This election year has seen some contentious races, but here in northern Indiana, one of the most contentious is the race for State Representative here in the 51st District, between Republican Representative Dick Dodge and Democrat Codie Ross.
Yesterday, the Auburn-based newspaper The Star ran a front page article on Mr. Ross opening his teaching personnel file (you have to be a subscriber in order to view the article online in full), in response to inquiries about his record as a teacher, which he described as “negative campaigning”. There are several things about what Mr. Ross has said that has left me fuming:
1) Mr. Ross cites two parties as requesting to look into his employment records from the school district where he worked: Rep. Dodge's campaign and Dr. David Powers. The problem is the same article mentions one of the parties who made the request as a woman who left, for her address, the location of the Indiana Republican Party. Rep. Dodge denies his campaign had anything to do with the requests, so why did Mr. Ross make the claim?
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Mike Pence in Fort Wayne
Yesterday afternoon, Indiana Congressman Mike Pence paid a visit to Fort Wayne, stopping outside the Northeast Indiana Republican Victory Center as part of a statewide bus tour he has going to help candidates for federal and state offices, with this visit designed to help Marlin Stutzman.
The bus arrived a few minutes past 4 p.m., with dozens of (if not over a hundred) people waiting in the cold 47º weather to hear Congressman Pence, soon-to-be Congressman Stutzman and a number of other candidates speak. Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries got the ball rolling as the emcee more or less.
State Treasurer Richard Mourdock spoke of “Mad Anthony” Wayne and Fort Defiance; I wish I had recorded his remarks. Other speakers included State Representatives Bob Morris & David Yarde, candidate for State Representative Mike Obergfell, and my own State Senator, Dennis Kruse. (video below the fold)
The bus arrived a few minutes past 4 p.m., with dozens of (if not over a hundred) people waiting in the cold 47º weather to hear Congressman Pence, soon-to-be Congressman Stutzman and a number of other candidates speak. Allen County Sheriff Ken Fries got the ball rolling as the emcee more or less.
State Treasurer Richard Mourdock spoke of “Mad Anthony” Wayne and Fort Defiance; I wish I had recorded his remarks. Other speakers included State Representatives Bob Morris & David Yarde, candidate for State Representative Mike Obergfell, and my own State Senator, Dennis Kruse. (video below the fold)
Marlin Stutzman: Authentic Conservative Leadership
The message speaks for itself:
Vote for Marlin Stutzman on November 2nd! Go Marlin!
Vote for Marlin Stutzman on November 2nd! Go Marlin!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
The Senate Debate
Last night at IPFW in Fort Wayne, the 2nd of three debates held by the Indiana Debate Commission for the United States Senate race was held. The three candidates for the office, Republican Dan Coats, Democrat Brad Ellsworth (just Google Ellsworth's name and you'll find his site if you really want to!) and Libertarian Rebecca Sink-Burris, participated in the debate.
Arriving as early as I could (in other words, not as early as I would've liked), I saw several fellow pro-lifers holding signs, and I spotted two familiar brothers-in-arms:
Arriving as early as I could (in other words, not as early as I would've liked), I saw several fellow pro-lifers holding signs, and I spotted two familiar brothers-in-arms:
Friday, October 22, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Random Thought
I really wonder how audiences in 1978 reacted when the trailer for Woody Allen's film Interiors appeared:
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Stand Up Indiana
This past Saturday, I headed for Indianapolis with fellow 9/12'ers and Tea Partiers to attend a rally to stop ObamaCare. Arriving by bus a half-hour late (nobody was at fault on that) at University Park, the Stand Up Indiana rally was hosted by the FreedomMakers Coalition of Indiana. Most of the attendees brought their own lawn chairs for the rally, which was expected to last three and a half hours
Behind the podium where the speakers for the rally would give their remarks, there were tables manned by representatives of organizations (Campaign For Liberty, FairTax, etc.), political parties (Libertarian and Constitution) and campaigns (Todd Rokita, Marvin Scott, Rebecca Sink-Burris, etc.).
Among the speakers included the Liberty Coalition's Emery McClendon, FairTax's Dave Armstrong, former Congressional candidate Kristi Risk, the Tenth Amendment Center's Michael Boldin, iCaucus's Andrew Fischer, and IFIRE's Greg Serbon. Although there was no keynote speaker at the rally, the main speaker there was Thomas Weddle, who has been the leading advocate for interposition in dealing with ObamaCare.
About 200 people attended the rally, and sadly, it wasn't as many as hoped, but nevertheless, the message was clearly heard: to stop ObamaCare, through Interposition and nullification; to stop the continuing encroachment of the federal government in our lives and our liberty; to restore our republic.
What I took from the rally was the same thing I have taken from other rallies, Tea Parties, 9/12 meetings, marches and so on: a renewed sense of hope (real hope, not the false kind from Barack Obama) and confidence that our cause, our work, our efforts are not in vain and will come to fruition in the form of taking back our nation, and to repeat myself, restore our republic.
Let us continue to fight the good fight.
Behind the podium where the speakers for the rally would give their remarks, there were tables manned by representatives of organizations (Campaign For Liberty, FairTax, etc.), political parties (Libertarian and Constitution) and campaigns (Todd Rokita, Marvin Scott, Rebecca Sink-Burris, etc.).
Among the speakers included the Liberty Coalition's Emery McClendon, FairTax's Dave Armstrong, former Congressional candidate Kristi Risk, the Tenth Amendment Center's Michael Boldin, iCaucus's Andrew Fischer, and IFIRE's Greg Serbon. Although there was no keynote speaker at the rally, the main speaker there was Thomas Weddle, who has been the leading advocate for interposition in dealing with ObamaCare.
About 200 people attended the rally, and sadly, it wasn't as many as hoped, but nevertheless, the message was clearly heard: to stop ObamaCare, through Interposition and nullification; to stop the continuing encroachment of the federal government in our lives and our liberty; to restore our republic.
What I took from the rally was the same thing I have taken from other rallies, Tea Parties, 9/12 meetings, marches and so on: a renewed sense of hope (real hope, not the false kind from Barack Obama) and confidence that our cause, our work, our efforts are not in vain and will come to fruition in the form of taking back our nation, and to repeat myself, restore our republic.
Let us continue to fight the good fight.
Friday, October 15, 2010
An Important Speech
Geert Wilders Berlin Oct 2 English titles from Vlad Tepes on Vimeo.
Over a week ago, Geert Wilders spoke in Berlin on the eve of 20th anniversary of the reunification of Germany. It's an amazing speech the Dutch statesman gave, and one which could very well be distorted to present Mr. Wilders as a hatemonger, as Baron Bodissey at Gates Of Vienna notes:
A no-brainer: Dodge under fire from the Democrats
Democrats in Indiana have been hammering away at Dick Dodge in the hopes of electing their fellow disingenuous Democrat Codie Ross by going after Representative Dodge's vote on the Indiana Toll Road.
A recent mailing from the Indiana Democrats criticizes (to say the least) Representative Dodge's vote to “sell” the toll road to foreign companies who've increased the cost of driving on the toll roads and then goes on to note the fact that Representative Dodge received a free pass from the companies currently running the toll road.
It is nothing short of a misleading, hyperbolic attack on Dick Dodge.
First of all, Representative Dodge has never voted to sell the toll road. He voted for leasing the toll road. The State of Indiana still has the road; it gave the task of running the road to two companies.
Secondly, of course the companies are foreign, from Spain and Australia (as the mailing so keenly notes), as if somehow that's bad for Hoosiers because it wasn't an American company whose bid was accepted. Well, frankly, if an American company had put up a big enough bid for the lease, it would've gone to an American company, but as it turned out, it was a consortium out of Spain and Australia which presented the largest bid.
A recent mailing from the Indiana Democrats criticizes (to say the least) Representative Dodge's vote to “sell” the toll road to foreign companies who've increased the cost of driving on the toll roads and then goes on to note the fact that Representative Dodge received a free pass from the companies currently running the toll road.
It is nothing short of a misleading, hyperbolic attack on Dick Dodge.
First of all, Representative Dodge has never voted to sell the toll road. He voted for leasing the toll road. The State of Indiana still has the road; it gave the task of running the road to two companies.
Secondly, of course the companies are foreign, from Spain and Australia (as the mailing so keenly notes), as if somehow that's bad for Hoosiers because it wasn't an American company whose bid was accepted. Well, frankly, if an American company had put up a big enough bid for the lease, it would've gone to an American company, but as it turned out, it was a consortium out of Spain and Australia which presented the largest bid.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Targeted: Rich Iott
When the Left is desperate enough, they resort to baseless attacks; that appears to be the case with their recent attack on a Republican candidate for Congress in Ohio.
Rich Iott, who's battling 14-term Democrat Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, has been attacked for wearing Nazi uniforms as a re-enactor, and thus (in their twisted thinking) makes him some kind of racist and extremist. Unsurprisingly, Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs has been using this as proof that Nazis are everywhere, while portraying right-wing bloggers as supporting racists and white supremacists “because there is nothing these people won't defend, if it's done by a right wing Republican”.
Notably, Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor has gone so far as to “repudiate” Mr. Iott's so-called behavior over the matter. The problem is, all I'm seeing is a guy who dresses up for re-enactments of WWII. His statement on the matter notes he also has dressed up for re-enactments of the American Civil War and WWI.
Charles Johnson's reaction is no surprise; he's been seeing Nazis for the past three years, and they're mostly nonexistent, so any claim of seeing Nazis by Mr. Johnson has the same quality as that of a typical run-of-the-mill conspiracy theory. Also of no surprise is his continual use of guilt-by-association with people and organizations; the Puritans at the Salem witch trials have got nothing on this guy when it comes to using guilt-by-association as a branding iron.
As for Eric Cantor, shame on him. There's no evidence Rich Iott has done anything other than wear various military uniforms for re-enactment purposes, and Congressman Cantor not only accepts the crap from peddlers like Charles Johnson, he also has allowed the Left to divert the focus of the election from the issues affecting Ohio's 9th District to this non-issue.
Makes me wonder how desperate Marcy Kaptur is to keep her seat in Congress for another two years.
Rich Iott, who's battling 14-term Democrat Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, has been attacked for wearing Nazi uniforms as a re-enactor, and thus (in their twisted thinking) makes him some kind of racist and extremist. Unsurprisingly, Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs has been using this as proof that Nazis are everywhere, while portraying right-wing bloggers as supporting racists and white supremacists “because there is nothing these people won't defend, if it's done by a right wing Republican”.
Notably, Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor has gone so far as to “repudiate” Mr. Iott's so-called behavior over the matter. The problem is, all I'm seeing is a guy who dresses up for re-enactments of WWII. His statement on the matter notes he also has dressed up for re-enactments of the American Civil War and WWI.
Charles Johnson's reaction is no surprise; he's been seeing Nazis for the past three years, and they're mostly nonexistent, so any claim of seeing Nazis by Mr. Johnson has the same quality as that of a typical run-of-the-mill conspiracy theory. Also of no surprise is his continual use of guilt-by-association with people and organizations; the Puritans at the Salem witch trials have got nothing on this guy when it comes to using guilt-by-association as a branding iron.
As for Eric Cantor, shame on him. There's no evidence Rich Iott has done anything other than wear various military uniforms for re-enactment purposes, and Congressman Cantor not only accepts the crap from peddlers like Charles Johnson, he also has allowed the Left to divert the focus of the election from the issues affecting Ohio's 9th District to this non-issue.
Makes me wonder how desperate Marcy Kaptur is to keep her seat in Congress for another two years.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Setting the record straight
Just watching one of Brad Ellsworth's first ads as a general election candidate, I was seeing misleads and omissions already, so his most recent ad, which attacks Dan Coats, comes as no surprise. The response, from the Indiana Republican Party, did. This is an ad you ought to see:
The fact Dan Coats spent a number of years as a lobbyist after leaving the United States Senate in 1999 has always been known to be the spot where the Democrats would attack the hardest, but the former U.S. Senator and Ambassador has addressed his lobbyist past head on, which helps explain why he maintains double-digit leads in the polls.
Kudos to the Indiana GOP with their well done ad.
The fact Dan Coats spent a number of years as a lobbyist after leaving the United States Senate in 1999 has always been known to be the spot where the Democrats would attack the hardest, but the former U.S. Senator and Ambassador has addressed his lobbyist past head on, which helps explain why he maintains double-digit leads in the polls.
Kudos to the Indiana GOP with their well done ad.
More of The Facts
If you have been seeing a particular ad from Tom Hayhurst's campaign, then you ought to see this ad from Marlin Stutzman:
The choice is either between a liberal Democrat trying to sound like a Blue Dog, or an authentic conservative who walks the walk as well as talk the talk. Needless to say, the choice is obvious. Go Marlin!
The choice is either between a liberal Democrat trying to sound like a Blue Dog, or an authentic conservative who walks the walk as well as talk the talk. Needless to say, the choice is obvious. Go Marlin!
Ohhhhh Brother No. 30: Nachogate! (What?!)
If you don't think the Left doesn't work tirelessly to “unearth” any scandal, something to apply the word gate as a suffix to, involving Sarah Palin and/or her family, this story should convince you otherwise.
Adrienne Ross of Motivation:Truth wrote this blog post about Bristol Palin spending time at a bar, resulting in the Left trying to claim the law was broken (because Bristol isn't 21 yet). However, the idea of anything illegal being committed by Bristol was thoroughly refuted. The fact the Left even raised hell over the matter of Bristol eating nachos in a bar leaves me with one thing to say: Ohhhhh brother!
On a more serious note, Miss Ross does point this out:
Adrienne Ross of Motivation:Truth wrote this blog post about Bristol Palin spending time at a bar, resulting in the Left trying to claim the law was broken (because Bristol isn't 21 yet). However, the idea of anything illegal being committed by Bristol was thoroughly refuted. The fact the Left even raised hell over the matter of Bristol eating nachos in a bar leaves me with one thing to say: Ohhhhh brother!
On a more serious note, Miss Ross does point this out:
This is an all-out campaign focused on destroying Governor Palin by any means necessary, That, of course, is what this is all about. And these PDS sufferers have no problem going after her children to achieve their goal. The Governor knows how to persevere, however, which she has demonstrated time and time again. She's here to stay, and these pathetic antics will continue to fall flat. These people would do well to face it now.Frankly, to expect the PDS sufferers to face it now is unlikely, as this latest would-be “gate” shows. Anyway, if this hasn't convinced you of how far the Left is going and will go to tear down the Palin family, then you're worthy to receive this from me: Ohhhhh brother!
Friday, October 8, 2010
In Linus's Footsteps?
Watching Democrats campaign these days, I keep wondering if they modeled their campaigns after a certain progressive populist who once ran for student body president:
If that's the case, I can't wait for their Great Pumpkin moment!
If that's the case, I can't wait for their Great Pumpkin moment!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
They Bet Wrong
Here's the latest ad from Marlin Stutzman:
I have no doubt that come November 3rd, Barack Obama and his cronies will have learned the hard way they had made the wrong bet.
I have no doubt that come November 3rd, Barack Obama and his cronies will have learned the hard way they had made the wrong bet.
Friday, October 1, 2010
The 3rd District Congressional Candidate Forum
Earlier today, a congressional candidates' forum was held in Fort Wayne with all three of the candidates - Marlin Stutzman, Tom Hayhurst & Scott Wise - discussing issues relating to the disabled.
Held at the Abundant Life Church on Coliseum Blvd. and hosted by the Northeast Indiana Disability Advocacy Coalition (NEIDAC), its 3rd District Congressional Candidate Forum featured eight prepared questions for the candidates on current legislation related to disability issues, and initially questions from the attending public.
The ball got rolling at 5:30 p.m, with Andy Downs (far left) moderating. The forum didn't get a lot of coverage prior to tonight, although the local media covered the event well. It looked like about 40 people were in attendance.
Held at the Abundant Life Church on Coliseum Blvd. and hosted by the Northeast Indiana Disability Advocacy Coalition (NEIDAC), its 3rd District Congressional Candidate Forum featured eight prepared questions for the candidates on current legislation related to disability issues, and initially questions from the attending public.
The ball got rolling at 5:30 p.m, with Andy Downs (far left) moderating. The forum didn't get a lot of coverage prior to tonight, although the local media covered the event well. It looked like about 40 people were in attendance.
The Facts
Here's Marlin Stutzman responding to attacks from his opponent, Democrat Tom Hayhurst:
The Facts from Marlin Stutzman on Vimeo.
Action do speak louder than words, and Marlin Stutzman, as a state legislator for almost eight years, has a record which backs up his words as an authentic conservative candidate. Vote for Marlin on November 2nd; Go Marlin!
The Facts from Marlin Stutzman on Vimeo.
Action do speak louder than words, and Marlin Stutzman, as a state legislator for almost eight years, has a record which backs up his words as an authentic conservative candidate. Vote for Marlin on November 2nd; Go Marlin!
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