TNbourbon

Progressives and Progressivism

2010-09-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

It's always a good thing to remember that "progress", in an egg, is what we call "rotting".

The Definition of 'Meaningless'

2010-07-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

The NAACP's recently-passed resolution decrying 'tea party' racism is meaningless because, first and foremost, there IS NO 'tea party'.
"Tea Party" (capital letters) is a philosophy -- like, you know, Liberal, Conservative, Socialist, Communist -- not a political entity. Liberal, Conservative, Socialist and Communist movements also contain racists. Ask the DOJ's chief racist, Eric Holder (no, wait, don't ask him -- he doesn't recognize racism against anyone not black).
The 'tea party' movement is sick and tired of ever-more government, pure and simple! How hard is that to understand? Governments want ever more money. Bigger governments want even more than that! Governments who kill incentive to earn income and STILL demand more tax proceeds are tightening the noose around their own necks, as Greece, Spain, Portugal, et al, are discovering. The good 'ol U.S.A. is late to that table, but seemingly unabashed by its tardiness.
If a larger percentage of blacks than whites seem willing to accept government intrusion into heretofore private spheres, then I guess the 'racist' label applies -- accept it doesn't, if it's true!
Racism is the imputation of UNJUST stereotypes on groups based on racial or ethnic makeup. If the attitudes are borne out it's, well, description! For example, it's NOT unjust to call most of today's terrorism "Islamic Terror" if virtually all of its practitioners ARE radical Islamists!
Personally, I leave it to others to define the descriptions. But, the NAACP is NOT an impartial adjudicator.

The End of Histor(ical Memory)

2010-07-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

Bill Clinton Back In White House...
...ostensibly to advise President Obama on economic policy.
I always chuckle at Bill Clinton's good luck, or maybe good politicking: he, at least, knew when to declare victory while losing, and take the credit!
The much-praised (-belabored?) Clinton budget surpluses resulted most directly from the GOP's 1994 electoral success and subsequent welfare reform -- which Clinton vetoed twice before succumbing to overwhelming numbers. The less-popular, and effective, leg of the '90s budget boom was significant (some would say "disastrous") cuts in defense spending.
So far, the only thing Obama has pretended to match is the defense reductions, at great cost to future preparedness (note the likely suspension in the near future of the C-17 heavy-lift aircraft production as an example). Unlike Clinton, he's spent like a drunken sailor (if only he were one, God bless 'em!, he'd know what they're good for) instead of accepting reduced spending (or, at least, reduced spending increases), which Clinton did.
If Obama REALLY wants to attend to Clinton's advice, here's what'll happen next month: the president will allow unused stimulus funds to pay for the extended unemployment (and other) benefits stalled in Congress; he'll suggest the means testing of future Social Security benefits via a regime than limits high-income individuals to the CPI, and 'castes' to increases equal to wage enhancements;...and a host of other budget cost-savings.
He won't, of course, because -- unlike Clinton -- Obama is more certain of his rectitude and less concerned about his reelection (that happens when you didn't expect to get elected in the first place, I guess). Most Americans think the president is wrong about what he's right about, and don't plan to reelect him, currently -- so we're talking (again) about assuaging Narcissism. Bill Clinton might have been/be a Hedonist, but he understood his Narcissistic limitations, and its non-attraction to others.
No need to expect smartest-man-in-the-world Obama to listen to a damn thing this (reputedly successful) impeached former president says, I'd think.

Maker's Mark 46

2010-07-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

I got a taste of the new Maker's Mark 46 today, making its debut in Middle Tennessee. I liked it.
At 94 proof, it is only slightly more spirity than the standard, healthy 90-proof Maker's Mark. But, the somewhat longer aging and the inserted new-charred staves into the pre-dump barrels add a suggestion of oakiness to the finish -- which is the first time I've EVER mentioned "finish" in a positive light regarding MM.
I like standard Maker's, except for its too-dear pricing -- a la, Jack Daniel's (Jim Beam ownership seems to have detached the linked pricing to JD Maker's management used to insist upon), as far as it goes. But, it goes -- or ends, anyway -- without any sort of finish. It's just good-tasting, then over.
Is this the best thing since sliced bread, or Very Old Fitzgerald BIB 8yo? Nope. But, it IS the better thing in Maker's Mark's so-far, two-label stable.
At $34.99 retail locally, it's at the top of its reasonable price range, but not so exorbitant not to splurge on a bottle once in a while.

Was "The Greatest Generation's" Greatest Fault Its Progeny?

2010-07-07T17:13:00.000-07:00

(NOTE: I AM a baby-boomer, mid-cycle. I was born in 1957 to a WWII North Africa and Europe veteran who won a unit bronze star driving in blackout conditions against the Nazis, a 'better day's work than I have ever done'. The latter quote is from one Christopher Hitchens, heretofore famed as a liberal-turned-(well!)-non-liberal on security matters, whose own father sank German convoy raiders.)

For some time, I have suffered the burden of believing that my generation -- now regnant, but retiring, from university chairs and Congressional chairmanships, or being voted into retirement! -- has been the 'worst generation' of Americans, regarding its exceptionalism and existential goodness.
The military draft ended the spring of my high-school senior year, but I've always respected those who served in Vietnam. I rooted against Nixon, but regretted my only presidential vote for a Democrat, Jimmy Carter. I voted 'present' (actually, Libertarian, via Ed Clark) in 1980 before acknowledging Ronald Reagan in 1984. My big-L Liberalism lasted much less time than that of many.
Thus, it is notable to me that a pair of former Leftists who have left 'the cause' are in the news these days: David Horowitz and Hitchens, recently diagnosed with serious cancer.
Horowitz has penned a thoughtful and reasoned description of his long-term interactions with Hitchens, which may not serve to ingratiate either with today's Democrat/Liberal complex, but instructs us about it origins and progressions, nonetheless:
Second Thoughts, Part 1
Second Thoughts, Part 2
They do not make us Baby-Boomers proud, but rather the self-proclaimed, privileged progeny of generations better than ourselves.
Two of the last three U.S. presidents -- Clinton and Obama -- have been of this caustic tradition, and have done much to destroy the moral fabric of the Founders' well-grounded national prescriptions.
While there remains hope that subsequent generations have not succumbed to the national suicide that Sixties' Leftists began adopting, Horowitz and Hitchens lay plain what motivates and results from adherence to their philosophies: destruction of the only truly liberal and generous government that has achieved international prominence during man's history.
The time is short to renew an American path to future world harmony. There is, at present, no other path that espouses and allows personal freedom.

Conservative Technorati

2010-07-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

There are, to date, two indisputable geniuses -- and I use the term literally, as they have transformed forever thinking and use of the online media -- on the Conservative/Libertarian side of the political spectrum -- godfather Glenn Harlan Reynolds, the InstaPundit, and consigliere Andrew Brietbart (Brietbart.com, BigJournalism.com, BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com and now, contravertibly, BigPeace.com).
Also noted is how much humor is contained in the Right side of the ether, as opposed to the stultifying Left.

War As Economic Stimulus

2010-07-05T12:44:00.001-07:00

American history knowledge is in such short supply that most modern Americans don't realize that after 7+ years of FDR's 'New Deal', the Great Depression economy was as bad or worse than it was when he took office in 1933. So, what brought the U.S. economy out of that depression?
War.
As it happens, we're fighting one right now, arguably with one hand tied behind our back. While it might only take 6-12 months of serious, full production to subdue the Taliban and al-Qaida if we were to assay the task with serious dedication, imagine what the 'economic stimulus' of building aircraft, artillery, ammunition and support vehicles would do for the spirit of the American manufacturing worker! It might also do wonders for the understanding of today's political establishment: pretty much, the only reliable job-creating function the federal government has is defense manufacturing, which actually requires things be built by real workers. Virtually every other exchange of funds orchestrated by the federal government amounts to sleight-of-hand graft and/or vote-buying.
Of course, all the better, such a strident military effort and victory would change the attitudes of a majority of the world's governments and leaders toward the U.S., too -- in altogether positive (to us, anyway) ways.
We need a solid win in Afghanistan -- both for the Afghans and ourselves -- and we need jobs created ASAP. Building the machinery and equipment to secure the former will provide the latter. In the inimitable words of Michael Ledeen, "Faster please!".

The Conservative 'Street'

2010-06-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

Rupert Murdoch. Conrad Black.

Any other nominations for media barons first to realize that the "Mainstream Main Street" of America is a helluva lot more centrist-to-conservative than the "Mainstream Media", which is almost universally leftist/liberal?
Newsweek, long a standard of American current events, is on its death bed, barely a year after outing itself as a liberal rag. U.S. News & World Report already is gone. The Washington Post can't, apparently, find a non-liberal blogger to comment and report on the Conservative movement paramount in most towns and cities around "Flyover Country" (no one there, you know, can write a proper sentence or entertain a 'correct' thought). Harvard freshmen are re-matriculating to Hope College (if they're really as smart as they think they are!).
I'm awaiting the tidal wave of retirements/deaths of the '60 generation from college faculties, and the concurrent realization by East Coast publishers that generations from -- oh, say -- 1980 onward aren't nearly as likely to swallow whole the principle that government enterprise is, well, enterprise. I believe Barack Obama -- raised in the cacophony of Ivy League/faculty lounge elitism and racial entitlement -- is the high-water mark of the American social-democratic movement. What remains to be seen is how much damage its acolytes can do before more confident Americans retake political authority.

President Obama's Finest Hour?

2010-06-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

Note the time on the last post -- it is BEFORE, though only slightly -- the official announcement of Petraeus as McChrystal's successor. In reality, I'd been pondering Petraeus as the only possible upgrade since the Rolling Stone imbroglio hit a couple of days ago. Instinctively --and historically -- it was obvious to me that any serious president couldn't let McChrystal stand. Believe that or not.
Still, the danger to Obama is much greater than the danger for Petraeus, who has already had success -- in Iraq! Obama is appointing a commander who has the standing to question and essentially command suspension of the president's goal of July 2011 withdrawal of forces. The American public will believe Petraeus if he says prolonging our role will lead to victory. After all, he has known -- and delivered -- victory.
Down the far-distant road, Petraeus reminds me of another senior American commander: the man who would NOT be king, George Washington! Petraeus is taking a demotion to accept command in Afghanistan. Should he succeed again, reminiscent of a Washington, he may well settle for being president. Are we not due, after more than 200 years, an "Uncle of His Country"?
By the way, it struck me that Obama, in his remarks, signaled true regret that he'd been forced to relieve his chosen commander. His graceful comments may go far in ameliorating ignominy for McChrystal, who has served his country long and well, and deserves our credit.
Oddly, and instructively, it seemed the most unrehearsed and genuine I have seen this president. Will he take a lesson?
A historical footnote: B. Obama thus becomes the first American commander-in-chief to involuntarily remove two theater commanders -- first, McKiernan, and now McChrystal, both in Afghanistan -- from active war zones since one A. Lincoln. History 'Grants" little doubt who was at fault during the Civil War command difficulties. Will Obama fare as well?

Gen. Petraeus: A Star for Afghanistan?

2010-06-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

I hope, should Gen. David Petraeus -- American's finest soldier! -- accept the demotion that comes with his acceptance of theater command in Afghanistan (which he's going to be offered -- count on it!), will successfully demand two things from President Obama: a fifth star at the end of his duty, and non-interference by the Obama boobs.

'Gangsta' U.S.

2010-06-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

(Note: there is no question mark at the end of the post title. It IS a fait accompli, not just a possibility!)

Political pundit Michael Barone -- recently labeled of the 'Conservative' faith (because, you know, that's what's convenient to those in power) -- has long referred to the 'Gangsta' style of the Obama Administration. Today, he doubles down with an outright label of "thuggery".
And, as almost always, he's right! We Americans have elected an administration who's foremost goal is to implement its policy viewpoints, NOT adhere to the rules of law. And, yet, the President is the chief law enforcement officer of the U.S., not empowered with ANY legislative authority.
Texas GOP Rep. Joe Barton has been virtually forced to gag on his well-stated belief that the Obama Administration has 'shaken down' (think Rev. Jesse Jackson and corporate America) BP for $20 million in 'slush' monies to be distributed by a political appointee -- undoubtedly to politically correct recipients. Much less noted is that there are legal and judicial methods for holding BP accountable for actual financial damages -- which BP has already promised by which to abide. Of course, this makes BP subject to so-called 'double jeopardy', and our chief executive guilty of 'extra-legal' (which is polite terms for "illegal and unconstitutional") extortion.
There is a pattern here. Note that the GM 'bankruptcy' -- which resulted in the U.S. government taking a large stake in the management of a theretofore private enterprise -- essentially contravened and usurped established bankruptcy law. Hugo Chavez should be proud!
There you have it!: We have a federal government with contempt for existing laws, and concerned only with its own power. During ANY OTHER TIME, no one would doubt the suitability of charges alleging "high crimes and misdemeanors" -- aka, 'impeachable offenses'. Not today, though, not today -- wouldn't want to be branded a racist, don't ya know!
You'd think 'people of color' would be embarrassed, but how (speaking PC now) would I know? I mean, I'd only be embarrassed, offended, and outraged if some white guy -- like George W. Bush -- attempted such stuff.
This is Obama, so this is different.

The Problem With American Liberals...

2010-06-11T10:52:00.000-07:00

...is their arrogance and misplaced confidence.
The American public treasures nothing more than a redeemed heretic. Should President Obama come to admit he's wrong about Iran, Israel, Russia, North Korea, and cheaper health care, he'd assure himself re-electon. But, as an American liberal, he can't -- because he truly believes he's right, even if being (mistakenly) right means the end of the Republic!
Barring an unlikely Obama epiphany, we have one -- and, probably, JUST one! -- chance of redeeming the American Experiment: the 2012 presidential election, in which "anyone but Obama" is the correct choice!
The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs!

Israel: the Downside of Success

2010-06-10T12:35:00.000-07:00

Don Surber points out that so-called Progressives once supported Israel:
There's more to the Helen Thomas case
Of course, 'progress' in an egg -- if allowed to go on too long -- is called 'going bad', and it stinks to high Heaven!

Free Speech: Use It or Lose It?

2010-06-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

Free speech: use it or lose it!

One of many 'kicker' passages:
"...According to the Institute for Justice, 36 states have laws requiring citizen groups to register with the government before they can talk to their neighbors about politics. Duke University professor Mike Munger has described how such laws have a chilling effect on the political process.

"Similarly, it is the independent bloggers and journalists who will be stifled by the proposed DISCLOSE Act, not the entrenched mainstream media. But note how it was the blogging community, not the mainstream media, which took the lead in reporting stories such as the RatherGate scandal, the ClimateGate memos, and the rise of the tea parties.

"The numerous independent bloggers covering the ClimateGate disclosures provide a perfect example of how truth emerges when ordinary people are left free to debate and discuss contentious issues. If the bloggers who dissented from the government-backed climate science orthodoxy had instead been punished for spreading 'misinformation', would Americans have ever learned the truth?

"If bloggers, independent journalists, and ordinary thinking Americans value our free speech, then we must do the following:
"We must articulate and defend a proper definition of free speech and of censorship.
"We must defend free speech on the proper grounds of individual rights, rather than on utilitarian grounds that it promotes some 'social good'. This includes defending free speech in principle, even when some people express views we consider odious. For liberals, this includes defending speech they may find bigoted or offensive. For social conservatives, this includes defending speech promoting alternative lifestyles they may find morally repugnant.
"We must defend the principle of free speech not just in politics but throughout the full range of our culture — including science, art, and philosophy. We must defend the freedom of individuals to criticize another’s scientific or religious views as vigorously as their right to debate banking regulations.

"As President Ronald Reagan once warned:
"'Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free'...".

Al and Tipper...

2010-06-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

(Because nothing else of note -- insert appropriate skeptical 'smilie' here -- is happening in the world right now)

So, Al and Tip are calling it quits. And they're just -- really! -- peachy-keen about it. Ya know, amicable and everything sophist(ry?)icated like that.
Me, I'm kinda of the same mind as this http://althouse.blogspot.com/2010/06/gores-have-handled-their-decision-to.html commenter:
"...Look, this is how I have come to see divorce. On one hand, Jesus comes out pretty strongly against divorce in general, but on the other hand, there is the story of my sister. She was beaten by her first husband. She is now married to an absolutely wonderful man. I literally only wish she had met him sooner. I look at the picture of the newly-formed family (now 7 years ago) and I think to myself there is no way God was not happy when my sister left her ex, and when she found her new husband. There is no way God isn’t glad my niece finally has the father she deserves.

"And the way I reconcile it comes down to this. A divorce should be seen almost like an intentional killing of a person. Almost every time an intentional killing happens, a crime has been committed. But its not always the person doing the killing who is responsible. When a person comes at you with a knife, and you pull a gun and kill your attacker, you have intentionally killed him, but you aren’t the criminal; the criminal is the attacker.

"I feel the same way about marriage. If a man or a woman is forced into divorce by the behavior of another, then who 'murdered' the marriage? Not the person who files for divorce, but the person who made marriage intolerable. And I don’t limit that to extreme situations like abuse. My brother, for instance, had a nutjob for a wife. He isn’t perfect, but perfect wouldn’t have made a difference. No matter what he did, their marriage was doomed, because of her own psychological damage that she couldn’t get past. And hey he is remarried, even has a family, now, with an absolutely wonderful woman.

"But if it is 'no one’s' fault, then guess what? Its EVERYONE’S fault.

"So I am watching Al and Tipper throw away this marriage, murder it. And people think its wonderful because it isn’t ugly. They are exactly wrong. Its horrible precisely because it isn’t ugly. Not that I have to see the ugliness, but hearing positively that it is an amicable break up, is horrible. If they can get along enough to divorce without acrimony, they should f---ing stay married. My only solace is that in truth they really do hate each other, really do have pain and they are just keeping it from us. Because otherwise this is an arbitrary destruction and that is horrible in my mind.

"I know that puts me greatly out of step with a lot of people. And I am not even sure that this should be how the law should see it, although I do question how much we really benefitted from moving to 'no fault' divorce. But morally, that is how I see it."

Well said -- and me, too.

Say 'NO' To Nincompoopery!..

2010-05-31T12:23:00.000-07:00

http://volokh.com/2010/05/29/the-solicitor-general-lays-an-egg/

Our executive branch -- and, in this case, its current nominee for SCOTUS associate justice -- is run by nincompoops who assume we all are worse nincompoops than the nincompoops they continually prove themselves to be!

If nothing else, the so-called Tea Party Movement is a throwing off of the strictures of adherence to 'mainstream media' conventional wisdom-creation (out of wholecloth, often). I'm ashamed that I recognized its necessity well over a decade ago (maybe someday I'll post THOSE published remarks here, too), but did nothing to bring it about except grouse about it locally and privately. I assuage myself that maybe it took current, mis-American (not a typo) leadership to make it obvious -- after all, they ARE the ones we've been waiting for, they say!

In any case, our best case is that American is going to the John over this Obamanation, whether it be Galt or Marshall!

Defining the Presidency Down

2010-05-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

I've been a proponent, for many years, of returning to the days when the annual 'State of the Union' address amounted to a hand-written letter from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to the Congress. The founders intended the legislature to be the first/prominent branch of government, NOT the presidency.

If we have anything to be thankful for from the Obama era, it's the re-emergence of this philosophy. Let's face it: he doesn't know what the Hell he's doing! And, yet, we've (barely?) survived, thus far.

I've also been a regular proponent of the "we get what we deserve" attitude toward governance. If we don't reject/eject the Democratic leadership in 2010, we need to understand we don't deserve a second chance at a republican (small-r) form of governance. The liberal fascists will have taken over.

In a best-case scenario, it will have been instructive and positive that we endured an Obama Administration. But, only if we reject it as unnecessarily and unnaturally authoritarian by American standards and desires.

Obama doesn't much like the United States of America up to 2008. We don't much care for his disdain. Let's make that point in 2010, okay?

I Remember When Obama Was 'Black'...

2010-04-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

...but now he's just anti-American:

http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/blogs/posted/archive/2010/04/13/caption-this-obama-wags-finger-at-harper-during-nuclear-summit.aspx

(Yes, Canadians ARE Americans, too -- especially since they've tossed the Liberals/Frenchies/anti-Coulter government out.)

It's Time for Robert Gates to Resign

2010-04-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

Why doesn't Secretary of Defense Robert Gates resign?

He suffered a personal and public humiliation last week when the Obama Administration trashed the long-servicing U.S. nuclear policy for idealistic (read that, "naive"), non-pro-American (see, I didn't say 'anti'-American!) political pabulum. It's increasingly plain that Gates' retention from the Bush Administration was both an admission by the Obamans that they don't have a clue about defense issues, and an attempt to triangulate criticism of their left/liberal leanings by retaining a hired gun of the hated 'Right'. Unexplained, is why Gates continues to play along. While his views were entertained by the administration, he served as a great patriot. But, with his attitudes and acumen cast aside, what more does he offer but political protection?

Nothing serves as a slap in the face to an administration more than the public divorce of a featured advisor. While I have little hope that the Obamanauts have enough introspection to feel chastened by a Gates resignation, it seems the only honorable 'out' left for a hertofore honorable public servant.

Yep, a One-Term Volunteer!..

2010-04-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

The likely practical application of President Obama's nuclear disarmament agreement with Russia, IF fully implemented, may reduce the former Soviet stockpile of thermonuclear weapons by 190, the U.S.'s by 100. A great trade, no? Well, no.

Because, along with it, Saint Obama is also issuing what may as well be called "The U.S. Nuclear Disarmament Promise" -- we won't drop a Bomb on you even it you devastate us! C'mon, let's face it: the only thing worse than a world with thermonuclear weapons is a world without them -- because there is nothing else so horrifying to keep at bay those non-liberal, non-democratic (not a single capital letter, so I'm not talking about Rush Limbaugh!) hegemons who might otherwise like nothing better than to see the world's greatest liberal/democratic republic disappear (if you include those who simply don't want to pay to defend themselves, that includes just about the rest of the world, okay?!). Give Mark Steyn a little credit -- America IS alone!

President Obama wants us just to be another of the supplicants to -- well, whom, exactly? (See the problem?)

Is it 2012 yet?

HRC 'Over/Under' Day

2010-04-03T17:59:00.000-07:00

November 1 is the over/under day for whether or not Hillary Clinton has given up all hope of ever becoming president. She's well into her 60s -- if she waits till 2016, she will be approaching 70 years old.

Thus, if she still is Secretary of State in a failing administration the day before the 2010 mid-term election -- Nov. 1 --she's decided there is no hope for her presidential ambitions. If she plans to advance an intra-party challenge to President Obama in 2012, she MUST have resigned over 'philosophical differences' -- which she can then claim were consonant with Tea Party-ers' -- by then.

I am overwhelmed...

2010-03-27T20:48:00.000-07:00

...by both current events and personal pursuits.

Re: the latter -- I have compiled more than 1,000 miles on my new/old motorcycle in the past 6 + weeks, including some 2-up riding (which is much harder, in the 'handling' stages of starting and stopping) with my lady friend/partner.

Externally, the national debate has become so rich in fodder that I've been unable to focus on any particular issue.

Today, however, I note a situation in which both sides are correct (a relative oddity in today's political dichotomy): President Obama's recess appointments of 15 executive-branch place-holders. I don't like most of them. Yet, I agree that the president has a right to make the appointments.

My only issue with the whole thing is the media's failure to point out the hypocrisy of Democrats who decried President Bush's use of recess appointments sidelined over philosophical matters, and the Democrats criticism of the GOP's disdain today of the appointees' philosophical standards.

Not only do the Democrats have no sense of irony, but they continue to demonstrate a philosophy that the electorate is stupid. The electorate gets the final say -- in November! As a Tennessean, I'm reminded of the legendary, if perhaps fabulous, comment from David Crockett: "Be sure you're right, then go ahead." Seems to me the Democrats have gone ahead before they were sure they were right.

Wal-Mart and Sen. Lindsey Graham...

2010-03-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

It is said that any person or institution that is not completely conservative will eventually trend toward liberalism. Wal-Mart and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham seem to confirm that thesis.
With Sam Walton dead, non-family Wal-Mart executives today concern themselves with warding off government action by becoming "green" and offering a broader range of benefits to its workers. Never mind that they were the leading private employer in two countries -- the United States and Mexico -- BEFORE they decided to kow-tow to political correctness.
Now, we see erstwhile conservative Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) trying hard to accommodate the wrong-headed notions of the Obama Administration regarding the secure prison for combatants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (why doesn't anyone ever notice that we are ever-present in Cuba without destroying its antagonistic government these past 50 years, while lambasting us as universal imperialists? Don't you think we could posit enough firepower at Guantanamo to snuff the Castros at a moment's notice if we decided to?).
Regarding Wal-Mart, see here:
http://blog.american.com/?p=11074

I Was Against It Before I Was For It (And I Was Right!)...

2010-02-15T18:43:00.000-08:00

I often preached, during the term-limit movement of 15 years ago, that we've always had term limits -- called 'the vote' -- and we were better off not codifying it, as that would have the stench of more government.

I'll admit, I've wavered in my steadfastness to that position during the past 8-10 years, when even Republican lifers have acted not like platform-adhering GOP'ers, but rather "incumbent majoritarians". During the last couple of years I'd have willingly accepted term limits -- which, of course, neither party's national leaders would have entertained.

I've also remarked in various forums, both public and private, that it might be good for us to suffer the administration of the radical Left, if only to get our fill of it. So, you can imagine my guarded gratification today, with even Evan Bayh validating the inevitability of the political earthquake being wrought by the so-called 'tea party' movement among American citizenry.

Turns out, there IS a limit to our being fed up. And, finally, we are fed up with it! Ordinary Americans will no longer automatically vote for the most recognizable name if they recognize it isn't aligned with Main Street values and realities! Despite my inconstancy, I was right! The implied term limits of a public vote ARE a viable response to unresponsive representation.

It is no time to relax, though. I doubt the 'wag the dog' capacity of this administration's decision-making cadre even less than that of the Clintons. I fully expect some sort of political manipulation of current events by the Left -- tacitly orchestrated by the 'Chicago gang' -- between now and November. But, finally, a full year of administrative cynicism on top of a year-long campaign of cynically hiding a Leftist agenda behind 'empty-suit' rhetoric has, I trust, earned the Chicagoans a disregard they so deliciously deserve. If November is anything less than a stinging chastisement to them, I will reluctantly fall back into the term-limit camp. Because, in that case, American voters obviously can't be counted on to learn even lessons with which they are swatted in the face.

Bye-Bye, Bayh!

2010-02-15T13:11:00.000-08:00

Indiana Senator Evan Bayh's announced retirement further erodes Democrats hopes to either ram through unwanted legislation this spring and/or summer, or maintain their large majority after the fall elections.

Bayh stated, "If Washington could be more like Indiana, it would be a better place." Well, yes -- and the same could be said for about 35 other states not dominated by the liberal bastions of bi-coastal academia and artsy-fartsy neverlands. If you want to understand AMERICA, not American elitism, you visit Indy, or Nashville, or Omaha, or Laramie, or the thousands of other towns and cities where celebrity and $1.50 can buy you a cup of coffee. That is where folks live who actually work for a living, and live for themselves, their families, and their communities. Who would you rather listen to for economic advice: the multi-millionaire, high-school dropout who looks good on a movie screen, or the political science major who got a CPA, married his/her high-school sweetheart, and whose net worth is tied up in the house and the kids' education?

Bayh should be commended for his four years of service as Indiana's secretary of state, eight years as governor, and 12 years as senator. Should he fancy himself a candidate for higher office at some later date, he should be questioned hard for his role and vote in advancing the radically liberal agenda abroad (and, seemingly, adrift) in Washington today. If he envisions himself as a viable alternative to Obama to Democrats in 2012, let's hope he realizes that his remaining votes in Washington should serve to augment that differentiation soonest!

First Ride

2010-02-14T21:06:00.000-08:00

I don't know if knowing you're biting off more than you can chew helps you masticate it any better, but I decided to at least attempt to ride my new motorcycle home from the dealership yesterday -- while also taking along a backup/experienced rider, a local motorcycle cop who's also the resource officer at the school where I teach.

Anyway, after a quarter-mile test ride to assure myself I could even hold the 600+-pound machine up, I took off in c. 40-degree weather to traverse the 24 miles home. The journey was not without some early frustration. After careening out of the dealership lot (right turns still are not my best friend), across the street and through an adjoining lawn before getting my bearings, I missed the first light because I stalled the bike twice. It happened again at the second light, and I got off and motioned for Officer Brad to take over. He pushed it to an adjoining parking lot, and took it around the lot a couple of times.

Now, this particular motorcycle is essentially a 10-speed -- 1-5 in both a low and high range. Somehow, I'd managed to nudge it into high range, making 'takeoff' a much more delicate operation. Brad coaxed me around the lot a couple of times, proffered a couple of pointers, and cajoled me into trying again. This time, I got through the light and out of town without further stoppages. Thus, I had c. 20 miles of lightly-traveled highway before getting near home.

Finally, I got a chance to just relax and ride, without much panic about the newness of the experience. I'd dressed with plenty of layers to keep out the chill, mostly -- only the wind over the windshield, but under the shield of my 3/4-helmet caused any discomfort, which was manageable. So, I just practiced taking the appropriate line into and out of curves, looking to where I wanted the bike to go, and gently getting up to highway speed, trusting Brad to act as my rear guard in my car.

Coming back into town as I approached home, I suffered the bad luck of having a slow-starting car at an intersection in front of me, and I stalled the bike again when I didn't get down-shifted fast enough while stopping more quickly than I would have preferred. I wound up with a right-turn lane to cross to get back into a high-traffic, through lane, so just turned right instead and headed toward my school, adding a couple of 90-degree turns and a pair of 4-way stops to my itinerary. Still, getting onto quieter side streets reduced some stress. I DID have to negotiate one more major intersection prior to my neighborhood, but the little experience I'd accumulated just on this journey finally got me through without further mishap. I was reasonably calm as I dismounted in the carport with Brad pulling in behind me. I'd survived, anyhow.

Doesn't look like the weather is going to allow me to get back on the street for a few days, but I think the county park just a half-mile down the street will be getting plenty of motorcycle traffic during the next few weeks. It has light traffic, low speeds, plenty of curves and hills, and several parking lots -- near perfect for low-stress learning. In any case, the bike is home, so now it's up to me to keep it from becoming a white elephant.

I'm a MINO (Motorcyclist In Name Only)!

2010-02-07T21:00:00.003-08:00

Well, today I passed the Bacis Riders Course driving test sponsored by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, and can claim my driver's license endorsement to operate a motorcycle on public roadways.

I got a 100% on the written portion (pretty easy, really, if you just pay attention and read!), but the driving part was a whole 'nuther matter! After yesterday's range introduction, I wouldn't have gone beyond 50-50 on my odds today of passing. Yet, as far as I know, I didn't lose any points on any of the driving tests (though I DID get a second chance on a cornering ride-through).

Anyway, when I pay off my 'classic' motorcycle purchase next weekend -- and weather permitting -- I will be legal, and may be brave enough, to drive it home myself (though I will have experience support on hand in case I suffer some nerves).

Notations:

I'm pretty good at straight-line braking/stopping, left-hand-turns, and shifting.
I need extra practice on smooth starts and right-hand turns.

I'll probably split my riding time during the next month or so between leisurely, off-peak traffic drives on a rural highway, and parking lot maneuvers at the local community college. If I can actually plan to 'go somewhere' by bike before next fall/winter, I'll consider my education successful, though likely (never) complete.

'That's So Not Toast' (Like, Yeah!..)

2010-02-06T19:44:00.000-08:00

Sarah Palin was a blithering idiot until she became a devious genius.

Or, maybe, she was always a devious genius to blithering idiots?!.

The Lyndon Johnson Moment?..

2010-02-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

"...I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president..."

President Lyndon Johnson, March 31, 1968

Take a look at the White House's "Economic Assumptions" (Page 13) from its Economic and Budget Analyses accompanying the new budget presentation to Capitol Hill earlier today. The forecast civilian unemployment rate falls only to 8.2% in 2012. Lest you miss my point, 2012 is a presidential election year!

When we un-elected Jimmy Carter in 1980, his highest unemployment rate had been 7.6%, with a 6.7% average for his entire term. Even Ronald Reagan's was higher, though we also saw the greatest decrease ever during his term of office. Even George W. Bush -- the so-called 'failed' president, according to the current administration -- oversaw an average unemployment rate under 6%.

I can't, for the life of me, figure out how or even why the Obamans can try to lay the blame for 4 years of the highest Post-WWII unemployment ever on a previous administration which suffered a rate barely half of their their own.

So, will Barack Obama see the handwriting on the wall predicted by his own White House staff (frankly, he doesn't seem like much of a wall-reader, to me) and not seek re-election, or will he go down disclaiming the historically lousy economy he oversaw? Because, really, I very much doubt Americans will volunteer for a second round.

Like a Death In the Family...

2010-01-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

...when I read today that mystery novelist Robert B. Parker had died almost 10 days ago. I discovered Parker in the late-1980s -- after his books were adapted into the Spenser For Hire television series with Robert Urich and Avery Brooks, but before even half of what eventually became an almost 40-book series was realized. In the process, fictional Paradise police chief Jesse Stone -- of Tom Selleck, TV-movie fame -- and Helen Hunt-inspired, cop's-daughter Sunny Randall also became near-annual regulars. And, have you seen the movie Appaloosa?!

Using paragraphs often less than a line long, Parker wove intricate descriptions around morally-wound (and -wounded) leading men (and a woman or two), retailing quick, precise, allusive, and amusing dialog within a fast-paced plot which often seemed to move faster than its characters, who caught up with it at the end and set things right. There was never any doubt about the outcome of a Parker novel (the good guys win!), but the story was about the journey and the participants, so who cared?

The maddening thing about Parker was that his crisp dialog could make a 325-page book into a 3-hour read -- thoroughly delightful, but unsatisfying in the realization that it would be another year until the next title in the series. So, the advent of the Stone and Randall characters, and the throw-in Westerns, added the subliminal promise that the wait between publications would be lessened, as it was. I read Sandford, Connelly, maybe Patterson, and sometimes Baldacci or others, to pass the time till the next Parker issue.

He reputedly wrote five pages a day, five days a week, 50 weeks of the year. You do the math -- that's 3-4 books annually. In fact, reports are that two more Spenser novels reside with the publisher for future release, as does another western, and a Jesse Stone novel slated for next month. Needless to say, they will become first-edition reads here, but the unrealized handful of rarer texts may blaze beyond my pecuniary circumstances with his death -- an early magazine serialization which became a self-published, limited booklet featuring an early Spenser character, and a hard-to-find early novel with which he shared a byline with his beloved, 50+-year bride, Joan. Otherwise, I own every Parker title, and have a scattershot, correlative collection of signed copies and Advance Read proofs. While I have all of Connelly's Harry Bosch titles, and Sandford's complete Prey series, for no other author than Parker have I made a concerted effort to document the entire compendium. But, even with failure to net the missing pieces, I can't imagine parting with any of the books themselves.

Much more likely, I will start back at the beginning, and read them all again (not for the first time!). Which makes me believe that, while yesterday and today Robert B. Parker was a work-a-day, popular fictionalist, tomorrow he will become a piece of the American literary culture: the novelist who bridged Marlowe's film noir stories with today's modern culture and society -- without losing the beneficial assets of either one.

Robert Parker died at his writing desk, suddenly and without anticipation; which means that Spenser, Stone, Virgil and Everett, Hawk, and others will live forever. If you've not met them yet, be thankful that the meeting will be so long and entertaining.

Aw, Shiittt!!! (Pardon My French!)...

2010-01-23T20:49:00.000-08:00

...but, according to President Obama, we are so, damned mad about George W. Bush's presidency, that we're electing Republicans in Massachusetts!..

...you see: "...The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office.

People are angry, and they're frustrated. Not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years..."

As ever, Mark Steyn has the takedown: "...Presumably, the president isn’t stupid enough actually to believe what he said. But it’s dispiriting to discover he’s stupid enough to think we’re stupid enough to believe it..."

The horrifiying thought in all this is that, a la Bill Clinton, it is happening early enough in the Obama presidency that he might still have a chance at re-election -- IF he recognizes his own weakness and responds appropriately to it.

Granted, a BIG IF...

The Devil or the Witch?

2010-01-21T16:48:00.000-08:00

Are You Surprised John Edwards Dropped His Denial and Admitted to Fathering a Child with Rielle Hunter?

Well, I DID figure he'd wait until his wife, Elizabeth, died from her cancer. I'm assuming, thus, she must be doing better than expected, health-wise (and good for her, on that count!)

That said, Elizabeth -- from whom it's reported the former VP and presidential candidate has separated -- doesn't seem to be that much of a prize, either:

Book reveals secrets about Edwards campaign

This, folks, is what's wrong with the American political process: the sensible folks make their millions in business, and we're left with the hucksters playing us for suckers! It almost makes you want to support President Obama's effort to limit executive pay! Without the 'Golden Parachute', they may as well run for office and make their millions on graft, like Dodd and Murtha!

Yeah, right! Like THAT'S why he proposed it!

Mid-Life Something (Boredom, Perhaps?..)

2010-01-20T19:31:00.001-08:00

Well, the whiskey has petered out. Now, mind you, I still enjoy it (there is some mixed in cola sitting next to me as I type), but there really isn't anything hard-to-find around here anymore because, well, I already bought it during my last obsessionary period. While I continue to cherish the friends I've made while enthusing over the bibulous lubricant, the hunt has ended because the herd is depleted.

Plus, I'm almost a year already in-house! There is no longer the goosebump-raising thrill when I turn into MY driveway.

Soooooo, I'm bored. What's the next 'thing'? Well, I bought a motorcycle last weekend. Like me, it's an 'oldie-but-goodie': a 1982 Honda 900C Custom. 'Thing' is, I haven't been on one for almost (okay, maybe "more than") 40 years. My last motorized, 2-wheel jaunt, best as I remember, was on my brother's 50cc Benelli down the farm path while growing up -- c. 1968! This one is capable of, well, more than 145mph! (Being from the immediate, post-Carter era, however, the speedometer only goes up to 85, thankfully! lol)

Frankly, it's a great bike, and I paid cash! No monthly payment, no high-cost insurance indemnifying a lienholder. And, I'm registered for a Motorcyle Safety Foundation course (which will substitute for state written and driving-course exam) next month. Despite the fact that the machine scares me right now, I WILL master it! And, then, I will have a ball!

If only I can ever get it home from the dealer...?

He's No Lincoln

2010-01-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

Abraham Lincoln, (attributed), 16th president of US (1809 - 1865)

It strikes me that the Obama Administration is pretty much invested in "all of the people all of the time". It's a losing investment.

Just Thinking...

2010-01-18T20:32:00.000-08:00

(Sorry about the off-the-ether time, folks! I've been scratching for cash and paying it to buy a motorcycle. It's a mid-life crisis, you know.)

In 2004, a little-known state senator, who had accomplished little as a legislator, running for a U.S. Senate seat he was expected (and did) win handily, electrified a national convention with a keynote speech -- and was elected president four years later.

Newly-minted Sen. Scott Brown HAS accomplished something -- defeated a state-wide, generations-long political juggernaut (almost reminds one of Sarah Palin, huh?) and made Massachusetts a two-party state again -- and won a place in the U.S. Senate. Ironic, isn't it, that he may spell out the term limit of his other-party precursor.

Meanwhile, President Obama and the Obaminations promise not to let Brown's election deter them from their appointed destiny of lurching the American economy and society leftward -- even against most Americans' will! Kinda gives you an idea of how dangerous Jimmy Carter might have been had he KNOWN he was only getting a single term, doesn't it?

Lost NFL Weekend

2010-01-10T11:38:00.000-08:00

I was an NFL 'beat writer' for four years. What does that mean? Well, it means from 1997 (in Memphis) to 2001 preseason, I covered for my local, daily newspaper every Tennessee Titans home game except one (Christmas season in '97 vs. Steelers -- I went to Vegas), and from playoffs 1999 (Music City Miracle thru Super Bowl) through preseason 2001, I reported every game, home AND away (except a Monday night in D.C.). For whatever it's worth, there are fewer full-time NFL writers than NFL players. Not paid as well, though. I left the business when asked to accept lower status and less pay for my then-significant, but part-time work.

Additionally, I've been a Titans season ticket holder before, during, and after all that. My name, literally, is emblazoned on an LP Field wall as an original PSL holder.

All of which is to say, beyond spending 25 years being paid to write about sports, I have a vested interest in the NFL. Which is why this weekend was so odd: in three playoff games so far, I wanted 5 of the 6 teams to lose. With only tonight's Arizona-Green Bay yet to start, I've spent less than an hour watching pro football during its supposed elite post-season.

Although I'm no particular fan of the Cincinnati Bengals -- beyond being an admirer of their all-time, all-NFL founder, Paul Brown (for whom, interesting, another division team is named) -- I really wanted to see them beat the Jets, whom I loathe. Not sure why, really, except that I though Eric Mangini got too much credit there, despite getting fired, just like I think Bill Belichek gets too much credit in Foxboro (and nationally -- read that, 'from Peter King', when he's not canonizing Brett Favre!) for being astute enough to hire hyper-competent coordinating assistants. And, I don't like Rex Ryan, as often is the case with the offspring of colorful characters. Father Buddy Ryan was eccentric and irascible. Son Rex, rubbing off the same routine, is tiresome. Additionally, he used to be with the Ravens.

I don't like Baltimore because they were whiny and chippy during the Brian Billick years spent in the same division I covered with the Titans. Those two teams really didn't like each other, but often had to -- and did, usually originating in Baltimore -- invent reasons for it. Ray Lewis is going to the Hall of Fame instead of jail, where he belongs. Billick will forever be recognized as a Super Bowl-winning coach despite the Ravens never being as good as the team's talent beyond that single year.

Re New England, see above re Belichek, the cheater (I mean, really -- does ANYONE believe he didn't know his operative was filming the other team, and that it was against the rules?). Once you're proven to be a liar and a cheat, the rest of your accomplishments come into question. I didn't make that rule, by the way -- it's called the 'Judeo-Christian ethic'.

As for Dallas and Philly -- do I really have to explain why either of these teams rub me the wrong way? For Dallas, let's just remind them that the owner doesn't REALLY matter to anyone except himself, okay? And the Eagles? Well, aside of Rush being largely correct about McNabb -- and being drummed out of league ownership for it even though a racial epithet-spewing celebrity pop singer (http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/280525) is part-owner of the Dolphins -- how do we gloss over the fact that being a successful NFL coach apparently is more important (and we're OKAY with that!) to Andy Reid than being a dad, whose sons (plural!) are imprisoned for being violent drug users and dealers? I'd even grant that Reid seems like a really nice guy. Lousy fathers often are -- it frequently goes hand-in-hand. Doesn't make his priorities stand out in the pantheon of right-thinking, though.

Looking ahead to the Arizona-Green Bay matchup later, I have a definite preference, but no animosity toward either team. I'm a huge fan of Kurt Warner, despite his having ruined my sport-writing apogee by beating my Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV. He's every bit as good -- as both a player and a person -- as his reputation says. His opponents can vouch for the former; his teammates frequently vouch for the latter. Warner is a Hall-of-Famer whether or not he is ever enshrined in Canton!

"Speaking Stupid All the Time"

2010-01-09T16:25:00.000-08:00

That's how Power Line's Scott Johnson puts Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's inept articulation.

And, is anyone else tired of the non-apology apology (who would question the sincerity: he only waited to get he got called out a year-and-half later?) which basically regrets that we listeners are too stupid to understand the superior thinking so eloquently misstated? I mean, really -- isn't a more apt description of Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi thinking stupid all the time?!

I've hinted before that I'm embarrassed that the two chambers of our national legislature are headed by individuals who'd fit right in with mid-level county commissioners back home.

What Do People Expect?

2010-01-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

I suppose this NY Times treatise about men who regret becoming homeowners is supposed to garner sympathy and some sort of androgynous bonding, but it simply struck me that these men bought a house with unrealistic expectations or just to check off a life-experience box:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/garden/07men.html?ref=garden

Anyway, I bought my first house after 35 years of adulthood last year, too. It's a 'rambler' -- it has waaayy more room, both inside and outside, than I need living by myself. And, it's tying up much of the money which was either savings or discretionary, spendable cash just a year ago. I'm having a hard time affording a motorcycle-buying, mid-life crisis, for Heaven's sake!

All that said, I don't regret being here for a minute. I've missed having space, trees, wildlife, and my own dirt since leaving the farm on which I grew up two months out of college. I've adopted seemingly ALL of the erstwhile neighborhood stray cats -- there are five of 'em (only one moved in with me) asleep around the house as I write this -- and we're not the least bit crowded. I spent an hour this morning in the crawl space under the house insulating water pipes against the cold -- and feel good about it!

In short, I think the premise of this story is all wrong, although it's certainly PC: the problem with these homeowners wasn't that they are young, professional men, it's that they are too unfocused, too unrooted, or too self-centered to value anything that doesn't put money in their pockets, or social viability into their schedules. And, it's true they probably don't need to be homeowners. But it isn't because the American Dream has lost its luster or value, but rather because some Americans can't see beyond the scope of their own horizons, and find stewardship of anything that will last longer than they do stultifying.

The First Duty of a President

2010-01-07T06:31:00.001-08:00

It remains to be seen if President Obama has yet internalized this fact, but it is increasingly obvious to the rest of us that the primary thing Americans demand from their chief executive is that he protect the country. And, if he fails to do it, no combination of other 'achievements' will make up for it.

The fact that Obama, despite his previous campaign rhetoric, has left in place many of the Bush-era intelligence and security protocols hints that he gets it. The treatment of the Christmas-Day, would-be undie bomber as a character in "Grand Theft Airliner" doesn't.

It's Global Warming, Of Course...

2010-01-04T21:24:00.001-08:00

...but, otherwise, it would be ironic that today's prediction of the worst U.S. winter in 25 years harkens back to a time when we were just snapping out of climatists' expectation of a new Ice Age (personally, I remember January 1985 pretty well, since there was some question whether or not sextons could open a grave in which to bury my recently-deceased father).

And, if we still held in high esteem Judeo-Christian values, how ironic and sinful it would seem that folks are dying from the cold http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-cold-deaths,0,5066667.story in places whose former senator and vice president is getting filthy rich promoting the idea that what's happening to them just isn't possible!

Meanwhile, I'm trying to corral the former stray cat turned household pet inside tonight where it's warm, worrying only that my heating bill will top $200 this month -- while folks in parts of the world worry that they'll run out of the fuel of which I'm in ample supply, and where some in parts of my state die from the cold perturbing my cats!

Sometimes, irony sucks!..

Apropos of Nothing and Everything...

2010-01-04T21:02:00.000-08:00

...but it has now been more than 37 years since U.S. astronauts 'Gene' Cernan and Harrison Schmitt left the moon during Apollo 17 in December 1972, the last time humans have visited an extra-terrestrial place.
Thirty-seven years.
It is beyond comprehensible to me that -- in obvious contradiction to the advances of technology and science in the interim -- that we are in sight of the end of a manned U.S. presence in space. Soon we will be unable to send an American into earth orbit, let alone back to the moon. Which, in utter humility, I posit shows EXACTLY the value -- when ill-used -- of knowledge and technology. Nothing! A big, fat NOTHING!!!

An NFL Reflex

2010-01-02T19:13:00.000-08:00

I don't think I've alluded to it since my initial 'blog post, but I spent 25 years, full-time and part-time, as a newspaper journalist/sportswriter/photographer. Concurrently (in part), I also have been a charter, season-ticket holder of the Tennessee Titans since their advent in this state as the Oilers in 1997, and was one of their 'beat writers' for four years. Thus, I have some experience that, while not integral, does make me conversant with the league and team, and their players.
That said, here's what I expect from the 2009 final weekend (albeit, played in 2010), and beyond:

Titans running back Chris Johnson, who likely will be the NFL Offensive Player of the Year, WILL break the record for yards from scrimmage (rushing and receiving), but is 50:50 to gain the 128 running yards needed to achieve the 1,000-yard plateau (he would be just the sixth back to do it) in Seattle Sunday (the Seahawks' rush defense is pretty good!); his odds are no better than 1:5 of gaining the 234 he'll need to eclipse Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing mark.
The New York Jets will benefit from two 'bye' weeks -- competing against 'resting' Indianapolis and Cincinnati -- to gain an AFC wild-card berth, and will become the tangible evidence that charging full NFL ticket prices for both pre-season and post-clinching football games is a leading factor in lengthening the NFL schedule. If the fans are going to pay 'meaningful' (to them) prices, the games better damn well be meaningful, too!
The Detroit Lions will become the most-improved team in the history of the league, winning two games after a winless season in 2008. That's a .125 winning percentage, against one of .000 last year. Thus, the Lions are infinitely better than they were. But, wait till next year!

'Happy' New Year! (sigh)...

2010-01-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

...Yeah, that's the definition of a day late and a dollar short, isn't it? Really, I wish I could do better.
There are a bunch of factors in my personal dread of the coming year:

personally, one year ago, I was debt-free and putting aside a full one-third of my income monthly as savings and/or discretionary spending! Today, after buying a house last March -- and taking on the accompanying mortgage -- trading in my car for a newer model in August, and acceding to a couple of low-limit credit cards amidst all that, I have more debt than ever (though more assets, too!). Don't get me wrong, I love my house and feel lucky to be here. It's the best place I've ever lived besides the farm I grew up on. But, my financial options are tied in knots...
I'm as un-enamored with our current federal administration as I expected to be when Barack Obama was elected president. He is everything I thought him to be: inexperienced, and arrogant about it (meaning he doesn't realize how out-of-his-league he is)!; left-wing to the border of Socialism; personally aloof, which along with his arrogance, almost makes you want him to fail until you realize it's MY COUNTRY, too, he'd be failing!; his failings are coming into view early, giving him plenty of time to recover before seeking re-election (Americans have such short, optimistic memories!) -- and 8 years of this sort of government may be fatally irreversible.
I truly don't know what to do about money, which I fear will soon be almost worthless with the inevitable hyper-inflation that so many protest today won't really happen. Well, yes, it will! We've been pumping up the money supply since at least 1994, at a rate far out-stripping employment and productivity. I don't blame it on Obama, specifically -- it began with George H.W. Bush's 'no new taxes' dishonesty, and has continued through three presidencies since! -- but the current lack of realism about budgets and deficits is beyond scary. So, I don't know whether to hold cash in the safe, buy canned goods and non-perishables, lay in more ammo, or just spend it all and man the barricades! I DO have a long-tenured, public-employment job (teaching), so I may be able to ride out the high unemployment -- which will allow me to pay back my mortgage with worthless dollars! Alas, you might also find my starving, dessicated body on the living room floor.
We've spent eight years and thousands of American lives opposing an implacable, Islamist foe to Western democracy, and are now led by political entities who think if you play nice and fair with it, it will respond in kind. If we wind up suffering terrorist victims in large numbers at home or in allied lands, how will we stand the guilt and regret that it would have been better to spend those lives gaining ground on some foreign battlefield toward irradicating the threat for future generations?

All in all, I expect 2010 to be a regrettable year. If I am wrong -- and I hope almost beyond hope that I am! -- I pray that I am around at its end to make amends. That is, I'm afraid, my best wish for you and yours, too.

The Humpty Dumpty Presidency

2009-12-30T15:56:00.000-08:00

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a big fall.

All the king's horses, and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

"...rarely has a candidate’s entire world view been so abruptly refuted in the first year of a presidency..."

It's enough, you know, almost to conclude that the Left, and Democrats, are wrong about what they think they know, isn't it?

(If only Leftists and Democrats entertained that thought as a possibility...)

If You've Lost Maureen Dowd..?

2009-12-30T15:42:00.000-08:00

...See folks, it isn't just me!:

...We seemed to still be behind the curve and reactive, patting down grannies and 5-year-olds, confiscating snow globes and lip glosses...

In the words of Ed Morrissey, "Be sure to read Dowd’s entire column, a sentence I thought I’d never write..."

The Democrats' 'Recovery'

2009-12-29T20:39:00.000-08:00

Can't help but get a little chuckle from Democratic 'sympathist' Steve Rosenthal's prescription for Democratic 'recovery' before their imminent 2010 electoral disaster. Read it here:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/31035.html

My take on his 'suggestions':

Stop whining. We agree right off the top. Any political party heard to be in full whine will largely be ignored. We all want to believe our own whines are more important than anyone else's. Thus, if the Democrats whine that we just don't understand all the wonderful things they intend for us with their higher taxes, health-care overhaul, energy-use deterrents, and apparent disdain for our intelligence, understand that we just don't want to hear it! We're too busy trying to make ends meet!
Remember how big you won in 2008. Sorry, Steve, there's just no way to make this one play for you. Democrats -- and President Obama, in particular -- won in 2008 by lying to us! You downplayed the left-tilted agenda you had planned, pretended to be moderates, and sold us down the river once you were invested in power. If you think now 'owning' all those intrusive, government mandates is going to provide enough lipstick to cover that pig slop, you just go right ahead and make the 25% of the electorate who are true believers in the Social Democrat experiment your "permanent majority"! You might want to refigure your math, though.
Don't be spooked by 2009... Instead, get organized in Congress and on the ground to move the Obama change agenda. What the voters said in the 2009 elections is that it's not about Obama or Congress; it's not about Democrats or Republicans. It is about us: real people with real problems that we want addressed. The frustration voiced by independents and Obama surge voters in 2009 should be of real concern. These voters are still looking for change to happen and will keep voting for change — regardless of party — or not voting at all, until something real happens. In the 2008 election, what mattered most to voters was the candidate's ability to "bring change," and the 34 percent of voters who cited this quality in exit polls nationally voted 89 percent for Obama...Listening to these "change" voters (or as a Republican acquaintance of mine calls them, "fix it" voters), it is clear they are frustrated, stressed and just want things in the country to get back on track. They are not interested in political expediency. Independents, Democratic base voters and the Obama surge voters want action, and they want the change they voted for in 2008. They want to see real leadership, not legislative gridlock. They don't want their elected officials to go back to the days of legislating "small things" (school uniforms come to mind). To win them back — to engage them at all in 2010 — Democrats need to pass real health care reform, then move aggressively on a jobs, jobs, jobs (it cannot be said enough) program with strong workers' rights. Do as candidate Obama said: Put people to work immediately to fix our schools, rebuild our transportation infrastructure and invest in green technology, energy efficiency and create more green jobs. Oh, please, please, PLEASE, do all of this! I quoted this almost in its entirety because it is so evidentiary of all the mis-interpretations Democrats make about their 'mandate'. Going back to my last point about the 25% or so of hard-Left voters who will support Obama and the Democrats in any case because Republicans/Conservatives are evil, ignorant, racist, misogynist, misanthropic cave-dwellers -- well, you're going to tickle them to death if you do all the things (if you can even manage to define them recognizably) recommended above. But, I find it truly astonishing that leading Democrats apparently don't understand that they will, by doing so, alienate to some degree virtually every one of the remaining 75% of the hunter-gatherer/provider (for families and employees) types residing in their ignorant appreciation of the abundance of the past 200+ years of American self-reliance, capitalism, and personal freedom. To paraphrase a famous insouciance: We don't need no stinkin' mandates!
Put Obama on the ballot in 2010 for African-Americans, Hispanics, single women and young voters. The Democratic base is not energized...Which Obama? The inscrutable one a majority of mostly liberal and independent-moderate votes elected a year ago because they thought his actions would echo his promises and words, or the one who has attempted to govern according to his statist sympathies? If it's the former -- well, you just spent several hundred words explaining why this is a non-starter with your 25% base. If you're expecting the latter -- good luck with that! If we have a do-over of the 2008 race, it'll be a LOT harder to fool a majority of voters into believing Obama's Democratic Party is anything but the left-most majority this country has ever elected. I don't think we'd do it again.
Build it, and they will come. Organization is critical in midterm elections. The party with the superior infrastructure to persuade and turn out voters will win. Yep. And motivation is the foundation upon which organization is built. You might respect and accept the likes of MoveOn.org, and ACORN, as partners in participation, but the general public has, shall we say, moved on. Those groups have already motivated everyone they're likely to motivate. The rest of us just don't trust them to put anyone but themselves first. Hasn't happened yet, anyway! As for labor, well...it's not for nothin' that the major, national unions have seen growth only in the public sector. Union bosses and organizations have become little more than another level of bureaucracy to most of their subjects -- I mean, workers. Thus the affinity between statist government and union leadership: they represent pretty much the same structure, and pursue pretty much the same goals -- namely, more power for themselves. If you think the Obama Administration's abrogation of long-standing bankruptcy laws in order to invest General Motors and Chrysler went over popularly, you probably don't realize we all understand this was a sop to labor unions. Well, you're wrong, we do -- and few of us like a bully, especially one so fearsome as intimidates with the power of government behind it. Think of our votes as pebbles, and the ballot box as a slingshot, aimed smack at Goliath! If Democrats truly believe this is their moment to remake America, they are unknowingly past their high tide -- because there is nowhere near a solid majority of us who believe in our hearts that we've lived all these years in an America that requires remaking.

An Epic Fail

2009-12-29T20:15:00.000-08:00

As relieved as we all are that Friday's Christmas-Day bomber destroyed nothing but his underwear and, perhaps, his reproductive capacity, we all (that includes you, President Obama!) need to realize that Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab's terrorist failings are no consolation for the fact that had he been competent at his chosen craft, nearly 300 passengers -- most of them Americans -- on Flight 253 would be dead at this moment. Irrevocably, permanently dead! As with Richard Reid before him, we got lucky!

But, to make matters worse, Matullab's presence of that flight turns out to be not just the result of neglect and 'lost-in-the-shuffle' bureaucracy, but human failure of operatives who knew about him, had consciousness of his threat, and responsibility to deter it, and STILL failed to act:

http://www.nationalreview.com/onthenews/?q=MjVhZTE3ZWUwOTVkYzFhZWE1NGQzZjZiZDE4OTE0Yjc=

Credit the president with acknowledging the "systemic failure" of the CIA and other intelligence agencies' futility in interdicting this known, would-be assassin before he could directly threaten his chosen targets, Americans. The only acceptable response is the termination of employment of whomever had ultimate responsibility to assure that names, faces, passports and manifests align -- right up to Director of Intelligence Dennis Blair and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Remember when the media and political opposition held President Bush's feet to the fire following his "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job!" statement to FEMA director Michael Brown's response to Hurricane Katrina? The backlash was so severe President Bush's approval rating never recovered. But that, at least, was a natural disaster, not of the "man-made disaster" ilk named by Secretary "Big Sis". The current Democratic president and Congress would have us believe there's no problem we can't fix if we just pass the right law or redirect the proper resources. In other words, they promise that any man-made situation can be perfected.

Under those circumstances, they should fully expect a failure to take responsibility for and solve 'man-made disasters' such as this potential one a perfect storm much more consequential than Katrina.

After Terror With Its Pants On Fire...

2009-12-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

http://biggovernment.com/2009/12/28/monday-open-thread-vacay-edition/

...Does anybody else get the impression that this guy wants to 'be PRESIDENT!', but doesn't really want to 'BE president'?

Iran

2009-12-27T18:41:00.000-08:00

Irony could be defined, I think, by those caught by surprise by history.

The protesters in Iran -- where almost 70% of the population is under the age of 35 (meaning they don't remember the relationship between the U.S. and the Shah from personal experience) -- are at least in the game toward overthrowing the current, hierarchical, theocratic regime:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-12-27/could-the-mullahs-fall-this-time/full

(Frankly, I'll feel more confident when Michael Ledeen predicts it.)

The irony comes from the fact that Iran's theocracy hates us today because we opted to support -- or, at least, not oppose -- the Shah when Khomeini returned from exile in the late-'70s. Today, any future Iranian government might choose to hate us because we did nothing to promote the Islamists' fall outside of empty rhetoric and belated condemnation.

Coincidences are useless; I'm suspicious...

2009-12-27T14:42:00.000-08:00

Call me a conspiracist, if you will, but I find it disturbing that yet another Nigerian (Muslim? Will they tell us?) passenger -- deemed harmless this time -- on the exact, same flight that the Christmas-Day bomber targeted from Amsterdam to Detroit, was arrested upon arrival for being 'unruly':

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/report_flight_crew_requests_emergency_j9ZlOCtnHrNePzruDQfxoI

It sure sounds a lot like testing responses, to me. I'd assume al-Qaida is about to step up suicide missions directly against the U.S., if I were the Obama Administration (and I wanted to remain relevant!).

And, please -- let's not pull more Grandmas from the security line for pat-downs, okay? Again, it ain't coincidence that all these actual and would-be bombers are Muslims from, you know, Muslim countries!

We all chuckle at and tut-tut cliches, too. But cliches become such because they have been so often true! Stop treating 'profiling' like a distasteful cliche -- it works!

Update: Uh-huh!

http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/80201152.html

What would be the point of videotaping the 'performance' if the guy was going to kill the videotaper, too, anyway? As noted above, seems like an effort to gauge response via a trial run.

This ain't over yet:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2785733.ece

Is Janet Napolitano the new "Brownie"?

Just wondering...

2009-12-21T07:15:00.000-08:00

...why, even if the CBO figure of $132 billion over 10 years is accurate (which it most assuredly is NOT -- most of the savings figured in won't actually materialize) from our soon-to-be-new, nationalized health care, it's such a big victory? In a year which has seen c. trillion-dollar programs such as TARP and the pseudo-stimulus, that works out to $13.2 billion a year. In other words, it's piffle!

That's more than a little like dropping a penny in a child's piggy bank while you sneak a 10-dollar bill out the bottom, and expecting to be congratulated for your generosity as a 'giver'!

The REAL Global-Warming Agenda

2009-12-20T07:46:00.000-08:00

Today's 'watermelon' environmentalist (you know: green on the outside, but red on the inside!) is virtually always an anti-capitalist, anti-democratic statist (and Al Gore is a Democrat which, more and more, amounts to the same thing). This is not coincidence, but consequence: the Modern Left has adopted environmentalism, global warming and climate change as the vehicles by which to destroy Western democracy, and redistribute wealth to the so-called developing world (we call 'development' in an egg something else: rotting!).

They are beyond parody, and out of the reach of irony, in their belief that the West's wealth will remain and continue once they've achieved that goal. Because, of course, the failed history of Soviet-style collectivism that has died almost everywhere it's been tried -- and continues to fail even where it has survived, a la Cuba -- demonstrates with clarity that ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit suffocates without the motive and goal of personal profit. Now, that profit can come in the form of money, acclaim, or personal satisfaction, but it's beyond proven that those benefits accrue in the West's capitalist societies, and wither where the state claims all those benefits to itself.

On the other hand, how can one blame Bangladesh, Nigeria, et al, from seeking the shortcut of rescue by the forced distribution of someone else's assets after failing to husband any of their own virtually since existence? Pretty hard to figure, though, how turning the West into another Russia is going to result in anything but a disastrous and petty, universal plutocracy. I guess that would be a good thing for the would-be plutocrats, though. Hence, the efforts in the West to subdue populist democracy before the citizenry identifies their statist goasl.

Climate Change (Sigh!)

2009-12-20T07:24:00.000-08:00

A couple of thoughts about global-warm(onger)ing, which seem obvious to anyone with a lick of sense -- which seems to leave out the modern, liberal anarchist:

It's not secret that 'global warming' has been going on for some time, or the Ice Age glaciers, for example, would still be covering half of North America. And, of course, some global cooling must have occurred before that to form those glaciers. All of which would seem to point to the fact that (drum roll, please!) EARTH'S CLIMATE CHANGES. Naturally. I lived through the "New Ice Age" warnings of the mid-'70s, so am amused that many of the same alarmists now are alarmists again, but at 180 degrees.
Is all of this -- or any of this -- man-made, and therefore man-preventable? That IS, of course, the Kyoto/Copenhagen argument. Obviously, the folks who think they know this for sure sure don't want to compare analyses with anyone who expresses any doubt. Again, this is emblematic of today's modern, liberal mind-set: "If we can't persuade you with our arguments, you must be a small-minded idiot incapable of reason, because if you won't simply accept our conclusions, you're being unreasonable. Don't be so stupid I have to explain things to you!" Because, you know, they can't. It's all Post-Modern emotionalism internalized, with nothing to do with rational thought.
Finally, even if we were to conclude that humanity has caused the ice caps to melt, how does one predict the consequences -- particularly the unintended ones -- of returning our 'carbon footprint' to early-20th Century levels (and, understand, that IS what the stated goals amount to!)? Have we learned nothing about unintended consequences from all the centuries of recovering from them? I think there's an awfully good chance that even should we get the diagnosis right, we'd foul up the treatment. We're not nearly as smart as we are conceited. That's another symptom of the modern Left!

Zero Population Growth, blah, blah!..

2009-12-10T17:03:00.000-08:00

Well, since Canada's National Post won't let me post this in their comments about single-child, one-world regulation because it's too long, I'll post it here instead:

This isn't even an old argument, but an ancient one. It wasn't all that many decades ago that 6 billion people were considered 'unsustainable' for Earth by the so-called experts. But then, you know, along come the Norman Borlaugs and his like. It's ironic to think that you also cut in half the likelihood of such genius, too, when you cut the population in half.
It takes only a single flight over the western half of the North American continent to realize the world is nowhere near over-populated. And I'm not talking about supplanting food-producing regions with people, either. I'm thinking of all the absolutely empty, unused space. Is the National Post suggesting that we can dream of colonizing the moon or Mars, but not the Rocky Mountains?
At least until we take the profit motive away from entrepreneurs -- which DOES seem to be the latest trend, however stupid it is! -- I'm pretty confident that we'll figure out how to feed/water/house/employ the growing millions, even at current population growth, for a fair spell yet.

Well, so much for regularity...

2009-12-05T11:03:00.000-08:00

I hadn't realized it had been 6 weeks since I'd posted here, even if I am seemingly, simply talking to myself. Nonetheless, it illustrates even to me how hectic my schedule has been. Halloween weekend included a Friday-night school (where I teach) carnival; the following weekend was a round-trip drive to Natchez, MS via the Natchez Trace (one-way) http://picasaweb.google.com/tsousley62/NatchezTrace; the middle November weekend was the last round of 'in-season' yard work; Thanksgiving weekend; and now today.

I've come to understand fatigue better when I don't even get the weekends off!

During that time, however, a new fascination has come into focus: driving around the Mid-South has crossed my paths with a significant number of 3-wheeler, or trike, motorcycles. With the long 'riding season' here, it seems like a pretty attractive way of touring. Trouble is, I know next to nothing about motorcycles, not having been on one in about 40 years. Factory-built ones only come via Harley-Davidson, and are mucho pricy http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Content/Pages/2010_Motorcycles/2010_motorcycles.html?locale=en_US&bmLocale=en_US#/model/flhtcutg. It may become one of those pipe dreams that never comes true, but I'll bite, I think, should an affordable, reliable one make itself available.

A (Dropped) Penny For Your Thoughts...

2009-10-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

Is the penny starting to drop for mainstream media journalists? ABC's Jake Tapper has broken ranks to question the Obama Administration's ostracism of Fox News over ideological differences and political criticisms.

Has it finally dawned on the left-leaning media that liberal Democrats -- and left-wingers, in general -- suffer badly from self-absorbed certainty? They are so sure they're right that any dissent is necessarily malignant, hindering them from exercising their superior ideas and intellects to our betterment. Who cares if there's a 200+-year history and tradition of political faction in this country -- it's US now, and just let US rule!

Gotta admit, it's an attitude that's much easier to practice than having to persuade with reasoned argument -- especially when your reasons and arguments are so weak! It's just that it's -- if I may paraphrase an Obamanoid -- you know, un-American.

"...If not now, when?"

2009-10-17T16:53:00.000-07:00

An important rejoinder from Roger Simon, following up the weak excuse by Obama media guru Anita Dunn's quoting Mao Tse-Tung as a 'favorite' political operative:

http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2009/10/17/the-maoist-explains-herself-egg-face-at-the-white-house/

My favorite lines are: "...Like his radical friends — Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Van Jones, Anita Dunn — Barack Obama wishes to transform the United States according to a model whose basic shape was supplied by the utopian schemes of the 1960s. That’s why Anita Dunn said that Mao was one of the thinkers she most often turned to for wisdom about big-think political problems. It’s not that she admires his penchant for industrial strength homicide: rather, she admires his success at fomenting an egalitarian revolution. It’s not what we bargained for when we elected Barack Obama. But that’s what we’ve got. The question is how much worse will things have to get before the penny drops?.."

As for me, I'm in for a penny AND a pound -- but, alas, I realized what we were getting BEFORE the revolution, so my agreement isn't worth much. I voted for the pretty brunette (who also happens to be a pretty sharp conservative!) nobody likes. I already knew Obama was the left-most presidential candidate we've ever had!

We Kept No Territory...

2009-10-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

There is, I see, one glimmer of hope that the Nobel Prize conspicuously awarded to President Obama can actually benefit American interests: if he goes to Oslo in December and makes a convincing case that the U.S. that fought two wars in Europe for peace in the last century without claiming territory; which freed the territorial Philippines and Cuba after gaining their possession; which turned Germany and Japan into allies after bombing them to submission to conclude their dynastic tendancies of WWII; is to be appreciated for its generosity to the world in war and peace, and is unique in its liberal attitude toward the sovereignty of others.

Alas, I don't think that Obama has either the mindset nor eloquence (I'm not as enamored with his verbal pabulum as others seem to be) to pull it off...

Cy Young Award?..

2009-10-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

By the way, I figure since President Obama actually DID throw out the first pitch at the All-Star game wearing a White Sox jacket, he's a shoo-in for the American League Cy Young Award.

And, compared to the Nobel Peace Prize, he'll deserve it!

Nobel Laureate (Or Is That 'Lariat', As In Tied To a Failing Policy?)

2009-10-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

Well, great -- that's just what we needed for President Obama: incentive to continue selling U.S. interests down the river in order to receive international accolades! He's likely to give away BOTH Jerusalem AND Afghanistan now!

2009-10-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

Lot of folks out there trying to explain away the continued popularity of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin:

http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2009/10/04/rogue-warriors/

It's really pretty easy to figure out, it's just hard to accommodate it into their "it's about me and my philosophy" meme. You see, the Obama coalition was made up of about 25% of the political populace which is truly left-wing/Liberal (like he is!); about 15% that were just plain fed up with the GOP and Bush's lack of adherence either to fiscal discipline or neo-isolationism, and wanted to punish them/him; and the remainder folks who were enamored by the fact of electing a black president. Almost ALL of the 47%-48% of the voting populace who voted McCain truly ARE believers in limited government and personal freedom, and didn't have anyone else for whom to vote.

In that light, Palin has a base of about 48% of the American voting public, while the Obamans can claim maybe 25% solidly. (The rest are available for conversion.) The fact that the media is monolithically pro-Obama is the only reason anyone even wonders why Palin is popular. She speaks to and for the largest number of us.

This is what you lose...

2009-10-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

...when you cut defense spending to the bone:

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2009/09/seal-rescue.html

Good to keep in mind the U.S. military does many things besides fight, and does all of them (including fighting!) better than almost anyone else in the world.

If anyone knows President Obama, pass the word, would ya? He doesn't seem to know...

The Ubiquity of Ignorance Posing as Wisdom

2009-09-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

See Harold Meyerson today in the WaPo:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/29/AR2009092903001.html

This is not even serious argument! Hell, I'm no economist, but I AM sympathetic to free-market thinking -- and even I knew the current economic disaster was inevitable!

I mean, what exactly did Meyerson and his Keynesians THINK was going to happen after Bill Clinton inflated the currency prior to 1996 to get re-elected, did it again in 2000 to (unsuccessfully) get Al Gore elected (under the cover of 'Y2K' pseudo-silliness), and GWB repeated the money growth through 8 years of national crises and re-election campaigns? Eventually, the house of cards topples, especially when Congressional 'leaders' (read here: Frank, Dodd, Pelosi/Reid) take steps to legislatively deny reality by mandating fiscal laxity they then fail to oversee!

Please note I didn't mention any (small-c) conservatives here (no, GWB is NOT a conservative!). And, yet, Meyerson, et al, universally blame conservative economists for the liberals' economic failures! The MSM today isn't the Fourth Estate anymore, it's the Fifth Dimension -- where a liberal Utopia heals all imagined wounds without ever coming in contact with reality!

The Diminution of America

2009-09-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

Things that will not end well:

Either Israel will attack the Iranian nuclear sites, or Iran will threaten and/or use nuclear weapons against Israel;
Democrats WILL pass some sort of health-care 'reform' which will NOT benefit folks who already have health insurance (it won't save any money, either!);
Import tariffs and protectionism will undermine the World Trade Organization, and cause higher consumer prices for Americans, while their own government is stealthily increasing their own taxes via carbon- and value-added levies.
Federal spending mandates will virtually guarantee that local and state governments pare back taxes and services to a point that basic necessities go begging locally, or increase local/state taxes so that household budgets go unbalanced;
The coming 'revolution' by citizens over local vs. central/federal government will determine whether or not the U.S.A. is a nation in decline. It's a toss-up, at this point.

A long life to all...

2009-09-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327241.300-secrets-of-the-centenarians-life-begins-at-100.html?full=true
It's worth noting here, I think, that absent the U.S.'s inflated -- because of the care given pre-mature deliveries, et al -- infant mortality rate, our average life span is significantly diminished statistically.
Suffice it to say, however, that if you've reached your first birthday, you stand to live longer than anyone else on Earth if you're an American citizen. (At least until ObamaCare becomes law!)

Mozel tov!

A Random (though long-standing) thought...

2009-09-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

...how about instead of nationalizing health care, we abolish health insurance? That way everyone, you know, just pays for the services he/she uses.

Yeah, silly -- I know. Too much like the rest of life. And no opportunity for graft.

Would I rather be in the middle?..

2009-09-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

Apparently, I live on the edge of both wrath and lust:

http://www.wired.com/culture/education/magazine/17-09/st_sinmaps

Could not being in the middle of the latter explain the former?

Obama Sinking...

2009-09-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

It's because he's black, you know. Count on it! (No way, I mean, could it be because he's exactly the inexperienced, left-wing, near-Socialist cipher that naysayers cautioned about for much of the last two years. Really, c'mon!)

It's a black thing, and it ain't racist!..

2009-08-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

If President Obama were Ted Kennedy, of course, he wouldn't be president today. Kennedy was waaayyy too liberal for mainstream Americans, and President Obama is at least his equal, Left-ward-wise.

So, what are we to make of all the charges of racism regarding anti-Obamacare activism: http://www.breitbart.tv/la-rep-obamacare-opponents-want-to-destroy-first-president-who-looks-like-me/

Well, not much. If the charges of racism were true, Obama would never have been elected, just as Kennedy never was elected. In fact, a strong case can be made that Obama is president BECAUSE he is black, and that assuaged Liberal/moderate 'guilt' over past social injustice.

So, where does the divide fall between Obama/racist rhetoric and classical self-interest? Well, predictably, I know a number of otherwise Liberal blacks who don't wish to give up their health benefits to a federal adminstrator. Are they 'racists' against Obama?

I suspect Rep. Watson will soon learn, to her regret, that personal benefit trumps racial identity. But, that shouldn't surprise a Congressman/woman one bit, since self-interest --and re-election -- is his/her sole concern.

Post-Racialism?

2009-08-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

So, apparently, the definition of 'post-racial' in America is allowing Blacks to screw up without consequence?..:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/08/24/2009-08-24_gov_david_paterson_tells_blogger_he_is_victim_of_orchestrated_campaign_because_o.html

Democratic Intelligence

2009-08-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

Look, here's the thing that Leftist activists don't want to acknowledge, but must consider before making any progress (not that I'm rooting for that, mind you!): the general public is smarter than either/both Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi.

I dare say that the atomic weight of the Congressional 'leadership' has never been lower! (Certainly not in my lifetime, which includes Lyndon Johnson, Sam Rayburn, John McCormack, Howard Baker, Tip O'Neill, Newt Gingrich, and Dick Armey.)

Reid and Pelosi belong on some county commission somewhere, not in the United States Congress! And yet, Democrats have chosen them as 'leaders'! Incredible.

The Bourbon Pantry

2009-08-24T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well, a sort of reckoning has arrived, bourbon-wise (or not-so-wise): I can no longer afford to 'chase' the burgeoning prices of collectible and sought-after bottlings, many of which I've already sampled, luckily, and maybe even have an example or two still on the shelf.

Don't cry for me, though, Jack Daniel's! I've been profligate enough in past spending that -- even after a couple of years of selling and drinking down the 'stock' -- I still have some quite decent bottles left. Hence, the reckoning. I've long advised others to drink up and not hoard hard-to-find or defunct bottlings of whisk(e)y as collectibles, no different than a 1916d "Mercury" dime or '21 Chateau d'Yquem Sauternes. Whiskey's for drinkin', I'd say! Well, the time has come for me to put up or shut up (not that I've ever stinted when opening bottles, but usually that was for an 'audience' of appreciative fellow-tipplers). Am I really going to open that $150 bottle of Rittenhouse 21yo rye just to make Manhattans for myself?

Maybe. My hope is that I may still attend or host enough whiskey gatherings that such special bottles might yet be enjoyed by attentive aficianados. But, if not, then know that I shall open the best I have for the least of these palates.

So, when the time comes for me to open my last bottle of Evan Williams 7yo Black-label, don't expect me to make a trip to the liquor store in order to avoid it!

"Easy for him to say..."

2009-08-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

Standard Mark Steyn bull's-eye hilarity here:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTAxYzFjODdiN2E3OWUyNzY1MDU1ODM1ZjZjYmY3YjM=

As Steyn hints, Americans' overall life-expentancy is hindered by the number of surviving premature babies which later die, creating a misleadingly high infant-mortality rate in the U.S. But, once out of infancy, Americans live longer than just about everybody.

This is why we think we have a failing health-care system that commands overhaul?

On Pondering Health Care

2009-08-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

I have good health-care insurance, fully paid (for myself only -- but I have no dependents) -- at least, for now -- by my employer. I'm happy with it, and it has paid something around a half-million dollars for my medical services over the past quarter-century. I realize some are not so lucky.

On the other hand, the 47 million "Americans" widely reported to have no health insurance include:

5.2 million illegal immigrants;
5 million legal immigrants;
9 million Americans who earn $75,000 or more annually;
9.7 million who are eligible for government health programs;
6 million who are eligible for employee-based health plans, but voluntarily demur (many of these are young and healthy, and have few health-care costs);
12 million without affordable health-care options.

It's only the last group that is truly uninsured. The others either are not the responsibility of the U.S. government; have the means to pay for their own health-care costs; receive government health-care benefits already; or voluntarily do without insurance available to them. So, it's only c. 2% of the U.S. populace which really has a stake in the current health-care 'reform' debate.

Most of us have discovered from personal experience that tinkering with something that is near-perfect, or even just acceptable, more often makes it less so than brings it closer to perfection. There is no reason to believe that federal bureaucrats will necessarily translate Congressional legislation into a net gain regarding health care, even if motives and intentions are pristinely pure (which I don't think is the case!).

Still, I suspect that the large Democratic majority in Congress will not allow the issue to pass without government meddling. Democratic leadership will whip their members into a positive vote on health-care reform. But, given the likelihood that unintended (and some wholly intended), negative consequences will accompany such passage, it will be a Pyrrhic victory so damaging it may duplicate the cost to Democrats that the Clinton Administration's attempt at health-care reform caused: the 1994 loss of control of the House of Representative, from which Madame Pelosi's current Leftist radicalism emanates and holds sway.

Not many of us trust the steadfastness of the GOP regarding fiscal responsibility after its abrogation of the 1994 "Contract With America" that led its revival. Still, when the demonstrable choice comes down to whom can we trust? vs. whom can we survive?, the American electorate will not commit political suicide.

On Wings of Buzzards

2009-08-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

The longer and more I ponder former President Clinton's "rescue" of two female journalists held hostage (once you decide North Korea has an illegitimate government, they are little more than terrorists holding hostages) by Kim Jong Il's regime, the less I like it -- and the more I'm sure we gave up a bit of United States sovereignty in order to achieve it.

These two Al Gore employees are hardly the only American political prisoners in the world. Will Clinton now go to Waziristan to parley with the Taliban over their 'POW'? How about Tehran and the three tourists who stupidly traipsed across the oft-unmarked border between Iraq and Iran?

No, Clinton won't go to those places, because he'd be an obvious representative of the U.S. government there. In Korea, he could play-act sole allegiance to his former VP Gore. And, yet, does anyone doubt that the NORKs leeched a humiliating 'payment' from the U.S. government in exchange for releasing the journalists? After all, the whole episode's purpose for Kim was to humiliate his 'oppressor' in non-proliferation matters. Be sure he thinks he did! It will be interesting to note how long it takes for the details to surface, and how damaging they are to U.S. policy once they're known. (I'd bet AFTER the 2012 presidential elections, if possible.)

Anyway, I can't help but wish the Korean prisoners had been rescued in a Perot-type operation such as the Texas billionaire propogated for his employees in Iran in 1979:

http://www.amazon.com/Wings-Eagles-Ken-Follett/dp/0451213092/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249953977&sr=1-1

Ironically, I have little use for H. Ross Perot. As much as I might admire his business acumen, I hold him almost entirely responsible for the Clintons' rise to national prominence with his third-party candidacies, especially in 1992. But, credit where it was due: Perot himself was present inside the Iranian prison when his company's employees, led by former Green Beret "Bull" Simon, flawlessly invaded Iran and rescued their fellow workers about the same time the Carter Administration was scratching an ill-advised mission in the Iranian desert, with eight servicemen's lives lost.

History is full of ironies -- it might have been Perot-birthed Clinton who signalled the end of America's heroic era by performing so publicly what Perot accomplished in private.

We seem to be giving over private to public on a routine basis these days, don't we?

End of Life Counseling a la Democrats

2009-08-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

deleted (while I figure out how to link directly to specific posts elsewhere, instead of entire 'blogs)

Democrats Projecting?..

2009-08-07T21:02:00.001-07:00

There are lots of Democratic accusations bandied about currently of Nazi, Brownshirt, and thuggish tactics in the pushback over Congressional health-care usurpation plans. And, they're right to point them out activities. Now, they should stop using them!

Let the Democrats take the blame

2009-08-06T16:56:00.000-07:00

President Obama has given the so-called Senate "Gang of Six" a pep talk to keep seeking a bi-partisan bill giving him what he wants for health 'reform': entree to a single-payer system down the road (no, of course he didn't say that! But you and I both KNOW that's what he means!). But, along with it, Axlerod -- the Chicago lieutenant/consigliere -- suggests that while bi-partisanship is in everybody's "best interest", a bill WILL BE passed with Democratic votes alone if necessary.

Well, I say, let 'em go at it! A year, two years, five years and/or 25 years down the road, we're not going to like it, so let's let the Democrats 'own' it!

I mean, in how many countries does single-payer health care have to fail before we learn a lesson? Jeesh! And in how many countries does it have to continue failing before we realize that once we go there, we can't go back?

New respect for Glenn Reynolds!!!

2009-08-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

Man, how does the InstaPundit do it? Day after day, in addition to being a full-time law professor at a major university, Glenn manages to pore over and encapsulate -- with brief, witty, pithy commentary -- major news items of each day.

I'm finding it hard to get back to post anything of substance here even once a week. And I spent 25 years meeting a deadline!

Anyway, hat's off, and I'll just have to suck it up and do better. (Ya know, maybe it's the occasional island vacation he photo-blogs about that keep him fresh. Hmmm?..)

Equilibrium

2009-07-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

I don't think much about the so-called 'birther' movement -- who claim President Obama is illegitimately elected because he wasn't really born in the U.S. -- but I also can't for the life of me understand why the president doesn't simply instruct the State of Hawaii to publish his original birth certificate. Does he think this continued foolishness somehow weakens political opponents? Not serious ones, I'd say!

On the other hand, even without validating the nut-jobs' argument, why IS it so unreasonable to require presidential candidates to submit a birth certificate with their candidacy, since I have to submit one to get a passport? Some bureaucrat somewhere apparently doesn't think I'm a citizen, either, unless I provide evidence. Should it be easier to become a presidential candidate (which, by the way, almost requires SOME foreign travel!) than to become a common, international traveler?

Skippy wants to teach, but won't learn

2009-07-25T19:21:00.000-07:00

According to AP, Hah-vad professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. wants his recent run-in with law enforcement to be a lesson to us all about racial profiling:

"I am pleased that (President Obama), too, is eager to use my experience as a teaching moment, and if meeting Sergeant Crowley for a beer with the president will further that end, then I would be happy to oblige."

Now, if only he realized he's to be the student, as HE was the one doing the racial profiling!..

Bourbon: Older is better!

2009-07-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

I'm sipping some bourbon tonight, as I am wont to do.

When I mix, as is often the case these days, I mix rye-flavored bourbon and straight rye with (diet) ginger ale, and wheat-flavored bourbon with (diet) cola. But, I often sip my whiskey "neat" -- no ice, nada, nothing but a glass -- before blending.

I opened from my 'bunker' a bottle of Old Heaven Hill Bottled In Bond (BIB) from (via bottle markings and strip-stamp seal) circa 1984 two nights ago. It is fabulous. So much so, that I am hesitant to mix it with ginger ale. So, today I went and bought some more modern OHHBIB (bottled c. 2004). Thus, these are the same whiskey, 20 years apart. Before mixing the latter bottle tonight, of course, I tasted it neat. Two things stood out:

1) Heaven Hill does a remarkable job of straight-lining their taste profile over decades. This is obviously the same whiskey;
2) the older bottle, almost certainly barreled at a lower proof (in c. 1980) than the modern bottle (barreled approx. 2000), has a richer, more refined finish. It is marginally better whiskey, though both are perfect for the way in which I use them -- as mixer.

Thus, confirmed again a thesis I have argued during my several years of bourbon appreciation: if a specific brand spans a significant number of years till today, older versions of it are better.

There are a multitude of exceptional-quality, and exceptional-value bourbons today -- my friend Chuck Cowdery, who literally wrote the book on bourbon ("Bourbon, Straight"), would claim today is bourbon's 'golden age' -- but bourbons which have a pedigree spanning, say, decades, were better before than they are now.

The good news is that they ain't bad now!

Rushed and ugly

2009-07-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

NRO's Rich Lowry debates himself about whether or not it would be better for critics if the House of Representatives passes a health-care bill before their August recess, or not.

Pass a bill, I argue. To use one of Lowry's phrases, the passage of the particular form of health-care 'reform' that essentially is health-care overhaul that Democrats propose, they must do it "rushed and ugly" -- like the stimulus. If folks have a chance to learn what's in it, they will overwhelmingly reject it. The failure of the stimulus -- passed under similar circumstances to little avail, so far -- has made the public wary of such shenanigans. Still, it's the Dems' only hope...

New school year started

2009-07-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the slow posting, but a new school year began this week -- if only for teachers -- and I've been swamped trying to both keep up with the new house and getting ready for a new classroom.

Hoping (not promising, though!) to do better...

Time Passes

2009-07-20T17:35:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid in the '60s, the World War I veterans headed up almost every parade in my hometown. It awed me that they were honoring their service from as many as 50 years before! Of course, today even World War II veterans (which includes my late father) are even farther removed from their service.

It is almost incomprehensible, then, that a handful of WWI veterans remain alive -- though one less, with the passing of the world's oldest resident last week, Henry Allingham, in England:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090718/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_obit_oldest_man

There remains just a single American WWI veteran, Frank Buckles, who lied about his age to enlist in 1917. At 108, he lives today in Charlestown, W. Va.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Buckles

Send me to the moon

2009-07-20T16:55:00.001-07:00

I was 12 years old when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon the day before my Mom's 44th birthday in 1969. Joe Dendel had spend the night before at my house, and we watched the telecast together on our black-and-white television.

I had caught Holy Hell from my older brother, Tom, for writing a story about dogs in space and self-propelled, personal rocket backpacks while in grade school. Of course, spacedog Laika was an early pioneer (and victim) of the Soviet space program; and, shuttle astronauts have been using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) -- nyah, nyah, Tom! -- for years now. But I remain astounded and ashamed that we haven't been back to the moon for more than 30 years, and don't have the technical capacity to return today even if we had the will.

Were the pioneers -- Von Braun, Glenn, Armstrong, Kraft -- that much ahead of their times, or are we that unimaginative today?

What have we been doing for 40 years?!

Why should you care who I am?

2009-07-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

I'm 52 years old with 49 years of professional experience! The math is obvious -- either I'm a prodigy, or a master of multi-tasking.

Truth to tell, it may be both. I DO have a genius IQ, and my ACT (back in pre-dumbed-down 1973) composite score was 30, but I also have quarter-century stints in TWO DIFFERENT professions: journalism (full-time and part-time for 25 years) and public education (beginning 25th year this week!). In short, I've been expressing my opinion publicly -- either for publication or impressing young minds -- for a long time. I wrote my first published news story in 1976, the same year I (mistakenly!) voted for Jimmy Carter for president. I taught my first classroom (and their progeny since) in 1985 (by which time I'd whole-heartedly adapted to Ronald Reagan in 1984, after a flirtation with Libertarian Ed Clark in 1980).

So, you see, both my professional life and political views have undergone examination and re-examination, only to wind up becoming pretty stable in my latter years.

My goal, of course (wanting to be a self-respecting blogger) is to earn a link from Glenn Reynolds' InstaPundit. I bet I will -- someday! In the meantime, you're in on the ground floor. Pat yourself on the back. Now, let's go make waves...