And it’s a winner (bolds are mine):

I encourage you to visit the “Press Release” section of Senator DeWine’s Senatorial website because it shows almost 400 entries in the last 36 weeks which boast of the grants flowing into our State from federal coffers. As you look through the listing, ask yourself if it represents the responsibilities our founding fathers envisioned of a central government – and, I think you will agree it does not.

Now consider who is paying this extravagant bill. Mike DeWine is not, and neither are any current taxpayers. The fact is that it has been “charged” to your account, your children’s account, and your children’s children’s account. For the foreseeable future, Americans will be making interest only payments while leaving the principal amount for some future generation to pay.

….. The legacy we are leaving for future generations is a legacy of extravagance. It will be necessary, and possible, to explain to future generations that the War on Terrorism and Homeland Security required great financial resources. On the other hand, it will be quite difficult to explain to them that the debt burden they carry was created to build two “bridges to nowhere” in Alaska, to assist families in the purchase of digital converter boxes for better TV reception, to keep the price of milk constant, and the myriad of other items which fall under the category of wasteful spending.

….. The culture of extravagant spending must cease; and simple, every day business practices of balancing expenses to revenues must become the norm. Businesses and our own personal family budgets require it and government should be no different. But it is not going to happen until “we the people …” demand it to happen, and that is only going to be accomplished when Americans let their voices be heard at the voting booth.

It is for that reason I ask that you support my candidacy to the U.S. Senate. I would welcome the opportunity to join a threesome of first term maverick Senators – Coburn (OK), DeMint (SC), and Ensign (NV) – all of whom are entrepreneurs and small business owners, and have pushed back against the “old guard” with the belief that our Nation’s business must be conducted differently for a prosperous and secure future.

Hear, hear.

I have also done a related FreeRepublic post.
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Visit Bill’s site, his blog, and his Contribute page.

NOTE: I have endorsed Bill Pierce for Senate, and have provided nominal financial support for his campaign. BizzyBlog is a member of Blogs for Pierce.

Pierce-ing Posts, daily until the election, is sampling current blog posts both in and out of the S.O.B. Alliance, going to Old Media coverage, and bringing important prior posts to the attention of late-comers to Ohio’s US Senate contest.

Don’t forget to visit Bill’s site, his blog, and his Contribute page.

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FROM THE CURRENT BLOG CROP

DeWine Backstabs Rumsfeld

See this BizzyBlog post from earlier today.

The Cynic’s Tale

Bill Pierce has a way of making a believer out of the most doubtful, including Matt at Weapons of Mass Discussion:

When I first heard about Bill Pierce’s bid for the United States Senate, I was a major skeptic. I said so at the time. Bill dropped by the site and asked if he could have the opportunity to change my mind. That is a day that showed me the power of the blogosphere and made me a believer again.

I arranged a meeting of what was then the fledgling Southern Ohio Blogger Alliance and Bill came out and managed to convince the lot of us that not only was Bill the real deal, but his candidacy was real. He was devoting himself to a full time run at a two-term incumbent. He had a compelling hook of a story to tell too. Here is a guy who has done battle with the federal government for most of his adult life. Rather than be part of the problem, Bill had decided to be a part of the solution; not just for himself, but for others like him.

For me, the idea of a citizen legislator had been a relic of ancient times. We’ve all seen the polished pitch of a smooth politico. The slick ads and the entourages. Bill represented none of those things for he expects to be a citizen legislator and not a career politican.

….. The career politician will craft his message for his particular audience. He will test it, poll it, and make adjustments. Bill just tells you where he stands. Isn’t that refreshing?

Ohio is at a crossroads. It can choose to be bold and advance a conservative agenda that will bring security and propsperity or it can select the option to maintain the status quo. The Ohio Republican Party establishment has been pulling for the latter. I know now, having met and worked with Bill, that the former is not only possible but doable with the right people.

Ohio has a clear choice. This reformed cynic has chosen Bill Pierce and I urge you to do the same.

OLD MEDIA MORSELS

“Historic” Indeed

MSNBC thinks so:

In last December’s historic vote to block oil and gas drilling in ANWR, it was a duo of Republican senators — Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Mike DeWine of Ohio — who joined with most Democrats to kill the idea. (Both Chafee and DeWine are up for re-election this November.)

MSNBC may very well be right. DeWine’s anti-ANWR vote may be the one that causes HIM to be history.

DeWine Sightings

….. at fundraisers:

Earlier this year, Santorum - who is battling to keep his seat against a challenge from Bob Casey, a popular Democrat - hosted a fundraising event for DeWine in Washington. This week, Santorum will attend two fundraisers in Ohio for his own re-election campaign - one Friday in Cleveland, where DeWine is listed as a “special host,” and a $500-per-couple reception Thursday at the Queen City Club in Cincinnati, where DeWine is not listed as a host.

DeWine campaign spokesman Brian Seitchek said DeWine will come to Cincinnati for the Queen City Club affair, if he can do so without missing Senate votes.

You would think DeWine might take advantage of what might be his last full week of campaigning.

BLOG BLASTS FROM THE PAST

Funny Numbers — How Often DOES Mike DeWine Agree with George Bush?

• This late-January Weapons of Mass Discussion post refers to an Enquirer piece with this quote:
  

  Tell that to Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine of Cedarville, who supported Bush on only 76 percent of votes last year, according to the CQ analysis.

  In fact, DeWine was one of the president’s biggest Republican opponents in 2005, ranking fourth among GOP senators – behind Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both of Maine.

  By the way, that “fourth-worst” characterization is consistent with what the National Taxpayers Union found, as reported at this BizzyBlog post yesterday. NTU gave DeWine a 48% in agreeing with its agenda of fiscal discipline.

• But wait — That same WoMD post points to DeWine literature that says:
  

  “Over the past 11 years, I’ve built a long record of achievement on many core conservative issues. I’m a proven pro-growth, pro-family, pro-life Republican Senator with a 96 percent voting record in support of Bush’s agenda — and most importantly, I know how to win statewide elections in the nation’s toughest political state.”

• Ah, but two months later, S.O.B. Alliance member Black Swamp Conservative reported that the DeWine camp had scaled back their own Bush-supporting figure as they attempted to gain the endorsement of the Fulton GOP Central Committee (and failed miserably, finishing a humiliating third, signaling once and for all how deep disenchantment of the conservative base is). But BSC cut through the baloney and made this clinching point:
  

  I am proud of this committee for having had the clarity to understand that having “voted with the President 92% of the time” means that he voted with the Democrats on the most crucial 8%.

  Bingo.

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NOTE: I have endorsed Bill Pierce for Senate, and have provided nominal financial support for his campaign. BizzyBlog is a member of Blogs for Pierce.

David Beamer, who lost his son on United Air Lines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, as the passengers aboard the hijacked jet (including Todd Beamer) prevented their terrorists captors from accomplishing their mission, tells us at OpinionJournal.com why the film, and the War on Terror, remain of unsurpassed importance that no amount of self-delusional denial will alter (article may require free e-mail registration):

….. It is too soon for us to think of this war in only national terms. We need to be mindful that this enemy, who made those holes in our landscape and caused the deaths of some 3,000 of our fellow free people, has a vision to personally kill or convert each and every one of us. This film reminds us that this war is personal. This enemy is on a fanatical mission to take away our lives and liberty–the liberty that has been secured for us by those whose names are on those walls in Battery Park and so many other walls and stones throughout this nation. This enemy seeks to take away the free will that our Creator has endowed in us. Patrick Henry got it right some 231 years ago. Living without liberty is not living at all.
The passengers and crew of United 93 had the blessed opportunity to understand the nature of the attack and to launch a counterattack against the enemy. This was our first successful counterattack in our homeland in this new global war–World War III.

This film further reminds us of the nature of the enemy we face. An enemy who will stop at nothing to achieve world domination and force a life devoid of freedom upon all. Their methods are inhumane and their targets are the innocent and unsuspecting. We call this conflict the “War on Terror.” This film is a wake-up call.

….. The film accurately shows an enemy who will stop at nothing in a quest for control. This enemy does not seek our resources, our land or our materials, but rather to alter our very way of life.

I encourage my fellow Americans and free people everywhere to see “United 93.”

Be reminded of our very real enemy. Be inspired by a true story of heroic actions taken by ordinary people with victorious consequences. Be thankful for each precious day of life with a loved one and make the most of it. Resolve to take the right action in the situations of life, whatever they may be. Resolve to give thanks and support to those men, women, leaders and commanders who to this day (1,687 days since Sept. 11, 2001) continue the counterattacks on our enemy and in so doing keep us safe and our freedoms intact.

May the taste of freedom for people of the Middle East hasten victory. The enemy we face does not have the word “surrender” in their dictionary. We must not have the word “retreat” in ours. We surely want our troops home as soon as possible. That said, they cannot come home in retreat. They must come home victoriously. Pray for them.

Back in December, some S.O.B. Alliance members, and members to be, used Mike DeWine’s vote against ANWR drilling as an opportunity to endorse. Porkopolis used it as an opportunity to unload, and did he ever.

Porkopolis did the dirty work and asked our incumbent senator six as-yet unanswered questions. I’m doing what I can to call attention to them before balloting takes place next Tuesday.

So here’s the Porkopolis Pre-Election Question of the Day:

What’s the deal with the $176,000 in farm subsidies you’re personally benefitting from?

Betcha didn’t know about THAT, did you? Go read the whole thing.

Don’t wait for answers that aren’t going to come. Instead, vote for Bill Pierce on May 2, and you won’t be asking your senator questions like this six years from now.

Don’t forget to visit Bill’s site, his blog, and his Contribute page.

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NOTE: I have endorsed Bill Pierce for Senate, and have provided nominal financial support for his campaign. BizzyBlog is a member of Blogs for Pierce.

You won’t hear that the scope of the disaster was caused by the economic and social system in force at the time — Soviet-style communism.

From a Reuters report on the grim anniversary:

….. Hundreds filed past a memorial wall engraved with the names of the local fire crew.

They were among the first to perish when Chernobyl’s reactor No. 4 blew up on April 26 1986, spewing radioactive dust across Europe.

….. “Today’s ceremonies to mark the anniversary of the accident do not, unfortunately, mean we can say farewell to Chernobyl,” parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said at a special session of the chamber devoted to the anniversary.

“It will remain with the Ukrainian people for more than one generation to come.”

….. Soviet authorities took two days to inform the world and their own people about the accident. Firefighters and conscripts were sent in to extinguish the fire and clean up radioactive material, some equipped only with shovels.

Thousands of people suffered health problems from the radiation.

The “sarcophagus” is leaking and needs to be replaced - an undertaking likely to cost hundreds of millions of rands.

…..The World Health Organisation puts at 9,000 the number of people expected to die owing to radiation exposure from Chernobyl, while Greenpeace predicts an eventual death toll of 93,000.

Contrast that toll with what happened in the US at Three Mile Island:

No identifiable injuries due to radiation occurred (a government report concluded that “the projected number of excess fatal cancers due to the accident … is approximately one”), but the accident had serious economic and public relations consequences, and the cleanup process was slow and costly.

It’s “funny” how totalitarian governments are so poor at building safety into construction projects, so poor at maintaining them once they are built, so ineffective at responding to disasters, and so slow to tell the world about them.

This is my takeaway from Chernobyl: Never let a communist or totalitarian government be in charge of anything related to nuclear power. To the extent that this is the case around the world right now, it represents a clear and present danger to those in the areas surrounding those plants.

Free Links:

• You’d think from all the hype and the endless stream of free publicity they get from the WORMs (Worn-Out Reactionary Media, known to most as The Mainstream Media) that anti-Bush zealots are dominating the national discussion. Along comes a fresh supply of very cold water from Drudge (HT Matt at S.O.B. Alliance member Weapons of Mass Discussion) — Air America (which based on the non-viability of its business model really ought to change its name to NPRII) is in free-fall, and far left uberblogger Daily Kos’s book is barely scanning. The “libs dominate the blogosphere” meme is one of the biggest New Media lies that Old Media tells.
• USA Today Gets the First Part of the Headline Right, and the Second Part Doesn’t Matter — New home sales leaped, but the median price of new homes purchased fell a measly 2.2% from the previous year. The geographic mix is the key: New-home sales surged 35.7% in the West, which except for California tends to have lower-than-average prices, and only 10.9% in Midwest, 6.9% in the South, and 4.7% in the Northeast — so of course the median sales price would fall. Of course, a Reuters report on the new home surge said it happened “unexpectedly.”
• Sarbanes-Oxley Is Taking Its Toll on Initial Public Offerings — A Nasdaq Vice President has sounded the alarm, and with good reason:
  

  Critics say over-regulation is prompting many firms to finance themselves with private equity or go to foreign stock exchanges, rather than listing in the United States.

  Only one of the 24 largest initial public offerings of 2005 took place in the United States, according to Ernst & Young.

  Why face ridiculous overregulation when you can simply list overseas?

• Psst, Don’t Tell Anyone — The Dow closed at a 6-year high yesterday.
• Psst II, Keep This Under Wraps Too — Durable goods orders surged 6.1% in March (”more than expected,” of course).
• Psst III, It Will Really Cause a Problem If This Gets Out — A Federal Reserve survey released Wednesday said “the economy was growing solidly in the spring even as companies and consumers fretted about high energy prices.”

A very fortunate pair:

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