When Harry Met Sue: The Nevada Senate Race by Gregory Hilton

Rep. Dean Heller(R-NV) has decided not to challenge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) in 2010, but a poll out today gives former State Sen. Sue Lowden a 6 point lead. What is most significant is that only 39% of likely voters approve of Reid and he has high negatives. Unlike the past, he is no longer viewed as a moderate. This is certain to be one of the most prominent races of the 2010 cycle.
With numbers like this it is difficult to image how Reid will be re-elected. In the past he used conservative rhetoric in Nevada despite a liberal voting record in DC. As Majority Leader it is now difficult for him to run away from his record.
Lowden is not yet committed to the race, but with Rep. Heller’s withdrawal today the pressure is really on her. In addition to her service in the State Senate, Lowden was Miss New Jersey 1973 and second runner-up in the Miss America pageant.
After touring with Bob Hope and the USO in places like Vietnam and earning a Master’s degree from Farleigh Dickinson University, she went on to spend 10 years as a reporter and anchorwoman in Las Vegas. She and her husband Paul are the former owners of the Sahara hotel-casino, and she is now the Chairman of the Nevada Republican Party.

America’s Last Queen by Gregory Hilton

America’s last Queen (1761 – 1776) has advice for us. Queen Charlotte was married at 17, and had 15 children with her husband King George III. She arrived in England from Germany on September 8, 1761 and met 22 year old George for the first time at 3 pm. They were married at 9 pm the same day, and she became Queen of England despite the fact that she could not speak the language.
Charlotte’s advice is the opposite of today. She believed in marriage first and finding romantic love later. She said her marriage was successful because the King and Queen were determined to make it work. Unusual for royalty, they were not self centered, and gave priority attention to their partners happiness.
George relied on the advice of his emissaries in selecting a wife. He rejected women who were far more attractive and his major criteria was princess with “a pleasant disposition.” A list of eligible royal princesses was compiled for George. Charlotte was such a minor royal she was omitted from the first list and placed at the bottom of the second. His grandfather wanted him to marry a beautiful princess from Brunswick, and he did consider the stunning Lady Sarah Lennox. In the end he omitted physical beauty from his list of desirable characteristics. George felt many members of the royal family were selfish, and Charlotte’s modest upbringing appealed to him.
An emissary from the English court visited Charlotte and her family in Neu Strelitz. This very positive report concentrated on Charlotte’s personality, and it sealed George’s decision. Immediately after receiving a positive response from Charlotte, George announced to the Privy Council his intention to wed. Everything was set despite the fact that the bride and groom had not met. Once again, their marriage took place on September 8, and a coronation ceremony for both of them was held on September 22nd.
King George was the target of our Declaration of Independence and he lost the Revolutionary War, but by all accounts he had a successful marriage.
Queen Charlotte knew Bach and Mozart, and was especially close to Marie Antoinette. Immediately after the execution of the French royal family, taxes were lowered significantly in England. King George did not want to give his subjects any reason to organize a revolution.
Charlotte, North Carolina is known as the “Queen City.” It is in Mecklenburg County. Charlotte was a princess of Mecklenburg in Germany prior to becoming Queen of England.

Five Critical Questions for our Lawmakers by Gregory Hilton

Our nation now has a $1.7 billion deficit, new taxes on energy are pending and there are many concerns regarding a public option health care program. Here are some critical questions for our lawmakers:
1. When Democratic leaders passed the stimulus bill, they indicated it would result in holding the national unemployment rate under 8 percent. In reality, the unemployment rate soared to a 26-year high of 9.7 percent and since January, 2.84 million Americans have lost their jobs. When will the stimulus actually start working?
2. The budget deficit will approach a historic $.7 trillion this year and is estimated to be $1 trillion a year for the next 10 years. Policies under discussion now would increase the top tax rate to nearly 40 percent and implement an additional surcharge of 5.4 percent that would fall primarily on small business owners to pay for health care. The top tax rate in America would be higher than that in every country except Denmark, Sweden and Belgium — a harsh penalty on investment, risk taking and business development and a recipe for more job loss. Given that the backbone of our economy is small business, how do you support this soaring deficit and increased taxes?
3. With nearly 3 million Americans out of work in the last six months alone, why are we even considering global warming legislation? India and China have promised not to participate in any effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which means accelerating the export of even more American jobs to those countries. A study by the Heritage Foundation estimates global warming legislation will lead to more than 1 million lost jobs per year and cost the average family nearly $3,000 annually. How does this get the middle class back on their feet?
4: The House global warming bill requires an energy audit for older homes, and those that fail must make expensive upgrades before the home could be sold. This will be another major economic challenge on top of already declining real estate values.
5. Supporters of health care reform efforts have said the legislation will allow Americans to choose their doctors, it will not increase the deficit and will not undermine the care that seniors currently receive. Yet the legislation being prepared for votes in the House in September would cause almost 85 million Americans to lose their current private insurance according to studies cited by the Heritage Foundation, will increase the budget deficit by $239 billion according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, will raise taxes on many Americans, including those making less than $250,000 and will eliminate Medicare Advantage, which 22 percent of seniors depend upon for their current health care. If this plan is so good for Americans, then why are our lawmakers exempted?

Attacks From Child Suicide Bombers are Expected to Increase by Gregory Hilton

His death was caused by a child suicide bomber.

Attacks From Child Suicide Bombers are Expected to Increase by Gregory Hilton–
Many events will occur on July 4th to honor our active duty service members and coalition partners who are now on the front lines. U.S. troops pulled out of Iraqi cities two days ago, but unfortunately the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq are not behind us. This week intelligence reports from the government of Pakistan demonstrate that the Taliban is increasing its recruitment of child suicide bombers.
Per capita income in Pakistan is $2,600, but the Taliban is paying between $7,000 and $14,000 to families who will allow their young children to be used as suicide bombers. Corporal Marc Birch, 26, was killed just four months after this wedding photo was taken. He died along side Sergeant John Manuel, 38, Corporal Damian Davies, 27, and Lance Corporal Steven Fellows, 26. They were all killed by a 13 year old boy who was pushing a wheelbarrow. Similar attacks will occur in the weeks and months ahead.
July 4th — Are our soldiers dying in vain?
Those who defend our freedom are volunteers. Regardless of how one feels about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the worst thing we can do is to say they died in vain because the war on terror is not winnable. The hundreds of firemen and police officers who perished at the World Trade Center did not die in vain even though their efforts to save lives proved to be futile. Those who have given their lives in the Drug War have not left us in vain, even though drug activity continues.
Deaths are pointless only when people go through their entire lives without knowing why they exist and what they should do with their lives. Evil will flourish only when good people do nothing. We can never have a world where we hold back and do nothing simply because evil will always be with us. Sacrifices in the service of humanity are not wasted, and our soldiers have not died in vain.

Even Cindy Sheehan Does Not Understand the Anti-War Lobby by Gregory Hilton

In a recent interview liberal activist Cindy Sheehan made the following observations:
“I think people are starting to wake up to the fact that even if they supported Obama, he doesn’t represent much change. There are people still out here who oppose the war and Obama’s policies, but it seems like the big organizations with the big lists aren’t here. I’ve been protesting but it’s not covered. The one time I did get a lot of coverage was at Bush’s house in June.”
Not only is the President escalating the war in Afghanistan she said, but he’s not withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq as quickly as he originally promised. “That’s why I am opposed to him,” she said. “The anti-war left was used by the Democratic Party. I like to call it the ‘anti-Republican War’ movement. Sites such as the DailyKos are completely hypocritical, I have known for a long time that the Democrats are equally responsible as the Republicans. That’s why I left the party in May 2007 and that’s why I ran for Congress against Nancy Pelosi in 2008.”
Cindy Sheehan has always been wrong about foreign policy but it is amazing that the anti-war movement vanished when Obama was elected. I am glad they are gone, but it sure seems their target was George Bush, not the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Islamic fundamentalists or terrorism.
While the anti-war movement has now gone away they did have an enormous impact on the battle for the Democratic nomination. Organizations such as Moveon.org worked actively in support of Obama, and the big difference was that Hillary and Biden had originally voted for the Iraq war.
Obama said he was consistently against the war, and Mrs. Clinton publicly said these activists were responsible for her defeat. Her campaign was never able to overcome the individuals who packed the caucus states and were motivated by various anti-war organizations.
While I agree with Mrs. Sheehan’s observation about the recent activities of the anti-war lobby, she is still a charter member of the looney left. Sheehan says Bush “murdered” her son, and she has publicly said that an excellent U.S. President would be Hugo Chavez. He wasn’t born in this country, he doesn’t speak English, he’s a Communist and he’s a dictator. But other than that, why not? Sheehan also said said her fantasy was to go back in time to kill President Bush as an infant, to prevent the war in Iraq from ever happening. What is amazing is that the mainstream media gave her so much prominent coverage for such a long time.