Let's Talk Politics Discussion Forum

Commissioned Watercolor Portrait GIVEAWAY!!!!

2008-11-17T07:22:00.000-05:00

Commissioned Watercolor Portrait GIVEAWAY!!!!

Fighting Over Diplomacy

2008-05-18T15:55:00.000-04:00

By: Carlton Huffman

At this state of a lame duck president’s administration any attention or semblance of relevance is welcome. This is all the more true for President Bush whose negative rating has surpassed that of Richard Nixon at the height of Watergate. This week in Israel, honoring the 60th birthday of the Jewish state, the President lashed out at any idea of negotiating with Iran, Hamas, and Hizbollah; an idea surely to be warmly received by his audience. However his criticism ended up pitting the president and John McCain against the Democrat’s golden boy Barack Obama who believes in opening a dialogue with the Iranians.
The tough talk of McCain and Bush does have a sound basis in fact and logic. After all it is the Iranian Quds force which is training and arming Shiite extremists to kill American soldiers on the ground in Iraq. It is just as true that Iran’s president has made apocalyptic threats towards Israel and robust threats towards the United States should we intervene. With Iran seeking to arm itself with modern weaponry it would seem that our diplomats would have little to say to the Iranians in any presumptive talks.
On the flip side however so to does Barack Obama have a sound point with rich historic examples to draw upon. Despite the fact that Red China and Mao saw to the killing of 37,000 Americans in Korea and supplied weapons and support to the North Vietnamese Richard Nixon had no problem negotiating with the same man he once called a monster. FDR had no problem negotiating with “Uncle Joe” who remains the biggest mass murderer in history and had signed the Molotov-Ribbentropp agreement with Hitler that started World War II in the first place. Time after time Americans have sat down and dealt with our enemies in a diplomatic way to assuage differences and avoid potential conflict with dramatic results in the course of world events.
While the president is tempted to label Iran as the new Nazi Germany the comparison just doesn’t add up. Israel has at least 300 nuclear warheads, including missile submarines, alongside our arsenal of over 3,000 warheads that could make Iran the one who is wiped off the map. Just as we needed China to help negotiate a settlement to get us out of Vietnam, America needs to negotiate with Tehran to at least set the basis for the region’s future without American troops on the ground. We will not be over there forever and Iran will still be there regardless of the outcome. It is in both our nation’s interest to sit down at the table while America negotiates from a position of strength. Talk alone never solves a problem but so in fact does not talking.

A Pre-Mortem Look at the GOP

2008-05-16T13:38:00.001-04:00

By: Carlton Huffman

The third congressional special election loss for the GOP this past Tuesday has resounded like a political earthquake on Capitol Hill. When a district in Mississippi that went for President Bush by 65% is lost by 8 points the Republicans in DC have finally pushed the panic button. The irony is that the party didn’t have to be in this position, all it would have taken was to listen to just one sitting on the evening news or one listen to talk radio. Instead like the lookout on the Titanic, they have just spotted the iceberg and it’s far too late to turn the ship.
It is amazing how quick political fortunes can turn in a few years. Four years ago President Bush won reelection, Republicans expanded their majority in Congress, and gas was only $1.75 a gallon. Now the party of Reagan is hanging on by a thread just hoping to survive past Election Night this November. It would be tempting for the party to lay the blame on the man who will be out of power on January 20, 2009. Yet the blame rests not on George Bush alone, but on the party that enabled him, this writer included. Without popular support George Bush couldn’t have gone into Iraq, spent the country into a deficit, and signed every free trade deal he could get his hands on. Instead of demanding a change in course, the entire party attached its fortunes to those of President Bush and trusted in his judgment to lead the country
As a result of the party’s investment of trust we have seen the GOP brand sink to its lowest state since Watergate in 1974. It would be a blessing if the only transgression were a burglary and a subsequent cover up. Instead the list goes from an unpopular war to a sinking economy in addition to a party plagued by broken promises and betrayed principles. No longer when you say sex scandal to voters think of Bill Clinton but instead they think of David Vitter, Mark Foley, and Larry Craig among others. 2006 was no aberration but a vote of no confidence in Republican leadership for the country. Instead of changing its ways the party circled the wagons and chose to blame every congressional woe on Nancy Pelosi. Meanwhile gas and food prices spiraled up, the value of the dollar keeps going down, and confidence in government has sunk to it’s lowest in polling history.
I hope that Republican readers won’t take away from this writing a feeling of impending doom or anger at yours truly. The anger should instead be directed at the national party in DC who has substituted slogans for action and clings to the mantle of Reagan while betraying everything he ever stood for. It may be too late to save the Republican Party in 2008 from the chickens coming home to roost for the actions of the last eight years. It is however never too late to prepare for the future by demanding a change in the party’s attitude. A return to the basic principles of limited government, economic nationalism which puts America first, and the values passed down to us from Scripture must be the foundation for the party’s long term survival. If not then our party will go the way of the Whigs and the Know Nothings in the history of those past doomed parties left behind in our nation’s journey.

Beware the Trial Lawyer

2008-05-09T20:38:00.001-04:00

By: Carlton Huffman

Just as the Trojans should’ve been wary of Greeks bearing gifts, so too should the 10th District be wary of trial lawyers in centrist attire. North Carolina saw this story before with John Edwards promising to be a centrist Democrat who would work with Jesse Helms for North Carolina’s benefit. Instead we got 6 years of John Edwards voting for every left wing piece of legislation that came in front of him, not to mention chronic absenteeism due to Edward’s forlorn 2004 presidential campaign.

Now I’m not one to say Daniel Johnson has plans to use the seat of incumbent Patrick McHenry as a launching pad for higher office. Yet one has to wonder that should nationalized health care or global warming legislation come up for a vote, would he stand with the 10th District or Nancy Pelosi and her far left cohorts? For that matter where does Johnson stand on halting illegal immigration, or would he instead vote for amnesty upon getting settled into his DC office? For those Republicans who may have voted for Lance Sigmon or be dissatisfied with our current Congressman, let’s remember that John Edwards was a poor steward of the public trust once he got to Washington no matter how nice his rhetoric sounded in 1998.

Barry Goldwater said it best in 1960 when Richard Nixon won his party’s nomination over the objections of conservative Republicans. He said “let’s grow up and unite” and we should in 2008 do the same. We have a duty to keep the power of the grubby hands of Washington bureaucrats who would seek to control every aspect of our lifes. The best way to do that for this district in November is to reelect Patrick McHenry to another term in Congress.

Hillary Clinton, Blue Collar Gal

2008-04-30T13:51:00.000-04:00

By: Carlton Huffman

You couldn’t have convinced me of it no matter what you tried. To think that Hillary Clinton could go from raging feminist to an avenging angel for religious, gun owning, blue collar Democrats boggles the mind. Just one year ago in talks with friends and colleagues I heard not once but several times over, speculation as to whether Hillary Clinton was indeed the Antichrist. Now, after an extended battle with Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton has traded in her blue state image for a blue collar and win, loose, or draw, has accomplished something very rare in American politics.
Ever since Hillary’s debut to the national scene in 1992 she has not been an endearing figure to the folks. For those not in the Beltway/New York City centered world, Hillary Clinton was the antithesis of Middle America. From the day she sneered at the thought of staying home and baking cookies to her paranoid rant on a “vast right wing conspiracy” Hillary Clinton was accurately seen as a scheming, calculating, liberal cause championing, would be gun grabbing blue state politician. From gun control to healthcare, from illegal immigration to homosexual causes, Hillary Rodham Clinton was the perfect bete noire for the Republicans heading into 2008.
Then however Barack Hussein Obama happened. Bringing in the young voters and college educated voters calling for change that eluded Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and bringing along the black vote that liberal champions Gary Hart and Howard Dean never captured, Obama rocked the Clinton machine to its core. Dodging the bullet on Super Tuesday and left on a 12 state loosing streak, Hillary Clinton’s only hope was appealing to the one group that had eluded her all along, the working class white voters or Reagan Democrats. By bashing Obama for his seeming duplicity on NAFTA, railing against his elitist attitude towards small town America, and capitalizing on Obama’s own problems stemming from his 20 year relationship with his rabidly racist pastor Jeremiah Wright has seen Hillary become the champion of the very people who once despised her. She spoke and Ohio and Texas listened by saving her candidacy with white, working class, blue collar voters carrying her to victory.
In Pennsylvania Hillary completed her transformation that began in the fields of Ohio and the plains of Texas on March 4. While Obama won the votes of those who never attended church, Hillary won those of all groups who at least went to church for Easter and Christmas to those in the pews every Sunday. The same gun owners in Pennsylvania who were probably horrified by her calls for gun control in the last days of her husband’s presidency helped complete her 10 point rout of Obama in the Keystone State with 63% of their votes and making Hillary the Blue Collar Gal.
Hillary’s journey now brings her to the capitol of ACC basketball and barbecue. While she faces an uphill battle in the same Democratic field that served up Harvey Gantt to be beaten by Jesse Helms, she has a chance. With King of the Hill Easley at her side and Obama still unable to shake off Reverend Wright, Hillary can still put up a fight in Carolina and keep this race going to Denver. Republicans would do well now to work to recapture the votes of these blue collar Democrats who gave the Republicans the keys to the White House with only two interruptions from 1968 on. If not, they might as well let Bubba and his newly reinvented Blue Collar Gal pick out the curtains in the Oval Office again.

Obama's connections come home to roost

2008-04-30T06:41:00.004-04:00

After Sen. Obama said he couldn't denounce his preacher any more than he could denounce the black community, he threw his beloved Rev. Wright under the bus. It didn't take too long after he started having political problems to declare his disgust with his "family" member.

A couple days ago everyone in the black community praised Rev. Wright at the NAACP. Does this mean he threw them under the bus, too?

If he can't keep his wife, preacher and "friends" under control, how can he take care of the United States of America. How long before he trows us under the bus?

Sign the petition for John Edwards to endorse Hillary.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/78/petition-for-former-edwards-supporters-for-hillary

Heather Tom soap star to phone bank in Hickory

2008-04-27T00:46:00.001-04:00

Emmy winning soap star, Heather Tom, of "Bold and the Beautiful," One Life to Live" and "Young and the Restless," will phone bank for Hillary on Sunday, April 27, 2008, at the Hickory, NC office at 1:30 pm.

Please join her in our grassroots effort to make calls and gain support for our next president.

Petition: Edwards' supporters for Hillary

2008-04-25T15:33:00.002-04:00

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/78/petition-for-former-edwards-supporters-for-hillary

Thanks for helping me let John Edwards and he media know the truth about former Edwards' supporters. Not all of us went to the wrong side.

Perdue and Moore endorsed Obama

2008-04-24T15:36:00.001-04:00

44 for the 44th at Hillary's Hickory office

2008-04-24T14:59:00.005-04:00

Please come and help if you can spare any time.

The location of Hillary's headquarters is, 755 4th Street SW, Hickory, across from the Habitat Store.

Volunteers are welcome any time. Call Amy at 202-360-5333 for more information. It isn't a long distance call.

This weekend we have scheduled a phone bank on Saturday, April 26 called 44 for the 44th President of the US.

We need 44 phone volunteers for the 44th president.

The Wright Kind of Ad

2008-04-23T18:52:00.001-04:00

By: Carlton Huffman

It is rare to see the Republican establishment, whether in Raleigh or Washington display much wisdom these days but NC GOP chairwoman Linda Daves has displayed plenty. Her decision to air an ad featuring Barack Obama’s hate filled pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and linking Obama to Democratic gubernatorial candidates Bev Perdue and Richard Moore was just what the doctor ordered. Her decision to resist the pressure of John McCain and the national Republican Party and continue airing the ad is something to actually make Republicans feel proud again and I hope we will see more of this wisdom in the future.
Rightly or wrongly you are judged by the company you keep and Barack Obama has certainly displayed very poor judgment in the company he has kept. To continue to attend a church where the pastor spews conspiracy theories such as the government creating AID’s to kill blacks and blaming the United States for September 11 is just the tip of Obama’s iceberg. He has ties to former domestic terrorist William Ayers who bombed the Pentagon during the Vietnam War as well as ties to communist radical Frank Davis. Combined with his “bitter” comments about small town America it is clear that Obama has a very warped view of the United States and is a dangerous radical, the likes of which our nation hasn’t seen since Socialist presidential candidates Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas.
Considering that the Democrats crucified Trent Lott for merely speaking kindly of Strom Thurmond’s 1948 presidential run, it is amusing to see them act with injured piety when their hero Obama receives criticism for very legitimate reasons due to his associations. It is also contemptuous that the North Carolina Democratic Party is labeling this ad as part of a New Southern Strategy akin to Richard Nixon’s 1968 presidential run. Let’s set the record straight about the Southern Strategy; forced busing of children to promote diversity was and is still wrong, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act rest on fragile grounds when it comes to their constitutionality, and Richard Nixon and George Wallace were both right for criticizing the federal government’s actions in the mid to late 60’s. The ad correctly questions the wisdom of Perdue and Moore for choosing to associate with a radical presidential candidate who would make George McGovern feel in good company.
I hope that the North Carolina Republican Party runs this ad all the way to May 6 and beyond for it’s true and raises legitimate questions of not only Barack Obama but of the two gubernatorial candidates who embraced him at the height of Obamamania. As for Linda Daves and the North Carolina GOP, keep up the good work in showing how to fight back. John McCain and the national Republican Party would do well to quit complaining and to start taking notes.

Pope Out of Line on Immigration

2008-04-21T18:44:00.000-04:00

By: Carlton Huffman

The recent visit of Pope Benedict has been a time of great excitement for America’s Catholics and it is indeed a momentous occasion for all persons of the Christian faith. The Pope’s steadfast stances on the social issues that have plagued other denominations are refreshing and much needed to combat the culture of permissiveness that turns a blind eye to the murder of the unborn and the excusing of homosexuality as socially acceptable. The Pope has however engaged in unacceptable meddling in America’s domestic affairs by asking the Catholic community to welcome illegal aliens into their fold in a bold attempt to boost parish membership.

In addressing Catholic bishops in Washington the Pope stated "I want to encourage you and your communities to continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials and to help them flourish in their new home." In all due respect to the Pope these illegals are not home, they have come into our national home in violation of our law and ought not be welcomed by the Catholic Church in the same manner that legal Italian and Polish immigrants. It is to the disgrace of any church or denomination that aids and abets criminals and illegally breaking into this country is just as much a crime as breaking into a bank or private home. While all people deserve to be treated with dignity, no person of faith ought to assist in lawbreakers who day by day take from the Treasury our hard earned tax dollars that so many of us spent time recently documenting.

While the Pope ought to be lauded for his stances on abortion, marriage, and in healing the damage to the Catholic Church after the clergy abuse scandals the pontiff ought not to let church politics bring confusion to the faithful regarding the issue of illegal immigration. This issue is not one that ought to pit the conscience of a person of faith against the just laws of the United States regarding entry into this country. Our nation alone has the authority to determine whose national home this is, not the Pope.

Lies, lies, lies

2008-04-21T17:30:00.001-04:00

Go to opensecrets.org and see FEB. numbers for yourself.
by industry
lobbyists $115,163
banks $1,380,108
computer/net $2,259,405
health professionals $2,244,576
health services/HMOs $304,299
hedge funds & private equity $1,428,622
hospitals/nursing homes $742,407
insurance $700,177
lawyers/law firms $13,690,170
misc health $166,514
oil and gas $222,309
pharmaceuticals/health products $528,765
real estate $3,494,199
securities and investments $6,793,380
telephone utilities $158,638
TV,music, movies $2,956,858
by sector
defense $195,132
energy $862,030
finance,insurance, real estate $15,268,502
health $3,986,561
lobbyists, lawyers $13,805,333
Oil & Gas:Top 20 Recipients
#7. Obama, Barack (D) Pres $163,840
Lobbyists:Top 20 Recipients
#19. Obama, Barack (D) Pres $105,502

Also, check factcheck.org for more truths you aren't supposed to know.

Hickory opens office for Hillary; supporters needed

2008-04-18T23:16:00.009-04:00

Please join Hillary supporters across North Carolina as we make 100,000 calls to our neighbors and fellow voters and remind them why Hillary is ready to lead this nation.

She is ready to deliver universal health care, invest in alternative energies, and bring our troops home from Iraq.

Come to your North Carolina for Hillary office in Hickory on Saturday, April 19 and help us make history by delivering North Carolina to Hillary.

The Hickory headquarters for Hillary is open at 765 4th St. SW, Hickory, NC 28602. The phone number is (336) 927-0003.

Click here to let us know you can help at the office http://links.hillaryclinton.com/ctt?kn=1&m=1044331&r=NzAyMzQ2MjgyNwS2&b=0&j=MTA1MzQ3Mzg5S0&mt=1.

Click here to make calls from home between 10 am and 9 pm http://links.hillaryclinton.com/ctt?kn=6&m=1044331&r=NzAyMzQ2MjgyNwS2&b=0&j=MTA1MzQ3Mzg5S0&mt=1.

Thank you for your support.

Obama takes oil company donations; is against guns

2008-04-17T09:03:00.002-04:00

Obama says he doesn't take money from lobbyists, PACs or oil companies, but opensecrets.org shows that he does.In Feb. he received $115,163 from lobbyists, $222,309 from oil and gas, $700,177 from insurance, $528,765 from Pharmaceuticals/Health Products, $6,793,380 from Securities & Investment, $1,380,108 from Commercial Banks, and $43,600 from Casinos/Gambling.

As for guns, http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ - rather than create a national registry, “I do think we have to do a better job sharing information between local and federal officials,” Obama said. He differs with McCain and Clinton about whether people should be allowed to carry concealed guns.

Clinton and McCain oppose outlawing it. “I am not in favor of concealed weapons,” Obama said. “I think that creates a potential atmosphere where more innocent people could (get shot during) altercations.”

Ban semi-automatics, and more possession restrictions

Principles that Obama supports on gun issues:
* Ban the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons.
* Increase state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms.
* Require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks with firearms.
Source: 1998 IL State Legislative National Political Awareness Test Jul 2, 1998

In an article published on Townhall.com <http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/AmandaCarpenter/2008/04/03/obama_comes_out_against_concealed_carry> , he said:
“Barack Obama ignorantly believes that legally-armed Americans are as reckless and irresponsible as the criminals with whom his political sympathies evidently law (sic).”

He went on to say:
“He has been insisting for months he supports the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, but here he is now campaigning in Pennsylvania, stating essentially he would prefers Americans not exercise that right.”

Keep guns out of inner cities--but also problem of morality.

I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturer's lobby. But I also believe that when a gangbanger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels someone disrespected him, we have a problem of morality.

Not only do we need to punish that man for his crime, but we need to acknowledge that there's a hole in his heart, one that government programs alone may not be able to repair.
Source: The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p.215 Oct 1, 2006

Obama did not hunt or fish as a child. He grew up in Hawaii and now lives in a big city. And as an Illinois state legislator and a U.S. senator, he consistently backed gun control legislation.

Finally, Obama didn't vote against the war, because he wasn't a Congressman and couldn't vote.

Barbara
Conover

Time for Bush to Boycott Beijing, and Time for America to Boycott China

2008-04-08T18:46:00.003-04:00

By Carlton Huffman

The brutal crackdown by Communist China in occupied Tibet has sparked a storm of protests around the world at a most inopportune time for Beijing. With several months to go before the Olympics the world has been treated to scenes of protesters disrupting the relay of the Olympic torch through Paris and London as reports emerge from Tibet of Chinese troops killing those protesting the occupation of Tibet by the communist regime. It is paramount at this time that we as a nation confront the very real moral issue brought about by the groaning of an oppressed people under the cruel boot of an occupying nation.

The people of Tibet have suffered among the cruelest fates that a nation could suffer since the 1951 invasion of their country by the communist Chinese. Tibet has seen itself annexed, it's spiritual leader forced to flee, and endured attempts to erase the very culture which identifies them as a unique people. Buddhist monks are forced to undergo indoctrination courses which deny and contradict some of the most basic tenets of their faith, something Christians in mainland China are most familiar with as they too are persecuted. Indeed any faith or belief system that would challenge the tyrannical authority imbodied by the Communist Chinese rulers is crushed and forced to go underground to survive. The entire world witnessed the fate of the democratic protestors in 1989 when Chinese tanks and soldiers poured into Tiananmen Square and massacred those who were peacefully calling for reforms. The Chinese government indeed has a record of cruelty and tyranny that is on a scale hardly seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Considering these undeniable facts that China represents everything we oppose in this world whether it is tyrannical oppression of both their own people and the occupied people of Tibet, how can the United States give sanction to this regime by participating in the Olympics this August in Beijing? The Chinese have used this event to promote the legitimacy of their regime and to claim respectability throughout the world despite the heinous acts they execute day in and day out in China and Tibet. If we are anything more then pure hypocrites who send our soldiers to fight tyranny and oppression in Iraq and Afghanistan while giving sanction to even greater evil in China, then we ought to sever the ties that bind us to them. We did the same in 1980 in response to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan and President Carter was to be commended for his act of principal. During the Cold War we set aside a week every year to pray and honor the Captive Nations of Eastern Europe occupied by Stalin's Red Army and did so up and until the fall of the Iron Curtain. We must stand on principal no matter the offense it might cause the athletes or Sam Walton who stocks Wal Mart with cheap Chinese goods that could be better produced in the United States of America by Americans!

Starting with the Olympics President Bush ought to at the very least boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games. This very clear signal to the Chinese would let them know that we are a nation of principal and will not blindly ignore their atrocities in Tibet or indeed throughout China itself. Taking it a step further if we are truly committed to, as President Kennedy stated, "support any friend and oppose any foe for the survival and the defense of liberty," the United States ought to pull our athletes from the games and deny any legitimacy to the cruel regime that occupies power in China. I hope that the readers of this blog will contact your Congressman and Senators and urge them to call on President Bush to boycott the Olympics. And the next time you look at an item your thinking about purchasing that says "Made in China," put it back and look for something worth your while made in a nation that wouldn't make Hitler or Stalin proud.

DC Once Again Behind the Curve

2008-04-05T18:26:00.002-04:00

By: Carlton Huffman

The latest employment figures tell most of us what we already knew, that the American economy is in recession. Despite all the crowing throughout late 2006 and into mid 2007 about the soaring stock market, the American public was living a different story. The jobs that were lost in the 90's thanks to NAFTA and the recession of 2001-2003 never came back and the ones that replaced it were mainly lower paying service jobs such as those at Wal Mart. Indeed the US dollar has become a shadow of itself thanks to our nation living beyond it's means for decades while borrowing to maintain an extravagant combination of a welfare state at home and an interventonist foreign policy abroad. The consequences of DC's policy are indeed beckoning the chickens to come home to roost.

It wasn't always this way as at the dawn of the 20th Century the United States was the manufacturing powerhouse of the world. By the time of our entry into the First World War fully 40% of all finished manufacturing goods were Made in the USA. The ships that saved Churchill and Great Britain from Hitler were being made at the rate of 1 a day at the peak of World War 2. The military that in 1939 was the equal of Chile's had within 6 years armed and equipped 15 million men and transported them from the jungles of the New Guinea to the heart of Germany. This incredible capability came about at the hands of industrial patriots and a US government that sought to prosper America first and foremost. From 1789 till 1945 it was never viewed as America's responsibility to put our wealth and treasure up for building up others at the expense of our people.

Contrast this past with today's present. The US Army in Iraq for several years lacked the armored Humvees to combat the IED's which have killed scores of our troops while those same troops lacked the most up to date body armor that could make the difference between life and death in a combat zone. The reason, US manufacturing lacked the capacity to fill our military's basic needs in what our President has called the defining challenge of our century. Starting with NAFTA we have seen the politicians in DC lecture us on the need to tear down the trade barriers of centuries past to allow two dollar a day Third World labor compete with the minimum $5.25 an hour in North Carolina. The reason the experts tell us is the access to cheap consumer products that overflow on the shelves at Wal Mart. The real reason, plain and simple, was greed for the greater profits that come from a cheaper labor force. Congress listened, and the jobs flowed south as the masses of Mexico and Latin America flowed north into our cities and neighborhoods to take jobs at rates the rest of us can scarcely afford.

With oil at over $100 a barrell and no relief in sight, with 232,000 jobs lost since January, and the power of the dollar receding, it has been clear for most since 2006 that a recession was in the works. Yet to this day we still have McCain, Bush, and others telling us that the policies that got us to this point are not only a success but a way to go, it is no wonder that the American people have the lowest amount of confidence in Washington ever. While many maybe tempted to embrace the change offered by Obama and Clinton, they need only take heed of the meetings tha Clinton and Obama staffers had with Colombian and Canadian officials over free trade deals the two candidates claim to oppose but endorse behind closed doors. There's not a dimes worth of difference between the parties this year and only when we change DC by realizing that, will things change for those of us on Main Street.

Time for Action on Immigration

2008-03-27T12:56:00.003-04:00

By Carlton Huffman

North Carolina has experienced fast paced growth since the early 1990's. In many ways this is a blessing as new industry brings opportunity for all sons and daughters of the Tarheel state to build lives they can be proud of and to set the foundation for their children. However part of that growth has been a dark blight in the form of illegal immigration. Thanks to lax standards on driver's licenses and a need for cheap manual labor our state has grown into a mecca for illegal aliens. Their precense is a strain on our state's treasury, our infratructure, and most importantly our culture and it must be dealt with in the right manner.

As of 2005 North Carolina had an estimated precense of 405,000 illegal aliens, the ninth largest in the entire country according to the Federation on American Immigration Reform. It annually costs our state over $700 million just for educating illegal alien children in our school system and the children of illegal aliens born here. Altogether our uninvited houseguests cost the state over $1 billion when education, medical care, and incarceration our all measured. This is a tremendous burden that the people of our state ought never to have been forced to bear, but bear it we have thanks to the inaction of our government in Washington and paralysis in Raleigh.

Perhaps the most unfortunate and most threatening aspect of illegal aliens coming to North Carolina is the erosion of our culture. We didn't have to press 1 for English a decade ago, nor did we have Spanish television and radio on the air in this state. Now instead of having people coming to America, they are bringing the culture of Latin America to us without the slightest need or intention to change thanks to the accomodations given them by our government and the politically correct attitude that we can't expect people to shed their past cultures. It is a far cry from Theodore Roosevelt who proclaimed that immigrants must "be American and nothing but American. They must have but one language, the English language, one flag, and that is the American flag" Travelling through Hickory and on US-321 into Charlotte we see an abundance of other flags but they're from Mexico, Guatemala. Honduras, and El Salvador, not Old Glory.

It is imperative that action is taken to address this crisis of finance, demography, and culture. We have plenty of good examples to follow. In Arizona a tough law was passed and illegal aliens were lined up at the Mexican consulate looking for passports back to their home country. In Oklahoma the legislature acted in bipartisan accord and the reports couldn't miss the exodus from Tulsa. Prince William County in Virginia acted just recently and already the squat houses where up to a dozen people would cram into are emptying out. All over this great country we have examples of what can happen when a people act with resolution to enforce the law and have no apology for doing so.

For the sake of our schools, our jails, our roads, our natural environment, and the future of our state North Carolina must act. The General Assembly needs to say no to giving illegal aliens access to our higher education facilities as Governor Easely proposed. What we need to do on the state and local level is to give our state troopers and police officers to check on the immigration status of suspected criminals so that we don't allow those individuals who have no business in this country to begin with, a chance to vanish into society until they hurt someone else as has happened all too many times especially in North Carolina. Friends it will only change when you the people demand action on all levels of government and you can make it happen. It was the righteous anger of the American people that prevented the Senate from granting amnesty and citizenship to those who broke the law by coming here. If you want it to change then this November is your chance to do something about it. Tell them all now: secure the border, enforce the law, and deport those who broke the law by coming here.

Time for an Honorable Exit

2008-03-25T11:32:00.001-04:00

By Carlton Huffman

5 years and 4,000 American deaths later the Iraq War continues to rage just as fiercely as the debate over the meaning of the war and America’s future in the Middle East. On the surface it would seem that this conflict has not scarred America to the degree that Vietnam did. There are no mass demonstrations in the streets, no campus violence, and a casualty figure that is but a fraction of the 58,000 souls that gave their lives in Southeast Asia. Upon closer inspection however it appears that Iraq will go down as an even greater mistake then Vietnam ever turned out to be.

The United States managed to recover from the loss of Vietnam and emerge victorious in the Cold War against the Soviet Union and stand as the sole superpower in the world. The conflict with Iraq is not yet concluded and the days of America as a lone superpower are finished. Uncle Sam is a sick giant that can hardly produce the means of war as America has lost 3.5 million manufacturing jobs since January 2001. The same arsenal of Democracy that saved the world in 1945 must buy mere bullets from Israel and Taiwan as our own industry doesn’t have the capacity to meet the needs of the war. America is also immersed in red ink as we now rely on Chinese and Arab credit to finance not just the war but the very day to day operations of government. America’s secret is out and the emperor is looking mighty embarrassed without his clothes. A superpower that can’t equip its troops or pay for its own war is not a superpower my friends.

It must be said with all due respect to Senator McCain and all of those who state the surge is working that they are looking through sugar coated lenses. Yes the attacks on American soldiers are down as of late, but 2007 was the deadliest year for American troops of any since the March 2003 invasion. The Shiite militia of radical cleric and Iranian ally Muqtada Al Sadr has not been vanquished, but has merely gone to ground during the tenure of the surge and will be certain to reemerge as American troop levels go down. Al Qaeda in Iraq has been shredded which is welcome news but the Iraqis are no closer towards political reconciliation then they were when General Petraeus first hit the ground running. A stable and functioning Iraq is likely to cost hundreds of billions of more dollars and still more years of American soldiers fighting and dying for a nation that is no more likely to love us at the end of the day then Duke is to love Chapel Hill.

I state it as a caveat that I supported the invasion of Iraq and was against an immediate withdraw as the insurgency began in 2003-2004. The logic of staying seemed to justify the sacrifice but as time went on the facts started telling a different story, and as Ben Franklin said “facts are stubborn things.” Despite all the hailed signs of progress there was only one constant fact, more and more Americans were being killed while the number of attacks kept going up. Short of total scorched earth warfare there is no other way that the American military can bring peace to Iraq. Ron Paul was right, the time is now for America to begin an honorable exit from Iraq and to turn the effort over to the Iraqis by bringing our troops home.

Statewide Races Rundown

2008-03-20T12:34:00.002-04:00

As May 6 gets ever closer the all important primaries for president, governor, and US Senate are shaping up to be an exciting event for North Carolina. For the Democrats it's all about settling the fight between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the nomination. Also at stake is to see who will be the heir apparent to Mike Easley and to see who will challenge Elizabeth Dole in the fall.

For Republicans it's a quest to end 16 years of Democratic control in Raleigh as John McCain and Elizabeth Dole are assured of their party's nod heading into November.

The following numbers come from the most recent Public Policy Polling surveys of the respective races. Feel free to check out http://www.publicpolicypolling.com for surveys regarding the hottest races in North Carolina.

Democratic Presidential Primary
Hillary Clinton: 43%
Barack Obama: 44%
Undecided: 13%

Republican Gubernatorial Primary
Fred Smith: 29%
Pat McCrory: 29%
Bill Graham: 8%
Bob Orr: 7%
Undecided: 26%

Democratic Gubernatorial Primary
Beverly Perdue: 44%
Richard Moore: 34%
Dennis Nielsen: 3%
Undecided: 19%

Democratic US Senate Primary

Kay Hagan: 22%
Jim Neal: 11%
Undecided: 57%

Easley's Measly Legacy

2008-03-20T10:45:00.000-04:00

By: Carlton Huffman

Perhaps the greatest test of a chief executive’s popularity is the willingness of fellow candidates and potential successors to identify with that executive. Jesse Helms campaigned in 1984 as a proud “Reagan conservative” while in 1988 George H.W. Bush promised to govern in a manner befitting a Reagan third term. On the flipside of that coin is an unwillingness to be seen near an executive which just about sums up every Republican candidate in 2008 with the current George Bush. However when we look closer to home one has a hard time finding Richard Moore or Beverly Perdue to mention North Carolina’s chief executive, Governor Mike Easley.

Governor Mike Easley is never one to take himself too seriously as a politician. Whether it’s quoting King of the Hill characters to working on furniture in his basement, our governor has been very successful at attempting to identify with the salt of the earth men and women of North Carolina. However the true legacy of Mike Easley has been his unwillingness to tackle the big issues in North Carolina and to make the government in Raleigh more responsive to the people of our state. Outside of initiatives on education, which has seen SAT scores fall and a 30% dropout rate during his tenure, Easley has done little to confront transportation needs in our growing state. Year after year the General Assembly raids the Highway Trust Fund to fund everything but our need for more and better roads and often fails to make up for the shortfalls. All of us can testify that the state of I-40 between Statesville and Hickory is an embarrassment as is that of I-85 S coming from Virginia. Mike Easley has had eight years to do something about it and instead was content to helicopter down to Southport every chance he had.

Those hoping for aid in combating illegal immigration were also left high and dry these last eight years under Easley. While other states like Oklahoma, Arizona, and Georgia have led the way in cracking down, North Carolina still ranks among the top states plagued by the influx of illegal aliens. Mike Easley’s solution is to allow them to go to community college while his cohort Erskine Bowles wants to give illegals instate tuition. On issue after issue of importance to North Carolinians Easley has been content to hold the ball till the clock runs down on his reign as governor or embraced a politically correct solution.

This is not what we bargained for in a state that has all of the right tools to succeed and be a powerhouse in the Southeast. Instead we have lost our status as a low tax state, education has not made the progress we need, and we’re stuck in traffic while political cronies cut deals on the best place to build a new road. It is well that Perdue and Moore avoid campaigning as the heir to Mike Easley just as John McCain better stay as far away from George Bush as he can. North Carolina deserved better then what Mike Easley and his Democratic friends in the legislature have given us the past eight years. The only thing that will bring true change is when voters wake up and demand better.

The Post Post Race Democratic Primary

2008-03-16T14:41:00.003-04:00

By: Carlton Huffman

It is perhaps the most bitter irony of the 2008 campaign that the election that was supposed to prove that we were beyond race has proven that we are anything but. The fawning over the progressive meaning of Obama’s candidacy, courtesy of Chris Matthews and others, seems but a distant memory in the ever increasingly heated Democratic primary. Diversity, all too often cited as a source of strength, is now a source of bitter enmity between the two warring Democratic camps.

It is easy during this time to point the finger at America’s favorite villains, the Clintons. After all was it not Hillary’s New Hampshire chairman, Bill Shaheen, that insinuated that Barack Obama’s past drug use could be used by Republicans to paint Obama as a drug dealer? It was indeed the Clinton’s, in their search for an excuse to explain a possible loss in South Carolina, that stated that Obama would only win due to the large amount of black voters in the state. Most recently it was Geraldine Ferraro who stated that Obama’s success as a presidential candidate was inextricably linked to his ethnic background. These examples are but a fraction to what lengths that Bill and Hillary Clinton have and will go to triumph over their opponents.

While the conclusion that it’s all the Clinton’s fault seems valid, it is just as true that Barack Obama has nobody but himself to blame for the course this campaign has taken. In almost every speech Obama cites the legacy of Martin Luther King and the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, still a source of controversy in the minds of many Americans. It was Obama’s campaign that labeled Bill Clinton’s “fairy tale” comment in New Hampshire a dismissal of Barack Obama simply because he is black, when the criticism was anything but racial in nature. Who can forget Hillary’s 3 am commercial being linked to the notorious film “Birth of a Nation” and a subliminal racist appeal along the lines of “Wille Horton” and Jesse Helm’s “Hands” ad. Just this week we see the hypocrisy of Barack Obama and his sanctimonious criticism of divisive comments, when the preacher that married him and his wife, baptized his children, and been his self acknowledged sounding board wallows in the same racist rhetoric that Barack claims to decry.

After South Carolina during Obama’s victory speech the crowd loudly chanted “race doesn’t matter.” The crowd spoke way too soon as in Mississippi it seems that race was almost all that mattered with Obama winning 90% of the black vote and only 20% of the white vote. Whether it is Don Imus, the fallacious prosecution of the Duke Lacrosse steam, the lauding or denouncing of the Jena 6, and the display of the Confederate flag race is alive and well as a source of divisiveness in 21st Century America. Simply labeling diversity a strength, downgrading Christmas while upgrading Kwanza, asking how high whenever Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton scream “jump”, and taking a day off for Martin Luther King Day is not going to exorcise the very real and present demons tormenting America. With six weeks left to Pennsylvania and over a month till North Carolina’s primary we are left to wonder how much worse can this campaign can get?

John McCain's Rust Belt

2008-03-14T07:50:00.000-04:00

By: Carlton Huffman

In a presidential race that is for now dominated by the economy, the Democrats have ample reason for glee while Republicans would do well to avoid being too close to George Bush and John McCain. With both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama riding a populist wave by denouncing NAFTA and free trade agreements with Third World nations the best that John McCain seems to offer is the permanent adoption of the same tax cuts he voted against in 2001 and 2003. In hard hit Michigan one was hard pressed to find relief in McCain’s campaign declaration that “your jobs are gone and they’re not coming back.” In reality it is the Reagan Democrats that enabled Republican hegemony of the White House from 1968-2004, with only three rude interruptions by Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, that are going and not coming back to the Republicans.

On the trade issues that have determined the shape of the North Carolina and American economy McCain has consistently been on the wrong side. Before George W. Bush even took office, it was John McCain who voted for NAFTA and the agreement known as GATT which removed all taxes and tariffs on imports coming into the United States from all member nations of the World Trade Organization. 100,000 North Carolina jobs were lost from 1994-2000 according to the Rural Center thanks to these policies. This and the losses suffered by the nation hardly deterred McCain from continuing his enthusiasm for free trade when George W. Bush assumed the presidency. While McCain proved a thorn in the president’s side on judges, interrogation of Al Qaeda suspects, and taxes, McCain proved to be Bush’s twin on outsourcing America’s future to Red China and the Third World.

North Carolina is consistently listed in the top 10 states whom have lost the most jobs thanks to the trade policies enthusiastically endorsed by John McCain. If John McCain desire’s the public’s trust on the economy it is high time he practiced some straight thinking and not just smooth talking in the hopes that we forget his past. While the Republican nominee can take some comfort that both Obama’s and Clinton’s economic programs offer little in the way of solid solutions, it does little to ease the cold hard truth that McCain bears a large share of the blame for the economic ills facing the nation that he desires to lead. Before voters jump headfirst onto the bandwagon of those supporting McCain just because he’s the Republican nominee, they would do well to remember the past times that they were thrown under the Straight Talk Express on its way to the White House.

In Defense of Geraldine Ferraro

2008-03-13T15:52:00.003-04:00

Editor's note: This topic was submitted by guest author Carlton Huffman.

It is amazing that in this age of political correctness that it took a very liberal Democrat to articulate to the nation what many of us knew all along. Despite being on the recieving end of a 49 state landslide in 1984 Geraldine Ferraro has in 2008 displayed wisdom and courage by spelling out the gospel truth about the candidacy of Barack Hussein Obama. In a recent radio interview she stated ""If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." Ferraro is exactly right as we hardly see any other freshmen Senators running for president despite the fact that some, Jim Webb most notably, would be immensely more qualified for the position then Senator Obama.

Despite the jaw dropping reactions of socialist pundits Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews it is worth examining the truth behind these comments. Barack Obama has won 90% of the black vote in nearly every major contest so far in the Democratic primary while lagging in the white votes in states that are more racially divided. One need only look at last month's cover of the ethnic-targeted Ebony magazine to know that black citizens take immense pride in the success of one of their own. Likewise many women are encouraged by the candidacy of Senator Clinton and the historic implications that it means which is easily reflected in almost every exit poll, including those where Obama defeated Clinton. Are these positions wrong? If not wrong they are at least very shallow and reflective of the priorities of Democratic primary voters that they put the race and gender of their candidates ahead of a candidate's qualifications. Both candidates are among the least qualified ever put foward by a political party, George W. Bush included.

America's Left is caught up in the notion that our nation must atone for slavery and Jim Crow and the election of Obama would be a symbolic gesture akin to the old tradition of sackcloth and ashes. Can any of us name how many one-term Senators fresh from the state legislature that have come to the brink of the presidency? Call it the real Inconvenient Truth of the day but it nonetheless true and those who would deny it are either naive or caught up in Obamamania so much that refuse to acknowledge that Obama's ethnicity has played an essential role in his appeal and success to date.

The politics of tribalism are never politically correct nor will they ever be. .It is the politics of tribalism that allowed New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin to proclaim the need for a chocolate city and still be reelected with the majority support of the city's black population as well as Durham DA Mike Nifong to win reelection despite the utterly groundless charges against the Duke Lacrosse team America has never and will never be uniquely immune to this reality of tribal and ethnic politics and it took courage on the part of Geraldine Ferraro to not only say it but to stand by her comments despite the whirlwind of criticism she has recieved.

Mobile Health Clinics vs Permanent Health Clinics for Veterans ?

2008-03-12T11:35:00.000-04:00

Republican Congressional candidate Lance Sigmon favors mobile health clinics for veterans, similar to ones found in Missouri and Washington, as an alternative to permanent clinics. Do you think the concept should be explored in North Carolina?

Who will win the Democratic presidential nomination: Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama?

2008-03-05T12:48:00.003-05:00

The race for the Democratic nomination has gotten very tight. With ten states left to vote, who do you think will grab the democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama?

Who has the better shot at victory, Barnes or Forlines?

2008-02-29T10:05:00.000-05:00

Who has the better shot at victory, Barnes or Forlines? Two high-profile leaders with significant name recognition filed as challengers for seats in the General Assembly Tuesday. Republican Kitty Barnes will face longtime incumbent Austin Allran in the May 6 primary. That seat encompasses all of Catawba County and section of western and northern Iredell. Former Bank of Granite executive and Democrat John Forlines will oppose incumbent Edgar Starnes for the 87th House District seat. The district includes all of Caldwell County.