The Best of Me Symphony Is Up

The Best of Me Symphony is up, as I’m in it for the 28th straight week. Click here to read them all.

Has New Nationalism Found Its Candidate?

From Worldnetdaily, Republicans have this bit of bad news:

Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project, is considering a run for president in 2008 with the Constitution Party.

Gilchrist has just returned from Florida where he met with the party’s national committee.

Chairman James Clymer told WorldNetDaily the party was excited about the possibility of Gilchrist as its marquis candidate.

“Yes, indeed we are interested,” Clymer said. “Gilchrist spoke to us last weekend in Tampa and our people asked Jim then if he would be the candidate. We think it would be wonderful if Jim Gilchrist would seriously consider being our presidential candidate.”

Gilchrist told WND the only candidate he would support as the Republican Party presidential nominee in 2008 was Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.

“If John McCain enters the race for president,” Gilchrist said. “I will definitely run. John McCain should have forfeited his right to run for President on the Republican Party the moment he put his name on immigration legislation with Sen. Ted Kennedy.”

I’ve written about “The New Nationalism” before. Gilchrist is the type of guy who could make the race and give those who are concerned about the border a candidate to support. He got almost 25% of the vote in a Republican District in California. He’s a populist figure and somebody who could really mean trouble for the Republican Party in a fall campaign. The guy’s basically a folk hero for doing the job the government won’t. He’s also been fairly effective at keeping the Minutemen racist free.

Now, the GOP could blunt this by nominating Mike Pence or if not him, someone whose reasonable on protecting the borders like Senator George Allen (R-Va.). The only good news for the GOP is that its the Constitution Party offering the nomination.

For those, who don’t know, the Constitution Party has been a much of groupies without a star. They started out to stand behind a Buchanan canidacy that didn’t materialize in 1992 or 1996. In 2000, they courted Bob Smith but didn’t get him, so they settled for Howard Phillips a third time. In 2004, they courted Roy Moore but didn’t get him. If Gilchrist were to take leadership of the party, they’d have to deal with some embarassing people in the local ranks which could cause harm to the campaign, so if Gilchrist is going to do this, he’ll have to get a lot of these state organizations in line to avoid hurting his own reputation.

Still, Gilchrist is the flavor of the year and has the best chance of any of the people that’ve been courted by the Constitution Party to actually become a candidate. I don’t think he’ll win, but I won’t be surprised by Ross Perot-like numbers.

Illegal Immigration, Jim Gilchrist, Minutemen

It Doesn’t Take Sherlock Holmes to Solve This One

May 1st is slated as a day when illegal aliens will walk off their jobs and take to the streets to illustrate how much our cities depend on cheap illegal labor. If the federal government is serious about enforcing the law, May 2nd should set a record for illegal immigrants being rounded up.

Here’s what I mean. Suppose a news story tells you that local grocery stores are shut down due to a lack of illegal labor. If you’re a federal immigration agent, its pretty easy to deduce that these grocery stores have a few illegals on staff, and to go and start questioning workers. No, this won’t happen on May 2nd, but it should. That it doesn’t shows how the Administration has chosen to ignore the law and abrogate its responsibility in enforcing it.

What May 1st will tell us is interesting as well. We’ve been told all along that illegals are taking jobs Americans won’t do. If Bus lines are shut down, factories stop producing goods, and Construction projects don’t move forward, then the favorite war horse of the open borders crowd has to be called into question. Since when do Americans have no interest in being bus drivers, or working in construction, or factories? In general, they pay far better than minimum wage or what employees earn at Walmart or Target.

Now, to be fair some legal immigrants, Muslims, and general liberal agitators are taking the day off as well. However, if we see a lot of jobs that Americans can and will do sitting vacant this will backfire big time on the illegal immigration crowd.

Linked to Grandinite, Mark My Words, Committees of Correspondence, Blue Star Chronicles, Basil’s Blog, Jo’s Cafe, Pirates, Man Your Women!, and Third World County.

Basil has a list of people who are working today.

Illegal Immigration,May Day

John McCain v. America

Senator John McCain (R-Az.) crossed a line in a recent response to Don Imus. Without Imus asking about it, McCain responded to a critics attack on his campaign finance reform stance, “I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I’d rather have the clean government.”

Enough with all that, “Protect and defend the Constitution” stuff he swears to every six years. Oaths are cheap. We just need a government where the trains run on time. McCain believes the problem with our government is found in citizens expressing their viewpoints 30-60 days before an election.

McCain’s cavalier attitude towards our constitutional guarantee of free speech is the latest in a series of events this year that raise questions as to his fitness for the presidency. With all he does, McCain has an air of self-righteous arrogance. Everything he proposes is about reform, and woe to the man or woman who stands in the way of reform. McCain will not let peons in the Senate or among the American people stand against him. In a crystallizing moment in 2000, McCain proclaimed that he was “Luke Skywalker trying to get out of the death star.” He said everyone was out to get him, but that “We’re going to kill them. We’re going to win this election.”

I would suggest that the Senator bares a stronger resemblance to another Star Wars character, Senator Palpatine, who became the Emperor. Like McCain, Palpatine talked of reform and attacked the corruption and partisanship of a Senate beset more by ambition than the best interests of the people. Also, like Palpatine, McCain is willing to compromise fundamental rights to achieve his goals.

McCain is called many things: a maverick, a moderate, and a nut. Yet, in the White House, a man of his temperament is extremely dangerous. He’s a zealot, who views reform as above the Constitution, and believes that his ends justify the means. If he, as a member of Congress, cannot respect the limits of the Constitution, how can we expect him to as President?

Some will be aghast that I raise the question, after all the noble service he did for our country in Vietnam. That’s true enough, and I respect his service, but it doesn’t give him a pass. Look at world history. How many war heroes have become dictators? How many have come home only to destroy the freedoms of the country they defended?

The future of America is too important to risk on John McCain. I’m a Republican, but I’m an American first. A man who believes our government must be protected from the influence of the people, and that our constitution is less important than a smooth running bureaucratic machine, is unfit for the presidency or any other office. Whether he wins the nomination or not, John McCain will not have my vote in 2008.

John McCain

Sunday Morning Devotional Thought: 1 Samuel 3 Po…

Sunday Morning Devotional Thought: 1 Samuel 3

Podcast, Bible, Christianity

Podcast #124: Sunday Morning Devotional Thought (1. Sam. 3)

Podcast, Bible, Christianity

A Tough Call

Prayers have got to go out to the Kootenai County Prosecutor’s office. As the AP reports, its a hard situation all around regarding the blogging killer, Joseph Edward Duncan.

The father of abduction victim Shasta Groene has asked Kootenai County, Idaho, prosecutors to stop pursuing the death penalty against registered sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III, Prosecutor Bill Douglas said Thursday.

Duncan, accused of killing Shasta’s mother, older brother and mother’s boyfriend last year so he could kidnap the 8-year-old girl and her 9-year-old brother for sex, could face the death penalty if convicted of the three murder counts.

Shasta’s brother, Dylan, was slain at a primitive campground in Montana.

Shasta was rescued at a Denny’s restaurant in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, last summer after seven weeks of captivity.

Steve Groene is worried that seeking the death penalty will mean years of litigation, at which Shasta, now 9, will have to testify, Douglas said…

Douglas said he spoke with Steve Groene earlier this week, and learned that Groene has had a recurrence of throat cancer.

“My heart goes out to Steve,” Douglas said. “He feels he won’t live long enough for the death penalty to be carried out. We will listen to what he has to say.”

Wow, there are so many levels of emotion on this. FIrst of all, you feel for the Father and the Daughter. After all she’s been through, she’s facing losing her father. He’s trying to do the right thing by limiting she has to experience and letting her go on with her life.

As well-meaning as that is, the fact is that even under a life sentence there can be a problem if its not plead properly. You can then end up with her taking a trip down to a federal prison every three or four years as an adult to resolve the issue and Duncan will probably live another 30-40 years naturally at his age.

However, if he’s given 4 concurrent life sentences without elligibility for parole, that could work for Shasta and give her a chance to have a semi-normal life after being hit by this sicko.

What gets me though is how out of control our death penalty system has gotten. The lawyer for Duncan knows he’s got the State over a barrel:

Adams recently argued in court that prosecutors should offer his client a plea bargain to avoid perhaps two decades of litigation.

While I’m all for due process when it comes to death row, haven’t we reached an alarming point in our society where the endless appeals of the death penalty have become a lawyer’s tool to blackmail prosecutors so that the Death Penalty is not even used?

As disgusting at that is, the prosecutor can’t change the system. He now has to make a decision that balances the demands of justice with the best interest of the victim. Its a choice I’m glad I don’t have to make.

Death Penalty

Look Who’s First Place

The Last day in April is coming up and imagine my surprise that coming into the last day of the month, my Rockies (14-10) lead the NL West by half a game. No big deal, you may say and you have a point, its only April 29th, but for a longsuffering Colorado fan, its nice to still be in contention this late in the year.

What’s been the key to success. Timely hitting and good pitching have been the key to success. You’ve had some young guys step up to the plate, but also some veterans.

Brad Hawpe has been out of this world with a 1.122 OPS, .364 batting average and a team-leading 7 homers. Matt Holliday has provided some timely hits, Garret Atkins and Eli Marrero have also been great early on.

The Rocky’s team ERA is 4.59 and that’s thanks to some great pitching by Aaron Cook. Jose Mesa was considered a joke acquisition in the off-season but he’s in his old form so far with an ERA of 0.89 in relief. Meanwhile, opposing hitters are batting .097 against closer Brian Fuentes. So far, this bullpen has been one of the best in baseball.

Now, it must be pointed out the Rockies have played a pretty weak schedule the first part of this season. The key thing I look at is that while the Rockies have beat up on the likes of the Marlins, the simple fact is they’re 9-6 against division rivals include 2-1 in a recent Series against the 2nd place Giants.

The Rockies have got a hard road, but they’re in a very weak NL West division and if they get the right breaks, we may have October baseball in Denver.

Boise Pastor to Boise Kids: God Cares

Loren Yadon, pastor of New Life Fellowship has a message to kids where he’s served as a substitute teacher. This is an awesome piece, check it out.

Missing Your Opportunity

In today’s Statesman Rev. Dr. Lee Hicks has a thoughtful piece in on his regrets for not doing something at a key turning point in the Civil Rights battle:

Saturday night, April 15, trying to get in the mood for Easter (the next day), I came across the History Channel, and its special, “10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America.” For an hour I watched “The Summer of 1964” — the story of the deaths of the three civil- rights workers. These were male college students, volunteering in voter-registration drives in Mississippi. They and others were so successful that the Klan rose up, led by a minister, and ambushed and killed them. Six weeks later their bodies were found in a quarry. Rather than being intimidated, the movement spread and ultimately resulted in the 1965 Voting Rights Act by President Johnson.

As I watched this drama unfold, it brought back guilty memories. I had graduated from college and seminary in California and went to Nebraska to serve my first parish in 1962. Back then, there were few African-Americans in Nebraska, and they were mostly in North Omaha. And so as the civil- rights movement was shown on our TVs, we didn’t pay much attention, for it didn’t involve our daily lives.

He spends the rest of the reader’s view wondering what he should have done. The key message of the piece that sticks out to me is not to miss your moment to do something. As Jacob Marley said, “…no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunities misused!” We must all pray that we do not miss our moment, that chance when we can make a difference. If we do, its something that will haunt us for the rest of our lives.

Check out RealChoice

Your humble RealChoice blogmistress will be one of the guest bloggers here soon.

T-9 Days Weekend Open Trackbacks Thread

Wow, I’m just about out of energy on Friday, but I still have 8 hours of work ahead. Youch. Anyway, I’m 9 days until the trip to Cancun and I’ve still got so much to do.

We need new shoes, the cat needs to get boarded. I’ve got to get a hold request into the post office on the mail, and I’ve got to make sure the stable of guest bloggers is ready for next week. Other than that, we’re just about done. If you’ve got a suggestion of something I need to do before I leave for Cancun, leave it in the comments. That way, I can have even more to worry about. :)

Now, welcome to today’s Open Trackback party:

1) Post about anything that’s in good taste. No porn, no spam, no profanity.

2) Send me a trackback of any tasteful post you want and as soon as I check my blog, I’ll update this post with your link provided you link back to this thread. If your software won’t allow you to send trackbacks, just use the Wizbang Standalone Pinger

3) Deadline is Sunday at 11:00 PM MDT. Further trackbacks won’t be posted after that time.

For convenience, here’s today’s link and the trackback:

http://www.adamsweb.us/blog/htsrv/trackback.php/1859

Click above to see all the great places you can promote your work today.

Other Parties:

Blue Star Chronicles
Church and State
The Right Nation

Linking in:

Starboard!:

American Culture Shock for Muslims
Arab News recently ran an Op-Ed piece on the effect that American culture has on Muslims living in or visiting America. I was genuinely surprised by the post.

Starboard:

LA Times Sacks Blog
The LA Times recently discontinued a column and Times-affiliated blog authored by Michael Hitzik. Times editors claimed that Hitzik’s work was not discontinued because it was inaccurate, “But

The Florida Masochist:

Do they all look alike?
Good luck Aunt Peanut, I mean Aunt Kimmy

Third World County:

…BTW, I’ve scheduled a shopping trip for tomorrow. I figure it’s time I bought some Mexican flags to burn on May 5.

The Florida Masochist

The Knucklehead of the Day award
Today’s winner is Jim Bostick.

The Blue Star Chronicles:

Carnival of Blue Stars #11
The Carnival of Blue Stars gives us, the families, friends, supporters, veterans and current service members an opportunity to have a voice in the Blogsphere

The Florida Masochist:

The Knucklehead of the Day award
Today’s winner is the Palm Beach Post editorial board.

The Florida Masochist:

Former MLB Pitcher Steve Howe dead at 48
Howe was the 1980 Rookie of the year. A very good left-handed reliever he was better known for his battles with substance abuse. Steve Howe died yesterday in Southern California. RIP.

Blue Star Chronicles:

Islamic Terrorism and Sensitivity
We are stressing out Jihadist and we need to stop it. It seems we need to be more sensitive in our verbage ……. I realize common sense isn’t that common. But come on. Is it really that hard to understand?

Blue Star Chronicles:

Sammenhold Roung-Up
It’s time to see what people on the Sammenhold Blogroll are up to around the blogsphere.

The Florida Masochist:

I had heard of some of these shenanigans months ago. Why is AP only reporting it now?

The Florida Masochist:

Churches win a battle in Palm Beach County.
A dumb law was averted. It wouldn’t surprise me if another attempt is made to pass some kind of cap.

Open Trackbacks

Publisher Pays in Puppy Love

Over at Writer’s Weekly, there’s a letter to the editor by in which writer Roy Barnes shares one cash-strapped editors offer as payment:

I wish I could pay! If you live close by, I can let you play with our puppy, she is really adorable, but other than that, just for the love of the game….

All Things Beautiful Returns Fires

Alexandria at All Things Beautiful got an alarming good morning today:

I woke up this morning to a comment in my comments section in Spanish, telling me that President Bush is an idiot, and that I had better get used to this commenter’s language, as it will be officially recognized in his part of the country, within a few years.

Deal with it.

Alexandria had previously been trying to remain the voice of reason but the comment coupled with the events of past days, lost her sympathy as she wrote:

Well let me tell you what I would say to the illegals in this country, if it were up to me: I would get them by the scruff of their neck and tell them to sling their hook, before they get a chance to tell me again that Spanish will become my first language. It was a mistake to have allowed them to stand in the streets countrywide protesting and in turn sticking their finger up at us, and our naive idea of democracy, in dire need of a hard reboot. This is how they treat their own, so it should not come as a great shock to anyone, other than Ted Kennedy who is petrified to lose fertile ground for desperate votes.

She’s furious, but I don’t deny her right to be. What is happening in the streets of our country is galvanizing the opposition to illegal immigration. A lot of good, decent people are tired of it. And there are enough foolhearty illegals who’ll do enough stupid things, they’re going to hurt themselves.

We can talk about huddled masses, we can talk about the wonders that immigrants bring to our country, but we’ve got is 14 million people who the best answer Washington can come up with is that they should be given amnesty because of our own government’s incompetence and Alexandria got the right idea, it times to deport people who’ve violated our borders. They’ve broken the law and they must go back and get in line behind those who’ve come here legally. Secure the borders, get tough on enforcement and then lets let people in who respect our culture and heritage and will build our country up rather than tearing down things like the rule of law that make our country what it is.

illegal immigration

One Bad Trade

I’ve been following the adventures of Kyle McDonald, the plucky Internet protagonist whose trying to trade up 1 red paper clip and through a series of trades end up with a house. Well, he’d pretty much had a straight line up, having gone from the paper clip to one year free rent in Phoenix. Well he traded away the year in Phoenix, but I don’t think he got a great deal in trading for an afternoon with Alice Cooper. He’s going to get a taker, but I doubt its going to land him closer to the house. Still, it all started with One Red paper Clip and if you want to make him an offer for a day with Alice Cooper, click here.