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HERMAN CAIN QUITS
Goodbye Herman, glad to have known you.
Citing the distress that the accusations of harassment and adultery were causing his family Herman Cain announced today that he was ‘suspending’ his campaign.
Let him explain: “I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distraction, the continued hurt . . . on me, on my family, not because we are not fighters, not because I am not a fighter.”
If Cain is guilty of the accusations then he got what he deserved. If he isn’t, then quitting is a strange way of fighting for your good name.
It goes to show the difference between a professional and an amateur politician. Bill Clinton, one of the best, was elected despite multiple accusations of infidelity and even to this day enjoys a statesman’s reputation despite receiving oral gratification from an intern and prevaricating about it.
How good a politician Newt Gingrich is will be discovered as he is now the sole bearer of the adulterer’s standard.
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WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM CAIN’S DECISION?
It remains to be seen, But you know it won’t be Romney.
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DONALD TRUMP’S DEBATE
The Republican debates have now officially jumped the shark. The December 27th debate will be moderated by Donald Trump – ‘Political apprentice?’
So far Jon Hunstman and Ron Paul have declined to attend and Cain is out of the race. It is only a matter of time before Romney and Perry decline. It will appeal to Gingrich’s ‘do-it-my-way’ campaigning and besides twice divorced, thrice married men have to stick together, and Santorum & Bachmann will have to show up to remind people they are still in the race.
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KEEPING CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS
The holidays are a time for tradition. And Christmas is no exception. Every year in December there is a chorus of complaint that the atheist secular humanists are out to hijack Christmas.
I suppose that the complainers are concerned that Christmas will lose its religious, specifically Christian, meaning.
They need to get out more. There is very little religion left in Christmas and that is not due to the atheists. Drive around any suburban neighborhood and you will see that Creches have been relegated to second place on America’s lawn behind the inflatable Santas, Reindeer and candy canes. And exactly which part of the Christian liturgy requires the strings of colored lights?
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NEWT GINGRCH’S GET THEM TO WORK PLAN Part 2 (See part 1 – 12/2/11)
As Gingrich was probably hoping his plan to employ school children to clean school bathrooms (in order to teach then job skills) is drawing fire from the left. The thrust of which is that Gingrich would return labor law to a time when there was no labor law.
The work house is that way.
And if the left is kvetching then you can count on the right to return fire. Joy Pullman, managing editor of the School Reform News and research fellow at Heartland Institute, wrote a piece for the right leaning ‘Washington Times’ called “Three Cheers for Child Labor”.
First a little background. The Heartland Institue is a Libertarian think tank that has received funding from Phillip Morris and the oil industry. It has challenged the science of climate change and the the health effects of smoking. School Reform News is one of its publications.
Pullman argues:
“But there are some equally important reasons why schools should be allowed (although not forced by the federal government) to consider some version of Mr. Gingrich’s idea and pay high school or middle school students to sweep and clean bathrooms or wash dishes in the cafeteria: the dignity engendered by performing hard work, the importance of learning responsibility young and the centrality of equal opportunity to a thriving economy.”
If this is such a good idea then it should be asked of all children and not just of the poor. Many countries have had some form of national service some still require service in the military.
If we still believe that America is a meritocracy then we should not require different commitments from different students, but all should benefit from an early introduction to the dignity of hard work. It will also give the children of the more fortunate empathy for those less well off.
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