Too funny to not share.

Kiel was able to score a couple of VIP passes to the Republican Debates held here in Orlando on Sunday night. Massive, massive thank you to him for bringing me along.

It was a pretty crazy event. We went early enough to walk around, take it all in and talk to some folks. The whole political process, when viewed up close, is extremely surreal and probably the best people watching you can possibly ask for. Some of you know what Kathryn does for a living, but for those of you that don't... well, I've been around it in some shape or form for a little while now. Seeing it all take place in our hometown, and being right up close to all the candidates at once though, was a really cool experience. Kiel and I had 5th or 6th row seats with our names on them, which meant that we were just to the side of the moderators (crazy close) and were probably the only "commoners" in the immediate area.

I won't go into how I feel about various candidates or anything like that (if you like politics, feel free to ask me in person.. I've grown immune to discussing it and keep a pretty open/even mind), but afterwards we walked up to the stage where a couple of the "2nd tier" candidates were hanging around conversing with folks. Gov. Huckabee, who has been gaining momentum lately, was one of them.

I previously mentioned that he's a member of the same college fraternity I was active in back in the day (TKE). I think his son is an active member and he was brought in as an honorary, but I'm not sure the details. I was having trouble getting his attention (he had a really big crowd around him) and his handlers were trying to walk him off the stage. I finally shouted, "Good luck, Frater!" and he turned around with "Are you a teke?! God bless you, frater." and reached back to shake my hand. Yeah, I slipped him the secret cool guy handshake. That's how we roll. I'm not sure he caught it though ;)

I have always heard stories of how President Reagan would go out of his way to shake hands with tekes, and I'm sure every frat has their own similar story. With Reagan, the line is that he's the only president to have visited a fraternity house while in office (Fundraiser at Purdue, I believe), and he mentions TKE occasionally in his diaries. He remained active in the fraternity as an alumni pretty much until he was completely unable. I've seen his signature on a letter to TKE as late as 1999.

It probably seems extremely silly to the vast majority of folks, heck, it seems silly to me simply writing about it, but it makes for fun conversation. I've served as a Chapter Advisor (up at Maryland) and occasionally try to help mentor/advise some of the guys down here at UCF (just for good karma, not in any official capacity). Alumni stories help inspire kids to over achieve (one less game of beer-pong, one more hour of studying.. or, you know.. not.. whatever). "Look what this guy, who you have something in common with, has been able to do." I now have my own first hand account to share and can quit making it all up as I go along. Rad ;)

Anyway, the day was a lot of fun. If I understand correctly, Democrats are refusing to campaign in Florida over some political beef with the state party (translation: if you're a dem in florida, your primary vote no longer counts for anything). Seems a bit short sighted to completely boycott such a battle ground state. If this election comes down to Florida again, and Dem's lose, they officially have no one to blame but themselves. It also would have been hella' interesting to compare/contrast similar events from different sides of the aisle. Maybe next time around...

Bin Laden released a new tape. It's typical crazy jibber jabber, but he does outline the two conditions that this war can end. Number one, is that they win. Number two, is that we abolish our democracy (paraphrased). This isn't new information. If you read his original fatwah (his declaration of war), he says (again, paraphrased) that we shouldn't be allowed to create laws that supercede Allah's (aka, democracy).

I'm curious to hear from any Ron Paul supporters who want to explain the Congressman's stance on the war, in context to the things OBL says.

For those not politcally inclined, Congressman Paul asserts that they fight us because we've been interfering with the middle east and that if we withdrawl immediately, they'll stop. It''s an interesting argument (and is, at least, a part of his fatwah), but it seems completely counter to most of the information that comes out of Al Qaeda (especially recent, current information). Congressman Paul, of course, says that it's not/etc.

Anyone want to take this one? Ground rules: No flames, no personal attacks, no 9/11 truth movement, and everyone play nice. I'm genuinely interested in hearing explanations from the Ron Paul crowd based on non-conspiracy theory evidence.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Human-caused global warming is here -- visible in the air, water and melting ice -- and is destined to get much worse in the future, an authoritative global scientific report will warn next week.

"The smoking gun is definitely lying on the table as we speak," said top U.S. climate scientist Jerry Mahlman, who reviewed all 1,600 pages of the first segment of a giant four-part report. "The evidence ... is compelling."

Andrew Weaver, a Canadian climate scientist and study co-author, went even further: "This isn't a smoking gun; climate is a battalion of intergalactic smoking missiles."

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/01/23/climate.report.ap/index.html

I can hear the cries from all my party-line republican friends already -- this is somehow the liberal media promoting an obviously biased report... by... a... panel of world wide.. .scientists... ahem.

Again, the question remains.. What would qualify as evidence? What will it take to, at the very least, see a comprehensive US government study on this issue?

Technology advancements over the last 25 years no longer allow for the economic argument. Limited government arguments no longer apply when we're already enforcing standards in the areas that would require improvement. From a conservative point of view, changing these standards of production would mean less dependence on foreign energy sources while generating more globally competitive products -- a strong win for everyone in the U.S.