I like Father Jonathan Morris.  He’s a religion contributor for Fox News and frequently appears on the Sunday version of Fox & Friends.  I’m not particularly religious, and I’m not Catholic, but I like his message a lot.

Here’s an excerpt from a Father Morris piece that appeared on the RealClearPolitics site this morning.  He speaks of an American voting bloc that’s been all but ignored by the mainstream media this election year: value voters.

[I]n 2004, pollsters were caught by surprise by the amount of voters who left the polls saying “social issues” were most influential in determining their vote. In 2008, the media has been mostly silent on these causes, focusing instead on the economy and Iraq. This focus ignores an important reality. The “Value Voters” block of mostly Evangelicals and a good percentage of conservative Catholics and others, may indeed be wrapped up in these urgent headlines, but there is no convincing data to suggest they have inverted their voting priorities, turning away from abortion, traditional marriage, limited government, etc. If Senator Kerry’s policy proposals were enough to get this voting block to the booth, Senator Obama’s policies should bring them out in droves.

A ray of hope from Father Morris.  Thanks, Father.

Technorati Tags: Father Jonathan Morris, religion contributor, Fox News, Fox & Friends, Catholic, American voting bloc, mainstream media, election year, value voters, pollsters, social issues, economy, Iraq, conservative Catholics, voting priorities, abortion, traditional marriage, limited government, ray of hope

Dear coal workers of America:

If you are seriously thinking about voting for Barack Obama, now is the time for you to change your mind.  And you’d better do it quickly!  From the West Virginia Record:

CHARLESTON - At least one state coal industry leader said he was shocked by comments Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made earlier this year concerning his plan to aggressively charge polluters for carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.

“What I’ve said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else’s out there,” Obama said in a Jan. 17 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle that was made public today….  [Newsbusters.org.]

[…]

“I was the first to call for a 100 percent auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter,” Obama continued. “That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.

“So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”

Calls and e-mails to West Virginia Obama campaign officials seeking comment for this story were not returned as of Sunday evening.  [Emphasis added.]

Here’s an audio excerpt of Obama’s Chronicle interview:

Needless to say, coal officials in West Virginia—the second largest coal-producing state in the Union—are not amused:

The senior vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association called Obama’s comments “unbelievable.”

“His comments are unfortunate,” Chris Hamilton said Sunday, “and really reflect a very uninformed voice and perspective to coal specifically and energy generally.“

Hamilton noted other times Obama and vice presidential candidate Joe Biden have made seemingly anti-coal statements.  [Emphasis added.]

So let’s get this straight.  If you work for any of the following concerns:

• Mines
• Mine contractors
• Coal preparation plants
• Mine supply companies
• Coal-fired power plants

Right!  If you work for any of those, Barack Obama is going to do his best to make sure you no longer have a job!

Just think about it!  He gave this interview to the Chronicle in January of this year.  JANUARY!  And the San Francisco Chronicle is a NEWSPAPER!  So how come it never came out in January as…NEWS?!?!?!?!?!?!

So if you work in the coal industry—or any associated industry—in any of the following states, you’d better think VERY CAREFULLY when you enter the polling booth tomorrow.

• Wyoming
• West Virginia
• Kentucky
• Pennsylvania
• Montana
• Texas
• Colorado
• Indiana
• Illinois
• North Dakota
• Virginia
• New Mexico
• Utah
• Ohio
• Alabama
• Arizona
• Mississippi
• Louisiana

Please note which states I’ve put in red, bold typeface.  That’s right.  If you’re a coal worker and live in one of those states, you’d better give yourself a wakeup call because your state is on the verge of giving its electoral college votes to the killer of coal!

So if Obama wants to shut down coal-fired power plants, and coal-fired power plants produce 50% of the power in the nation, where the hell are we going to get our power from?  Are we going to build new nuclear power plants?

I guess that’s out of the question.  Obama is against nuclear power production, too.

And if the Illinois Enema Bandit really wants to bankrupt the coal power plants, what do you think will happen to the price of electric power…?  You remember that lovely little inconvenience we have to deal with every month called the POWER BILL?

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, West Virginia Record, coal industry, Democratic presidential candidate, charge polluters, carbon and greenhouse gas emissions, cap and trade system, San Francisco Chronicle, every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted, power plants, coal-powered plant, bankrupt, West Virginia Obama campaign officials, coal-producing state, West Virginia Coal Association, Mines, Mine contractors, Coal preparation plants, Mine supply companies, Coal-fired power plants, Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Montana, Texas, Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, North Dakota, Virginia, New Mexico, Utah, Ohio, Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, Louisiana, nuclear power plants, against nuclear power production, Illinois Enema Bandit, price of electric power

Or so says The New Mexico Sun News, a bi-monthly paper.  The issue includes the banner “Special Collector’s Edition” printed in red bold typeface.

From CNN (via Drudge):

For The New Mexico Sun News it is either a major scoop or “Dewey Beats Truman” déjà vu 60 years later.

“Obama Wins!” is the headline of the edition on newsstands now, complete with “special collector’s edition” in red bold typeface.

The Sun News is a bi-monthly newspaper and its Oct 26-Nov 8 issue had to hit the streets, and the newsstands, before the election. So the editors decided to make a leap of faith and declare Democrat Barack Obama the winner.

In an article explaining their choice, the editors unabashedly wrote, “When it comes to calling the winner of a presidential election, everyone wants to be first. The New Mexico Sun News hereby claims that achievement.”

In its tongue-in-cheek style, the article went on to note the newspaper has a goal of reaching one million readers with each edition, but prints just 10,000 copies of each of its issues.

Ha!  This goes right along with reports from last week that Barack Obama’s inaugural address is already written and “in the can,” so to speak.

I wonder if there are any superstitious people in the Obama campaign right about now?  And I wonder how many of them are starting to feel a little queasy about the overconfidence being displayed by the Obama campaign—and the Obamaphile MSM–this past week?

Strange things happen sometimes.  Thomas E. Dewey found out the hard way in November of 1948.  And as just another example of potential déjà vu:

As the returns came in Truman took an early lead which he never lost. However, the leading radio commentators, such as H. V. Kaltenborn of NBC, confidently predicted that once the “late returns” came in Dewey would overcome Truman’s lead and win. At midnight, Truman awoke and turned on the radio in his room; he heard Kaltenborn announce that, while Truman was still ahead in the popular vote, he couldn’t possibly win.  [Wikipedia.  Emphasis added.]

Oooops.  There are those pesky NBC dudes again.  They’re pretty much doing the same thing this year, too, aren’t they?

Technorati Tags: The New Mexico Sun News, bi-monthly paper, Special Collector’s Edition, Dewey Beats Truman, Obama Wins, newsstands, election, leap of faith, Democrat, Barack Obama, winner, editors, tongue-in-cheek style, inaugural address, superstitious people, Obama campaign, overconfidence, Obamaphile MSM, Thomas E. Dewey, Truman, radio commentators, H. V. Kaltenborn, NBC