E!!

Seems the All-Powerful and All-Knowing Wizard Harry Reid got all of 4,000 signatures on an Anti-Yucca petition urging the Nuclear Regulatory Commission not to approve the application for the Department of Energy to begin construction.  If there is as much opposition to Yucca as Reid claims, why so few Johnny Hancocks?

The whole Yucca “controversy” continues to amaze me.  What I’ve found from talking to regular folks is that Yucca really isn’t all that controversial except in the minds of Reid and others who are rabidly against it.  Most people seem to realize that Nevada would draw a HUGE paycheck in exchange for supporting the infrastructure of Yucca.  They are also appreciative of the potential cash boost to our construction industry and the creation of thousands of permanent jobs.

Here’s a little history lesson:

The U.S. Dept. of Energy had its first public meeting in Nevada on Yucca Mountain in 1983.  Don Veith, the Yucca Mountain project manager, presented an overview of the legislation.  The meeting was then opened to public comment.  Governor Richard Bryan stood and announced that he was “unalterably opposed” to the storage of “nuclear waste” in Nevada.  A surrogate for then-Congressman Harry Reid echoed the congressman’s “strong opposition.”  According to those present, most other attendees expressed an opinion along the lines of, “Interesting – maybe there’s something in it for us.”

But via the governor’s office and the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects (created in ‘85), the state officially adopted a negative view of Yucca.  And under Director Bob Loux, Yucca has faced two decades of unrelenting criticism and obstruction.

Along the way, several multi-billion dollar offers have been informally made to Nevada by the DOE and/or nuclear industry in exchange for the state’s acceptance of the repository.  At one point, the Reagan administration offered Nevada a multi-billion-dollar nuclear medicine and nuclear science research facility to be associated with UNLV and situated on the Nevada Test Site.  The offer was flatly rejected.

Ladies and gents, spent nuclear fuel is presently stored at temporary sites around the nation.  It is stored safely and without incident.  The nuclear reactors that render efficient electricity are also operated safely and without incident.  For the good of our economy and our nation, we should all take a second look at Yucca.  Please contact me if you would like to get on a Yucca Mountain mailing list and participate in future discussions, forums, panels, and meet-ups.

Seems Spike Lee can still be counted on to spew goodish moronic Leftist idiocy.  Here speaketh he on the deity of the Obama:

You can divide history. BB Before Barack. AB After Barack.

And, for that time in history during which we endured Barack’s campaign speeches:  BS.    

After carrying herself in a fair, patient, and professional manner over the past eight months, it seems Sue Lowden must now bear up under the label “inept” by the RNC Committee on Contests.  This tag seems harsh and unfair in light of the extreme difficulty and complexity of Lowden’s position this election cycle.

The real story – which is not one of party ineptitude but instead of the combative and unreasonable demeanor of one Mr. Jeff Greenspan – began early this year.  Greenspan, an official Ron Paul campaign representative with whom Lowden was working after Paul received 14 percent of the vote in our presidential caucuses, agreed that the Nevada GOP would give Paul 14 percent of the state delegation (equating to four delegates).  Lowden invited Ron Paul to speak at our state convention, and Greenspan submitted the names of four Ron Paul supporters to the Nominating Committee for consideration.

But on the morning of the convention, April 26, for reasons I have yet to understand, Greenspan went back on the deal with the Nevada GOP.  Instead of moving to an up-or-down vote on the delegate candidates pre-screened from the dozens that had been submitted for consideration, Greenspan teamed up with a Paul supporter named Mike Weber, led a floor “revolt,” and threw the convention into chaos.  How did they accomplish this?  By insisting on opening up nominations from the floor.  This resulted in some 287 new nominations for 31 delegate slots and 31 alternates.

There was no way the convention and/or state party could hear and vet 287 last-minute nominations in one day.  In fact, in light of the time it takes to hear individual speeches/pitches for candidacy, eat meals, take bathroom breaks, allow for interruptions, and take care of other necessary convention business, it is doubtful whether full, fair and proper vetting of 287 new delegate candidates could have been done in two, three, or even four days.

And so it was that the well coordinated, pre-arranged delegate selection process put in place by the party and agreed to by Jeff Greenspan turned into an unholy mess.  The convention fell apart.  And to outsiders, the process meltdown probably did appear “inept.” 

After the convention fell apart, Greenspan, Weber, and other Paul supporters like Wayne Terhune continued their crusade, doing what they could to impede reconvening and even holding their own unsanctioned “convention” in June.  Due to the boycott by the Paul people, the GOP was unable to obtain enough RSVPs to obtain a quorum for the reconvening of the official state convention.

This week the RNC Committee on Contests reviewed the matter, ruled that the Paul “convention” in June was unauthorized, rejected the “delegates” that were “elected” at that meeting, and recommended a compromise by which the Nevada Republican Party will replace four of the current convention delegates (which the Nevada GOP’s Executive Committee appointed last month) with four Ron Paul delegates. 

Readers will note that four delegates is exactly the number of delegates the Nevada GOP had originally agreed to include before Greenspan reneged on the original deal.

Chairwoman Sue Lowden has agreed to the compromise.

“It was always my intention and hope to bring the Ron Paul people into our party,” she said yesterday.   “In fact, I was the only state Republican party chairman to invite Ron Paul to speak at our state GOP convention.  So I’m more than happy to accept the compromise proposal from the Contest Committee, especially since it’s exactly what we had already agreed to last April.”

The matter is scheduled to move to the national convention’s Credentials Committee next.  If the Paul camp also accepts the compromise proposal, this mess will be at an end.

Either way, Greenspan and his minions owe Sue Lowden an apology for their antics and the tremendous amount of time and energy that has been wasted trying to work with them and around them.  And Ron Paul should dismiss Greenspan from his campaign.

This Eric O’Keefe blog/op-ed is for my Michigan readers (of whom there are a few).  It’s also worthy of note for anyone concerned with combatting massive tax hikes, the freedom of citizens in recall processes/petitions, and blatant media bias. 

The Free Press’s position is passing strange considering it’s been 25 years since the last legislative recall in Michigan.  And I agree with O’Keefe’s closing:

The Free Press is good at covering the Tigers and Red Wings. It should stick to covering sports, the weather, and the continuing decline of Michigan’s over-taxed economy.

From the American Enterprise Institute:

The nation’s GDP grew at a surprising 3.3 percent rate in the second quarter, up from 0.9 in the first quarter. That is welcome news for the nation’s 154 million strong labor force on this Labor Day holiday. The Census Bureau reported that, in 2007, real median household income rose for the third straight year, a point Douglas J. Besharov made at an AEI conference on August 25.

Although most Americans are uneasy about the nation’s economy, they remain optimistic about their personal prospects. In a recent HarrisInteractive poll, only 18 percent said the country was on the right track; 76 percent felt that way about their personal lives.

Here’s her speech.  And here’s some video from an interview with Newsweek earlier this year.  And nice, detailed piece on her from the Anchorage Daily news from 2006.

And then there’s this cute/funny tribute by my friend @ PragmaticallyPolitical:  10 Things I Love About Sarah Palin

PS  The graceless statement put out by the Obama camp re: Palin this morning was uncalled for.  McCain went out of his way to congratulate Obama on a historic nomination last night; Obama should have done the same for Palin.  But he didn’t.  And so Mr. Self-Proclaimed Non-Partisan shows us just how little class he really has.  

Here’s a piece in the LVRJ re: the Nevada delegation the Republican National Convention.  

Seems the RNC committee decided that the Nevada GOP violated rules in its delegate election/appointment process.  I remember wondering about all this after the whole Ron Paul Rebellion thing and its aftermath…but I assumed GOP leaders knew what the rules were and that appointing delegates was ok.

Anyway, the committed has recommended a compromise, as I posted earlier this morning.

For those of you who want to know more about Palin, start with this WaPo piece and learn how she’s made a name for herself as a fiscal Reformer.  Among other things, she teamed up with McCain against $453 million in earmarks for a couple of bridges in Alaska – including the now infamous Bridge to Nowhere. 

 And now for a few Cons:

Politically speaking, it sort of undermines a large part of the case against Obama:  inexperience, lack of credentials, lack of foreign policy and national security know-how.

She has never worked in D.C. so there will be a steep learning curve – and probably a few slip-ups.  (Then again, McCain will make sure she has a great staff.)

And then to all those on the Right who have called the Obama candidacy an example of Tokenism, there’s this question:  Would Palin would been picked if she were a man?

And the Unknowns:

How will the female thing play?  The pro-choice feminists will all hate Palin, but the female Republican base might show up in never-yet-seen numbers.  Bitter and disaffected Hillary supporters might vote for her out of spite.  Or they might see her as a threat to Hillary in 2012 and decide they don’t want her anywhere near D.C.

(And what about the guys?  Will men vote for her because she’s got great legs and is just waaaay better looking than Biden?)

Also, how will she do on the stump?  Can she hold her own?  Will she make any major gaffes (which will cause the opposition to Shriek and Point at her Inexperience)?  Will Biden handle her well or come off looking like a bully when he goes up against her?

On the subject of my dismal (0-3) election prediction record:

Jack Pitney only got it one-quarter right with this prediction last year:

Republicans nominate Rudy Giuliani for president. To hold GOP women who might vote for Hillary and to stress his commitment to reform, Giuliani surprises the political class by picking Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton makes a move into GOP territory by picking Indiana Senator Evan Bayh. Giuliani-Palin wins with 52 percent of the popular vote and 293 electoral votes.

Smart + Pretty = A Good Start

(Submitted this and got it posted on my new favorite blog:  This + That.  Very clever idea.  Check it out!)

All the news outlets were reporting it as I walked out the door at 7:30 a.m.  Personally, I like the pick and think this is good news for the GOP.  Here are some pros:

She’s a principled fiscal conservative who beat an incumbent by promising to cut government waste in Alaska – and did it.  She slashed pork spending, cancelled hundreds of millions of dollars of unnecessary construction projects, and sold the gubernatorial private jet on eBay (for $2.7M).

She’s for responsible drilling.  I heard a clip from a speech she gave on “the small sliver of coastal terrain” that is ANWR and how/why drilling could/should be done there and elsewhere.  It was good. 

She’s a social conservative and pro-life (but not rabid about it) which will energize the GOP base.  She’s happily married and has five children, the most recent born in April (a Down Syndrome baby she gladly and willingly chose to have).

Any attacks on her lack of experience – she’s been governor for only two years – can be turned around:  she has more senior executive experience than Obama, or Biden (or McCain, for that matter).  Plus, she’s the #2  and not running for POTUS.  Yet.

She’s plain spoken “regular folks” so should connect well with the middle class.  And she’s got a fairly compelling personal story and family life:  athlete, beauty queen, hunter, former professional fisher person (LOL), married her high school sweetheart, son about to deploy to Iraq.

On a more personal note, I like that she’s a Hockey Mom.  (My brother played hockey for years, so we spent many winter weekends hanging around in Michigan and Canadian hockey arenas.)  Not that it has anything to do with politics.  Then again, someone who enjoys a fast-moving, hard-hitting, sometimes down-and-dirty sport like hockey must have a tough streak, right?

I’ll do some Cons later after I think more about it.

From Chuck Muth via email:

Here’s the opener to Jonah’s column today.  It’s a Must Read.  As usual.

The US economy — yes, that economy — grew at a 3.3 percent annual rate last quarter. This no doubt caused consternation at the highest levels of the Democratic Party, perhaps forcing some to consider a new convention film at the last minute: “Dude, Where’s My Recession?”

To hear the Democrats at their convention this week, you’d get the sense that a recession is merely a technical term for the worst human misery ever visited upon a once-great people. You’d think Americans were listening to the Democratic speeches as they huddled around their kitchen tables (if they hadn’t already been used for firewood), deciding which of their children to pack off to the orphanage and how much tree bark they can afford to eat next week. 

Last night, Barack Obama proclaimed: “Our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more.” He went on to describe an America reminiscent of the Grapes of Wrath (if not Mad Max).

But this was a week-long theme. Over and over again, Democrats insisted that the “American dream” is being snuffed out, crushed, beaten, stabbed and quite possibly dismembered in President Bush’s West Wing bathtub, where Bush and Dick “The Cleaner” Cheney can dissolve the remains in sulfuric acid.  …

6:19 a.m.

ABC is saying Palin has NOT left Alaska.

And in re: to the Foreign Affairs Experience (or lack thereof) of Palin (or any candidate), Andy McCarthy said this:

…a lot of the experience talk is overblown when it comes to foreign affairs.  John O’Sullivan is the expert on this, but I don’t think Lady Thatcher had much foreign affairs experience to speak of when she became PM.  In contrast, Sen. Biden has a ton of foreign policy experience — enough to have been wrong on just about every major issue over the last 30 years.

Seems to me the people with loads of foreign policy experience are drenched in the Kennedy School/Wilson School/internationalist view of the world.  As between that and someone who’s smart, has sensible instincts, and has a healthy Washingtonian suspicion of international entanglements, I’ll take the latter, thank you.

6:13 a.m. (PST)

In re: to the Obama speech, Jay Nordlinger has some insightful pointlets (as usual).

Jonah Goldberg, too.

6:01 a.m. (Pacific)

Politico is reporting that Pawlenty says it’s Not him.

A few on The Corner are saying that this morning Alaska Governor Sarah Palin left Anchorage and landed on Dayton, OH.

And:  Romney will be in Dayton today.  (?!)

Whatever the case, McCain’s team has done a great job keeping this one under wraps (no leaks:  amazing!)

A short time ago, word was spreading that Pawlenty was cancelling speeches and appearances left and right.  And now it just broke that Pawlenty will be on “Meet the Press” with Brokaw this weekend.

If Pawlenty’s the pick, I’m “0 for 2″ with political predictions.  Actually, 0-3 since McCain/Romney can’t win if Romney ain’t on the tick-ie.

(darn!)(LOL)

I was a Wikipedia fan until I learned of their behind-the-scenes uber-sly politics-via-edits. 

For a new example, Stanley Kurtz’ Wiki bio page has been edited a lot lately.  Why?  He’s been busy researching and talking about more Ayers-Obama links.  The current entry is mostly cut-and-pasted from an Obama campaign release and is Complete and Utter Nonsense.  It also cites Media Matters which is not a credible source.

I counsel everyone to boycott Wikipedia!  And tell your friends!

Very entertaining.  (It’s a short blurb, so go ahead and click thru.)

Here it is in all it’s non-splendor.

Annoying how the Dems keep selectively quoting their new favorite oil man, T. Boone Pickens.  Reid quipped, ”T. Boone Pickens said it right: ‘We can’t drill our way out of this crisis.’” 

Pickens did say that:  because all our energy ills cannot be cured solely by drilling.  But Pickens doesn’t say drilling is not a big part of a comprehensive solution.  That’s why he also says we have to “drill, drill, drill.” 

Whenever some Postmodern New Conservative annoys me with their “Down With the Establishment” and “Up With Me” rhetoric, I turn to one of the greats, like Kirk, or WFB, or Hayek, or Freidman, or Burke, or John Adams.  Here’s Kirk on Conservatism:

“Being neither a religion nor an ideology, the body of opinion termed conservatism possesses no Holy Writ and no Das Kapital to provide dogmata. So far as it is possible to determine what conservatives believe, the first principles of the conservative persuasion are derived from what leading conservative writers and public men have professed during the past two centuries…

“Perhaps it would be well, most of the time, to use this word “conservative” as an adjective chiefly. For there exists no Model Conservative, and conservatism is the negation of ideology: it is a state of mind, a type of character, a way of looking at the civil social order.

“The attitude we call conservatism is sustained by a body of sentiments, rather than by a system of ideological dogmata. It is almost true that a conservative may be defined as a person who thinks himself such. The conservative movement or body of opinion can accommodate a considerable diversity of views on a good many subjects, there being no Test Act or Thirty-Nine Articles of the conservative creed.

In essence, the conservative person is simply one who finds the permanent things more pleasing than Chaos and Old Night. (Yet conservatives know, with Burke, that healthy “change is the means of our preservation.”) A people’s historic continuity of experience, says the conservative, offers a guide to policy far better than the abstract designs of coffee-house philosophers…”

Well this is interesting.  The Reno Gazette-Journal is reporting that an RNC panel has rejected both the “dueling delegations” from Nevada and has recommended that a  “compromise group” be seated.  This is the first I’ve heard of it.  Let me see what I can find out.

 Update: I still don’t have anything solid to go on, but it’s hard to believe the Nevada GOP would go for a compromise delegation…since that was already offered and turned down by the Paul supporters way back at the state convention last August. (dumb, Dumb, DUMB)

James Poulos has an interesting piece re: Veep picks up on Culture11 today.  As a result of his column, and a few others I’ve read, I’ve revised my opinion about the Biden pick.

To say Biden is either a Terrible or Genius pick implies that the choice mattered, which – in this unique election year – it really did not.

Obama’s candidacy is so historic, his political chronicle so polarizing, and his persona so massive, that Biden is quite beside the point. Obama could have chosen just about anyone; November’s result will turn on other realities.

All are encouraged to visit Culture11 and start reading.  It’s a new magazine of and about American Culture as well as a new online community (groups, discussion threads, buddies, blogs, etc.)  And FWIW, it looks like I’ll be doing some writing for them in the weeks and months to come.

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to
live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same
time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn,
burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders
across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop
and everybody goes “Awww!”    –Jack Kerouac

From today’s Nevada News & Views:

LETHAL WEAPON NO MORE

Harry Reid declared the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository dead…just before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave a “green light” to move forward with the final stage of the licensing process and dismissing a challenge to it by the state of Nevada.

Then Obama began running ads attacking John McCain on his pro-Yucca Mountain stance, figuring it would do electoral harm to the GOP nominee’s chances in Nevada…just before a new poll came out showing that less than one in four voters saying the Yucca Mountain issue would have a major influence on their votes.  And 38 percent of them said the issue wouldn’t effect their vote one way or the other whatsoever.

It’s starting to look like the proverbial “third rail” of Nevada politics isn’t quite so lethal any longer.

SUFFERING FROM YUCCA-SCHIZOPHRENIA

“It seems 58 percent of Nevadans polled oppose the Yucca Mountain project, where the government wants to bury the highly radioactive waste from nuclear plants. But in a different question, 58 percent of Nevadans said they had no problem whatsoever digging up more uranium to refine and use in nuclear power.  Thus creating more nuclear waste.  Thus creating a greater need for the disposal of said nuclear waste.  Thus creating more pressure to build and operate Yucca Mountain.  Which 58 percent of Nevadans say they’re against. 

Does that make sense to anybody? We didn’t think so.”

- CityLife editor Steve Sebelius, 8/26/08

Tip o’ the hat to Jay Nordlinger for referencing this piece at Slate.com entitled:  “If Obama Loses” and subtitled “Racism is the only reason McCain might beat him.”

We’ve heard it before; we’re sure to hear it again.  If McCain wins, racism is the only explanation and the Decline of America is confirmed.

What a nasty Lie.

If the black nominee this year were a Republican, we wouldn’t be hearing a peep about Racism-As-Reason.  The liberal media would blithely loathe the Republican nominee, notwithstanding his blackness.  As Nordlinger points out:

The nominee would be just another Republican who needed to be defeated, like Lynn Swann, Michael Steele, or Ken Blackwell.  When Doug Wilder ran for governor of Virginia, everyone said, for months, “He would be the first black governor since Reconstruction.” It was also asserted, constantly, that the election was a test of Virginians’ racial maturity.

But earlier, the Republicans had a black nominee in my home state, Michigan – his name was Bill Lucas. No one said he would be the first black governor since Reconstruction. No one talked about the racial maturity of Michigan voters. Lucas was just another conservative politician who needed to be defeated.

And he was, by a garden-variety white liberal (Jim Blanchard).

I am sick of watching re-runs of the Whitey Hates The Black Man mini-series.  I am sick of accusations of Racism in America every time some person of color does not get what they want when they want it.  And I am sick to death of the over-simplification of issues and pseudo-polarization of our population via all Identity Politics.

If Obama loses this fall, it will be because he didn’t convince enough Americans that his governing skills and policies were better than McCain’s.  Period.

While I’m researching the latest with our state delegation, Erick Erickson is saying this re: Nevada:

Two states are quietly seizing on the disarray with the Nevada delegation. I’m told quite reliably that if McCain picks a liberal Vice Presidential nominee the majority of delegates in two states plan to force a vote on the convention floor.

From how it was explained to me, five states must support a motion to vote on the nominee. Two states just might do it and they are calculating on Nevada going along with it, which would necessitate only two other states needed.