“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”  1 Corinthians 6:18-20  KJV

It’s an election year alright, isn’t it? Last week I discussed a CNN interview with Franklin Graham. Poor Graham was bludgeoned because he had the courage to stand up for what he believes in. As the years go by, I discover that I’m more interested than I once was in elections, but too often that interest means I get bludgeoned, also.  Most recently, that’s been because I stood with the Catholic & Baptist Churches against the prospect of them having to provide free birth control and abortions for their female employees.

When it comes to political correctness, we Republicans can be a little dense.  Someone sent a panel of male experts to testify to a Congressional panel about abortion.  I’m sure there were female specialists out there that would have been glad to testify on the behalf of the churches, but someone  forgot to send the memo.  Not only did this leave Republicans wide open to ridicule like the poster above, but it gave the liberals a bone to chew on and chew on and chew on.

The bludgeoning happened to me when I reposted a Rick Santorum quote, ‎”It’s not about contraception; It’s about economic liberty; it’s about freedom of speech; it’s about freedom of religion. It’s about government control of your lives and it’s got to stop.”-http://RickSantorum.com/  Within moments I was being accused of forcing women to have back alley abortions.  I felt bludgeoned.

The real question is control.  There’s a lot of talk about women having control of their own bodies, but if Christianity is more lifestyle than label, then Jesus Christ is in control.  There’s really no politically correct way to say that.  Either you believe in an omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God who’s got your back or you don’t.  I can’t make trusting God with everything, including your body and your lifestyle palatable to someone who hasn’t sold out to Christ – but Christ is not on the ballot.

This isn’t a political question at all.  The Word is not a safe thing.  It can’t be watered down to make it acceptable to the World.  Because I do believe the Bible and profess that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, it effects who I want to vote for, but it doesn’t matter who’s in the White House or what’s legal or illegal under a current ruling of the Supreme Court, the Holy Spirit is in control of this temple.  What about yours?

For those of you who are not from the United States, or who do not follow political news, there was a primary held in Alabama yesterday.  FN.    When the polls closed at 7:00 p.m., every person in the state of Alabama heaved a deep sigh.  No, it wasn’t with satisfaction because we completed our civic duty by voting (I don’t know the percentage of voter turnout in the state for the primary, but I am sure we weren’t anywhere close to 100%).

It was a sigh of relief at the fact that the robocalls will finally stop.  After Super Tuesday, which was March 6, every household in Alabama with a landline was inundated with calls from recorded spokesmen delivering messages from, or about, the various presidential candidates.

(To the candidate who called in the middle of the one network television program my family makes time to watch every week, Alcatraz, we weren’t going to vote for you anyhow, but the call during our favorite TV show clinched it.)

There were some families, my sister included, who the day before election night, gave in and unplugged their phone for the evening.  (We had done so Sunday during our afternoon nap after it was interrupted with calls.)

We should feel honored, I guess; at our house we got at least five calls directly from at least two separate  presidential candidate (‘s voices), one from a candidate’s wife (‘s voice) and one or two from various groups telling us why not to vote for a particular presidential candidate.

I think the entire state was a little bemused by the onslaught of phone calls;  this year is the first year in a long time that the Alabama primary had any relevance in the presidential election process (we used to have our primary in June, and by that time the nominees for both parties had been selected) and the first year ever since someone (and whoever they are, I hope they are inundated continually with all kinds of robocalls themselves) invented the robocall for political purposes.

So last night at 7, the people in the great state of Alabama snuggled down into their couches, content to watch the election results, or some other television show of their choice, or read, or play games or whatever, free in the knowledge that the dratted phone was not going to ring with a call from anyone besides someone  we knew, or that at least had some direct connection with us.

It was bliss!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

FN.  For those of you not familiar with the election process in the United States, here is my best thumbnail sketch.

There are three levels of elections:  federal, state and local.   Federal elections are those elections that involve the positions that will be in charge of the federal government, that is, the government that rules the country.  However, our constitution says that the federal government can only control certain things, and leaves many powers to each individual states, which the states control with their own state governments.  (We had state governments long before we had a federal government).  So state elections involve important positions in the state governments.  Local elections deal with local areas, such as counties and towns.  State and federal elections are held every two years.  The President of the United States is a federal position, and elections for president occur every four years.  This is one of those four-year presidential election years.

We have two main political parties, although there are other groups out there, the Republicans and the Democrats.  A primary is where the individual parties choose who their candidate for president will be.  This year, there is no contest on the Democratic side because President Barack Obama is a Democratic and no one is running against him in the primary.  There is a contest on the Republican side, since there are several people who would like to run for President as a Republican.  The primary election, which is what we had here in Alabama yesterday, is the time when the Republicans in Alabama (and probably some Democrats, but I’ll explain about cross-over voting another time) chose who they wanted to be the presidential nominee, as well as selecting other Republican candidates for other state and federal offices.

The final election is in November.

Clear as mud, isn’t it?

“The south is not just a place, it is, as they proudly tell you, a state of mind,” said Republican consultant Alex Castellanos. “The North is defined by reason, the South embraces romance and the heart. The North is relativist, the South lives by absolutes. When the South is right, it is absolutely right. When wrong, it is absolutely, tragically wrong.”
Read more…

State Treasurer Dan Rutherford heads Romney’s Illinois campaign, and is confident Romney will receive a lot of support. The campaign has already begun airing TV commercials across the state. With Illinois’s primary the only one on March 20, some candidates will likely stay in Illinois for election results including Romney. Rutherford says there will be some campaigning and fundraising the day before and day of the primary.

Rutherford says Romney’s closest competitor, Rick Santorum, is already ineligible to pick up 12 of the 54 delegates because he failed to file a full slate of delegates and alternates.

Copyright IRN

——–

Obama is truly a Manchurian candidate. Once again the evidence is laid out, and the corporate propaganda media machine stays silent. Obama was born in Kenya. He was known in childhood as Barry Soetoro. The birth certificates in Kenya around the time for the day he was born were stolen, blacked out, or destroyed. An audio interview, where his grandmother may have slipped and admitted that he was not natural born, was partly deleted around the incriminating part. His parents were CIA connected and were airlifted to Hawaii as part of a CIA project to influence and in-doctrine the future leaders of the African Nation. Wayne Madsen, ex US Navy Officer/National Security Agency and now investigative researcher, has done extensive research into linking Obama to being a CIA asset.

The CIA is Illuminati controlled. A CIA agent on his deathbed has admitted on record to CIA and his involvement in the John F. Kennedy assassination. Obama is their asset and creation. That is why his selective service card, social security card, and birth certificate are all fraud. He is a minion of the New World Order/ Corporate Banker Oligarchy, which has hijacked the United States Government, and his crimes are high treason.

On March 1st Andrew Brietbart was to release damning footage of Obama pal-ing around with domestic terrorists like Bill Ayers, and radical communists. Conveniently for the Obama administration he dropped dead the night before. Friends and colleagues are crying foul play.

Meanwhile the president has just signed into law a measure criminalizing protests at functions where the Secret Service is providing security, making it a felony. Effectively eliminating the right to peacefully protest our government. The NDAA has made the secret arrests, detainment, and assassinations of US citizens legal. All while notices to arm and man secret FEMA camps/prisons are going out to government contractors as the Army and National Guard are preparing for mass civil unrest.

Most of all, usurping the Constitution and very words they have sworn to protect, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (top military brass and the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta), have recently declared Congress’ permission and authority over the United States military null and void, and that executive branch and US military answers to unelected international bodies. Openly announcing World Government Elite Banker Controlled.

– Currently impeachment documents are being drawn up while the media stays silent.

——————————————————————————————————-

There is going to be a systematic and executed economic collapse coincided with an attack on Iran that will implode America’s economy. Pastor Lindsay Williams, chaplain to elite globalist oil industry heads, has forewarned that the attack will happen right before the US presidential election, around October or November. Right now media reports Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu pushing for the war to commence while the Obama administration says to wait. This directly coincides with Williams’ November insider testimony, relaying the war will be right before the November election.

The Iran war will prelude the implosion of the US economy. As Lindsay Williams testifies, based on information straight from his insider oil exec, first will be the attack on Iran, followed sometime after by the sharp fall of the Euro. Once the Euro falls the Dollar will plummet soon after devastating the US economy and ushering in a worldwide depression.

The implosion of the economy is executed by the elite banking cabal and designed to weaken national sovereignty and help usher in world government.

Stated by the prophetic Lindsay Williams in an interview late fall, no doubt the evidence and warning signs are apparent: Read headlines in Europe’s economic news, the enormous and mounting US debt, Federal Reserve corruption, massive banker fraud and derivative bubbles, elite banker bailouts and Ponzi schemes, war beating media and government propaganda. Gerald Celente, distinguished economist that predicted the 2008 housing bubble implosion, predicts… financial collapse of the U.S. and political upheaval a collapse engenders. Read : Bob Chapman International Forcaster: US and UK in a cauldron that could take down the entire financial system.

The police state laws and infrastructure to forcefully quell the mass civil unrest that will follow the economic implosion have been set up. Mass people “in the know” have been storing up non-perishable food and water, moving to the country, converting investments to gold and commodities, and buying guns. Mass elite insiders have been moving out of the country to places like New Zealand, most recently James Cameron. Self sustaining communities have been popping up in the country and many intellectuals have been forming groups that can self sustain.. States governments are also preparing their own currencies and self sustaining policies in case of an economic collapse.

Crucified by the corporate propaganda media machine, our true American patriot and statesman Ron Paul has been systematically cheated out of the presidential primary election through voting fraud and republican establishment chicanery. It is time to unplug the television and wake up from the induced by design trance. All the evidence of the corporate banker take-over is documented and in the open. The Republic is in jeopardy. Our country needs us.

Peace be with you all,

Michael Alexander

Mr. Irwin credits the recent business boom that he and other gun sellers are experiencing to the expectation that President Obama will be re-elected.  Apparently, sluggish economy notwithstanding, gun sellers are having trouble keeping the shelves stocked.

This gave me pause.

It so happens, I own a gun myself.  It’s a “Texan Junior”.  Coincidence?  More on that topic in our next post.

When I read the Irwin article, ably written by Anna M. Tinsley, in the Fort Worth paper, it set me to wondering why Americans are so enamored of guns.

It is not news to point out that Americans, among those living in western democracies, are uniquely attached to firearms.  A few years ago, I was in Germany, and was part of a dinner between American and German students.  Happily, I was seated next to a woman who spoke excellent English, because I learned my entire German lexicon from Wayne Newton.  We chatted about a variety of things.  At the time, Europe was resisting the importation of fruits and vegetables that had been genetically modified with animal DNA, so we yakked it up about tomatoes with pig snouts.

Once comfortable with one another, she asked me candidly, “What is it about guns that seems to fascinate Americans?  Why would you even want to own a gun?”

Hhmmm.  I was stumped, really.

Are we afraid of our government?  We are the world’s preeminent democracy.

As I’ve said, I am a gun owner.  My six-gun has been in storage for some time.  I think since I was 10.  I got it out tonight, to remember how I felt packin’ it around.  I got really mad at the dog, when she chased the neighbor’s cat and failed to respond to my come-home whistle.  So, I tested whether I might shoot her.

Amnesty prevailed, and I spared her.

When I have talked about the gun issue with friends and colleagues, I am often told that gun ownership is important to rural people, especially for hunting.  I know a thing or two about rurality.

It just so happens that I grew up in a town whose population could possibly have been squeezed, in its entirety, into a freight elevator.

My very own family were, like most neighbors, avid hunters.  If I may confess, I plunked a squirrel myself, once, with a .22 rifle.  Instant remorse.  I don’t think our zest for hunting adequately explains the desire to “carry”.

Tomatoes Ready for Canning in Rural America. Did Someone Say, “Oink”?

Over the past week, I tried hard to objectively explore why one might want to carry a gun.  Honestly, I feel more vulnerable by packin’ heat, than I do protected.  As an aging maiden lady, I am quite certain that, if I were to point a gun at a home intruder, say, he would soon wrest the gun from my scrawny arms, point it at me, and bomb’s away.

So then I speculated that, perhaps when I am in ‘the home’, gender-related strength having been brought into equity due to the ravages of time, I may want to ‘cowboy up’.  My upper arm strength, more robust due to driving my own wheel chair, may help me to become competitive, relative to my fellow residents–regardless of gender.

But then I thought, why bother with a firearm, when I could hurl a bedpan and get the same result?

It is fun to be snarky when considering the topic of guns, but we understand that this is not a funny topic for people whose family or friends have been victims of gun violence.   As Barbara Bush put it just yesterday–though she was talking about the current Republican Presidential primary campaign–”I think the rest of the world is looking at us these days and saying, ‘What are you doing?’” (Politico, March 5, 2012)  Indeed.

What are we doing?  We would love to hear your thoughts on why Americans are so obsessed with owning guns, why they would feel an urgent need to load up just now, and why it matters, if it does?

Reblogged from Millard Fillmore's Bathtub:

The GOP presidential primary is Tuesday, March 6, 2012. The senatorial primary is Tuesday, June 12, 2012 and the general election is Tuesday, November 6, 2012.  Register to vote here www.sbe.virginia.gov fill out the application and take it to your local registrar’s office.

The vote is your fundamental right in America.  Did you know that the 24th Amendment made it illegal for states to charge a poll tax to voters, 1964? Did you know that the Voting Rights Act authorized the federal government to take over the voting process because blacks were prevented from registering to vote or cast a vote through literacy tests and intimidation tactics, 1965?

Did you know that one vote gave America the English language instead of German, 1776?

Did you know that one vote gave Adolf Hitler leadership of the Nazi Party, 1923?

Let’s dispel the myth that your one vote doesn’t count or make a difference. The one vote has changed the course our nation’s history. Please visit http://www.usfca.edu/fac-staff/hancock/pol204/history.htm.

It gets better the power of one vote http://www.learn-usa.com/of_relevance/vote.htm

So with the history of voting and the one vote will you register to vote now? Register to vote and check your voter status www.sbe.virginia.gov. Please fill out the voter application, print it and mail it to the State Board of Elections.

SAVE THE DATES:

General Assembly in session through March 2012

GOP Presidential primaries will be held on Tuesday, March 6, 2012

All other primaries minus the presidential primaries will be held on Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The general election will be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Your vote is your voice, your right and your power. Please exercise its use.  Miss Community Cloovia

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Ringing in the delegates on this Super Tuesday isn’t that super, since many states are awarding delegates proportionally this cycle, of which many are non-binding. Though the media will have you believe that one candidate is out while another is surging, it can all be summed up in one word: “theater.”  You have Rick Santorum, the least fiscally conservative of the bunch, winning over the religious right. Mitt Romney is winning over no one new. Ron Paul is being the libertarian, and Newt Gingrich continues to take a beating from the media as he triumphs in his home legislative state of Georgia. Thank God for Georgia.

These results are not too far from expected. Not enough Americans are in the weeds on such things, but there is one clear trend that is being underreported. The Republican Party base has been easily distracted, and are playing right into the hands of the establishment-controlled government. The United States is currently sitting with a credit downgrade at $16T in debt with spending at 100% of GDP. And with $1T on the table the Republican base is complaining about birth control. The newly declared war on the Catholic Church has given Rick Santorum his momentum. Let’s not forget that the Catholic Church supported Obama and his health care reform. At the time, Archbishop Dolan praised President Obama with a “Bravo!” on his healthcare overhaul. Suddenly, the deal that the church cut was not as inclusive as they thought. Now, there is a realization that our current government is not very Christian-friendly, allegedly.

The Republican Party and its base have taken up the religious freedom war cry. What happened to just plain old freedom? Churches adopt the IRS tax code, because that’s what Jesus would do, while abnegating their duties in the community to the federal government. Why are we pondering the moral decline in America? The time to cry out for religious freedom was for prayer in the schools that we pay for, and “hate speech” legislation that has been passed in many states, or the assault in Waco. Right now is the time to cry out for retaining our liberty, period. Financial collapse cannot be an option, though it would fill the pews of the churches, it is not acceptable to allow the 2012 debate to be diverted to an issue that could become a non-issue once the Supreme Court rules on the mandate in the coming weeks. Over a month will have been wasted, and the rise of sharia law will have been rooted in the rally cries of religious freedom that the Republican base has so desperately fought against in many recent legislative sessions. The law that usurps all laws will become the next fight in our battle to preserve America.

At some point, the base needs to refocus its efforts and energy. Family values were destroyed by big government policies. Bill after bill had been signed into law removing fathers from their homes, preventing children from praying, and punishing parents for disciplining children. The No Child Left Behind Act, while costing states a fortune, left children behind. Neither Title 10 nor Title 20 had any business in the lives of Americans. Big government politicians believe that it’s ok to spend public money to clear their conscious, but complain when the opposition does the same. The government’s role is to protect and to preserve our rights, not to dictate how we should live our lives or to determine what they are worth. Right-wing is just as bad as left-wing social engineering, and only one of them has its hooks in 40% of our population.

The party is treading very close to alienating constitutional conservatives, and it had better realize that sooner than later as more and more people grow tired of political theater as clueless politicians pander on the superficial issues.

The United State is in desperate need of a leader.

In the only contested race in Plymouth’s town elections, Russ Tonkin was elected to the Plymouth Selectboard for a three-year term. The final count was 100 votes for Russ Tonkin and 95 for Larry Lynds, who had served for many years on the Selectboard, most recently as a replacement for Todd Blanchard who stepped down before the end of his term.

The Plymouth Election Results were as follows:

Moderator: Thomas Harris*
Delinquent Tax Collector: Kathleen Billings
Selectperson: Russ Tonkin
Grand Juror: William Jarvi
Lister: Michelle Pingree
Town Agent: William Jarvi
Auditor: Carol Coyne
Cemetery Commissioner:  Thomas Brown
Trustee of Public Funds: Margaret Tucker
School Director: Julie Dupont
School District Clerk: Barbara Rabtoy
School Moderator: Thomas Harris*
School Director: Keeley Crossman*
First Constable: Justus Pingree
Second Constable: Ted Hall*

* Write-in Candidates

In the Republican presidential primary contest, Mitt Romney was the local winner, with 43% of the votes. Ron Paul was second with 27% of the votes and Rick Santorum had 21% of the votes. Newt Gingrich had 8% of the votes.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum added delegates by winning contests three states, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won the primary in Georgia, the state he used to represent in Congress.

Romney won at least 212 Super Tuesday delegates and Santorum won at least 84. Gingrich won at least 72 delegates and Texas Rep. Ron Paul got at least 22.

So far, Romney is winning 54 percent of the Super Tuesday delegates; Santorum is winning 22 percent.

A total of 419 delegates were up for grabs in 10 states Tuesday. A handful were left be allocated.

Read more at CBSNews.com.

All photographs are copyrighted Sarah Mongeau-Birkett.

The move toward mainstream acceptance of contraception began in the early 20th century and accelerated in the 1940s. In 1942, the Birth Control Federation of America changed its name to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Abraham Stone explained at the time that “planned parenthood” signaled “the need for individual couples to plan their families and for nations to plan their populations.”

As the birth control movement became mainstream, it still took several years for the nation’s leaders to endorse it. In 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared: “I cannot imagine anything more emphatically a subject that is not a proper political or government activity or function or responsibility. . . .

Just a few years later, President John F. Kennedy — a Democrat and the nation’s first Catholic president — supported family-planning programs as part of foreign aid. Even Eisenhower, JFK’s Republican predecessor, eventually came around, admitting in the mid-1960s: “Once as President, I thought and said that birth control was not the business of our federal government. The facts changed my mind. . . . Governments must act. . . . Failure would limit the expectations of future generations to abject poverty and suffering and bring down upon us history’s condemnation.”

For the next two decades, every American president promoted contraception as an essential part of domestic and foreign policy. Even the Catholic Church considered lifting its prohibition on contraception — and almost did.
Read more…

Tricia Tetreault, who works in office furniture sales, voted near her home in Edmond shortly after polls opened at 7 a.m. She said she wasn’t happy about the GOP choices, but that she voted for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was hoping to keep his struggling campaign alive with a strong showing in his native Georgia, another of the 10 states holding Super Tuesday elections.

“Ronald Reagan isn’t available anymore, what can I say?” Tetreault said.

Herbert Skidmore, a 63-year-old retired teacher from suburban Oklahoma City, said he was so discouraged by the GOP field that he cast a blank ballot.

“I am so frustrated with the slate of candidates that the only reason I came was to keep my voting record intact,” said Skidmore. He said he registered as a Republican in 1970 but planned to re-register as an independent because he’s tired of politicians softening or changing their positions after the primaries to try to appeal to a broader base.

With just 40 of the 419 delegates up for grabs in Tuesday elections, Oklahoma’s presidential primary was somewhat overshadowed by contests in other states. However, three of the four GOP candidates visited Oklahoma in the past month — Santorum, Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Republican front-runner Mitt Romney last visited in October.

Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, described Oklahoma the “ground zero of the conservative movement.” He paid his second visit to Oklahoma over the weekend as he tried to nail down support from Christian conservatives, a critical segment of the state’s Republican voters.

“A state like Oklahoma is a state, as you hear, that fits me well,” Santorum said after a speech on Sunday that drew about 1,300 supporters at a suburban Tulsa church. Rendon Chambers, a political science student at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, said he voted Tuesday for Romney, believing the former Massachusetts governor’s experience heading the private equity firm Bain Capital best positioned him to address the nation’s economic problems.

“Rick Santorum is way too far right and Newt has way too much baggage,” he said. “I believe Romney has the ability to reach across the aisle and work with members of both parties.”

Romney picked up a key endorsement over the weekend from Oklahoma’s popular U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, who is among the most conservative members of the Senate.

Election officials said turnout was steady over three days of early voting.

Although Democrats outnumber Republicans in this state with populist roots, voters here are traditionally conservative and have not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in a general election since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

Four years ago, Oklahoma was the only state in which President Barack Obama failed to win a single one of its 77 counties, earning the state its “reddest of the red” nickname.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has drawn the endorsement of several top Republicans in the state, including Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander. Romney appeared in Knoxville on Sunday.

Gail Piernoy, a 72-year-old retired office manager in Nashville, said she voted for Romney because of his experience in the private sector and because he could mount a challenge to President Barack Obama.

“I think Romney has the business experience and that’s what we need with this economy,” she said.

David Morgan, a 55-year-old Nashville resident who works in sales, said the economy, not social issues, is what he considers the top issue in this election year. He voted for Romney because he thinks he has the best chance at beating Obama.

“The whole economy is down,” he said. “Myself, I don’t make as much as I used to.”

Morgan has a son-in-law who serves in the military, and said he felt it was time to bring the troops home and reduce the amount of foreign aid to other countries.

“We dish out way too much money to foreign countries,” he said. “We need it here.”

In recent days, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have also made appearances in the state.

Robert Shoemake and his wife, Vivian, both voted for Gingrich. He said he feels Gingrich’s political experience would help break through the gridlock in Congress along party lines.

“We aren’t just electing a new president, but we also have to get control of both houses of Congress,” Shoemake said.

Shoemake, of Nashville, said he sold his heating and air conditioning business about two years ago because of the downturn in the economy and is worried about the nation’s high debt.

“The most important issue is debt,” he said. “We can create jobs easier than bring the debt down.”

Social and religious issues were driving some to pick Santorum.

Kristy Tarrant, a 55-year-old executive assistant in Memphis, said Santorum’s family values and how he dealt with the death of his newborn son led her to choose him in the primary.

“The protection of families in America is the issue that is important to me,” Tarrant said. “I am impressed by the way he honored his child that he lost. I experienced a similar situation with a grandchild, and it resonated with me.”

Ray Connors, a 43-year-old security guard in Memphis, said while no particular issues drove his vote, he felt Santorum was more down-to-earth than the current front-runner.

“Mitt Romney is one of the one-percenters and Santorum seems like one of us,” Connors said.

Tennessee has 55 delegates up for grabs, third most among the 10 Super Tuesday states.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Old Dominion Republicans can choose only between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, whose libertarian streak has earned him a dedicated but small following.

WNEW’s Election Watch 2012: Virginia Primary Results

Former Sen. Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich both failed to make Virginia’s ballot. So did Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and former Utah Gov. John Huntsman, who’ve already folded their campaigns.

Perry sued in federal court to force his name onto the ballot, challenging a Virginia law that requires those who circulate qualifying petitions be Virginia residents. Others joined Perry’s lawsuit, and a court ruled that while the law is likely unconstitutional, the plaintiffs filed their challenge too late.

A vigorous GOP primary in 2000 helped put then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush ahead for good, as did a massive Democratic primary turnout in 2008 for Barack Obama, then an Illinois senator.

With Obama unopposed within his party for re-election, that leaves only the Republicans with a competitive nomination fight. And in Virginia, it was less competitive than elsewhere with Romney’s chief rival, Santorum, sidelined.

Momentum Tuesday appeared to be on the side of Romney, who could pick up all of the 46 delegates available if he can win all 11 of the state’s congressional districts. He also has the state’s GOP establishment behind him, including U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Gov. Bob McDonnell.

McDonnell, who has been considered a possible vice presidential prospect should Romney win the nomination, cast his ballot at 9:30 a.m. at his downtown Richmond polling place. He had announced plans to vote at 11:15 a.m., but abruptly moved it up Tuesday morning to avoid abortion-rights protesters outside the voting precinct.

After voting, McDonnell lamented the lack of a competitive primary in Virginia, where the rest of the GOP field failed to meet Virginia’s exacting ballot requirements that statewide candidates gather 10,000 valid registered voters’ signatures, including at least 400 from each congressional district.

“As I’ve said many times, if you’re going to be president of the United States, you ought to be able to get 10,000 signatures in Virginia,” he said. “… Listen, everybody knew the rules and nobody complained about the rules unfortunately until after (the qualifying deadline) was over.”

WNEW’s Election Watch 2012: Virginia Primary Results

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Photo by Theresa Thompson

Even if you’re not politically active, you probably have noticed that this election cycle is different from the last presidential cycle. We’re all getting more robocalls and stories about the candidates now include pictures of them ACTUALLY in Oklahoma! Why the change?

1. During the last cycle Oklahoma’s Republican delegates were on a winner-takes-all system. Whoever got the most votes over the whole state got ALL of Oklahoma’s delegates. It has now changed so that our delegates are awarded according to majority of votes per congressional district. So, Republican candidates are paying closer attention to Oklahoma because their chances of winning Okie delegates are much higher.

2. Oklahoma has a lot of delegates to the Republican National Convention this year! We have FORTY-THREE delegates and 40 alternates. I won’t bore you with the intricacies of how those rules are set up, but let’s just say that Oklahoma Republicans’ hard work is paying off on the national party level.

3. Oklahoma’s primary is on Super Tuesday this year. We get to be part of a turning point in the whole cycle! Tomorrow will quite possibly make or break candidates.

Here’s some things you may not know about tomorrow’s election.

There is a DEMOCRAT Presidential primary too! There are at least FOUR other Democrats on the ballot, one of whom is from Oklahoma!

This is one of the first major elections under the new state law that you must show your ID to vote. So, have your passport, driver’s license, or voter card with you!

This is also the first major election to use Oklahoma’s new voting machines. These are state-of-the-art and set Oklahoma at the front of the pack in election technology and security. There are new audio ballots for voters with vision problems. The results are sent instantly at the end of the day to the state election board. At a Claremore Chamber of Commerce event I got to try them out in a mock election. It will not take blank ballots or ballots that have been over voted, despite all my efforts to trick it!

Collinsville, Owasso, and Claremore voters also have a city ballot to be cast tomorrow. I’m not a Claremore resident proper, so I’m not familiar with what is on those ballots. However, sample ballots are available on the county election board site. I strongly encourage you to look over your ballot BEFORE going to the polls. An informed voter is a powerful thing!

I voted early Saturday, so I won’t see you at the polls. However, look for me to be breathlessly watching the results on my personal Google+ and Twitter!

The joint letter, which cites a recently updated report by the St. Louis Federal Reserve titled “Speculation in the Oil Market,” urges immediate action by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to install caps on the biggest traders on Wall Street, preventing them from controlling unusually large positions in the oil futures trading market.

The Reserve’s report called “Speculation in the oil market,” which was just updated in February  2012, concluded there are two main factors for large price swings at the gas pump.

Read the full joint letter HERE

It says “global demand shocks,” such as those caused by turmoil in the Middle East, “account for the largest share of oil price fluctuations.”

The report also concludes “speculation played a significant role in the oil price increase between 2004 and 2008 and its subsequent collapse. Our results support the view that the financialization process of commodity markets explains part of the recent increase in oil prices.”
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As the Republican presidential contest descends into 10 states on Super Tuesday, none is more vital for former speaker Newt Gingrich and his prospects than Georgia.

“It’s a must-win for Newt,” said Ari Fleischer, former press secretary to President George W. Bush who appeared on WWJ-TV CBS Detroit’s “Michigan Matters.”

Watch this episode of Michigan Matters online.

“Georgia is as vital to him as Michigan was for Mitt Romney (native born Michigander who squeaked by with a victory in the popular vote over former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum last week).

But the state’s 30 delegates were split after a Michigan Republican committee voted Thursday to award 16 of the state’s 30 nominating delegates to the Republican National Convention to Mitt Romney, and the remaining 14 to Rick Santorum.

Polls show Gingrich with a lead in Georgia which he represented in Congress for over 20 years.

Gingrich did not campaign in Michigan as his strategy is to focus on Georgia in hopes of picking up traction in other Southern states. Georgia has 86 delegates up for grabs, the largest among the states Tuesday.

At this stage, Romney leads with 207 delegates; Santorum has 86; Texas Rep. Ron Paul has 46 and Gingrich is trailing with 39.

It will take 1,144 delegates to win the Republican nomination and face President Barack Obama this fall.

Fleischer, a Republican who is not supporting any candidate, said he might have done so had Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels or Wisconsin U.S. Rep Paul Ryan entered the field.

He said Obama was vulnerable with the continuing trillion dollar deficit and struggling economy.

“Unless things really improve in the next few months, I believe he is highly vulnerable,” Fleischer said.

Of the 10 Super Tuesday states, Ohio is one where Romney and Santorum have waged battle in hopes of adding its 66 delegates. That state will award its delegates proportionally to the winners of each congressional district. That’s the second most, behind Georgia.

Eugene Robinson, a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist at the Washington Post, also appeared on the show and said Republicans in Washington were trying to be obstructionists on things like Medicare and Social Security reform to keep Obama from winning re-election.

“(Sen.) Mitch McConnell has decided to say ‘no’ to everything and made sure it is DOA (dead on arrival),” Robinson said. “Their number one goal is to defeat Obama for a second term.”

Looking ahead, Fleischer said Romney stood the best chance of taking on Obama in the fall campaign. But Santorum is raising issues that will resonate.

“The problem for Romney is Rick Santorum has lit a spark under social conservatism and each time Romney moves a bit more to the right that only hurts him in the fall contest,” Fleischer said.

Also appearing on the show was Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, business woman Denise Ilitch and Detroit Economic Club President and CEO Beth Chappell.

Both Romney and Santorum appeared at DEC luncheons before Michigan’s primary.

Some pundits made an issue of Romney’s stop at Ford Field.

“We had over 1,200 people at the Romney luncheon,” said Chappell.

When it was first announced, it was slated to take place at the Book Cadillac but sold out all 700 tickets in two hours. With few places available on short notice to handle the crowd, they decided on Ford Field.

“Typically, when we have events there we hold it in the atrium. But there were security concerns with all the glass,” Chappell said. “Plus, there was over 100 national media. So, we moved it to the field to accommodate everyone.”

Some national pundits, looking for a story, talked about the visual of a mostly empty football stadium (it can hold 60,000 people).

“That wasn’t the case,” said Chappell. “In fact, our members were thrilled with it and many said it was the best luncheon they had ever attended.”

Chappell also said Santorum also surprised many at his DEC business crowd luncheon.

“He stayed away from discussion of social issues,” she added.

Carol Cain is an Emmy winning journalist who is Senior Producer and Host of WWJ-TV CBS Detroit’s “Michigan Matters.” She writes about politics and business in Sunday’s Detroit Free Press. She can be reached at 248-355-7126 or clcain@cbs.com.

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Montgomery County is looking for people to serve as election judges at polling sites for the presidential elections in April and November.

The judges must be registered voters in the state of Maryland and must be able to speak, read and write in English. The judges cannot hold or be a candidate for public or party office while serving. The judges also cannot serve as a campaign manager for a candidate or as treasurer for any campaign financial entity.

The county also needs judge alternates who are fluent in both English and Spanish.

The judges will be trained and compensated.

The presidential primary election will be held in Maryland on April 3. The general election will be held on Nov. 6.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

But while much focus has been given to the GOP candidates, the Green Party will continue as it has for the passed 20 years.

On Tuesday, Mike Heichman, Secretary of the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, will vote in the primaries for the Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, the Lexington physician and environmental health advocate.

“You never know when something is going to explode,” says Heichman, a 65-year-old retired teacher, referring both to the party and the recent Occupy Movement.

“I think the Greens will,” The Dorchester-native adds over the phone. “Jill will have more resources for this campaign than any other GP candidate in our history. Including Nader.”

“We expect to qualify the Green Party for the ballot in at least 40 states, and are making an effort to qualify in 48,” said Campaign Manager Ben Manski in an email. “In achieving this goal, we will have succeeded in making this a more truly national campaign than in the last two presidential elections. Already, in the course of her campaign, Jill Stein has inspired the formation of new state Green parties in Utah, Vermont, and New Hampshire. There will be many more to come.”

Over the weekend, Dr. Stein opened her campaign’s national headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, and she submitted her absentee vote on Wednesday, Manski said. “We don’t want to risk her missing a flight and the opportunity to vote in the primary.”

Rise of a third party?

Jon Huntsman, the GOP candidate who withdrew from the race in January after a poor turnout in New Hampshire, has called for the rise of a strong third party candidate, and while Heichman has hopes in the Green Party’s potential, he doesn’t believe Huntsman was referring to the Greens.

“What I think Huntsman means is more of a centrist party – like when Cahill ran before,” Heichman says, dropping the name of the independent who ran for Massachusetts’ governorship in 2010. “Not my idea of a third party, one that is more progressive, and anti corporate.

As a voter, Heichman says one of the most important issues to him is the system of the United States’ political structure, which he referred to as “toxic.”

“There are two major parties in this country, and both are beholden to corporations,” he says.

Foreign policy, specifically the United States’ military spending, is also important to the voter as well.

“Please point to me the danger out there?” he said, regarding the massive costs of maintaining the United States’ armed forces both at home and abroad. “We’re an empire.”                                              

Dr. Stein’s campaign has a goal of raising about $1 million for the campaign, Heichman says. According to the FEC, in order to get matching public funds, she’ll need to get $5,000 in each of 20 states – and no contribution can be greater than $200. “I’m confident she can do that,” he adds.

“Certainly a win is a win,” Manski said, “but we expect Dr. Stein to perform very well in her home state. By Tuesday night, we expect that Dr. Stein will have won at least 50 delegates, or roughly 1/4 of what is needed to win the nomination, and 75% of all delegates won so far.”

In court papers filed Friday night, Florida officials say they strongly oppose having a trial and noted that the federal court hearing the case in the District of Columbia wants sufficient time to issue a decision before the August primaries. The state is seeking court approval for changes that shorten the time for voter registration groups turning in registration forms to 48 hours and that narrow the time frame for early voting to prior to 10 days before an election day.

Florida says the court in Washington can decide the case on the basis of information already submitted in the lawsuit.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Tuesday’s results in Michigan suggest there’s another issue to add to this  collateral-damage list: the auto bailout. Perhaps the most striking fact from  the exit polls there was the fact that four in ten primary voters said they  supported the Obama Administration’s 2009 intervention to rescue the big  automakers. I’m not aware of specific polling on that question in Ohio, the big  prize in next week’s Super Tuesday extravaganza, but the number is likely to be  about the same; Ohio is second only to Michigan in its economic reliance on car  makers.
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I feel passionately about language and I pay strict attention to words that are used. The force that drives our thoughts and ideas is the language in which we communicate and I believe occasionally it should be examined.

Cable news is the worst offender. According to these channels, candidates are always “attacking” each other or “attacking” the rights of someone. The word “attack” is then also used by these same reporters when Afghan rebels murder soldiers. There is no demarcation line. It seems odd in a world of Syrian slaughters and Afghan rebellions the word “attack” wouldn’t be reserved just for occasions when blood is shed. I call for an immediate moratorium on the word “attack” or any derivative of it.

In fact, any war-like words in relation to politics need to be given the Viking funeral. When a writer or a speaker feels as though “attack” has been overplayed they have recently started using “assault”. For some reason it’s always a “full on” assault. Never have I heard someone launch a “half on” assault, so the words “full on” are simply taking up space. Saying that someone is “mounting a defense” or “shooting down claims” does not accurately describe the discourse. Why not just point out that someone is saying something else, why must everything be so hyperbolic?

The new one that I can’t stand is this notion that persons of a certain political ideology speak a certain way and if a person starts using that language it is some form of treason. I have heard Romney accused of “speaking the language of the 1 percent” and at the same time accused of “speaking the language of the Occupy Wall Street crowd”. This is not only riotously stupid, it also is dangerous.

Don’t you think you are driving down the wrong street philosophically when you adopt the same tactic as the aliens from “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”?

Politics, in essence, breaks down to discussions of civics and the distribution of allocated societal resources. These discussions are often needlessly complicated by reasonable people whom have been thoroughly schooled or churched and are capable of operating on a decided upon bank of information. This unfortunately limits the political audience. Certain political commentators (Beck, Schultz, Limbaugh, Rhodes) have chosen to do shows that appeal to a more massive audience than your usual political participants.

They have decided to make the information easier to chew and swallow. They do so because they believe the public is far too dense to take in the information that they themselves can and the only way to get idiots to be interested in it is to dumb it down. In doing so they set up the opposing party as an ideological straw man for their audience to beam blame at. It’s that ridiculous “with us or against us” paradigm and is used by both sides. I have always felt that an overly simple message insults the audience it’s aimed at but that’s just my opinion.

This all sets us up for the next phrase I am sick of, “What (he/she) is trying to say…” or “What (he/she) means by that is…” The only thing I hate more than this phrase is the arrogant mouth it comes from. I don’t need any help in trying to decipher what Rick Santorum said. I think I know what he said because I speak English and I have ears that work. If I were deaf, I could read what he said and I would understand it. The worst part about this is the people speaking it are often accomplished public speakers! The idea that these show hosts are operating on some ethereal plane of understanding I’m not privy to is ridiculous. If the person speaking is lying and you have proof of it, present that evidence. Don’t act like you have some window into the heart of another person. If I have absolutely no idea what my own motivations are on any given day, how can anyone be arrogant enough to believe they have a perfectly drawn map of another person whom they have only casually met or never met at all?

Thanks for indulging me. I am not calling for a governmental fiat; I am simply using the public forum to vent a little. The Internet sure is grand.