The Petty Truth

There are many reasons good people don’t run for office. Some made pretty bad mistakes in their youth and don’t want those to ruin the lives of those they love. But, the fact is that political leaders have to deal wtih a load of garbage. Exhibit A, this story on Congressman Bill Sali’s recent mailer:

It’s a glossy, high tech flyer paid for with taxpayer money. And some constituents aren’t happy about it. In fact, they say it looks like a campaign ad, not a legislative update, and they want to know why they’re paying for it.
Yvette Sedlewicz got this glossy, three page mailer from Congressman Bill Sali’s office last month. ” I went to throw it into the garbage and I happened to see that it said paid by the taxpayer and I thought, wow, that’s pretty expensive,” said Yvette.

The congressman spent 32 thousand dollars of your money. That’s expensive, but he got a break. Politicians get a special governmental rate for mailers. We went to a local Kinko’s to find out what you and I would have to pay, a whopping 190 thousand dollars. Even so, it still makes Yvette mad, “It shouldn’t have been sent out at taxpayer expense.”

The story is much ado about nothing, along the same line of the Truth Squad’s story last year, “Sali is better at raising out of state money than Larry Grant” except they didn’t mention that Grant raked in thousands upon thousands from out of state in their attack on Sali.

Of course, anyone who knows about Congress or has ever been inside a Congressional office knows that the Sali flyer was nothing significant. Members of Congress frequently put out such fliers. They, in fact have a budget for their office and “franking privileges.” Congressman Sali has to keep his office within budget or he’ll have to make up the difference.

Notice here that Channel 2 didn’t seek out political experts. There was no conversation with Jim Weatherby or Randy Stapilus, no one checking with a political science professor. Instead, we have a bunch of reporters coming off like the Keystone Cops exposing a story that’s not a story.

The Next Crime Bill

From Scrappleface: House Panel Split on Ambivalence Crimes Bill:

Hate crime laws address the proven fact that a victim feels greater pain when he or she suffers as a representative of some downtrodden minority group, rather than simply as a person.

However, nothing in federal law extends special treatment to a person whose attacker has mixed feelings about the victim’s race, gender or degree of sexual disorientation.

According to an unnamed Congressional aide who helped draft the ambivalence crime bill, “People are murdered every day in this country by perps who can’t be painted with a broad brush as racists or homophobes, because they only really hate particular members of those groups…mostly just the people they kill. It’s a loophole that needs closure.”

Ambivalence Crimes? I don’t know how I feel about that.

He’s Back

Lyn Perry is back from a blogging hiatus at Bloggin’ Outloud. He’s back to old tricks with a couple great pieces up that you’re sure to enjoy including Biblical Headlines and the Index of Forbidden Children’s Books. Unlike Random Yak, I haven’t been going over to his site. (I know whenever anyone on my list posts due to the magic of RSS)

Of course, there’s a cynical part of me that will wonder how long it will last. If I were a gambling man, I might set a pool for Lyn Perry’s next blogging retirement, but I’m just glad that like Spring, Lyn Perry is back in town for now.

Strange Thought of the Day

My mind works up many puns and such. I blogged on a comment on Sara Anderson’s blog earlier this week, where Binky Boy pontificated on the value of progressivism. The comment that started it all was Bubblehead asking why his blog didn’t make the blog roll, Sara responded in part:

Seriously, though, I just don’t know enough about what you write about to actually absorb much from your blog. I do have to check it out from time to time to see what you’re saying about Heroes or Idaho stuff, but other than that it basically all flies over my head.

Thought to ponder: How does a blog about underwater submarines go over someone’s head?

The Price of a Blogger

My comment that Julie Fanselow coming on board with the LaRocco Senate Campaign would be bad news from the Grant Campaign given what Julie contributed blogging for the Democrat. My statement was respectfully challenged by Bubblehead:

I’m thinking Julie could do both jobs, and if she didn’t want to, I’m sure there are other successful Idaho bloggers who wouldn’t mind helping Larry out

Well, for Julie to try and do both with the same degree of committment she gave to Grant wouldn’t be possible to do both well. I also don’t think every blogger even a good blogger can necessarily be a campaign blogger. It’s hard work, requring the right mix of temperment, networking skills, and writing ability:

We have a very deep blogging bench here in Idaho, at least on the Dem side. Larry G will be OK, mainly because we will all be pitching in to help him.

Now, I look down the bench and I don’t quite see anyone who can step up to the plate. Julie’s help will help, but I just imagine what it would like if certain Idaho bloggers were given the helm:

Bubblehead:

Larry Grant is like an old submarine sinking deeper into-

Binky Boy:

On Civility:

(Bleep) Bill Sali, (Bleep) Adam Graham, (bleep) Bryan Fischer. it’s time for Larry Grant to go to Washington and stop all the insufferable idiots on the other side and bring civility back to Washington.

On Jobs:

(Bleep) Bill Sali, (Bleep) Adam Graham, (bleep) Bryan Fischer…

Mountain Goat Report:

Did you know that Bill Sali voted against making Paul Newton’s Salad Dressing a national treasure. Yes, while 420 other Congressman we’re up there supporting that well-known, Bill Sali, buoyed by contributions from the Club for Growth and Lays Potato Chips PAC is opposing public recognition of this healthy condiment.

In all seriousness, I can’t see most Idaho bloggers having the time, energy, and resources to pour into building the type of grassroots effort Julie did. It’s a tough job and who is actually up to the task?

Going to See Spiderman III Weekend Open Trackbacks

I’m going to see Spiderman III, but not this weekend. I’ll wait until it shows up at Overland Park Cinema. $7.00 will get tickets for my wife and a popcorn and a drink for both of us. That’ll be cheaper than buying the DVD.

Now onto the party:

First, the rules:

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 MT. Further trackbacks won’t be posted after that time.

For your convenience here’s today’s link. If you’re a registered user, the, trackback should appear below. If not, here’s the process:

Enter the characters as shown in the box and something like this should appear

This is a Trackback URL that’s good one time only so that we can seperate humans from spammer bots.

Below are other great parties:

Linking In:

Right Voices

WaPo: Democrats’ Momentum Is Stalling…They Appear To Be A “Do Nothing” Party
The article is just now talking about what we talked about in the thread: Democrats 0-6 On ‘Six for ‘06′ Campaign Promises back on April 14, 2007.

Not a single priority on the Democrats’ agenda has been enacted, and some in the party are …

Conservative Cat

Heroes on TV
A hidden world exists alongside our own, one in which good and evil have specific roles to play, with specific champions pitting their incredible abilities against each other. This is the premise behind countless fantasy TV shows, from the wildly…

The Florida Masochist:

Demoted
Anabel Sanchez pitched a no-hitter last September. Friday he was sent to the minor leagues. Is he the next Bobo Holloman

The Florida Masochist:

Peanut wins
The first win on the LPGA Tour in 2007 by a golfer from the ROK.

Planck’s Constant

The Nylon Deception and Liberal Conspiracies
One of the reasons that liberals believe in Global Warming and that the destruction of the World Trade Center was planned by our government and that Bush lied about WMD’s is that liberals need to have a large selection of conspiracies in order to liv…

The Florida Masochist

The Knucklehead of the Day award
Today’s winner is the Supermarket chain Santa Isabel.
The Florida Masochist:

Body Parts

Maybe the prison crash site can become a tourist attraction. We had a whale necropsy in the Keys last summer. Isn’t this a great state or what?

Right Voices

Pansies for Reid Day…Open Trackback
Great site and a worthy cause so I am gladly presenting it to all of you!
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Pansies for Reid Day

Let’s face it, Harry Reid has been a complete pansy on all fronts regarding America and her will to win the war on terrorism. Specifically, the wa…

Open Trackbacks

Podcast #249: A Question Mitt Romney Shouldn’t Answer

Questions regarding a 150 year old massacre by Mormons in 1857 doesn’t merit a response from Mitt Romney and distracts from the real issues of the campaign.

Click here to download. Click here to add my podcast to your I-tunes.

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Related:

CNS News:

Mormon Massacre