we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people

President Obama feels that "we" lost a sense of speaking directly to the American people. Notice the odd use of "we", with the President it is usually "I".

The problem is not that he, the Administration or the Democrats lost the sense of speaking directly to. There is entirely to much of speaking to, and not nearly enough of speaking with, or listening to, the American people.

Perhaps there is a lesson learned here, and the President will actually start to fulfill some of the promise that so many believed in upon his election.

Hitler is not impressed with Brown's victory

"Bush got C's, Obama probably failed lunch."

ht Althouse

Massachusetts elects a Republican

According to the Drudge Report Coakley has called and conceded the race to Brown.

Massachusetts is as firmly Democrat as Texas is Republican. I don't see any way to read this but as repudiation of the Democrats over-reach in the past year. Specifically the attempt to force a national health care bill on the country that is wildly unpopular. The Liberal side of the party has sacrificed all support in a rush to produce a more socialist government.

I have always believed that America is centrist. The religious Conservative branch of the Republican Party is not popular with the average American, and neither is the Progressive branch of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately the seniority system in the legislative branches ensures that the fringes will be over-represented in the legislative process.

We will hear a lot about what this means for the November elections, but that is a long way off, and the Democrats have a chance to salvage some of the inevitable losses. If they continue to legislate against middle America's wishes their losses will make 1994 look like a minor loss.

Hubris

Why do the Democrats in charge, Pelosi, Reid, Obama, insist on inflicting a healthcare bill on us. Popular support is abysmal. According to Rasmussen polling released today (Jan 18) 18% strongly favor, while 44% strongly disapprove of the proposed plan.

Last I checked this was a representative democracy. Meaning the elected represent their constituents.

Inflicting this law upon America at this time looks like political suicide for the Democratic Party. Sure Pelosi will be re-elected, but Reid looks like a lock to lose to anyone not named Reid in Nevada.

I'm confused. I just don't get it. What is the point of this?

Ocean depths and glacial heights

As Cousin Mark says in his comments there is a study out which supports the theory that deep ocean temperatures more closely track changing climate than other data being used.

Prof Latif, who leads a research team at the renowned Leibniz Institute at Germany’s Kiel University, has developed new methods for measuring ocean temperatures 3,000ft beneath the surface, where the cooling and warming cycles start.

His findings indicate that the warming of the deep currents in the 1980's-2000 started deep in the ocean. These temperatures have now reversed and are colder. He believes these currents account for as much as 50% of climate change.

More on the scandal front: it appears that the whole chapter in the IPCC report about the rapid disappearance of the Himalayan glaciers was based on one magazine article which was based on one phone interview with one Indian scientists who made a statement based on supposition without any research or data to support it. Scientists who actually study glaciers say that the statements made in the IPCC report are virtually impossible.

P.S. The UN admits they made a mistake. (This is pretty rare.)

Global warming scams go global

No longer is the manipulation of data to reinforce the preconception of warming a British fetish. Now we learn that our NASA Goddard Science and Space Institute at Columbia University in New York, and the NOAA National Climate Data Center in Ashville, North Carolina, are reducing the number of temperature measurement stations by about 75%, and maintaining those at lower altitudes versus higher. You don't need to be a meteoroligist or climatologist to know that this will create higher average temperatures.

In Canada the number of stations dropped from 600 to 35 in 2009. The percentage of stations in the lower elevations (below 300 feet) tripled and those at higher elevations above 3000 feet were reduced in half. Canada’s semi-permanent depicted warmth comes from interpolating from more southerly locations to fill northerly vacant grid boxes, even as a pure average of the available stations shows a COOLING. Just 1 thermometer remains for everything north of latitude 65N – that station is Eureka. Eureka according to Wikipedia has been described as “The Garden Spot of the Arctic” .

How can we possibly reorder the world's economy based on information provided by our, formerly, trusted scientific community. Read Delingpole for a more detailed story.

Perhaps we should just confine temperature readings to stations between 23 degrees north and 23 degrees south. Then we could really prove some warming compared to historical global temperature measurements.

Shami for Governor

Back in April Cousin Mark stated that he would have to vote for Kaye Bailey if there was no credible Democratic candidate for Texas Governor. Thank goodness he has Farouk Shami to vote for.

Shami is so ashamed of his religion that he lists himself as a Quaker. Upon further questioning he says he's a Quaker/Muslim. Perhaps the honest answer is he doesn't have a religious preference. Muslim certainly doesn't sell to the voters of Texas, and the last broadly elected Quaker I can think of was President Nixon.

Oh bother, neither will garner many votes in the general election.

Help Haiti

It is easy to donate to the relief effort in Haiti. If you have texting, and who doesn't, just text "HAITI" to 90999 and donate $10. This is easy to do and it really adds up. By Thursday of last week $7 million had already been donated this way.

Come on, all three of you reading this, donate.

Interpol becomes America's secret police

On December 23 Pres. Obama amended executive order 12425 granting Interpol this immunity:

Property and assets of international organizations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation. The archives of international organizations shall be inviolable.

There are employees of the Department of Justice tasked to Interpol. This means that domestic law enforcement officials can gather information on Americans, and that information cannot be accessed through disclosure rules or through Freedom of Information requests. This is truly Kafkaesque.

For a more detailed and complete explanation read ThreatsWatch.org.

Climategate revisited

According to the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis:

The IEA believes that Russian meteorological-station data did not substantiate the anthropogenic global-warming theory. Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country's territory, and that the Hadley Center had used data submitted by only 25% of such stations in its reports. Over 40% of Russian territory was not included in global-temperature calculations for some other reasons, rather than the lack of meteorological stations and observations.

The data of stations located in areas not listed in the Hadley Climate Research Unit Temperature UK (HadCRUT) survey often does not show any substantial warming in the late 20th century and the early 21st century.

The HadCRUT database includes specific stations providing incomplete data and highlighting the global-warming process, rather than stations facilitating uninterrupted observations.

On the whole, climatologists use the incomplete findings of meteorological stations far more often than those providing complete observations.

IEA analysts say climatologists use the data of stations located in large populated centers that are influenced by the urban-warming effect more frequently than the correct data of remote stations.

Again, this is not science. If you only select data that supports your hypothesis you are not testing. This is data that is heavily relied upon by the U.N. IPCC to report the threat of a warming climate. The evidence becomes less and less convincing every day.

On the precipice

"From the discussions we had, it's clear we are on the precipice of achievement that's eluded Congresses, presidents for generations -- an achievement that will touch the lives of nearly every American," Obama said.

According to Merriam-Webster online:

1 : a very steep or overhanging place
2 : a hazardous situation; broadly : brink

It seems that if the President viewed reform in a positive light he would have used a more positive term, like verge. Precipice to me certainly carries a connotation of peril.

Unreality

For those keeping political score, Democrats were almost twice as likely to believe in ghosts and to consult fortune-tellers than were Republicans, and the Democrats were 71 percent more likely to believe that they were in touch with the dead.

according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

This explains a lot.

Climategate

It's no secret that I am, what is derisively termed, a skeptic on the global warming issue. The dump of a large volume of hacked emails from East Anglia's Climate Research Unit(CRU), which it seems is ground zero for global warming enthusiasts, has raised many questions.

To me the biggest take from all of this is that the CRU scientist have admitted they destroyed the data from which they built their climate models. There is no science if the data cannot be reviewed and verified. What this means is that whether the CRU scientists are right are wrong, their findings are totally worthless. If they cannot be independently verified by other scientists the process of verification is finished. Since most if not all of global warming science seems to exist in a small closed circle of researchers we can no longer accept that their is any scientific proof of global warming.

This does not mean that we are not experiencing a warming climate. It just means that we have no scientific evidence to support the theory that the Earth is warming and that man is responsible.

The cost of health care refrom

Why do we keep hearing about special interests when the Senate is willing to spend $100 million to buy one vote?

Oh to know so much that we can make everyone happy

The notion that a small group of politicians can know enough to design something so complex and so personal is astounding.

John Stossel

That is to the point. It is wonderful that 219 Democrats and 1 Republican think they have the ability to CREATE a health care system. The audacity is breath taking. A bill of 1990 pages is incredible in its size. On the other hand that is not nearly enough to create a health care system. The regulations for the inpatient portion of Medicare run to more pages than the Internal Revenue Code, that is just the inpatient side. Believe me the outpatient regs are for more complex. But with a vote, and a great amount of hubris, Pelosi and her minions will give us all nirvana in health. Never mind that if you like what you have you will be greatly displeased in the next five years over what you have been "given" by the federal government.

Goddamn nanny state, do gooders. May they all be subjected to their own rules. (Which of course they will not be, because they are privileged by being Congressmen.)

Pelosicare

It's no secret that I think the idea of government directed universal health care is a bad idea, but Pelosi's bill is scary as hell. If you don't buy insurance you are fined (or jailed,) if you don't have a plan that includes all coverage Pelosi thinks you should have you are fined (or jailed.) This is not republican democracy, this is the Marxist socialist crap that I was certain would come with the advent of the Obama-Reid-Pelosi triumvirate. Fortunately, it looks like the rank and file is awakening to the horror that is the Pelosi bill, or at least they are afraid they will be unelected if they support it. Oh, and a tax for not obtaining coverage is no different than a fine.

Why should a healthy young person be forced to pay a large amount of money for health insurance. It makes perfect economic sense to buy a low cost policy, or opt out until you reach an age where you might actually consume some health care.

I do so despise large government. It offends my libertarian sensibilities.

Afghanistan

The default position for those who are opposed to America projecting our power is Vietnam. But the real lesson that should be taken from Vietnam, and Korea, is that if there is no stated goal of what would be a victory then military intervention is fruitless. In Vietnam the goal was ????????, so defeat was the abject withdrawal of our troops and abdication to the North Vietnamese communists. In Korea the goal was containing the North Koreans to the 58th parallel; we're still doing that 50+ years later.

In Afghanistan the goal must be the destruction of the Taliban as a political force. If we can't do that then all that has been ventured is a waste. Afghanistan is difficult both culturally and geographically, but with political commitment to the military, the goal can be obtained.

Can we afford it?

$1,200,000,000,000 is a lot of money. This is the cost of the current House bill for, (I don't even know what we're calling this now,) Healthcare reform. It doesn't really matter where you fall on the issue of should we do this or should we not, the price tag would indicate we cannot afford it.

Our economy is in the tank, deficits are growing into the stratosphere as far as we can see and the biggest policy issue we can debate is how to raise the deficit another $1.2 trillion.

Please stop even talking about this until someone explains how it is to be paid for.

Politely stating he's a pussy

David Brooks of the NY Times pens a column titled "The Tenacity Question". Read the whole thing, but the take away is that President Obama does not have the balls to wage the war against the Taliban. A war that Brooks could not find any expert on the subject to agree was unwinnable.

President Obama looks weaker every day when he is asked to confront any foe more important to our country than Fox News.

If the President is losing the editorial page of the NY Times he has lost everyone who is not on the far left fringe.

Nobel Peace Prize

Words fail me.

lethal cocktail of liberty and capitalism

This is the description of the West according to spokesman for Hizb ut Tahrir a Muslim group that espouses the non-violent destruction of Western democracy.

It warms the heart to know that Islam is such a tolerant religion. They are really the big tent group in the world. Just think about it a lethal cocktail, meaning a blending of deadly materials, and what are these lethal ingredients? Liberty and capitalism. No these people don't hate America. They don't hold any ill will toward us. Gee, they just consider the bedrock of our society as lethal ingredients in a lethal cocktail. We should by all means embrace them and their religion of peace.

I feel better now

I have been afraid that the Democrats would get their act together and actually inflict "healthcare reform" on us. I can't imagine anything worse than the federal government taking over our system, and destroying innovation in our country. But I feel better now because health care is now in Sen. Reid's hands. It is hard to conceive of anyone who is less capable of achieving legislative success then the dour Senator from Nevada.

I don't think he's really listening

Pres. Obama embarrasses me

I have thought since Obama began campaigning that there was a disconnect between running for President of the U.S. and displaying in each word and deed a loathing for America and Americans.

In the world of Obama, America has always been wrong; we do not respect other countries, we act unilaterally, we mistreat our poor and minorities. American tradition and western civilization are not to be regarded as positives that built the greatest democracy in history, but as flaws, errors, that have led America to be a dystopia.

So far the administration has disrespected our natural allies, other democracies, and snuggled up against tyrants and dictators. The President's speech at the U.N. furthered this disrespect for America, apologizing for our past and promising to be more...well, not sure what more. Perhaps more apologetic for being successful, striving more for fairness rather than excellence.

President Obama does not represent, nor even recognize, the country that I grew up in and hope to continue to be a part of.

Wow!

Camile Paglia gets it right. Go read!

She is spot on in her analysis.

Regulators regulate

"Remember that legislation itself is only half the problem with Obamacare. Whatever bill passes, hundreds of bureaucrats in the federal agencies will have years to promulgate scores of regulations to govern the details of the law.

"This is where the real mischief could be done because most regulatory actions are effectuated beneath the public radar. It is thus essential, as just one example, that any end-of-life counseling provision in the final bill be specified to be purely voluntary ... and that the counseling be required by law to be neutral as to outcome. Otherwise, even if the legislation doesn't push in a specific direction - for instance, THE GOVERNMENT REFUSING TREATMENT - the regulations could." (Emphasis added.) Wesley J. Smith

Having worked in health care for 20 years or so, I can assure you this is the absolute truth. Congress passes legislation, the President signs it and then some bureaucrat at CMS, who doesn't answer to us, writes a regulation that bears no resemblance to what the legislation intended.

We should be interested (concerned) about health care reform legislation, because it will certainly effect how each and every one of us accesses care, and the care we receive. BUT, remember no matter what legislation is passed, at the end of the day bureaucrats who are really only interested in statistical models will decide how the plan is implemented.

As some wag in the past said; "be careful what you wish for, you may get it."

The Democrats have lost

People are trying to speak. There is shouting and rude behavior on both sides. But violence comes from weakness. When you have to bring in thugs in order to silence the opposition you have lost.

This August is reminiscent of the summer of 1968, and that was ugly.

Classic one liner

This is classic Bob Hope. The man was a genius at delivering a joke straight.

Midgets v Lion

How many midgets does it take to defeat a lion? Apparently more the 42.

Palin bugs out

So Sarah Palin resigns as governor of Alaska, and we don't know why. It's good to know that the NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd does. A woman who has never done anything but spit on people who actually do things for a living is more than happy to call Gov. Palin names and call her one "nutty puppy".

I'm not sure what I think of Gov. Palin, though I do think she is more accomplished than MoDo or Pres. Obama, but she certainly doesn't deserve to be made fun of by a bunch of Manhattan elites who would starve to death in middle America because they couldn't find a good latte' or fine restaurant to eat and be seen in.

Bitch!

It only smells like insider trading

If you or I did this we would get the Martha Stewart treatment.

Senator Durbin cashed out his investments after closed door hearings revealing how risky the banking industry had become. This seems to fit part of the definition under SEC Rule 10b5-1: "any individual who trades shares based on material non-public information in violation of some duty of trust." But I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that nobody ever says boo to this POS.

Iran, the home of the free

There seems to be some people who think the elections in Iran were not totally on the up and up. I can only say that I am shocked to even think that such religiously honest people would even consider such a dishonest thing as rigging an election. It is totally beyond belief!

Remember Islam is a religion of peace, and additionally, honesty!

San Jacinto Day

Today, April 21, is San Jacinto Day. It is a day to remember the victory by the Texians over Santa Ana at San Jacinto. The battle ensured that Texas could become an independent nation. It is also one of the most important battles in history.

The Republic of Texas existed from 1836-1845. Finally, as Sam Houston desired, Texas was annexed into the United States. The annexation of Texas led quickly to war between the U.S. and Mexico. The result of the Mexican-American War was a full surrender by Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded an area of land that constitutes approximately one-third of the continental U.S. The area added included New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California and parts of Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was the fulfillment of manifest destiny. The United States stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific and filled the entire central area of the continent.

What Sam Houston and his small rag tag army did in avenging Goliad and the Alamo yielded the America we know today.

Rick Perry

J.R.-- What do you think of Rick Perry? I was somewhat shocked by his comments yesterday about the possibility of Texas seceding from the union. I didn't know he was such a right-winger. I'm planning to vote for Kaye Bailey for governor if there is no credible Democratic candidate.

No wonder California is uber broke

The state of California is considering regulating the color of automobiles. All in the name of the environment of course. It seems that in California the average person is always crapped on in the rush to be politically or environmentally correct.

I suggest that if you are near the border of California you step aside so you don't crushed by the people fleeing the oppressive government.

Europe acts responsibly?

The European Union is rejecting requests from Washington to pile on more debt to resolve the global recession. Finance ministers say they are doing enough and do not need to pass another stimulus package to shore up jobs.

How sad is it when the socialist of the EU are the responsible group in a crisis? The leadership in Washington looks absolutely pathetic.

GM, buy American

GM is going bankrupt. Now there's a shocker. The company should have been allowed to move into Chapter 11 months ago. But no, we had to waste billions of tax dollars, that's your money and my money, for those of us who pay taxes, supporting a business in failure.

I reiterate, the "government" is not sending money to mom and pop businesses. They're not to big to fail.

Folks, we have been bamboozled and screwed, by big business, labor unions and politicians with their hands out for campaign dollars.

Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican it is time to get mad about YOUR money being wasted on stupid economics.

PETA nutcase

It's good to read that the founder of PETA is fully committed, or at least should be. In her will she asks that her flesh be used to make purses, her legs made into umbrellas stands, her thumbs displayed (one up for the group that best promotes animal rights and one down for the group that mistreats animals most) and an ear sent to the Canadian Parliament so they will be able to heed the cries of baby fur seals.

Nothing says crazy like writing it out in your will. I'm just curious how any member of her group could carry out these demands by abusing her dead flesh.

No mention of whether her bones should be ground into meal to make sea kitten food.

Thank you Congress

By crikey, I am feeling stimulated!

President Obama speaks

I'm watching the press conference, a couple(probably more than a couple) of observations:

The man gives a great speech, answering questions he doesn't seem quite able to ever get to the point.

We will be able to "see how every dime is spent." That's a nice sentiment, but if I can see how every million is spent that will make me happy.

I agree that the federal government should do something, but I am far from convinced that writing what amounts to an annual budget bill in 20 days is responsible. I don't know if it's good or bad, but no one else does either, and that scares the shit out of me. We are talking about $1 trillion, $1,000,000,000,000. I don't care who you are that is a LOT of money. Why not spend $200 billion and see what that does, then add more if we need to. (I ended a sentence with a preposition, that makes me a badass.) :)

I think we are seeing some kind of bizarre affirmative action happening, the President has called on a bunch of women reporters and only two men, now he calls on Major Garrett, hisssssssss, a man, and a Fox News reporter. The President makes fun of his VP, which is pretty easy to do.

He is aware of unexpected consequences, but seems to believe that minimizing those are not are a major issue. Let the chips fall where they may. What an economic plan.

Finally something important, a question about A-Rod using steroids. Blah-blah-blah, who cares, it's only baseball, not a real sport.

OMG, he called on Helen Thomas, and she reads a question that proves her Alzheimers has not taken total control of her life. The poor woman is bat-shit crazy and should retire and go fishing.

We will not torture, but we will continue rendition. I've got no problem with what our government has done to date, so if the President wants to continue that process, good for him.

Damn Republicans; if only they would shut up and go along we could be bi-partisan.

Oh wow, he's willing to fire bad teachers! The NEA just stopped all payment to the campaign chest.

OK, we do need to do something, but saying that the bill has too much spending doesn't mean that spending in this situation is bad. It is a matter of scale.

Frankly, I don't think the President did a very good job of presenting sound reasons why the stimulus package should pass.

That didn't take long

Maureen Dowd has already decided that President Obama is just another politician. That is one quick reversal from deification. The NY Times and Dowd have spent the past year touting what an amazing, Godlike person the President is, and how the world will spin differently on its axis with his election. Now they have already been brought down to earth.

This must be the shortest honeymoon in the history of Presidential politics.

More taxes

Apparently not paying taxes you are fully aware you owe is not a disqualifying factor for running the IRS, but owing over $100,000 is just too much.

IMHO, Geithner should not have been appointed to run Treasury if he couldn't figure out how to comply with IRS rules that he had clearly been informed of. At least Daschle had the defense of working in a somewhat murky area of tax law.

So far President Obama seems to be doing well, but he should toss these nominees the minute he finds out they have problems. It makes him look like he's running an administration that allows different rules for the elites; something he did not campaign as representing.

Taxes? Those are for the other guy

How come these liberals that believe in taxing the rich, don't believe in paying taxes? The tax code is complex, but if you get something, and it wasn't a gift or inheritance, it might just occur to you that you should pay taxes on it.

In the past we couldn't confirm people to cabinet posts because they forgot a few hundred dollars in payroll taxes on a housekeeper, but now it's okay to "forget" tens, or even hundreds of thousands, of dollars in taxes? This is just the epitome of Democrat thinking; someone else should pay for what I want to do!

Oh, if it's not clear, this is a rant, and these people really piss me off!

In this case, a pox on only one of their houses. The house occupied by the Hypocrite Party.

Wait for it...

The Republicans name Michael Steele chair of the party. He is a rare creature, a black Republican. Now we will find out if the election of Obama means we are post-racial.

I guarantee you a year ago this man would be labeled an "Uncle Tom", an inauthentic American black and disgrace to African-Americans. The smart money says all of those epithets will still be used, but we can hope that he will be treated better. Read the opinion columns tomorrow and find out.

I'm a Murderer!

At the insistence of J.R., I was perusing the PETA website and investigated the "Living in Harmony with Wildlife" resource. And now I know I'm not living in harmony with wildlife, see their recommendation below:

"Deny mice and rats access to food in your home—this is the best way to discourage them from taking up residence. Store all food in airtight, rodent-proof containers. If you must trap an occasional rodent, use a cruelty-free live trap made for this purpose. If the trap is plastic, make sure it has air holes, and check it frequently, at least every hour. "

I have had several mice take up residence in my home, and I found that the "sticky traps" and others don't work. And who the hell is going to check a live mouse trap every hour all night long?! The only trap that works in my experience is the good old snap trap with cheese bait. Granted I am not catching a live mouse to release and get back in my home again, but I think it is more merciful than having it starve to death in some live trap, if I forget to check for it for a day or week or whatever.

Sad news

Apparently not everyone is taking P.E.T.A.'s Sea Kitten campaign seriously. If you go to SeaKittens.com today you will see that the sponsor is Omaha Steaks!

The irony is just too juicy.

Texas State Board of Education

The chairman of the Texas board of education apparently believes that the earth is only several thousands of years old. How do these people get elected? There is really no way you can rationally believe that the earth is only 6,000 years old in this day and age. Everything from tree rings to ice cores to radiocarbon dating indicates that the earth is very old.

Here's the link to the article if anyone is interested.. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/education/22texas.html

More on P.E.T.A.

Click to enlarge.

Perhaps the funniest commentary on PETA ever!

President Obama

I watched President Obama take the oath of office, and the inaugural address. I thought the address was excellent. The President made a fine speech which should be reassuring to the majority of Americans. (The left and the right are probably both crapping their collective pants, which suits me just fine.)

Notice how I take the high road and ignore Cousin Mark's comment.

Today's the Big Day!

Our long national nightmare is over!!!

Ha-ha. Just kidding J.R., but I couldn't resist.

More Sea Kittens

The PETA site has a cute children's book about Sea Kittens! The book totally changed my mind. We are wrong to eat fish. Snakes should be called "ground puppies" so people quit killing them.

Man, these people are out of their simple little minds!

Mmmm, sea kitten

How do you like your sea kitten, fried, grilled or blackened?

P.E.T.A. is back in the news for being the stupidest group of people on the planet. They are asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to change the name of fish to "sea kittens". I guess that would also change the agency name to the U.S. Sea Kittens and Wildlife Service.

I am continually amazed that these people apparently don't realize how stupid they seem to people that live in the real world.

damn

Today I am 50. I can remember when I thought someone 50 was old, boy was I wrong.

It is amazing how recently I was in high school and college. I look at my friends and they don't really look that old either. My sister Nancy tells me that 50 is the new 40, which sounds like some more of the baby boomer narcissism, but I don't feel any different than I did in my 30's.

I am reminded of a Bob Seger line, one of my favorites; "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then." Perhaps youthful innocence, or ignorance, is not all bad. In a discussion with Carol Taylor the other day she mentioned that someone said, I believe Ghandi's son, that the older he got the less he knows for certain about more things. So that now he really only knows three things for certain, and thinks enlightenment will come when he only knows one thing for certain. I'm not sure what that one thing is, perhaps that death comes once to each of us.

If you know me you know I am a man of few words (only when writing) but I don't have any deep thoughts on the subject of age. We are born, we age, we die. It seems like a simple, elegant progression to me.

Sen. Kennedy-NY

I find it amusing that the people who hated on Gov. Palin so badly think appointing Caroline Kennedy as Senator is a good idea. There are some major differences of course, such as, Palin has some actual experience in government, she has thought out some policies and she has oratorical skills. Kennedy brings nothing to the table except her name.

All I can say is the lefties in Manhattan deserve what they get.

Stupid lead

NASA's 400-page report says space shuttle crew's seat restraints, suits, didn't work as designed

This is the FoxNews lead for a story about NASA's findings in the Columbia crash. The point being if the the seat restraints, suits and helmets had operated as designed the astronauts would be...dead as opposed to what actually happened which is they died.

N.Y. Times sued

I love this story. The lobbyist, who the Times implied had an affair with Sen. McCain, is suing the rag for defamation asking $27 million in damages. That is some amount more than the company is actually worth today.

Not only can they not sell papers but now they're being sued like "The National Enquirer" for rumor mongering. They couldn't be bothered to report the actual affair of candidate John Edwards, but they printed an article that was totally without facts. Reading it was embarrassing due to the lack of actual sourcing.

The lesson, to me, is when journalist adopt an agenda instead of just reporting they will get hurt.

Warming? Then why am I freezing my ass off?

Yesterday, it was 82 degrees (a record high for December 14) this morning it was 23 degrees (something like the second lowest temperature on record for December 15.) A swing of almost 60 degrees in about 14 hours!

And we are to believe that the Earth is in peril because global temperatures climbed 2 degrees over a decade, and now are on the way back down.

The AP writes, "...2008 is on pace to be a slightly cooler year in a steadily rising temperature trend line. Experts say it's thanks to a La Nina weather variation. While skeptics are already using it as evidence of some kind of cooling trend, it actually illustrates how fast the world is warming." Up is down, in is out, lambs are lying down with wolves! This is the kind of thing that makes it hard to take the global warming nuts seriously. Of course the AP story had the ubiquitous reference to Al Gore, Panicker in Chief (see also ManBearPig.)

Farewell Ray

My friend Ray Ellis passed away a week ago. There was a memorial celebration of his life yesterday which appears to have been well attended by his family and friends. I didn’t make it to the celebration, but my thoughts were very much there.

I have only known Ray for 44 or 45 years, he died at the age of 49. Losing him is like losing a member of the family. If you grew up in a small town you know what I mean, and if you didn’t you will probably never understand. But I will try and convey the closeness that occurs in a small town, and a small school.

Our graduating class, Ray was in my class, had 35 members, give or take one. Of those 35, at least 20 of us went to school together for 12 years, and the others were with us for over six of those years. This forms a bond that is not much different than being brothers and sisters. You may not always get along, but you have to be forgiving of each other, because tomorrow you’re right back together. There was very little dating within the group, we dated up or down a class or two (the one exception I can think of produced a marriage that has lasted nearly 30 years now.) Maybe it was just too weird to date someone that close.

Being a member of a group like that means that you might not see each other for years, but when you do it’s like seeing a missing family member. It’s not awkward. You just catch up, and pick up where you left off. These are people that I would gladly do anything for, and I think they would for me. I may have secrets, but not from this group, as they know me as well, or better, than I know myself.

This closeness extends to everyone, though not quite as tightly, that you attended school with, up a couple of grades and down a couple of grades. It is a feeling of comfort which is hard to explain, but a joy to experience.

Sadly, Ray is not the first of our number to die. At least six that I can think of are already gone. Two were killed in auto accidents, and one was murdered, within two years of our graduation.

Farewell Ray, I will miss you and your wonderful sense of humor.

$25 Oil

Analysts predict that oil may drop to $25 in 2009 with gasoline below $1. Of course, back in July analysts were predicting that oil would be near $200 and gasoline at around $6 by this time. So, I'm not going to make a lot of plans based on this prediction.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. As we gather with friends and family to give thanks for our good lives, remember that by dint of living in these United States of America we are blessed beyond the imaginings of most people in the world.

I am thankful for my family, my friends, my health and my freedom. These are things that we tend to take for granted, but they are the true blessings of life.

Girls in the White House

How sweet is it that Barbara and Jenna showed Malia and Sasha how to jump on the beds at the White House? I think this is one of those really cool stories that, unfortunately, we don't hear enough of.

Gov. Palin pardons a turkey

Gov. Palin gives the traditional pardon to a turkey (a stupid tradition in and of itself.) Meanwhile, in the background, a worker continues with the process of beheading and bleeding turkeys in an abattoir.



The New York Times editorial staff reliably wets their pants over what a horrible person she is (they are such an entertaining group of panty waists.) I guess bleeding hearts think that food magically appears on the supermarket shelves and no animals are harmed in the process.

Mark Steyn sees the Governor's act of pardoning a turkey, and then allowing viewers to see others being slaughtered, as an allegory for government bailouts that pick and choose winners and losers. Ann Althouse, my favorite blogger, writes, "Deal with it, you candy-asses."

Obama on the economic crisis

Yesterday the office of the President-elect put out a video from Sen. Obama.



This is mostly soothing words to make people feel psychically better (which is the proper role for a leader to play.) We don't want a President Carter malaise speech.

There are some policy comments in there. The creation of 2,000,000 jobs to rebuild roads and the crumbling infrastructure. That sounds like a re-creation of the WPA (Works Progress Administration) from the New Deal. And then the bit about a 5,000,000 new green jobs, but I don't think he means the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps.) Since I am one of those who thinks FDR's New Deal didn't actually accomplish much in the way of reviving the economy (unemployment rates did not improve during the 1930's) it's going to be hard for me to endorse revisiting bad policies.

NY Times Election Analysis

The NY Times has an interesting analysis of the election which suggests that the results might indicate the end of the "southern strategy." I hope so, but I'm not so sure.

He rules!

For those of us who have doubts about President-elect Obama, this type of characterization is not encouraging. My understanding is the President serves the people of the U.S., apparently the leadership of the transition team thinks

it's important that president elect Obama is prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one.

Drunk videoing

There was always the risk of drunken emailing and drunken phone calling, this gentleman perfects drunken video. It is funny and I feel sorry for the guy.

Comment on government

Government is evil.

It’s a necessary evil, but it is an evil. Any application of government should be done in a somber fashion, as it is a failure of our humanity that we couldn’t handle it as individual citizens. Deciding whether to apply government to solve a problem should be considered on the same level as burning down an orphanage full of children to solve a problem. Deciding to tax should be thought of like deciding to stab an innocent man for our own gain. Anyone who celebrates government is a ghoulish wretch who must be ostracized from polite society.

Frank J. at imao.us

This is a libertarian statement coming from someone who considers himself a staunch conservative. Anyway, I like it.

So Tired Today!

Cousin Mark had to road trip for business meetings today, which seemed a bit cruel after almost no sleep last night because of excitement over the election and the election results.

It is hard to describe the intense feelings I had leading up to the election and then the release of the headache when it was announced that Obama had won Ohio at 8:30 PM. I was so afraid that the polls were wrong, or something would happen, etc. (the usual Democratic paranoid feelings!). Anyway, my emotions were a mixture of joy and relief.

All during the afternoon and evening of election day I had fun sending text messages to my girlfriend Teneshia who was working the polls here in Houston and didn't have access to the news for part of the evening. It was fun to send the messages (Drudge headline says "Exit Polls Show Obama Big"). By the way, why is it that the right wing jerk Drudge always has the best gossip and scoops?! His site is indispensible when you need to know NOW!!

Anyway, I am very thankful that it did not take all night to find out the winner. Of course, I had all of the joyful emotions, and even a few tears at the amazing scenes shown on TV. I'm also mindful that many (and most of my own family!) do not wholly share my happiness, so I try to keep it all in perspective. I'm hoping for the best. It's also hard to understate the impact this election will have in our country and around the world. That is my feeling. All the best J.R. and other reader(s).

Wow

When the polls closed in California and it was clear that Obama won the election, I expected to feel some mixture of pride and disappointment. Unexpectedly, what I actually felt was a bit of fear.

We fear the unknown.

We just elected a man who's core values are unknown, and who's governing philosophy is unclear. If his past is the marker he will be truly awful. If what he has been saying in the campaign is the marker, then he has the potential to be a truly transcendent leader. My hope is the latter.

Congratulations to President-elect Obama. I wish him the wisdom to govern our country well.

Finally...

We come to the end of a long campaign. This Presidential race has been going on for the better part of two years. Frankly, I am tired of it in every way. There have been the good, the bad and a whole lot of the ugly, and thankfully some entertainment (can you think of Ron Paul or Dennis Kucinich without smiling about how goofily odd they both are?)

Tomorrow the 75% or so of voters who have not voted early will go to the polls and by days end the race will be decided. If it is close we may not know who the winner is but the die will have been cast.

I can say that clearly I have a preference as to who the winner is, but in the end both candidates are decent, intelligent men who are standing for a job that no one can truly appreciate the difficulty of. No matter which way the election goes we will have a new President who deserves the respect that goes with the office. The country will not be destroyed by whoever the winner is. We may discover ourselves moving in a new direction, but that will be tempered by the reality of governing.

Hopefully the hot heads on the far right and far left will remain calm and we will proceed in an orderly fashion from the Bush era to the new administration. America is the greatest nation on Earth and our election process though messy, long and ugly proves this because in the end the winner is accepted and we get on with our business.

The Bottom Line

Christoper Hitchens of Vanity Fair pretty much sums it up for me on why I can't stand the Republican Party and their most frightening manifestation, Caribou Barbie:

"In an election that has been fought on an astoundingly low cultural and intellectual level, with both candidates pretending that tax cuts can go like peaches and cream with the staggering new levels of federal deficit, and paltry charges being traded in petty ways, and with Joe the Plumber becoming the emblematic stupidity of the campaign, it didn't seem possible that things could go any lower or get any dumber. But they did last Friday, when, at a speech in Pittsburgh, Gov. Sarah Palin denounced wasteful expenditure on fruit-fly research, adding for good xenophobic and anti-elitist measure that some of this research took place "in Paris, France" and winding up with a folksy "I kid you not."

It was in 1933 that Thomas Hunt Morgan won a Nobel Prize for showing that genes are passed on by way of chromosomes. The experimental creature that he employed in the making of this great discovery was the Drosophila melanogaster, or fruit fly. Scientists of various sorts continue to find it a very useful resource, since it can be easily and plentifully "cultured" in a laboratory, has a very short generation time, and displays a great variety of mutation. This makes it useful in studying disease, and since Gov. Palin was in Pittsburgh to talk about her signature "issue" of disability and special needs, she might even have had some researcher tell her that there is a Drosophila-based center for research into autism at the University of North Carolina. The fruit fly can also be a menace to American agriculture, so any financing of research into its habits and mutations is money well-spent. It's especially ridiculous and unfortunate that the governor chose to make such a fool of herself in Pittsburgh, a great city that remade itself after the decline of coal and steel into a center of high-tech medical research.

With Palin, however, the contempt for science may be something a little more sinister than the bluff, empty-headed plain-man's philistinism of McCain. We never get a chance to ask her in detail about these things, but she is known to favor the teaching of creationism in schools (smuggling this crazy idea through customs in the innocent disguise of "teaching the argument," as if there was an argument), and so it is at least probable that she believes all creatures from humans to fruit flies were created just as they are now. This would make DNA or any other kind of research pointless, whether conducted in Paris or not. Projects such as sequencing the DNA of the flu virus, the better to inoculate against it, would not need to be funded. We could all expire happily in the name of God. Gov. Palin also says that she doesn't think humans are responsible for global warming; again, one would like to ask her whether, like some of her co-religionists, she is a "premillenial dispensationalist"—in other words, someone who believes that there is no point in protecting and preserving the natural world, since the end of days will soon be upon us. "

Socialist or Marxist, it's just a matter of degree

Obama, in a 2001 NPR radio interview, referring to the Warren Court during the civil rights era:

It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the Federal government or State government must do on your behalf, and that hasn’t shifted and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused I think there was a tendancy to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change. In some ways we still suffer from that.

So the problem is we, as a country, have not been able to break the restraints placed on government by the Constitution. Therefore, the government cannot provide for all of the needs of the citizenry.

This is very scary stuff.

Tough questions

This interview of Sen. Biden is tough, and he obviously doesn't like it. I think the press should be asking all of the candidates tough questions.

Damn Jacoby's

First we have Jeff Jacoby writing columns for the Boston Globe and not adhering to the Massachusetts liberal line (read a few of his columns and you will see that he probably has no friends in Boston,) and now we have Mark Jacoby allegedly committing voter registration fraud because he lied about his place of residence. This is the worst case of registration fraud I've heard about it. Acorn only registers imaginary people, dead people and felons; this guy had the temerity to claim he was a resident of California when he hasn't lived there in a few years.

Anywho, good for the California legal authorities for stepping down hard on voter registration fraud. This should not be acceptable practice by anyone. I look forward to reading about them arresting Acorn voter registration workers.

Just for the record, Jeff and I have established that we are probably not related, and Mark Jacoby is my first cousin, but not the Mark Jacoby arrested in California. Oh, and Cousin Mark who posts here is not Mark Jacoby either. He is not nearly fired up enough to go out and commit voter fraud.

"W" and Colin Powell

Yesterday afternoon I went to watch Oliver Stone's "W" and it caused me to wonder even more if indeed Colin Powell was going to end up endorsing Barack Obama today. And lo and behold this morning I turn on "Meet the Press" and Powell gave the most comprehensive and effective endorsement of Obama I have yet heard.

In the movie, Colin Powell is shown as constantly feuding with Cheney and Rummy, and being the lone hold out on the decision to invade Iraq. By the end of the movie, it was implied that Powell felt used by the administration, and saddened that he had made the final sales pitch to the UN on Saddam and the weapons of mass destruction.

By the way, the movie is interesting and funny, but it is a work of fiction and speculation. If you love President Bush you won't like it, but I didn't think it was all that harsh.

Search Me

As a service to my many, many readers I wanted to pass on this wonderful site. SearchMe is really cool. You just put in a search term and it pops up sites in the same format as the music covers on an iPod. When I "Stumbled Upon" it, the site was set for "Politics" and had stories from news sites all over the world. It is very cool, go give it a try.

McCain doesn't want to win

The first topic of the debate is the economy and taxes. Joe the plumber was told by Senator Obama that "he would have to sacrifice so we can spread the wealth around." McCain brought that out, but when Obama said he was going to cut taxes for 95% of earners, McCain did not point out that giving a tax cut to the 50% who don't pay taxes is impossible. This is a redistribution of taxes from taxpayers to non-taxpayers through refundable credits not a "tax cut".

I really don't have a problem with taxing those who make the money, but it is wrong to take that money and give it to people who contribute nothing to the treasury. That is classic socialism, and McCain is either uninformed or too much of a pussy to point it out.

McCain deserves to lose if he can't explain the fundamental differences between himself and Senator Obama. A pox on both their houses.

End of rant.

ADDED:

If I were gullible enough to believe Senator Obama rather than knowing how easily he dismisses his past, I might vote for him. Unfortunately, if any time is spent looking into his past as a community organizer, Chicago politician and his association with the very worst people in American society; from the Chicago mob, William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Acorn and on and on, then it is impossible to believe that he is really reformed from his past self.

A pox on both their houses. Intelligent men playing the American public for total fools. I might vote for Cynthia McKinney, at least she is honest about her stupidity.

The trouble with Obama

Guns? Absence of religion? Lack of self-esteem? Poor parenting? The entertainment industry? Who's to blame for Mr. Barack H Obama's appalling homilies? Numerous professionals (and not-so-professionals) have speculated and mulled, publicly and privately, over what has caused Obama to mold the mind of virtually every citizen -- young or old, rich or poor, simple or sophisticated. Before I launch into my rant, permit me the prelude caveat that if we're to effectively carry out our responsibilities and make a future for ourselves, we will first have to stop this insanity.

As my mother used to tell me, "It's about time Obama stopped claiming his raving canards were influenced by outside sources and just admitted he was wrong." For better or for worse, honest people will admit that his belief systems oscillate between disruptive pauperism and immature ruffianism. Concerned people are not afraid to tell you things that Obama doesn't want you to know. And sensible people know that Obama's secret passion is to destroy that which is the envy of -- and model for -- the entire civilized world. For shame!

There are two kinds of people in this world. There are those who use terms of opprobrium such as "condescending, obdurate carpers" and "self-centered malefactors" to castigate whomever Obama opposes and there are those who name and shame his chums for their balmy acts of poststructuralism. Obama fits neatly into the former category, of course. Mark my words: I wonder what would happen if he really did impose infernal new restrictions on society just to satisfy some sort of insufferable drive for power. There's a spooky thought. I am familiar with Obama's goals, I understand how he operates, I have long recognized his tactics, and I know just about where Obama now stands on the ladder to total power. I can therefore say that, surely, I hate it when witless pinheads like him go on with such vigor about subjects they don't even know about. I could write pages on the subject, but the following should suffice. It strikes me as amusing that Obama complains about people who do nothing but complain. Well, news flash! He does nothing but complain.

To paraphrase a line from Hamlet, "Extremism, thy name is Barack H Obama". He doesn't want me to expand people's understanding of his ungrateful subliminal psywar campaigns. Well, I've never been a very obedient dog so I intend not only to do exactly that but also to create and nurture a true spirit of community. I wouldn't even mention that it is not difficult to see the undercurrents of irreligionism in his prank phone calls if it weren't unmistakably true. Obama does not merely shout obscenities at passers-by. He does so consciously, deliberately, willfully, and methodically.

Obama has been trying for some time to sell the public on an interventionism-based government. His sales pitch proceeds both pragmatically and emotionally. The pragmatic argument: Obama is the ultimate authority on what's right and what's wrong. The emotional argument: The Earth is flat. As you can see, neither argument is valid, which should indicate to you that Obama's favorite tactic is known as "deceiving with the truth". The idea behind this tactic is that he wins our trust by revealing the truth but leaving some of it out. This makes us less likely to snap Obama's cult followers out of their trance. So you see, I indubitably seek nothing but justice.

(I found a rant generator! http://www.pakin.org/complaint/ That is why this doesn't really make any sense.)

State of the Race

McCain-Palin have had a bad few weeks, but I feel that we are about to enter a new phase of the race for the White House, with only 1 month to go to election day.

According to the polls Obama has a 5-6 point national lead, and the swing states are trending toward him as well. Supposedly McCain is pulling out of Michigan (although Sarah Palin wants to fight on??). The question for me is, is McCain going to keep sinking, or are we about to see another turnaround in the race? I have NO idea, but I'm expecting the race to tighten for the following reasons:

1) Palin did well enough in the VP debate to excite the Republican base again. I think the talking heads were really worried after the Katie Couric interview, but she showed she can put words together and attack Obama.
2) McCain is probably about to go strongly negative. I expect to see ads with Jeremiah Wright figuring prominently very soon.

On the other hand, voters may decide that because the economy is so bad right now, that it is time to change parties in the White House. Also, I am not sure how Palin plays with the swing voters. She is like fingernails on a chalkboard to liberals, I know that, but for middle of the road voters, I'm not sure how she plays.

Republican Implosion

As a Democrat, I have to shamefully admit that I am not putting "country first," mentally at least, and have been thoroughly enjoying the spectacle of the Republican implosion of the past few weeks.

Can anything beat the Palin Show with Katie Couric for cringe inducing humor? It's sad when Tina Fey doesn't even have to change Sarah's words to get laughs on Saturday Night Live. Maybe tonight Palin will pull it all together -- she had better is all I can say.

John McCain seems like a scatter-brained cranky old man. Could he have screwed up worse regarding the mortgage bailout bill or the first debate lead-in? He seems like he changes his stance by the hour, on any number of topics. Barack Obama is supposed to be the risky choice?? And why won't he look Obama in the eye during the debate or shake his hand in the Congress? What's up with that? Can't you at least be civil Mr. McCain?

From reading the right-wing nut jobs on my favorite Texas A&M website, it seems that almost all of the posters are ready to vote out the Texas Republican Senator Cornyn because he voted for the Wall St. mortgage bailout bill. "He's not a true Conservative!!" "He's a RINO 'Republican in Name only'". If they are stupid enough to vote out Cornyn and put in a Democrat (Noriega) this November, I am more than happy to help them!

I'm sure I need to enjoy this week while it lasts.. I can't imagine it's going to get any better than this!

Economic stress

If the economic crisis on Wall Street is due to a lack of liquidity in the money markets and a tightening of credit, then there is no need for a massive bailout. The federal government, through the Federal Reserve, already has the means to increase liquidity and ease credit.

The appropriate mechanism for dealing with large failures is to allow them to work out through the bankruptcy system. That is what any of us who default, or who are in danger of default, would do. Why we have investment bankers and insurance companies running to Congress rather than the nearest bankruptcy court is not clear.

A large part of the blame must fall on governmental mandates to make loans to those who cannot repay the loans. This is what a sub-prime loan really is, and they are strongly encouraged by federal oversight.

It still seems outrageous for any of us who did not choose to participate in high risk activities to have to pay the bills for those who did. There is high reward for risk, but the alternative is the loss of investment. But I don't believe nationalizing the equity markets would be wise. Politicians would just load up even more stupidity like making loan policies based on political ends rather than credit worthiness.

Some things should be obvious

According to an article in "New Scientist" a plant called horny goat weed may be just as effective in treating erectile dysfunction as Viagra.

Hello! It is called horny goat weed. Maybe the scientists would have figured it out sooner if it were called horny old goat weed.

Palin is a Game Changer - Part II

I've been watching some clips of Palin's interview with Katie Couric and it is SCARY. It appears to me that she is totally unqualified to be Vice President, and that in fact J.R. would have been a much better pick for McCain.

And what is up with McCain's stunts regarding the debates and the Wall St. bailout? I am amazed watching McCain and Palin over the last few days.. amazed and afraid if they could still actually win after all of this!

Bayonet the wounded

In the grand tradition of Congress they are lining up to bayonet the wounded in the Wall Street mess. If they'd just get out of the way and let the dumbasses, oops, I mean geniuses, on Wall Street suffer from their mistakes, it will all be fine in the long run. Congress is really good at shutting the barn door after the horses get out. I'm sure they will come up with some wonderful regulations to fix last years problems, and in the process compound the problems going forward.

But it never fails, they let the market work when it succeeds but can't suffer the ultimate failures. Business is good at creative destruction. Things that don't work fall apart, and those things that do work, move forward. All we need now is some massive federal intervention and regulation to ensure that the failures stay in place.

Economics is probably the least understood thing in DC. Politics will screw up economic creativity (with creativity comes destruction) every time.

Anthropological study of conservatives

I won't comment on this blog post by Judith Warner...yet! I read it yesterday, and have thought about it at length, so I do have some comments. But, I would like to have all of my three or four readers comment on it before I weigh in.

Please, if you visit here, read the item and express an opinion.

ADDED: Since only one of my massive reading audience chose to comment (thank you Miss Brazil) I will go ahead and give my opinion of this piece.

Ms. Warner brought a massive load of condescension to her post. She went forth to laugh and make fun of those conservative women who might think Gov. Palin is something other than evil in a lovely dress. She found, to her horror, that these women were actually nice to her. She has no context for understanding that people with political views other than her own might be rational, thinking human beings. It was embarrassing to read how flummoxed she was to find that these were not people out for her blood.

Her final bit about research showing that conservatives can empathize with liberals, but not vice versa was totally borne out by the commenters. The viciousness and hatred expressed by these people was more eye opening even than her own post.

OODA

Today Michael Barone visits the effect that McCain's fighter pilot training seems to have on his campaign. This is something I referenced here a couple of weeks ago. The OODA loop; Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.

The two weeks since my original post have only confirmed my belief that McCain is solidly inside the Obama campaign's decision making process. He is forcing them to react rather than act. They are constantly reacting, and it makes them seem ragged and undisciplined.

Shocked!

I am shocked, shocked I tell you!

There are claims by everyone in the media and both sides of the Presidential campaign that lies are being told! Oh my God! This is the most amazing thing I have ever encountered. Politicians who shade the truth, tell us what they think we want to hear and sometimes tell the truth but not in a manner acceptable to the opposition.

I have to admit that in my case this mostly falls on deaf ears. We've had to endure screams of "Liar!" for the past seven years every time President Bush says something that the left doesn't agree with. When policy differences are not argued, but simply dismissed as more lies from those lying liars it becomes difficult to really care.

Newsflash: Just because you disagree doesn't make it a lie.

Ike yikes!

It looks like hurricane Ike will hit somewhere between Galveston and Corpus Christi as a major storm. Southern Harris County is evacuating, let's hope this goes better than it did in 2005 for Rita. All of my friends in south Texas get out please.

Cousin Mark what are you doing about this one?

Pretty pigs

"You know, you can put lipstick on a pig," Obama said, "but it's still a pig."

uh-oh.

Taxes

"Democrat Barack Obama says he would delay rescinding President Bush's tax cuts on wealthy Americans if he becomes the next president and the economy is in a recession, suggesting such an increase would further hurt the economy," the Associated Press reports

So tax increases are bad for the economy? Why then is Sen. Obama's plan to raise them supposed to help the economy? I am just so confused.

Community organizer (seriously)

This article by Byron York describes what Sen. Obama did as a community organizer. I have honestly been curious about what this activity really involved, and this seems to answer that question.

Palin is a Game Changer

I have been out of it the last week with jet lag from my China trip, but to me it's becoming obvious that McCain's selection of Sarah Palin is a game changer for Election 2008.

Just look at the new polls coming in this morning. The USA Today/Gallup poll has McCain/Palin at 54% and Obama/Biden at 44%. Wow! That is one hell of a bump!

I don't think the Democrats know what to do about Sarah Palin and the new strategy of the McCain campaign (that McCain/Palin are the real "change" agents). On the face of it, it seems ludicrous that 4 more years of Republican rule would be a "change," but we can't put anything past these Republicans!

Free Obama-Biden

There is a Google ad on the site promoting "Free Obama-Biden" stickers. What are we freeing them from? Are they incarcerated? Or are we, hopefully, freeing them from their socialist, Marxist tendencies?

Obama the Muslim

I have never believed the internet driven stories that Obama was/is a Muslim in an America hating, black theology sheep's clothing, but this comment raises questions:

"Let's not play games," he said. "What I was suggesting -- you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith . And you're absolutely right that that has not come." (Emphasis added)

This is not a slip of tongue I might ever make even if accused of being a Muslim.

Experience

Experience; nobody cares! Get over it. The election, like every election before it, is not about experience. It is about character and personality. The question is; Do you think this man or woman has the leadership qualities to run our country. This has nothing, or as close to nothing as you can get, with actual experience and credentials.

We are not hiring a CEO, we are electing someone that we think has the character, judgment and ability to lead. Leadership ability is the only qualification at the end of the day. We elect a leader who we think has the steel, the balls, the guts to make an important decision without letting all of that extraneous bullshit that fills our world distort the process. Senator Obama has not gotten this far based on his experience, he has none of any value, but on the belief that he has leadership qualities that will make him a good President. We may disagree on the assessment, but that is the only reason he is his party's nominee.

The 3:00 A.M. question is relevant. Who do you want answering that phone? Decision processes are the only important issue facing the Chief Executive. Can he/she make a decision faced with limited/conflicting data that leads to a positive result. That is a hard thing, it requires character, judgment and surety. It is okay to be wrong, but it is not okay to be indecisive. Being the big dog, the final authority does not allow for a lot of soul searching, that person has to know what he/she believes and act accordingly.

Question

There is a relentless expression that this is the most important Presidential election in a generation; has there ever been an election that is not framed in this way?

I think this is an important election, as is each one, but I fail to see exactly what makes this one more significant than any other in the past 40 years.

Community organizers

According to David Burge, Community Organizer and Presidential candidate (no I don't know what party he is the candidate of) this is what community organizers do:

* reach out and work with communities in various ways.
* liaison with, and for, community agencies for service within affected areas.
* fight to make a difference.
* raise awareness.
* deal with community issues.
* raise awareness in the community of how we are making differences about undealt-with issues .
* when necessary, refer inquiries to outreach coordinators.
* Help coordination agency administrators identify and address outreach opportunities.
* model timetables and conceptualize benchmarks.
* issue guidelines for poster contests and interpretive dance festivals.
* Gather voter registrations, win valuable prizes.

I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume this is not an exhaustive list. After reading it I guess I know what a community organizer does, but that doesn't really help me understand how that benefits anything beyond the organizers own ego. If this were a business plan it would have to be redone as none of these items is specific, and there are no goals involved.

The last two are my favorites. It is hard not to smile or even chuckle a bit when issuing guidelines for poster contests and interpretive dance festivals, and winning valuable prizes are part of your job description.

The rest of the article is extremely helpful, you can read it here.

Ok, so it's satire. And I still don't know what a community organizer does. The one description I found talked about registering voters for ACORN, but since they tend to have dubious methods that is surely not all that is involved.

Is Natural Gas Pipeline God's Will?

I found these excerpts from Palin on MSNBC this morning and found them pretty humorous.

“I can do my part in working really, really hard to get a natural gas pipeline, about a $30 billion project that's going to create a lot of jobs for Alaska. … [but] I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that,” she said. “I can do my job there in developing our natural resources, in doing things like getting the roads paved and making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded. But really that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's hearts aren't right with God.”

It wasn't all serious, though. At one point during the address, Palin praised the graduating class as “a bunch of cool-looking Christians.” Then she picked out one student in the crowd and said with a smile, “Ben, I don't know you well enough yet, but looking at you, I'm thinking, people are going to interested in Jesus Christ through you because of the way you look - this red-headed Sasquatch for Jesus. You look good!” The students cheered. “Times are really changin'. And with the times that change, looks even change.”

Sun spots (so what?)

There are actually things more important than the pregnancy of Gov. Palin's teenage daughter. For instance, sun spot activity of either zero or one-half for the month of August may have significant implications for the Earth's climate. There is significant evidence that sun spot activity has influence on global climate. Periods of heightened activity such as we have experienced since the 1940's lead to warming, periods of decreasing activity lead to cooling and perhaps even increasing glaciation. If activity continues at this level we may be facing another minimum.

Since it seems obvious that the most important cause of any temperature shift is the sun, this is something that we should pay attention to. There is not anything that can be done, like carbon reduction, (well maybe increasing carbon would attenuate some of the cooling effect,) but it at least gives a warning and allows for preparation.

Palin and PUMA's

PUMA's (party unity my ass) will not likely be attracted to the Republican ticket by the choice of Gov. Palin. If the reason they supported Sen. Clinton is that she is ideologically at home in the Democratic Party then they will not find much to like in Gov. Palin. Those who supported Clinton because she is a woman, and pay little attention to her politics may consider switching to a McCain vote.

Palin is more important in shoring up the conservative wing of the Republican Party. She is the poster girl for the religious, uber-conservative part of the party. This group has never been fond of McCain and there was a danger that they would just stay home on election day. That is not a problem now. Further, she may help in attracting some women who are independent, and even a small fraction of PUMA's in the right states may be enough to change the electoral map.

She may turn out to be a deeply flawed choice, but at first blush she seems a good choice by Sen. McCain.