First Shots are Harsh

The first shots of what will surely be a very harsh and I think eventually violent campaign have been made. Moveon.org's has as a finalist a political ad contest which allegedly compares Bush to Hitler. A group called Club for Growth Political Action Committee has an ad sterotyping Dean:

In the ad, a farmer says he thinks that "Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading ..." before the farmer's wife then finishes the sentence: "... Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs."

This add is supposed to be running in Iowa soon.

It is 11 months before the election and we have this already. Come October how will we not have thugs in the streets battling to disrupt each other's rallies?

Blood, Blood, Blood Makes the Primary Fun!

Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich is endorsing Pat DeWine in what the Enquirer is calling his "maverick campaign to unseat fellow Republican John Dowlin."

This should be fun! It is always fun to watch an intra-party fight for office, but it is even more interesting when an incumbent faces a challenge for the party endorsement. I can't find any firm ideological split in the local GOP here. So far it is more of a battle of either the old guard vs. the new guard, or just personal friends sticking together.

What it might be is City Republicans vs. suburbanites if one takes this at face value:

"He has been a steadfast supporter on township and suburban issues," said state Rep. Bill Seitz of Green Township. "Now is no time to leave our county at the mercy of a city-centric commission."

I guess Seitz should just come out and say it what he really wants to say: "fuck the city."

Geographic political slits have historically been true on a macro level, but is this a sign of micro-geographic political battle? The City folk vs. Country folk? Westsider vs. Eastsider? Old Money vs. New Money?

This primary should prove fun.

Tracking Visitors

Michael at Rantophilia comments on the new program to fingerprint and photograph all foreign visitors not from specific strong allied countries (mostly European countries).

I myself am no overly upset of this method. We have laws on the books now limiting how long non-citizens can stay in our country. Tracking people in this manner will make it easier to find those who have violated the terms of their visa. The problems hear are appearances. One is that this looks really bad. It looks like something the Soviets would do to Westerners. I don’t like it when we look like authoritarians. The second is that the claims or more likely the implication that this will somehow help keep out terrorists are just vast over exaggerations. This will not keep people out who want to do harm. It might keep out the lone nut bent on doing something small, but if an established terrorist group wants to get people into the country, they can still do it without worrying about this new system.

The question then becomes, is this program so important? Well, I don't really think it is, but there is not a legal reason not to enforce the laws on the books in this manner.

I also have read about many countries pissed about this, namely Brazil. On this front I don't really see their gripe. Americans are not treated like saints anywhere in the world, so fingerprints or pictures of us will not matter, and it will not hurt them either.

I do however wonder what we will do with the fingerprints and photos. Will we share them with other countries? Will we keep them for ourselves? This is what scares me more: we don't care. Will we care if (or when) the Homeland Security Department does this for any domestic air travel?

More from the Enquirer.

Queen City Soapbox: Ethan Hahn Back and Blogging in Force

Please check out Ethan over at Queen City Soapbox. Ethan has been away from regular blogging, but has restarted his efforts. I bid him a welcome back!

Ethan has posts on: the Red's Faithful blog, Pete Rose, Freedom, and the cold.

Yes it is damn cold today. One must love hitting 67 one day (Saturday) and then three days latter is drops to 10.

C&C Bill Showdown

The conceal & carry bill is in limbo. It has passed both houses, but not yet gone to the Governor. Taft is threatening a veto:

Taft has threatened to veto the bill over public access to records of who has applied for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. He thinks the public should have the right to find out who is carrying concealed guns. But the House has refused to go that far, instead allowing only journalists to request permitting records by asking for individual names.

I again have to wonder why the gun owner has more rights than I do. Why can a gun owner carry around a gun in public, but I can't find out about? Why can a gun owner "protect" themself from me (quell their irrational fears to put it another way), but I can't protect myself from them? Why can't I know who has the right to carry around an machine made to kill? Why can't I know who fears me, or people like me, and then keep away from people who think I might try and commit a crime against them. I would prefer keeping away from people that I might judge as being a few cards short of full house who also are carrying around a gun, maybe in my home.

Why deny property owners the right to screen gun carriers from their property? If I am having a children's party, do I not have the right to keep parents of kids who carry a gun off my property?

Why do gun owners deserve "special rights?"

Rose Bet on Baseball

Well, this is not new information to everyone else, just Pete. I am glad he finally fessed up to what was fact to those not deluded by his bowl hair cut. I hope Pete can get into the Hall of Fame, but I hope he does not manage a team. I could stand him as a low tier coach, but not in charge of the team.

I mostly hope that once Pete gets into the Hall of Fame, his rabid fans (read Wildman Walker) will finally shut the hell up about Pete. Pete is not someone who will do much for baseball. He might fill some seats locally for a season, but the shine will wear off fast. I wonder how long he could stay out of trouble if he was highly involved with the Reds. That would be entertainment. That would not be good for the Reds though.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that this whole affair is one of the best uses of PR to sell a book in a long time. Who ever is Pete's PR person, give them a raise.

New KY Blog: Can You Hear Me Now?

I ran across another local blog Can You Hear Me Now?. The blogger lives in Kenton County and is a young 63 years old.