Incumbent Governor Bob Riley is posting a 2-1 lead over former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore in the polling for the Republican primary. Any thoughts on this race?

I saw Moore speak at the Young America’s Foundation Student Conference in 2004 and he sounded like a nut. Whatever our particular preferences might be (for the record I don’t believe the Establishment Clause can be incorporated against the states because of the wording specifically referring to Congress, but as for Texas I prefer there to be church-state seperation), I think ignoring higher court rulings and forcing his colleagues to remove him made him not much better than George Wallace. However strongly you feel about something the rule of law has to prevail. On the other hand, he seemed pretty popular with a lot of the conference attendees.

President’s Day is this coming Monday and I have to say it’s a holiday I’ve always had a tortured relationship with. For one, I can’t get my mail. That sucks. If we would privatize the postal service that would probably not be a problem, but I digress. Secondly it requires me to honor both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln who I’m personally more inclined to burn in effigy. Taking the second problem with the first, I think if you’re going to have a lot of federal holidays why not have one on Valentine’s Day so people (or in the south, married people) can make love to their better halves all day?

(I realize this wouldn’t work because the Massachusetts Supreme Court would quickly declare that such a holiday amounted to unconstitutional discrimination against those who were without a same-sex partner on February 14th.)

In the spirit of the holiday, I present my personal list of the Top 10 Best U.S. presidents. I compiled it back in August during some flirty history-knowledge strutting with the woman who is now my girlfriend. Hope it generates some discussion. Later (after I compile it) I’m going to post my Top 10 (or at least Top 5) Worst Presidents as well, in addition to my favorite people that should have been president but weren’t. (Once my girlfriend gets done reviewing her list I’ll post it too.) Enjoy!

10. Thomas Jefferson – Wrote Declaration of Independence; Louisiana Purchase; abolished international slave trade.

9. Andrew Johnson – Tried to keep the Radical Republicans from going overboard after the War of Northern Aggression and got impeached for it.

8. Harry Truman – The Doctrine is in; had the testicular fortitude to drop the Bomb; proved you don’t need a college degree to get by in this business long before Karl Rove came along.

7.5. Richard M. Nixon – Isolated China from the Soviet sphere of influence. (Duplicate entry, also appears on the Top 10 Worst list.)

7. Cal Coolidge – Most underrated POTUS of the 20th Century; first modern day supply-sider; also picked a fantastic Veep (Charles Dawes).

6. Grover Cleveland – Mister Veto; last of the old school Jeffersonian-Jacksonian Democrats.

5. Andrew Jackson – Opposed National Bank; stood up to the Whigs.

4. John Tyler – Established the tradition (later codified) of the Veep becoming President (not just Acting President) on the death of his predecessor, but more importantly vetoed just about the entire Whig legislative program; also proved the idiocy of ticket balancing (at least as far as the Whigs were concerned – the man was picked because “Tyler Too” rhymed with “Tippecanoe”).

3. Ronald Reagan – Godfather of the modern conservative moment; public intellectual; liberator of Eastern Europe and much of Latin America.

2. James Madison – Wrote my favorite Federalist Papers (Numbers 10 and 45); defended U.S. naval sovereignty in War of 1812; opposed internal improvements appropriations; set the stage for the political collapse of the Federalists.

1. George Washington – The indispensable man.

P.S. Speaking of Valentine’s Day, check out my haul from last night. Isn’t my better half wonderful?

US Companies are recieving some flack over their policies in China. Remember Google agreed to filter its search results as directed by the Chinese government. While Cisco agreed to specialy design routers that filter and track internet traffic.Microsoft and Yahoo have come under fire for their concessions to the Chinese government. Now Congress is poised to hold hearings on the issue.

Does this make us any better than the Chinese? Why is our Government stepping in and telling a private company how and what it can do with its own products. Now I understand restrictions on products that have national security implications or consumer safety issues, but this takes it to another level. We do not want our government intervening in private companies on how it designs and sells its products regardless of the buyer. It violates our free-market principals.

Remember its ok in a Democratic Administration to sell balistic missle technology to China as long as you are a big campaign donor.