novatownhall blog

It appears that Governor Palin is a nightmare for Democrats.  She has a very strong on fighting corruption, and not letting the good ol’ boy network get sweat heart deals.  For instance from the Wall Street Journal:

After handily winning, her popularity in Alaska soared as she went on to sack political appointees with close ties to industry lobbyists and shelved pork projects.

She killed the bridge to nowhere.  She reduced the budget ! She lowered taxes, Alaska’s economy is doing better than the rest of the country.  Are you listening liberal whackos?

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Recently I read an article on oil imports and domestic ethanol production that piqued my curiosity. The article appearing in Popular Mechanics, discussed the impact on U.S. oil imports by the increases in domestic ethanol production. What I found was that ethanol may not be providing sufficient energy dependence relief to justify what it is costing us.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association, 2007 ethanol production was 6.5 billion gallons, up from 4.8 in 2006. A barrel of crude oil, according to our DOE, yields 20 gallons of motor fuel. Looking at oil imports over this same period, 2007 U.S. oil imports were 4.9 billion barrels, down from 5.003 billion the previous year. Eureka ! Ethanol is working !

But is it ? The American Coalition for Ethanol puts it this way,”Ethanol comprises about 3.5% of total annual U.S. gasoline consumption “. The cost of this 3.5% savings is 23% of our national corn crop, and 13% of our soybean harvest. The GAO estimates that by 2012, 30% of our domestic corn crop will be used for ethanol production. What does this mean to us ? Higher food prices, we are all feeling this, and will continue to feel this for the foreseeable future. Yes, high fuel prices are an impact, but for me, I fill up my tank every 10-12 days. I have to fill up my family of four three times a day. Forget this ethanol experiment, roll these corn and soybean crops back into the food supply, rollback food prices, I will come out ahead, and very likely so will you.

Biofuels have been touted as the answer to climate change owing to the decreased CO2 emissions. This is true on the consumer end, but again, we are not being told the complete story. Ethanol proponents fail to factor in the environmental impact of production, and most importantly, clearing the land for corn production. Some studies have shown that clearing grassland can release 93 times the amount of greenhouse grasses saved by the fuel produced from the crops grown on that land.

A recent report published by P.J. Crutzen of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, and colleagues concluded that environmental impact studies have underestimated the amount of nitrogen oxide, a greenhouse gas, released by the use of nitrogen fertilizers. If this study is correct, ethanol made from nitrogen fertilized corn will produce more greenhouse gas than the equivalent amount of gasoline.

“People are getting smarter. People are beginning to see that the damage ensuing from producing agrofuels by far outweighs any possible benefits,” says Tad W. Patzek, a professor of geoengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and a prominent biofuels sceptic.

Yes, we need to be smarter, we need to declare this Iowa Experiment as a complete failure. We need to undo the methanol mandates of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and we need to do it now.

“Rushing to turn food crops… into fuel for cars, without first examining the impact on global hunger, is a recipe for disaster,” the UN rapporteur on food said in his report to the UN General Assembly. “Agrofuel production is unacceptable if it brings greater hunger and water scarcity to the poor in developing countries,” the report says. The report concluded with calling for a five-year moratorium on biofuel production while new biofuel technology is under development.

This is one of those very rare occasions where I happen to agree with the U.N. .

Put Sarah Palin at the top of the ticket and she’ll dwarf Barack Obama and Joe Biden, I say, and she has more executive experience than Obama, Biden, and John McCain combined. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine was unapologetically touted as a Democrat VP candidate and Kaine has precisely the same experience as Palin does. So listen to all the mainstream media’s choreographed agonizing over Sarah Palin’s supposed lack of experience with a huge grain of salt – you would not have heard a word of that about Tim Kaine.

But comparisons are not the point.

Bill Clinton had plenty of “experience” and we know how that turned out. George W. Bush had plenty of “experience” and we know how that turned out.

For good reason, Americans are willing to consider a president whose official credentials don’t necessarily reflect White House Prep School material. Americans want to see someone with demonstrated moral authority and common sense leading the country.

I expect we are going to see voluminous discussion of Sarah Palin’s biography in the coming weeks, especially with regard to challenging the political status quo and cutting pork, but for me the sale has already been made. Her unborn child was diagnosed with Down syndrome last year, and she and her husband elected to have the child. If you want to talk about commitment, judgment and decision-making, in the decisions she has made, Sarah Palin has established her record.

Barack Obama has zero accomplishments or decisions to point to as evidence of his capability to lead, and despite having already written two autobiographies on his really thin list of personal accomplishments, has not actually accomplished anything beyond giving some speeches.

Sarah Palin, on the other hand, has the intelligence and moral authority to lead the country.

UPDATE: It came up in the comments and is important enough to link here – the full story behind so-called “Troopergate.” (found via Ace)

UPDATE II: Finally, the complete Palin vs Obama Tale of the Tape. End of discussion.

Laser-like focus, to paraphrase Soren Kierkegaard, is what life is all about, so it brings me special edification to learn that the most single-minded blogger I know, Ed of MonkeyWatch, has a new project.

A wine blog: Blog Ordinary. How perfect is that?

You can’t comment there unless you are Blogger-certified, which is going to drastically limit discussion, but it is well worth reading. Ed knows his wine. Make it one of your regular stops.

Never thought I would be saying this, but what do you know, sometimes life throws you a curveball:

Please send money to John McCain for President. Even if only 20 bucks, go make a contribution. And note the “Contribute” page is WAAAY slow to load, which I suspect means it is getting hammered with contributions right about now – a good sign.

Don’t think about it, don’t mix yourself a bloody mary, just go over, right now, and shoot him some cash. A good deed deserves another.

The McCain campaign is keeping mum, but from Fox, Sarah Palin.
- Governor of Alaska
- Married
- age 44
- Mother of Five
- Strongly pro life
- Believes in Global Warming
- Still thinks drilling off shore and ANWR

Palin says ‘Drill now!’

This is an interesting pick.

She is about as far from DC as one can get!!

UPDATE 1 !!

ITS OFFICIAL! from Fox News

from wiki (Hat Tip: Lovisa)

Highlights of Governor Palin’s tenure include a successful push for an ethics bill, and also shelving pork-barrel projects supported by fellow Republicans. Palin successfully killed the Bridge to Nowhere project that had become a nationwide symbol of wasteful earmark spending.^[13][17] “Alaska needs to be self-sufficient, she says, instead of relying heavily on ‘federal dollars,’ as the state does today.”^[6]

She has challenged the state’s Republican leaders, helping to launch a campaign by Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell to unseat U.S. Congressman Don Young^[18] and publicly challenging Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings.^[13] Palin supports holding occasional legislative sessions outside the state capital, and municipal revenue sharing to help local governments

!!! UPDATE 2 !!!
ROTFLMAO!!!
Obama Campaign Reaction:

“Today John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heart beat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of big and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies — that’s not the change we need, it’s just more of the same.”
– Bill Burton

Hey Bill! She is a Governor, she is in charge of the National Guard in her state you rube. Each of our states conducts its own foreign policy, you hack!

The more negative the response from the Obama campaign the better. Attack the woman! That will bring all the Hillary voters home to vote for you. The lady will be made of teflon.

Which in my view indicates a higher level of discipline than the Democrats exhibited when they leaked the Biden “bombshell” the night before.

Says something about leadership.

This is a reality check for everyone.  Bloody hilarious …

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The growth of our GDP in the last financial quarter was 3.3%.  Which is good from a historical perspective.  OK.  This is not a recession.  I repeat.  To all liberal whackos, this is not a recession.  Unemployment is 5.7%, this is from a historical perspective referred to as ‘very low’.  Yes, the housing bubble continues to pop.  But the rest of the economy appears to be OK.

Considering we are in a war, this is not a bad economy.  Bush’s monetary policy has not helped, yet the economy refuse to collapse, despite his abuse.  Given FIVE years of the Democrats, and their choir in the MSM, publicly praying for a recession, there appears to be some resilience in the economy.  So lets get to the meat of it.  Do you think the current state of the economy, given this latest bit of news, hurts or helps McCain or Obama?  Inquiring minds want to know your views.

Funny random thought: 

We just got an endorsement from the only person in this hall who knows what it’s like to be President.

-Howard Dean, after President Clinton’s DNC speech, to Fox News’ Chris Wallace (paraphrased)

 Umm…Did he forgot Jimmy Carer was in attendance, or was that an intentional insult?

I think both, on a subconscious level.

–It’s always good to stop by the Corner whenever anything of political significance takes place. K-Lo:

“The Republicans Said I Was Too Young and Too Experienced to Be Commander in Chief”

As I recall, he was impeached. Perhaps we had a point?

Also a lot of other stuff happened, well worth discussing in the coming months.

And now speculation that McCain’s pick is …. Sam Brownback. Not since Joe Biden was announced as Democrat candidate for VP has there been such electrifying news.

–Blogger of the year says

It.

Is.

Finished.

So there’s that. But I’m not sure it’s necessarily good news this year.

–Vodkapundit says word on the Denver street is McCain’s pick will be Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor. Much better than Brownback, if you ask me.

–Not exactly Convention news but …. news nonetheless: Right Truth notes another possible problematic associate of the Chosen One.

–7.62 mm Justice reminds us of the potential downside of a thin-skinned Prez.

More on this from Hillbilly White Trash. Seriously, if he is trying to get the FBI involved in squelching an unfavorable campaign ad, does anyone want to speculate what Obama might be capable of if he has the machinery of government at his disposal?

Oh the humanity!

Obama is too proud to have Bill sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom. Instead he would rather say to the PUMA Democrats ‘Drop Dead’. To Hillary, ‘Hey, its 3AM, you get it?’ Real smooth Barak!

He needs to listen to his teleprompter writers. This was a no brainer when looked at through the lens of ‘real-politik’. Imagine what a disaster this babe-in-the-woods will be when he comes up against some of the real bad boys of the world.

Barack Obama puts the finishing touches on his acceptance speech tonight in rehearsal for tomorrow’s historic address from Mt. Olympus.

What amazes me is how long the whole PUMA movement has been ignored by the Obama sycophants in the MSM.  Now at the convention there is a flurry of recent articles.  Outside of FOX and the blogg-o-sphere this movement has been ignored.  From hotair.com …

Hillary Clinton’s supporters will not go quietly, it seems.  According to a Scripps-Howard report this morning, unnamed backers of Hillary have begun a “massive” e-mail campaign insisting that she won more votes and is the only electable candidate in 2008.  Perhaps, in consideration of the polling free-fall Barack Obama has experienced this summer, they may have a point

The story it appears has finally broken out and is now being reported in the MSM.  The folks at CBS finally write about but the articles concentrates on the Republican reaction instead of the root cause.  Media Matters is in full spin mode calling it hype.  The following sheds light on the matter …

The issue here is one of slander.  The Obama camp leveled the racist charge at anyone who questioned his bonafides.  Considering how small Obama’s bonafides are one can almost understand how sensitive his is in this matter.  Both Clinton’s, Ferraro and others have been tarred.  Wasn’t Bill Clinton the first Black president?  Is this the campaign rhetoric and tactics of the post racial candidate?

UPDATE

He actually said it.  Obama claims McCain thinks middles class ends at $5M.  That was joke.  Obama knows it was a joke.  But he treats it like it was serious.  He is lying through his teeth.

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To shift ones position with every change in the wind is to flip flop. To observe over time, and change ones mind because as new information becomes available one can put together a more informed choice is sometimes sorrowful wisdom. I was planning to stay home and get into a pain free state this election day. Unfortunately, it appears that the differences between the candidates with regard to overall quality is sufficient to force me to make a decision, and to vote (sob). I will hate myself in the morning, but unfortunately, vote I must. The Democrats have once again won the ‘evil in the two lessors’ category. In a year that should have been a slam dunk for them, they have managed to make the race competitive.

There is a stuttering idiot in the White House; Bush has undone in 4 years what was the work of two generations, the building of a conservative majority. The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that this Presidential election should have been over before it began. It was until the Democrats found … the one.

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