Hawkeye Review

The Morning Roost - Monday, February 8

Good morning "HR" Readers...

Great football game...terrible commercials.  Two versions of the Focus on the Family commercial ran yesterday and there was nothing objectionable in either.  In the second clip which you can watch below, they use humor to confront the topic and in my mind, it worked.  You be the judge...

My favorite commercial wasn't the above or anything else we saw in a 30 second ad last night.  The most effective "message" heard by the billions watching last night was Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees in his post game moment saying, "God Is Great!"  Indeed He is, and our country is better when anyone in their moment of celebrity gives tribute to their faith, and our God.

For those of you who live in Iowa's 2nd Congressional District, you can click this link and watch a Cover-It-Live replay of the Forum held this past Saturday at Mt. Mercy College in Cedar Rapids.  The event was well run, well attended and there was strong agreement between Marianette Miller-Meeks, Steve Rathje and Chris Reed that the federal government has overstepped it's bounds in many areas. Editor's note: you can visit the Vizu poll on the right column of this site and vote to support your candidate for the 2nd congressional district.

Ronald Reagan would have been 99 years-old Saturday and it was encouraging to see the massive amount of tributes given all across the blogosphere.  The Boy Scouts of America turned 100 years-old yesterday and millions of men and young boys have enjoyed life-long benefits from this great organization.

Yes, Sarah said it.  She may just run for president.  If Sarah Palin was a political brand, (she is) you have to give her credit for playing her cards just right.  Were she to say she's not a candidate, her market value and demand for personal appearances drops.  If she says she is a certain candidate, then the attacks begin from all sides, speaking fees diminish and everything she says is scrutinized with an electron microscope.  Sarah is keeping everyone in suspense and her brand remains in full demand.

For now, we fix our eyes on 2010 but I can promise you this...within hours of this next election, the eyes of the world will return to Iowa and the 2012 cycle begins in earnest.

Honoring Ronald Reagan

My conservative hero would have been 99 years old today.  Happy Birthday Mr. President.  I remember so vividly the day I walked from the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at Iowa State over to Birch Hall where I was able to cast my first vote for a President.  What an honor it was to offer my one vote to this great man.  Will there be another Reagan in our lifetime?  I hope so.

I was fortunate enough to meet the President in August of 1987 and shared with him the very same story written just above. 
 

This is what happens when we translate anger into ACTION!

 

Good morning HR Readers...

This is what happens when we translate ANGER into ACTION!

Brown was holding two bibles during his swearing in ceremony.  One belonging to each of his daughters. Senate Leader Harry Reid acknowledged that the required paperwork had been received by the senate and Vice President Joe Biden proceded to administer the oath of office while Paul Kirk (temporarily replacing Ted Kennedy before the election) and John F. Kerry observed.

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Now back to my original point.  Certainly there is anger amongst the electorate right now.  It might be the best descriptor of the Tea Party movement. Certainly, they espouse compliance to our constitution and that discourse never hurts the Republic.  But anger is the catylst that moved "millions" to the Washington Mall and to town hall meetings and rallys all throughout the past year.  That's where the Tea Party moved past the GOP into the threshold of success.  They translated emotion into action.

The GOP is only going to succeed if we adopt a bias for ACTION and that's not found in a policy or a platform...it's only found when the grass-roots stands up and demands a voice in government.  If you don't offer your voice to this process, then at best, we will offer muted resistence and continue to suffer at the hands of a government that tips towards socialism every day.

If you do nothing and fail to particpate, you owe me no apology.  But I can't imagine how we'll find the words to apologize to our children and grandchildren.  See the look on their faces and the tears in their eyes. One day in the near future, we will be confronted with our failure to preserve the legacy that had been successfully passed on for generations since our founding.

Then to our dismay and disgrace, the city on the hill....shines no more.

2nd Congressional District Primary Forum

 

Hawkeye Review is proud to announce exclusive, live streaming video coverage of the Iowa Congressional District Primary forum on Saturday, February 6th at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids.

Candidates Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Steve Rathje and Chris Reed will participate in this first primary forum.  You can also follow our feed using your FaceBook and/or Twitter account.

The Morning Roost: Thursday, February 4

Good Morning "HR" Readers...

Just for the record, "foot-in-mouth" disease is not exclusive to Democrats.  This morning, I nearly spit the coffee out of my mouth when I read what California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said at a Silicon Valley conference on infrastructure...

“No matter where you go in the world, people still want to come to California,” Schwarzenegger said.

“There’s no one screaming like, ‘I can’t wait to get to Iowa.’ That I can guarantee you.

 They want to come here to California.”

The governator is quite frankly an idiot.  (Looking at you - Krusty)

Idiots must come in pairs these days.  Ask Governor Chet Culver about executive order #22.

From the Culvinator:  "I mean, you know, elections are about a choice.  Governing is about choices every day.  I’m choosing to stand up and fight for hard-working Iowans and disappointed to hear that for whatever political reason other aren’t on board."

So how does a PLA (Private labor agreement) feed a single unemployed Iowan who doesn't belong to a union?  Governor Culver, I agree with you, "Governing is about choices every day" and you chose to grease the dirty palms of Union Bosses instead of standing up to serve hard-working Iowans!

Yesterday, the Iowa Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) firmly denounced Culver's Executive Order, here's an excerpt from ABC Chair Mike McCoy:
 
“Construction contracts subject to government-mandated PLAs are designed to be awarded exclusively to unionized contractors and their all-union workforces. PLAs drive up construction costs by as much as 18 percent and discriminate against 8 out of 10 Iowa construction workers who have chosen not to join a construction labor union.”

Finally, we'll finish with just one more insult to taxpayers:  As we watch this year's Super Bowl, your federal government will blow $2.5 million dollars for a 30 second commercial about...the census! 

 

Bachman cites Barone: Do We Have A "Gangster Government?"

If this doesn't give you the shivers I don't know what will.  Michelle does a great job of ripping the mask off the face of our government and bringing truth and transparency to the American public.

This is the level of accountability we expect from our elected officials.  Well said Michelle, well said!

The Morning Roost: Wednesday, February 3

Good Morning "HR" Readers...six more weeks of winter, so they say.

I wish it were six more weeks of Obama instead.  Sorry, three more years is indeed a disturbing thought! As you sip your morning coffee, I can't help but to share the day to day conversations I'm having with regular "Joes" who are deeply disturbed at our political establishment.  Yesterday, another Democrat confessed switching to Independent and even suggested receptivity to going all the way to Republican.  This...is our opportunity.

For those who suggest Republicans are the party of "No."  I would say we risk our very future if we don't become the party of "NOW!"  We can't wait for the next 72-hour GOTV campaign.  Our job as a party is to return to "teaching," which is why were swept into power in 1994.  Then we committed two fatal errors:  

1. We stopped teaching
2. We broke sacred promises to the American people

Our party needs a vision that people will embrace and be willing to work for. If you hear a politician who claims we can fix America without "sacrifice," run away as fast as you can. You're listening to a socialist!

I look forward to reading Governor Romney's book, (No Apology, The Case For American Greatness) to be released March 2nd.  Below is an excerpt from the introduction that cues us towards a possible 2012 platform:

"The strength of the nation has been challenged before: at it’s birth, during the civil war, in the peril of world wars. It is challenged again today. In our past Americans have risen to the occasion by confronting the challenge honestly, and by laying their sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. We must do so again."

 Does this remind you of someone?  (Morning in America?)

Consider this, What can YOU do to get involved in the party of NOW?
 

The Morning Roost: Tuesday, February 2

 Good Morning "HR" Readers...Happy Groundhog Day!

The Democrats live in an imaginary world where government is the mother and creator of all things good and in this world they've created, the sun never sets.  It blazes away 24-7.

How dare the Senate Republicans (Iowa) who proposed during debate last night that "mother sun" would actually go down!  Pop quiz: Can you, in the next 10 seconds, name a single state or federal program that was eliminated? 

"The closest thing to eternity here on earth is a government program."

Ronald Reagan

Senate file 2088 was approved on a 35-15 vote with many GOP amendments failing on a party line vote. If you pass on reading the bill I can give you the short version. Iowa Democrats just passed a Senate version of a budget "shell game" where some state money is moved, some is actually saved, but not at a level that is anything more significant than you or I buying groceries with a wad of coupons. 

When our family budget is tight, we don't load up the grocery cart.  We buy the bargain brands, we put luxuries back on the shelf after moments of mental contemplation, we exercise discretion and discipline, the very traits we fail to observe in our state and federal government.

So, in the land of Iowa Democrats, Mother government continues to thrive, and the sun never sets.

Today is primary day in the land of Lincoln.  The voters will speak and tomorrow, the heavy lifting begins to support the field of Republican candidates against a field of ethically challenged Democrat incumbents.  Illinois may just become the next Massachusetts with all sights set on Obama's former seat in the US senate.

Yes, it's true.  Governor Mike Huckabee will be in Iowa February 24th to campaign on behalf of Bob Vander Plaats.  He'll attend a lunch fund raiser in Cedar Rapids, travel to Des Moines and then return to Cedar Rapids that evening for a grass roots style rally.  I'm going to hold the remaining details until I've seen a formal announcement from Team BVP.

If our neighborhood groundhog fails to see his shadow today, then winter is nearly over, so tradition says.  Just in time for the spring floods the DNR is now predicting...

That would be governor Culver's worst nightmare.  Another flood.  It begs the obvious question, if you still haven't come through for the 2008 flood victims, why would we believe anything you say now?

And you wonder why the Republican primary is shaping itself into a bar room brawl?  I've spoken to many local Democrats who have already acknowledged they intend to cast a "veto" vote against their man at Terrace Hill.

But will President Obama bow to the will of the American people?

This is not presidential.  If it is intended to show deep and reverent respect to the individual he's greeting, I don't necessarily find enough fault to make this issue more than it deserves to be.

The problem I have is twofold: The numerous Obama bows degrade the office of the Presidency and believe me, it's not his to destroy, it belongs to the American people.  More important however, is the fact he doesn't show respect to the will of the American public.  This was clearly evident last week in his SOTU address.  He lectures to us now when we're all looking for leadership.

As I mentioned last week, Obama's second year is now framed around the art of political survival.
 

A Letter to the President from Rush Limbaugh...