Former Sen. Jesse Helms, the North Carolina Republican, has died on the Fourth of July — just like Jefferson and Adams, although the similarities end there:
Former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican who became an icon to conservatives, died Friday at the age of 86, a senior congressional source said.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, announced on its website that he died at 1:18 a.m. Friday after having been ill in recent years.
Helms retired in 2002 at the end of his fifth term in the Senate.
When the Republicans were the majority party in the Senate, Helms was chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, where he consistently moved U.S. policy toward the right, especially regarding the United Nations and Cuba.
He also held seats on the Agriculture Committee, where he looked out for North Carolina’s extensive tobacco industry, and on the Senate Rules and Administration Committee…
Helms had an operation in 2002, at age 80, to replace a faulty prosthetic heart valve put in place in 1992, when he also had quadruple-bypass surgery.
After you watch this video of Tim Gunn and Mo Rocca discussing the finer points of polygamist style, you’ll probably find yourself thinking, “Where can I get these fashions for me and my family?”
Good news! Now you can buy polygamist fashions, handmade by the sister-wives themselves, from their website at FLDSDress.com
Pull out your wallets, kids, and prepare to wager. We’ll need two separate pools. One is for the person who most closely predicts how soon Charlie Crist, 51 and gay, will call off his engagement to Carole Rome, 38 and not quite divorced yet, if John McCain doesn’t pick him as his running mate. The other is for how long the marriage will last if McCain does pick him, or alternatively, if Charlie goes through with it just to prove he’s not gay. Which he is. Gay.
Crist, 51, asked Carole Rome to marry him Thursday morning at his St. Petersburg apartment, giving her a blue sapphire ring surrounded by diamonds. She immediately said yes.
“I’m very happy and couldn’t be more pleased. What a great way to celebrate America’s birthday,” said Crist, who has been mentioned as a potential running mate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain. “We’ve been talking about it for quite a while. I asked her while we were looking out over Tampa Bay and I couldn’t think of a better place to do it.”
O.K., how many men not in the closet say they “couldn’t be more pleased” that the woman they passionately love accepted their proposal? And how many describe the experience as “a great way to celebrate America’s birthday?” That would be…let’s see…rounding off to the next decimal point…carrying the one…adjusting for the Eastern time zone…yeah, zero.
But maybe Charlie was flummoxed by the scope of it all.
Asked what made him fall in love, Crist said, “Her beautiful smile, her sweetness, her brilliance — all of it.”
“All of it?” “It?” Did he really just say, “all of it?” Why not, “Et cetera, et cetera. I am the king?”
Charlie is blaming his years of bachelorhood on the bad experience he had when he attempted heterosexual marriage in his youth. That time, the union lasted days.
“It made me be very selective, candidly. Those things tend to make you gun-shy a little bit, but I’m so blessed to have found such a wonderful woman,” Crist said. “It sure is great to find the right one…
“It will be awfully nice to have her at the mansion. It’s a big place to have to be alone in,” he said.
Yeah, once she moves in they can watch movies together and try each other’s sun screens (hope hers is better than his), and swap Lean Cuisines and stuff. Fun! But here’s the kicker.
Rome was previously married to Blue Star Jets president Todd Rome. She has two daughters, aged 9 and 11, but Crist said he hopes the couple has a child of their own someday.
She’s 38, Charlie. Someday better be real soon or you might have to use third-party assists like artificial insemination. Whoops, my bad.
It’s not Friday but it feels like it is, and you know what that means! Time to goof off and kill work hours online until the parties start. And have I got the fritter-er for you.
www.HowISpentMyStimulus.com is a bizarre cross between MySpace and PostSecret, but of course the subject is how people spent their stimulus checks. Some of it is pretty stimulating.
Vials of sperm (shipping not included)
A tiny garden behind a teeny, tiny house
Payment toward a new president (contribution to Obama campaign)
Annual check-up and shots for yellow Lab
Child’s club foot surgery
“A nice fat sack of Herbage”
And on and on. The site is nicely done, and for some reason I probably don’t want to understand, utterly fascinating. Go see.
It’s summertime and the season is silly.
A new Associated Press poll released Wednesday finds that more Americans would rather have Barack Obama than John McCain come to their Independence Day barbecue:
While many are still deciding who should be president, by 52 percent to 45 percent they would prefer having Obama than McCain to their summer cookout, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Wednesday.
Men are about evenly divided between the two while women prefer Obama by 11 percentage points. Whites prefer McCain, minorities Obama. And Obama is a more popular guest with younger voters while McCain does best with the oldest.
Having Obama to a barbecue would be like a relaxed family gathering, while inviting McCain “would be more like a retirement party than something fun,” said Wesley Welbourne, 38, a systems engineer from Washington, D.C.
Party label means a lot, with three-quarters of Democrats picking the Democrat Obama and the same number of Republicans picking McCain, a Republican. Independents are about evenly split.
“John and I would probably have a lot to talk about,” said Republican Michael Mullen, 53, of Merrimac, Mass., like McCain a Navy veteran.
One in six people saying they’d vote for McCain prefer Obama as their barbecue guest; just one in 20 Obama backers would invite McCain.
Last week we noted that John McCain had managed to complete a full 180-degree reversal on his position on offshore drilling in a mere 18-day period. Now he’s topped that record by reversing a stated position within a single news cycle. Traveling in Colombia, he told reporters that he wouldn’t criticize Obama while he was overseas, but on the plane a few hours earlier he had criticized Obama while speaking to these same reporters for, what else, changing his position on trade:
“I believe that partisanship ends at the water’s edge,” McCain said emphatically, when asked about Obama at a press conference at the Colombian Presidential retreat here.
But on the inaugural flight of the Straight Talk Express — airborne edition -– McCain felt freer to let loose.
On the plane, he blasted Obama’s opposition to the proposed Colombia free trade deal.
“He’s a protectionist and anti-free trade,” McCain said. “Now he has switched, I mean remarkably, from saying that he would unilaterally renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement in the strongest possible terms in Ohio – he went to North Carolina and said well, I’m for free trade.
“It wouldn’t surprise me to see him switch on this one,” McCain said.
For his next trick, McCain will reverse himself before he even speaks.
To use Buck’s example, he will probably get 31 mpg city and 39 highway with his 1994 Suzuki Swift, for a combined total of 34 mpg — exactly what he reported. His 1999 Isuzu Rodeo, on the other hand, will likely only get 18 mpg in city driving and 22 on the road, for an average of 20 mpg. But the comparisons don’t stop there.
It will cost Buck & Co. $3 to drive the Suzuki 25 miles because it will use .74 gallons of gas. That will add up to an annual fuel cost of $1,799, based on average miles. The Isuzu, however, will cost $5.10 to drive 25 miles and will burn 1.25 gallons of gas, for an annual cost of $3,060. Huge difference!
We’re not done yet. At the end of 12 months, the Suzuki will have used 10.1 barrels of oil while the Isuzu will burn up 17.1 barrels. Finally, the carbon footprint on the Suzuki, on a scale of 3.5 to 16.2, is only 5.4. The Isuzu? A much bigger 9.2.
If you’re trying to figure out whether trading your gas guzzler will make sense, use this site. You’ll keep from miscalculating something that could cost you mucho dinero down the line.
And Buck, one more thing. No matter which car you choose, install a K&N air filter. I did, and I’m now getting one extra trip to Jacksonville on a tank of gas. And while I’m sure you wouldn’t want a trip to J-ville, period, it’s a big help to me.
I don’t drive much. I either ride a bike or walk to work, and confine my driving mostly to one day on the weekend when we run errands, do the grocery shopping and go to brunch at Burger Bob’s.
But we are a two-car family, though my wife also mostly walks or rides to work. The car that we use for getting around and hauling everything from furniture to garden supplies and kayaks is a white 1999 Isuzu Rodeo. The other is a white 1994 Suzuki Swift, which has fallen into disrepair due to neglect and disuse.
Although we were considering buying a new hybrid, with a kid in college and one about to start, it seemed prudent to rehabilitate Swifty and use it as our main vehicle for getting around town. The thing only has 48,000 miles on it, but the exterior is looking pretty bad from the ravages of the South Florida climate, falling mangoes and hurricanes. The interior, however, is like new.
So we took it down to the corner gas station to have it fixed up, and Kathy went online to try and locate some parts we need, like the antenna that was lost in Hurricane Wilma. Fixing Swifty up ain’t cheap — it cost us about $900 to put on new tires, belts, brake pads, change all the filters, etc. And we’re going to have it painted so we’re not embarrassed to drive it.
It’s fun to drive, with its zippy little four-cylinder engine and five-speed manual transmission. And it gets more than 30 miles per gallon around town, 35 on the highway.
The interesting thing is we have come to find that Swifty has gained value while we couldn’t give the Rodeo away if we wanted to. Indeed, the guy at the gas station put it inside the bay and locked it up at night, leaving much higher-priced SUVs parked in the unfenced lot, because, he said, Swifty was more likely to get stolen.
In searching for parts online, we came across an advert for the same car, same year, but with 150,000 miles on it listed for $2,195. That may not sound like much, but when I bought the car 14 years ago, it only cost $7,400, and the Blue Book value is just $700. I found another listing for $10,000, but those were Australian dollars and the car had been “customized” by someone with more money than taste or sense.
Kathy’s co-worker wants to buy it. Our pizza delivery guy wants to buy it. Our Haitian mechanic wants to buy it and send it to Haiti where he says it’s the preferred vehicle of car dealers.
But I think we’re going to keep old Swifty. I have a feeling that as the price of gas rises, so will the value of our 14-year-old subcompact hatchback.
Is retired Gen. Wesley Clark going to go to hell for trashing John McCain’s military record on TV?
Martial Problems
Dear Martial:
This controversy is not about what Clark said. It’s really about polls showing Obama ahead of McCain by double digits. Those numbers put the McCain team on the offensive, seeking out an opening, any opening, that would enable them to change the subject from gas prices to security and McCain’s military creds.
What really happened was:
SCHIEFFER: Well, General… I have to say, Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either. Nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down.
WESLEY CLARK: Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification for being president.
The fact is, only one U.S. president has been shot down in a plane during wartime — Poppy Bush. Since the other 42 weren’t shot down, being shot down is clearly not a requirement to be president.
Of course, facts don’t matter to Republicans. The McCain campaign responded to Clark’s statement with unbridled outrage: “Stop trashing McCain’s military record!”
Faced with this, Team Obama unfortunately did a full John Kerry: The senator “regrets” that Gen. Clark trashed McCain’s military record. Sen. Obama admires John McCain’s record, no — he worships McCain’s record. Senator Obama would never besmirch McCain’s patriotism.
Obama revealed a weak spot and the McCain team has been exploiting it ever since.
Monday night, in an interview with Keith Olbermann on “Countdown,” Sen. Jim Webb said something like, “John McCain is a friend of mine but I wish he’d dial back on the politicization of the military. Not everyone in the military agrees with his political views.”
The McCain team responded with more manufactured outrage, accusing Webb is participating in a concerted effort with the Obama campaign, Wes Clark and Keith Olbermann to trash Sen. McCain’s military record.
Last night, McCain demanded that Obama “cut loose” Wes Clark, even though McCain has not cut loose Charlie Black who recently said a 9/11 style attack on American soil would probably help McCain get elected. Plus, Clark is not officially tied to the Obama campaign. (However, he was spotted in D.C. going into a building a few minutes after Caroline Kennedy, who is vetting Obama’s vice presidential picks, went into the same building.)
Obama could have stopped this on Monday by pushing back. Instead, he laid down and let the GOP run over him.
The Obama campaign needs to change the subject in the media — today. Where is the war room? Where is the rapid response?
Remember when John McCain admitted, as is his straight-talkin’ maverick-elicious wont, months ago that he’s not really up on the economy? Well so does everybody else. And now he’s backpedaling like Lance Armstrong.
McCain has tried previously to deny that he ever claimed ignorance of economic matters, but that quote won’t go away
The original remark…slipped out last December in New Hampshire when McCain said, “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” He went on to joke, “I have Greenspan’s book,” referring to the biography that has just been published at the time by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
McCain has tried previously to deny that he ever claimed ignorance of economic matters, but that quote won’t go away.
No, even on a campaign stop/vacation in Columbia to address Americans’ greatest concern right now (for those who guessed the e-word again, you’re wrong), the War on Drugs, his candid and witty moment follows him.
…”Good Morning America’s” Robin Roberts…asked McCain why he went abroad when the No. 1 issue for voters was the U.S. economy.
“You have admitted that you’re not exactly an expert when it comes to the economy,” Roberts began.
“I have not. I have not. I actually have not,” McCain interrupted. “I said that I am stronger on national security issues because of all the time I spent in the military. Very strong on the economy. I understand it. I have a lot more experience than my opponent.”
Let’s recap. McCain is very strong on the economy. He understands it and everything. Hey, I’m convinced. But how come he has no ideas on what to do about anything, you know, economic?
“I’m not ignoring the economy,” he said. “I’ve been speaking about it over the last two weeks.” McCain said a key to reviving the economy is ending the country’s dependence on foreign oil, and he ticked off elements of his energy plan, including more offshore oil drilling and nuclear power plants along with increased use of wind, solar and clean coal technology.
See? McCain understands the economy. Or is it energy? If you were hoping he’d weigh in on the credit and housing crises, keep waiting. When asked what he’d do about that stuff, McCain said, “Uh, I got nothing.”
[Las Vegas Sun’s Jon Ralston asks about the foreclosure bill in Congress]
[McCain] It is imperfect but I am also saying, and I may not have said this a month ago, we may have to do more.
[Ralston: “Like what?”]
[McCain] I don’t know, but we may have to do more…The housing crisis continues to deepen…
Just call McCain the Man with the Plan…for the War on Drugs.
The future Mrs. Charlie Crist
Dear Martial:
