The following letter was written by Dan McLaughlin, aka “baseballcrank“.  He mentions DeMint’s interview with Mark Levin (previous post) in the last paragraph. 

Dear Senator DeMint:

By the numbers, we are yet very early in the presidential primaries. 1144 delegates are needed to sew up the nomination, and depending how you count these things, Mitt Romney has maybe 13 delegates after finishing Iowa in a de facto tie with Rick Santorum and thumping Ron Paul in New Hampshire last night. But presidential primary races are often about perception: like wars, you more often win them by convincing the other side that further resistance is futile than by total, to-the-last-man annihilation. And so the coming South Carolina primary is widely recognized as the last realistic chance to stop Romney, or at least visibly slow his momentum and eliminate the divisions among conservative candidates that have thus far precluded a unified opposition. Romney has been lining up endorsements (including SC Governor Nikki Haley), money and favorable press from conservative journalists to create an air of inevitability that he hopes will end this race by Florida, if not South Carolina. I think it is fair to say that a great many grassroots conservative activists view the prospect of a Romney candidacy with varying shades of dismay.  (more…)

Has Jim DeMint officially crossed over to the dark side?  He appeared on Mark Levin’s radio show last night predicting that Romney would win the South Carolina Primary.  “I think Romney’s going to win here,” said DeMint, “I think that some of the other that might have had an advantage here have really crossed ways with some Republicans as they’ve criticized free enterprise concepts.” DeMint said,  probably referring to recent verbal volleys launched Romney’s way by Huntsman, Perry and Gingrich regarding Bain Capital.  (Skip ahead to the 11:58 mark to hear the quote.)  Sounded to me like he’s pretty much written off the presidency, and will instead focus his attention on winning the Senate.   Your take?

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Guest posted by:  GruntOfMonteCristo
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The launch of the Phobos-Grunt probe from Kazakhstan on November 8th marked the first Russian Mars mission in 15 years. Space experts now say that underfunding of the ambitious project may have doomed it from the start.  ”Way too ambitious, and way too underfunded, to reach its goal,” says space law attorney Michael Listner, who writes for The Space Review.  All went well for the spacecraft during the launch and injection into a parking orbit around the Earth, but the failure of an orbital boost stage doomed the vehicle to a slow decay through the Earth’s atmosphere until it reenters in mid-January.   (more…)

We all chipped in and bought you some very special “wheels” for your birthday.  Just “rollover” to open them…   (more…)

And you know who this is going to help… 😀

(Politico)…RuPaul, the world’s most famous drag queen, is on his way to the Red Arrow Diner in New Hampshire to spread his message. What would that message be? The host of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” would like to promote a little love and remind folks in The Granite State that he is not 2012 candidate Ron Paul.   (more…)

Okay Chicago…let me get this straight.  You’re going to need photo ID to buy Drano, but only a death certificate to vote?

CHICAGO (CBS) – A new state law requires those who buy drain cleaners and other caustic substances to provide photo identification and sign a log.  It’s getting a rough reception from customers and merchants alike although perhaps none more than a cashier at Schroeder’s True Value Hardware in Lombard.  “They’re not very happy about it at all,” said Don Schroeder, one of the store’s owners. “One of the customers actually threatened the (cashier) and threatened to throw the acid on her.”  Although the customer did not make good on the threat, and no one called police, other employees of Schroeder’s said they would call police immediately if any similar threat is made.

The law, which took effect Sunday, requires those who seek to buy caustic or noxious substances, except for batteries, to provide government-issued photo identification that shows their name and date of birth. The cashier then must log the name and address, the date and time of the purchase, the type of product, the brand and even the net weight.  (more…)

Does anyone want to tell me why Team Romney thought it was a good idea to have this guy’s endorsement?  Just watch the following video to see how ‘valuable’ that endorsement’s going to be.  Heh….time to ride off into the sunset Mac, and don’t forget to take Meggie with you! 

Little Ole not only dug himself out of three feet of snow, he found his way back to the very motel where his family had stayed before going backcountry skiing.  Tissue alert…

(BozemanDaily)…Four days after an avalanche killed his master and buried him alive, a little Welsh Corgi dog named Oly walked out of the wilderness and into the arms of Cooke City rescuers, who brought him home to his grieving family in Bozeman.  “It’s bittersweet,” said Kerry Corcoran Gaillard, whose husband, David Gaillard, was killed by an avalanche Saturday when the couple was cross-country skiing.  “I was excited” to get Ole back, she said, “but it amplified the loss of Dave a little bit. You automatically wish it could be Dave.”

Video is below the fold…

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I’ll let my fellow ‘Treepers’ make the call on this one…

(CBSNews)…Updated 5:21 p.m. Eastern Time… Ron Paul’s campaign is calling on the person who put up a video deeming Jon Huntsman a “Manchurian candidate” to take the spot down, calling it “disgusting.” (more…)

Yesterday there was a lot of buzz on the blogosphere regarding a possible Gingrich-Santorum nonaggression pact.  ‘Sources’ were confirming that there had been discussions within Gingrich’s camp about forging a nonaggression pact with Santorum at the debates…a pact that would benefit both of them against the Romney camp.  Well, today both the Santorum and Gingrich campaigns have come out and denied such a pact.

Talking to Laura Ingraham, Santorum said…”Campaigns aren’t about alliances, campaigns are about ideas, they’re about candidates and their backgrounds….Newt’s a friend and he’s someone I really do enjoy, we have some differences, we obviously have some different takes on the events of history when we served together.”  Laura then asks…”Rick, would you be where you are without Newt Gingrich today?”