Did Mitt Romney Have Help At The Florida Debate?

When I watched the Florida debate, Romney was asked if he would do the same thing that Ronald Regan did for social security (which was apparently, raising taxes). Right after the question was asked, I heard what appeared to someone whisper near Romney "raise taxes". I brushed it o ff as a whisper from one of the other candidates...but that does seem unlikely. Apparently everyone else heard it too, and now this story is getting a lot of press on the internet. Watch the video for yourself and see what you think. Was Romney getting help with his questions??

On another note, there's a lot of talk about how that the 'talk time' of the candidates was anything but equal. Here's the breakdown:

Total Times

Romney: 21:11, during 13 times
McCain: 16:00, during 13 times
Giuliani: 13:50, during 11 times
Huckabee: 12:11, during nine times
Paul: 6:31, during six times

So with Mitt Romney getting almost (3) times the 'face time' as Ron Paul, Romney 'won' the debate according to many analysts. Much of this was out of his control however, as the segment where candidates were allowed to ask each other questions, Romney was questioned more than once.

TSA Arrests And Searches A 5-Year Old (And His Mother) At SEA-TAC Airport

....because someone with his same name was on the no fly list. How many people in the world share the same name? Is this really all that they're using to check people??

This is the same organization that arrested (they call it 'detained', same thing....don't let the name fool you) Senator Ted Kennedy because someone had put a "T. Kennedy" on the list (that's no joke). That should make you feel really secure, especially now that the TSA will be arresting people for having the wrong facial expressions. Wonder what's next?

Link to Video News Story

Abusive Driver Fees Are Not Just For Cars

As Kajuan Cornish found out. He was issued a $1,050 fine for recklessly ridding his bicycle in Newport News, VA. Cited on 12/27/2007 for misdemeanor "Reckless Driving - Bicycle" under VA Code 46.2-852, he was eligible for the same abusive driver fees as everyone else. He was convicted in district court but appealed his conviction to circuit court on 1/10/2008.

I'll follow this one to see where it ends up.

Paul Begala Says Fox News Lied To The Public, Even After Knowing It was A Lie

Fox takes the lead in sucking after getting caught red handed (knowingly) pushing false information.

I think I've figured out what they mean by "We report, you decide." You get to decide if they're feeding you B.S. or not.

National Media Wakes Up To The Polling Problem

As I predicted, the polling error issue is becoming a big issue in 2008. Amazingly, the pollsters blew the Democratic vote for New Hampshire.

Candidate	Predicted % Of Vote (Rasmussen)	% of NH Vote	Within Margin of Error (95% confidence)?	% Difference
Barack Obama	37%	36%	Yes	-2.7%
Hillary Clinton	30%	39%	No	30.0%
John Edwards	19%	17%	Yes	-10.5%
Bill Richardson	8%	5%	No	-37.5%
Dennis Kucinich	3%	1%	Yes	-66.7%
Mike Gravel	0%	0%	Yes	0.0%

Generic OTC Omeprazole (Prilosec) Coming in 2008

Israeli pharmaceutical company Dexcel Pharma Technologies, has announced they will be producing generic Prilosec in 2008. The product will be exclusively marketed in the US by Perrigo, (PRGO) a major manufacturer of over-the-counter (OTC) generics for major retalilers (Wal-Mart, Target, etc)

Polling Results Vs. Real Results For The First Primary

Look at the predictions from Rasmussen (a highly respected pollster), versus the actual results. The margin of sampling error for this poll was +/-4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Candidate	Rasmussen Poll 12/17/2007 (%)	Actual Result (%)	% Difference
Mike Huckabee	28	34	21.43
Mitt Romney	27	25	-7.41
John McCain	14	13	-7.14
Rudy Giuliani	8	3	-62.50
Fred Thompson	8	13	62.50
Ron Paul	6	10	66.67
Tom Tancredo	2	0	-100.00
Duncan Hunter	1	0	-100.00

Giuliani's, Huckabee's, and Thompson's results all fell outside of the margin of error. Paul was on the very edge of it.

The Time Has Come To End The Death Penalty

Last week a Texas man, Charles Chapman, was freed after spending 27 years in prison for a crime the state now admits he never committed. Sentenced to prison in 1981 for rape, it was DNA evidence that finally exonerated him. And DNA evidence is nothing new to Dallas County, the jurisdiction that convicted Chapman. In fact, since 2001 (15) wrongly convicted people have been released from this one county alone based on DNA evidence.

According to the Innocence Project, the first DNA based exoneration was in 1989 (PDF). Since that time there have been (192) people released from prison because the DNA evidence showed they were wrongly convicted. Fourteen of those wrongly convicted people had been sentenced to death. And those numbers are certainly just the tip of the iceberg.

It is now painfully clear that the debate about the likelihood of the government wrongly killing an innocent, wrongly convicted citizen has moved well beyond the academic. I fail to see how anyone, at this point, can support the death penalty when it is clear that justice not only makes mistakes, but does so frequently.

For the state to take away 27 years of someone's life is a horrific mistake. Killing them in error at this point, knowing what we now know, is nothing short of criminal.