Jenn November 8th, 2008
To help me move on from pre-election mode, I decided to re-do my blog theme. In addition ot replacing the theme, I have totally revamped the photos page. You will now be able to view more of my photos without going out to Flickr.
Jenn September 19th, 2008
I have added a Twitter widget in the far right sidebar of the blog. A lot of people use Twitter for social networking, but more and more, bloggers are using it for quick “micro-blogging”. I will be using it for more of the latter. In other words if you are local, don’t expect me to follow your Twitter.
This will be an especially helpful tool for live blogging. During Special events, I will be posting blog post via twitter. Those posts will be short because there are character limits on Twitter, but it can be done easily via text messaging. Most of the time, my Twitter updates will be election related and often links to other articles or new flashes.
Jenn May 20th, 2008
I am introducing a new blog entry type I will call “Quick Hits”. It will be bullet point items I find of interest, usually with links to full stories.
Jenn May 14th, 2008
The blog has been silent, but I have not. Actually, I have been busy hacking up a lung with a hard case of bronchitis. I think I am finally on the mend.
A few things I would have blogged about over the last week:
I did manage to read one entire article on the election this week and it was by Peggy Nonnan, who is perhaps, my favorite commentator. It is such a shame that her treasure trove of whit is tucked away in the Wall street Journal where she enjoys such a limited, but appreciative audience. Here is an excerpt:
He’s got this thing. And the Democratic Party, after this long and brutal slog, should be dancing in the streets. Party elders should be coming out on the balcony in full array, in full regalia, and telling the crowd, “Habemus nominatum”: “We have a nominee.” And the crowd below should be cheering, “Viva Obamus! Viva nominatum!”
Jenn January 17th, 2008
A reader posted this question on another page of the blog and I am going to respond to it here because this question is central to the nomination and reflects the effect of mainstream media.
Question
I have a question about Huckabee. Is he for big government or small government? Does he believe that government will give people what they need… The gov. has the answers… they will take care of you…?
I have been a supporter of Huckabee, but I have been questioning my support for him… I listen to talk radio off and on throughout the day. Rush, Hannity… They are telling me he is a big government liberal. I can’t seem to find Huckabee giving a direct answer to these accusations. Can you help me out. Thanks, Gregg
Answer
I think that your question is a good, honest fair question. There have been scores of advertisements, like the ones I mentioned earlier from the Club for Growth, and plenty of media hosts willing to take their turn to cast doubt on the Huckabee campaign.
Mike Huckabee is an authentic conservative. His proposed fair tax would not only help correct our current income tax nightmare, but reduce the size of government as well. As a matter of fact, the only government institution I can see significantly growing under Mike Huckabee, would the United States military. Just today, in an effort to bring truth to this discussion, in a rare endorsement, a number of prominent Arkansas businessman endorsed Mike as a small government, fiscally sound Conservative. Here is an excerpt from their endorsement:
In our support of Governor Huckabee’s truly conservative, small government business outlook and his pragmatic, yet compassionate style of governing, we invite you to look past the shallow rhetoric of yet another campaign season to see what we have experienced first hand - that with the right political leadership in place, businesses and citizens can jointly prosper and as they do, they contribute so much more to the economic and societal fabric of a community than simply tax revenues.
I think there endorsement speaks volumes because they are a self-described, “…bi-partisan group of executives of several of the largest corporations headquartered in the State of Arkansas, each with considerable exposure to the Administration of Governor Mike Huckabee.”
I think the mistake some of the traditional neo-cons are making is to assume that any candidate who, of his own volition, discusses social issues, must by nature be liberal and for big government. Interestingly enough, if you sat down and did a comparison of how Mike has described his vision for America, the major difference between he and the other candidates is detail. Mitt Romney does not have a platform. Go ahead and search his website for answers as to how he stands on the issues, you won’t find them. Fred Thompson is smart and understands the issues, but I don’t think he understands everyday Americans. He doesn’t really want to be president, either. John McCain is the candidate whose name is most commonly associated with the Democrats. Bills named like “McCain-Fiengold” and “McCain-Kennedy” ought to send shivers up the spine of any Conservative voter. Moreover, he did not support the Bush Tax Cuts. I think it is difficult to know where Rudy Giuliani stands on government size. He led NYC through an unusual time with unusual needs.
What the ads don’t tell you is that Yes, Governor Huckabee raised taxes. He raised taxes as a result of a public referendum (that means the voters voted “yes”) to fund a court-ordered highway improvement package. What they don’t tell you is that he left taxes significantly lower than he found them, including both income and sales tax. He also balanced the budget and left the governments with a surplus, advising the incoming administration to return to the people of Arkansas their money.
As for why our favorite Conservative talk show hosts have been so down on Huckabee, I am not sure there is one reason. I think some are afraid to be associated with someone who has such close ties to the evangelical community, afraid that it might make them look intellectually inferior. I think some are trying to save face because they wrote him off early on. I think some are too closely tied to the Republican establishment who has lost touch with the base. Whatever their reasons, I am glad they don’t elect the President, we elect the President.
Overall, you will find Mike Huckabee’s opponents and the media criticizing him because their own platforms lack substance. If they had something to talk about, they would be focusing on their platform rather than opponent.
Jenn January 7th, 2008
Check out this great independently run Huckabee website. It is a great source of information and tagets people willing to make a $25 pledge for Mike Huckabee.
Jenn December 19th, 2007
The Latin phrase “non sequitur” means, it does not follow. That is what I have noticed about most comments posted on blogs in general, but especially political blogs these days. Over the last month, I have been amazed (and annoyed) at the types of comments people post on blogs. I find more often than not people are using the comments section of a blog to reflect their own agenda rather than comment on the post itself. For example, I have a post refuting Dr. Wayne Grudem’s endorsement of Mitt Romney. Many of the comments (before my was deleted and re-launched) were attacks on me for questioning the logic of the Mormon religion and one comment was simply urging readers to go visit Hillary’s website. None of those comments addressed the true topic of the post. It isn’t just my blog, it is almost every blog you read. And it is more often the case when the comments are negative.
It seems that people do not know how to appropriately discuss opposing points of view rationally or civilly. It can be difficult, I will grant that. More importantly, it usually takes some time and research to craft a rational, civil argument. I think it is partly because American schools do not teach people how to “argue”. By argue, I don’t mean a rash, haste, disagreement marked by anger. By argue I mean present a different point of view as in a formal debate (not the presidential debates – they don’t qualify) or as in a court of law.
If people want a forum for airing their opinions, there are plenty of options for a free blog out there. Next time you post a comment to the blog – make sure it is relevant to the post.
Jenn December 18th, 2007
It seems as though blogs are a dime a dozen these days. Look, I even have one. There are blogs on every topic imaginable. Some blogs have clever names, some are tributes to their families, and some are meant to be provoke debate. What has caught my attention as of late is the quantity of Christian blogs. Although from time to time I do discuss spiritual matters on my blog, it is definitely not the primary focus. As a matter of fact, my blog has no single primary focus. Just when you think it’s a Mike Huckabee blog, there is a post about the weather or Microsoft Zune. I have been intentional in both not making it a single focus blog and not making it primarily a spiritual blog. I will post something related to faith if it particularly strikes me as “blogworthy”, but those times are few.
Why have I chosen this route? I think that Christian blogs are an emerging form of parachurch ministry. Even if the blog is the by the leader of a related church or an organization that we respect, when the time we spend studying the blog surpasses the time we spend reviewing last Sunday’s message given at our local church, the function (even though the intention may be otherwise) of the blog becomes parachurch. It is functioning as supplemental to your local church. It is easy to get caught up in blogs that seem to have the right message, have great graphics, and even nice sounding buzz words. However, do I have more affection for those blogs than I do my own local church? Do I allow my children to spend time on certain blogs primarily because they are “safe” or seem to have decent doctrine?
I recently heard a prominent Christian leader may soon start his own blog. I thought, “No! Stop! Don’t do it!” What this leader may or may not expect is that like moths to a flame, Christians will pour onto his blog, and it won’t be in addition to the time they are investing in benefitting from the teaching of the their own local churches, it will be in lieu of that time.
In particular, I am concerned with Christian blogs that are single focus blogs. Think of all of the single focus blogs you visit regularly. Now think of all of the groups of people, situations, spiritual disciplines, or other biblical things that blog does not address. How does that affect your perspective? The Bible tells us that, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt 6:21). So, if my blog time is spent solely focusing on singles or women’s issues, my heart will incline towards those things. Those are not bad things to read about or areas to pursue growth. However, those blogs rarely represent balance. Sometimes I wonder if people spend so much time on a single subject because there is an ounce of doubt that Scripture has addressed an issue sufficiently. I think that blogs are even more dangerous in this area because once you read a book you are done. When you read a blog, it keeps coming and coming. The side effect of a lack of balance can be an interruption of church unity.
Christian blogs are not bad. We shouldn’t stop reading them. We should evaluate how we view them, though.
Jenn November 28th, 2007
If you subscribe to my blog via an RSS feed or something like Bloglines, you will need to subscribe again. I managed to put together a page re-direct with the help of Chuck and Google, but it won’t help your feeds.
Jenn November 27th, 2007
So the blog is back…sort of. Unfortunately, most of the posts and all of the comments are gone. I was able to load a handful that I had published with Word 2007. So you see, I have started over. I have installed a new back-up program to hopefully alleviate this problem in the future.
While I am on the topic….what are your thoughts on the new blog template? Do you like a seasonal change or should I just go back to the old template with a Christmas banner?
Huck PAC Blog
