Interesting commentary on Bobby Jindal and Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley Poised to Join Bobby Jindal as Indian-Americans Running Deep South States - The Daily Beast

Bill McCollum on the Obama Administration's Response to the Gulf Oil Spill

Bill McCollum on Greta VanSusteren 06.14.10

Meet Mike Huckabee and Support Mike Horner!

Mike Horner recently announced that he had received the endorsement of Governor Mike Huckabee and Huck PAC, and Huckabee himself is coming to visit our area to support Horner's campaign.

The event is open to the public, but they are requesting that you RSVP.  I'll be there!

Join Governor Mike Huckabee
for a reception honoring Mike Horner!

Thursday, June 17
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Warbird Adventures
Kissimmee Gateway Airport
233 North Hoagland Boulevard
Kissimmee, FL 34741-4531

RSVP: 407-963-3519 or Adam@gohorner.com

Maximum contribution $500 per individual or company

Political advertisement paid for and approved by Mike Horner, Republican, for State Representative District 79. The purchase of a ticket for, or a contribution to, the campaign fund raiser is a contribution to the campaign of Mike Horner. The maximum contribution is $500.00 per individual or company. Contributions are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.

Great advice from Frank Torres about contacting elected officials

This is from our friend, Frank Torres, and is reprinted here with his permission.  Frank has an excellent blog at http://franktorresblog.com and I encourage you to check it out: lots of detailed coverage of local political races and one heck of a sense of humor. 

Frank recently wrote some advice for people wanting to know the best strategies for communicating with their elected officials.

Talkin’ To the Man (or Woman) | Frank Torres' Blog

One of my favorite parts of my job is getting citizens involved with communicating with lawmakers. They will bring up issues that they feel very strongly about and I will quiz them, make sure they have covered all of their bases, and see if they have their facts right. Then I will ask them ,“Have you called your Congressman?” or Mayor, or Commissioner, or even Senator. The look in their eyes will a lot of times be one of surprise. “Can I do that?” they will ask, and my reply will be, “Damn straight!” 

Here is the thing: a lot of times when we see our lawmakers in the paper and on the CNN or Fox News; we forget a major point. They work for us. We put them in office and we can take them out. There are a lot of citizens that are a little frightened; they have put their lawmakers on too high of a pedestal and they’re concerned that Lord Voldemort will be on the other side of the phone when they call.

Now there are plenty of reasons to call a member of government but most of the time it's one of these two things: 1. You have a personal problem that they could help with and you would like assistance or an inquiry done, or 2. You would like to voice your opinion on one of the issues affecting your district. If you’ve never called a lawmaker before, here is my short how-to guide of dos and don’ts:

Do: Make sure you're calling the right place! Staffers get about 25 calls a day about issues in another district or an area that they have no power over.

Do: Have all of your info or facts in front of you, and the steps you’ve already taken.

Do: Write down the name of the staffer to whom you’re speaking and expect them to most likely not know every single thing about your issue.  They should be professional, they’re not always friendly, they are very busy and spend the day listening to people complain. It’s a stressful job and they get a lot of crazy calls, which is why you need to be organized.

Do: Have a solution in mind. What do you want done?

Do: Be prepared to download and fill out a form for permission to use your personal info, if you have a personal claim. Ask them if you can fax it back, confirm they received it and ask for a time-line for your claim or an answer to your concerns. It's not going to get done overnight, but then again if it’s a simple request it shouldn’t take months. If it’s about an issue, make sure your call is recorded and ask for a written reply.

OK, Now the don’ts:

Don’t: Be vulgar.  If you are calling an office and swearing a thousand words per minute, you are burning your bridge with that office. If you’re angry, wait until you're not to call.

Don’t: Tolerate bad behavior from them. It doesn’t happen often but they shouldn’t lose their cool with you. Give them feedback, it's public service, guys.

Don’t: Expect mountains moved. If it’s a national issue or a large scale problem thousands are having, then believe that they are probably already working on it and a complicated legislative process is involved.

For the mid-terms I will be paying attention to constituent services. People often forget that you just don’t elect the candidate, but the people around him, as well. Peyton Manning won’t win the Superbowl if he’s playing with a high school team. Then again, he didn’t win it anyways last time around, but you get the point.

Excellent advice, Frank!  Thanks for letting us share it with our readers here.

Five For Fighting - Note to the Unknown Soldier

This is a very powerful song from Five For Fighting, in honor of our fallen military heroes.

YouTube | Five for Fighting | Note to the Unknown Soldier

Sunshine State Sarah Mobile edition

Some of y'all are reading this site on iPhones, Blackberries, and other mobile phones (I've checked the site on my Blackberry several times myself), so I've been looking into options to provide a mobile version of Sunshine State Sarah.

I'm fairly computer savvy but by no means an expert (there's a reason my sites are all on Blogger and not WordPress!), and my lack of experience with html and CSS is really showing here.  I've been looking into some of the mobile website conversion options like Mofuse and Mobify, and just ended up with a headache.    

Fortunately, the Google Reader application is very easy to operate.  I've set up a link with the Sunshine State Sarah RSS feed to go through Google Reader here: 

http://www.google.com/reader/m/view/feed/http://feeds.feedburner.com/SunshineStateSarah 

It just lists posts from this blog in chronological order and lets you read the complete post, including pictures.  Embedded videos don't show up but I think I can work around that by also posting a link in the text of the post, since I know I can access YouTube, etc. on my Blackberry.  There's also a permanent link titled "MOBILE-FRIENDLY VIEW" on the right column of this page.  I tested it on my phone and it worked fine. 

Anyway, I'd appreciated your feedback on this mobile link - I know it works on my Blackberry Bold, but I'd like to hear what the experience is like on other phones.   Also, if anyone has any advice on creating a full mobile version of this site, I'd love to hear it, because I'd eventually like to do that.  Thanks!

11.2.2010 - Change We Can REALLY Believe In!

Great new YouTube video with compelling images and music...pretty much explains what needs to happen on November 2nd, and why.

You Tube | Open Letter to Democrats

Mike Huckabee on Obama looking for an a** to kick

On his Huckabee TV show tonight, Mike Huckabee mentioned that he was offended by President Obama saying that he was looking for an a** to kick - not so much because of the profanity (he said he'd heard worse), but instead because of the arrogance and ineptitude that statement revealed:

Ronald Reagan was often maligned because he was an actor who became President, but I believe that's a whole lot better than being a President who has become an actor - playing the role in make believe but not understanding that the real job is not delivering lines from the teleprompter, but delivering a solution.

The more I hear about our government and BP refusing help from other countries and people here with good ideas (anyone who has watched Hannity or Huckabee this week has seen several solutions that are not being used), ignoring the desperate pleas from the governments of the Gulf States (Bobby Jindal especially comes to mind), the angrier I get.  

I'm sitting here right now watching Huckabee chat with several guys from Ft. Walton Beach with the sweetest Southern accents (one guy is even wearing overalls, love it!) showing how very easy it is to absorb oil with hay and recycled carpet fibers.  These guys aren't scientists.  They haven't won any Nobel prizes.  They just know farming, construction, fishing, etc. and they care about our beaches.  

Why is BP continuing to ignore these ideas?  Why is the White House looking for an a** to kick instead of getting boots on the ground to protect our beaches?  Is it because Obama knows he's never going to get electoral votes in Louisiana?  Is it anti-Southern prejudice?  Is it ignorance or ineptitude?  I want answers!

Our economy is still in trouble.  Wasn't the stimulus supposed to create jobs?  I know a lot of the stimulus funds are still unallocated and unspent.  Why can't we use that to hire temporary workers to work on assembling berms, rescuing wildlife, and cleaning the beaches?  

It's one thing to tax our economy off the cliff or enact an unconstitutional health care bill we can't afford, but the horrifying destruction of our beautiful Gulf coast beaches and wetlands and the complete lack of action and leadership from the White House is absolutely unforgivable.   

"This Is How You Stand With Israel"

There are some fair criticisms of George W. Bush, but one thing he definitely understood is the importance of our friendship with Israel.  Here's a great post from TheHotJoints with a look back:

TheHotJoints | Video | This Is How You Stand With Israel

Sunshine State Sarah on Facebook!

Sunshine State Sarah now has an official page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sunshinestatesarah.

Please check it out and become a fan!

Shame on you, Charlie Crist, shame on you

Sad to report that Governor Crist vetoed HB 1143 earlier today. 

His stated reasoning was that ultrasounds and similar measures "do not change hearts, which is the only true and effective way to ensure that a new life coming into the world is loved, cherished, and receives the care that is deserved."

What a load of

!!!!!!!

I believe that we are all God's creations and therefore all new life is already loved.  And as someone who was lucky enough to be adopted by my wonderful parents, and knowing other friends who are adopted or who have adopted children of their own, I can hardly put into words how wrong and very, very  hurtful the Governor's words are here.  There are so many loving families who want nothing more than to provide a loving home for an "unwanted" child, and who would willingly pay for the birth mother's medical bills and provide her with care, love, and support.

We all saw this coming.  Charlie's been desperately chasing after the polls like a puppy after a tennis ball, and removed all pro-life messages from his website earlier this week.  Still, seeing it in print is especially shocking, and the hurtful way he chose to phrase it, just saddens me.  

2010 State of Orange County Address

I'm at the Tiger Bay/CFHLA annual lunch. Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty will address us soon. Follow my twitter account for updates (@rumpfshaker).

New Look for Sunshine State Sarah! What do you think?

Blogger now has all these new sparkly blog template settings, and I couldn't resist trying one out.  Still working out some kinks (I lost some of my widgets and will have to reprogram them) and moving some stuff around.

What do you think?  Anyone else have experience with these new templates?   Other Blogger advice or widgets I should try?

Hope everyone has a great day. :-)

Another example of the White House being slow to respond to a crisis

Check out this post from Scott Maxwell, about an Altamonte Springs woman who wrote a letter to President Obama and got a very late, very odd, and very unhelpful response:

Not the response from Obama she was expecting – Taking Names the Blog – Orlando Sentinel

OMG. More flashes of brilliance from the Sentinel. My brain might explode.

Wow, wow, WOW.  More awesomeness from the Sentinel.  If they keep this up, I might have to subscribe to paper delivery again.

Read and enjoy...article from Mike Thomas about Matthew Falconer:

 

Falconer the 'anti'-candidate not being realistic | Mike Thomas | OrlandoSentinel.com

Some highlights:

[Falconer] is anti-rail and anti-taxes, anti-Magic arena and anti-tolls.  He also is, all too often, anti-reality. He is inclined to making up facts. He claims he will do things he won't be able to do.

Sentinel got this one right! Well, almost.

The Orlando Sentinel has accurately evaluated the Florida Tea Party Fake Tea Party as an inconsequential minor third party with no chance of winning elections this year, and has declined to include Fake Tea Party candidates in their editorial board interviews.

Why not the Tea Party? – Orlando Opinionators – Orlando Sentinel

The Tea Party is much newer to the scene [than the Libertarian or Green Parties], and it has yet to win a federal office. The party’s real clout – so far – is the influence it is wielding over the selection of candidates from the Republican Party throughout the country.  In other cases, like the District 12 race, Tea Party candidate Wilkinson could end up siphoning off enough Republican votes to produce a Democrat winner.

Well, the Sentinel got it right that the Fake Tea Party doesn't deserve to be included in the Sentinel's interviews.  However, they failed to make the extremely important distinction between the Fake Tea Party third party and the tea party movement.  The tea party movement has repeatedly denounced the Fake Tea Party or any other similar third party efforts that would split the conservative vote (check out our posts here and here and here).

For anyone out there who is doubting there could be a connection between Alan Grayson and the Fake Tea Party, ask yourself this - when have you ever heard of anyone running against an incumbent for any office, where the challenger never criticized the incumbent at all, and in fact scarcely ever even mentioned him?  Peg Dunmire, the Fake Tea Party candidate who is running against Alan Grayson magically stopped talking about him as soon as she left the Republican Party to join the Fake Tea Party.  Even Dunmire's website never  criticizes him directly, or ever mentions him by name except on one separate sub-page accessed via the fifth option on a pull-down menu titled "issues." 

If Dunmire were really, truly a conservative who sincerely desired to bring a challenge to Alan Grayson, she would break free from Doug Guetzloe, Fred O'Neal, and the rest of her handlers and not be afraid to go after Grayson. 

Cool updates from my endorsed candidates

Here's some updates from some of my endorsed candidates:

Jason Brodeur, running for State House District 33, Lori Halbert, running for State House District 31, John Horan, running for Seminole County Commissioner, Teresa Jacobs, running for Orange County Mayor, David Simmons, running for State Senate District 22, and  Jennifer Thompson, running for Orange County Commissioner, have qualified for the ballot by petition.  This is a showing of true grassroots support and a well-organized campaign.  Congrats!

Karen Diebel, running for Congress (District FL-24), and Mike Horner, State House 79, both announced this week that they had received the endorsement of Mike Huckabee and Huck PAC.

A.A. Ladan, a former prosecutor running for Seminole County Judge, received the endorsement of Ninth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Lawson Lamar.

Karen Diebel, Mike Horner, Marco Rubio, and Jason Brodeur all won the Orange County Young Republican straw polls held in the past two months.

Charlie Crist flakes out again

Pathetic, just pathetic.

Now that our Oompa Loompa Governor no longer has to pretend to be a Republican, the swing to his true liberal beliefs has begun.  See the below post from Michelle Malkin about Charlie scrubbing pro-life statements from his website:

Michelle Malkin | Charlie Crist Removes Pro-Life Message From Web Site

Word on the street is that Charlie is most likely going to veto HB1143, and that either way he's going to announce some sort of decision by the end of the week.  If you support this bill, please contact the Governor IMMEDIATELY at 850-488-7146 (leave a message or call first thing in the morning) or Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com. 

I like what I'm hearing from Nikki Haley

Just got home from a great fundraiser for one of my candidates (if you're in Seminole County, please check out www.LadanForJudge.org) and caught Sean Hannity's interview with Nikki Haley, a Republican who's running for governor in South Carolina.  You can follow her on Twitter at @nikkihaley.

She survived a bruising, nasty, vindictive primary battle to be one of the top-two vote-getters and has a runoff in a few weeks.  Some highlights from the show tonight: 

From her election night speech yesterday:

When I looked at everything, I knew that there was something wrong.  And the thing that I knew was wrong was that South Carolina was settling.  We were settling for a Republican House, a Republican Senate, and a Republican Governor.  I won't stop until we get a conservative House, a conservative Senate, and a conservative Governor. 

On Hannity tonight:

Hannity: You made an important distinction that I make often.  There's a difference between Republicans and conservatives.  Are you saying that you're more of a conservative than a Republican?

Haley: What I'm saying is that we've seen a lot of Republicans that have learned the talking points but they haven't learned the conservative actions associated with the talking points.  You know we are long past the day of electing someone because they look good in a picture or they hold a baby well.  If they are not going to fight for the taxpayers, if they are not going to make sure that they understand that this is not their money to spend, then we don't need to have them.  It is time that we look at what it means to be conservative, and that's not bailouts, that's not stimulus packages, it's not Washington.  It's prioritizing our spending, understanding that...it's about strengthening small businesses, and if you do that, you encourage the economy.  It's pretty simple business.

You know what I think about the tea parties is, first of all, they're not a party at all.  It is Republicans, independents, and Democrats who've said that we've had enough and we want to take our government back.  I think the second thing is what you are seeing is that the people are no longer going to settle for elected officials thinking that they know better...I think that it's time that we hold elected officials accountable and remind them who it is that they work for...

...the tea parties are great because they are getting people to understand the power of their voice.  Government belongs to the people and we need to go back to that.  You know, our founding fathers said that it should be families first, then communities, then state, then federal.  We have watched turn completely upside down.  We need to go back to where we were supposed to be.

Sounds like a waste of money to me

This is just ridiculous.  McLean ran for office as a fiscal conservative, and then pulled shenanigans like this.  About nine thousand bucks for unnecessary office furniture...may not be all that much, but I think it betrays a philosophy that is incompatible with being a true fiscal conservative.

Taxpayers needed my office makeover, new official says - Orlando Sentinel

Like most candidates in this fiscally conservative Republican stronghold, Mike McLean campaigned on a platform that was clearly pro-business and low taxes when he ran for office last year.

Some of the literature in his successful campaign for Seminole County Commission even included a promise to make government "live within its means."

So what did the county's rookie commissioner do two months into his term? He asked for $8,883.28 in new office furniture, including a $1,200 high-back leather chair and a $1,100 credenza.

The county staff obliged, though the existing furniture -- a cherry-stained desk, table, bookshelves and traditional Queen Anne-style chairs -- is in good repair except for minor scratches and dings.

McLean defends the request, saying the 10-year-old furniture, while functional, is out of date.

What?!  Are you kidding me?

For one thing, I'm glad my grandfather isn't around anymore to hear someone say that cherry-stained, Queen Anne furniture is "out of date."  Umm, sorry McLean, but that's called "classic" and remember, "good taste never goes out of style." 

And as far as "minor scratches and dings" go, that is no reason to throw out good wood furniture.  Four generations of Rumpfs have made and restored wood furniture, and my house has several treasured items made by my father or grandfather, or that I've salvaged and repaired myself.  "Minor scratches" are easily fixed with touch up marker kits.  Here's my favorite brand:

I've got a set and used them successfully on my furniture at home.  It's a special type of marker that seems somewhat paint-like, a little thicker than regular marker ink, applies easily and permanently covers up scratches.

Eight bucks, McLean!  Just eight bucks, and your furniture could have been nice and pretty again.  Amazon even offers that free super saver shipping if your total order is at least $25!  May we suggest some reading material?

Finally, McLean's argument that there was some pressing need to update the furniture is just pathetic:

This office isn't my office.  It's the citizens of Seminole County's office. I have an obligation to make it as up to date as possible.

Furniture does not become obsolete like computers or other technology.  Having slightly older furniture isn't going to interfere with meeting with constituents or otherwise doing the job of a commissioner.