After making Lake County look like a place only nitwits would want to live, on national television (thankfully late at night) during last weeks primary election.   County government is working hard at looking really stupid,,,,, again.   After collecting too much money on many property taxes,   the county sent out rebate checks.   However some property owners were not overcharged.    But they were sent checks anyway!!!    The amount on the checks,,,,,,,,,,,,,zero!!!!!!!  

Yes, the county sent out checks worth NOTHING!!!!!  

Image how much money that they wasted printing, sending out etc on a check not worth one red cent!!!  

Meanwhile in the Peoples Republic of California,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,courts overrule the voters yet again!!!

Boy, if Obama is president, stupid things like this will be even more of the norm!      (And people actually think that the government should "run" healthcare.)    Where are their brains??? 

SMALL GOVERNMENT IS NEEDED MORE THAN EVER!!!!!

sorry for the rant!   its over for now. 

A Little of this and a little of that for today.......

Lake County Indiana was caught with its pants down on Tuesday,  when it held up the primary vote count until early Wednesday morning.  Read about it here. The national cable news networks were wondering whether  there was  "hanky-panky"  going on due to the close race between Obama and Clinton.   The mayors of Gary (Obama supporter) and Hammond (Clinton supporter) blasted each other on CNN and neither took the blame for it.    Of course if you live here as I do,  you know the vote is always late here in Lake County (thank you Gary Democrats).  We as stuck with Cook County's leftover Democrats,  who don't want to get in line with Indiana's mostly well run Republican government.    Oh,  by the way,  Clinton won Indiana, but Obama won Lake County somehow (Hummmmm).  

In November Indiana will be forgotten by the national news organizations since McCain will easily win Indiana. 

On to other things........

Blue Island, Illinois dodged a bullet as the owners of St. Francis Hospital found a willing buyer.   St. Francis will become a for-profit hospital and will be renamed as it will no longer be a catholic hospital.   Read about it here.   Hopefully this doesn't just kick the can down the road money-wise as the profitability of this hospital is a major problem.   Becoming for-profit opens the door to more taxes such as property taxes that will now have to be paid.   This  company has a tough road in front of it,  as it will be stuck with Illinois over-regulations on healthcare, and it will have to do other unpopular things like laying off people to return this hospital to profitable status.    Oh,  the new name,,,,   MetroSouth Medical Center.    Don't you hate the names they come up with for medical things these days? 

And lastly...........

Wal-Mart has given up on opening stores inside the city of Chicago, for now.  Read about it here.  It will focus on opening stores just outside city limits.    The Chicago Tribune forgot to include the planned store that will face Chicago on State-Line Av. on  the Hammond, Indiana side of the border.   This Wal-mart will have the lowest sales tax as it is outside Cook County as well as Chicago.  

Once again the interests of a few (Daley, labor unions, other elites) will make large amounts of people shop outside the city limits.  Many of the neighborhoods that Wal-Mart was willing to move to,  have little or no shopping choices.   The stores are wanted by the community and are supported by the local alderman.   But No,  from those who neighborhoods have plenty of shopping we hate Wal-Mart and all it stands for.  The suburbs will get the sales tax dollars that the city wants but is not willing to earn.    Once again the unions screw the working-class that like to shop at Wal-Mart.  

The irony of it all is that Target is in the city in a few locations on the north side.    All the fury is directed only at Wal-Mart.   Is it in addition to its anti-union status that the owners of Wal-Mart are conservative and Target is owned by liberals?    The hypocrisy is quite thick.    Oh, by the way Chicago sales tax is a mind numbing 10.25%!    Insane!

Have a good one!!!

Since many are comparing this election to those of the late 1960's and early 1970's, lets give it a look.   A disclaimer,  I wasn't born until late 1973 so I have no personal experience with the 60's and 70's.   The 60's have always seemed weird to me,  a decade that many recall fondly,  but that may be because of the drugs that they were taking.   The 70's seem strange too,  with the worst of U.S. socialism falling apart then.   

Many in the "mainstream" media recall the McGovern campaign in 1972 as historic.   But it really wasn't.   I think that the history books will look more favorably on the Goldwater campaign of 1964, much more in the future.   Why would I say that.   Most historians of today would not agree with me, Goldwater is often kind of forgotten about at times it seems.  It may be that we are still too close to those events,  since some may have worked McGovern's campaign.  It may be strange to talk about two campaigns that failed to elect the person but has become part of the weirdness of that era. 

Most forget how badly the campaign of McGovern was run.   Nixon  creamed  him in  1972 in spite of the media hating him as much as  they hate Bush-Cheney  today.    Also add to that mix that the common voter understood that McGovern was so far to the left to be electable.  It seems that people knew that more then the voters of today understand how liberal Obama and Clinton are today.     Amazing when you consider no alternative media that we have today.  So nearly nobody actually voted for McGovern.   Goldwater only had word of mouth of the grassroots and National Review on his side.   The common "view" in the media was far from conservative in those days (not that anything has changed on that front).    But things were worse then.

Goldwater was the beginning of a huge movement,   the conservative revolution.   McGovern's supporters were hoping for a revolution but that didn't happen (at least in the way they wanted).   Goldwater brought us the Reagan years in the 1980's,  and new hope and growth for the U.S. since then.   McGovern brought us Jimmy Carter and Al Gore and other assorted losers.    Democrats haven't learned much from McGovern,  and continue  to try to elect far left types that America doesn't want.        

But at least we know more then the "mainstream" media would like us to,  and we don't get all excited about the candidate that they hoped would be president in 1972.     Because McGovern was just another in a string of left leaning politicians that America didn't want.

John McCain has an important decision coming up soon.   His choice for Vice-President.   I think that his choice could make or break his campaign.    The right choice will help him paint the Democrats as the far-left loonies that they are.   The wrong choice makes both parties look mostly the same (always bad for Republicans).

That person needs to bring a lot of energy to the campaign.    The Democrats have all the energy right now.    That will be hard to beat since much of the energy comes from the "mainstream" media  championing  the  Democrat side.   McCain will get very little positive press after the Democrat's come up with a candidate.   (McCain will have to get over that quickly, that the media will not be in his corner like they have in the past,  due to their belief that a Democrat has to have the White House.)

Even though someone like Cheney has been one of the best VP's there has been in recent time, he cannot chose someone like him.   Someone truly hated by the press isn't going to help him.     Granted we can't let the press pick the vp (kind of how we ended up with McCain).    How to get around this one is going to be tough since most choices will not be popular with the press. 

That why he needs to chose someone that will energize the conservatives,  so the press can be ignored more.  If they stay home the Democrats win.   That someone needs to get the message out that history doesn't have be made by electing Obama or Clinton.   History can be made by making the U.S.  more free by not electing liberals  that will take away more of our freedoms.    If we want "change" lets make some good ones,  not the stupid fake "change" the liberal Democrats want.

The vote is still out in Gary Indiana.   What is going on in Gary?  All major cable news networks are zeroed in on us in Lake County.  It's very close.   Is the delay a play for Obama?  Stay tuned.........

Update: Obama wins Lake County, but Clinton still wins Indiana.    Still I saw far more Clinton signs then Obama ones.   Hopefully they will continue  to  rip  into  each other instead of McCain.   It was fun watching the mayor of Hammond (Clinton supporter) and the mayor of Gary (Obama supporter) tear into each other. 

I meant to write about this last week, but didn't get to it.   The Supreme Court upheld Indiana's Voter ID law.  Read more about it here.  It is designed to prevent voter fraud.   Mostly due to a recent East Chicago city election that was overturned due to massive fraud.   Indiana Democrats are of course against it (since they do the fraud).   Unlike places like Chicago,  it requires a ID like a driver's license to vote,  so it  is easy to  do.    It isn't strict  like many  "news organizations" are making it look.

Even if you  "forget"  your  ID you can still  vote  with a  provisional  ballot  which gives you TEN more days to produce an ID.   Not to hard.    But  too hard for most  Democrats  who  worry  people will not be able to vote.    Of  course  many of those "voters " probably shouldn't be voting because they aren't  supposed to vote to begin with.    And that  is the reason for this law.   Since many who aren't  even  citizens or  people who are voting for dead people, or tampering with the ballot box should be prevented.

The Supreme Court did the right thing for once.   Even  a  liberal (Stephens)  was on  the right  side for  once.

I first wrote about Magnequench Magnets, formally located in Valparaiso, Indiana on April 21,2008, here on this blog.    Hillary Clinton was using, in a speech here in Northwest Indiana and also one of her campaign tv ads (at least in the Chicago area) the closing of this company to blast President Bush.   I was wondering (I still am) why she would use this, since Magnequench closing happened during her husbands presidency not George Bush's.   I guess her campaign workers went to a bad public school and didn't learn any math.

Finally the local press here in Northwest Indiana is picking up this story.   The press can be sooooooo  slow when it comes to Democrats scandals (it would be a huge national scandal already had it been a Republican).    Read the story here.   I have heard it is slowly making the rounds since the Obama campaign  and their supporters discovered this mistruth.   So it is finally a story for the press.    Only a month late!

The local press (Northwest Indiana Times) did find out something I hadn't heard about this mess.   George Soros, the nitwit billionaire,  has his fingers in this company as well.   If you don't know who he is,   he gives large amounts of money to Democrats and other loopy lefty liberal groups like Move-on.   His Soros Fund Management was one of the investors when the plant was sold and moved to China.   So now we know why the Clinton Administration  let this  happen.    Figures!

It's ironic to see Democratic candidates stand in front of these closed plants and decry their closing.    Since many of  the Democrat policies (and insiders) are the causes of the closing of these plants!

Northwest Indiana rarely sees presidential  candidates.   But the Democrats have been around a lot this year.   The picture of Hillary drinking the shot of whiskey (with the beer chaser) was shot in a restaurant in Crown Point.    Michele Obama interrupted the school day in Merrillville.   Indiana primary is so much later then most states so most of the time it been decided before we get to vote.   Both Hillary and Barack are planning on other trips here before Indiana's primary.

Hillary is running a new tv ad about  defense jobs being  outsourced to  China.   The company featured in the ad was in Valparaiso.   It is misleading  (all right it is a lie) because she wants you to blame Bush for this.   Never mind that the company relocated in 1999.    I'm not that good at math,  but I think that was long before Bush was around to be blamed for it. 

YES,  she is blaming Bush for something that happened during the CLINTON years!   Does she think people are that stupid?

The company in question is Magnaquench Magnets.   NOBODY is calling her on this downright mistruth.   Not one story anywhere. 

Well, I woke up to a Earthquake this morning.   Which was interesting, because I am in Indiana.     So, how many townhall bloggers were awakened by the earthquake this morning?     I wonder how liberals will blame it on global warming?   

There is a news story at Fox News about newly uncovered corruption at the U.N.   Not a surprise to this blogger.    “Shocking,” and “scandalous,”  said a William Easterly, at the Brooking Institution.   Brooking is pretty far left so it is rare to see someone saying something negative about the U.N. from there.    Almost  $800 million was spent not following the U.N. (probably lax to begin with) rules on spending.    Why the United States continues to support this useless organization,  it needs to go into the  dustbin of history with the League of Nations.

I don't know what it is with this guy,  but Jimmy Carter just keeps going and going.  Carter was president when I started kindergarten.   He was the first  person  I remember being  president (I was maybe a year old when Nixon left office, and I don't remember anything about Ford).    I remember my mom saying that I should wear a sweater and turn off the lights because President Carter had said so.   Never the less I didn't like him very much (although I believe my mom would have gotten some other way to tell me to turn off the lights).  President Reagan sure made a different impression even back then when I was just a first grader.    

Carter had seemed to find new causes for himself after his failed presidency.   He worked with Habitat for Humanity for many years.  He also monitored elections in other countries.   For the most part I think he rehabbed his image for most Americans during the Reagan years.   But lately he sure has ruined that image.

I don't know if it was because of the contact with corrupt foreign nations during "elections" that were not really elections.   Or it could be because of being around caustic people like Michael Moore and other nasty left wing people.  He broke with tradition of not criticizing the sitting President.   He has criticizing Israel  endlessly using really bad facts.   He has even annoyed the staff of his own presidential library so much they quit.   The liberal community has "rewarded" him with the noble prize and favorable coverage. 

Now he wants to meet with Hamas one of the worst terrorist groups there is.  Read about it here.   It most likely borderline illegal.  Private citizens are prohibited to meet with other nations (not that Hamas is really a government) to negotiate  anything for the  U.S.  government.   President Bush sure didn't ask him to do it.  Even the state department (which contains far too many liberals) didn't think it was a good idea.    He just goes and does whatever he feels like doing.    What a fool.    It time for him to retire!

I don't know about you,  but there is a lot of really screwed up ideas that are running around in this country.   Plenty of them are now pretty ingrained in this nation and are going to be hard to rid ourselves of.    However  I am not one of those folks who think we have gone too far and cannot stop things. 

America is pretty amazing.  We have ridden ourselves of slavery,  child labor, bloody and violent leadership changes just to name a few.    We made the middle class,  made homeownership a common thing,  and many have there own businesses.   We are free to practice (or not) a religion of own choosing.   Most of those things were not provided by the government but by the citizens of the U.S. 

But there are all to many who don't think that.   They have made the Democrat political party a minority one in one generation.  Those who think that government is the solution for problems.   When if fact it is government policies that often are the problems.   They want government in business, church and your home.  

It costs big bucks to get their utopia and they are broke.    So the taxpayer must foot the bill.   Even though most taxpayers oppose the ideas and the spending.    They hate free enterprise, private property, religion and a life not relied on government.   So they call you names,  like racist,  selfish, greedy, or not for the "greater good" or demean your beliefs as backwards,  or just plain stupid when you oppose them.  

We have to educate that we don't need things like socialism (or communism).   The government isn't designed to provide things like healthcare and retirement.   We need to make thing like starting a business a noble thing,  providing for your own family the norm,  providing help to people that will help them instead of making them dependent forever.   We need to really believe in the right to life no matter the age.   These are doable.

All these things are more possible the less the government does (and spends).   The federal government is spending away our future on some really dumb things.   Things the government had no business doing to begin with.   The idea of government doing things has got to end.   Thats the biggest thing in the way of real change. 

I wonder what Obama actually likes about the majority of America.  It sure doesn't seem to be much.   We know his wife doesn't like anything about it,  even though she has done very well.  It is a rare moment that we get a statement out in the open like this,  that we get the truth.   He thinks most rural types as dumb,  backwards and in need of a lot of government.  

It true a lot of small (and not so small) towns and cities have gone though tough times.  Unfortunately for politicians like Obama the economics have been worsened by "government types" screwing around.    Instead of  making it easier for new business to come, regulations and high taxes make for a really bad business climate.   They know nothing about how a business works,  especially small business.    They look to huge businesses to come to town,  however those are few and far between.   Small business is the future for most small towns,  but those places have the fewest of them.  

It seems that many of these "rural types" understand  a whole lot better, what the country is really about.   If they are bitter, its because lazy and stupid politicians don't!    They see the real reasons why some places continue to have economic problems.    Gary,  Indiana is one of those places that are never-do-well.    The political class corrupts the whole city,  making any legal economic activities very difficult.   The high property taxes,  high crime rate, lousy schools make for a place no one wants to be in.   Even the great real estate location is ruined by the city and county government. 

If Obama was really interested in helping  struggling areas,  why  doesn't he start at home?   He lives on the south side of Chicago, an area that has had some tough times over the years.   What has he done to improve it?   It hasn't gotten better since he became a politician.   So what makes him better then some of the other south side politicians?  What makes him better then Gus Savage,  Mel Reynolds,  Jesse Jackson Sr. and Jr, Richard Daley M. and J. or any other south side Democrat?   The south side has produced some of the worst politicians in the whole country.  

They have no idea on how to get the economics of slow struggling areas going.   They just represent the same tired,  old unworkable "solutions" that don't work and never will.    Socialism doesn't work.  It really sucks in areas where the economics are bad, in wealthier areas it easier to mask the results of socialism.  

Most Americans don't believe the lefty ideas are very good for Europe let alone the United States.    They talk about guns because they worry that they won't be allowed to hunt (and fish) or have antique gun collections.  They don't like it that  city politicians "know better" and don't like their outdoor activities.   Guns don't cause major problems in the country so it seems silly to even think they need to discuss it since we have the second amendment that is clear to what it says.    

Politicians like Obama wonder why most people go to and like going to church.  He doesn't seem to like church much, since he didn't know what his pastor was "preaching" about.   Most Americans see their constitutional rights of free religion being slowly eroded.    They  know that there is no separation of church and state in the constitution, when most politicians think that it is. (If anything religion need protection from government.)  There are other areas too,  but Obama didn't zero in on those not so "hot" subjects.   It just shows how little he knows about average Americans.   He is no longer an average American,  he has joined the snotty elitism  crowd.  

It scary to think that a "know it all" could be president of the United States.   Of course a third term Clinton administration wouldn't be fun either.  How does he think that he can work with people who disagree with him. He cannot even come to terms with  different  ideas,  he don't even think they are valid. 

Obama didn't want people to pre-judge him but he doesn't return the favor.   I think the White House will remain Republican for the foreseeable future since the Democrats don't seem to be able to produce an electable candidate.    Al Gore, John Kerry, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Barry Obama,  what a joke, its scary the elections were as close as they were.  Thank you "mainstream" media for bring us these frauds, instead of leaving them under the rocks where they belong.

Barry "Barack" Obama  made a campaign stop in Gary, Indiana yesterday.    This is one weird primary election isn't it?    Fine by me,   the more the Democrats fight over the stupid things, the more likely we will hear the words President McCain next year.    Now I am not the biggest backer of John McCain but these two jokers on the Dem side would truly make lousy presidents, so McCain is looking better to me almost every day.   Most polls are putting McCain in the lead over both Clinton and Obama.   A great choice to be his VP will put him over the top.   Hope he makes the right choice. 

Now if that wasn't weird (that a Democrat would bother campaigning in Indiana) enough,  a bank was robbed nearby at the same time as Obama's rally.  I guess the cops were at the rally and the robbers figured it would be easier.   Only in Northern Lake County.    I wish these folks would get a clue and stop voting for these nitwit Democrats.   Its the biggest thing holding North Lake back in the stone ages, the state government knows it will not get any solutions from these politicians.    If  they let these people  grow they could vote Republican like the  rest of the state.

At least Obama had the sense to not get a huge place for his rally.  Clinton supporters were red-faced when she couldn't fill the Hammond Civic Center a few weeks ago.   He got Roosevelt High gym (I "love" how they don't mind disrupting a school day for the kids)  which took about 2,500 people or so.    His warmed over  speech, only  promised the same tired, worn out ideas that haven't worked for Gary for almost 4 decades now.   But most there didn't seem to know that for some reason.

All this for some delegates.   Neither Obama or Clinton have any chance of winning Indiana in November.   No one from the "media" noted that this time either................. 

There has been a call by Hillary Clinton to President Bush to skip the opening of the 2008 Olympic Games.   Read about it here.   Why, because of the unrest in Tibet.  

But wait a minute!  If China was that bad of a choice for hosting,  then why didn't the Clinton Administration oppose it selection?  The  China  location was selected during their years not Bush's.    They did  NOTHING  to oppose it then,  in fact they were in bed with the Chinese!  

This is a political ploy by the Clintons to paint George Bush yet again.   The Olympics are supposed to be politics-free (like anything  is politics free).    Tibet was in just as much unrest then as it is now.    Its just because the media noticed for once.   Which is surprising since Tibet is a pet cause for many liberals (as a cause its not bad).   But like most liberal causes it all talk,  no real ideas on any how to actually help Tibet. 

Hillary thinks she can score some cheap shots at President Bush,  when she and Bill didn't do anything to help the situation.    I think that hosting Olympic Games should be for free nations only (they can send their team but never host),  not communist or lead by dictators .   Even Nazi Germany hosted the last games in 1938  before they started WWII.    If this was a problem for Hillary  with China why did she wait?    Its because she really doesn't actually care about Tibet!  Free cheap shot,  next one please!!!! 

Yes,  countries like China shouldn't be hosting the games.   But at this point its too late.   They are hosting it this time.   But nobody is proposing changing the crummy way that the hosts are chosen.   Bush should go to support our team.