Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Islam Rears its Hateful Head

Instapundit #tcot

We ignore this at our peril.

Is Eqypt Siding With Israel

John Batchelor  #tcot
It is a warning to Hamas that the Egyptian Army may soon get involved on the border.  Repeat, the Egyptian Army may soon get involved.  No mobilization yet, but Aaron Klein reports that all Egyptian Army leaves are cancelled.  On standby.  Hamas can see the hammer and forge, the IDF and the Egyptian Army.

Morality in Free Markets?

Asia Times  #tcot
It is becoming an increasingly obvious fact of economic history that the development of economic systems which concentrate on the common good depends on a determinate ethical system, which in turn can be born and sustained only by strong religious convictions. Conversely, it has also become obvious that the decline of such discipline can actually cause the laws of the market to collapse. An economic policy that is ordered not only to the good of the group - indeed, not only to the common good of a determinate state - but to the common good of the family of man demands a maximum of ethical discipline and thus a maximum of religious strength.

I agree that markets need to be influenced by a moral system but is religion the "only" source of that morality?

H/T American Digest

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

When Tolerance is a Charade

Vox  Popoli #tcot 
Equality has always been a fraud and the cultural tolerance model based on it is little more than assisted societal suicide.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Socialized Medicine Kills

Don Surber  #tcot #diggcons
A woman in Kent: “I’m beginning to agree with the way America works now! You get what you pay for by looks of it. Sad but true.”

Choosing Our Battles

American Thinker #tcot #diggcons
I want to discuss the impending transformations that are already out of our hands.
(A) The Judiciary
(B) Health Care Reform:
(C) Higher Taxes
(D) The War on Terrorism:
(E) Bailouts

There are, however, proposed changes that conservatives must challenge and certain fundamental principles we must protect:
(1) Illegal immigration
(2) Education:
(3) Religious Expression:
(4) The Global Warming Hoax.

Vaclav Klaus May Talk Some Sense to the EU

FT  #tcot #diggcons
One takes the form of President Vaclav Klaus, whose opinions on the euro, climate change and the EU’s Lisbon institutional reform treaty range from quirky to hostile and put him far ­outside mainstream EU thinking.

Government Cannot Be Trusted With Your Inofrmation

Newmark's Door #tcot #diggcons
When morality and justice are increasingly at odds with the law, it is time to challenge and change the law and the government that created it.

Creative Ideas for Conservatives

Newmark's Door  #tcot #diggcons
1. Phased-in--current recipients get all promised benefits--increase in the age for full Social Security/Medicare benefits to 75.

2. The Federal government sells a lot of its 600+ million acres of land.

3. A two-year freeze of federal spending (except for interest on the debt and defense).

4. Cuts in marginal personal and corporate income tax rates, payroll tax rates, and capital gains tax rates.


Good News - Bad News

Marginal Revolution #tcot #diggcons
We're in a race to see whether politics will become the dominant means of allocating financial wealth in this country.  That could be the single biggest domestic issue today, but too few economists are speaking up about it.

Inclined to Liberty

Econ Log #tcot #digcons
A book suggestion from Arnold Kling.
There are those inclined to liberty--freedom of the individual to live his or her life in any peaceful way. And there are those who are inclined to mastery--permitting others to live their lives only as another sees fit.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Gun Ownership Correlated With Freedom

Volokh Conspiracy  #tcot
The data suggest that the relationships between gun ownership rates and these other measures are complex. The data show that (although exceptions can be found) the nations with the highest rates of gun ownership tend to have greater political and civil freedom, greater economic freedom and prosperity, and much less corruption than other nations.

Free Markets Like Natural Law

Carpe Diem  #tcot
Economic cycles are Darwinian, picking off weak companies and leaving survivors stronger.

Americans Give More to Charity

Instapundit  #tcot
For all its polyglot shifting, U.S. culture is unique when it comes to a belief in philanthropy. It's a value that may be rooted in Christian tithing, but has spread to the secular world. Maybe it's a recognition that with individual freedom comes responsibility, too.

In philanthropy in America, public morality plays its proper role: causing members to do what's good for the group, through expectation and social pressure rather than the law.

Egypt Blames Hamas

Gateway Pundit $tcot
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit harshly censured Hamas today (27 Dec), placing responsibility for the current situation on Hamas. At a noon press conference broadcast on Egyptian television, he said that Egypt had repeatedly cautioned against continuing the situation and that whoever did not listen (Hamas) should assume responsibility and not blame others. He added that Israel had publicly warned that continued rocket fire would lead to military action

Sarah for "man" of the year

davidwarren #tcot
My selection for "Man of the Year 2008" is: Sarah Palin. The citation reads: "For a politician of real accomplishment and promise, who has somehow managed, for the first time since Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, to cut through the verbiage and posturing of an election campaign, and look an electorate in the eye; a politician whose policy instincts are sound, whose wits are sharp, and whose moral vision is unclouded -- who drives all the right people crazy, across party lines."

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Thinking you can avoid reality is a disease

QandO  #tcot
I believe these ideas hold sway largely because they promise happy, pain-free solutions. They are the economic equivalent of miracle weight-loss programs that require no dieting or exercise. The theories permit economists to claim mystic wisdom, governments to pretend that they have the power to dispel hardship with the whir of a printing press, and voters to believe that they can have recovery without sacrifice.

Podhoretz Speaks Truth About Israel's Counterattack

Contentions  #tcot
According to international law, the responsibility for any civilian casualties in such a situation rests entirely with those who a) failed to wear uniforms and b) interwove themselves with non-combatants. The fault is Hamas’s, not Israel’s.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Britain Losing the Will to Fight

The Corner - Mark Steyn  #tcot
The question is whether a nation that's "lost the stomach for a fight" has also lost its survival instinct.

Facing Evil

American Thinker  #tcot
The reason that the Be Nice people do not want to learn about political Islam is that they have too many suspicions about the truth and know that they don't have the courage to face the reality. So it is better to deny that an Islamic doctrine exists and ignore it. Then when the history and doctrine are pointed out, they hint that we are bigots, we are worse than the jihadists, that such talk is offensive and should not be tolerated. To quote Islamic doctrine has been defined as bigotry and not nice.

Good Samaritans Now Liable

Daily Pundit  #tcot
The court has sent a signal to the people of California: don’t get involved

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Where Is Our Threshold for Pain?

Wizbang  #tcot


The Reasons Why Marriage is Inherently Heterosexual

Ugly Side Effects of Modern Feminism

Recycling BS

Classical Values
Penn and Teller nail the "do gooders".  Just one of the many mis-information ideologies of the liberal left.


Mostly Idiots Running the Asylum

Blogs for Victory
Its hard to remain angry at the incompetence on display in senior management. One actually starts to pity them, after a while - they don’t know how the company they run grew, they don’t know how it works and they are in deathly fear of losing their jobs They jump from one trendy management nostrum to another, hoping to find the magic bullet which will spare them the next round of layoffs. If everyone would just settle down and understand that (a) we all have a vested interest in the success of the company, (b) in rough times the bank which helps out the customers will earn loyalty and (c) we’re all going to get a bit poorer over the next year, so don’t get nit-picky about who makes how much.

We have been drinking the Kool Aid for too long.

Information and Our School System

American Daily
Sadly, we send the flower of our youth to these bastions of anti-Americanism then wonder why they come out voting for the least American Party? How could we be so stupid?

This is something I rarely hear discussed.  It is one of the root issues conservatives need to address.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Monday, December 15, 2008

Why I am a Conservative

GOP USA
It's no surprise, I'm sure, that I am a registered Republican. However, I consider myself more a "conservative" than a Republican. For me, it's more about principles and values than it is about political party. I don't have a particularly strong allegiance to the Republic Party, whereas I am an avid believer in Conservatism. If a true "Conservative" party were to emerge, I would change my registration in an instant.

A reminder of core, conservative principles.

More Evil Information Control

Flopping Aces
So rather then seeing an investigation on to the end the MSM held their own self interest as being more important then ensuring some real scum get sent away for a long time.
In order to be a fully functioning democracy, we must clean up the MSM.

Selfishness and Victimization Rules the Day

Bookworm

This is the kind of cultural rot that conservatives need to stand against.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

The Academic Elite In Power

The New Conservative
Just what America needs, huh? A bunch of pointy-headed theorists who have never
accomplished anything outside of Planet Academia, rushing to Washington to tell
inhabitants of the real world how we can solve all our problems.

Killing the Economy by Driving Business Away

Redstate
This is what happens when oil companies are unremittingly portrayed as villains, when various businesses have their patriotism questioned as a consequence of rational and entirely defensible decisions that they make–decisions that are based on the current climate in the United States and when politicians threaten to remove all restraints on the power of unions through antidemocratic measures like card check. It’s imperative, of course, to reverse this trend of business flight–especially given the current economic downturn and the need to rebound from it–and yet, the same old class warfare and Pavlovian demonization of business continues unabated.

Business is not blameless, to be sure. Large enterprises staffed by human beings make mistakes. But there is a difference between honest criticism and demagoguery. The former makes the target of criticism better. The latter only serves to drive away any prospect whatsoever of reasoned discourse. And in the present case, it is serving to drive away moneymaking, job-creating, service-providing enterprises, which have decided that they can do better outside the United States than they can in it.



GooglEvil

GooglEvil
Control of informatioin is the real evil we must fight.

How a Real 'War Within Islam' Would Look

How a Real 'War Within Islam' Would Look

This is not Islam but a cynical, calculated misuse of Islam...It is also
not the responsibility of the United States alone to deal with this global
growing threat, but rather the obligation of all of Western society and the
civilized world, including - and perhaps primarily - the Muslim world itself,
which stands revolted and terrified by the ideas and atrocities perpetrated by
the jihadists. It is time for moderate Muslims to save Islam from the
jihadists.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Monday, October 20, 2008

True Believers for Obama

Capitalism Magazine
A pretty telling synopsis of the state of the election today.
For the true believers-- which includes many in the media-- it is just a question of whether you like him or not.

Monday, October 13, 2008

The Left and Right Divide

Townhall - Dennis Prager
Prager gets it, McCain does not.
For most of my life I have believed, in what I now regard as wishful thinking, that the right and left wings have essentially the same vision for America, that it's only about ways to get there in which the two sides differ. Right and left share the same ends, I thought.

Right and the left do not want the same America.


...

For these and other reasons, calls for a unity among Americans that transcends left and right are either naive or disingenuous. America will be united only when one of them prevails over the other. The left knows this. Most on the right do not.

Oblivious Progressives

Say Anything
Today the truly cultured person is expected to know nothing of his own culture and a smattering of everyone else’s. Because they’re certain in their epistemological arrogance they’ll never need any of the things they’ve safely abandoned. Who needs a family when you’ve got a retirement fund?

There Goes WEP Security for our WiFi

Herd Mentality in Markets

Economist
Is it really that simple?
The way that we behave depends as much or more on how others behave as it does on what the best information available suggests we ought to do:
Are we really that silly?  This author thinks so and his solution is nanny government to protect us from our silliness.  Ugh!!  Just where would all this silliness stop?
Clearly, it's in our nature to be so silly. One might think that it would make sense, then, to build some additional safe-guards into the financial system, so that when we forget again a few years down the road, we aren't once more threatened by dreadful collapse.
Children are silly.  Adults make choices - good and bad.  Adults should be accountable for their choices.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

An Expectation of Government Backstop

The Economist
The markets were never really free.
Much of the infrastructure of modern finance in effect rested on an expectation of a government backstop for the creditors of large financial institutions – a backstop that allowed a broad set of institutions to borrow short-term at low rates despite holding large quantities opaque and hard to value assets on their balance sheets.

Giving Christians a Bad Name

Real Clear Politics
This is the kind of stuff that makes reasonable people angry at parts of the Christian Right.  The assumption that their God is the only God and all others are wrong.
And Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because they're going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

New Orleans in the News

Tigerhawk
And not good news either.  It is listed among five of the cities with high murder rates.  The legacy of years of failed welfare policies and corrupt local Democratic government.  Bet this news doesn't hit the Big Media.

Suspending the Laws of Economics

QandO
McQ pretty much nails it and spreads the blame to the appropriate parties.  The problem is that the only ones left holding the bag are the investors.  Most of the managers and politicians will not be held accountable.  He references an great article from Victor Davis Hanson.
One last thought. Actually it’s Hanson who brings it up. It’s about those old fashioned "laws" that seem to have worked so well in the past. The ones that people seem keen on dumping because, well, they just don’t feed the needs of the instant gratification crowd:
  • Save your money. Don’t borrow what you can’t pay back. Look first at a man’s character, not his degrees. And if a promised return on an investment seems too good to be true, it probably is.
That little paragraph, if followed, can save you not only a lot of grief, but a lot of money as well. For most, it is common sense. For some, however, it will come as a revelation. For all it provides some rules of the road that will weather most political storms cause by the arrogant, inept and stupid who call themselves members of Congress and who repeatedly attempt to suspend the laws of economics for party and personal political gain.

McCain's Incoherency

Commentary
This pretty much describes my position with McCain.  I will vote for him because he is the lesser of two weevils.  The other day, in the same speech, he railed against Obama for ties with guys like Ayers and then told the crowd not to boo Obama because he was a decent person.  This kind of confusion makes ones head explode.  Like my prior article - is this the best we have to offer?


Friday, October 10, 2008

Kudlow is Optimistic

National Review
Yes, the months ahead are going to be tough. But I remain optimistic that our free democracy and free-market economy will survive this crisis as well.

Economic Terrorism

Counterrorism Blog
This wouldn't surprise me.  Congress has refused to acknowledge the national security aspects of energy independence.  Have the bad guys really out-thought us this badly?
According to economic analysis the severe financial crisis ravaging the US and hitting the international community on all continents has its economic roots in two major realms: One was the overbearing political pressure put on Wall Street to release loans into unprepared sectors of society and two, was the miscalculation -some say the drunkenness- of Wall Street in accepting these immense risks. But according to Political Economy assessment, there may have been a third player in the crisis: OPEC, or more precisely, radical circles within Oil Producing regimes in the Peninsula. The thesis argue that combined Salafist-Wahabi and Muslim Brotherhood circles in the Gulf -with consent from the Iranian side on this particular issue, used the escalating pricing of Oil over the past year to push the financial crisis in the US over the cliff.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

McCain Out of Ideas?

Tigerhawk
Seems like it doesn't it.  He doesn't have a clear platform about how to solve many of the issues facing us today.  Too bad the election process is so bad at promoting the needed debate.  He needs to take a page from  Newt Gingrich and offer a "referendum" for America.
He is the lesser of two weevils but he is not conservative and hasn't really articulated a vision of solutions for the problems we face.
There are rumors that McCain has a major announcement - we'll see tomorrow.  In the mean time:
What will the McCain administration do in its first 100 days? We know what Barack Obama will do -- raise our taxes (or at least my taxes), go about restructuring the healthcare system, re-regulate business from the agencies, try to negotiate his way to peace European-style, accelerate the withdrawal from Iraq, and appoint judges that turn the Constitution upside down. Since I dislike all that stuff (except maybe the health care piece) I am going to vote for McCain, but I am still left with the question, what will John McCain do? It is much less clear, at least to me. Conservatives are consigned, therefore, to vote for a leader only, not a program or even a way out of Dodge. I can live with that given the alternative, but in times of economic trouble it is not the way to win the election.

Common Sense for A Complicated Financial System

The Foundry
When a Nobel Prize-winning economist tells you something is too complicated to understand, pay attention. That is just what Nobel Laureate Gary Becker said about the financial crisis in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal.

Still, Becker offers three sensible reforms:
  • increasing capital requirements on investment banks and money funds
  • speedy sale of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the governmet
  • resisting future bail-outs to reduce the “moral hazard” problem


What is a Right

National Review
Constitutional rights protect us from things: intimidation, illegal search and seizure, self-incrimination, and so on. The revolutionary idea of our Founding Fathers was that people had a God-given right to live as they saw fit. Our constitutional rights protect us from the power of government.

But these new so-called “rights” are about the government — who the Founders saw as the enemy — giving us things: food, health care, education... And when we have a right to be given stuff that previously we had to work for, then there is no reason — none — to go and work for them. The goody bag has no bottom, except bankruptcy and ruin.

A Glimmer of Education Reform

National Review
This is big stuff. So long as tenure protections make employment an entitlement and DCPS is constrained from identifying and removing faculty who don’t make the grade, it is hard to get serious about school improvement. It is not teacher-bashing to observe that some teachers aren’t equipped to instruct their students or that struggling teachers impose heavy burdens on their colleagues. Indeed, the return of these teachers each year sends an unhealthy message to their peers — that this is not a profession in which excellence is valued.

Entitlement Mentality

Belmont Club
There is something almost insane about these attitudes. It is almost a form of lunacy, and the worse for being completely unnoticed by the lunatics themselves. But if they knew they were crazy, they wouldn’t be, would they?

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Nuclear Energy News

Instapundit
I think we need to focus on Nuclear energy.  The technology for both producing the energy and handling the waste is improving.  Like all technologies, we can expect this to continue to improve.


Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Unintended Consequence of Attacking Bush

American Spectator
This author suggests that the vicious attacks against Bush have so diminished his authority that he is unable to rally the American people and we are losing much more wealth the longer the markets decline.
His image has been so thoroughly attenuated that he simply does not have the power to cheer America. Leaving office with 35 percent approval makes the duck more than lame, it makes him paralyzed.

Those who believe that George W. Bush has really performed that badly may feel justified in diminishing his authority through ridicule. All I will say is they had best be sure of their facts. Because if he has basically been a nice guy pursuing relatively bland policies, and most of the trouble we face cannot be laid at his door, then viciously scapegoating him until he has been stripped of the power to inspire has been more pernicious than anything he has committed or omitted.

This is one of the reasons conservative societies continue to venerate their leaders even after they mess up a time or two. The aura of the presidency has a value that accrues to all of our benefit. Diminishing the dignity of the office makes all of us poorer, in this case financially.
I think what the liberal media has done to Bush is disgraceful.  They have acted far beyond the notion of the political opposition and they have acted far beyond the bounds of news reporting.

As the article points out, I too am surprised at his (Bush's) lack of response.  I think this has contributed to the decline in support for the Republican party.  People don't understand when one doesn't fight back to protect himself.





This is the Best We Have to Offer?

I watched the debate tonight.  Actually that's not quite true.  I couldn't bring myself to watch Obama so I read QandO's live blog of the debate.
Now, I honor John McCain.  I honor him for his service and I think he is a true American.  I don't like Obama and I think he does not understand what it means to be an American.  But, neither of these guys should be president.  How is this the best we have to offer for the most important job in the world?  This is a truly sad commentary on the state of our republic.



Sex Education for Sixth Graders

First Things
Sadly, because they need it.

Too Late for Moral Questions

EPPC Publications
Interesting questions in the vein we ought to be talking about rather than the ridiculous state of affairs our election process brings us.
Between "gotcha" questions and the ubiquitous gaffe-watch, there hasn't been much serious moral debate in the endgame of this presidential campaign. In fact, there hasn't been a serious exploration of the moral kernel of so many of today's contested issues since the forum at Saddleback Church in August. In the hope that it's not too late to raise the level of a public discussion too often conducted in sound bites, here are some urgent moral questions to be pressed on those who would lead us.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Michelle Obama - Insuferable Complainer

Patriot Room
This not as much about Michelle as it is about the man who married her.  Why would a man marry an insufferable complainer?  What does it say about him?  And don't kid yourself that she doesn't have plenty of influence with him.


Sunday, October 5, 2008

New UCLA Study Confirms Media's Left Tilt

Impact Lab
“I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican,” said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study’s lead author. “But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are.”

“Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress, but even so, there is a quantifiable and significant bias in that nearly all of them lean to the left,” said co‑author Jeffrey Milyo, University of Missouri economist and public policy scholar.

Poll Disconnect?

The Strata-Sphere
there is something seriously wrong with polls showing an Obama wave across the country, yet on the ground Palin still commands record crowds (without enlisting big name music groups like Obama does to pad his events). For a campaign on the ropes and supposedly losing in VA and FL, how is it Palin is out in CA and drawing crowds the state has NEVER seen before for a political rally

Congress Has Been Useless for a Long Time

Samizdata
I suppose there is some consolation to know this is not entirely new.  And a hit on the lawyers thrown in for good measure.
In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.

John Adams.

Do We Need An educated President?

No Quarter
As Mark Twain said – “Never let formal education get in the way of your learning.”

Some Advice for McCain

No Left Turns
Recent rumors have it that McCain will go negative to win the election.  I'm not sure that, alone, will do it.  This article lays out specific things McCain needs to do.
  • McCain's ghost of chance would come from showing that he understands the real cause of the financial crisis in fairly partisan Republican way (which means implicating the Democrats),
  • taking on Biden's lies on judicial activism (while showing that Obama is far to the left even of Biden on abortion etc.),
  • defending in detail his quite defensible health-care reform as real and desirable change,
  • getting real tough and specific on the real differences between the two parties on energy policy (which means embracing the Palin let's do everything policy),
  • trumpeting the dangers of a very liberal united government (taking people's eyes away from Obama's baloney platform and toward what a very liberal Democratic Congress would actually do and roll back),
  • and driving a wedge between Obama's and Biden's record on war, foreign policy etc.,
  • showing, from the record, that Obama is actually pretty much of a McGovernite, and generally attack politically correct boboism on the level of "cultural" and educational policy.

Barney Frank's Conflict of Interest

Instapundit
The left's lies have infected our culture.
Others, however, are afraid to bring it up because he's gay. Is this the "soft bigotry of low expectations?" Or is it just, you know, a case of convenient political correctness?


Bribes

Instapundit
Your duly elected representatives are being bought off.

A Broken Political Culture

Instapundit
That we have a nearly incorrigible and immature Washington political culture has never been more clear.

A Chink in the Feminist Armor

Instapundit
A sensible feminist supports Sarah Palin

Reverse Racism

Home of Erotosthenes
The big lies of the left have overcome an entire generation of black people.  They are no longer able to think for themselves.  They have been purchased by the left with your tax money.  It's called welfare.
Listening in to a public conversation between two black girls
It degenerated from there but I can’t even imagine the pressure black people must feel to support Barack Obama based strictly on his race. It’s completely acceptable for Girl 1 to say “you’re a person of color, how can you not support the black man?” in a lobby full of people. Imagine the flip side, a white person chastising another white person for daring to support the black guy. Racism may still exist, but it’s not the kind we’re used to. This kind is considered ok. That’s a problem.



AP Alleges Racism

Don Surber
Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as “not like us” is another potential appeal to racism.
So simply saying he is not like us implies racism?  How absurd.  However, this is what passes for analysis from Big Media and this appalling lie is being force fed to the electorate.

Michael Crichton on Environmentalism, Complexity, Fear and Humility

MichaelCrichton
In previous speeches, Michael criticized environmental groups for failing to incorporate complexity theory. Here he explains in detail why complexity theory is essential to environmental management, using the history of Yellowstone Park as an example of what not to do.

Fortunately, studies show that we can learn to manage complex systems. There are people who have investigated complex systems management, and know how to do it. But it demands humility.

...
And I would add, along with humility, managing complex systems also demands the ability to admit we are wrong, and to change course.  If you manage a complex system you will frequently, if not always, be wrong.  You have to backtrack.  You have to acknowledge error. You’ve probably learned that with your children.  Or, if you don’t have children, with your bosses.

 

And one other thing.  If we want to manage complexity, we must eliminate fear.  Fear may draw a television audience. It may generate cash for an advocacy group. It may support the legal profession.  But fear paralyzes us.  It freezes us.  And we need to be flexible in our responses, as we move into a new era of managing complexity. So we have to stop responding to fear.

An Argument for Government Intervention in the Financial Markets

Big Lizards
Several long-time commenters to Big Lizards have decried the Paulson-Bernanke rescue package. The line of argument is that, instead of a massively statist approach (we certainly agree on the description), we should have allowed the "free market" to correct itself.

I agree, this would have been a very much better approach -- if we had a free market to begin with. But we don't; we have a mixed socialist-free market, and that is what we will have for the forseeable future. So in the real world, the claim of the naysayers is that "We should have allowed the socialist-statist-populist-quasi-free market to correct itself."
And this very astute understanding of the reality of a very broken politicial system.
I understand that the plan that Congress enacted and the president signed on Friday sticks in the craw of many of you; it gags in my own throat. But we live in a real world, not Fantasyland; there simply is no other plan that can actually pass the 110th Congress.

(And if you think we can just wait a few months until the new Congress is sworn in, I can almost guarantee you that you'll like the 111th even less than you like the 110th.)

This deal was quite literally the best we could get enacted into law... and it was much, much better than doing nothing. So we had no choice.

Face it, gentle readers... you cannot put your foot down when you're stretched over the barrel.


Bill Clinton is Speechless

Big Lizards
Not very often the Slick Willy is at a loss for words.  I am no fan, but it is difficult to deny his intellect and political acumen.  Watch his response when he is questioned about Jeremiah Wright and David Duke.  The silence is deafening.

The Boomer Elite Mess

American Thinker
The current market turmoil is a product of every bad trait the Boomer Elite has long exhibited in other social and political contexts: unbridled greed and hubris, exorbitant self-regard, breathtaking recklessness, insatiable appetite for immediate gratification, and a rollicking sense of entitlement.

We are seeing in the Wall Street implosion the inevitable result of the Boomer Elite outlook and the behavior it spawned.

...

The Boomer Elite ideal is a sort of Directorate in the political system and economy, moral anarchy in personal conduct, and a quasi-totalitarian PC regime in societal relations.  It is bad character as a manifesto, and tsarism as a mode of governance.

Big Media is the Enemy

American Digest
The sooner the conservatives abandon their delusional belief in the innate goodness of the liberal heart and realize that the Big Media is their bitter enemy that has to be fought tooth and nail, the better their chances will be.

Uninformed Electorate

Greg Mankiw
Nevertheless, it's become good strategy to claim credit for good news and blame the other guys for bad news -- even though neither is likely.

Lee Iococca's Call to Arms

I agree with most of what he said.  I certainly agree with his outrage at the lack of leadership.  I certainly hear his call for change, but what is his plan?  Perhaps, since this is just part of his book, the solution is in the book.  May be worth checking it out.
I received this in an email.
"Throw all Represenatives out this Fall. Get some American Balls."   If you read this and are offended by it, call someone else;be mad or just get over it.Iacocca is right on.So is the NRA..Remember "rights to arms"..was in case you needed to overturn a corrupt government.The men who signed the constitution saw it coming.Pardons to the ladies who don't have balls-I know you have the right attitude!
 Remember Lee Iacocca, the VP at Ford credited with the birth of the Mustang, the man who rescued Chrysler, Corporation from their death throes, and the owner of the famous quote 'Lead, follow, or get out of the way'?   Well, he's back!  He has a new book, and here are some
excerpts.

          Lee Iacocca writes:

          'Am I the only guy in this country who's
fed up with what's happening?  Where the hell is our
outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder.  We've
got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state
right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters
stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a
hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of
getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when
the politicians say, 'Stay the course'

          Stay the course? You've got to be kidding.
This is America, not the damned 'Titanic' I'll
give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'

          You might think I'm getting senile, that
I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone
has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

          The most famous business leaders are not the
innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're
fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody
seems to know what to do. And the press is waving
'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions.
That's not the promise of the 'America' my
parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've
had enough. How about you?

          I'll go a step further. You can't call
yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a
fight I'm ready and willing to have.

          The Biggest 'C' is Crisis !

          Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged
in times of crisis.  It's easy to sit there with your
feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone
else's kids off to war when you've never seen a
battlefield yourself.  It's another thing to lead when
your world comes tumbling down.  George Bush, Dick Chaney
and who it this Bozo
          coming up next?  One of the most Liberal Idiots
in the U. S. Senate and he is talking about disarming
America.  I can't believe the American people are seeing
what he is about to do to this country.  May God have mercy
on us all.

          On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader
more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady
hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess. So
here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody
war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving.
We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the
country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia,
while our once-great Companies are all moving offshore.
We're getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas
prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent
energy policy.  Our schools are the worst in the world. Our
borders are like sieves. The middle class is  being squeezed
every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership
and we are getting ready to put the most Liberal Senator in
the U. S. Senate in as our next President because we want to
be fair and elect someone just because of his race.  We
don't have time to be fair, we need a strong leader.

          But when you look around, you've got to ask:
'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the
curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of
character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common
sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I hope you
get the point.

          Name me a leader who has a better idea for
homeland security than making us take off our shoes in
airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent
billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all
we know how to do is react to things that have already
happened.

          Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of
Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day
evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding
accountability for the decisions that were made in the
crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering
down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again.
Well guess what people?  We are having more floods right
now.  What are we doing to help these people out.  Now,
that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a
plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.
Why are we allowing people to build in flood plains anyway?
If you build in a flood area, expect to be flooded and deal
with it.  Don't expect the Government to bail you out.

          Name me an industry leader who is thinking
creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in
manufacturing.  All they seem to be thinking now-days is
getting themselves bigger salaries and bonuses. Who would
have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The
Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did
this happen, and more important, what are we going to do
about it?  likely nothing!

          Name me a government leader who can articulate a
plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis,
or managing the health care problem The silence is
deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at
our country and milking the middle class dry.

          I have news for the gang in Congress and the
Senate. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do
nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being
hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with
mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some
bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break.
 Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?  I
honestly don't think any of you have one!

          Had Enough?

          Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom
and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm
speaking out because I have hope; I believe in America ....
In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through
some of America's greatest moments I've also
experienced some of our worst crises: the 'Great
Depression', 'World War II', the 'Korean
War', the 'Kennedy Assassination',  the
'Vietnam War', the 1970s oil crisis, and the
struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've
learned one thing, it's this:

          'You don't get anywhere by standing on
the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action.
Whether it's building a better car or building a better
future for our children, we all have a role to play.
That's the challenge I'm raising in this book.
It's a call to 'Action' for people who, like me,
believe in America . It's not too late, but it's
getting pretty close. So let's  shake off the crap and
go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had
'enough.'

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Have the Big Lies of the Left Tipped the Scales?

Wolf Howling
If this article is true, then the lies of the left have taken their toll at the very highest levels.

1.  A person running for president finds an argument too complicated?

2.  We are afraid to confront an issue because it has tinges of racism?

3.  We are unable or unwilling to identify what is important to the American people.




Unrestrained Greed

Townhall
Two things restrain greed - morality and appropriate government oversight.  In the decline of both of these, we ran wild.
Perhaps you think the problems causing the market meltdown are economic and financial in nature.  If so, think again.  Such problems are mere symptoms of the malady.  The root causes are moral and ethical in nature.

Disgusting Democrats

Instapundit
The Mudville Gazette quoting Jennifer Rubin of Commentary
It does remind one of their attitude on the Iraq war: every set back was gleefully trumpeted and every minor advance was dismissed. They never much cared how their rhetoric or votes might embolden the enemy or unnerve our ally. The sole consideration was domestic political gain. If they didn’t want to lose they certainly gave every indication it was low on their list of priorities. Bashing the President, rallying their base and positioning themselves for the next election was clearly more critical.

Hold Politicians Accountable

Blogs for Victory
I'm not a big fan of Bill O'Reilly but he goes after Barney Frank - and that's a good things.
We need to hold our elected officials to a higher standard. To not hold them to account for their malfiesance would be to say, in so many words, that we have ceased to live in a land of the people, by the people, and for the people; and have rather moved on to a "brave new world" of the elites, by the elites, and for the elites.


Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Scamming

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had a crisis that has caused the need for a large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US.  If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Franklin Raines, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January.  You may know him as the Chief Economic Advisor for Senator Obama's presidential campaign, and the former head of Fannie Mae from 1999 to 2006.

Let me assure you that this transaction is 100% safe.  Mr. Raines is completely trustworthy with your money.  His record speaks for itself.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of friend so the funds can be transferred.  Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully

Henry "Hank" Paulson

Minister of Treasury

Monday, September 22, 2008

The Big Lie of Being Nice

Outside the Beltway
"It’s quite possible, though, that we’ve simply created a culture that values sparing hurt feelings over individual freedom of expression."

More Big lie - the False Patriot

Stop the ACLU
"but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak of self-interest.”

Sunday, September 21, 2008

More Big Lie Perspective

Ross Douthat
Even among Christians, there were disparities. While 36% of those belonging to the United Church of Christ, Sen. Barack Obama's former denomination, expressed strong beliefs in the paranormal, only 14% of those belonging to the Assemblies of God, Sarah Palin's former denomination, did. In fact, the more traditional and evangelical the respondent, the less likely he was to believe in, for instance, the possibility of communicating with people who are dead.

Isn't it interesting that those who tend to believe in the paranormal are also those who tend to believe the big lie of the liberal left?


The Marxist Drumbeat of the Left

Brutally Honest
The drumbeat - the phenomenon of the big lie. 
It's the drumbeat of the left. It is political, philosophical, theological, and social. It pervades every activity. It is post-structural, post-modern, post-everything in the parlance of the day. It is tolerant, diverse, non-judgmental, non-discriminatory, egalitarian, politically correct, multicultural, globalist, and collectivist. It insists that there are no rights and wrongs, no moral absolutes. It turns everything upside down in its looking glass world. It denies the correctness of all that produced what our culture revered before the deconstruction of the world in accordance with the tenets of cultural Marxism.
I often wonder why, what I consider to be the rational and logical arguments of conservatism, don't fare well against the drumbeat.  This author posits that man's nature is selfish and arrogant.
The power-hungry arrogance of human beings seems to be the force that underlies the events carrying us forward to the final chapter.
Dennis Prager talks about man's need for security.  I have heard him say that but I am unable to cite a reference.

If you believe the polls and most recent elections, we are split 50/50.  Half of us believe the big lie, half of us not.
Western culture, culminating in the great American experiment, has been perverted.

...
Generally, these perversions are manifested in bigger government, more laws, more bureaucracy, more regulations, more taxes, and government controlled redistribution of wealth, more collectivism, less individualism, and less freedom. We all hear it constantly from leftist politicians as they add their part to the drumbeat:  government must do more to ensure Americans avoid the consequences of their choices.  We all know the song, sung to the cheers of the unthinking throngs who would give up their very humanity for the promise of a free lunch. These are the joys of cultural Marxism.
Unthinking throngs - I love the word sheeple

How did this great experiment get to a 50/50 split?



Saturday, September 20, 2008

Consumers get credit for their part in the debacle

Washington Post
This is not good news for consumers.  Reminds me of Phil Gramm's "whiners" comment. 
"Wall Street has lived beyond its means, but so has Washington. Both did so, in part, because consumers and voters on Main Street wanted it that way. They craved cheap credit to spend on imported goods, and they resisted tough tax and spending decisions. That, too, must change, lest this generation's costly excesses end up crushing opportunities for its children and grandchildren."

Friday, September 19, 2008

Against all of that stand these two.

Instapundit
Bill Whittle talks about McCain and Palin and their stand against a Legion of Narcissists and a Confederacy of Despair - the Liberal Left.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

More Electoral College Prediction

CEO's as Pirates

Vox Popoli
The executive class is not, for the most part, capitalist, it can be more accurately understood as a sort of pirates union that is loosely allied in common cause against the capitalists who actually own the companies that they are systematically pillaging under the guise of "managing" them. Until this distinction between executives and owners is properly understood by the American people, the irresponsible rape-and-pillage will continue to the detriment of the shareholders, the employees, the economy and even the government.

Interesting view of the executive class.  Seems they are about as useless as the current political class.  Easy access to Other People's Money (I heard Sarah Palin call it OPM the other night on Hannity) is at the root of both the executive and political failings.

Vox Day argues this is not "a reflection of the free market" and that government intervention has allowed this.
Their power is the result of government interference in the free markets
I can see this as a micro argument but it seems to me that, at a macro view, this is the free market at work.  "They" will take what they can get away with - what the market will bear.  Government interference is part of what defines the current "market".  When the shareholders decide this is no longer acceptable, they will influence the market to change.



Monday, September 15, 2008

Whither the Rule of Low

The Strata Sphere
When governments allow unreasonable panic to set in and the mob rule to take over the rule of law - even in the slow motion case of a trial like this - they have lost control.

The rule of law is based on the fundamental premise of a jury of our peers and the theory of the rational man.  What happens when the propaganda of a big lie causes the rational man to become irrational?

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Wireless Power Transmission Making Progress

Impact Lab
"A new long-range energy transmission experiment opens the possibility of sending solar energy from space to earth."

Dilema of Modern Technology

Astute Bloggers
Who would have thought that Skype was a bad thing?
 "Taliban fighters targeting British troops in Afghanistan are using the latest ‘internet phones’ to evade detection by MI6, security sources said last night."

Eating Their Own

Stop the ACLU
"Dontcha ya hate it when Old Media outlets beat up on other Old Media outlets?"

Deafening Silence at Columbia

Say Anything
"A pretty sad commentary if you ask me."


Long Term Effects of "Chamberlain" Thinking

Commentary
"More complacency will only feed Russia’s ambitions."

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Earmark Battle Continues

Instapundit
"Senate Democrats promised more open government.  This is not it."

The Economic Message is Bad - Not the Economy

The Chronicles of the Conspiracy
"What does it say about our nation that it has become political suicide to state the good news that our economy is not in recession?"

Friday, September 12, 2008

Comprehensive Energy Policy Emerging

IBD
Perhaps we are making progress.

Talk about your free markets

neatorama
We live in a capitalist society," she tells us. "Why shouldn’t I be allowed to capitalize on my virginity?
Is this a hoax or just free markets?

A Journey from Left to Right

Redstate
"And I will love her despite her flaws, instead of hating her despite her greatness. It is the very least I owe to those who perished to wake up a foolish, foolish young man."

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Local Nuclear Power

Next Big Future
This looks pretty interesting.

Cowed by Liberal Rhetoric?

AmSpec News
The economy is not booming but it is sound and growing.  Emmet Tyrell says we are cowed by liberal rhetoric and can't get this economic message out.
Did I say growing? Yes I did, but the Republicans cannot talk about the growing economy because if they did it would sound as though they had no compassion for those who are not doing particularly well in this economy. This is a rhetorical trick that the Democrats have imposed on the Republicans. So effective has it been in cowing the Republicans that quite possibly never again will a sitting president be able to boast of a record of economic achievement.
Is this another case of the "big lie" gaining traction? 

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Urban Poverty

Wolf Howling
"Does anyone detect a pattern here?"

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Containing Russia - The Battle for Ukraine

Westhawk
Ukraine is the big prize and thus a dangerous flash point between Russia and the West. For the West, a firm alliance with Ukraine would anchor the containment of Russia. But for Russia, such an alliance would be a step too far. For Russia, winning Ukraine is vital. For the West, winning Ukraine would largely end its problems with Russia. It is for these reasons that the battle over Ukraine is both so tempting and so dangerous.

Fannie and Freddie Taken Over

Redstate
A good description of what just happened to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and some reasons why. This made me laugh.
"If we were in China, they’d probably have “committed suicide” with bullets inexplicably entering the backs of their heads. I’d certainly want to shoot them if I were a shareholder of either GSE. There are some things the Chinese do better than we do."

An Outside View of the State of Our Presidential Race

Caroline Glick via Ace of Spades
Caroline Glick is an astute observer of our political situation. She is based in Jerusalem.
"McCain's strategic grasp of the requirements for a successful presidential race provide an important lesson for policy-makers and political leaders."

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Countering the Words of the Prophet Muhammad

Jihad Watch
The point here is that for the first time that I know of, a university administrator has gone on record calling words of the prophet of Islam "despicable." This is an astounding departure from the political correctness that shackles our universities today, and opens the door for more pressure to be placed on Muslim groups in the United States to renounce, in deed as well as in word, the doctrines of jihad violence and Islamic supremacism.

This is welcome news. The experience of Europe, England and Canada show us what we can expect if we allow political correctness to stop us from challenging these Muslim beliefs.



Sunday, August 31, 2008

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Side by Side Comparison - Obama vs Palin

Redstate
Obviously not written by an Obama supporter but there is some truth in spite of a bit of snark.

She's Got the Right Instincts

NRO
Critics are already trying to damn Sarah Palin for her perceived lack of foreign-policy experience, but what they are not allowing for is something more important — that she has the right basic attitudes and sense of priorities. She understands that aggression has to be resisted and commitments have to be honored.

David Broder Blasts Obama

Chronicle of the Conspiracy
David Broder skewers Obama a la Iowahawk.

Quote of the Day

Hot Air - Ed Morrissey
Would you rather have the man who set the trap dealing with our enemies abroad, or the man who fell into it?

It's the Character Stupid

Bill Whittle argues reasonably and persuasively, on a lefty blog, about the real reason for choosing Sarah Palin. I stumbled across this at Brutally Honest but follow the link to Whittle's full comments. They are excellent.

I think, for me, it's a sense that this is an honest person - not just another politician. A breath of fresh air in a honorable profession gone bad. She convinces you through the strength of her character and beliefs not through triangulation. She does not see gaining office as a quest for power but as a sacred duty in the service of others. Kinda like our forefathers when they pledged their sacred honor when signing the Declaration of Independence.

Perhaps my expectations are too high. I think not. I hope not.

I know some folks read and participate on lefty blogs in order to understand the opposite point of view and to argue the conservative point of view. Whittle has done this masterfully. I applaud those who can do this, I can't. I have little patience for the left's arguments.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Now Blogging at ASHC

I have been invited to blog at A Second Hand Conjecture. Look for me in the "Around the Web". Look for me there

House GOP Rejects Dems Disingenuous Offer of Compromise

Hot Air - Ed Morrissey
Unlike some of their colleagues in the Senate, House Republicans have rejected a minimal effort to compromise offered by Nancy Pelosi on energy policy. After floating a proposal that would have allowed very limited drilling in exchange for windfall-profits taxes and depletion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Pelosi got the door slammed in her face by the GOP members participating in the House Oil Party this month. Their message — follow or get out of the way.
Two important points. Why we should not use the SPR.
That notion belies the entire underpinning of the Democratic policy on domestic production. They claim that we “cannot drill our way out of this crisis,” and yet the SPR release would temporarily do what expanded domestic production would do for decades. If one cannot produce one’s way out of a supply crisis, then what effect would an SPR release have? At the same time, with a war in the Caucasus and Americans fighting in two theaters in Asia, not only would a reduction in the SPR make the military more vulnerable to supply disruptions, it would require us to replace what gets depleted. If we’re not producing our own oil to do that, we’ll only raise prices again as we stoke demand.
And why we need to stop supporting the bad guys.
And now we have yet another reason to start producing our own oil. Vladimir Putin has rebuilt his empire-hungry nation’s military strength on the high price of crude oil and natural gas — prices we support with our demands on the international market. Any long-term strategy of containment regarding Moscow has to include a deep cut to the price supports for crude oil. The best way we can effect that is to vastly increase our own production (and refinement) of oil, and get out of the international market. Prices will drop dramatically, and Russia, Iran, Sudan, and other problem nations will suddenly have a lot less cash with which to make trouble.

That Rightward swing that comes with age and experience

Dissecting Leftism
Wow! This is a good example. The almost libertarian article below was written by none other than George McGovern, in the 1970s a far Leftist and Democratic party Presidential candidate. He really gets it now

McGovern's article

Above My Pay Grade

Blogs for Victory
Obama sez:
Whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity is, you know, above my pay grade.
An observer comments:
That spectacularly inept metaphor is going to haunt Obama throughout the rest of the campaign. News flash: There’s not a job on the planet above the pay grade of the President of the United States.
Whatever your position, a leader must take a stand. He must draw a line in the sand. Obama is clearly not a leader. He is a remarkable manipulator, but not a leader.


Increase Legal Immigrant Quota

Greg Mankiw
Alan Greenspan argues it would be a help to the housing market in addition to other benefits.
The most effective initiative, though politically difficult, would be a major expansion in quotas for skilled immigrants
Business had been calling for increased quotas for skilled labor for years. We need to increase and streamline the immigration process for legal, skilled labor and shut down the inflow of illegal immigration.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Awakening in Pakistan?

The Strata-Sphere
In an unprecedented development, an armed Lashkar in Buner district recently hunted down and killed six militants allegedly involved in killing cops in Kingargali. The operation shows that the people of Buner, Dir Upper and Dir Lower have stood up against the Taliban militants sneaking into these hitherto peaceful areas after Bajaur and Swat military operations.


Feminist Male Bashing in the Democrat Platform?

Instapundit
Who would have ever thunk of such a thing.
If the Democratic Party is interested in garnering men’s votes, one certainly would not know it from their platform. The Democratic National Committee’s "Renewing America's Promise" is bad news for American fathers.
And by extension, bad news for families and kids.

McCain to Advertize Where?

Hot Air
How interesting. Maybe the McCain campaign is beginning to break out of its slump.
What better way to reach potential voters than to provide a series of 60-second counterpoints to the rhetoric in Denver?

Friday, August 15, 2008

Gas Pipeline in the Works

IBD
As congressional Democrats dither on a vote for oil drilling, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has pushed through a gas pipeline project to bring new supply and price relief to the lower 48.

Your Local Nuclear Reactor

Next Big Future
Hyperion Power Module (HPM), a small, compact, transportable, nuclear power reactor.

Good News From Pakistan?

The Strata-Sphere
Is the Paki army stepping up to the plate? News that they may have uncovered an Al Qaeda hive and are making good progress against it.
Pakistan’s interior ministry chief said Friday that over 460 Islamic militants and 22 soldiers have been killed in more than a week of fighting in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan
I hate to see any good guys die but a 20 to 1 ratio ain't bad. Of course we should be cautious with any news coming out of these remote areas.

Another Crack in the Wall

Right Wing News
Crap like this is happening all the time. Eventually the wall will fall.
The idiocracy has taken another small step toward its goal of reducing Americans to ignorant, useless, government-dependent farm animals that can be raised for votes the way chickens are raised for eggs:
Dallas public school students who flunk tests, blow off homework and
miss assignment deadlines can make up the work without penalty, under
new rules that have angered many teachers.

Problem Mongering - Surest Path to Power

Foundation for Economic Freedom via Dissecting Leftism
Why are optimists about the state of the world disproportionately represented by classical liberals, libertarians, and free- market conservatives, while pessimists about the state of the world are disproportionately represented by statists?

Why do left-leaning media such as the New York Times and CNN devote so much ink and airtime alleging that middle-class Americans have made little or no economic progress over the past 35 years and that the planet continues to spiral into imminent catastrophe?

Answer:
Quite simply, problem-mongering is the surest path to power. No matter how good things are, we humans can always imagine them being even better. No matter how clearly the data show progress, data can be cherry-picked and interpreted to make matters appear grim.
This is how you manipulate the sheeple.

Obama's New Tax Plan - Creating More Dependecy

Chronicles of the Conspiracy
Obama wants to make it worse, shopping for voters by his tax plan to cut 17 million more in on a free ride in America.

Answering Russia's Aggression

Blogs For Victory
The United States and Poland reached a long-stalled deal on Thursday to place an American missile defense base on Polish territory, in the strongest reaction so far to Russia’s military operation in Georgia.
He argues that the US is the clear world power and Russia cannot exist on its own.
Next up, the Baltic States - we really need to teach Russia a lesson about which nation is the super power and which nation is the rapidly declining power of the second rank. Putin and his gang seem to labor under the illusion that Russia has the strength to stand on her own in the world - she doesn’t. Russia either gives up her imperial ambitions and agrees to alliance with the United States (after, of course, becoming a full democracy), or Russia will eventually find itself the conscript ally of China. There is only one way Russia retains her Asian territories beyond 2050, and that is in alliance with the United States.
Lastly, he calls the US the "bulwark of western civilization". I agree. Europe birthed the ideas of freedom and enlightenment but is losing its way today. The ideals of the Magna Charta and the French Revolution live on in the US Constitution.


Is That A Light At The End Of The Tunnel?

Blogs For Victory
New polls in a NJ race suggest a stronger Republican showing than anticipated.
As I keep saying, this is going to be an interesting year - and throw out all those ideas you had of predicting the outcome. Its really all up in the air, from top of the ticket to bottom.


What Happens When We Elect Children

American Thinker
This guys blasts Clinton and then Obama. I gotta agree. I think Clinton was a national disaster and a disgrace. Obama is just a child - way in over his head.
Our nation once elected wise men. It now votes for small children like Clinton and Obama. Panting for power and fame has replaced fighting for principles, often alone.

Can anyone imagine Clinton or Obama doing anything... alone? Government is, to them, a toy, an object of amusement, a super-sized television set. The blood that brave men and women shed for them each day so that we may be safe and free means nothing to immature schoolchildren like Clinton and Obama. Human freedom, served to them on a silver platter all their lives, requires no cost -- they never had to pay for it did they? -- and so it requires no blood, no sweat, no tears.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Fairness Doctrine Gaining Ground

All American Blogger
This is scary. The sheeple are being swayed by the Orwellian use of the term "fairness".
Nearly half of Americans (47%) believe the government should require all radio and television stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary, but they draw the line at imposing that same requirement on the Internet. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say leave radio and TV alone, too.
It appears they don't want to manage the internet yet, but if this gains momentum, I doubt that will last long.

Moonbats At Work

Brutally Honest
Russians were told over breakfast yesterday what really happened in Georgia: the conflict in South Ossetia was part of a plot by Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, to stop Barak Obama being elected president of the United States.


Fred Thompson Shoots From the Hip

The Patriot Room
This is no time to elect a president whose international experience is limited to speaking to adoring European crowds who want to see the United States retreat from the world … until they require our help in the next crisis that threatens them.
...
This election cycle, the traffic in the world is very heavy …and dangerous; it’s no time to give a kid with barely a learner’s permit the keys to the car.



Islamist's Ulterior Motive?

Jihad Watch
The world Salafists' ultimate wish is to see the two infidel superpowers at odds with each other again; and that is happening. The combat-Jihadists want bloodshed both in Moscow and in Washington now and in the future. The long-term Wahabis likes the idea of an American demobilization against Jihadism and a re-mobilization against Russia. Ending the War on Terror and reigniting the Cold war is the ultimate fantasy of the oil producing fundamentalist powers.


A Strategic Reason for Helping the Third World

NRO
A lesson from Iraq, but it is more than Iraq. It pertains to all third world countries. Helping others is a good thing but it is also in our best interest. Funny how it works out that way.
... rebuilding the city and putting its people to work is in America’s strategic interest. Clean water, abundant electricity, well-paved roads, open schools, teeming markets — these are America’s most potent weapons in limiting the propagation of al Qaeda’s worldview.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

When: We Move Too Far Left

Townhall
Perhaps a bit dramatic but it does make one think about which way we may be headed.
When: We give up on the dream of America that was so forcefully and heroically espoused by our Founding Fathers, we will be left with nothing more than a faint memory of what was once, the greatest nation on the face of the earth.

VDH on the New World Order

NRO
Brace yourself — we may be on our way back to an old world, where the strong do as they will, and the weak suffer as they must.
Also see here

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Economic Optimism Rising

IBD
The IBD/TIPP index of consumer optimism soared 14.4% in August to 42.8, its highest reading since February

Senate Ethics a contradiction in terms

Hot Air
Ed Morrissey explains Senate ethics.
For some reason, they don’t seem offended by a Senator who earmarks millions of dollars to benefit bundlers raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for a presidential campaign. It gives a clear indication of the backwardness of Senate ethics. A member can sell himself out to campaign contributors and not even garner a raised eyebrow from the ethics watchdogs, but deliver a baby? Stone the crows!

Hezbollah in Latin America

EEPC Publication
Are these guys just gnats or is this something we need to not ignore?
Hezbollah continues ambitiously to spread its influence beyond the Middle East. It has successfully penetrated pockets of Africa and South America.

The "black" Elephant in the Room

Brutally Honest
Don't know if this guy is for real. He has a website. Gotta love this rant though. Won't help Obama when he pulls the race card.
White people gotta walk on white eggshells.


Is a Shakeup worth the Risk?

Instapundit
As much as I like seeing the Libertarians challenge the status quo, the problem of bleeding away Republican votes and thereby strengthening Obama, remains.
While victory may currently appear out of reach, many states are shaping up to be a photo finish between Obama and McCain. Bob Barr may well have more of an impact on the 2008 presidential election than many would have suspected or desired.

Monday, August 11, 2008

George Will is Not Happy

Townhall
George will is on fire also. He covers a lot of ground while interjecting biting comments of the state of events in the US.
America's trivializing presidential campaign
This in the second sentence and it just keeps getting better till the end.

Liberal Means What?

Townhall
Dennis Prager on fire. Notice the Orwellian shift in the term "liberal". It does not mean today, what it meant thirty years ago. Hence the description "classic liberal" for some parts of today's Libertarians.
The following is a list of beliefs that I hold. Nearly every one of them was a liberal position until the late 1960s. Not one of them is now.

A New World Order?

Fox Forum
Kinda like the old world order.
And so if the world isn’t becoming more like the West, then what is it becoming like? The answer, most likely, is that the world is going to revert back to the way it was before the US won World War Two and imposed a Pax Americana on what we called “The Free World.” Pre-1945, there were lots of great powers jockeying around, fighting proxy wars constantly, attacking each other when it suited them. And now, it seems, we are returning back to that world.


How to Answer a Question

Newmark's Door
It's a shame we actually need to spell this out but, what he said.
We shouldn't have to excuse, or to tolerate, any other answer. There should be no defense for politicians lying to voters. It corrupts our political system. The sooner we, as voters, demand it stop, the better off we'll all be.


Sunday, August 10, 2008

Leaking News from Hilary's Campaign

The Patriot Room
Two issues here. One is that she failed as an executive and could not manage the competing opinions within her campaign. Two, the opinion of her chief strategist.
Penn, the presidential campaign’s chief strategist, wrote in a memo to Clinton excerpted in the article: "I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values."
The Patriot Room adds this:
Hillary had all the ammo and didn’t use it. The Atlantic article is an expose of the discord and mayhem in the Clinton campaign, which is useful for navel gazing, but the take-away is the lesson of how McCain, a traditional, patriotic American, can beat the man who is American by birth only.
Will McCain run with this and attack Obama head on even as Obama attempts to protect himself from criticism by labeling it racist?

Categorizing Your Political Opponents

American Digest
Looks like Gerard has returned from his summer hiatus. Very funny

Manipulating the Weather

Impact Lab
Fascinating.
Beijing fired over 1,000 rain dispersal rockets on Friday evening to blow away rain clouds for the smooth opening ceremony of the 29th Olympic Games at the National Stadium

Miracle of Modern Technology

Wired
Webcams make experts available.
If a stroke specialist can see and hear their patient, zoom in on their pupils and facial muscles, and ask them questions, they are far more likely to offer the right advice. In fact, experts who examined patients with the webcam made the right decision 98 percent of the time, compared to 82 percent when they simply talked to the emergency room doctor by phone.

Orwellian Doublespeak - a Democratic View of democracy

Wizbang
"Democrat" has two meanings. As a proper, capitalized noun, it means, simply, "a member of the Democratic party." But when it's a lower-case "d," though, it means considerably more:

Can the markets predict the Presidential election?

Economist
Many people believe in the acumen of those who participate in the Iowa Electronic Markets. Their “winner takes all” contract strongly favours Barack Obama at the moment, with a price of just over 62 (the winner gets 100, the loser gets zero). That probably reflects the opinion surveys: in CNN’s poll of polls the Illinois senator currently has a five-percentage point lead.

But maybe investors can get just as a good a guide from the stockmarket. Sam Stovall, the chief investment strategist of Standard & Poor’s, has investigated the performance of the markets in the three months (August through October) leading up to the presidential vote.

Confusion in the GOP Ranks

Right Wing News
One thing the Dems do well is manage their folks and stay on message. We don't have a unifying "head" of the party. We don't have a philosophical leader or a party leader.

Good News for Oil

Redstate
If the trend continues into September at anything like the same rate of descent, most of the inflationary spike of the past 12 months will miraculously have been sliced away.

The Big Question About John Edwards is Really About Us

Redstate
But why did it take so long for us to be able to see John Edwards as he truly is? Surely, we could as a nation vet better.

But They Are All "Good Kids"

Pajamas Media
This article is about increasing heroin addiction in our young people. But, it's more than than that. The article looks to the underlying cause. A generation of parents who have raised a generation of kids that can't cope with life.
They were not taught what to do when things don’t go your way because things always were made to go their way.


Gloomy News from Detroit

No Left Turns
It's been a bumpy road for Detroit's Big Three automakers for the past few years. But it may get worse.

Some experts fear that GM, Ford and Chrysler - their sales plunging as fewer consumers buy gas-guzzling pickups and SUVs - could be forced to head for bankruptcy.

This does not bode well for the R&D capital required to move into the post gasoline era.

Lopping Off Heads

Long War Journal
Figuratively speaking. We are decapitating the Taliban, just like we did Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Several Taliban shadow governors have been killed or arrested this year by security forces.

Leaking News from Hilary's Campaign

The Patriot Room
Two issues here. One is that she failed as an executive and could not manage the competing opinions within her campaign. Two, the opinion of her chief strategist.
Penn, the presidential campaign’s chief strategist, wrote in a memo to Clinton excerpted in the article: "I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values."
The Patriot Room adds this:
Hillary had all the ammo and didn’t use it. The Atlantic article is an expose of the discord and mayhem in the Clinton campaign, which is useful for navel gazing, but the take-away is the lesson of how McCain, a traditional, patriotic American, can beat the man who is American by birth only.
Will McCain run with this and attack Obama head on even as Obama attempts to protect himself from criticism by labeling it racist?