The greatest daredevil of all time is off to the Astrodome in the sky:

Evel Knievel, the hard-living motorcycle daredevil whose exploits made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Knievel’s death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs.

Knievel had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his bone-shattering spills.

From burglary to Snake River Canyon, the guy did it all.

No Toilet Paper Tax.

Throughout US history many brave Americans have stepped up to the plate to protest unfair taxation. Mary Bach, 63 of Murrsyville, PA is one such American that will not be flushed down history’s toilet bowl because she allowed K-Mart to unfairly tax her toilet paper.

(pittsburghlive.com) Mary Bach, 63, sued Kmart after its store on Mall Boulevard in Monroeville charged her 7 percent sales tax on two 12-pack rolls of Angel Soft toilet paper — a non-taxable item, according to the state Department of Revenue.

On Thursday, Monroeville District Judge Herbst ruled in Bach’s favor, finding Kmart twice levied the tax improperly. She gets $100, plus court costs.

(Update)

It just struck me after rereading the original story how the PA. State Department of Revenue absolved themselves of any culpability in the matter. 

State Department of Revenue spokeswoman Stephanie Weyant said the department has no authority to penalize Kmart for charging tax on toilet paper.

Weyant said consumers who are overcharged for items should contact the Department of Revenue for a refund. She said the department also will follow up and advise store managers to stop charging sales tax on products that are non-taxable.

Me thinks we need many more watchdogs like Mary. 

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear “Muhammad.”

The protesters streamed out of mosques after Friday sermons, as pickup trucks with loudspeakers blared messages against Gillian Gibbons, the teacher who was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation. She avoided the more serious punishment of 40 lashes.

They massed in central Martyrs Square outside the presidential palace, where hundreds of riot police were deployed. They did not try to stop the rally, which lasted about an hour.

“Shame, shame on the U.K.,” protesters chanted.

…

he protesters called for Gibbons’ execution, saying, “No tolerance: Execution,” and “Kill her, kill her by firing squad.”

…

Many protesters carried clubs, knives and axes — but not automatic weapons, which some have brandished at past government-condoned demonstrations. That suggested Friday’s rally was not organized by the government.

A Muslim cleric at Khartoum’s main Martyrs Mosque denounced Gibbons during one sermon, saying she intentionally insulted Islam. He did not call for protests, however.

“Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan. But we welcome imprisonment and expulsion,” the cleric, Abdul-Jalil Nazeer al-Karouri, a well-known hard-liner, told worshippers.

“This an arrogant woman who came to our country, cashing her salary in dollars, teaching our children hatred of our Prophet Muhammad,” he said.

Many of us are so disappointed with the way Fred Thompson’s campaign has been run to this point that we only focus on that, forgetting why we were so enthusiastic about him to begin with. His campaign and his supporters have not helped, choosing to run a negative campaign, focusing on the faults of others instead of highlighting his strengths. That is a mistake and the results speak for themselves.

Let’s remember why we liked Fred to begin with. I’ll help the bumbling campaign, no charge. Perhaps they can right the ship and get conservatives enthused about their candidate.

First, why not focus on his story? It’s a great story and if I were running his campaign, I would have used the 30 seconds of free air time during the recent CNN/YouTube debate to highlight it instead of running a hit piece against two opponents. People need to know his story.

Fred’s is the classic American success story. Born dirt poor, he was the first in his family to go to college. He got his high school sweetheart pregnant, did the manly thing by marrying her and supporting her, working afternoons to finish high school, dropping out of football while his buddies continued on. Isn’t that exactly the type of role model we need in today’s society? I think yes. It would have been awesome to have Americans see that during the debate.

Second, his record. Solidly conservative. Solidly pro-life, don’t let the negative ads of other candidates convince you otherwise. Solidly pro-states rights. Solidly against gun control laws. Highlight it. Feature it. Spread the message.

Third, his detailed policy releases. No other candidate has released such in-depth policy positions. Be it taxes, entitlements, budget reform, national security, education or immigration, Fred’s got a position that is defined, realistic, well thought out and, most importantly, solidly conservative. Spread the news. Tell people about Fred, not about what is wrong with other candidates.

Simply reading about him again has brought my hope back for his campaign. He is a solid conservative, has a great story to tell. He’s witty, funny, charming and damn smart when you listen to him speak.

The problem is no one is listening to him because his own campaign and his own supporters are suppressing that message. Stop it. Start talking him up. Now.

Whoo Hoo! It’s Friday!

Make yourself a little snack for the weekend and party on!

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Hi Annette! We just heard you talking to Dan!

Thanks for mentioning LST; maybe we need to turn this into a tradition– blog posts devoted to anyone who mentions LST on the radio. 

After reading the link in Benzion’s post below, I thought this was timely.

Rodney King, whose beating by Los Angeles police in 1991 drew international headlines, has been shot, but his wounds are not life-threatening, according to media reports.

Police said when they arrived at the home, King and others there appeared drunk and few were cooperative in providing information.

Do yourself a favor and go read Jason Whitlock.

The lead to this Fox News story on Fred’s debate performance last night tells the tale:

Following a debate where GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson gave a lackluster performance, the former Tennessee senator is challenging his opponents to meet him for a more personal follow-up — on his terms.

As I noted earlier, Mr. Thompson did not have a stellar performance last night. But, is this the best way for him to correct it?

Mr. Thompson has already issued this challenge once, as we reported here. Unfortunately for the country, he then declined Mike Huckabee’s acceptance of his challenge. Does he not think that Mr. Huckabee will accept again? But wait - there is a qualifier.

“I would like for each of us in small groups … to sit in small groups and have a discussion, a round-table discussion,” Thompson said. “Anybody who’s a serious contender for the nomination — I would get to decide as to who I’d get to sit down with, and it’d be several. And I’d do it one-on-one, one-on-three or whatever.”

Oh, so Fred would get to decide who is or isn’t a “serious contender”. That should be interesting, letting him determine whom we should get to vote for.

Fred’s slow, careful answers to questions have not gone over too well in the fast paced debates, so I can understand his wanting to sit down and take more time. And would thoroughly enjoy the show. But, he’s already run from Huckabee once. And does he really, truly think Mitt or Rudy would be easier foes?

Or does he consider Ron Paul to be a top tier candidate? Perhaps he thinks he would look good next to the hyper doctor raising his shrill voice, telling us we are the problem in the global terror wars.

Or will he run home to mama again, complaining that Fox News is biased against him for saying he had a lackluster performance?

You’ve got to hand it to the Chronicle — no matter how absurd their position, they dig in like nobody’s business. Certainly, the Chronicle has not advocated the judicious use of taxpayer dollars. They continually support frivolous projects such as sports stadiums and light rail, taking money away that could be used for, say, more police.

And yet in spite of this record, the Chron now waves its smelly finger at the Harris County Commissioners Court for fighting a lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court over the propriety of the display of the Mosher Bible in front of the county courthouse. This one merits a substantial fisking:

In the case of the inappropriate and unconstitutional display of an open Bible outside the former Civil Courthouse on Fannin, Harris County Commissioners Court violated one of life’s most basic rules: When you find yourself in a hole you don’t want to be in, stop digging.

By foolishly and futilely appealing the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the commissioners tried to dig to China. As a result, the taxpayers are in the hole for what might be hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

The Chronicle has no ire for the plaintiffs for bringing this insipid case to begin with, of course. Just think about that for a moment. What you had here was a Bible in a case that belonged to William Mosher. It was placed there in 1956 in Mosher’s memory in recognition of his philanthropic work, which was largely driven by his religious beliefs.

Somebody saw that Bible, researched the fairly innocuous story of how the Bible came to be there, and yet was still so offended that they bothered to make a federal case of it. They convinced Judge Sim Lake — who, although a good jurist, reached the wrong result in this case — that the Bible was a “law respecting an establishment of religion” barred by the First Amendment as those words have been interpreted by more recent Supreme Court precedent.

And the plaintiffs moved for the county to pay their attorney’s fees. Ouch. Sim Lake granted the request.

Wait, and now it’s supposed to be the County that’s exclusively at fault here? They had the facts on their side. The monument wasn’t intended as an endorsement of Christianity, and I seriously doubt anybody who actually looked at the monument closely could have come away with that impression. Moreover, even granting that the monument could be considered suspect, the fact remains that I and many other attorneys completely disagree with existing Supreme Court precedent and its highly dubious view of the establishment clause. I am very pleased that the County worked to change it (which was not a fool’s errand, because the makeup of the Court has shifted in recent years).

County Judge Ed Emmett and Commissioner Steve Radack — imagine them as an American Gothic couple holding large shovels — just don’t get it. Both said they would like to display the monument and its Bible somewhere on county property. Emmett said some court rulings were just silly.

Would the county let other faith-based organizations display their holy writ on county property? If not, it would be guilty not only of promotion of one religion, but also discrimination against others.

I’m sure if a member of some other faith was as philanthropic and dedicated as William Mosher, the County would have considered such a display. In any case, that’s a purely theoretical question and had no bearing whatsoever on the case.

Moreover, I would note that the founding fathers themselves held Christian Mass in the Capitol building and had (and still have) a Christian chaplain for the Congress. The fact is that the First Amendment was never, ever intended to prevent the government from endorsing Christianity with various displays; rather, it was intended as a bulwark against the establishment of a state religion akin to the Anglican Church in Britain. Only very recent Supreme Court precedent — from the Warren Court forward — endorses the stupid, unreasonable view that the Establishment Clause to the First Amendment is so restrictive. It’s wrong and it has caused a major rift between people of faith and the Supreme Court. That’s far more unhealthy and divisive than a Bible in a box outside of a courthouse.

What purpose would the displays serve? What would be the point of inviting such controversy?

The members of Commissioners Court, with their perverse persistence in wanting to violate the First Amendment’s prohibition against government establishment of religion, are the ones who are being silly, at great expense. For those who start out in the wrong, persistence is no virtue.

Please. Unless you’ve been asleep for the past forty years, you know the controversy is there. The Commissioners Court didn’t create the controversy; it merely brought it to the surface, which in my opinion is where it belongs. All the Commissioners Court was violating is the anti-religious, errant precedent of a Court that shifted too far to the left, and is just now coming back to the center (and hopefully to the right, with the next appointment).

It’s the Chronicle that’s wrong here. That’s why they don’t even try to argue the merits in this or any other editorial.

The CNN/YouTube debate for Republicans last night was very interesting. It started off with fireworks between Rudy and Mitt that set the tone for the night. Whatever you might think about their positions independently, as a group, these guys are very strong.

• Duncan Hunter - B - Excellent job. If he had been like this throughout the debates, he might have been able to gain traction. Kept to his core points and was passionate and animated throughout. His answer to the question of how we regain America’s reputation around the world was nothing less than brilliant and will be widely circulated around the ‘net when it is uploaded to YouTube.
• John McCain - C - Seemed tired, tried to pick up the pace but didn’t have the energy. At least that is how I viewed it. Was given a softball question on spending, should have hit it out of the park. Instead, he sounded more like a tired Senator trying to convince people he is something he isn’t. Completely dismissed the Fair Tax and eliminating the IRS.
• Mike Huckabee -B+ - Very good performance. Showed a little bit of fire by jumping into questions not directed to him, something that he hasn’t done before but needed to. Seemed very confident, I guess the surge in polls has him feeling pretty good. Had by far the funniest line of the night when asked about eliminating the IRS - most people are more afraid of an audit than a mugging.
• Mitt Romney - A - Good, solid performance. Mixed it up with Rudy early and often. Has a polished presentation of his talking points. Best debate he has had.
• Ron Paul - B- - He kept to his core points and reached out to his base. He made note of the fact that his supporters raised $4.3 million in a single day without any organization. He stated that he had no desire to run as anything but a Republican. Was quick to name three programs he would cut the first day in office.
• Rudy Giuliani - B- - Like him or dislike him, Rudy is a strong candidate. He makes his points, he listens to other candidates responses and has a ready retort. Said he would not sign a bill that came before him banning abortion, that it was up to the states.
• Tom Tancredo - B- - Like Hunter, if he had been as animated and articulate throughout these debates as he has been the last two, he might have gained traction. Stuck to his core theme of illegal immigration as the biggest problem that America faces.
• Fred Thompson - C - I’m going to get hammered for giving Fred a C but I thought his performance was lacking. I expected him to win this debate: he had plenty of time to prepare, it was held in a state that he has targeted and the pop culture format of YouTube should have fit him well. It didn’t. He was quicker to start his answers but fell into that trap of not completing them before his time was up. “Hold on, I’m getting there” works well in deep policy discussions - it doesn’t work at all when you have 7 pit bulls waiting to jump on you. When asked which 3 programs he would cut immediately, he started talking about Social Security, a no-no. The moderator asked him, did you just say you would cut Social Security? He backtracked, said no, save it, don’t cut it and then stumbled for a bit but I doubt that answer will play well in Florida. He was trying to get in one of his good talking points, saving Social Security but chose the wrong question to do it.

Overall, a good debate. It will be interesting to see if viewership is rising as we near the first real voting dates. People that aren’t watching are missing a great opportunity to see these guys go head to head.

I first thought that Anderson Cooper was in way over his head because the candidates were running all over him. It was their eighth debate, his first. He settled in and did much better in the latter half of the debate. Unlike some of the other moderators, he didn’t try to make the debate about himself. Good job.

There you have it. Now go out there, find one of these guys to support and start spreading the message.

Sometimes I think we may as well just hand our sperm and eggs over to the government and let them take over since more and more real parents seem to have no idea how to raise their own progeny:

In the coming weeks, Boston police will begin asking parents in several impoverished, high-crime neighborhoods to allow searches of their homes - without the need for warrants. The surprising reaction: many parents and community leaders are all for it. And that is making for an intriguing civil liberties debate.

Under the experimental program, dubbed “Safe Homes,” teams of police officers assigned to Boston’s public schools will hunt for leads on youths believed to have guns. Tips might come from neighbors, or even parents or guardians, who are often fearful of their own children. Three plainclothes officers and a clergyperson or community activist will show up at the youth’s home. The officers will ask parents to sign a form allowing the search of the home, including the child’s room. Weapons found in the child’s possession will be seized, and no charges will be filed unless the weapon is linked to a violent crime. “This is an interaction between human beings, where common sense will prevail,” Edward Davis, Boston’s police commissioner, told TIME.

Commissioner Davis, when parents are fearful of their children shooting them, common sense has long since left the debate. Common sense like disciplining your children would be a good place to start. Sadly, the parents are all in favor of abrogating their responsibilities:

Some of Davis’ staunchest supporters have been black leaders, particularly ministers, who are desperate for anything that will quell youth violence. “There’s a cry from the parents and neighborhoods to do whatever it takes to reduce this gun violence,” says Emmett Folgert, executive director of the Boston Youth Collaborative…

In a twist of normal political alignments, the ACLU is against the program as well:

The American Civil Liberties Union swiftly assailed the program and announced plans to issue leaflets in several neighborhoods to inform residents about the potential ramifications of allowing police officers to search their homes…

On the face of it one might say, “The citizens are allowing these searches so there is no infringement of their rights”. That is certainly true but I don’t think its a stretch to imagine these programs spreading. Once government agencies are empowered to conduct such searches they will be very reluctant to cede that power.

But that’s not what worries me about this story. Guns or no guns, the complete lack of parental responsibility is very troubling.

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Well, not David Benzion’s Grandma, of course, but here you go– the postcard that was used on the cover of Old Town Spring’s visitor’s guide (swastika under the “N” in “Grandma”).

What say you?

UPDATED– OK, now this is just strange; while Googling around a bit on this I came across the following postcard (which, just to be clear, did NOT appear in any Old Town Spring-related publication).

What’s up with that?

This is apparently a postcard that was mailed in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1908.

Color me confused.

UPDATED– Appears that the swastika in turn of century America was a symbol of “Good Luck.”

Now days, not so much.

President George W. Bush:

We express our determination to bring an end to bloodshed, suffering and decades of conflict between our peoples; to usher in a new era of peace, based on freedom, security, justice, dignity, respect and mutual recognition; to propagate a culture of peace and nonviolence; to confront terrorism and incitement, whether committed by Palestinians or Israelis.

The White House Press Office has provided a transcript of the President’s remarks yesterday at Annapolis. He is flanked at the podium by Fatah leader, Mahmoud Abbas, and Ehud Ohlmert, Prime Minister of Israel. Yes, I am uncharacteristically speechless. If our friends, the Israelis, are terrorists for protecting themselves, then we are all terrorists now.

Hat Tips:  Pam at Atlas Shrugs & GatewayPundit for video

On the day of the next Republican debate, a new Rasmussen poll has been released showing that Mike Huckabee has knocked Mitt Romney from the top spot in Iowa.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the Iowa caucus finds former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee with 28% of the vote, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with 25% support, and everyone else far behind.

It’s an amazing feat, given Mr. Romney’s spending in the state. You can bet that Mr. Huckabee will be the focus of Mr. Romney’s rhetoric in tonight’s CNN/YouTube debate. It would be a shock if he wasn’t targeted by the other candidates as well.

As predicted and as RickG noted, Huckabee’s record is being scoured by the press in a not so favorable light now that he has overcome his lack of money and name recognition. But there are two sides to every coin – the pundits are also noting his accomplishments as Governor of Arkansas.

Countering Robert Novak’s slime piece on Huckabee is Dick Morris. In his piece, Huckabee Is A Fiscal Conservative, Mr. Morris discusses that which those of us that have analyzed the data on Arkansas already know.

As Mike Huckabee rises in the polls, an inevitable process of vetting him for conservative credentials is under way in which people who know nothing of Arkansas or of the circumstances of his governorship weigh in knowingly about his record. As his political consultant in the early ’90s and one who has been following Arkansas politics for 30 years, let me clue you in: Mike Huckabee is a fiscal conservative.

A recent column by Bob Novak excoriated Huckabee for a “47 percent increase in state tax burden.” But during Huckabee’s years in office, total state tax burden — all 50 states combined — rose by twice as much: 98 percent, increasing from $743 billion in 1993 to $1.47 trillion in 2005.

In Arkansas, the income tax when he took office was 1 percent for the poorest taxpayers and 7 percent for the richest, exactly where it stood when he left the statehouse 11 years later. But, in the interim, he doubled the standard deduction and the child care credit, repealed capital gains taxes for home sales, lowered the capital gains rate, expanded the homestead exemption and set up tax-free savings accounts for medical care and college tuition.

Not exactly the stuff you’ve been reading about Mr. Huckabee, is it? People take various data points and try to make a case against his record. You simply cannot do that if you want to get a picture of the truth: you must look at the overall picture.

Which is why Mr. Huckabee has been rising in the polls. In today’s environment, people can look things up for themselves. They can read a blatant hit piece written by an Arkansas reporter, go to an election finance database and see that he has contributed to the Democratic Party, specifically Hillary Clinton. They can use this information to determine the motivation behind the attack.

Or, they can see an attack piece by the Club for Growth, disguised as a policy paper, see an organization that spent more money against Mr. Huckabee in the Iowa straw poll than Mr. Huckabee spent, go to Google and find the motivation for that. Then, they can make an informed decision.

Once they’ve made these informed decisions, they can then tell their friends and neighbors, who can look up the same information and make their own decision, repeating the process. This is happening over and over, all over the country. Mr. Huckabee isn’t the only one using this method; Ron Paul is using it as well, albeit not as effectively in persuading people to vote for him.

More from Mr. Morris:

Most impressively, when he had to pass an income tax surcharge amid the drop in revenues after Sept. 11, 2001, he repealed it three years later when he didn’t need it any longer.

He raised the sales tax one cent in 11 years and did that only after the courts ordered him to do so. (He also got voter approval for a one-eighth-of-one-cent hike for parks and recreation.)

He wants to repeal the income tax, abolish the IRS and institute a “fair tax” based on consumption, and opposes any tax increase for Social Security.

Sure sounds like his RECORD is fiscally conservative to me. What else does he bring?

But Huckabee’s strength is not just his orthodoxy on gay marriage, abortion, gun control and the usual litany. It is his opening of the religious right to a host of new issues. He speaks firmly for the right to life, but then notes that our responsibility for children does not end with childbirth. His answer to the rise of medical costs is novel and exciting. “Eighty percent of all medical spending,” he says, “is for chronic diseases.” So he urges an all-out attack on teen smoking and overeating and a push for exercise not as the policies of a big-government liberal but as the requisites of a fiscal conservative anxious to save tax money.

What “else” he brings is common sense. And he can expand the party, unlike every other candidate running. Will he be the nominee? Who knows. But one thing is clear – the lies, distortions and status quo establishment can be overcome with today’s communication infrastructure and a little bit of old-fashioned chatting with your neighbors.

The Revolutionary Islamic Republic of Iran is busy doing everything it can to build a nuclear bomb to murder millions of Jews while sending arms, money and fighters to kill and maim our troops in Iraq, but back here in Texas some politicians and bureaucrats have decided that not underwriting these activities with taxpayer dollars is just too big a pain in their ass to deal with.

Article courtesy today’s Austin American-Statesman:

Gov. Rick Perry’s call for state pension funds to quickly come up with a plan to sell Iran-linked investments is looking like anything but a sure thing.

Perry’s plan ran into opposition from two quarters this week.

In a letter Monday, state Rep. Vicki Truitt, a Republican from Keller who is chairwoman of the House Committee on Pensions and Investments, told the trustees of the Employees Retirement System, the pension fund for state workers, not to let “external pressures and demands” influence their investment decisions.

No, of course not. What concern are the lives and limbs of our troops — much less several million Jews in some other country –when “investment decisions” are to be made?

Besides, state representatives have much more pressing matters to occupy their attention, such as regulating laser hair removal facilities, designating April “Child Safety Month,” and congratulating Coach Todd Dodge and the Carroll High School Dragons on winning the 2006 Class 5A state football championship.

Craig Hester of Austin, a trustee for the Employees Retirement System, said the time and money spent on the divestment process is “an exercise in futility.”

“At the end of the day, it’s not going to have any impact” on the governments targeted, said Hester, president of Hester Capital Management. “It will be great headlines, but that’s it.”

Fascinating stuff. Hopefully Mr. Craig– during one of his hiking trips through the mountains of Colorado photographing incredible vistas –will cross paths with a prosthetic-wearing Iraq IED survivor, so he will have the opportunity to explain the subtle nuances of this position.

In a Sept. 25 letter to the pension funds, Perry said as many as 400 companies could have business ties to Iran and asked the funds to develop a plan to “engage” companies about their presence in the country and then, if need be, sell their shares.

Perry gave the pension funds 30 days to comply, a deadline that has long since passed.

Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said Tuesday that the governor is satisfied that both pension funds are making progress in identifying companies that do business in Iran.

Sorry Governor, but it doesn’t sound like any such thing is happening.

Say, doesn’t Mr. Hester have something to do with the blind trust in which your personal wealth is managed? You should reach out and give Craig a call, maybe get him with the program.

Proclamations are nice, but our troops deserve results.

The $113 billion Teacher Retirement System agreed earlier this month to study Perry’s request, and trustees will debate the issue in December. The teacher fund released a preliminary list of 19 companies, all foreign-based, that do business in Iran. They include energy giants Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Total SA and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd.

All told, the teachers system held $778.8 million in shares of the companies, less than 1 percent of its portfolio.

Keep that in mind whenever someone tries to scare you with the whole “we need to make investment decisions in the best interests of our pensioners, not based on politics” line.

We’re talking about shifting 1% of the entire portfolio. If the trustees can’t figure out how to do that and still turn a profit, they don’t deserve their seats.

• Contact Rep. Truitt: (512) 463-0690
• Contact Gov. Perry: (800) 252-9600

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

As bigjolly predicted, and as Mike Huckabee undoubtedly expected, his recent rise in the polls is bringing closer scrutiny - and charges of playing fast and loose with the facts.  Today, the AP investigates some of the Huckabee spin in a piece titled “Huckabee tries to gloss over Ark. record“:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Mike Huckabee’s presidential rivals are pointing to chinks in his record as Arkansas’ governor — from ethics complaints to tax increases to illegal immigration and his support for releasing a rapist who was later convicted of killing a Missouri woman.

In the article, the AP analyzes the claims of Huckabee’s “truth squad,” which the AP charges ”often offers, at best, an incomplete account of his record.”  The article is lengthy, and readers will want to view it and decide for themselves if the criticims are merited.  Some of the AP’s views on the misleading claims of Huck’s troops include:

_The truth squad says the only finding by the Arkansas Ethics Commission that Huckabee accepted a gift improperly was tossed out by a state court. In fact, the panel investigated 16 complaints against Huckabee and found five violations. Only one, for accepting a $500 canoe from Coca-Cola, was tossed out.

…

_Huckabee has consistently understated his role in the parole of rapist Wayne DuMond, who had been convicted in the 1984 rape of a distant cousin of former President Clinton.

…

_Huckabee likes to say he was tough on taxes in Arkansas, noting a $100 million tax cut in 1997 that until this year was Arkansas’ largest. When asked about a fuel tax increase he backed in 1999, Huckabee says incorrectly that he joined 80 percent of Arkansas voters in approving it.

Huckabee in 1999 supported a $1 billion highway bond program, including costs for interest and lawyers’ fees, but the question on the ballot was only whether the state could take on the debt, not how Arkansas would pay for it. Huckabee had signed the fuel tax increase two months earlier.

Shortly after taking office, Huckabee took a four-day trip by bass boat along the Arkansas River to tout a 1/8th-cent sales tax increase for outdoor programs. (Two nature centers now carry the names of Huckabee and his wife.) Taxes went up $40 million in the months before the $100 million tax cut Huckabee touts. 

…

_Huckabee’s recent strong stand on immigration, including an intolerance toward companies that employ illegal immigrants, runs counter to the image he crafted in his final years in office. He was battling conservatives within his own party who were pushing for stricter state-level immigration measures.

Huckabee opposed a Republican lawmaker’s efforts in 2005 to require proof of legal status when applying for state services that aren’t federally mandated and proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Huckabee derided the bill as un-American and un-Christian and said the bill’s sponsor drank a different “Jesus juice.”

That same year, Huckabee failed in his effort to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for state-funded scholarships and in-state tuition to Arkansas colleges. At the time, Huckabee said he didn’t understand the opposition to it.

Perhaps Huckabee, like Mitt Romney, has had a recent conversion to conservativsm and is geniunely different from the man who espoused many of these, well, liberal polices.  Otherwise, the AP analysis raises troubling questions about the only ordained minister in the race.  Though voters have come to expect our politicans to be economical with the truth, that doesn’t mean they like it.

One thing’s for certain:  The questions will keep on coming.  How Huckabee deals with them may tell us a lot about what kind of leader he would be.

Uh oh.  It looks like Sen. Cornyn, who has done a commendable job helping to beat back pro-amnesty legislation, may have stubbed his toe when it comes to playing nice with the state governments:

 TYLER — Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said Tuesday that while failures at the federal level to address immigration issues have left people frustrated, state lawmakers should not be attempting to fix the problem.

Cornyn, joined by former White House strategist Karl Rove at the East Texas Immigration Summit, said states passing tougher immigration laws focused only on enforcement and not economic impacts.

Cornyn said immigration was the federal government’s responsibility, and decried “piecemeal” approaches by the states.  Unfortunately, Cornyn could not promise the federal government will live up to its responsibility any time soon.

As for Rove, he essentially told us to shut up and live with it:

Rove said that one out of 20 workers in America is here illegally.

“If you think we can take 5 percent of our work force and throw them out, you’re kidding yourself,” Rove said. “We would suffer serious economic damage. There’s a moral cost. There’s a practical cost.”

Rove’s genius label is more than a bit tarnished after his repeated predictions that the GOP would be “just fine” in the 2006 elections (some genius).  Besides, nothing he currently has to say interests me much.  I’d be happy if we went back to direct mail.

On the other hand, I hope Cornyn isn’t about to give back much of the good will he earned while actually listening to his constituents on the immigration issue.

 Aw, politi