After 3.5 days of deliberating my case finally ended and I went back to work today. I’m so tired of it that I don’t even feel like describing it, but I’ll give you the short version. Guy is going out with girl, but girl’s ex-boyfriend doesn’t like this, so he shoots at new boyfriend. Personally I think there was no reasonable doubt, but my opinion didn’t matter as an alternate. Two out of the 12 disagreed though, and the guy goes free. I’m glad I wasn’t in the deliberation room because I would have gone crazy arguing with the people.

On to the political front. John McCain won Florida by a few percentage points, but I’m still gung-ho for Romney. In less than a week we get our say here in California, and I think it’s time for everyone to make up their mind. It’s come down to Romney and McCain. There are far too many things McCain has done that go against conservative principles, and it’s important that he not be the nominee. To everyone backing Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee, your votes will go down the drain. Instead, put them behind Romney, a younger and more conservative nominee than McCain with the energy to defeat Hillary or Obama. McCain will take the Republican party away from the conservative principles of Regan, and moving to the left has never helped the Republican party. I would rather we stick to our conservative principles and lose in November than to abandon them and never find our way again.

Vote Mitt Romney on Tuesday, February 5th.

Republicans

I stayed up until 2 am last night watching the Republicans debate in New Hampshire, and overall it was very interesting. Going into the debate Romney was my favorite, and after this debate, that is even more true. I was disgusted by some of the comments by John McCain and Mike Huckabee. They sounded like 3rd graders on a playground with some of their comments taking swipes at Romney. McCain and Huckabee both gave insults and then smiled like little brats. Neither of them will get my votes, and you should watch last night’s debate before you decide to support them.

As for Romney, despite the barrage of insults, he was extremely intelligent on all issues. His understanding of the health care issue was great. I still like Fred Thompson on the issues, but it doesn’t look like he wants it. Romney is now solidly my #1, Thompson #2, and Giuliani #3.

Democrats

I even sat through the 2 hours of the Democrats debate. Obviously I don’t support any of the Democrats, but eventually one of them will be battling a Republican. It’s interesting to compare the Republican debate with the Democrat debate. The Republican debate was full of substance and discussion about the issues. They were in-depth discussions on the economy, defense, health care, and illegal immigration. As I watch the Democrats, it’s almost void of details. They spent 15 minutes arguing about who is the biggest proponent of “change.” It was basically “I’m the best person for change, and I think we should have discussions about change, and who will be changing the most, because we need change!” It was idiotic, especially in comparison to the Republican discussion that actually focused on issues.

There is another GOP debate tonight on FOX News at 5 pm, but I’ll have to catch that on youtube.

I’ve heard several people now say that they’re leaning towards Ron Paul, so I thought I’d make a special post about him.

Ron Paul is a Libertarian at heart, so it helps to understand the beliefs of the Libertarian party. Much of what he says about smaller government sounds great, but there are a few looney things that over the years have kept the Libertarian party a meaningless third party. Below are a few of those things that Ron Paul ascribes to.

1) He’s anti-death penalty, but most Republicans are the opposite. Surprisingly he’s pro-life which isn’t a given for Libertarians, but from what I can tell Paul is coming from a Christian background. He’s mixed some of his Libertarian values and his Christian values, and that has led to his own special version of being a Republican.

2) He’s anti-drug laws. He’s made some crazy statements that the war on drugs is keeping down the black man in the inner-city.

3) He doesn’t understand the danger of Militant Islam. A woman in the Sudan was being threatened with death for a Teddy Bear named Mohammad. What does that have to do with us “meddling” in foreign affairs as Ron Paul likes to say? What about when Iraq attacked Kuwait in the first Gulf War? According to Ron Paul since we weren’t threatened, then it’s not our fight. You know what, just forget that whole peace through strength thing. It’s better to just sit on our thumbs and get attacked first, and then we can worry about protecting ourselves.

If you’re a pacifist then this whole discussion is probably lost on you, but go read some of Paul’s comments. He says some looney things.

Overall I love what he has to say about limited government, and that’s the best thing the Libertarian party has going for it. Unfortunately for me, the other crackpot beliefs far outweigh my desire for a more limited government. Not to mention there isn’t a chance in heck he could win the national election. I also don’t understand how people like BOTH Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee. Paul is a limited government person, and Huckabee sounds like a big government Republican like Bush.

I think Thompson has the right stance on a lot of issues, and he might be the most conservative at his core, but he’s too late to the party, and he’s not dynamic enough to win the nomination or a general election. Giuliani is top notch on everything except social issues, which I might be able to live with if it means no Hillary or Obama. For now Romney is my favorite.