Milton Friedman, economic adviser to Ronald Reagan and Nobel-prize-winning leader of the Chicago school of economics, was born a century ago today, on July 31, 1912.
Thomas Sowell, who was lucky enough to be a student of Friedman's, wrote an article about his former professor at National Review:
Oh this is too funny. The merry pranksters at the MassGOP sent out a press release this morning, saying that as a gift for Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren's 63rd birthday, they had bought her an Ancestry.com membership:
Here's a brilliant video put together by Americans for Prosperity, featuring what might be the most unfair match-up in history, Ronald Reagan vs. Barack Obama:
Today is Florida Senate candidate Adam Hasner's 42nd birthday. Adam's wife, Jillian, sent out this message earlier this week:
This is always a very special time of year for our family. Not only do we get to observe Thanksgiving and all the ways we've been blessed, but we also get to celebrate Adam's birthday which happens to fall on the day after Thanksgiving.
Today is the ninth anniversary of the launch of the Sayfie Review. Publisher Justin Sayfie has done an excellent job making sure his website is the "must read" every morning for Florida politicos.
Justin sent out the following message this morning:
Thanksgiving on Our Birthday
Today is a special day for the Sayfie Review - it is nine years old today. As we pause (briefly) to celebrate our birthday, we are also giving thanks to you and every reader who has made the Review what it has become during the past nine years.
It's appropriate that I started this blog with a discussion of the First Amendment, because I've had to rely on my constitutional right to free speech a few times to defend myself (here, here, and here).
I draw inspiration from the motto of RedState's Erick Erickson to "fight the left and clean up the right." Anyone who thinks that harassing or threatening me will shut me up is sorely mistaken, and the attacks have only furthered my resolve to continue criticizing those who deserve it.
It's hasn't been all fights and challenges. There's been a lot of fun in the past year. Some highlights:
Being invited to be a guest on Flashpoint, local talk radio, conservative podcasts, and other media appearances. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a little (OK, very) opinionated and getting to share my thoughts and debate political topics is always a lot of fun.
Becoming a semi-quasi-almost celebrity on Twitter. I signed up for Twitter in March 2009 as "@rumpfshaker" as a bit of a joke on my last name and this epic song, but didn't really participate in the twitterverse much until about a year ago. Now I'm followed by more than 2,200 people and consistently ranking near the top of the "Top Political Tweeters in Florida" lists that Saint Petersblog publishes each month. Twitter has been a great resource for me too, as I've crowdsourced everything from restaurant recommendations to a frightening (but fortunately quickly resolved) computer virus attack last week.
Getting to meet so many conservative leaders and politicians over the past year, too many to list. There's really no substitute for getting to hear a candidate speak in person, unabridged and uncensored. A few minute clip of a TV interview is not the same, never mind an over-produced 30 second ad. That's why I won't ever endorse a candidate unless I've met him or her in person.
What I've enjoyed most of all is hearing from all of you. It's been fun getting feedback from friends or meeting new people who read the blog or follow me on twitter. I really do appreciate all your support and encouragement, and thank you for your continued interest in my little corner of the internet.
A few semi-interesting statistics about this blog...
Sayfie Review (from the Sayfie Review Twitter Ticker)
Rick Scott for Florida (the original campaign site is down now, but I was listed on the Bloggers for Scott Blogroll)
The Other McCain (Stacy has only linked me a few times, but each time, the Fedora has brought me a huge spike in traffic)
Visitors - Top Countries:
United States (94% of traffic is from the U.S., all other countries are <1%)
Canada
United Kingdom
India
France
Germany
Australia
Israel
Visitors - Top States
Florida (60%)
New York (6%)
District of Columbia (4%)
California
Georgia
Texas
Virginia
Illinois
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Browsers used to access this site:
Internet explorer - 46%
Firefox - 28%
Safari - 9%
Chrome - 8%
Mobile - 4%
Operating Systems:
Windows - 77%
Macintosh - 12%
iPhone - 3%
BlackBerry - 1%
Other Unix - 1%
Linux - 1%
Android - 1%
To all of you who have been there for the entire year, those of you who found me along the way, or those of you who are new readers, THANK YOU. I'm looking forward to sharing the years to come with you.
Florida's Senator and tea party favorite Marco Rubio celebrates his 40th birthday today.
It's been a great year politically for Rubio, from defeating both a Democrat and Democrat-in-disguise Governor Oompa Loompa to getting included on nearly every Republican's wish lists for 2012 presidential or vice-presidential candidates.
Part of the reason for Rubio's ongoing popularity is his willingness to speak directly and confidently on the issues, no matter how difficult.
Case in point: this op-ed written by Rubio for the Miami Herald, on the topic of Medicare reform:
...Rep. Paul Ryan has offered a plan that would make no changes whatsoever for anyone age 55 and older. I support it because, right now, it is the only plan out there that helps save Medicare. Democrats oppose it. Fine. But, if they have a better way to save Medicare, what are they waiting for to show us? What is their plan to save Medicare?
Either show us how Medicare survives without any changes or show us what changes you propose we make. Anyone who supports doing nothing is a supporter of bankrupting Medicare.
Where is the House Democrat plan to save Medicare?
Where is the Senate Democrat plan to save Medicare?
Where is President Obama’s plan to save Medicare?
They have no plan to save it, and they do not plan to offer one. They have decided that winning their next election is more important than saving Medicare for my mother and retirees like her...
Here's a YouTube video of Rubio with further discussion of the need to reform Medicare:
"The National Football League salutes this great American, who played the game with honor and courage, and played to win, not just for America, but for free people everywhere.
Ronald Reagan was the President of my childhood. (I was born during Carter's term but fortunately too young to remember any of it.) I remember seeing Reagan on TV and hearing his strong, sincere voice. Partly because he is the first President I remember, and partly because he was such an inspirational leader, but he was and always has been my model for what a leader is supposed to be.
My grandfather was a staunch Republican, and donated to the GOP for years. He gave me this button when I was a little girl:
Yes, I've been a Republican for a looooooong time :)
My all-time favorite Reagan speech is the one he gave on June 12, 1987, at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. This is the day when he made the famous demand, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" It is important to remember that Reagan's speechwriters and advisers did not want him to be so aggressive and direct, and kept deleting these words from drafts of the speech, wanting him to instead offer more conciliatory words merely hoping for a peaceful resolution. Wisely, Reagan rejected their advice and insisted that his words stay in the speech. Today, more than thirty years later, those six words remain the most memorable he spoke that day.
Here is the speech, in its entirety, posted by the Reagan Foundation:
The section where he requests that Gorbachev tear down the Wall starts at the 11 minute mark. Note also the very next section of the speech, where he discusses how America's strong and unyielding stance forced the Soviets back to the negotiating table. (Ahem...ahem...the current occupant of the White House would be well-advised to learn from this example.)
For more on Ronald Reagan, check out this excellent two part story from the L.A. Times (yes, really) with some great photos and video:
Greenwood Cemetery
