Politics: Gingrich-Santorum delegates?
After last night’s sweep through Dixie by Rick Santorum, you’ve got to wonder how in the world Newt Gingrich would believe he can win another state. Sure, the margins in Alabama and Mississippi were narrow, so the delegate totals are a wash, but it’s my perception that this race is based heavily on percepetion. Gingrich was up, then fell, he was up, then fell, then won South Carolina, fell, came back to win his home state of Georgia, and Tuesday night he fell on his face and is down for the count. This time, the bell has rung. Count him out.
But with Gingrich vowing to stay in the race through the Republican National Convention, one has to wonder what his motivation is. I believe Newt hates the idea of a Mitt Romney presidency and would work for Rick Santorum. Trouble is, even if Santorum does grab this momentum and run with it to Tampa, he may not have the majority of delegates needed to secure the nomination before the convention. So is a Gingrich-Santorum deal in the works? Rick can take care of that himself if Tuesday’s results swing Gingrich voters his way. But if that doesn’t happen, I’m guessing this Santorum-Gingrich deal is Plan B — just in case they need the convention to defeat the establishment’s chosen candidate. As much disdain as I often feel about Gingrich’s campaign, it does feel good to know the true conservatives are looking out for each other.
Is it wrong that I still kinda like Romney? I wouldn’t think twice about voting for him if he won the nomination. It’s too bad he can’t get it through his head that pandering to the Rockefellers is a rejection of the Reaganites.
Sports: Brandon Marshall the savior/troublemaker
Brandon Marshall was hailed as a savior in Chicago on Tuesday, then something happened Tuesday night that scared the crap out of everyone in the Windy City. The elation among Bears fans began when the All-Pro wide receiver was traded from Miami for a pair of 3rd-round picks. Finally, the Bears — with a long history of putting together a piece-meal receiving corps — had a legitimate No. 1 target, one that had worked well with Jay Cutler in Denver, and they didn’t have to mortgage Hallas Hall to pay for him.
But Tuesday night, it was revealed that Marshall — no stranger to law-enforcement officials — had been involved in an altercation outside a night club four days prior to the trade, allegedly striking a woman in the face. Now, some sources say the Bears knew about it, some say the Bears didn’t know about it, but one thing is for sure: the Bears knew they were getting a punk with a rap sheet. New General Manager Phil Emery was just hoping Marshall’s on-the-field performance would outweigh his off-the-field run-ins. You can be sure Roger Goodell will have something to say about Marshall’s actions Saturday Night.
I’ll say this: if Emery knew about the incident prior to the trade and took advantage of the situation because the Dolphins didn’t want the bad publicity, knew his stock would fall and just wanted to get rid of Marshall… well… kudos to Phil Emery! Buy low and sell high, baby!
Religion: Finding poor people in America
I realize this sounds bad, and it did when I said it in front of a small group of people a couple weeks ago, but I’ve been looking for poor people in America and I can’t find them. In an entitlement-laden society, I see that virtually every American who wants it has food, shelter, transportation, etc., or at least has the ability to get it. However, Christ tells us to give to the poor and have compassion on the poor.
I consider myself a very generous person; at least I try to be. But in America today, I struggle with the idea of giving to the poor — not because I don’t have a soft spot for those in poverty. As someone who was raised in a poor household, I have a big soft spot for families who are less fortunate financially. But the reason I struggle with that is because I see so much abuse of the welfare system, so much reckless spending on the part of so many welfare recipients, so little motivation on the part of so many of those who don’t work, that my heart becomes hardened. I’m sorry, but when I drive past public housing and see a 72″ flat-screen TV in the window, envy begins to creep in.
So, I bet some friends of mine a couple weeks ago that I could search and search and not find any truly poor people in my hometown of about 15,000 here in Illinois. I put the word out on Facebook that I would like to help local people who are either undernourished, poverty-stricken, starving or lacking the resources to get food. We raise fresh, cage-free eggs on our farm, so I figured I would donate a couple dozen to whomever fit the criteria.
It took a while. But after about a week, I was finally proven wrong. Rarely do I feel good about being proven wrong, but it gave me such a sense of accomplishment to help someone who truly needed help. A local school nurse had read my post and alerted me to a family that had recently been homeless and was in great need because — for whatever reason — the children in the family were not getting the food and shelter they needed to live a healthy lifestyle. So, compliments of Missel Farms, they got 24 beautiful large brown eggs.
Now, for us right now, that’s about a day’s worth of eggs. It certainly was not a great sacrifice. It didn’t hurt me to give, but that’s not really the point. The point is that I was blessed through blessing others, because not only did God witness my actions, but it felt pretty darn’ good to be able to use the resources I’ve been given to help someone else.
Those of you who have read my previous columns know I’m not a fan of Paul’s foreign policy, and that I’ve been largely unconvinced by Romney’s espoused conversion to conservatism. But I’m really starting to wonder if Gingrich isn’t my fourth choice among the remaining candidates simply because of the way he runs a campaign. He’s certainly politically savvy, and he’s trying to build back up that Reagan coalition that dominated the 1980s. The message is great, but the messenger isn’t winning any new converts by asking other candidates to clear the path to the nomination.
However, something here smells fishy. The Cain campaign either broke its promise to not share my e-mail address with any other party, or has simply begun to turn over its campaign resources to the Gingrich campaign.