Matters Of Opinion

Mike Pence Won’t Seek Republican Nomination

…for President, at least.

I still think he’s going to run for Governor, personally. I’ve actually figured for a while now that he wasn’t going to run for President just yet. He still has so much more to do, after all! He’s a young, conservative, House member who has a following all over the nation (not to mention, obviously, Indiana), and I think he’s going to sit back and wait a bit before running for “the big one”. I think he’ll be happy being influential to the legislation process and isn’t too worried about being Commander in Chief as of right now. Plus, once he’s President, that’s about it. Retirement time. Sure, he’ll give some speeches here and there, write his memoirs, but after that, GAME OVER. I don’t think Pence is ready to serve 4-8 and then just sit on the sidelines just yet.

I also think that, perhaps, this announcement greatly ups the chance that Mitch is going to run for President in 2012. Nothing but speculation, of course, but it makes sense. Two people from Indiana running for President makes no sense, not to mention that Mitch has earned the opportunity to do this without any unneeded competition from his local political buddies. He’s paid his dues.

Below is Pence’s letter to friends and supporters (borrowed from Hoosierpundit):

Friends and Supporters,

Sincerely,
Mike Pence

There are a couple of key things I note about this letter.

First, he is sure to mention Governor Daniels in this letter, and reiterates Mitch’s statement about “important work to do in Washington and in Indianapolis”. This, to me, shows two things. One, that Mitch fully expects a great Indiana Republican to over after him (which, Pence would fit the bill), and two, with Washington being mentioned, one would assume that Mitch is using this as an opening to run for President.

Second, by driving across the country and seeing what the people have to say (which will be a resounding Hell yeah) about his running, he’s ensuring that he keeps this campaign grass roots.

My predictions: Pence will run for Governor, and will win, especially if the Democrats from Lake County try and run against him. Mitch might run for President yet…right now I put the odds at about 50%. I’m just not sure yet.

For My Wife…

This Tuesday, February 1st, my wife and I will celebrate our four year wedding anniversary.

I still remember that day. We were married at the Lake County Courthouse (being young, neither of us had any idea that a wedding ceremony was a big deal to our loved ones and family, and we had our second “ceremony” and reception a few months later) by a GIANT black lady. I don’t mean that she was fat or anything, just that she was built like a linebacker. I fully expected her to begin to do the Super Bowl shuffle right before she asked me to say I do. I remember sitting in the waiting room, talking with an elderly couple who were getting married for the second time. They had gotten divorced mid way through life and had both remarried. Upon meeting up again, and finding out that both of their spouses had passed away, they rekindled their love and were getting hitched for the second (and presumably last) time.

I remember telling the gentleman that this was a shotgun wedding, not even realizing what that phrase meant. I had always thought that a shotgun wedding meant that it was spur of the moment, or quick, like a shotgun blast or something. I wondered why he had given me a funny look and continually glanced at my soon to be wife’s stomach. I regret not having my parents there, but like I said, I was young and dumb and we wanted to get married RIGHT THEN, dammit. Nothing was standing in our way. It made my mother very upset, unfortunately. If I could I’d go back in time to change that. But, it was Lincoln who said, “I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday,” and so I would hope that the wisdom that experience granted me amends my poor decision making. In any event, I have thrown myself off track. A couple of months later, when planning our reception, I had had a similar “DUH” moment when my mother had asked what we wanted to eat at the wedding. I responded hors devours, only pronounced it “whores dee vores” (I can still remember everyone laughing like mad at that one, somebody replying that that sounded like one Hell of a wedding).

We’ve grown up a lot over the past few years. I started going back to school, we’ve purchased our first home, we’ve brought two wonderful children into this world…I’d say it’s been a success. And she’s put up with my politics, of course, the core reason this post has made it onto this page. It’s important to me that my wife be supportive and involved with every decision I make, because it effects her as much if not more, and I’m sure every person reading this that is involved with politics can attest to this sentiment. If it wasn’t for her, I’d never get to work on time, let alone fulfill my commitments with politics. For me, on our anniversary, I would just like to say thank you to my wife and let her know that she is important to me in this regard, as well as all others. Political pundits, politicians, Hell, anyone, with a wife should take a moment and thank them for the help that they receive and the support structure that a loving, honest, understanding wife provides.

I was finishing William F. Buckley Jr.’s “The Reagan I Knew” the other day, and an old National Review article that he reprinted at the end of the book made me think of the relationship I have with my wife. In the article, he talks about the love and adoration that Ron and Nancy have for one another:

What was the president’s happiest time during his political years? Well, the question reminded him of something Clark Gable once said, which is that the happiest sound in the world is that of the footsteps of the one you love approaching the other side of the door. “That’s the way I feel about Nancy.”

No farewell to the Reagans could more appropriately close than by quoting the final paragraphs of Whittaker Chamber’s “Witness”. “One of the tenderest of Greek fables tells how the gods decided to go down to the earth as beggars to try the charity of men. The god Hermes, clad in rags, knocked at many prosperous doors and was driven from each. Toward evening, he came to the meanest door of all, a mere hut, where two old people, Philemon and Baucis, his wife, tended a few vines and milked their goats. Hermes knocked there. Because his need touched them, the old people took him in. They shared their meal with him, and at night, let him sleep on the floor before their fire, trusting to their poverty and their age to prevent any harm that the beggar might intend.

“In the morning, Hermes asked each of the old people to name his most secret wish, supposing that it would be for longer life, gold, or great flocks. The dearest wish of each turned out to be the same-that both might die, as they lived, together, that neither might die first, for neither could endure to face what remained of a life that would be unendurable without the other.

The god, now gleaming through his rags, raised his staff-the caduceus with the twined snakes, interlacing good and evil. Where Philemon and Baucis had stood, two trees rustled up whose branches met and touched when the wind blew.”

I remember a time, a younger time, when Sandee and I would characterize ours as a “Sid and Nancy” type of love; a couple who lived fast and hard and expected to burn out before their lifestyle caught up with them. Now a days? I’ll trade Sid and Nancy for Ron and Nancy any day. Thank you for all of the help that you have been, and continue to be, both with my political doings as well as the raising of my children and everything in between.

Happy anniversary honey bunny. I love you.

Some Thoughts About The Proposed “Ronald Reagan Road”

Ok, since I couldn’t find any good sized pictures of Vale Park Road (mostly just house listings), I figured this will do just fine. Plus, this apartment complex gets some free advertising. Go them.

This whole issue revolves around a want to rename Vale Park Road, making it Ronald Reagan Road, in celebration of Reagan’s 100th birthday. This sort of thing, first of all, is not uncommon. We have several schools named after Presidents even. Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Washington…in addition to roads named after Eisenhower, Roosevelt, Jefferson, etc., etc., etc. It isn’t just that I’m a staunch Republican that I support this idea. In forty years, if I’m in any sort of significant office where I have any sort of say, I’ll gladly vote “ya” in favor of a Clinton Street, in sixty years or so I’ll gladly vote “ya” for an Obama Boulevard; this isn’t about politics. This about honoring a past President.

I had first decided to write about this issue a couple of days ago, when the Post-Tribune ran an article claiming a poll that 60% of people in Valpo opposed the renaming. I was actually a bit surprised…until I read the last paragraph of the article.

“JEM Research (the group that conducted the poll) conducts polls on behalf of the Democratic Party, but DeWitt said her company was not paid by anyone for this poll”

Oh really! A group that polls for Democrats, when polling for a name change for a road being named after a past Republican President, came up with a number like 60% opposition. If anyone out there could see my face right now, I’m sure the surprised and shocked look that rests upon it would cause you to worry. I’m certainly not claiming that the group fudged the numbers, or even made sure they called more D’s than R’s…all I’m saying is, I’m so baffled I can hardly contain myself. Really. Seriously.

Besides that point, there are many different angles to this. A group that is apparently headed by Michael Essany has come out as extremely opposed to this name change. Now, I like Essany (I’m dropping the sarcasm by this point, I felt I needed to say that since the format of the written word can make it troublesome for the reader to tell sarcasm sometimes). And I think he makes a couple of good, key points. For example, I had no idea the historical relevance of Vale Park Road (being a Hebron-ite, I don’t have memorized all of Valparaiso’s history, my apologies, readers). He makes the point that perhaps another area would be better, one that doesn’t have a road with such heritage. I agree. Perhaps another road would be better, and as a matter of fact, so does Chuck Williams, the Porter County Republican Chairman that proposed the idea.

“We’re going to have to sit down and talk about it and go through the process,” he said. “We have to take into consideration any of the businesses or homeowners who would be affected. That’s my main concern. There are a lot of things we can look at, but I think we have to do something in celebration.

“We put something out, and sometimes, when you throw out an idea, better ideas come up.”

That is where I agree with Essany, the areas I disagree?

First, I think he is tackling this thing awfully aggressively. I haven’t a doubt in my mind that Essany is being earnest when he gives his points of view, but for something like this? I think that such an aggressive campaign against something so simple as a road name change is unneeded, personally. I would have first appealed to Williams personally, or even written an op-ed suggesting a separate location. If nothing happens after that, then perhaps start filing petitions and contacting newspapers. Below is Essany’s quote from the Post-Trib:

“We’re not anti-Reagan,” Essany said. “We would not want to see it renamed to honor Franklin Roosevelt or John Kennedy or anything else. Let’s do it in a place that doesn’t detract from the streets that honor the city. I think it has politics written all over it. The sentiment is nice, but in a year with municipal elections coming it helps the all-Republican officials.”

The spot where I disagree (or rather, think he gets a little off base) is the closing sentence about it helping the all-Republican officials. I don’t think that is the intended idea, and I don’t think it would help all that much, if at all. Reagan was a pretty popular President for members of both parties. As a mill worker who bugs his fellow union members with political thought and commentary on a daily basis, I can honestly say that Reagan was a President that most union Democrats either A)ended up really liking or B)they voted for. With a President like Reagan, in my experience talking to people, politics is rarely actually brought up. “Republican” is not the first word that pops into their heads.

The arguments that some have made about the cost is greatly exaggerated, and doesn’t give much faith to our post office workers. I have two addresses, so I live so close to the post office. I have a PO Box, and a physical address. Some of my mail has the PO Box, some has the physical. Amazingly enough, the employees have the good sense to not just throw away my physical addressed mail! Could it me, that once the employees are informed that “Vale Park Road” and “Reagan Road” are the same thing, they could handle this with relative ease? I think so. The cost of road signs being changed would be paid by donations, so this is a relatively moot point.

As a summary:

1) Essany and his group shouldn’t jump to the “petition filing” mode just yet. Williams seems more than willing to change the location. Offer advice, let him know your grievances, and work with him to help find a suitable road that would not interfere in Valparaiso’s history.

2) The idea itself is a good one, and politics should not play a role in honoring those that have served as Commander in Chief.

3) Everyone should take a chill pill (sorry, an old saying I’ve adopted from my father. Dated, yes. True, absolutely.) It’s not as though Williams wants to force all Valpo residents to vote straight ticket R’s. There are many arguments and battles that will and should get heated; this is not one of them.

Lieberman To Retire in 2012

While Senator Lieberman has never been my favorite Senator (far from it, actually), I’ve always respected him. Yes, he caucuses with the Democrats, and votes wrong on 90% of the legislation. Yes, he was a Democrat originally and, arguably, only switched to Independent when he lost his bid in the primary. And yes, he was Al Gore’s running mate in the 2000 elections.

Those are a lot of negatives for any conservative Republican to have to look past, but as I’ve written in past posts before: it’s all about the area, baby. Connecticut is, like Massachusetts and other New England states, a much more liberal area. Naturally, the more liberal leaning (particularly on social issues) politicians will come out ahead 9 times out of 10. This immediately means a politician from that area is not going to be as socially conservative, as, say, Mike Huckabee.

Besides realizing why he voted on some of the bills that he has, one has to realize what he, coupled with John McCain, try to stand for. He and McCain are good buddies, and work across the aisle any chance that they get. Granted, I don’t think that reaching across the aisle simply to put forth the act works out well if you are selling out your principles at the same time, but, on certain occasions and in different situations I applaud the effort and the civility that this fosters. Heck, he even supported the Republican ticket and said this about our President to be:

“In the Senate, during the 3 1/2 years that Sen. Obama has been a member, he has not reached across party lines to . accomplish anything significant, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party to get something done.”

Those are some tough words against the person that would end up becoming our next President, however, Lieberman was right. There have been scant areas where Obama has really reached across the center, and most of those have been fairly recently.

While Lieberman will probably not be remembered as the most influential member of the Senate, he will be remembered for his determination to reach across the aisle…even if it was a fools errand. Besides that, it is important for conservatives to remember: once this moderate is out, it probably won’t be filled by another. It’s Connecticut, after all. Sen Lieberman was lucky to win that seat as an Independent to begin with, and with his sloping poll ratings, it’s apparent that the residents in Connecticut don’t want a moderate Independent anymore. Perhaps a moderate Republican will take a good run at the seat, and perhaps follow Scott Brown’s lead. But, that is pretty unlikely, given the number of liberal Democrats that that state has elected.

So, remember, fellow Republicans: All of those that have wished for Lieberman to go away…be careful what you wish for.

An Open Letter: Jared Loughner, May Ye Rot in Hell

Dear Jared Lougner,

I’m not certain that you are able to check the internet in jail (although with all the rights that criminals get now-a-days it certainly wouldn’t surprise me) but I just thought that I would write you a little letter regarding your recent idiotic acts which resulted in the death and injury of several people, including a moderate Democratic Congresswoman.

To begin, I’d like to say that it is people like you that give those of us with legitimate concerns regarding the size and scope of government a bad name. I don’t buy the whole “Rush and Palin are the culprits! They incited violence!” cop out. I think people are going to do what they are going to do. Inflammatory language and rhetoric are so prevalent and ingrained in our society that it’s become common. Whether it’s animal rights activists protesting outside of Eagles games, pro-life activists protesting outside of Planned Parenthood, Code Pink and other anti-war activists protesting outside of Army recruiting centers, or TEA Party rallies popping up in front of Congressmen and women offices, there isn’t one ideological group that hasn’t cursed at or made threatening gestures towards those that they disapprove of. To define you as “typical right wing” like I’ve read some idiots say, is wrong. I think it negates your personal responsibility to keep your self under check, even if your temper does flare or you do feel the urge to do something stupid, like pull a gun on a group of innocent people and start pulling the trigger (by the way, stupid, because of what you did Arizona Democrats are already talking about stricter gun laws, using your stupidity to push bunk liberal legislation. Happy? Idiot.). Because personal responsibility is the backbone of the Republican party, and those of us that are ADULTS learn and know how to socialize our differences with people with out screaming at them or shooting them. I understand you were a big fan of Alex Jones though, so no huge surprise there. Alex Jones has been claiming himself to be on the right (and, I suppose in some deranged backwards way his thinking can be characterized as being on the right) for years, and so he falls into that same category that you do, Jared, at least according to those that described your character.

Neurotic. Paranoid. Anti-social. Dangerous. Serial killer-like.

These do not describe the people that I have met through politics, or that I consider to be “on the right”. What you are, Jared, is best described as a child. From what I have read about you, you were kicked out of school, told to see a shrink (which you apparently decided not to do), couldn’t get into the Army for reasons they would not disclose (maybe because you’re bat sh*t crazy) and believed that the government was one great conspiracy. Sounds a lot like you were probably a “truther”, but even then that’s not an excuse, because you didn’t go after anybody that would have been even remotely connected to the “great pumpkin”, I mean “the Easter Bunny capers”…wait, wait… I’m mixing up my fairy tales here…

Regardless, the point is Jared, you’ll get what’s coming to you. I hope you suffer while in prison, and then suffer even longer in the after life. You can say this is a letter to incite violence, I don’t care. I’ve always said that I wish horrible pain and suffering upon those that rape, molest, and kill innocent people, especially children. You killed a nine year old girl you worthless rat. If that was my family you would have to be praying that you died in prison before I ever had a chance to get my hands on you. Because you would suffer.

But I’m sure your suffering quite a bit right now. And you thought the government was a pain in your behind? You haven’t seen anything yet.

Yours truly, may you rot in Hell,

Travis Gearhart

Some Thoughts About Begging For Money…

Just last week, my buddy Greg called me while we I was on my way home from work.

“Hey, I got a question Travis.”

“What’s that?”

“How long have the Gary Firefighters been laid off?”

“Uhh…I don’t know. A few days, a week tops, why?”

The reason, he described to me, was that there was a person in the middle of Portage, in full Firefighter garb, holding out a boot asking for money. The fellow, according to the account, had a sign that read, “Out of work Gary Firefighter, will take anything.”

Before I go any farther, a brief note about the Gary Firefighter lay off debacle. It’s bull crap. The city of Gary is so bass ackword it’s unbelievable. The government prefers to lay off Firemen and Policemen, people that the city CAN NOT afford to not have, in lieu of making tough decisions regarding combating gang violence or finding ways to entice business back into the area so that the city of Gary could become a less hostile place and, in turn, bring in families (preferably working ones) to expand the tax pool to increase revenue. The roads are horrid in Gary. The crime is rampant. And yet cops and firemen are the first to take a hit. Never mind that Mayor Rudy Clay gets to drive around a hummer, is trying to bring about a worthless Michael Jackson museum, or stands behind Lake County Democrat crooks like Anne Seaton.

However, that was but a side bar. The main point of this piece is about a Firefighter, a Gary one, sitting in the middle of Portage begging for money.

My first question is: why isn’t he begging for money in Gary? Isn’t Gary his town that he works in? Perhaps he lives in Portage. I don’t know. But I did find it slightly humorous that the Firefighter’s won’t even beg for money in Gary. Maybe because he knows he’ll get mugged after that boot gets filled up.

My second question is: WHY, on God’s green Earth, is he ALREADY begging?

I mean, I don’t understand the concept at all myself. I have far too much pride to beg for money. Sure, I suppose if it absolutely came down to no other option, I would beg to feed my family, but I would do everything in my power to avoid it. Hence, my question of why so soon with the boot and sign. He’s been laid off less than a week, and his very first thought is to just ask for money from strangers. Really?! You’re not going to try and get another job? You aren’t going to try selling some things? Maybe he has a motorcycle that he could sell to make rent for a couple months, or a boat, or a bunch of CD’s, or ANYTHING?! Is this really the mindset that is becoming all too popular? The thought of, “Well, I’m laid off, looks like it’s time to hit the streets. Not for a job, but rather to beg. Yeah, that’ll work,” is not one that I understand. At all.

Before you start to chastise me for being heartless, please, take a second and THINK about it. What would you do? Would it really take YOU less than a week to be bumming for change? I don’t think so, just like I don’t think this fellow is down to his last resources yet. Hell, he might not even be a fireman! I’m not saying that you shouldn’t stop and give him money, either. I routinely give what I can to what charities I can (not thousand dollar donations or anything, but a few bucks for the troops here, some change in the Salvation Army’s bucket there…), and I think private charities are GREAT ways to show the government that people can, and do, privately take care of the poor and down trodden with out the interference of some bureaucrat. I’ve also given food to those homeless people asking for it. I’ll stop off at McDonald’s and get a guy a couple cheeseburgers, sure. It’s easy to tell if a guy or girl is actually hungry. It’s easy to see the shame in a person’s eyes, the worry on their face, when they are truly down to their last option. And that is incredibly sad. That’s why it is so important, when a situation like this arises, that one questions whether or not he is truly in need. I know some will say “Well, it’s none of your business!”, but if I’m giving somebody some of my hard earned money, then it very much IS my business. Besides that, it’s important to find out if you are actually helping somebody out, or getting scammed.

So, with regards to the fellow standing in Portage? I’m sorry, my friend. I’m sorry that the city of Gary screwed you over. But you won’t get my money, not yet. Maybe I would have thought differently if your sign read, “Will put out house fires for food.”