Retain Justice Polston

Ok, I promise this will be the last post on merit retention this election cycle!

But, Justice Ricky Polston of the Florida Supreme Court is worthy of retention.

Though technically born across the state line in Alabama (ick!), he grew up on a small family farm here in Florida.

As a young man, he earned a degree in accounting from that institution that shall never be named in this blog. He later went back to the same place (a glutton for punishment?!) to earn a law degree.

As an attorney, he defended the state against suits filed to ban the "Choose Life" license plates ye socks may have seen on vehicles cruising around this little corner of heaven.

He has also publicly defended the state's school voucher program.

Privately, he and his wife raised four children before adopting six more from the state's foster care program.

He brings a lot to the bench.

Vote YES to retain Polston.

Retain the Chief

Florida's state supreme court is led by Chief Justice Charles T. Canady, who is up for a merit retention vote this year.

Canady is a native Floridian who earned a law degree from Yale University.

He returned to this little corner of heaven to establish his law practice and quickly entered the political arena . . . as a Democrat, no less.

Unfortunately, as many conservative Democrats would eventually discover, the national party left him a long time before he felt compelled to switch his registration.

He ran for U.S. Congress as a Republican in 1992, and won narrowly. In DC, he distinguished himself as a leading opponent of partial-birth abortions.

After a self-imposed term limit, Canady returned to Florida and served as general counsel to Governor Jeb Bush for a time before accepting a judicial appointment.

He was named Chief Justice by our current illustrious governor in 2008, but don't hold that against him. He deserves retention.

Vot YES to retain Chief Justice Charles T. Canady on the November ballot.

Primary endorsements - part 8

Yours truly had to save the GOP primary for Florida Governor til last in this series about the upcoming primary.

This one got down and dirty, and it did so WAY too fast.

In fact, I would venture to say the real winner in all this mudslinging is Alex Sink.

What ever happened to the good ole days of never speaking ill of another Republican?

If you believe the ads being put out by Attorney General Bill McCollum and political outsider Rick Scott, both men are rabid abortionists?

Hardly.

It's time to tamp down the vitriole, guys.

I suppose I give Scott credit for the "Let's get back to work" theme. At the very least, that indicates that he gets it on some level that folks in this state are more worried about their jobs than anything else.

At the end of the day, I think what Florida Republicans have to decide is whether McCollum has spent the last three decades as "a political insider" or "a trusted public servant."

Hold your nose and pick one. That's what I'm doing this Tuesday.

New president makes killing babies a top priority

Ye socks have known for a long time that Democrats are, generally, supportive of abortion.

But, the new administration isn't content with killing American babies.

They want to use your tax dollars and mine to pay for abortions overseas.

Remember that old Thompson Twins song from the 80s, "King for a day." Think about it, ye socks. What would you do if you had the reins of power in your hands for a day or two. In the current climate, you'd probably want to make your first act something to do with relieving our nation's economic woes. Or, maybe, it would be something about decreasing our dependance on foreign oil.

But, that's not going to happen in our new ObamaNation.

Instead, on his second full day in office, the newly inaugurated president is poised to reverse the Mexico City Policy and thereby spend our money on abortion clinics in developing countries. (I wonder if that includes Kenya?!)

Of course, this story got buried in all the media coverage of the three ring circus up in DC yesterday.

Benjamin Franklin once said, "In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes."

That will be doubly true in this country for at least the next few years.

Hope and change! (Unless of course you're an unborn baby or a taxpayer . . . )

Huckabee had a good run

I have never concealed my ardent support of Mike Huckabee's campaign for the presidency, either in the blogosphere or beyond.

But, his race came to an end last night, when John McCain finally won enough convention delegates to ensure he will be the next Republican presidential nominee.

I am still convinced that he is destined to bigger and better things.

I believe the next big thing for him will be a US Senate race in his native Arkansas. Then, in four years, who knows what the cards may hold.

In the mean time, the GOP is stuck with McCain and needs to spend the next few months mending fences while Hillary and Obama fight it out across the aisle.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. McCain's military service was heroic. But, what he has done in the halls of Congress, are worthy of a lot of scorn.

He is not so much a true rock-ribbed Republican as he is every Democrat's favorite Republican. His candidacy was foisted upon the GOP by a lot of media hype and crossover votes from Independents and liberals intent upon thwarting the conservative agenda. Sour grapes? Maybe.

All that being said, my main problem with McCain is that he is a flip-flopper on too many issues that are important to me. He wants to be everything to everybody. Here are a few of the most glaring examples:

1. TAXES - He didn't just vote against the Bush tax cuts once, he voted against them TWICE! (First in May 2001, and again in 2003.) as late as 26 Nov 2005, he told the Wall Street Journal the reason he opposed the tax cuts: "I just thought it was too tilted to the wealthy, and I still do." Now, he's running around the campaign trail saying he wants to make them permanent?!

2. IMMIGRATION - I will never forget 2005, when McCain partnered with Teddy Kennedy to craft the worst piece of legislative piffle in recent memory. It would have granted amnesty to some 12 million illegal aliens. But, this year at the Reagan Library debate, he said he would not vote for it himself if it was brought to the Senate floor?!

3. ABORTION - In an effort to pander to his buddies in the San Francisco media back in 1999, McCain told a Chronicle reporter, and I quote, "I would not support repeal of Roe v Wade." But, when speaking before South Carolina primary voters last year, he said, and again I quote, "I do not support Roe v Wade, it should be overturned."

4. TORTURE - This has been McCain's sacred cow, given his status as a former POW. But, when given the opportunity to require the CIA to abide my the Army Field Manual interrogation tactics, he voted AGAINST the bill last month.

5. IRAQ - McCain would also like to take credit for the successful change of course in Iraq, claiming at the aforementioned Reagan Library debate, "I'm the only one that said Rumsfeld had to go." Poppycock! In December 2004, when his friends in the media were trying to goad him into trashing Rumsfeld, he told them the president "can have the team around him that he wants around him."

Look, I am always willing to accept a true heart-felt conversion. We all evolve as we grow older, at least we should. And, McCain has been on this planet for a very long time. Now that Huckabee has cleared the way for him, the presumptive nominee needs to spend the next few months convincing folks like yours truly that his new positions on issues like listed above were taken from conviction and not just pandering for votes.

And, he needs a good running mate . . .