Spring!

Ok, well it is just around the corner.

These showed up in our front yard today.

The Christie Contradiction

My Governor says he is not running for President. 

I believe him. I really do.

I believe him when he says “I’m not ready.” I disagree with him, but I believe him.

I believe him when he says,“You have to feel in your heart and mind you’re ready for the presidency. I’m not stupid. I see the opportunity. That’s not the reason to run.” I agree with him that simply because there is an opportunity is not reason enough to run.

But there is a contradiction here: Almost every time Chris Christie opens his mouth and speaks - whether from the Clerk’s podium in the chamber of the General Assembly where he is delivering a budget address or at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC - he reminds us how desperately America needs him to be in the White House. Not later, now. As soon as he can get there.

I hear the Governor say while discussing the depths of New Jersey’s fiscal woes in Washington at AEI, “This is a problem that took a decade to develop and it's going to take longer than a year for us to fix. Fiscal discipline is extraordinarily important not just for New Jersey but for America.”

Then I think to myself, “Well shouldn’t we get started right now on America?” How much deeper is the federal fiscal hole going to be after four more years of fiscal insanity in Washington? Is it a fissure from which we will ever be able to climb? 

And for those of you who think that we have somehow constructed a levee to hold back the flood of red ink simply because we elected a few Republican members of Congress who talked a good game in the previous election, I want to remind you what happened the last time they were in charge. In fact let me remind you of what happened just a few weeks ago when it took a mini-revolt by Tea Party members in the House Republican Caucus to hold the Leadership to the puny $100 billion spending cut promise made just a few months earlier.

Then Governor Christie explains in plain English to us that “the way we used to think about politics and unfortunately the way I fear they're thinking about politics still in Washington ... says lie, deceive, obfuscate and make it to the next election.” And a lot of Americans find that refreshing. Quite frankly, I find it sad. I am saddened by the fact that so many Americans have come to expect so little from our elected leadership. Shouldn’t that be the norm - or “The New Normal” as the Governor has described New Jersey? But I have no hope that the coming Presidential election will give us anything other than the same old deceptions without Chris in the race. And his frank way of speaking has given that hope to many others.

I listened as Chris Christie said, “I hear people saying, we're going too fast, we're going too fast. We need to slow down a little bit. I hear the same thing in New Jersey.” And he adds, “Leadership today in America has to be about doing the big things and being courageous.”

And then I remember what former US House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt explained to me a few years ago, “Congress cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. It is not built that way.” So I get frustrated because I agree with Christie that there are so many “big things” we need to get done in America and I have no hope they will get done and he tells me I have to wait six more years, until Inauguration day 2017, before we even begin the work.

I am sorry Governor. I do not believe America can wait, or what will be left of it. That is why I will continue to beg, plead and coax Americans to come to www.draftchristie2012.com and add their names to the thousands of us who believe your time is now. As I have said before, “If you were volunteering for the job, we would not need a draft, now would we?”

THE Voice

I am the voice of conservatism.

There I said it.

I have taken the mantle. I have assumed the throne. I sit in judgement.

Pretenders to the conservative crown like Steve Lonegan, Rick Shaftan and Mark Levin have been deposed. Their harsh and false verdicts have done them in.

Lonegan, who once convinced a handful of people in a tiny town in Bergen County to elect him Mayor  but has won absolutely nothing since, is not the King.

Shaftan, who has never done any REAL work in the conservative trenches to cut a tax or a budget or save an unborn life - instead, hiding behind the skirts of candidates, is not the King.

Levin, who once sacrificed at the altar of Icon Reagan, but who has since left it to others, is not the King.

No, I am King now.

And what has this unholy trinity done to offend ME - the new conservative sovereign? They have ridiculously declared that Chris Christie is not conservative. Balderdash.

They say that our Governor - and MY presidential candidate - is not "conservative enough" because he does not pass their own litmus test on gun control, immigration and global warming, which, in my dominion of the right, are issues 17, 18 and 19 on the conservative hit list.

But just what is our Governor's "conservative crime" on even these three secondary issues:

On immigration, he has chosen not to weigh in on the folly that has become the national immigration debate. It is not a battle he has chosen to fight. So "off with his head" the pseudo cons say!

On gun control, despite a bold Christmas commutation of a man wrongfully imprisoned on a gun offense, Chris is just not good enough on Second Amendment issues for LeShategan. My goodness, he had the audacity to call Obama's Tucson speech "excellent."

And despite publicly raising doubts about the science behind global warming and subjecting himself to harsh criticism from the left, Christie somehow favors "cap and trade" in the small minds of these conservatives because he has not taken the Garden State out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), something he could not unilaterally do even if he wanted to. "Christie is GREEN," they scream. Oh gasp.

So what are the most important conservative issues for those who reside in the Kingdom of SicoCon?

We favor a small, non-invasive Government. On this issue, Governor Christie gets 1600 on the Conservative SAT. He has been perfect.

We favor a strong national defense and taking the war on terrorism (That's right. We believe it is a war.) to enemy territory. As US Attorney, Chris Christie was a foot soldier in this war.

We believe in God, in traditional family values, the sanctity of marriage and the right to life for every human being. In just the past 13 months, Chris Christie protected New Jersey's marriage laws by energizing Republican senators; was the first NJ Governor in its history to address the annual Pro-Life rally on the State House steps; and took a boatload of crap because he would not disappoint his children and cancel a long scheduled trip to Disney World when it started to snow.  And he keeps his faith private and personal, as it should be.

All other issues come after these.

Chris Christie is not just conservative in my world, he is off the charts strong. He speaks out when he should and shuts up when it doesn't matter.

So the next time someone wants to decide who is conservative and who isn't, you should ask "WWSS" - What Would Sico Say?

And ignore the temptation to be led astray by false idols.

If any one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God ...
1 Cor 3:18-19

New Addition to Sico Family

Ha. Fooled you. No, Donica and Rick's baby has not arrived yet. Our granddaughter is due February 22nd.

But Lesley and Robin got a new puppy - Professor Elmer Pugglesworth.

You can call him Elmer.

Here are some pictures.

This Week's "Storm of the Century"