn’t he joined al-Qaeda either to expel Americans or retaliate against the Shia. He replied, ‘Because al-Qaeda kills civilians, including my aunt and three cousins.’ His uncle was a local contractor — an offense to al-Qaeda, punishable by the killing of his wife and daughters. Omar speaks candidly of the U.S. presence here: ‘Americans have made many mistakes, but now they are fixing them. . . . If Americans leave now, it will be a disaster.’
A Neighborhood, Reborn Seeing Baghdad again, for the first time. By: Pete Hegseth
Al Doura, Baghdad — As I step out of the humvee into the street, I have two facts in mind: I’ve been here before; and this time, I don’t have a weapon.
Recalling the tension of my first patrol in this neighborhood as a platoon leader, my five senses are sharp. The dusty road below greets my boots, some of the smells are eerily familiar, and the sound of idling humvees is my only comfort. My head swivels to scan the street. My hands are naked without an M-4, so I find the nearest soldier.
Soon — as a young child approaches — the wary familiarity gives way to fascination. I may be in the same geographic location, but I’m not in the same neighborhood. This is not Al Doura, at least not as I knew it. Where did all these people and shops come from? Where is all the trash, and the open sewage? Where is the fear — the deep-seated fear?
Children approach, as they usually do — but today it’s not just children. Young men walk up, initiating conversation. Women cross the street between our humvees, seemingly unaware of the GIs. The people are friendly, but not assertively so. Our presence is natural, almost routine. My inner tension clashes with the calm scene unfolding around me.
I take a few steps into the middle of an intersection with a clear view in all directions. Along the main thoroughfare, my immediate surroundings are replicated: block after block of shops and bustling residents. The side streets that I remember as sewage-clogged gutters are clean and teeming with construction and activity.
This is not Al Doura. The Al Doura I knew was the heart of sectarian violence, with daily body counts in the dozens. As I keep walking, I pass a busy car wash, and then a fitness center where young men pump iron and tear-outs of Muscle Fitness adorn the walls. We pass two new playgrounds, where boys clamber up and down slides and beautiful little girls play with dolls. A cart vendor offers me a bag of freshly popped popcorn — but I decline and have some falafel instead.
Increasingly relaxed and curious, I duck into side streets. One leads me to a buzzing recreation center, where soldiers are challenged to a game of pool. In the next room, teenage boys fight it out in the computer game “Medal of Honor” (which my little brother plays constantly). The World War II battle simulator heats up as we enter: the “German” I’m watching turns a virtual corner and lobs a grenade at an “American.” We all burst out laughing. That’s as much hostility as my patrol would face this day.
The entire time, we have only nominal security. It was disconcerting at first — I would never have come here unarmed two years ago — but the commander I’m walking with eases my concerns: the people are our security. The neighborhood residents trust the Americans, as well as the “Sons of Iraq” (or CLCs, as the Army calls them: Concerned Local Citizens) — local residents who provide security for the neighborhood. In a place where al-Qaeda dominated just eight months ago, today they couldn’t buy a bag of popcorn.
The unit’s commander — Lieutenant Colonel James Crider — clarifies the new situation in Doura, “We made a deliberate attempt to engage the people and soon enough, when they realized we weren’t going anywhere, that’s when they started talking to us.”
Beginning in June, while bullets were still flying, Crider’s squadron held sit-down meetings with every family in Doura, walking house-to-house over the course of several months to forge personal relationships. This approach — combined with a 24/7 presence in the neighborhoods — eventually crippled al-Qaeda. LTC Crider notes, “Al-Qaeda had no idea who was ratting them out, because we went into every house.” The relationships they fostered from these meetings provided intelligence that allowed the unit to detain al-Qaeda members who were thriving on American ignorance and hiding in plain sight. One of Crider’s lieutenants adds, “It was a battle of intel — and we won.”
These gains, however, were costly. In their first 30 days in Doura, the unit was attacked over 50 times. On the very streets we’re walking today, LTC Crider has lost nine good men, with dozens more injured. But the unit persisted — honoring the sacrifices of their brethren — and has not been attacked in their sector since September 27. As compelling testimony to the unit’s dedication to the task, LTC Crider’s squadron had the highest reenlistment rate in all of Baghdad in 2007, exceeding their goal by over 500 percent.
As we walk, we see scars of the neighborhood’s violent recent past — bombed-out homes pepper the area and bullet-sprayed walls are everywhere. Some power wires dangle out of place. All is not perfect — but signs of life keep finding us. As we reach the end of the block, three young males approach, all looking for work and eager to join the “Sons of Iraq.” This is typical, Crider informs me, and the unit jots down their names.
LTC Crider and his soldiers understand that the security gains, though real, are still tenuous — if alternatives to insurgency are not soon in place. The unit has given out hundreds of business micro-loans, many of which were used for street-front stores. They fund only local contractors, who hire local workers to pickup trash, fix sewage pipes, and provide electricity. The people of Doura themselves are rebuilding Doura — with the U.S. Army’s help.
Before going to lunch with a local leader, I stop and talk with Omar, the owner of a small grocery. He’s clean-shaven, well dressed, and roughly my age. He moved to Doura about two years ago (when my unit was here), after being displaced from his town by the Mahdi Army.
I ask him why hadn’t he joined al-Qaeda either to expel Americans or retaliate against the Shia. He replied, “Because al-Qaeda kills civilians, including my aunt and three cousins.” His uncle was a local contractor — an offense to al-Qaeda, punishable by the killing of his wife and daughters. Omar speaks candidly of the U.S. presence here: “Americans have made many mistakes, but now they are fixing them. . . . If Americans leave now, it will be a disaster.”
The most telling aspect of our conversation is where it takes place — on the street, out in the open, and among Omar’s fellow residents. He is not afraid, and vows to fight al-Qaeda if they ever return. I ask him why, of all places, he decided to move to Doura at the height of the violence here. “Because they are good people,” he answers.
It was then that I realized I had never really been to this place — I just thought I had. This is the real Al Doura, a neighborhood and a people reborn — thanks to the bravery and sacrifice of LTC Crider and his men. Today, I saw Al Doura for the first time.
— Captain Pete Hegseth, who served in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division from 2005 to 2006, is executive director of Vets for Freedom. He’s back in Iraq for the next week to cover the surge for NRO.
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In truth, Slot-Trot began when Governor Steve Beshear got elected and went to Frankfort with one bullet point on his agenda - to pass “expanded gaming” legislation, otherwise known as legislation that would allow casinos in KY and especially at horse tracks. However, things heated up when allegations of extortion of horse folks by legislators were revealed by WHAS reporter Mark Hebert on his blog and on KET’s weekly show Comment on Kentucky. Blog:
Well, if you talk to horse industry folks, they’ll privately say they believe they’re being taken to the woodshed by Speaker Jody Richards and his close allies (Joni Jenkins and Tim Firkins) who believe the horsey folks who have spent too much time and cash on Beshear and haven’t committed enough cash to democratic legislative races this fall. Richards says he doesn’t know why the horse industry folks would think he’s working against them because he says, it’s not true. He refused to say whether he favors or opposes a guarantee that the race tracks get some of the casino licenses.
Hebert on Comment on Kentucky:
If you listen to the folks from the tracks, they’re saying that they’re being essentially held hostage by one faction in the House, folks who want them to pony up and commit X number of dollars for all the House races later on this fall. And, “Hey if you give us the money, and you commit some money to all our candidates, that are Democrats, you know what? We’ll back off this thing of uh, uh, you know, of requiring you to have local voters approve it, or we’ll back off this thing of nine potential casinos but no guarantee that you tracks will get any. You know we’ll make it a little more friendly to you.”
This was picked up by Brett Hall at KyPolitics.org, and followed closely by Marcus Carey on Bluegrass Bulletin. Then I, Jefferson Poole, labeled the situation “Slot-Trot” in this BGRS entry. Carey acknowledged the “accuracy and brevity” in the description of the “growing call for an investigation.” Then RPK Chairman Steve Robertsonfiled a complaint with the Legislative Ethics Commission over Slot-Trot, and boom!, Slot-Trot was officially born.
As of right now, since we can assume that no formal investigation has been launched, despite numerous reports of Bureau presence in Frankfort, it’s difficult to describe the situation as a full-blown scandal. Even though Slot-Trot is an especially appropriate name for a KY scandal over casino/racetrack legislation it is also, in my opinion, a perfectly appropriate description for the casino legislation being considered in the General Assembly this year - even if no real proven scandal ever materializes.
Steve Beshear either believes believes slot-trot is the silver bullet Kentucky needs to lift the poor into middle class stability and fund education and health care programs appropriately, or he is willing to pretend like he believes it in order to stay in power and help his friends make a killing off of ignorant gamblers and addicts.
When even the staunchest proponents of government ownership worldwide are starting to realize that profitable business creates common wealth, one would think that Kentucky’s moderate Democrats would be able to ideologically embrace the merits of allowing people and businesses to operate in a smart low-tax state system. If they had embraced this truth, though, and Steve Beshear still had only 1 bullet point on his agenda, that point would not be to increase the number of games Kentuckians can play. It would be to make Kentucky the #1 most business-friendly state in the U.S. If we could achieve that goal, we would have created common wealth that respects individual liberties and dignity and, more importantly, would turn over to the next generation a state with an economy that works and does not require the constant medical attention of banks, lenders, and economists who treat people and industries like tinker toys.
I don’t think that’s Steve Beshear’s goal, though. The pinnacle of Steve Beshear’s vision for the commonwealth apparently looks something like this, and if this happens Florida will become the undisputed horse capital of the world.
Kentuckians love horses, and we love our tracks, but to pervert our horse racing traditions and take the beauty, training, skill, and discipline of the sport away from center stage would transform our tracks from sporting arenas into palaces built to honor nothing but chance. That will not sit well with Kentucky. Steve Beshear’s Slot-Trot legislation is doomed to failure, regardless of whether Jody Richards or Greg Stumbo is the Speaker of the House, and frankly, I believe Steve Beshear is doomed to one lame term as Governor.
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So what if Senator Barack Obama got the endorsement of the Utility Workers Union of America?
The UWUA represents 70,000 active and retired members working in the gas, water, electricity and nuclear industries, including nearly 10,000 in Ohio and another 8,000 in Pennsylvania.
“Senator Obama understands our issues, supports our goals and will do what is right for utility workers, our families, our communities and our country,” President Langford said. “We join him in his fight for change in America that will put working people first. I urge every one of our members to get involved in his campaign to lead this country forward.”
Just because he got the endorsement of the people who work in these industries does not mean he will strengthen those industries. It doesn’t mean that Obama would do a great job at getting cheap electricity and nuclear power to American families.
In addition to Senator Obama’s longstanding support of issues important to workers such as the Employee Free Choice Act, Senator Obama has shown leadership on the critical issues facing utility workers and consumers.
Really? The Employee Free Choice Act strips union members of their right to a private ballot in elections. That opens them up to intimidation and igonores one of the most fundamental concepts of democracy. It’s funny how in liberal land teenagers’ “rights to privacy” supercede the rights and responsibilities of parents to raise their children when it comes to the child wanting to get an abortion, but workers’ rights to privacy in ballot elections can be ignored by Obama and the union heads without any liberal uttering a peep.
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In Georgia, utilities and non-profits are teaming up (subscr. req’d) to promote green conservation by America’s seniors:
“Georgia Power and Senior Connections in DeKalb County will team up to provide free compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and energy efficiency information to seniors during visits to several neighborhood senior centers.”
That’s nice. Conservation alone, however, will never “create” enough energy to meet growing United States demand. Maybe “energy saved is energy produced,” but saving energy is not going to produce enough.
We need to do what Europe has done and re-embrace nuclear power. Here in Kentucky, we have an opportunity to do that, by passing either one of the bills introduced by Senator Bob Leeper and Rep. Steven Rudy last month. C-J:
Three state legislators are trying to overturn a nearly-quarter-century ban on nuclear power in Kentucky, as the nuclear industry vies for a comeback. . . . The existing law effectively puts a moratorium on nuclear power in Kentucky, since there is no permanent disposal facility in the United States.
This is a perfect example of legislators tying things up in red tape instead of actually banning what they want to ban. If the ban would pass, they would ban it. The ban wouldn’t pass, though, so they tie it up.
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Senator Mitch McConnell and his parliamentary skills made news in Cuba. I just thought that was kind of weird since, you know, Cuba isn’t really friendly to the United States and journalism. Raoul? Where are you?
An amendment submitted by the political opponents to President George W. Bush was analyzed on Tuesday at the Senate and was partially supported as a first step towards bigger debates and revisions.
House Republican leader Mitch McConnell said his fellow republicans agreed to back the initiative and took advantage of the forum to praise the alleged military progress of the Pentagon troops.
In other words, McConnell is initiating a debate on this topic in order to shape legislation and make Democrats look weak. What more could Republicans ask for in a Senate leader?
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REPUBLICAN PARTY OF KENTUCKY FILES “SLOT-TROT” CORRUPTION COMPLAINT WITH LEGISLATIVE ETHICS COMMISION
FRANKFORT, Ky. – The Republican Party of Kentucky (RPK) today filed a complaint with the Legislative Ethics Commission asking for an immediate investigation into allegations that House Democratic Leadership are extorting members of the horse industry and race tracks for campaign contributions in exchange for support of casino legislation.
“It is my hope that the Legislative Ethics Commission will make this ‘Slot-Trot’ inquiry a high priority as public confidence in House Democratic Leadership is rapidly eroding,” said RPK Chairman Steve Robertson.
The request for an investigation comes in the wake of WHAS 11 Reporter Mark Hebert’s allegations that members of the horse industry were telling him privately that they were “being taken to the woodshed by Speaker Jody Richards and his close allies” who believe the horse industry spent too much time and cash on Beshear and did not commit enough money to Democratic legislative races this fall. Hebert went public with his accusations on the February 22nd edition of KET’s Comment on Kentucky.
“Hebert’s statements imply that certain House Democrats have violated virtually every principle in the Legislative Ethics Code,” said RPK Chairman Steve Robertson. “In light of these shocking accusations, it is the duty of the Legislative Ethics Commission to restore the public’s trust in the legislative process by either bringing to light or putting to rest these allegations of impropriety.”
According to KRS 6.606, the Legislative Ethics Code states that the proper operation of democratic government requires that:
A public official be independent and impartial; A public official not use public office to obtain private benefits; A public official avoid any action which creates the appearance that he/she is using public office to obtain a private benefit; Government policy and decisions be made through the established processes of government; and The public have confidence in the integrity of its government and its public officials. “If an investigation into these allegations reveals that Democratic legislators have attempted to engage in extortion, the Ethics Commission should immediately refer this matter to the proper law enforcement agencies,” concluded Robertson.
The Republican Party of Kentucky also forwarded the complaint to the Office of the Attorney General requesting that it launch a parallel investigation.
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I first read about this yesterday (because I didn’t watch Comment on Kentucky Friday, when Mark Hebert mentioned it) on KyPolitics.org, and Marcus Carey of Bluegrass Bulletin is covering this vigorously.
Seems some Democrat lawmakers in Frankfort may be upset about Governor Steve Beshear being the only politician benefiting directly in the form of campaign contributions from pushing the casino gaming legislation. They may be wielding their power by mucking up the bill in committee and telling the casino people that they’ll leave it be and let it pass unscathed when they start benefiting from doing so.
I have a feeling this Slot Trot story may not go away for a long time.
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Here’s the phone message Frank Simon sent out to some Jefferson County Republican Party members. I was not contacted by email or any other way by Dr. Simon to help him get his message out. Jack Richardson says this message is chock full of lies. You judge for yourself. Honestly, “pro-abortion” sounds false to say the least, and it all seems a little divisive to me. Jefferson County Republicans don’t need a shadow party operating within it. Opinions and grievances need to be aired openly to party members without prejudice using normal party rules and parliamentary procedure.
UPDATE: A member of the JCRP Committee has written in to refute some of the claims made in the comments section of this entry. I’ll post it in the comments and here:
1.) The locations were made available more than just a few days in advance, but I don’t remember the specific number of days. An ad was run in the Courier-Journal. 2.) The bylaws and convention rules are always public documents. The convention rules were passed out in the Legislative Districts. It would be hard to know the procedure that was followed in each LD, as there were 18 different locations which seemed to partially be a problem. However, each Precinct Convention and Caucus must adopt rules and they were voted on. The Jefferson County Republican Executive Committee had passed standing rules to clarfy provisions recently written into it’s bylaws that seemed confusing. As you can tell from the different stories that you get,it was certainly up to interpretation and people could easily have different views on them, which created the need for clarification by the JCREC. Since then, the bylaws have been changed to try to eliminate those problems. 3.) It is not up to convention officials to tell people that they can amend the temporary rules of the convention. You can’t amend the bylaws at this level. 4.) I don’t know of a circumstance where people were told that slates had to be on a certain form, but forms were provided to LD Chairs with the appropriate number of positions, dependent upon the number of delegates allotted to the district. 5.) Legislative District Chairmen were not up for election at this level in 2004. There were no votes taken on the LD Chairmen in the caucuses, if any district tried that, it would have been out of order. 6.) Any voting member of the LD Caucus could present a slate, this shouldn’t have be told to attendees. 7.) All resolutions submitted at the LD Caucuses were presented to the Resolutions Committee. If they chose not to pass it out of Resolutions, then it never made it to the County Convention floor. Larry had submitted one that was very critical of Jack Richardson. The Resolutions committee chose not to take it up. 8.) Parliamentary Procedure was followed at the County Convention. I know it was followed in many of the LD’s as there were people who were either Parliamentarians present or who had much Parliamentary experience there to observe. Given the 18 locations, it is hard to definitively say that it was followed to a tee in every location. 9.) Slates that had issues had the following problems: Democrats on the slates, people not living in the district, people not living in the county, no apportionment for those areas with second district precincts, etc.
As an added note, there has never been a litmus test for the county party. From having served with many very good people on this committee, I would estimate that 95% or more are Pro-Life and Pro-Family Values. All find the audio tape from Dr. Simon to ve divisive and offensive. this same tactic was used in 2004 and a letter was sent out accusing the committee of having a homosexual agenda. This was due to a former GOP candidate having been on the committee at that time. While I cannot agree with his stance on that issue, I was taught to love the person and hate the sin. Faith Mercke is indeed Pro-Choice, that doesn’t mean that her one vote would adversely affect the entire committee. Susan Stokes has not been a Republican for over a decade I believe.
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The big announcement for Rep. John Yarmuth (D - KY / San Francisco) today is the $2 million in federal money he got “to further research and development for the program that performed the nation’s first hand transplant.” Good for him.
Once again, however, that amounts to around half of what Anne Northup got ($3.5 million) for the very same program not even 2 1/2 years ago!
“All of this is a testament to your understanding of what Louisville needs and your leadership in the United States Congress. I’m impressed that, in such a short time, you have accomplished so much for this district.”
Please. If Yarmuth knew what Louisville needs he would kick himself out of Congress. Here’s the full letter (click for PDF):
I could be wrong, but I highly doubt Anne Northup ever received letters from Jerry that were just overflowing with praise like this one is.
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KDP Chair Jennifer Moore has filed a complaint to the Louisville Metro Ethics Commission over Doug Hawkins linking to his Senate campaign site on his official Metro Council page.
POK said it well when they called the LMEC “do-nothing” and offered us this:
Isn’t there a senate race to meddle in somewhere? Some money to raise? Votes to buy? Maybe some legitimate work to be done… like pointing out idiots like Frank Simon have seriously violated campaign finance law again and again? Never hear anything about the real wrongdoers. We want some real leadership. Not bickering over a website.
However, what they didn’t tell us is that the www.doughawkins.com link has been on Hawkins’ Metro Council page for YEARS. Why? Has he been running for Senate for years? No. Actually, DougHawkins.com is a site that Hawkins has paid for with his personal money to provide extraordinary service to his constituents. The page gave people information about flu shot times and locations, garbage pickup, and other stuff like that. Going to that page for information was much easier and intuitive than going to the government site. So, the page has been linked to for years and now that Hawkins is running for Senate the domain is serving as his campaign site and they didn’t think to remove the link from the government site. Besides, since it’s a government site it probably would have taken 2 months to get the link down.
Wow. They probably could have just called Hawkins on the phone and told him to take the link down but instead they had to cause a ruckus. That must mean they think they have a pretty good chance of losing Sen. Perry Clark’s vote in the KY Senate.
By the way, if you don’t believe me - here’s a screenshot of the link on Hawkins’ old Metro Council site, when it was linking to the extraordinary service page:
and here’s proof that www.doughawkins.com was functioning in the extraordinary service fashion I described above. You can still find pages hosted on doughawkins.com that were originally posted as far back as 2003. This one is from 2005:
This cheap political jab at Hawkins may backfire on the KDP and make Hawkins look better than he did before.
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The Berea College Republicans are having what sounds like an awesome event next Tuesday, February 26th. All you Richmond / Madison County Republicans, EKU students, Rockcastle rockers, and hey, even Centre kids might want to head to Berea for this event:
Berea College’s chapter of College Republicans will be hosting historian and author Michael Zak from Washington on our campus next Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 6:45 in the Woods-Penn Building on Chestnut Street. Our event, titled “Shattering Stereotypes: Forget Every Thing You THOUGHT You Knew about the Republican and Democrat Parties,” will feature Mr. Zak as our keynote speaker. The event is free and open to the public. All our welcome, invited, and even encouraged to attend.
Mr. Zak is a former U.S. Senate staffer, responsible for crafting the so-called “nuclear option” a few years ago over confirmation of President Bush’s judicial nominees. Zak has recently written a book titled Back to Basics for the Republican Party. He also wrote the 2005 Republican “Freedom Calendar,” distributed at the 2004 party convention in New York, which boasts 365 facts (one for each day of the year) pertaining to the Republican Party and its history on civil rights and women’s rights. Mr. Zak has appeared on C-SPAN and other media outlets, and speaks as an expert around the nation. He will lecture, facilitate a “Question & Answer” section and autograph copies of his new book.
We are pleased to host him on our campus and would love for you to join us! This promises to be an insightful and information discussion and you won’t want to miss out. Please join us and be a part of this wonderful night of stimulating dialogue. If don’t come; you’ll wish you had!
For driving directions, more information about or club or our speaker or to RSVP by email, contact me — Charles Badger at: cbadge@gmail.com. Feel free to visit Mr. Zak’s website for more. http://www.republicanbasics.com/.
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Yesterday I told you about how Rep. John Yarmuth (D - KY / San Francisco) got Louisville about 10% of the federal funding for flood prevention that Anne Northup got us back in 2006 (Yarmuth’s $600,000 compared to Northup’s $5 million). Today, we have more evidence of Yarmuth coming up short. The Courier-Journalreported today on the $194,600 Yarmuth acquired for the education wing of the Louisville Science Center. That amounts to less than half of what Northup acquired (p. 18) for the Louisville Science Center back in 2005:
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Deroy Murdock’s NRO column from this morning might bother some liberals.
Though largely dismissed by the Democratic Left, America’s “surge” policy is paying attractive dividends. Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) is in retreat, violence is down, and political reconciliation is up.
In a 16-page letter that U.S. soldiers found last October near Baghdad, AQI leader Abu Tariq complained that his 600-man force had dwindled to 20 terrorists.
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Wow, if there ever were a good description of why we should be investing in clean coal, it is here, on the EnergyBlogs.
A Cleantech venture capitalist recently said solving clean-coal would create another Google™; it’s assumed he means a fast growing company with an outsized market cap. The reality is:
That might be an understatement since in 2007 we produced only 5.1 million bbl/day oil (unchanged from 2006) and used 21. For the last 2 years, America has imported 76% of its oil and is now spending at a $550 billion a year rate ($95/bbl) on imports.
We are having difficulty keeping up with natural gas demand.
We are stymied in implementing additional coal power.
To do its part in solving domestic energy problems, gasifier systems (clean coal) must be reliable and cheap, i.e. air-blown gasifier technology. What other technology platform is there that can cleanly maximize electricity from all solid fuels? And using high-temperature FT (Fischer Tropsch) carbide catalysts in combination with IGCC should enable making some syncrude in a simple once-through FT process while still making electricity with IGCC on the back-end with maximized thermodynamic efficiency. . . .
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As POK reported today, Rep. John Yarmuth (D - KY / San Francisco) has secured $600K in federal money for Louisville flood prevention projects. Good for him. It doesn’t really compare to the $5 million Anne Northupsecured in mid-2006, though, does it?
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Dear Fellow Republicans,
As many of you now know, there will be a new chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party after this year’s reorganization. The search for our future leader has begun and to that end, I humbly ask for your support.
For the last week I have been reaching out to party leaders about my decision to run. From Fern Creek to St. Matthews and from Prospect to Valley Station, our leaders have been gracious with their time as I share with them my vision for our party. And with more support rolling in each day, I grow more excited about the prospects of our Party coming together for this Fall’s pivotal election.
That being said, I view any good party organization as being built from the grassroots up. All of the volunteers on the ground, knocking on doors, making phone calls, helping with yard sign distribution, working the polls, driving voters on election day, and the many other campaign activities that make our party work, are the foundation of the JCRP. I think it is safe to say that you care or you wouldn’t be reading this blog right now and that is why I am using this forum to reach out to you, share part of my vision for the coming term, and ask for your support to make it a reality.
It is a fundamental part of my plan for the future to make party unity our top priority. For too long our party has been split, inwardly focused on the past and our disagreements with each other rather than where it belongs, towards the future. Instead of fighting battles amongst Republicans, our focus needs to be winning the war on Election Day. The conservative principles of fiscal responsibility, sound family values and a strong national defense, military and foreign policy are too important for us to get sidetracked. I work daily with party leaders and activists to forward our cause and can tell you first hand that we agree on significantly more than we disagree and because of this awareness I believe I am the one most capable of achieving this unification.
The JCRP must also get back to an aggressive grassroots organization if we are to defeat an increasingly more agile and savvy Democratic Party. We must reach out to volunteers like you from across Jefferson County and ask for your help. After all, you are usually the people most affected by the decisions of our political leaders. As the Political Director and Louisville Coordinator for Secretary of State Trey Grayson, I witnessed firsthand your dedication to upholding conservative principles and putting Republicans into office. In the worst of all possible environments, Secretary Grayson won our County by 9 points. I believe it is being part of the team that put together this type of recent success that puts me in the best position to put this same type of organizational structure to work to guide our Party towards a stronger grassroots effort.
Along those lines, we need to do a better job of recruiting quality candidates to run for vacant and democrat held seats if we ever expect to make the Metro Council and State House Republican majorities. Members of those caucuses are working hard towards this goal, but a strong party organization can help greatly in this endeavor. We must look no further than the successes of Secretary Grayson and Commissioner Farmer to realize that when we field the right candidates and the local party gets behind them, Republicans win in Jefferson County.
Accomplishing these three major themes will allow us to raise more money and expand the effectiveness of our efforts. With these funds, one of my priorities will be to find a more sensible headquarters location that will be able to double as a Victory Office during election season. I believe this will make us better stewards over the funds our donors give us. A new more multi-functional location will provide us the ability to conduct year-round training, campaign activities and special events making this a central point of Republican activism for our county.
A close second will be to bring our communications and online presence into the 21st century by updating our website and online features to help give the JCRP a serious makeover.
There is no doubt that the Republican Party has come a long way at the local Metro level when compared to the Alderman structure of the past, but it is also no secret that we have much progress to make. Part of successful leadership is modeling the success of others who have gone where you want to go. To that end, I will reach out to Republican organizations in Indianapolis and Cincinnati and pull additional ideas,action steps, and experience for us to put in place to mirror their success over the past decade.
But most importantly, my tenure will be one of open doors that values the input of all Republicans within Jefferson County. I would like to close this letter in that light by making my email address public for your use. Feel free to reach me at brad4jcrp@gmail.com if you have any questions, comments or concerns and I promise a quick response, hopefully within 24 hours.
There are a lot of exciting opportunities for our Party on the horizon. Let’s take this time to come together and unite as the strong organization we are capable of being. With the collective efforts of Republicans across our county, conservative values will win on Election Day!
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A MyDD blogger has posted on his his fear that Democrats may not win the additional 15-20 seats they need to do anything in the House or even lose seats in the upcoming 2008 general election. Rep. John Yarmuth (D - KY / San Francisco) is one of the lawmakers this blogger thinks is in danger, and rightfully so considering Anne Northup’s early positioning in polls:
On how favorably respondents viewed Northup and Yarmuth: 57 percent had a favorable view of Northup, with 38 percent strongly favorable 54 percent had a favorable view of Yarmuth, with 25 percent strongly favorable
If the election between the two were held today, Yarmuth would have a 49 percent to 47 percent advantage over Northup. While that’s within the margin of error, as Carmack noted, it’s nearly identical to the 51 to 48 percent (with 1 percent going to an independent candidate) results from the 2006 election in which Yarmuth unseated Northup.
When asked which was better at solving local problems and bringing projects back to Louisville, Carmack said 50 percent said Northup was best and 34 percent said Yarmuth was best.
The blogger’s fears seem to have been generated most recently by a Rasmussen poll showing Democrats clinging to life in the House in generic Congressional ballots.
With Republicans proving to be on the right side of the Iraq argument and, as the blogger points out, Americans blaming Congress more than the President for economic troubles, plus the potential high Republican turnout producing Hillary Clinton Democrat presidential nomination, there are definitely some House Democrats in grave danger:
Our majority is held because of certain Democrats’ ability to win Republicans leaning seats in the 2006 election. These people cannot afford to have any higher Republican turnout or a sag in Democratic turnout if they are going to hold onto their seats. What is even worse for Democrats is that a new poll says that Americans are blaming Congress for the economic troubles more than Bush. http://nationaljournal.com/polltrack/
Yarmuth has to be the most poorly positioned Democrat in the United States, in all seriousness. Northup has the potential to match him dollar for dollar in fundraising, and she’s better respected and liked better than Yarmuth.
Wait until more comes out on the tube about his record. His rap sheet isn’t long, but it is colorful, and quite illustrative of his uber-liberal worldview which just doesn’t sit well with most Louisvillians. Even a lot of union members, who Yarmuth courts perhaps more than anyone else, are turned off by his close affiliation with charity abortion provider Planned Parenthood. John McCain and Anne Northup both have stellar pro-life records which, as usual for Northup, is going to pull a lot of Democrats to her side.
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I don’t know if Governor Steve Beshear saw any of the “other” news from Kentucky’s last Election Day, but he may want to go back and take look at the results from Louisville’s library tax referendum.
Some big government liberals in Louisville, led by Mayor Jerry Abramson, tried to deceive the public into voting for a new tax that would be administered by an unelected board of individuals that would be held accountable by nobody. The wording that was on the actual ballot was:
Are you in favor of the following?
1. The renovation and expansion of existing Louisville Free Public Libraries, the addition of newbooks, computers, children’s programs and other services for library users, and the construction of new neighborhood libraries, and 2. The creation of a countywide library district to be governed by a library board of five unpaid trustees appointed from the residents of all of Jefferson County, and 3. The financing of the library through an occupational license fee of twenty cents for every hundred dollars to be collected from individuals on employment earnings in Jefferson County, and at the same rate on the net profits of business activities listed in Kentucky Revised Statutes 65.192 (10) (b).
The public saw right through the flowery language at the top of the question and voted “No.” That referendum was defeated 2-1. Abramson admitted to taking “a thumping,” and said “This community has clearly spoken . . . This is not the way they wish to go forward.”
It was indeed a thumping, despite the efforts of The Courier-Journal (Abramson’s Communications Team) and numerous taxpayer funded city employees working for the referendum on city time, which prompted the filing of a bill by Senator Dan Seum to prohibit such actions. That bill passed by a wide margin just last Thursday.
However, it looks like Governor Beshear didn’t learn anything from Abramson’s folly. The public does not like to be deceived, and we are perceptive enough to know when someone is trying to trick us - most of the time. Beshear has finally proposed his expected constitutional amendment to allow expanded gaming, and boy it sounds sweet, but it stinks to high heaven. Read the Beshear Amendment:
Are you in favor of increasing state financial support for elementary and secondary education, expanding health care for senior citizens, children and others, support for local governments, and combating drug and alcohol abuse and other important programs by permitting the General Assembly to authorize up to five casinos subject to approval of the voters in the city or county where the casino is located; and up to seven casinos for existing horse racing associations, all of which will be subject to the approval of a state agency created to oversee casino gaming?
Sounds a bit like Jerry’s bill, doesn’t it? The question is a classic push poll, as it tries to make people think that in order to be for all of those good things mentioned at the top they have to also be for the questionable thing at the bottom.
It has long been said that Abramson wants to run the whole state of Kentucky from his Mayor’s office in Louisville. With Beshear’s help, Abramson may be able to pull it off. They took pointers from each other last month, and now Governor Beshear is imitating Jerry’s way of trying to cram referendum’s down our throats.
Jerry’s scheme failed, though. So will Beshear’s. I guess you really can’t teach old dogs new tricks.
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Former Rep. Brandon Spencer didn’t get just nothing out of the deal he worked out with former Attorney General Rep. Greg Stumbo, he got some legislation favorable to his business thrown his way. None other than Kentucky Progress connected these dots.
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