Last Call

It's interesting to note after all the noise at CPAC this year that the folks in attendance seem to think the road to the White House would be best traveled by...Ron Paul?

Texas Rep. Ron Paul won the straw poll of conservative activists Saturday as their top choice for the 2012 presidential nomination, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney finished a strong second — but among the newer faces, no one showed much strength.


Paul was the first choice of the 3,742 voters at the Conservative Political Action Conference with 30 percent. Romney got 23 percent. Paul and Romney also finished one-two in last year’s poll, with almost identical percentages.

In 2007, Romney won the straw poll, followed by former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the eventual nominee, never a favorite of conservative activists, was fifth.

Perhaps just as significantly, the vote this year among other hopefuls was fractured, even after more than a dozen potential candidates paraded to the podium over three days to make their cases to a convention that drew more than 11,000 people from around the country.

While Romney got a boost, the splintered vote among other candidates was a signal that “there’s no gelling around a candidate,” said CPAC Chairman David Keene. The key message, he said, is that “all of these potential candidates are seen as conservatives. People sort of like all of them.”

Other results as first choices: Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, 6 percent; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who did not attend the conference, 6 percent; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 5 percent; Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, 4 percent; former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, 4 percent, and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, 4 percent.

2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who did not attend, got 3 percent. At 2 percent each were former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who also did not attend, former National Restaurant Association head Herman Cain, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and South Dakota Sen. John Thune.

Folks, let me explain something to you.  If Ron Paul is walking away with the number one position in a CPAC straw poll, the GOP doesn't have any idea how much trouble they are in going into 2012.

Granted, Paul is infinitely more dangerous than Sarah Palin.  Unlike Palin, I actually agree with about a third of what Ron Paul has to say, that we should get the hell out of Afghanistan and Iraq, and slash billions from defense spending, and that in the last decade both Bush and Obama have severely damaged our civil liberties in the name of a meaningless Warren Terrah.  To his credit, Paul has been on the right side of those arguments for years now.

It's the other two-thirds of his platform that makes me think he's off his rocker.

Seriously?  "Opt out of America?"  What kind of scam is that?  Last time I checked, wasn't the problem with the "cult" around Obama's idealism the notion that he didn't like his country and he thought America was the bad guy?

Paul really is a dyed in the wool libertarian, the real deal, but it's almost like he resents the government he wants to lead.

Ya Think?

BILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) – A Mississippi proposal to issue a state license plate honoring a Confederate general believed to be a Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan has stirred protest and resurrected the state's ugly racial past.

To make it worse, this is the only individual they plan to honor, the rest refer to battles or Confederate veterans.  The next thing they should do is change their motto.  "Mississippi: We Still Don't Get It."  I do not believe that the darker aspects of the Civil War should be lost to history.  Like it or not, believe what you want, these acts happened and to forget them is to deny the victims their due.  However, in no possible way is this a good way to show progression.  Here's hoping Governor Barbour has an idiot filter.  It's gonna take a big one to catch this much stupid.

Stalkers, Friends on Farmville, What's The Difference?

TMZ ran an update on the restraining order taken out by owner Mark Zuckerberg:

Manukonda tells us [TMZ] he doesn't want to cause any more problems and plans on leaving Mark alone -- but he's taking it a step further. Manukonda says when his wife -- who is pregnant -- can travel they will go back to his native India.

Remember the letter Manukonda sent Zuckberger about his sick mother? Turns out she's totally fine and Manukonda says he played the "sick mom" card because someone told him Zuck was a momma's boy ... and he thought he'd get some sympathy.

So, here is my first nomination for Biggest Tool of 2011.  He'll be in fine company and stiff competition by the end of the year, I'm sure.

StupidiNews! WTF Edition

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- An officer used a stun gun on a woman who resisted arrest after leaving her 7-month-old daughter in the car while she went into a tanning salon.  St. Petersburg Police say 19-year-old Ashley Agerenza was charged Friday with child abuse, resisting arrest and battery on a law enforcement officer.

First, I just have to say that there is so much wrong there that I sort of overloaded.  Second, I have to say that the person who edited and published this article should be fired for hideous spelling and typos.  Oh wait, that's the Miami Herald.

A girl in Florida helped rescue puppies that were stolen from a pet store.  Complete with sweet ending and every possible brush stroke that would  make a story as touching as possible.  I have to stop now, there's a little something in my eye. I lived in that area for a while, and I can vouch that this area could use some good news after a record streak of violent crime and house foreclosures putting elderly residents on the streets.


The embedding code didn't want to work correctly, so you can click here to watch a short and interesting video on CNN about the snow leading to delayed burials.  Talk about stiff consequences.  Ba-dum bum.

What Year Is It Again?

This was recently featured on RedOrbit.com:

A spokeswoman for state pollster VsTIOM said on Friday that one in every three Russians believe the sun revolves around the Earth.
A survey released this week said that 32 percent of Russians believed the Earth was the center of the Solar system, 55 percent believe that all radioactivity is man-made and 29 percent believe the first humans lived when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth.

Now, I'm usually pretty skeptical when it comes to polls, particularly polls that involve different cultures because it is so easy to abuse the data.  But the fact that anyone might thing the sun revolved around the Earth in this age of information is boggling.  I just wanted to share that with you.

Water Water Everywhere, And Nary A Drop To Drink

But even with the rain, drought conditions exist throughout most of the state, including all of Central Florida.


In fact, less than 1 percent of the state is not suffering from some level of a drought condition.

A state surrounded by water is facing one of the worst droughts in its history.  They don't want the recent showers to give a false sense of security, as things are so dry that devastating fires are a real risk to undeveloped areas. 

Iowa Wonder What They're Thinking Chapter 2

Iowa's 51,960-name child abuse registry could get an overhaul in the wake of complaints that the list damages reputations and job prospects for the accused before they've had a fair hearing.

"There are too many innocent people on that registry list," said Rep. Bruce Hunter, D-Des Moines. "This isn't about letting people guilty of child abuse off the hook. Those people shouldn't be anywhere around children."

I'm all for protecting kids, believe me.  But putting someone on a subjective list of this nature, a list that doesn't even require a conviction in court, is wrong.  It only takes a finding by the Department of Human Services that it was "more likely than not" that abuse or neglect occurred.  Sorry, guys.  51% is not enough to damage a life, even for something as noble as protecting children.