Well Nugget said look, so I looked -
And here are 3 problems I see with Huckabee - and I ask the fair bloggers - why should I not care? Should I withold all support for these? It is kind of like - other than these, the guy is OK...but these are pretty big.
1] He does not believe in evolution.
He argues that this should not even be a presidential election issue. I kind of agree - but I cannot get it out of my head that a man who is going to run the country does not believe in this basic scientific principle which is critical in understanding things like biology and immunology. If he were a "creative designer" I could go for that - and forget about it. I beleive that atheistic evolutionists are every bit as closed minded as creationists who do not believe in dinosours. But I digress...The problem is that Huckabee does not believe in evolution, because he does not want to believe that we "came from apes" - This does not show a great degree of nuanced thinking necessary to be president. Kind of like, uh Mike, there is more to it than that...
Not believing in evolution is different than an argument for/against something like gay marraige where a politician is making a moral / legal decision using some internal compass to guide them. This is like saying buoyancy / gravity / mytosis do not exist because I find no reference to the Krebs cycle in Galations.
2] In his mind, Irag is not a huge mistake - nothing about when, how, why, under what circumstance we should get the hell out of there. And this is a place where the president has some influence.
3] An extension of 2 - if we are going to stay there - we have to pay somehow. If we were to eliminate all serivces for indigent people and shoot them instead, I think we would still come up short. In the history of government there has never been a war without some kind of sacrifice asked of the population until now. Some how we need to pay for this thing - or we see more debt to our real and present enemies, Saudi Arabia & China. And no - we should not fight them - we should just quit pretending that doing everything they ask is good for us. And we should also quit spending like drunken sailors on leave with a credit card.
I have said this before and I will say it again - the only thing worse than a tax and spend liberal is a no tax and HUGE spend conservative.
Man I miss the balanced budget / surplus under that liberal spender Bill Clinton - whose wife is nothing like him.
Of course - there is one issue that will make me ignore all others. If Huckabee argues that the USA should forbid private money in public elections [so all money for elections comes from the public trough] and I vote for him even if he thinks God uses little green elves to do the work required of a living planet.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Mike Huckabee
Posted by Kevin Hansen at 8:45 AM
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Wow, as much as it pains me to say this, it's sounding as if Kevin is probably right...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/25/AR2007112501547_pf.html
---This is like a P.S. only in front – I think I really hate political writing – I do it poorly and with ½ a heart. In the end we are not being represented well by either party. We are very far from Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. We need a Teddy Roosevelt in the worst kind of way. It is not out of he question either – he came back to be in “A Night at the Museum”, did he not? ----
But somehow I got to rambling and I now have a lot of disconnected thoughts for your reading enjoyment. I am better when writing a Pat Benatar missive. Which, although no one has commented on, is the best blog in a long long time. I think I will continue in this vein.
If you really think about it – Do we have 1 legitamte Presidential contender? The only person who even looks presidential is Barack Obama – the only one with any relevant experience is Bill Richardson [who?] and the only decent Republicans are Ron Paul, has no chance, or Mike Huckabee – does not believe in freaking evolution because we “did not come from apes”. Right, not from apes, OK that concludes it, evolution does not exist.
Taxation – Government clearly has a cost associated with it.
I think the reason most “fiscal conservatives” call themselves “libertarians” is because they [I] look at their [my]paycheck and say – “what is this shit? Where is all my money?”.
Then they hear about a nonsense bridge in Alaska and say “I oppose all government funding of anything – because I already pay ¼ of my freaking income – and the government can’t even handle graffiti well.”
But that cannot be the end of it – because we do need cops, schools, bridges, and industry regulation [with a straight face you do not expect Dow chemical to regulate itself do you? If so, I encourage you to take a look at China where they do not regulate labor or the environment in any serious manner.
In my humble opinion – the basic problem we face is one of identity. We need to decide whether we are a Republic or an Empire. Right now we are trying to do both and bankrupting ourselves in the process. Worse, our sphere of influence is shrinking as our international presence is increasing. If we pulled 50% of our money from Empire building we would immediately be able to fund all nonsense without a tax increase. Pull 75% and everyone has health care + we take the lead in alternative fuels / energy and the world is breaking down our door to learn how to harness clean and cheap fuel and how to say good riddance to the middle east.
Except Israel where they do not prosecute Rape Victims – I do not want to say good riddance to them.
For me – I am not getting my money’s worth. I expect the Air Force to shoot down 4 slow moving passenger jets taking u-turns. I expect a National Guard to be available for Hurricane Katrina – and I expect to see plenty of cops on the streets arresting truant kids and their parents.
War is great and everything – but it is damned expensive – and unless you are trying to prevent the “enemy” from putting a bomb in your house {Israel bombs Syrian Nuclear bomb assembly plant – does not ask U.N.’s permission.] I really cannot see how we are helped by this.
On to Huckabee - - -
Damn Jim – Even when we agree, we disagree as to why we agree.
If the “liberal press” cannot be trusted – then surely we must take everything from Robert Novak’s poisoned pen with a grain of salt. Novak is a liar, a traitor, a thug, and a Neo-con hitman in the first degree.
These gems warrant a little research – to be sure. They do not exactly pass the smell test.
Novak - He increased the Arkansas tax burden 47 percent, boosting the levies on gasoline and cigarettes.
– Really a tax increase of 47%? On everyone? They were paying $100 in taxes and now they are paying $147 – Jeez – how come the whole state did not go bankrupt like they would if there were an actual 47% increase. Why – because there was not one – you corpse. Nonsense. The neo-con attack dogs are out. Look for a Swift Boat for this guy very soon. Anyway – I wave the bullshit flag at this figure.
And Huckabee, instead of standing firm and saying – I raised taxes and paid for roads with the money – gives someone else credit for an honorable tax increase.
Instead of saying Arkansas roads were a mess and needed fixing and you have to pay for those fixes somehow – he goes to the “voter referendum” card. One of Eisenhower’s greatest contributions to this country was his building of the American highway system. Same with Governor Pat Brown of California. And guess what? Those roads cost money!
As an aside – here is good ol’ Kev’s view on Fuel Tax. It is the same as my view on Alcohol Tax, Cigarette Tax, and Motorcycle Tax.
The movement of people, goods and services is pretty much the cornerstone of the American economy. [Good or bad] Internet shopping does not work too well without UPS – for example. These vehicles take a toll on roads, bridges – etc.. If not properly maintained the economy takes a hit when we crowd more vehicles than lanes on the freeway [all these worker bees stuck in traffic]. Anyway – it follows to me that the users of this resource should pay the most for them – and since you cannot move very far – gas is the perfect place to pay for the roads, impact of automobiles in general, and the CHP. Part of the gas tax should absolutely fund research into alternative fuels – better options than gas, etc…
And before you get ahead of yourself labeling me as a tax lover – I would couple this mandate with 2 stipulations:
1] Transportation and the CHP would no longer see 1 penny of money from the General Fund.
2] The general fund would no longer see 1 penny of money from the Gasoline tax. Gas tax is for transportation and its associated costs and that is all. Watch the CTA go nuts with this proposal!
Same follows for cigs, alcohol, and motorcycles.
There is a real societal cost for alcohol & cigarettes – police, homelessness – and on and on – who should pay? The producers of these products, who will naturally pass the cost on to their consumers.
BUT they should not have to pay for general fund expenditures. For example, when Deborah Ortiz decides that we need a fund to study the impact of the game of “tag” on children’s psyches – that study should not be paid for by smokers. Since “tag” affects us all….But seriously – I always vote against tax increases on smokers unless the money is used to counter the societal costs [the real costs $$$] of smoking. Why should I pay for the guy in the hospital on Oxygen because he smoked all of his life – he should have been paying $.20 a pack or $6.35 a pack all along so the state would not have to incur costs stemming from an activity that it did not profit from.
OK – On to lie #2
But Huckabee simply does not fit within normal boundaries of economic conservatism, such as when he criticized President Bush's veto of a Democratic expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
Regardless of where you stand on SCHIP – painting Bush as a fiscal conservative is a little disingenuous. Spendiest president in the history of Presidents – did not veto a bill until the Democrats took over, and then suddenly, six years later finds out that his pen has use for things other than signing statements. And this is the program he opts to veto?! If he had displayed a history of vetoing new spending – I could respect this – since it would be consistent. But it is like – he changed his strike zone in the 9th inning and chose health care as his target.
Lie #3
Calling global warming a "moral issue" mandating "a biblical duty" to prevent climate change, he has endorsed a cap-and-trade system that is anathema to the free market.
Cap-and-trade - well Europe has adopted it and it seems to be working. We are the biggest carbon dumpers on the planet by far and even if global warming is a hoax – all that carbon being dumped into a finite system is certainly a lab test with unknown results. In other words – if we dump tons and tons of carbon into the atmosphere – what will be the results be? Not sure, let’s try it and see.
Novak is a hack and this is a hit piece – sound and fury signifying nothing.
But Huckabee does not believe in Evolution – that is not good. By the way – Jesus was pretty mum on Evolution – so I will never ever get why the hell religious people are so pissed at the concept. For me, evolution is a testament to a higher power – not proof that one does not exist.
Wow. I'm simply in awe. I'm not even sure I disagree now with why we agreed. How can I not? One thing I know for sure now -
I do not like Hucklebuck, that fuck,
I do not like Hucklebuck, his taxes suck.
I do not like Hucklebuck as such,
I do not like Hucklebuck - thank you very much.
I do not like Hucklebuck, don't you see?
Not Hucklebuck? Oh, I mean Huckabee.
All right - so yesterday I rambled about what I hate. But I have an example of what I expect from a leader [in this case Eisenhower]
This is the 2nd plug for you guys to spend the most interesting hour of the month.
ANd easily the most interesting hour on TV this year [aside from The Sopranos, of course]
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sputnik/program.html
I expect all Presidents Democrat or Republican to think about National Security in as nuanced and concerned a fashion as DDE.
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