This Day in History, February 1

1861 - War of Northern Aggression - Texas secedes from the United States.

1862 - Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is published for the first time in the Atlantic Monthly.

1865 - Abraham Lincoln signs the 13th Amendment to the Constitution

1913 - New York City's Grand Central Station opens as the world's biggest train station.

2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during recovery into Earth's atmosphere, killing all 7 astronauts on board.

2004 - Janet Jackson's breast is exposed during halftime of Superbowl XXXVIII, leading to our government losing its mind and people forgetting personal responsibility, letting FCC increase fines and regulation in broadcasting. A personal note: I've seen that clip about 50 times, and you can't see her breast. I think people just lost their minds for no reason.

Today's Random Thought

What ever happened to Bubble Gum cigars? I used to love the Boss Hogg bubble gum cigars. Those were the best. You also don't see many of the candy cigarettes either. I think it's sad that our society has told the youth that candy cigarettes and cigars are not acceptable. Poppycock.

Candy cigarettes are not bad. They are just candy.

I miss Boss Hogg and I miss Boss Hogg cigars.

This Day in History, January 31

1865 - Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes General-in-Chief

1876 - United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations

1950 - President Harry S. Truman announces program to develop hydrogen bomb.

1868 - VietCong attack U.S. Embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, grouped together as the TET OFFENSIVE.

1990 - The first McDonald's in Soviet Union opens in Moscow.

2000 - Alaska Airlines flight 261 MD 83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California - killing all 88 persons aboard.

Michael Steele Elected RNC Chairman

Today, history was made, as the Republican Party chose the first black national chairman in history: Michael Steele. Steele won on the 6th and final ballot over Katon Dawson. Bush's handpicked chairman, Mike Duncan, dropped out before the 4th vote, noting that the "winds of change were blowing."



Steele became the first black candidate elected to statewide office in Maryland in 2002 when we became Lt. Governor.



I am glad Michael Steele won. I believe he is the best choice to lead the Republican Party for the next two years, to define the agenda, to be the voice to answer the attacks from Pelosi, Reid and the President. He is a very nice man. I had the chance to meet him a couple of years ago.



Here is his acceptance speech. This is from the Weekly Standard Blog.



http://www.weeklystandard.com/Weblogs/TWSFP/TWSFPView.asp#10329

Steele Wins RNC Chair Election, 91-77 over Katon Dawson
Here is my real-time transcript of his speech. I may have missed a few sentences, but it's almost all there:

As a litte boy growing up in this town—this is awesome.

It is with a great deal of humility and a sense of service that I accept and appreciate and thank all of you for the opportunity to serve as the next chairman of our very proud, very strong, and our very, very hard-working Republican National Committee.

To our friends, to those who support us, to those who believe in the ideals, those conservative ideals that make us the strong, proud party that we are. To Americans who believe in the future of this country. To those who stand in difference with us, it's time for something completely different, and we're gonna bring it to them.

We're gonna bring this party to every corner, every boardroom, every neighborhood, every community and we're gonna say to friend and foe alike: We want you to be a part of this, we want you to worth with us, and for those of you who wish to obstruct, get ready to get knocked over.

So, I want to thank all of you, especially. I remember sitting in this body in 2000 and 2002, and I never thought this day would come. I want to thank especially my friend in the territories, who I can assure all of you will be a part of building this party in a way we have never seen before.
To my friends in the Northeast: get ready, baby. It's time to turn it on, and work to do what we always do well, and that is win. We're gonna win again in the Northeast. We're gonna continue to win in the South. We're gonna win with a new storm in the Midwest and we're gonna get to the West and lock it down there, too.

This is our opportunity. I cannot do this by myself. This is about empowering you, our chairmen, our national committee men and national committee women to grow our party.

We stand proud as the conservative party of the United States, and we will make sure that the values that have made our party the Party of Lincoln, are part of the issues, part of the policies that are reshaping this country.

We will cede no ground to anyone on matters of principle, on matters than matter to the people of this country.

My first official act as your chairman is to end this speech right now because we have a few more races to do to fill out the leadership team to lead you the next two years. I look forward to visiting you all in your towns, in your neighborhoods as we grow and build our party.

Thank you again for this honor. God bless you. God bless our party.

Stimulus Bill Would Give Payments to Illegal Aliens

Story from Newsmax.com

Stimulus Bill Would Give Payments to Illegal Aliens
Thursday, January 29, 2009 2:57 PM

WASHINGTON - The $800 billion-plus economic stimulus measure making its way through Congress could steer government checks to illegal immigrants, a top Republican congressional official asserted Thursday.

The legislation, which would send tax credits of $500 per worker and $1,000 per couple, expressly disqualifies nonresident aliens, but it would allow people who don't have Social Security numbers to be eligible for the checks.

Undocumented immigrants who are not eligible for a Social Security number can file tax returns with an alternative number. A House-passed version of the economic recovery bill and one making its way through the Senate would allow anyone with such a number, called an individual taxpayer identification number, to qualify for the tax credits.

A revolt among GOP conservatives to similar provisions of a 2008 economic stimulus bill, which sent rebate checks to most wage earners, forced Democratic congressional leaders to add stricter eligibility requirements. That legislation, enacted in February 2008, required that people have valid Social Security numbers in order to get checks.

America's Craziest Governor Thrown Out of Office

Today, America's most insane Governor, Rob Blagojevich, was unanimously thrown out of office today by a vote of 59 - 0 by the Illinois Senate. He became the first governor in over 20 years to be removed by impeachment.

Blagojevich was also barred from ever holding any office in the state of IL ever again.

I will miss him. He had James Traficante hair, dressed like he was mobster, and was completely bat s insane. He still has the best press conferences to date and the Nightline interview the other night was outstanding.

His interview on the View was outstanding as well. You can check out the 4 parts on YouTube.

You don't crazy like this anymore. I hope he lands on his feet. He was just doing the honorable thing by trying to find a good replacement for "The One."

This Day in History, January 30

1835 - In the first assassination attempt against the President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot Old Hickory, Andrew Jackson.

1862 - The first ironclad warship, the USS Monitor, is launched.

1933 - Adolf Hitler sworn in as Chancellor of Germany

1956 - Martin Luther King Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for Montgomery Bus Boycott

1969 - The Beatles last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. Impromptu
concert broken up by police.

1976 - George H. W. Bush becomes 11th Director of CIA.

2000 - Off the coast of the Ivory Coast, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into Atlantic, killing 169.

Birthdays:

1615 - Thomas Rolfe - only child of Pocahontas and John Rolfe
1882 - Franklin D. Roosevelt
1930 - Gene Hackman
1941 - Dick Cheney
1951 - Charles Dutton
1973 - Jalen Rose
1974 - Christian Bale - The Dark Knight

Deaths:

1948 - Orville Wright of the Wright Brothers
2006 - Coretta Scott King

Great buzzer shot for Lawson...

UNC wins, 80 - 77 at the buzzer in Tallahassee on a buzzer-beater 3 by Ty Lawson.

Also, Duke lost to Wake today, so they won't be #1 anymore.

LOST...you learn something every week

Tonight, I learned that Charles Whitmore was on the island in the 50's. So, was he and original "Other?" How did he get there?

We also learned that Farraday's time travel experiments were being funded by Whitmore.

Who is the lady in the bed?

Is Farraday's mother the same woman that Ben met with to find out how to get back to the island?

Find out soon, i hope.

Random Thoughts of the Day

Does Aunt Jemima have a biscuit mix?

I've never heard of having Aunt Jemima biscuits. I've had Bisquick biscuits, and they are tasty. I've had Aunt Jemima pancakes, but never biscuits. Did she not want to make biscuits? Did she only want to do one thing well? I mean, she has the tastiest pancake, but couldn't she just give us a couple of biscuits.

I'm just curious as to why Bisquick can make both pancakes and biscuits, but Aunt Jemima can only make pancakes.

If anyone knows, let me know.

This Day in History, January 29

1834 - President Andrew Jackson orders the first use of federal soldiers to surpress labor dispute.

1936 - First Inductees into Baseball Hall of Fame announced

1963 - First Inductees into Pro Football Hall of Fame announced

2002 - In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as Axis of Evil and names Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.

We have a great collection of birthdays today:

1737 - Thomas Paine - Author of Common Sense
1843 - William McKinley, US President
1945 - Tom Selleck - Magnum P.I.
1950 - Ann Jillian - Joan from Mr. Mom
1954 - OPRAH

Stimulus Package Passed Tonight

HR - 1, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, passed tonight by a vote of 244 - 188. All 177 Republicans voted NO, as did 11 Democrats. There were 244 Dems who voted yes.

This is the first time I can remember that the Republicans all voted together. The Republicans have objected to the fact that the bill does not provide any growth or stimulus, but grows government by leaps and bounds. It is rumored that ACORN is receiving 5.2 Billion. ACORN is a left-leaning non-profit that is under federal investigation for massive voter fraud during the 2008 Election.

We will dissect the bill in the next few days to really see what is in it.

Here is the text of the bill, so you can start reading for yourself.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c111:./temp/~c111MfX9cd

Stay tuned for Card Check. That can't be far behind.

Random Thoughts of the Day

After watching Teen Wolf for the 3rd time in last month, it made me think...
Before Scott knew of his wolf powers, he couldn't play basketball worth a lick. After he became The Wolf, he was like a furry LeBron. He was unstoppable.

The day of the State Championship, the biggest game of the year, Scott shows up as himself, the skinny no-talent loser. But when he takes the court, and they are down 20, he plays like John Stockton.

How does he play like the Wolf, without morphing into the Wolf? How can he control his powers that well? And...how can the sweaty fat kid (Francis from Pee Wee's Big Adventure) play out of his mind.

Can anyone tell me how this is possible?

Speaker Pelosi tells us about contraception (I didn't know she was a doctor)

I am posting a message from my friend, Donny Ferguson, who is Communications Director of the Libertarian Party. Below is his email about dear Nancy...our beloved speaker.

Your Monday Message from the Libertarian Party: Dear friend,I was going to chat with you today about what we really need to stimulate the economy.

But then Nancy Pelosi had to go and say children are a burden and a lot of the poor ones should never have been born.In fact, she said it twice just in case you didn't hear her the first time.

She was on ABC's This Week last Sunday, discussing the Democrats' $825 billion so-called "stimulus package." The conversation didn't really get interesting until host George Stephanopoulos asked Pelosi about some of the more ridiculous items in the package, like $200 million for contraception, and how that creates jobs.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services. How is that stimulus?

PELOSI: Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So no apologies for that?

PELOSI: No apologies. No. We have to deal with the consequences of the downturn in our economy.

So much for the notion that expanding government services fosters compassion.

Private charities treat people with dignity and love because their funds are given to them out of a desire to help people.

But as far as politicians like Nancy Pelosi are concerned, the poor and suffering are parasites feeding off a body designed to deliver votes and preserve political power.

Their numbers must be reduced to keep the host healthy. The only question is how many can you cast off without losing the votes you need to win re-election.

The lesson learned from Pelosi's momentary lapse of honesty is libertarianism is a philosophy rooted in compassion and respect for your fellow man. The voluntary exchange of goods, services and charitable giving creates a country where health care and education are shared for the right reasons – because we love and respect our neighbors.

Compare that to the cold calculations of the government-sponsored welfare state. Born not out of compassion, but out of a desire to buy votes, the well-being of your neighbor becomes a mathematical calculation. How many can you serve without tapping out funds for people who can buy you even more votes? How many can you cast out into the street, or in Pelosi's case prevent from ever existing, before they stop voting for you?

I've volunteered in homeless shelters, schools and my church's food bank. I've never once heard anyone grumble about the number of people we help and propose we do something to prevent them from ever existing.

So as you go out into the world this week, take a moment to share Pelosi's cold calculations with your friends. Would they rather a taxpayer-funded welfare state where the government begins controlling the population to keep the system from collapsing, or a community of volunteers who realize the poor and suffering are friends and neighbors in need of a little help?

The choice is theirs at the ballot box.

Live free,
Donny Ferguson
Director of CommunicationsLibertarian Party
Donny.Ferguson@lp.org

PS – If you are receiving this email, and have not yet become a member of the Party and wish to do so, please click here to sign up to become a member of the only political party dedicated completely to cutting taxes and maximizing liberty. If you need to renew, please do so by clicking here.

PPS - If you have not yet contributed, please consider a donation right now of $25, $50, $100 or $1000 to the Libertarian Party. Your contribution will be used to grow the Party and expand the message of liberty. From ads to outreach, every dollar goes towards leading the liberty movement in its fight to restore the Constitution and maximize freedom.

This Day in History, January 26

1837- Michigan admitted as 26th State

1838- Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States

1863- War of Northern Aggression - General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of Army of the Potomac after disasterous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker.

1988- Lewinsky scandal: On American Television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Births:
-Douglas MacArthur - 1880
-Eddie Van Halen - 1955
-Road Warrior Animal - 1960 (An American Legend)

President Obama reverses the ban on the "Mexico City Policy"

President Obama, in his first 100 hours in office, wasted no time in reversing the Reagan and Bush "Mexico-City" policy. The order prohibits non-governmental agencies that receive federal funds from providing or promoting abortions in other nations.

Obama recently said that he would sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which is a sweeping bill that would abolish pro-life regulations across the nation.

Robert Reich says "White Males Need Not Apply"

One of Barack Obama's economic advisors, Robert Reich, who served as Labor Secretary under President Clinton, was speaking to the House Steering and Policy Committee on January 7th about funding infrastructure projects across the nation, when he said this:

"It seems to me that infrastructure spending is a very important and good way of stimulating the economy. The challenge will be to do so quickly, to find projects that can be done that will have a high social return, that can also be done with the greatest speed possible. I am concerned, as I'm sure many of you are, that these jobs not simply go to highly skilled people who are already professionals or to white male construction workers," Reich said.

Reich said there are ways the money can go to others, such as the long-term unemployed, minorites and women.

It seems like the administration is signalling that they want to stimulus funds to be given to the long-term unemployed and to people with incomes at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

I will keep you informed further, but this looks like redistribution of the wealth to me, and that the need for well-built roads and bridges will be passed over for "other" needs.

We will have to wait and see where the money, all $800+ billion of it, will go.

Barack Obama Inaugurated as 44th President

Barack Obama was inaugurated on Tuesday, January 20th, as our 44th President. It was a real historic event as the first African-American took the oath of office as our President. The inauguration was a star-studded event and was the biggest spectacle I've ever seen. I can honestly say that I did not watch most of it, as I was not interested, but I did hear Aretha Franklin sing the worst rendition of "God Bless America" I have ever heard. It was awful and incoherent. Also, she had a horrible hat.

It will be interesting to see how long the love affair lasts between Obama and the Congress, especially the U.S. House, since Nancy Pelosi is liberal and insane, two bad things that don't go well together, unlike Reese's Peanut Cups.

Finally, Ramos and Campeon Are Coming Home.

Former U.S. Border Patrol agents Jose Campeon and Ignacio Ramos are finally coming home on March 20. Former President Bush, after 2 years of letting the border agents sit in solitary confinement in prison, commuted their sentences right before his term expired last week.

Campeon and Ramos were convicted and imprisoned for an encounter with now-convicted drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila. He had dropped one-third of a ton of drugs in the United States and was fleeing into Mexico when the officers shot at him and wounded him. He was granted full immunity in exchange for his testimony against of the agents. While on that grant of immunity, he was involved in another drug smuggling incident, for which he later was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison. He was not charged for the first incident.

This has been a travesty of justice and Bush let these guys sit in prison so he could lend legitimacy to his immigration stance. I am glad that they are now set to go home. The only sad thing is that were not pardoned and returned home immediately.