Oregon Elephant

guess it's a rumor as good as any!

Some have accused Barack Obama of advocating a government program in relation to tire inflation. Here's the truth: He was asked by someone in a question-and-answer "what can we do as citizens" about energy costs. So he talked about inflating your tire properly as one thing a citizen can do. His reasonable response has been completely distorted. By the way, I'm a McCain supporter. I just like the idea of the truth being told. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Well, it sounds like Jeff Merkley put his foot in his mouth when asked a question about Georgia recently, according to the Oregonian . Here's the gist, from the article: Merkley, in a tough election battle with Republican Sen. Gordon Smith, seemed confused during a campaign stop in The Dalles Saturday morning when a citizen asked for his opinion on what was going on in Georgia. Merkley at first thought he was being asked about the U.S. state of Georgia. Then, finally realizing he was being asked about the Russian invasion, he took a pass on the question. "I'll have to find out the details. I have been on the road the last three days," Merkley said in the video, which was shot by a Republican tracker and posted on the Internet Tuesday by Politico, a Washington, D.C.-based politics web site. My take: Wow. Where do we start? I'd guess that, to put it mildly, I expect a major-party candidate for United States Senate to read the front page of a newspaper every day ...

John McCain plans to unveil his technology plan today on his website . Here is a preview I found from the Wall Street Journal. One particular tidbit I noticed (ok, yes, because as a computer geek I stand to benefit) is a proposed 10% tax credit for research and development employees, as an incentive for employers to hire Americans. The goal of the plan is not some esoteric feel-good mush, but to create "good, high-paying, innovation-oriented 21st-century jobs" according to McCain spokesman Taylor Griffin. Bravo...McCain should push this plan...information workers are a backbone of today's economy. Many of them tend Democratic, but are very much persuadable.

Oregon Catalyst is reporting on a survery recently published by FreedomWorks Oregon that has many interesting tidbits, but one stuck out for me: 70% are unwilling to permanently pay $6 or more per gallon for gasoline to protect the environment Does this mean Oregonians don't care about protecting the environment? Hardly. What it does mean is that they refuse to swallow the false choice presented to them by environmental extremists that the price of environmental responsibility is $6 gasoline. They believe in the ingenuity of Americans. They believe you can be environmentally-aware and have all the energy you need at an affordable price. They also understand that for many Americans (the low income ones liberals claim to care about), $6 gas is simply not a sustainable condition. For more information on the survey, go to www.LightsOnOregon.com .

Always eager to educate as well as persuade, Oregon Elephant has dug up the following interesting facts about Georgia: The highest point in Georgia is Mount Shkhara (5,201 m). It is known that people inhabited Georgia from very early times. Skulls of early man have been found in the country dating back 1.7 million years. People have lived in Tbilisi since the fourth millennium BC. The name of the present-day capital, Tbilisi, is derived from the Georgian word for warm. In Greek and Roman times the western part of Georgia was called Kolkheti (Colchis); the eastern part of the country was known as Iberia. Ancient myth says that the King of Colchis (Aeetes) possessed a Golden Fleece. The story of Jason and the Argonauts is about the quest for the fleece. Early Georgian merchants sailed as far as the Indian Ocean to trade their goods and bring back spices. The Silk Road, the trade route between Europe and China , ran through Phazisi. St Nino of Cappadoccia, a relative of St George, conv...

Rich Lowry of National Review posts a kind of contrarian position to all the folks saying the Russia is getting just what they want from Georgia. Here's an excerpt: “I just talked to a friend who is very plugged into this and is as shrewd and informed an observer on the European scene as you can find. He thinks it’s going badly for the Russians and is not 1968 redux as they had hoped. The presidents of the Baltic states and Poland have flown to Tbilisi, providing a moral backstop for the Georgian government. And now the Bush administration is stepping up, with Bush’s stern words today, with humanitarian aid going to Georgia that the Russians can’t possibly oppose, and with Sec. Rice headed to Tbilisi. All this is serving to frustrate the ultimate Russian war aim of toppling Saakashvili, who is addressing enthusiastic crowds on the streets and taking the Russians to the Hague. He thinks the fact that it hasn’t turned out the way the Russians expected accounts for the constant bac...

Hugh Hewitt today wrote about Secretary of State Rice's comments on the Georgia affair: This is not 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia where Russia can threaten its neighbors, occupy a capitol, overthrow a government and get away with it. Things have changed. My take : I agree with Hugh... Rice's statement is the right one. I also agree with Frank Gaffney when he said on the show today that Russia wouldn't have done this unless they thought all they would get from Washington is idle words. I think kicking them out of the G8 is the right step, and it should be done now.

This from a recent McCain address: There are serious issues at stake in this election, and serious differences between the candidates. And we will argue about them, as we should. But it should remain an argument among friends; each of us struggling to hear our conscience, and heed its demands; each of us, despite our differences, united in our great cause, and respectful of the goodness in each other. That is how most Americans treat each other. And it is how they want the people they elect to office to treat each other. My take: I couldn't agree more. In talking to my wife (who isn't a political junkie, but does care about the issues), it becomes apparent that the less "immersed" someone is in politics, the lower their tolerance for negative campaigning and partisanship just for the sake of getting a dig in at the other side. Hopefully the recent flamethrowing (from both sides) will take John McCain's good words to heart, and have more respectful, substantive d...

This was emailed in to her show (it's a paraphrase, but fairly close I think): Us going to the Olympics to participate in the celebration is kind of like going over to your next-door neighbors for a barbeque and taking the revelry in, knowing he has his children tied up in the basement... Kind of crude, but not wholly inaccurate...the spectacle will be interesting to watch, to be sure. And while we're at it... isn't it interesting the timing of Russia's incursion into Georgia when the world is focused on the Olympics? Hmmmm

It strikes me that it looks more and more like it is going to be Pawlenty for VP. Here's why: McCain's ad touting his ability to work with Democrats, and their praise of him (distancing himself from hard-line conservatives) Pawlenty's comments about "Sam's Club Republicans"...seems to me to be an appeal to Reagan Democrats McCain likes him...a lot. So, if it is Pawlenty, what do you all think? I'm kind of lukewarm...don't hate him, but could be better.