Courage of Conviction

I was looking at the news this morning and one story after another has confirmed that my world is now upside down.

What did it - three stories.  That’s all I could handle before I had to stop.

First story - Barbaro.  He died - get over it.  He was a horse.  We go out of our way to morn a horse and yet children die every day without anyont even thinking about them.  I saw one comment about someone understanding Philly mourning his death because they are in search of a champion and haven’t had one since 1983.  When will people realize that each and every person is a champion.  Each person is a leader.  We can and should stop looking to others for leadership when we have it within us - all we have to do is use it.

Second story - poll - 56% of Philadelphians want survellience cameras.  Wow.  All I can do is quote a Philadelphian - Ben Franklin once said something to the effect that the man who would give up some freedom to gain some security deserves neither.  How sad that our national birthplace of freedom is willingly wanting to give up freedom for security.

Third story - Republicans propose a state smoking ban.  I’m not a smoker.  I have never in my entire life even put a cigarette to my lips.  I don’t support a ban on smoking though.  I can see teh spin to this story - These Republicans are one-uping Rendell and attempting to pose as the party of health care.  I’ve often said that it is ridiculous to do this piecemeal approach to banning smoking that we have done in the past.  Still, Republicans are proving once again to me that they are not the party of limited government - they are still nanny state light - in other words they are really Democrats who are just taking their time getting to big government.  Real Democrats are running toward big government. 

I’m the type of person who doesn’t like too many holiday’s.  Being a small business owner I tend to look at holiday’s as unproductive days - days where there is a limited opportunity to be profitable.  It’s true for MLK day as it is for Labor Day and New Years Day and several other holidays on our calendar. 

I would argue that most people see today as just another day off from work.  The reality is that they will do whatever they want or what they couldn’t get done over the weekend.  There won’t be much thought about the man who we are supposed to be honoring.  I’d argue that would be because on days like today, it comes down to this - how do you celebrate MLK day?  It’s a good question.  It’s a question that the country has been dealing with since this became a federal holidy - what to do on this day.  Recently it seems that some have turned it into a day of service.  That’s not a bad idea really. 

Still, for most people, it’s either just another day off or another day to work.  Does that make the people who don’t “celebrate” the holiday bad people - I would say no.  Just as people who don’t celebrate Christmas are not bad people.  It’s just like anything, unless it carries some kind of signifigance to you, you probably could care less what the day is. 

For me, the most pointless holiday we have is New Years Day.  We take a entire day off so that we can do what?  The only answer I can come up with is put up a new calendar and watch college football. 

Labor Day has always been interesting to me as well - we celebrate Labor Day by not laboring. 

July 4th I get.  Christmas I get.  We don’t celebrate Washington’s or Lincoln’s birthday officially anymore, even though without either of them, we would have no country.  Easter’s on a Sunday, so it’s not even debateable.  Memorial Day is an odd one.  We remember all those who died for their country on that day.  The typical way to do that in America - have a picnic.  Thanksgiving is an easy holiday to figure out. 

So where does that leave MLK day?  If it’s important to you then I hope you are celebrating in an appropriate way.  If it’s not, then do something productive. 

1.  John Perzel will no longer be Speaker.  Not only that, he will no longer be in any leadership position - which will cause him to throw a ninny-fit and resign.  Good riddenence. 

2.  The voters will throw out another Supreme Court Judge.

3.  The State House of Representatives will refuse to make changes to the way that it does business, regardless of who is in charge.  The Senate will make changes, but will not be able to put the changes into law because of the House.  People will start to go to their Senators more often for legislative concerns instead of House Members, because people will see the House as worthless.

4.  By the end of 2007, John McCain will no longer be the frontrunner for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. 

5.  The Democrat-led House of Represenatives will not give in to the left fringe by starting Impeachment hearings of President Bush.

6.  Football - The NFC will be represented by the Chicago Bears.  The AFC will be represented by the Baltimore Ravens.  The Ravens will win the Super Bowl. 

Only 6 predictions this year.  I’ll check back on them next Dec.  Hope you have a great New year and a fabulous 2007.

On Dec. 30th, I made my annual predictions - let’s review how I did.

1. My first target was the legislature - I predicted that 22 incumbents would get the boot - 17 did.  Not too bad, still a little short of my prediction, but close.  I also predicted that 2 legislative leaders would lose - 3 did. 

2. A move to replace the Speaker - John Perzel.  From the best of my knowledge, there was some backroom wrangling over this, although not much public about it. 

3. Santorum gets re-elected.  Boy was I off on this one - enough said.

4. GOP picks Scranton - again, way off.

5. Rendell wins another term.  I was right, just didn’t give him enough of a cusion.

6. Colts beat the Seahawks.  Well, the Seahawks lost, but to the Steelers. 

7.  The legislature will still not get it.  I think this is still mostly true - especially the leadership.  There are signs of hope in the Senate though.  The upper Chamber may actually pass some reforms.  Even adjusting the rules is a major accomplishment as far as I’m concerned.  The House is still clueless though - they are a lost cause.

8. Constitutional Convention.  Well, there has been some talk about a convention throughout the year, but nothing definate yet.  We still have a ways to go on this one.

9. Running 2 marathons, completing one of them under 4 hours.  Didn’t happen.  I did run Chicago this year, but didn’t do it under 4 hours.  The other one I was signed up for was Dallas in the spring. I didn’t do it though because os injury.

I’ve been taking a bit of time off from blogging for a few reasons.  First off, it’s the Christmas season - even political junkies like me need a break and Christmas offers a perfect time to do just that.

Second, There isn’t much to blog about right now. 

Third, I’ve been doing some real soul-searching as I plan out 2007.  As I keep learning, I need a moment every now and then to process.  To be perfectly, I’m a bit disgusted with the current state of politics, so I’ve also been not delving in it all that much because I don’t want to be drawn down to a level I don’t enjoy.

I may put up predictions for 2007, report on my 2006 predictions - and then again, I may not.  We’ll see.

I’ve been away from blogging since Monday.  I just really didn’t feel inspired to write anything the last few days. 

I think in these times of a lack of inspiration, I’ll start writing about public policy.  I’ve have a million opinions on varying topics, I could very easily share what I think could be done with some challenge that exists in PA today. 

So stay tuned as I address some of the important issues of the day.  Of course, if I feel inspired to comment on the news of the day, you can always expect that.  Have a great weekend. 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. 

I’m grateful for so many things.  Here’s just a few of the best things I am grateful for:

- Life

- Opportunity

- Abundance

- My family

- Doing something everyday that I have a passion for

- Living out my purpose

- Living in a country where opportunity flows

- Being able to freely and openly express my thoughts and opinions

- My health

Like I said, there’s more.   In fact, too many to list here.  What are you grateful for?

Welcome to my new blog.  I am looking forward to this journey.  Besides having a unique web address, there are so many more options available with this blog.  Stay tuned as I make changes and improvements.  Also, take the survey - I’ll have a regular survey up on a regular basis - I’d love to hear your thoughts.