A Conservative Techie

Thoughts from a Conservative point of view in regards to technology

The Mother of All Flip-flops

One of the blogs I read every day and find great information out of is Patterico’s Pontifications.  Today he posts about one of the greatest of all flip flops by a politician.

We all remember John Kerry voting for the war and then voting against it.  Mrs. Clinton was for the war before she was against it and now Mr. Obama is no longer planning on pulling out troops from Iraq

And just look at all the posts on Memeorandum:

“New and Not Improved — New York Times”

“Obama May Consider Slowing Iraq Withdrawal” –  Washington Post

“Obama Strives to Retain Some Flexibility on His Iraq Policy” — New York Times

“Obama’s Iraq Quagmire” — Political Punch

“Obama to ‘refine’ Iraq Plan” — The Politico

But back to Patterico’s Pontifications who walks us through all Mr. Obama’s previous positions and statements going back as far as January 31, 2007.

Is ths the change everyone hoped for?  Changing back to what our current President is doing?  If so would it seem to make sense that what President Bush is doing is correct?  That the surge is working?  That we need to keep our troops in Iraq longer then the 16 months Mr. Obama promised when he was seeking the nomination?

If you are a Democrat and your candidate is once again “restating” his position, how do you feel today?

July 4, 2008 Posted by Jonathan | Politics | , , , | No Comments

45 New Nuclear Reactors by 2030

John McCain has announced a goal of having 45 New nuclear reactors.  This is good news.  We need more nuclear power plants, these plants are the greenest, cleanest producers of power currently out there. 

“China, Russia and India are all planning to build more than a hundred new power plants among them in the coming decades,” Mr. McCain said in this pocket of Missouri that is reliably Republican. “Across Europe there are 197 reactors in operation, and nations including France and Belgium derive more than half their electricity from nuclear power. And if all of these nations can find a way to carry out great goals in energy policy, then I assure you that the United States is more than equal to the challenge.”

This is another area we are failing behind….  We currently have 104 reactors with no new reactors since 1970. 

It is nice to see people supporting nuclear power, but I think people are getting behind this for the wrong reason.  Nuclear power will not reduce how much oil, it will reduce the greenhouse gases we are emitting.  The more and more we produce clean and cheap power, the more and more we can do without having to refine natural gas and the damage that does.

Something I can agree with that McCain supports

June 20, 2008 Posted by Jonathan | Politics | , , | No Comments

Countrywide’s Many ‘Friends’

In a post on Portfolio.com there is an article titled “Countrywide’s Many ‘Friends’” that touches on the friends of Barak Obama and those who are currently helping to look into his Vice President choice.

Two U.S. senators, two former Cabinet members, and a former ambassador to the United Nations received loans from Countrywide Financial through a little-known program that waived points, lender fees, and company borrowing rules for prominent people.

Senators Christopher Dodd and Senator Kent Conrad refinanced properties through a VIP program that waived fees, waived points and changed company rules. 

This comes on the heels of James Johnson resigning from the VIP search.  Just holding my breath to see how much of this makes the news.

Remember you know more about someone based on who their friends are then you know about what they say.

June 13, 2008 Posted by Jonathan | Politics | , , , | No Comments

Doing Something Constructive About Oil Prices

From the Powerline blog

GasChart51

 

A chart presented by Republican whip Roy blunt.  Its great to finally see Republican policies on something for a change.  This is what we need to see more.  Republicans propose X law to save money, while the Democrats have done or proposed Y law to save money.  Which one saves us more money?  That’s who should be in power.

 

Oh one thing they are forgetting… Nuclear Power

June 11, 2008 Posted by Jonathan | Politics | , , | 2 Comments

Lieberman Warner Bill pulled

I blogged previously about this global warming fiasco bill that Senators were debating.  A bill that would greatly increase the cost of gas and pretty much every type of energy out there.

Just want to let you all know the bill was pulled, however it seems there is another energy bill that will be debated in the coming weeks.  Please continue to contact your senators in regards to these types of bill.s  We want Nuclear Power, not an increase in the cost of energy.

The legislation collapsed for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the poor timing of debating a bill predicted to increase energy costs while much of the country is focused on $4-a-gallon gas

June 9, 2008 Posted by Jonathan | Politics | | No Comments

Beach bonfires fuel global warming

In unbelievable news today, the Seattle Parks and Recreation have proposed a ban on bonfires for the next two years on the public beaches.

According to a memo to the park board from the staff released Thursday, “The overall policy question for the Board is whether it is good policy for Seattle Parks to continue public beach fires when the carbon … emissions produced by thousands of beach fires per year contributes to global warming.”

 

Seriously?  There are other things we can do to help fight carbon emissions then ban bonfires.  The #1 thing we should start doing is build Nuclear Power Points.  What is the carbon emission of a Nuclear Power Plant?  Start building those then…. I think I read someplace the carbon footprint is 1.5% of a gas power plant.

 

Build Nuclear Power Plants, don’t ban beach bonfires.

June 6, 2008 Posted by Jonathan | Politics | , , | No Comments

Contact your Senator and Urge them to vote against the Lieberman Energy Bill

This is the note I sent to both of my State’s Senators.  Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow.  Here are their contact information:

http://stabenow.senate.gov/email.cfm

http://levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

 

This is in regards to the Lieberman-Warner bill that is currently in Senate.  I would urge you to vote against this bill with all of the additions that have been added on to it.  This would be the largest tax increase ever on the American people and would drive more jobs away from the United States.

I would urge you instead to start advocating Nuclear Power to help save the environment and reduce our reliance on Oil and Petroluem.

Thanks,

Jonathan

 

For more information on this terrible crime if passed please visit this site:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/06/020675.php

 

and

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/05/020620.php

June 4, 2008 Posted by Jonathan | Politics | | No Comments

A candidate worse then Carter, McGovern and Dukakis

From the National Review Online comes a great article on what will happen when Obama wins.  This is a scary premise that someone like Mr. Obama will become President and also Commander in Chief.

Here are some highlights that need to be pointed out over and over again:

And thus the Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of George McGovern, albeit without McGovern’s military and political record. The Democratic party is about to nominate a far-left candidate in the tradition of Michael Dukakis, albeit without Dukakis’s executive experience as governor. The Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of John Kerry, albeit without Kerry’s record of years of service in the Senate. The Democratic party is about to nominate an unvetted candidate in the tradition of Jimmy Carter, albeit without Jimmy Carter’s religious integrity as he spoke about it in 1976. Questions about all these attributes (from foreign policy expertise to executive experience to senatorial experience to judgment about foreign leaders to the instructors he has had in his cultural values) surround Barack Obama. And the Democratic party has chosen him.

 

Think about it.  Someone with less religious integrity then Jimmy Carter.  Someone without a military tradition and political record like McGovern.  Someone who doesn’t have executive experience.

Seriously what leadership qualities besides “Change” and “Hope” does Mr. Obama have?  He was Senator of the United States, but spent most of his time campaigning for President.  I hope Mrs. Clinton wins.

June 3, 2008 Posted by Jonathan | Politics | | No Comments

Setting the Record Straight: President Bush’s Interview With Richard Engel of NBC News

I doubt there will be a correct response from NBC news, but it is getting hard to determine the difference between NBC News and MSNBC opinion.  This is a great letter from Ed Gillespie who is Counselor to the President.

Some great quotes in here, but let me just highlight two of them:

Are there numbers besides the “government number” to go by?  Is there reason to believe “the government number” is suspect?  How does the release of positive economic growth for two consecutive quarters, albeit limited, stop “just short of the official declaration of a recession”?

So now NBC “News” doesn’t believe the government numbers…. Because they (NBC) knows better?

And this choice quote:

I’m sure you don’t want people to conclude that there is really no distinction between the “news” as reported on NBC and the “opinion” as reported on MSNBC

Good luck getting a response….

May 20, 2008 Posted by Jonathan | Politics | , , | No Comments

Political Posts

I haven’t written a lot lately here in regards to my political thoughts as I am completely sick of all of the canidatates this year.  This election cycle has been going on way way too long for my taste and I am quickly getting to the point where none of the above is the option I would like to take in the general election.

My questioin is how have the 3 senators been doing vote wise with the current day job during the 2 years they have all been campaigning?

April 26, 2008 Posted by Jonathan | Politics | | No Comments