Its become pretty common for American political wagging tongues to look to California for indicators of America's future, after all its state economy is the sixth largest in the world. Its almost a country within a country in terms of size, diversity, needs, and geography. Normally I don't buy these things, but in this case its pretty true. I've been trying for a couple of days to encapsulate my feelings on what happened in California because my aunt and uncle were in town, good Republicans from Sacramento. They were explaining to me what has happened in California. What has happened, it seems, is that no state got fatter off the double-whammy of the housing and tech/internet booms, and instead of spending it on onetime programs on infrastructure or putting it away or giving it back, Gov. Gray Davis used it to fund new programs, bloating the state government and putting a heavier burden on the tax payer . . . which seemed fine when the money was rolling in. Add to that the literal millions of dollars gobbled up by illegal immigrants in state aid and services. So when the bubble burst, in California's case twice, there were millions of dollars of state spending needed in the budget every year . . . but no money left to cover the extensive social programs mandated. So instead, the legislature plays a shell game moving the same money here and then there all at the same time. Add to this mess the fact that California is a referendum state, the chaos continues. And THEN, you have courts in California that routinely overturn voter referendums.
So why go over this? Because this is America's future, spending money we don't have based on projections and the need to take care of everyone who has the slightest problem. The need to make government responsible for everyone and everything, the need for central control. George Will penned an incredible article that puts this best. So Go West, Americans, look at what will happen if America is subjected to any more of this non-stop Obama/Democratic control of America.
Another thing to consider for Republicans . . . the GOP in California has fallen apart because it has fallen from its principles. Just look at Arnold . . . he's no better now than Gray Davis. We need to fight back on our principles, not theirs.
I updated my links on the blog here to reflect some of the 2010 national candidates that I've gotten to learn about, and the ones I have selected are a good group of young and diverse candidates running as conservatives from all over the country. For me, its a good snapshot that the Republican Party can be intellectually honest while finding candidates of all stripes. Take a look and maybe mention of I missed anyone.
"You have two guys who are basically masters of rhythem"
~Greg Jackson
UFC 98 presents MMA fans with one of the most intriguing main events in the company's history. It will be the first time in UFC history that two men will walk into a title fight undefeated, with champion Rashad Evans 18-0-1 and challenger Lyoto Machida 14-0. If there has ever been a chess match in MMA strategy, its this fight. Both men excel at different aspects of the game, both men come from superior camps, and both men have gotten better and better every fight they have fought. Then on the undercard, you have a fight between two of the bitterest rivals, former welterweight champions Matt Hughes against Matt Serra.
Here is the full card:
MAIN CARD:
-Light Heavyweight Championship: Sugar Rashad Evans (c) vs. Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida
-Welterweight: Matt Hughes vs. Matt "The Terror" Serra
-Middleweight: Drew "Massacre" McFedries vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam
-Middleweight: Dan Miller vs. Chael Sonnen
-Lightweight: "The Muscle Shark" Sean Sherk vs. Frankie "The Answer" Edgar
PRELIM CARD:
-Welterweight: Brock Larson vs. Mike "Quick Sand" Pyle
-Heavyweight: Pat "HD" Barry vs. Tim Hague
-Lightweight: Phillipe Nover vs. Kyle Bradley
-Light Heavyweight: Krzystzof Soszynski vs. Andre Gusmao
-Welterweight: Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Brandon Wolff
-Lightweight: Diamond Dave Kaplan vs. George Roop
Here are THREE STORYLINES to watch for:
1. Lyoto Machida: The Fighter Nobody Wants To Fight
The numbers for Lyoto Machida are mind-boggling. He hasn't lost a round in seven UFC fights, he gets hit once per two rounds, and is the only man in MMA to have effectively taking karate and used it as his MMA base. Machida is devistating, elusive, and unfazed. In his fight with Tito Ortiz, he dominated him in a way Ortiz has never been dominated before (except for Liddell). Then he fought Thiago Silva, a meathead slugger also undefeated, and knocked him out in one round. Evans's first title defense wasn't even suppose to be against Machida, it was offered to Rampage Jackson. His style is all his own, he's a puzzle nobody can figure out. His karate gives him an akward yet effective striking set, with kicks and punches coming from odd angles which he combines exceptionally with faints and head movement. He's also incredibly elusive, he looks like he's running away bit its all strategy, his goal to never get hit. Its smart. And that is the riddle. He can't be touched, its like fighting to wind.
But then there is Rashad Evans. There is not one fighter in all of MMA that has come farther. On the Ultimate Fighter, he won as a husky wrestler barely making the heavyweight weight limit to win the show has turned into the most complete fighter at 205 lbs. Like Machida, from fight to fight Evans got better and better. He always had powerful hands, but he learned how throw them properly, and then proceeded to knock Chuck Liddell out cold. He then took on Forrest Griffin, took everything Griffin had in two rounds, then pounded him out in the third to take his belt. Evans is also the product of the best MMA mastermind, Greg Jackson who can gameplan better than anyone else in MMA. Evans might have the only full skill set to figure out Machida. Where as Silva rushed in on Machida, Evans is a more disciplined fighter, using lateral movement to get fighters to rush in on him where he picks them apart. He's also a superior wrestler, moreso than Ortiz was. For Evans to win this fight, he needs to figure out a way to get inside the pocket with Machida and test his chin. He's going to have to move fast, use his wrestling, and try and outmuscle Machida. This fight has the potential to be the best of the year.
2: Reality TV
The heat between former welterweight champions Matt Hughes and Matt Serra was built on and for reality television. But its very real. Hughes is perhaps the greatest welterweight of all time, winning the title twice and defending it nine times against the best ever . . . he has wins over Carlos Newton twice, Frank Trigg twice, Georges St-Pierre, Mach Sakurai, Sean Sherk, BJ Penn, Joe Riggs, and Royce Gracie. There is nothing left for Matt Hughes to prove in his career. He's old now, his skills have slipped . . . GSP destroyed him twice and so did Thiago Alves last year. Hughes's last UFC win was in March of 2007 against Chris Lytle. The only thing left in his career is Matt Serra.
Serra stunned the world when he blasted Georges St-Pierre and took his welterweight title at UFC 69 in Texas. Serra is a brash New Yorker, a quick wit, and easy to root for. A spark plug at 5"6', Serra has shown incredible heart in his career and brings a jiu-jitsu black belt and dynamite in his hands to the octagon. The fast-talking city boy was destined to despise the red-state warrior that is Matt Hughes. They clashed as opposing coaches in TUF season 6. The war of words went from white hot two years ago to almost comical now as the two fighters traded injuries as the fight kept getting put off.
But there is more going on here, something that is very important to both fighters. For Hughes, its the capstone. If he beats Serra, he's done it all. He's won titles, avenged losses, fought at the highest stage, there is nothing left but to defeat this one last enemy. For Serra, he seems to have come to grips with the knowledge that he'll never be one of the greatest fighters ever, but he wants to be known as the guy that has beaten the best, and this fight with Hughes is a legacy fight for Serra. These are two men at the end of their careers, looking for one last victory.
3. Sean Sherk, The Long Road Back
Sean Sherk was the top lightweight in the world until a drug suspension and one-sided loss to BJ Penn left him an afterthought in the lightweight division. With the rise of Kenny Florian and Clay Guida, and the entrance of Diego Sanchez to the division, Sherk is the odd man out fighting for both his reputation and one last run at the top. Sherk made his comeback last October slugging out a hard-fought win over Tyson Griffin and now looks to take on another young lion in the division in Frankie Edgar. A win here should move Sherk into a title elimination fight with either Diego Sanchez or Clay Guida for a shot at the winner of Penn-Florian.
Because someone in that campaign is making money by coming up with the brilliant idea that the best way to win votes is to spam mail us every day with a god-awful countdown to the Convention. Whoever is making money off this is straight up fleecing Patty.
Its remarkable to actually witness a Senate Majority Leader spectacularly f-up three different important facts in one press conference. But it seems that the hushed tones for Harry Reid weren't enough to woo the truth asleep, as he basically bald-faced lied about three major issues - including the health of two of the old lions of the Senate. Witness the madness:
WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid became the latest Democrat to stray into rhetorical trouble Tuesday, botching statements on three subjects in one news conference — including the fragile health of the chamber's most senior members. The Nevada Democrat reported that one of them, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was absent because he was receiving a new round of treatment for his brain cancer. Asked if the cancer was in remission, Reid replied, "As far as I know, it is, yes."
. . .
Reid also mangled his party's position on the congressional news of the day, that Senate Democrats would join their House counterparts in withholding the money President Barack Obama needs to close the Guantanamo Bay prison until Obama comes up with a plan for relocating its prisoners.
But Reid went further than saying he wanted to see a plan for the money before Congress approves it. "We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States," he said. No one, of course, was talking about releasing terrorism suspects among the American populace. Imprisoning them, perhaps, but not releasing them.
"Part of what we don't want is them be put in prisons in the United States," Reid clarified but digging himself into a bigger hole by departing significantly from some of his colleagues and administration officials. "We don't want them around the United States."
Did the administration put Democrats in an awkward position, asking for the money before setting out how it would be spent?
"Not at all," said Reid.
"Yes," his deputy, Sen. Dick Durbin replied to the same question.
Its breathtaking that these people have complete control of the federal government.
This is the newest track by Linkin Park, which will be in the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie. LP seems to become the house band for Transformers but that works for me. This song is tight, check it out.
I just got this email in the old inbox today and I can't help but take a moment to not only mock but also really talk about this race. Here's the best part of the email:
Our nominee will face Steve Shannon, a Fairfax County member of the Virginia House of Delegates
who is stockpiling money to take on our party's choice for Attorney
General. To win, we need a candidate who can go toe to toe with the
Democrats in Northern Virginia. That candidate is Dave Foster.
Dave brings a strong history of electability to our ticket. Dave served two terms on the Arlington County School Board,
including twice as chairman, winning his re-election bid with 62
percent of the vote! In past statewide elections in Arlington,
Republicans have averaged only 28 percent of the vote. The contrast is
amazing.
In a county dominated by Democrats, Dave didn't get
elected by abandoning his Republican principles. As Chairman of the
Arlington County School Board he successfully stood up for common sense
conservative values by cutting debt, improving school safety, and
teaching English to second-language learner
A strong history of electability? The guy won two races for School Board in an election that was non-partisan? I'm waiting to find some old campaign lit from those past campaigns that say the word "Republican," in fact I pretty much guarantee that he barely mentioned his roots. And anyone with Davis's political acumen should know that on very low-level races like this, strange things happen when nobody is looking and very few people show up to vote. Running as a non-partisan in a low-level race does not mean that he's ready to immediately run statewide, and given that Davis is backing him so strongly, I worry even more if Foster is the nominee. The McCain Campaign was run in Virginia by Tom's people, and we lost Virginia for the first time sicne 1964! How can we trust this guy and his organization to carry such a terribly unprepared candidate?
What I want to know, is that if you talk about electability, Davis doesn't even mention Ken Cuccinelli, who has won three straight state senate races - all three times being the number one target by Democrats who brought in statewide, national, and outside group money to defeat him. What did he do? Just Win, Baby. But we've been through this before, the comparison between the Davis campaign with the Cuccinelli campaign in 2007, but we must continue to comeback to it when Tom Davis is basically puts his reputation behind a candidate like this. Let me go through the list again. Since 2006 Tom Davis has:
Running his wife's senate campaign on the basis of blurring party labels and running as a Democrat-lite, always having to justify and apologize for conservative positions by making up for it with liberal examples
Telling candidates not to run in House races in his wife's district to suppress the vote, denying the party a chance to build organizations in those districts for later races
Quit a Senate race before it started, leaving behind the only real chance we had of winning
Quit a House race before it started, leaving behind the only real chance we had of winning
Taking Gerry Connolly for a tour of the House before the election was over
Refusing to endorse Jim Gilmore, the REPUBLICAN candidate for Senate
Publicly praising Mark Warner, whom a mere few months before he was trying to defeat
Running the McCain Campaign in Virginia, the first loss for a GOP candidate 44 years!
So, lets keep that little bit of recent history in mind when Tom Davis comes looking for money from you. And think about it when your looking at Dave Foster, who is essentially a corporate lawyer with no political experience past school issues. How the school board has anything to do with being Attorney General is beyond me. With Cuccinelli, he wrote the laws; and with Brownlee, he's been a prosecutor. These guys have practiced law in the publican sector, so to speak, and the public had some say in their performance (Cuccinelli directly, Brownlee more indirectly).
Perhaps its not fair to Foster, perhaps I'm still bitter at what Tom Davis left us in Northern Virginia. And my criticism of Davis has nothing to do with him being a moderate, in fact I think Davis is more conservative than even he wants people to know. Its about tactics, its about political leaders treat the grassroots and treat the party as a whole. Part of my firm support from Cuccinelli is that he seeks not just to tell volunteers and grassroots organizers what to do, but wants to know how he can help. How can he build a good precinct list, how can he help other candidates in his region (like he did for scores of). Perfect example is the John Cook race, where Cook won a particular precinct (I believe it was Fairview) that Pat Herrity didn't, because Ken helped him there. You don't see it unless your on the ground up here, the difference between the Tom people and the Ken people. And its that difference we need to bring statewide. The interest, enthusiasm, and knowledge that is need to grow this party has been shown to work on a smaller scale in this section of Western Fairfax that Ken has built from the ground up while the Republican world has fallen around him up here.
So when reading Tom Davis's plea for money and his vouching for the Foster candidacy and then contemplating Ken Cuccinelli, try and remember what I'm telling you here . . . the difference between a top down country club party with a dormant grassroots that tries to win every election by out-Democrating the Democrats; or a conservative unafraid to help anyone and everyone, and has the guts to stand in pocket taking punch after punch for us without shaking off his beliefs or apologizing for them, and winning.
And in the end, its been Ken who's won and Tom who's lost. Over and over again. He's done it by creating his own momentum, and lets allow him to unleash on the state the kind of energy and ideas he's brought to Fairfax and the state senate.
Make sure every delegate votes for Ken Cuccinelli for Attorney General
Its a statement on the state of where we are as a country, as a party, and the press that as a candidate Barack Obama along with all the Democrat candidates across the country where never asked in response to calls for closing Gitmo, "then what?" Its at the heart of Nancy Pelosi's problems, and its at the heart of the detainee issues. I have yet to hear one plausible answer of what to do with these animal-terrorists that live to kill Americans.
Jim Webb was on television today and seems to have understood this problem, when he declared that the current policy of the Obama Administration is unworkable because it puts the safety of Americans at risk, not withstanding the pledge by Jim Moran. The time, money, and danger this puts Virginians in is a problem. I want to see Bob McDonnell just lash his Democrat opponents with this, it will make Terry McAuliffe (b/c he's a national Dem) and Brian Moran (b/c of his brother's statements) especially nervous.
This Gitmo issue is the most prime example of the buffoonary of the Obama presidency, putting politics over policy over and over and over again. There is no reason to move these detainees, there is no point in jailing them here and spending the money, but to satisfy the aims of the hard left born out of Bush Derangement Syndrome.
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