That’s Right Nate

I’m sorry for the delay in posting.  I have been rather busy this weekend with CPAC and everything, but as I promised you last week, I am taking up Michael Steele’s challenge.  Tomorrow I hope to release my new video that takes our core conservative values and places them in a hip hop urban-suburban setting.  I’m hoping to be dropping some fresh rhymes in the AM so check it out tomorrow. Peace out

Yesterday, I called Bobby Jindal the clear winner for his ability to take complex issues like magnetic levitating trains and make them sound much less intimidating by adopting a speaking style somewhat similar to the great Mr. Fred Rogers.  However, some of you didn’t want to take my word for it.   On Tuesday, the Louisiana GOP posted to Youtube a clip showing a focus group reacting to Bobby Jindal’s speech.  They didn’t post Jindal’s words for school children will be reading them in text books for years to come–instead they showed us how real Americans felt about the Louisiana Governor in case we still weren’t sure how we should feel.

The first person interviewed was an older woman with a raccoon or some other such furry animal or hat upon her head.   She summed up the governor performance by saying, “I thought Jindal performed exemplarily.”  I took it from her elocutioning that she was probably a Bush supporter as well.  She did comment on the Mr. Rogers quality that I also found so appealing.

Another woman followed up saying “his patriotism was the overriding theme in what he had to say”.  I to was looking to see whether Jindal or Obama would come off as more patriotic.  The budget stuff can take care of itself, but a true leader carries his love of country in his heart, just under his flag lapel pin.

Finally, a man who pulled off the vest look nicely praised Bobby Jindal’s belief in people over government doing everything for us.  Of course this belief has led Jindal to his principled stand against federal unemployment monies for the jobless in Lousiana.  I mean come on.  Grab your horn and go to New Orleans.  You don’t need a bailout when you can jam on the street corner.  Jindal has emerged as a rising star following his speech on Tuesday night.  Everyday Americans think so and if you don’t, maybe you need to question your own patriotism.

After years of sending jobs to India, America has got a new Indian import and that import is called hope.  First, came the blockbuster movie Slumdog Millionare in which a boy rises out of the slums without any government assistance.  Now comes the next Ronald Reagan Indian-American Bobby Jindal hitting a home run (or the  cricket equivalent–a 6) as he responds to Obama’s lackluster speech last night.

Now, I have to give credit where it is due.  I’m not the one who came up with the next Reagan comparison.  That came from no greater judge of talent than Rush Limbaugh who had this to say about Jindal’s oratorical skills “When I interviewed Bobby Jindal for the Limbaugh Letter a year and a half ago or so I immediately thought I was talking to the elected version of the next Ronald Reagan, the closest thing we’ve got to an elected version of the next Ronald Reagan in the United States today.”

What I admired most about Jindal’s speech was his pleasant demeanor which reminded me of days as a child watching Mr. Rogers change his clothes in front of me.  I also loved his stories and the way he defended Bush’s handling of Hurricane Katrina by explaining that the people of New Orleans didn’t want the federal government there.  They only got in the way of the sherrif who was going to rescue everybody.  If the government sticks its nose into the economic crisis, we’re only going to get in the way of all those mom and pop stores that could really rescue us.  As Jindal says, “there’s a lesson in this experience” and that lesson is that the only way out of this economic crisis is by following the same blue print we have over the past 8 years.   Why would we ever trust our government to get us out of this crisis when they have shown how incompetent they are over the past 8 years?  Only the Republicans seem to understand this.  Thank God there are people like Bobby Jindal to lead us into the future.  With performances like the one last night, you know he will take us far.

I am going to watch tonight with an open mind despited wanting Obama to fail if for no other reason than it will help me to respond to his lies if anybody I know falls for them.  My big hope is that he’ll detail any plans for one of America’s most vital industries – self storage.

8:02  Oh I hope Justice Ginsburg doesn’t croak walking in.  That’d be embarrassing.

8:05  This is like Battle of the Network Stars for C-Span

8:09  Where the heck is he?

8:12  I’m glad that Billy Joel doesn’t greet all his fans when he comes in to a stadium to give a concert.

8:14  Our country’s strengths are in its lavatories.  At least Obama appreciates a good flush as much as I do.

8:16  Is Joe Biden an Uncle?  He reminds me of that dopey uncle that is a really nice guy, but always telling the same jokes like asking your 8 year old brother if he has a girlfriend yet.

8:18  Wow he’s boring.  Less than an minute of speaking and Pelosi already found something better to read.

8:25  Did he really just promise us a tax cut on April 1st?  Yeah I’m going to fall for that one.

8:26  Man, I’m really missing Bush.  I used to love when he’d do his State of the Union.

8:27  Excuse me, but any economist will tell you that self-storage is the life blood of our economy.

8:30 Why does Obama insist on all these strings when he bails out the banks?  Its their money once we give it to them.

8:36  Why do we need big ideas?  What’s wrong with the ones we’ve had for the last 8 years?

8:42  We don’t need better health care.  We need people in this country who aren’t afraid to “rub some dirt on it and walk it off.”

8:45  The problem is that insurance companies have to insure sick people.

8:46  It looks like even Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was dozing.  How does Obama recommend teaching kids from the day they were born?  What about mother/child bonding?

8:48  Charter schools are great, but what about Charter Police Stations and Fire Departments.  Do you really need advanced training or accredidation to do those jobs either?

8:51  If we pass on to our children a debt that they cannot repay, can’t they just pass it on to their kids like our parents did to us? and their parents did to them?

8:52  Still nothing about self-storage

8:54  Excuse me?  Those cold war weapon systems won the cold war.  Show them some respect.

8:55  $250,000  is nothing in today’s economy.  I don’t even consider $500,000 rich really.

8:56  If George Bush could fight a war in Iraq for 7 years without having to spend a dime, Obama should applaud that and not deride it.

8:58  Oh man, it looks like that one big guy is going to eat that poor soldier

8:59  I didn’t hear this on the news, but is Obama sending his daughters to school back in the early 1960s?  I hope she the Secret Service can protect her from teasing if any of her classmates saw this.

9:00  Wow!  Pelosi’s slowing down.  Biden finally beat her out of her seat to be the first one to clap.

9:03   Forget average Americans.  People like me are far more inspiring.

9:04   Piles of rubble?  How is that different from the rest of Kansas?

9:05   We should help future lawyers, doctors, and politicians?  Won’t they have enough money to help themselves?

9:12    I can’t wait for Jindal.  He’s going to give it to us straight.

9:24   I hadn’t heard Bobby Jindal speak before.  I like his tone.  He reminds me a lot of Mr. Rogers.  I think he should have entered and put on the jacket before he spoke.

9:26   Nothing says “Americans can do anything” like the grocery store.

9:28   I had no idea New Orleans had finally recovered from Katrina.  Congradulations!

9:31   Jindal’s right.  We need to make the rest of America more like Louisiana.

9:32   Health care decisions should be made by doctors, patients, and HMO administraters.

9:32    Let’s make the schools in our country like New Orleans.

9:33    I don’t like that he’s slamming corruption.  Whatever happenned to his good friend Harry Lee?

9:37   He mentioned God a lot.  I liked Jindal’s speech better.

God bless us all, everyone!

I’ll be live blogging Obama’s speech tonight.  I’ll be keeping an open mind as I root for him to fail.  Please be sure to check back as we take this blog live tonight.

Few people have distinguished themselves both as an athelete and a legistlator like Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) has in his long career.  That’s why it is especially troubling to see that God may be signaling to the great bullpen in the sky that Jim Bunning is running out of gas.  There has been no comment from Mr. Bunning, his family, or his 2010 Senate campaign on his imminent demise, but the warning signs are clearly there.

The average life expectancy of somebody from Kentucky is 75.2 years.  However, that number includes both men and women.  Now as women have a life expectancy of 5.3 years more than men, we can assume that the average life expectancy of a Kentucky male would be 2.7 years less than the state average or 72.5 years of healthy living.  According to tables in Business week, Kentucy has the 5th lowest life expectancy in the country.

Jim Bunning was a heckuva baseball player whose claim to fame was pitching no-hitters for both the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies. Unfortunately, Jim Bunning debuted at age 23.  According to McCann’s Prerocity-Longevity Hypothesis that reduces his lifespan by .24 years.   Baseball players with nicknames were also found to live 2.5 years longer so subtract another year and a half from that life expectancy because no teammate was considerated enough to give Bunning a nickname.  Come on, he was 6’3″ when most people weren’t that tall, how hard would it have been to call him Stretch?  As a result we subtract another 1.25 years from his life expectancy bringing it down to 71 years.

It has been widely reported that Jim Bunning may be suffering from alzheimer’s disease which would reduce his life expectancy by another 7 years down to 64.  Jim Bunning is 77 years old.  He is 13 years past his time.  While he is still alive to appreciate it, I want to salute Jim Bunning for his success on the pitcher’s mound and on Capital Hill.  It was an amazing life and you will be missed.

I am not a big fan of US News and World Report.  It usually has too many long articles and not enough simple charts and pictures like USA Today does.  This week though US News has an amazing poll on their website that asks, “Who Would Run the Best Daycare Center?”  The choices are Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi.  America has spoken and with 49% of the vote Sarah Palin is winning the contest.

This is great news for us Republicans, especially considering that Sarah would be the most likely to ask you why you aren’t staying home with your own kids when you dropped them off with her in the morning.  This is also a testament to how well the Palin children have turned out compared to screw ups like Chelsea Clinton and the Obama brats.

I think we need an equally relevant questions for the Washington men and I think I have one.  A lumberjack isn’t trusted with children, but he is trusted with very powerful equipment.  If you had to deforest Yelowstone and you could only have one lumberjack, who would you choose?

Actor In a Leading Role

• Richard Jenkins – The Visitor (movie about Illegal Immigration – Nope)
• Sean Penn – Milk (Loses just for deceptive title which tricked me into going to see it – Nope)
• Frank Langella – Frost/ Nixon (about time Nixon gets some respect)
• Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (He ages backwards?  I aged watching this movie)
• Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler (Can’t beat pro wrestling for excitement)

Winner: Frank Langella

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Josh Brolin – Milk (Actually, just because he played Bush he gets support here)
• Robert Downey – Tropic Thunder (Finally a war movie gets recognized)
• Phillip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt (Papist)
• Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight (Played the John McCain type in this liberal propaganda)
• Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road (He plays a guy in a mental institution.  The Academy always recognizes this)

Winner: Micahel Shannon

Actress in Leading Role

• Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married (I don’t like the pro-drug message of this film)
• Angelina Jolie – Changeling (I don’t like the anti-police message of this film)
• Melissa Leo – Frozen River (I don’t like the global warming message of this title)
• Meryl Streep – Doubt (I don’t like the Papist message of this film)
• Kate Winslet – The Reader (I hate reading almost as much as I hate Nazis)

Winner: Kate Winslet

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Amy Adams – Doubt (Papist)
• Penelope Cruz – Vickie Cristina Barcelona (Too foreign)
• Viola Davis – Doubt (Papist)
• Taraji P. Henson – Curious Case of Private Benjamin (Still don’t get this aging backwards thing)
• Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler (Loved her in My Cousin Vinnie)

Winner: Marisa Tomei

Best Song

• Down to Earth – Wall E (I’m assuming that a liberal propoganda movie like this probably got Randy Newman)
• Jai Ho – Slumdog Millionare (What’s a Jai Ho?)
• O Sava – Slumdog Millionare (Doesn’t anybody talk English anymore)

Winner: Ballad of the Green Berets

Best Picture

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Bratt  (ZZZZZZ)
• Frost/Nixon – (Finally a movie showing how Nixon stood up to David Frost’s tough questioning)
• Milk – (I am not seeing another movie named after a beverage again without seeing the trailer first)
• The Reader – (Who wants to see a movie about reading?  I go to the movies so I don’t have to read)
• Slumdog Millionare – (A pro-capitalism movie shows that anybody can pull themselves up out of the slums)

Winner: Slumdog Millionare

It was a proud day for the Republican Party when Michael Steele was named as chairman of the RNC.  He had plenty of experience before this as Maryland Lieutenant Governor and before that as bass player for the Runaways and Bangles  in the 1980s.  Now, Steele has issued a challenge to the Republican party.  In an interview in the Washington Times Steele said, “We need messengers to really capture that region — young, Hispanic, black, a cross section … We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-surburban hip-hop settings.”

All I have to say to Mr. Steele’s challenge is “Fo Schizzle”.   Now that I have become a Youtube celebrity I’ve been looking for a followup video and what some of you may not know is that I wrote an amazing rap that was the hit of the Great Lakes Region Independent Self-Storage Operator convention for 2006.  If I can make self-storage hip by mixing it with a little somethin’ somethin’, just think what I can do for the GOP and I’m not the only one.  This is a job for MC Karl Rove.  Michael Steele is right, it isn’t our ideas that are wack, its the way we’re frontin.   By this time next week I hope to have a followup video that captures the potential of the Republican Party for the hiphop community.

You down with GOP?
Yeah, you know me!

Did the NBA give Michael Jordan special treatment because they wanted a black star?

I had thought we put this whole race thing behind us when Barrack Obama was elected President of the United States, but apparently the topic refuses to die.  Race is obviously a very important topic to me as my own father marched with King when he was in Chicago.   Unfortunately, despite all the progress that has been made in the area, we still have people like Attorney General Eric Holder who refuse to let it go.  According to a speech Holder gave yesterday that “we are a nation of cowards” when it comes to discussing the “awkward and painful” subject of race relations in our country.

Like many of my colleagues on the right, I take umbrage at what Mr. Holder says.  I have always been forthright about race relations and I stood up to the principal of my high school when he refused to let the school newspaper run the article I wrote about the only reason Michael Jordan was getting so much attention was because the NBA wanted a black star.  Nobody in this country knows more about racism than white people do.  We first came to this country in 1492, while African-Americans didn’t start making the journey in large numbers for nearly 200 years.  That meant that we had time to establish the beginnings of American civilization before adding another race into the mix.  That allows us to see the issue of race with greater clarity. And let me say that we white people are not cowardly.

It was none other than former Republican Senator George Allen who spoke at the Capital Hill Club (An integrated club I might add) today and said, “I grew up in a football family.  In sports, what you have is a level playing field…you don’t care about race, all you care about is who can help you win.  Team America has to have that competitive spirit!”  I believe the Republican party is the steroids that can help take us to the next level.  African-Americans need to look at why they’re so accepted in sports and entertainment and then try to apply those qualities to other areas of life.  Perhaps, a friendly game of basketball or a musical number could be the key to that next promotion.

What white America is concerned about is the Department of Justice.  Under President Bush, the department has spent the last 8 years protecting conservative values and made fighting voter fraud a top priority.  This approach led to an astounding 13 convictions in just 8 years of time.  Now Holder is talking about using the Department of Justice to “lead the nation to the new birth of freedom so long ago promised by our greatest President.”  I have a feeling that Reagan may have been taken out of context, but regardless that kind of talk is frightening.   Fox News’ Megyn Kelly rightfully says, “that strikes fear down the spines of many conservatives in this country.”

Like many conservatives, she fears that Obama will bring us back to the time when decisions like Brown vs. the Board of Education put the federal government into states rights issues.  If every perceived slight or systematic segregation leads to a Department of Justice lawsuit, where will we be.  As the lovely Miss Kelly put it, “a lot of us thought that the Bush Justice Department sort of got us back to the point where we were being reasonable.”  I couldn’t agree more.  It doesn’t matter where you’re sitting on this bus, we’re all going to the same place.