Well, we tried to stay out of it, but ...

Well, we were sitting around the WPBC HQ, spinning up some frozen drinks in the ol' Osterizer, when the Twitterfeed went nuts, and the Blogs started going spastic, and generally speaking, our quiet little world started falling apart. There was more pinging and bell-ringing going on than a gay pride parade.

Seems those nutty GOP Congressman weren't so nutty after all. What the "Drive-by ME-dia" reported (rather scarcely) as a "political stunt" has turned into an all-out internet/new media revolution! (Proving yet again: The Main Stream Media is increasingly irrelevant.)

dontgo.us and callbackcongress.com, along with several (as in dozens) of Blogs, "Media Lizzy" Blackney, and thousands of just plain ol' Americans are on the floor of the US House, in the dark, without microphones or C-SPAN, just having a national conversation on energy via the Internet. It is an amazing thing to watch. Folks have been sneaking in camera phones and posting video clips to the 'net. (FYI, our fellow Tweeting flacks @kurtluidhardt and @krisluidhardt are on the floor as we write sending out updates and posting to their blog (BTW, throw us a bone and crosspost a few of those will ya?)

What the Drive-by ME-dia can't (or likely won't) report, these intrepid new media hacks are scooping and driving a grassroots potential uprising over the issue of giving the Members of Congress an up or down vote on comprehensive Energy Reform legislation. Sounds pretty logical to us here at the WPBC - even if we have had a few fruity concoctions of questionable recipe.

So we say, Keep Going! Crank it up! This is great stuff. BTW, We all logged on to sign the petition.

EXCLUSIVE REPORT: Boffo-over-the-top-bash for Young GOPer

Well, fellow dumpster divers, if you didn't get the memo yet:

the invitation only bash for one of the metro areas up-and-comers was the "must do" of the summer. The Hawaiian Luau theme not withstanding ... the Guest of Honor (1 year old Peter Certo, son of the effervescent and always charming Meghan Certo and her poker-playing jurist husband, the Honorable David Certo) was breaking all the fashion barriers sporting a bright red Hawaiian print shirt and broad smile - clearly winning the hearts of several female attendees.

Mom put out the nines for the bash, which your humble correspondents crashed with relative ease, and Dad was hawking his "world famous Pineapples in Rum Sauce" - which we are sure is strained pineapple slices with a bottle of rum poured over the top, then left to soak for three hours - and a bevy of finger food and a glorious selection of more substantial fare which covered the entire dining room table!

Notable Certo party staples include the "iced-keg-o-beer" and a near-world famous selection of booze. All in all: This one rated 5-1/2 out of Six on the Gonzo Blend-o-meter Party Scale.

... And Congratulations to young Mr. Certo. Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Will The Real B. Hussein Obama Please Stand Up?

So which Obamassiah do we have today?

The B. Hussein Obama who said he is "Against the Bush Tax Cuts"

OR

The B. Hussein Obama who said in a TV ad he would "Pass a $1000 tax cut"

WHICH IS IT BARRY???? Are you FOR or AGAINST tax cuts??

Break out the Blender, Baby! Congress drinks the Kool-Aid! (Again.)

Oh, Mother, say it isn't so!

This just in: Dateline - the "Zippy-the-pinhead" looking Luddite pandering for spare change on the corner of any major intersection on the north side: "Um, I need a little something to hold me over until my stimulus check and mortgage assistance makes it. Brother, can ya' spare some spare change?" Which is really annoying, but not the focus of today's rant. If, however, the Pelosi scrum has their way, we may all be hawking for a handout before long.

Why is it that the answer to every friggin' question about how to address the crisis-du-jour is another government handout? Man, I know life ain't fair, but can we at least agree that playing Robin Hood (not the Mel Brooks version) with the taxpayers money isn't ever going to make for equality amongst the classes.

I know, let's pull a page from the Great Society playbook: If we just quit spending money on a needless and criminally unjust war in (Vietnam/Iraq), we could spend that money on social and economic justice for the (under-achievers/disenfranchised/unwashed masses). Oh, wait. They've been doing that.

Newsflash: It didn't work in the 1960's. It will not work now. It won't work if Obama-mama-mia is the next POTUS.

There is not now, nor has there been, nor will there be, a way to prevent even reasonably intelligent people from making bad decisions, getting swindled, taken advantage of, or "ripped-off" ... Educate, don't legislate! Regulate, sensibly, if you must. Just don't punish the taxpayers.

Official: State fits Obama's game plan | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

Official: State fits Obama's game plan IndyStar.com The Indianapolis Star: "Indiana, Plouffe said, is a 'state people are surprised we are playing so hard in. We believe that Indiana is highly competitive. We think we've got a terrific organization there, and McCain is not on the air and doesn't have any organization to speak of.'
Plouffe said the decision to run TV ads in Indiana and 17 other states is 'not a head fake.'"

What if the "Indiana plan" was part of a fundraising scheme for Obama?

What if Obama and HRC had already raised 1.7 million dollars out of Indiana and wanted to raise another 5-6 million? Why not invest one to two million dollars into a great diversion like Indiana? NOTHING will motivate donors more than a real, or at least perceived to be real, local campaign for President.

I think that if you "invest" a couple million into Indiana, even though you have no shot to win, but still net 3-4 million you can spend in Ohio, Iowa, Virginia or Colorado. Why not do it?

Here's a great piece by Krauthammer sent to us by our pal Ari Kaufman. Enjoy! Bold by ARI. Have a splendid weekend! The Audacity of Vanity By Charles Krauthammer WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama wants to speak at the Brandenburg Gate. He figures it would be a nice backdrop. The supporting cast -- a cheering audience and a few fainting frauleins -- would be a picturesque way to bolster his foreign policy credentials. What Obama does not seem to understand is that the Brandenburg Gate is something you earn. President Reagan earned the right to speak there because his relentless pressure had brought the Soviet empire to its knees and he was demanding its final "tear down this wall" liquidation. When President Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate on the day of his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, he was representing a country that was prepared to go to the brink of nuclear war to defend West Berlin . Who is Obama representing? And what exactly has he done in his lifetime to merit appropriating the Brandenburg Gate as a campaign prop? What was his role in the fight against communism, the liberation of Eastern Europe, the creation of what George Bush 41 -- who presided over the fall of the Berlin Wall but modestly declined to go there for a victory lap -- called "a Europe whole and free"? Does Obama not see the incongruity? It's as if a German pol took a campaign trip to America and demanded the Statue of Liberty as a venue for a campaign speech. (The Germans have now gently nudged Obama into looking at other venues.) Americans are beginning to notice Obama's elevated opinion of himself. There's nothing new about narcissism in politics. Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president. Nonetheless, has there ever been a presidential nominee with a wider gap between his estimation of himself and the sum total of his lifetime achievements? Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois state senator who voted "present" nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as law professor and as legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship? Written a single memorable article? His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself. It is a subject upon which he can dilate effortlessly. In his victory speech upon winning the nomination, Obama declared it a great turning point in history -- "generations from now we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment" -- when, among other wonders, "the rise of the oceans began to slow." As economist Irwin Stelzer noted in his London Daily Telegraph column, "Moses made the waters recede, but he had help." Obama apparently works alone. Obama may think he's King Canute, but the good king ordered the tides to halt precisely to refute sycophantic aides who suggested that he had such power. Obama has no such modesty. After all, in the words of his own slogan, "we are the ones we've been waiting for," which, translating the royal "we," means: "I am the one we've been waiting for." Amazingly, he had a quasi-presidential seal with its own Latin inscription affixed to his podium, until general ridicule -- it was pointed out that he was not yet president -- induced him to take it down He lectures us that instead of worrying about immigrants learning English, "you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish" -- a language Obama does not speak. He further admonishes us on how "embarrassing" it is that Europeans are multilingual but "we go over to Europe , and all we can say is, 'merci beaucoup.'" Obama speaks no French. His fluent English does, however, feature many such admonitions, instructions and improvements. His wife assures us that President Obama will be a stern taskmaster: "Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism ... that you come out of your isolation. ... Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed." For the first few months of the campaign, the question about Obama was: Who is he? The question now is: Who does he think he is? We are getting to know. Redeemer of our uninvolved, uninformed lives. Lord of the seas. And more. As he said on victory night, his rise marks the moment when "our planet began to heal." As I recall -- I'm no expert on this -- Jesus practiced his healing just on the sick. Obama operates on a larger canvas.

REAL Energy Reform for America

Check out this great Op-Ed from the Washington Times by Rep. Dan Burton

Have you ever noticed ...

(Spl Thnx to Splash News for the Paris Hilton Pic)

... how somebody can be famous for just being, well, famous - and for no particular reason.

Take Paris Hilton for example. Aside from her occasional romps with the fashion police and, um, the Los Angeles Police, her only real claim(s) to fame are a couple of sex videos she let her boyfriend(s) shoot that ended up on the internet. She has done nothing notable other than a short-lived reality show and being photographed with some of the people she hangs around with. (Remember the whole Spears/Lohan freak fest? Bet that was a real proud daddy moment, huh.)

The gal never graduated from high school, yet she's managed to ditz-n-glitz her way into the headlines, write an autobiography, cut an album, and launch her own fragrance ... well, other people have actually written the autobiography, produced the album, and made the perfume ... and paid her to use her name, but that's another story.

I bring this up because Paris Hilton reminds me of Barak Obama, albeit Barak is much better dressed and educated - no fashion faux pas for the big BO. (Well, there was that bike riding thing.) As well, to my knowledge, there have been no run in's with the police either in L.A., Chicago, or D.C.

However, consider:

Here's a guy who has done nothing notable other than a short-lived and unremarkable stint as the junior Senator from Illinois who's managed to sham his way to the Democratic nomination without really ever having to explain the who, what, where, and how -- let alone the why -- of his campaign for "Change" and bringing "Hope" (or was it hype, I get confused) to the unwashed masses.

He hangs out with some real characters (and not just his other Senate colleagues).

Let's review:

There's the infamous Bill Ayres and Bernadette Dohrn. Dohrn is a Communist. She believes that "Marxism-Leninism is the science of revolution" and Ayres, in his youth, was a terrorist who ran around blowing things up - hardly youthful indiscretions.

Then there's our friend the right Reverend Jeremiah Wright. James Cone couldn't be any more radical than Jeremiah is. In fact, Cone says that Wright and his church, Trinity United, are the best example of a church living out black liberation theology. So controversial is this man and his Theology, that our boy, BO, had to undergo an excruciatingly public "throwing-my-Pastor-under-the-bus" moment.

My personal favorite is Tony Rezko. BO's bag-man, Tony raises big-big money for Illinois pols.
Consider the following from the Chicago Sun-Times:

In 2003, Obama announced he was running for the U.S. Senate, and Rezko -- a member of his campaign finance committee -- held a lavish fund-raiser June 27, 2003, at his Wilmette mansion.
A few months after Obama became a U.S. senator, he and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property from a doctor in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood -- a deal that has dogged Obama the last two years. The doctor sold the mansion to Obama for $1.65 million -- $300,000 below the asking price. Rezko's wife paid full price -- $625,000 -- for the adjacent vacant lot. The deals closed in June 2005. Six months later, Obama paid Rezko's wife $104,500 for a strip of her land, so he could have a bigger yard. At the time, it had been widely reported that Tony Rezko was under federal investigation. Questioned later about the timing of the Rezko deal, Obama called it "boneheaded" because people might think the Rezkos had done him a favor. (You mean the Rezko's didn't do you a huge favor BO? Do the math Baby! -G.O.D)

Eight months later -- in October 2006 -- Rezko was indicted on charges he solicited kickbacks from companies seeking state pension business under his friend Gov. Blagojevich. Federal prosecutors maintain that $10,000 from the alleged kickback scheme was donated to Obama's run for the U.S. Senate. (Update: Rezko was convicted on 16 of 24 charges. BO gave the 10 grand to charity - G.O.D.)

It's a long way around the track to get back to Paris Hilton. Heck, there really isn't any way to tie this back in. I just knew you were not going to read the whole BO thing without something to keep you from dozing off.

" ... and my flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. Yeah, baby!"

But before you nod off, kids, remember: This guy wants to be our President. Shouldn't we want to know more about him before we give him the job?

Post Turtle

Cross Posted at Weird Pro Central and Circle City Pundit.com.

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year-old Texas rancher, whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.

Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his bid to be our President.

The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Obama is a post turtle'. Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post turtle' was.

The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle'.

The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain.

'You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he is up there, and you just wonder what kind of a dumb ass put him up there.'

WTF? The Ryerson Rag Getting Lazier All The Time.

This is the headline for the article announcing the schedule for the Indianapolis Colts pre-season training camp:

"Colts release July training camp sked"

You gotta be kidding me! sked?? I gathered it means "schedule" but for a major metropolitan newspaper to use these types of terms in a headline? Get real.

What is next? Writing articles as if they were written in text message lingo?

Convention Round-up

A sampling and some comments from around the conservative blogosphere on the Indiana GOP Convention in Indianapolis

From our friend, Scott Fluhr at Hoosier Pundit:

Monday, June 2, 2008

Zoeller Wins Convention Floor Fight

Title says it all.Just two quotes...

"And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth."- 1 Samuel 17:49

"A really great man is known by three signs— generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation in success."- Otto von Bismarck

Time to kiss and make up.Or at least make up; I'm not kissing anybody.

Posted by Scott at 6:04 PM Labels: 2008 Election, Indiana Politics

June 2nd, 2008 by Michael Jezierski

Greg Zoeller Wins The Convention Nomination

The hard-fought battle for the nomination for Attorney General comes to an end, and Greg Zoeller has won the nomination.

And the people said ...
(7 Responses to “Greg Zoeller Wins The Convention Nomination”)

john Says: June 2nd, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Great job Jim Banks on the campaign. Greg Zoeller picked the right guy! You and your adopted Indianapolis crew really worked hard, good luck on the general. Paul Mullin, way to step up, you have a great future with the way you battle for great Republicans. Good luck My Man Mitch and the entire ticket, let’s roll. Special kudos to Steve Carter and Carl Brizzi, way to stand strong. Way to go all around folks!

Scott Says: June 2nd, 2008 at 6:06 pm
A good fight was had by all; time to come together.
And I’d say that even if Costas won.

mimi Says: June 2nd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
My faith in the political process has been restored. My congratulations to Greg Zoeller. I look forward to seeing him in the AG’s office as the AG. My best to Jon Costas and his family. I am sure we will see more of him in the future.

howardcountychairman Says: June 2nd, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Congratulations to Greg Zoeller! Impressive campaign. I’m sure you will be a great Attorney General. Congratulations to Jon Costas. You lost, but you lost with class. You are a great Republican and I hope we see you again in the future. Now, let’s all get on the same team and focus on the really important task at hand, defeating Jill Long Thompson. We cannot return to the days of bankrupt finances and bankrupt ideas. We need to back Governor Daniels with 100% of our energy and finances. Let’s start today and have one heckuva victory party in November.

daltonsbriefs Says: June 3rd, 2008 at 8:41 am
Congratulations to Chief Deputy Zoeller and yes Jim Banks’ team for a very well run and fast campaign. There is no doubt that you were better organized for the day yesterday, I noticed that right off the bat.
I heartily agree that we now work together to get this entire slate elected in November. And yes, I’m sure we’ll see Mayor Costas again … somewhere … but for now back to the business of Valparaiso.
Josh, I won’t leave comments on every post, so hope you see this, great coverage.

mark95 Says: June 3rd, 2008 at 9:14 am
Also want to send my congrats to the Southern District Republican Chairmens for their hard work for Dr. Tony Bennett and Greg Zoeller! You guys worked hard and deserve our Thanks!

divi1960 Says: June 3rd, 2008 at 10:29 am
It was obvious when one walked into the convention hall that Zoeller would prevail. Most of my conservative friends, including Eric Miller, John Price, and Micah Clark made a difference in their lobbying efforts. I trust their judgment enough to hope that he was the right choice. I’m willing to give Greg a chance and get behind his candidacy the way I did when Steve Carter ran. I hope I’m not disappointed. Congratulations to Greg.

It occurs to your humble blogster that the conservatives won big with the Zoeller nod and may be ready to reach out and get behind the Daniels re-elect effort. Time will tell, but I suspect that the GOP will need to get everybody pulling the oars in the same direction if they expect to prevail in what appears to be a "generational election year" (in much the same way that Kennedy (1960) and Reagan (1980) were.) I may be wrong. I look at the primary/voter registration numbers and (despite the Obama-mama-mia/Hill-Bill-ary cage match) I get nervous given the trend toward "purple" and the general desire of the message-less GOP to slouch toward mediocrity (at least nationally). With the exception of a few brave souls who actually have an agenda for solving some of our problems, the GOP could be looking at a real thumping come November. Stay tuned ...

Why Pfleger (et al) Matters

You are known by the company you keep and those with whom you associate. While I believe that it is important who is the President, it is equally if not more important whom that President surrounds him/herself with.

Frankly, The Rev. Wright, Fr. Pfleger, Bill Ayres and his bride Bernadette, are not exactly the people I would choose to have associated with the President. These people clearly hate America. There is nothing wrong with dissent, mind you, but hatred for the institutions of the country and our society is not dissent.

BHO's association with these folks demonstrates an astounding lack of good judgement. Judgement, in my view, is the key characteristic that one must have to be President. Good judgement - whether in considering temperament for the Courts, Cabinet Offices, or Foreign policy - makes all the difference in the success or failure of an administration.

That is why BHO's association/acquaintance with these persons is important and how it will effect his ability to execute the office of President.

"We must destroy this village in order to save it."

APPARENTLY, WE'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE'S FRAGGING OURSELVES.

I was going to write this piece about the fratricide taking place within the GOP here in the Hoosier state. While I was googling around doing some research I ran across this article from Brian Griffiths in Maryland.

If you read the first couple paragraphs and replace the references to Maryland, you could easily mistake it for Indianapolis. It's unfortunate that our once great GOP is pitting friends against friends, strong-arming colleagues, and shooting veiled threats at folks who we will ultimately need again for another battle.

Some wounds take a long time to heal.

I'm old enough to have vivid memories of Viet Nam. A place where the warrioirs won all the battles only to have the leadership lose the war. The parallels are not obscure to even the most casual observer.

If we're not careful we will lose the war in November. We will have certainly destroyed the village. Who will step up to end the folly?

Ron Paul revolution at the Indiana GOP Convention?

Is there going to be a Ron Paul revolution at the Indiana GOP Convention? Apparently, someone thinks so.

Kristen got a call yesterday from 219-000-0000. The caller asked specifically for her (although we are both delegates to the convention) and identified the survey as one specifically for Indiana delegates to state convention. They asked three questions:

1. Do you think that the US should pull out of the War in Iraq?

2. What is your view of the Patriot Act?

3. Who did you support for President?

If I were trying to identify Ron Paul delegates without specifically asking, that would be how I would do it. State Party has been musing about the large numbers of Paulistinians who contacted state party about running for delegate this year. I've heard numbers as high as 200 identified Paul delegates who made it through on the May ballot.

After the Nevada fiasco, is state party trying to make sure the Paulistinians don't create a riot? With the AG race sucking everyone's attention, is there a possibility that Ron Paul's delegates are organizing themselves quietly via this phone survey?

Interesting...

Talking About Serious Matters

(Cross posted at Hoosier Access)

This is Lauryn Walls a local four year old girl who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in January. In our heavy discussions about the AG’s race, we can’t lose site of some of the really important matters out there, such as the fight against Leukemia and Lymphoma.

Earlier this month I wrote about fellow blogger Mark Warner who is raising money to run in the Chicago Marathon in October. The money he raises will go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) as a participant in their Team In Training program. Mark has written an update to his progress and I ask that you check out Mark’s training page and consider helping Mark out. Below is a portion of a recent letter he sent out.

I am training for my very first marathon and am doing so with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training (TNT). TNT is the largest, oldest and most successful sports endurance program in the world. People just like me volunteer to fundraise for the society’s mission of curing blood cancer, while training for an endurance event.

The inspiration for me to complete this program is Lauryn; a local four-year old girl who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in January. Lauryn loves playing with her big sister, Jordyn, traveling to Florida (me too!), reading, playing school, riding horses, painting fingernails and playing make over on her mommy, Dea. She is an amazing little girl and is the honored hero I am running for.

I am asking for your help so that the society can achieve its goal of curing blood cancer by 2015. My personal goal is to raise $3,000. I would greatly appreciate a donation for this worthy cause. Please check out my Web site to donate online or send me any check donations, made out to LLS, by Wednesday, July 23.

Carl Brizzi: “No Candidate Has the Experience Greg (Zoeller) Has”

(Cross posted at Hoosier Access)

In the fall of 2006, I ran for re-election committed to a philosophy that Experience Matters. Voters expected an experienced prosecutor to lead the 175 attorneys who prosecute without apology the violent felons, drug dealers and habitual criminals who prey on the innocent.

The voters believed that when it came to going after the bad guys there just wasn’t time for on the job training. Our team had experience – my Democrat opponent never worked a day in the prosecutor’s office – Not 1. My opponent was quoted as saying “Experience Just Isn’t An Issue.” Turns out experience was the only issue. And the reason we broke the trend of Democrat victories and won re-election in what proved to be the toughest year for Republicans since Watergate.

Like Prosecutor, the office of Indiana Attorney General needs a leader who has been in the trenches fighting everyday to protect Hoosiers. That is why I’m supporting Chief Deputy Attorney General Greg Zoeller during the Republican State Convention.

Over the past seven years, Greg has been a tireless advocate for Hoosier families. He helped fight the nightly invasion of telemarketers by implementing one of the strongest Do-Not-Call lists in the country. Greg then aggressively pursued telemarketers who violated the Do-Not-Call list and returned almost $800,000 to Hoosier taxpayers.

Greg also keeps our families safe from dangerous criminals. The Attorney General’s Office is responsible for representing Indiana whenever a criminal attempts to appeal their conviction. I, along with every prosecutor in the state, rely on the Attorney General’s Office to keep the convicted murderers, rapists, and child molesters behind bars. When one of these predators attempts to appeal his conviction, I’m comforted knowing Greg’s team wins over 93% of the time.

I’ve been friends with Greg for over 10 years. I’ve seen first hand how deeply he cares about protecting Hoosiers from sexual predators, telemarketers, and those who prey on innocent consumers. No candidate - Republican or Democrat - has the experience Greg has. Please join me in supporting Greg Zoeller for Attorney General.

Hey Pete, Joe, Andre, Brad and Baron How Much is Too Much?

Here’s an open letter to all of our Democrat Indiana Congressmen and their constituents.

I just have one question to ask; how much is too much? Unleaded gas in some parts of Indiana is over $4.00 a gallon.

“It is painful. It is painful,” said Fischbach, 44, Marion, who paid $4.08 for unleaded regular at Kroger on West 38th Street near Moller Road. - The Indy Star

The cost of a barrel of oil is over $120 and has been as high as $130 in recent weeks. Democrats took over congress in 2006 with a promise to the end of the war and declining gas prices. Shockingly to no one (except for probably Democrats) you’ve failed to accomplish ending the war or lowering gas prices.

For most Republicans, the War is not a major voting issue this November, but for the vast majority of the voting electorate gas prices are. Republicans have been championing drilling in different parts of our nation, such as ANWR and off the Straits of Florida for years. Congressman Steve Buyer has even offered a new proposal to the energy crisis, which Democrats immediately ridiculed. But other than claiming that they’re saving the “pristineness” of a barren and desolate area in ANWR, they’ve also said that it would take 10 years to get produce oil from ANWR. Well guess what? You’ve been saying that for 1O YEARS And you still have no new ideas! Even Jay Leno is making fun of you for it!

To top it off, we can’t drill in Straits of Florida, but you know who can? China! They worked out a deal with Cuba to begin drilling for oil in our backyard! Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for research and development of alternative energy sources, but with the rising cost of corn, milk and other foods at what point do you suck it up and say enough is enough? How high does the cost of gas have to get till something is done? $5, $10, $20 a gallon? $200 - $300 for a barrel oil?

Indiana has been at the forefront in the search for alternative energy sources, but while preparing for the future, shouldn’t we also secure the present?

I will close this by saying, I know the man made global warming argument is one that is used against new drilling. While I find man made global warming to be less of a problem than AlGore and his mad cadre of scientists would like to make it, you should ask yourself, how is Jupiter going through worse climate change than earth is when they don’t have any human life?

And just for a little bit of extra reading:

In just one year. Remember the election in 2006? Thought you might like to read the following:

A little over one year ago:

1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;
2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;
3) The unemployment rate was 4.5%.

Since voting in a Democratic Congress in 2006 we have seen:

1) Consumer confidence plummet;
2) The cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3.50 a gallon;
3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase);
4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate (stock and mutual fund losses);
5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2 trillion dollars;
6) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.

America voted for change in 2006, and we got it!

Of Bureaucrats, Indygo, IMS, and a fellow Weird Pro

I didn't see The Contrarian at IMS though where his seat is located it's of the "How The Other Half Lives" ... I was in my Paddock Box seat at the Yard of Bricks and saw a lot of action during the 500 mile race. Including Buddy Rice cut off Darren Manning coming out his pit box and knocking the sideplane off his front wing. In spite of that Manning pulled out a 9th place finish for AJ Foyt. This is quite the result for AJ since his tenure as an owner since he retired from driving has not been the best. Congrats though to the Friends of The Contrarian Panther Racing as their driver Vitor Miera pulled out a respectable 2nd place in spite of the horsepower and budgets of "The Big Three".

Thanks to whoever made that phone call to the Federal Transit Administration on allowing IndyGo to continue the shuttle bus service. Not to say there was a lot of people using the shuttle, but I was ticket #9713 and after the race I waited in line to get onto the shuttle to go downtown for over 1-1/4 hour, and when I boarded the line to get onto the bus still stretched from 16th & Georgetown all the way to 14th & Main. Now imagine all those folks driving to the track in their own cars, and leaving all at once in their own cars. I'm sure IndyGo and Town of Speedway Police will think of something to help the boarding process in the future. Considering the shuttles were a "last minute reprieve" then they should be cut some slack.

What if we actaully gave activists the yard signs, t-shirts and stickers they wanted?

Yard signs, t-shirts and stickers.

There are few subjects that will invoke more anger, frustration and crazy stories from veteran campaign staff than these mundane items.

Mundane? Yes. Simple? No.

Anyone who has ever had the privilege of working on any campaign of any size is familiar with the sanity-testing exercise of keeping donors, activists and volunteers happy. Undoubtedly, these supporters of our candidate want a visual representation of their support for our candidate.

It used to be we could give them a "Smith for Congress" yard sign or a "Jones for Governor" bumper sticker and call it a day. Not anymore. Welcome to a micro targeted, coalition driven, Long Tail world of campaign collateral.

C'mon Chris I thought this would be a substantive discussion on REAL campaign logistics. Trust me, it is. Just hang with me for a few minutes.

We are starting to see more segmentation of campaign collateral as our supporters ID themselves as "Veterans for Smith", "Viva la Bush!", "Sportsman for Kennedy" or even "Asian American Pacific Islanders for Bloomberg". I am not making that last one up, I have a button to prove it.

Enter the The Long Tail. Recently I finished reading the The Long Tail by Chris Anderson and was blown away by such a simple but powerful concept. People want more choice in everything they do...including their politics.

Now add Threadless. Read a great article in Inc. Magazine on the success of Threadless and how it uses its user driven community that cuts out all the advertising and marketing and just prints the shirts customers actually want. Free lance designers upload their art, community members vote on their favorites and then that same community buys them by the truck load.

So what if a big campaign that had some online store component actually asked it's online supporters (specifically the small dollar donors) what they wanted? How many "Frat boys for McCain", "Dentists for Coleman" or "Pet owners for Mitch" would want a t-shirt, bumper sticker or yard sign?

Even better than having to give it away at Campaign HQ all the time what if supporters actually pay for their own stuff. Allow them to "actively" participate in the campaign and engage on their own terms under their own label.

Now that would be a cool idea.

Whew, What a Week!

So much for our poll. By a 4-1 margin respondents said they were going to vote in the GOP Primary, but the post election data shows that only two of the 92 counties in Indiana cast more GOPer ballots than Dem.

In looking at a couple of races there were significant under-votes on the down ballot contests which leads us to believe that a bunch of folks were just voting the POTUS race on Dem ballots and going on about their business. It will be interesting to see the academic analysis of the election both here in Indiana and overall nationwide as it gets published later in 2008 and '09.

There was a pretty spirited discussion of some of the races this weekend on the Hoosier Access podcast live from the VFW in Lawrence. (Shout-out to the good people at the VFW for being such gracious hosts.) Your humble correspondents tried to illuminate things in between Squidword's cut-ups and the three pizzas we had spread out between us. If you listen carefully, you can hear the clink of beer bottles getting passed around too.

More coming on the "Live Blog from ..." project. We had all the bugs worked out Saturday, but had connectivity problems and just could not get a signal on the old Sprint card. We are working on setting up a live blog/podcast from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway later this month. Hey, it's May in Indy, where else are you gonna be?

Stay tuned! Way more to come ...