They're at it Again

From the Des Moines Register:

A bill containing what critics described as an "iPod tax" was approved by the Senate on Thursday.

The catch-all revenue department bill includes a provision that would raise $4.3 million or more annually by applying the 5 percent state sales tax to digital material that's been downloaded from the Internet: songs, audio books, cell-phone ring tones, movies and computer software.

"This tax is impractical, unenforceable and it is highly unpopular," said Sen. Jeff Angelo, a Creston Republican, in opposing the measure.

Supporters say the state is simply treating the taxation of such items the same - whether the purchase is from a business on Main Street or on the Internet.

Senate File 596 was passed by the Senate on a 29-20 vote and sent to the House for more debate.

Is anyone else sick and tired of the state and federal government taxing everything they can so they can grab every last penny that is "owed to them?"

They first anger a lot of people who voted for them by passing the tobacco tax increase, now they are passing a tax on internet downloads that will anger a lot of the young people who tend to lean Democrat. It wasn't long ago when the record companies were going after illegal downloads. If the House passes this tax, will illegal downloads go up again? Also, how will this tax be collected? Are they going to make the companies send them a monthly check? Or maybe send a bill to each household?

I said this after the tobacco tax increase, and I'll say it again. There is nothing that this new majority at the State House in Des Moines will not tax. It won't be long and you'll be seeing taxes proposed on your fast food, on your carbon footprint, and who knows what else.

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Dems Own Defeat: Straight From the Donkey's Mouth

Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, today said that the war in Iraq is lost.

The war in Iraq "is lost" and a US troop surge is failing to bring peace to the country, the leader of the Democratic majority in the US Congress, Harry Reid, said Thursday.

"I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week," Reid told journalists.

Reid said he had delivered the same message to US President George W. Bush on Wednesday, when the US president met with senior lawmakers to discuss how to end a standoff over an emergency war funding bill.

"I know I was the odd guy out at the White House, but I told him at least what he needed to hear ... I believe the war at this stage can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically."

Then, for added measure, Reid drew yet another comparison to Vietnam:

But Reid drew a parallel with former US president Lyndon Johnson who decided to deploy more troops in Vietnam some 40 years ago when 24,000 US troops had already been killed.

"Johnson did not want a war loss on his watch, so he surged in Vietnam. After the surge was over, we added 34,000 to the 24,000 who died in Vietnam," Reid said.

Apparently, Reid tried to backtrack from his comments later saying that he was talking about the present strategy. The present strategy which has seen death squad murders drop by over 50%, which has helped us clear previous terrorist strongholds such as Sadr City, which has helped us find weapon making facilities around Baghdad as well as Iranians helping the insurgents kill our troops and innocent Iraqi civilians. And this is without the full contingent of troops to be sent in the surge.

Democrats campaigned in 2006 that we needed a course change in Iraq, and for much of the war criticized Bush that we didn't have enough troops. In January, President Bush obliged by deciding to send more troops to help secure the country. But the Democrats likewise changed course, because now they didn't want to send more troops. Instead, they want to "re-deploy" our troops out of Iraq, and they want a timetable telling the enemy when precisely we will do this. It seems as if their strategy for Iraq is whatever is opposite of President Bush's plan.

This isn't just a slip of the tongue on Sen. Reid's part. It has to be obvious to everyone now that the Democrats want nothing other than defeat in Iraq. I truly wonder sometimes if they ever realized that by failing to see the consequences in effectively ignoring the attacks on the USS Cole, our Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, our barracks in Saudi Arabia, on the World Trade Center in 1993, and so on, we failed to fully grasp what we were facing until it was too late, and we lost 3,000 citizens on 9/11?

Have they taken a look now at the possible consequences of just pulling up and leaving Iraq? How easy will it be to get allies in different regions of the world if we have no credibility of sticking with them? How much will we encourage further terrorist activity by showing that their tactics achieved their desired results? How many regions of the world will we loose to the spread of radical Islamic terrorist influence? How many of these terrorist groups will decide it is now time for attacks on US soil? What effects will it have on Iran, and their seeking nuclear weapons?

General Petraeus was confirmed by the US Senate with a vote of 81-0. It is only proper to give him the time he needs to do the job he was given.

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Beall Votes Against Mandatory Firearms for Campus Police

The Iowa Senate today voted against an Senate Amendment 3371 that would made it mandatory for security officers on our college campus' to carry firearms. The law, and opponents to the legislation, say that the issue is up to the Board of Regents. Sen. Beall voted against the amendment, while Sen. Olive supported it.

Folks, campus police at the University of Iowa, UNI, and ISU are PROHIBITED from carrying firearms as part of their duty. No other Big 10 or Big 12 school does this. These are sworn, academy trained police officers, and they are not allowed to carry firearms.

This is from the UofI Dept. of Public Safety website:

Applicants must be either currently certified as a peace officer by the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, or can achieve that status within 12 months of their date of hire. The Iowa Law Enforcement Academy has specific requirements, so please refer to their website. In addition to the Academy requirements, you must successfully complete our Field Training Program, take a drug test at your own expense, pass a thorough background investigation, and pass an oral interview board.

Here is from the UNI Dept of Public Safety Website:

The University of Northern Iowa Department of Public Safety Police Division is the official law enforcement authority for the university. More than 25 fully certified, sworn police officers and dispatchers provide a variety of services to the community on a 24-hour basis. Trained full and part-time employees supplement agency operations. Pursuant to state statutes, University of Northern Iowa police officers possess full powers to detain, investigate, and arrest.

The ISU Dept. of Public Safety website is down, but I'm sure I'd find a similar quote there also.

The heads of these departments want their officers armed.

This is not a case of taking political advantage of a tragedy, as Senate Majority Leader Gronstal accused Republicans of doing today. This is about public safety. Do those who voted against this amendment feel that campus police officers are not responsible enough to carry firearms, even though they go through the exact same training and certification process as to officers in Fort Dodge, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City, and so on?

Let's hope the Board of Regents will reverse course and allow campus security the use of firearms. Keep in mind, these are state schools, paid for with our tax dollars, and ultimately, the buck stops at our state government. If the Board of Regents will not do the responsible things to allow certified, sworn police officers to carry firearms as part of their duty, then the state government needs to do so.

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Caught on Camera

Webster County Chairman Mike Bradley was snapped in a picture while visiting Tom Tancredo's reception after the Lincoln Day Unity Dinner in Des Moines on April 15th.

Beall, Miller and Bailey Don't Like Wal-Mart

Props out to State 29 for bringing this to attention. If you were watching local news in the past few days, you probably saw a story about the Wake-Up Wall-Mart people holding a press conference at the state capital with State Senator Bolckom and State Sen. Hatch. They were damning Wal-Mart for wasting state tax dollars because they don't provide enough health care for their employees.

A press release/letter to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott is out highlighting these complaints. Signatories to this letter were several members of our state legislature, include Sen. Daryl Beall, Sen. Rich Olive, Rep. McKinley Bailey, and Rep. Helen Miller.

They are worried about spending, but are these legislators just as outraged about the 10% increase in state spending this year and the projected 10% increase for next year as well? Maybe we shouldn't be too hard though. Teacher pay was only increased by 4% this year under a Democrat controlled statehouse, when last year, under Republican control, Sen. Beall felt our teachers deserved 6%.

Here some of the facts that Wal-Mart gives about their health care coverage (more can be found here):

• In FY 2006, Wal-Mart is projected to spend roughly $4.7 billion on associate benefits including, for example, contributions to health and dental plans, 401(K)/profit-sharing plans and associate discount cards. For perspective, Wal-Mart’s net income for FY 2005 was $10.3 billion.
• Benefits spending at Wal-Mart has grown 15% per year over the last three years, increasing from 1.5% to 1.9% of sales between FY 2002 and FY 2005.
• Health care spending alone has grown 19% per year during the same period.
  
• We are providing access to private insurance: Wal-Mart provides health insurance to full- and part-time associates after a waiting period considered standard in the retail industry. For many associates, a job at Wal-Mart means new access to health coverage. Surveys of hourly associates showed that 30% had no health coverage before coming to work for Wal-Mart. After joining Wal-Mart, the percentage of associates who are uninsured drops. By our estimates, we have helped over 160,000 associates get off the rolls of the uninsured.
• We are taking people off public assistance programs: According to a survey by The Segmentation Company, 7% of associates join Wal-Mart on Medicaid. Only 3% of associates remain on Medicaid after working for Wal-Mart for two years.
• The majority of Wal-Mart’s hourly associates are full-time. (Fulltime at Wal-Mart is 34+ hours per week.) That’s well above the 20% to 40% typically found in the retail industry.
• Many associates – such as students looking for work experience, seniors supplementing their retirement income and individuals working a second job – join Wal-Mart with existing health care benefits.
• During our recent open enrollment, about 70,000 associates who had previously waived coverage signed up for Wal-Mart plans.
  
• Of these associates, 78% of those surveyed said they were previously uninsured.
  
• Over one-third of those associates, previously uninsured and recently electing coverage, selected the Wal-Mart Value Plan.
• Considering factors that include associates who left Wal-Mart, those that elected to drop coverage as well as those who recently became eligible, this growth in enrollment leaves Wal-Mart in January 2006 with over 615,000 associates, (or over 1 million Americans, including spouses and dependants) on Wal-Mart health plans.
• Wal-Mart offers health coverage to both full- and part-time associates -- only 23% of all employers offer coverage to their part-time employees.
• On average in 2005, 73% of all associates were eligible for Wal-Mart plans and 43% of all associates chose to enroll. In January 2006, the number of associates covered by Wal-Mart health care insurance increased to 46%.
• According to a 2005 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the proportion of Wal-Mart associates eligible for company health care benefits (73%) is comparable to other large employers (79%) and significantly higher than the retail industry average (61%).
• According to a survey conducted by The Segmentation Company, 5% of Wal-Mart associates are on Medicaid. This is lower than the retail sector average of 6% and only slightly higher than the national average of 4%.
• 27% of the children of Wal-Mart associates are on Medicaid or S-CHIP programs, a proportion lower than the retail sector average of 36%.
• Historically, Wal-Mart’s contribution to both individual and family health care coverage has been approximately two-thirds of the total cost.
• The total benefits package for a Wal-Mart associate includes, in addition to health care, programs such as company contributions to 401(K)/profit-sharing plans, associate discount cards, paid time off and life insurance. In FY 2006, Wal-Mart is projected to spend roughly $4.7 billion on associate benefits.

And this doesn't even cover how much Wal-Mart has saved Iowans and people in other states.

I'd be interested to see how many of these legislatures have shopped or continue to shop at Wal-Mart. Should we expect to see apologies from any of them for their past behavior? I won't hold my breath.

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Democrat Vs Republican Healthcare

Sen. John Kyl (R-Arizona) has an article at Real Clear Politics today about the health care debate coming in Congress. He contrasts the differences between Republican and Democrat Health Care.

Kyl talks about the success of the Prescription Drug Program that was passed a few years ago. Despite what some might say (or even not even discuss), the program is popular among seniors and is saving them money:

Republicans passed a prescription drug benefit that uses market competition to provide critical medications to seniors at much lower costs than were projected. This "Part D" benefit for the first time is providing seniors with affordable access to a broad range of prescription drugs. Due to robust competition among health plans, the average senior is saving more than $1,200, with many saving much more. Average monthly premiums for seniors are only $22 -- 40 percent less than expected. Over 90 percent of Medicare beneficiaries are now receiving comprehensive prescription drug coverage, and polls show that more than 80 percent of seniors are happy with their drug coverage.

The American taxpayer also benefits from these lower costs. The drug benefit is estimated to cost $265 billion less than projected over the next ten years. When is the last time a government program came in under budget with a greater than 80 percent approval rating? Yet, instead of supporting the principles that have made this program successful, Senate Democrats this week will try to undo them.

Here is what Kyl says is the problem with government intervention:

Proponents of government intervention say they simply want to use the market power of the large number of Medicare beneficiaries to lower prices. But private pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) already use this same market clout to negotiate lower prices. In fact, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service, the three largest PBMs already negotiate on behalf of four times as many beneficiaries (200 million) as the entire Medicare population (44 million).

Then Kyl sums it all up:

The choice is clear: a government-run health care bureaucracy that restricts choice and rations care or a consumer-driven health care system that expands health care options while controlling costs. The prescription drug legislation has put this choice to the test, and seniors have proven that they prefer the Republican model. Seniors have independently chosen plans that provide more health care options at lower costs. For example, 88 percent of seniors who enrolled in a prescription drug plan in 2007 chose a plan that offered coverage other than the standard benefit, and this year seniors have chosen plans with 13 percent more available medications than last year.

Wise men will tell you that you don't mess with government programs that 80% of its recipients are happy with. If and when Congress passes more health care legislation, it needs to focus on the free market, not bureaucratic decision making.

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Rebellion of UK Doctors

UK doctors are refusing to perform abortion in the government run hospitals, forcing women to seek abortions at private clinics.

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1956 versus Today

Roger Kimball has a short piece at The New Criterion that reminds me of a comedic rant a friend of mine went on a few years ago about the difference between now and when he was a kid. Here is the introductory paragraph:

A friend in Chicago sent these 8 scenarios comparing life in 1956 and
today. We are always told how repressive, staid, homogenizing, and uncreative
the 1950s were. These comparisons suggest how far off-base that stereotype is.

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RIP Pat Buckley

Pat Buckley, the wife of the founder of National Review, William F. Buckley, died Sunday Morning. National Review Online has several articles up remembering her. Bill Buckley is considered by most as the father of the modern conservative movement, and Pat helped him immensely along the way. We would like to pass along our thoughts and prayers to the Buckley family at this time.

RPI Lincoln Day Dinner

The annual Lincoln Day Dinner for the Republican Party of Iowa turned out pretty well, in my opinion. It was held at the convention center in downtown Des Moines, and drew 1,000 people from across the state. It featured the 10 Republican Presidential candidates, and because of that the event drew C-SPAN which broadcast the dinner live. However, Duncan Hunter had some air travel problems, and wasn't able to make it. I won't give a play-by-play of the event, just things that I noticed, thought, etc. I'll leave the play-by-plays to the other blogs. Please Note that any opinions that might be reflected in this post are not necessarily the opinions of the Webster County Republicans.

The Brownback supporters were out in mass for the event. They stood infront of the doors holding signs, and chanted a bit in the lobby. For some reason, Brownback had several cameramen (both still and video) following him around the entire event. At first I thought they were regular press guys, until I saw the Brownback stickers they were wearing. I'm not sure if it was a visual image the campaign was going for, or, most likely, simply getting shots for future ads.

Flip the Dolphin was also there. Thats the dolphin that follows Mitt Romney around to draw attention to the flip-flops that he has been accused of. Romney had the only "keepsake" of the candidates with his Mitt "mitts"---baseball gloves made of foam ala the famous foam finger seen in sporting stadiums nation wide. The only other "keepsake" was the wine glass that the Fair Tax people had for everyone sitting at the table. John Cox also had volunteers passing out bags of potato chips.

Now, to the speeches. The speeches were only to be 6 minutes long. The only candidate who came close to keeping within the limit was John McCain, the last speaker of the evening. While all of these candidates are used to speaking at longer lengths at their own events, every candidate talking for 20 minutes or so each made the event longer than necessary, and no doubt many in the audience grew bored.

Rudy was the first speaker, and he finished by reminding people to keep Reagan's 11th Commandment (thou shalt speak no ill will of other Republicans). While there were a few candidates who made indirect comments about other candidates (read: Rudy, Mitt and McCain), I saw those as more of differentiating themselves from the others, and the rule was followed pretty well until Gov. Jim Gilmore got up. When he said the line "Rudy McRomney is not a conservative, and he knows he's not a conservative," a hush grew over the crowd, and then came a lot of "oooo's" signifiying that they couldn't believe, and/or didn't really appreciate, the comment. Asside from a few lines, the rest of his speech didn't receive much reaction.

One of those indirect comments won, in my opinion, the line of the night. Tom Tancredo was talking about immigration (surprise, surprise, :-)), and of the recent converts to his side of the issue: "They are welcome, of course, but my concern is that the conversions have occurred not on the road to Damascus but on the road here to Des Moines." Tancredo got a good responce from this line, if for anything else, it's sheer cleaverness.

A nice surprise of the night was when Gov. Mike Huckabee got on stage, and introduced us to the "other" govorner of Arkansas. A bald man took the mike with a great Clinton impression where he thanked his supporters and then rattled off a bunch of women's names. As he left the stage, Huckabee asked the crowd to give a hand to Paul Shanklin, the guy who writes and performs all of the songs we hear on Rush Limbaugh.

Tommy Thompson was probably the surprise of the night. I saw him speak earlier in the day in Fort Dodge, but he was on fire that night. There were several candidates who gave most if not all of the speech in a "fire and brimstone" type voice, which came over more as just being loud than passionate. Thompson was the exception. He delievered some the best recieved jokes of the night, and you could feel that he had he undivided attention of a good part of the audience for a good part of the speech, particulary when he talked about his new granddaughter.

I was most interested in seeing how John McCain was recieved. The national polls have him trailing Giuliani by a bit, however polls in the lead-off states have them running almost even. Then, there are those who have serious doubts about McCain because of his past stances. With all of this, he was recieved very well. From my vantage point, he had a lot of people standing for him both when he walked on and off the stage. He was the only candidate who didn't stand behind the podium. Rather, he took the mic and walked around the stage as in his town hall meetings. He made a couple of jokes that were recieved as well as Tommy Thompson's were, and he focused a majority of this speech on Iraq. While there are a lot of people who have doubts about McCain , you could feel the respect in the room for him and what he has done in his life. I was told afterward that as he was walking through the kitchen, he took and answered several questions from the staff working the event.

After the dinner, the candidates held receptions for their supporters and other interested people. This was probably what made the event. It was a nice, relaxed atmosphere and everyone was enjoying themselves. I wasn't able to make it to all of them, but from what I saw, they all had a good turnout.

McCain had the greatest ice-cream treat invented by man---the Drumstick--- available visiters. McCain made a short speech where he thanked his supporters and asked for their help in the caucuses, and then signed many autographs and posed for several pictures before he left.

The most popular reception was the Fair Tax group. They had a huge table with chocolate covered strawberries, crackers and cheese, cheesecake, and fruit, gave away 10 i-pod nanos at the end of the night, and the most popular attraction of the night---the open bar. I think we are going to keep hearing more from the Fair Tax people. They continue to grow their nationwide organization, and are attracting a lot of favorable attention from both voters and the candidates. Their reception only added to that.

Mike Huckabee, in case you didn't know, plays bass guitar in a rock band. He brought the band up with him, and played until the building guys were ready to close up. They are a pretty good live band, playing a bunch of classic rock hits. People in the audience were dancing along, including a couple prominent people in the party.

RPI should be happy with the Lincoln Day dinner this year. Though the speeches were a tad long, I think everyone enjoyed hearing from all of the candidates in the same night, and further enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the receptions. One thing it made evident is that at this point, it's still a wide open race. While Giuliani, McCain and Romney are still the front runners, I don't think we can leave out the possibility of one of the second tier or unannounced candidates from pulling off an upset, or at least a very good showing.

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Tommy Thompson Event Re-Cap

Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin Governor and Secretary of Health and Human Services, was in Fort Dodge Saturday prior to the RPI Lincon Day Dinner in Des Moines. The event was held at the Hickory House and filled up the south two rooms of the resturant. The campaign offered free food to the attendees, which I counted around fifty people.

The first thing Thompson did upon his arrival was to walk around the room and greet everyone. One woman told him that her maiden name was Thopmson, which delighted him and referred to her has his cousin.

Thompson talked a lot about his record as governor, which is impressive. He vetoed 1,900 bills, and saved the state billions of dollars. He told the story of his welfare reform, which would became the model for several other states, as well as in Washington D.C. Thompson had invited several welfare mothers to the executive mansion, and asked what would be needed for them to go back to work, after which Thompson worked to help them with insurance, job training and transportation.

Gov. Thompson has a lot of background in health care, most notably his service has head of HHS. He hit on the need for more focus on prevention, and the need to increase health information to help people make healthy choices. He believes that increasing the use of technology can help speed up the medical process and lower medical costs. He also touched on the need for Medicare and Medicade reform, saying that these will go bankrupt in 2013, and thus in far more trouble than Social Security.

The other major topic that Thompson covered is the war in Iraq, and our image around the world. The first thing that Thompson would like to happen is for the Iraqis to vote on whether the US should leave. If they vote no, then we have the definite OK to keep doing what we're doing. If they vote no, then we leave. Thompson would also like for the 18 territories in Iraq to become the equivelant of US states, which would elect their own government, and allow Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds to have their own territories. Thompson talked about how the sectarian violence has been occuring for 1400 years, and there is nothing that the US can do about it.

Thompson also talked about the hospital he helped build in Kabul, Afghanistan. When he originally visited there, he was horrified at the conditions, especially in the maternity wards. Afghanistan had one of the worst mortality rates in the world, with 25% of babies dieing not long after birth. Thompson came home, and with the help of the President, Laura Bush, and others, raised $3 Million to build a hospital in Kabul. At it's opening on Easter Sunday in 2003, Thompson said that 700 women had come to thank the US. Thompson thinks its important for the US to continue projects like this, to help the US image in the world. One idea he has is to ask US medical hospitals to supply a couple or so medical students to spend a year on one of two hospital ships and help give medical aid in places like Somalia and the Middle East.

Probably the most powerful story Tompson told was how his mother-in-law, his wife, and his daughter had all suffered from cancer. Before his daughter went in for her mastectomy, she has one of her eggs harvested so she could have a child later on. The egg was frozen for 2 and a half years, when her oldest sister agreed to carry the embryo. With only a 5% chance of success, Thompson had a new granddaughter born earlier this year. He said that looking down at his granddaughter, and remembering that she had come from a frozen egg invisible to the nake eye, reminded him why he had and is pro-life.

Overall, I would gage the event as a success. Thompson had a good turnout, and I heard several positive things from people afterwards.

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They'll Be Comming For Your Cell Phones

NBC News in the last week or so had been featuring stories about bees going missing in the US, and the possible effects on the economy. Now, the Independent (UK) has a story today which identifies the culperites as cell phones. If and/or when this story gets picked up, I predict it'll be followed by stories asking people to give up their cell phones "for the bees." At least they aren't blaming Global Warming.
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VDH Has a Dream

Ever since I started reading his articles and columns, I have found my thoughts in the words of the classist and historian Victor Davis Hanson. His writings, which often take the form of think pieces, are almost always based on history, and are filled with thought and reason. His article at National Review Online today it titled "The PostWest: A Civilization That Has Become Just A Dream" and is worth a look.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODNjMmVlOTJiOTUyZTU0YWRkZTA0ZGNmZDRlYmM2Yzk=

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I'm not sure where to start

http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/ce/news/033020071/

I guess I don't know too much about Grinnell College. There are a couple of institutes of higher learning I could see this at, but I never would have thought that Grinnell would invite an "organizer and philosopher" and someone "associated with the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the Communist Party of the United States of America" AS THE 2007 COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER!

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Today in Perspective

As a student of history, I always use the past to provide perspective for today. Whether it be the political culture in the US in the 19th century, the historical comparisons of war and fighting, or how the coming of things such as modern medicne as benefitted the public more no matter how many complaints we hear about the cost of health care today. This article in the Times UK today falls into this category. Anatole Kaletsky pays tribute to his mother who had recently passed away, discussing just a handful of the experiences she and her family had in Russia from the Russian Revolution.

Along these lines, I hope to get a book review up here soon about Jenifer Weber's Copperheads: The Rise of Lincoln's Opponents in the North. I'm not sure whether it's the way that Weber writes, or the quotes she uses, but it is impossible to read this book without seeing the same things being said and done, almost verbatim, today.

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--Andy

Next Meeting Dates

Tuesday, April 24th, 6:00pm----Republican Study Group meeting

Tuesday, May 8th, 7:00pm---Regular Business Meeting


Both are held at our HQ at 900 Central Avenue, Fort Dodge.

Bookmark These Sites

Folks, I highly recommend bookmarking www.gongol.com. This is WHO Radio's Brian Gongol, and he does a good job about including Iowa Statehouse news. http://www.gongol.com/opinion/2007/iowalegislature/ is a good list of the various bills that were proposed this year with links to the bills themselves.

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Welcome Everyone

Welcome to the Webster County Republicans Blog. The purpose of this blog is to help keep people informed about what is going on locally, statewide, and nationally. Check back frequently for new posts.