Grim's Hall
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
posted by Grim 18:00 Gov. Palin on Her Nomination:Gov. Sarah Palin has given an exclusive email interview to The Frontiersman. One exchange stands out. She was asked if she had been prepared for the media attacks on her family.
Nothing really prepares you for hatred and made-up stories. But it’s nothing like the hard times of a family that’s lost a job, lost health insurance, or lost a son or daughter in battle.It is amazing what has been aimed at her and her family in this time. Of course, once in a while a more honest portrayal breaks through -- even if it has to be given a hostile headline. BlackFive co-blogger Frosty writes:
I would hope that the privacy of my children would be respected, as has been the tradition for the children of previous candidates. Obviously, it hasn’t been so far.
I think part of the media frenzy is because I haven’t been a part of the Washington establishment and that I’m not as well known to the powers that be in Washington. I’m not going to win over anyone in the media elite — I’m going to do my best for the American people.
And of course all candidates want to shield their children from the rancor and bitterness. My personal e-mails being hacked into really took the cake because of all the violation of confidence and privacy that others felt when they saw the e-mails they sent to me were posted on Web sites around the world.
Concern for my family’s safety was also paramount because pictures and contact information for my kids were published and their receipt of all the harassing calls and messages has been very concerning.A Mountain Man/Fisherman and his Mountain Woman/Governor. I don’t think First Dude is an accurate term for a guy who races in the snow 2000 miles, the last 400 on a broken arm, or who fishes in the Gulf of Alaska with 20 ft seas during the season. First Stud, maybe. Not First Dude.That's certainly part of the Palins' appeal. Some of us look at that kind of thing with respect and admiration, rather than envy.
posted by Grim 15:18 What Was That Thing Eric Used To Say?
Via Reason, which is on the same page as our Mr. Blair.
Monday, September 29, 2008
posted by Grim 21:07 GHMC: Broken Arrow:So, what did you think?
Sunday, September 28, 2008
posted by Grim 23:05 Truth Squad Incident Report:I see that they have an online form to ease the process of reporting violations. I trust everyone will follow the links before choosing a 'violation' to report.
H/t: InstaPundit, who has some additional updates.
posted by Joel L 21:31OBAMA CAMPAIGN ADOPTS POLICE STATE TACTICS TO SUPPRESS DISSENT
The Obama Campaign has recently adopted a truly frightening tactic in Missouri. Obama’s campaign is assembling a group of sympathetic prosecutors and law enforcement agents to “target” anyone they think is lying or misleading the public about Obama and his positions. If this intimidation tactic didn’t smack of fascism by its very nature, the title of this group, The Barack Obama Truth Squad, should dispel any lingering doubts. You can watch a local news report about the group here.
The brazen nature of Obama’s ploy is amazing. There is only one reason why Obama would want to assemble a “Truth Squad” comprised solely of prosecutors and law enforcement agents: he wants to quash all dissent through naked intimidation. If all Obama wanted was volunteers to engage the public and challenge the assertions of the opposing candidate he could do so with anyone. But that is not what Obama wants. He wants people with a badge, gun, and/or the power to prosecute going after anyone that says something critical of of the Obamessiah. I find it amazing that liberals will go in to spasms of rage over supposed threats to civil liberties in The Patriot Act (a law designed to stop terrorists) yet have no problem with the “Truth Squad’s” attempt to crush political dissent.
At least the Governor of Missouri gets it. Read his statement here.
Talk about liberal fascism. Sieg Heil, Big smile.
Cross posted at Souther Appeal.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
posted by Grim 14:43 Goodnight, Mr. Newman:We'll remember you this way:
Newman's two greatest films were in company with Robert Redford, the famous Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid and the less famous -- but equally good -- The Sting.
In both roles he played a criminal, one who used not violence but cleverness and charm to rob and steal. Indeed, his characters attempted to use their talents to limit the violence inherent in the world they inhabit.
In life, he used his cleverness and charm instead to create charitable foundations. Here as in the films, he used his talent to limit the hardships that inhabit the world.
UPDATE: Greyhawk adds some details I didn't know: that Mr. Newman was a torpedo plane gunner and radioman in WWII's Pacific theater. He was decorated with the American Area Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.
posted by Grim 06:35 Some Economics:Ten minutes, but worth it if you haven't seen it:
If, like me, you are spinning up on things like "Credit Default Swaps" for the first time, you may find this post helpful.
posted by Grim 05:33 The First Debate:It appears that the general consensus is that your guy won, whoever 'your guy' is. Obama supporters point to the focus groups, which suggest that he did well among undecideds, chiefly because they liked his economic answers better, and the economy is big-time #1 on people's minds right now. The actual subject of the debate, foreign policy, was a McCain winner.
Sixty-six percent of uncommitted voters think Obama would make the right decisions about the economy. Forty-two percent think McCain would.So, what are the 'right decisions' about the economy that Sen. Obama stated he would make? Well, spending: 'spend, spend, spend, no freeze on spending, and here's a few more spending programs I'd like to do.'
Forty-eight percent of these voters think Obama would make the right decisions about Iraq. Fifty-six percent think McCain would.
The problem is, that decision is at variance with basic reality. Assuming there is no bailout bill, the economy could turn south in a severe and lasting way, drying up the taxpayer pool. Assuming that there is a bailout bill in the next little while, the government's capacity for such new spending is going to be quite limited. Once we've added $700B to this week's budget, just where is this additional money coming from? McCain's approach -- that we will need to cut or at least freeze spending levels on noncritical programs -- is not just right, it's necessary. There is no alternative.
McCain supporters point to the fact that Obama got flustered numerous times, and was clearly out of his depth on foreign policy issues. The problem for Sen. McCain here is that no one is thinking about foreign policy this week. However, if the bailout gets credit flowing and things start to improve financially, attention may return to it before the election -- this is a store of goods that may yet prove more valuable.
First impressions of the debate are rarely lasting. Given time to reflect, things that sounded good at first may sour. McCain's campaign would do well to hammer not just the point they've been hammering -- that Sen. Obama said 'McCain is absolutely right' a bunch of times -- but also the point that there is just no way that Sen. Obama can actually do what he's claiming he will do economically.
Sen. Obama's response to economic distress is to ramp up spending in every area. This isn't merely 'countercyclical' economics: we're getting that with the $700B bailout. Trying to stack vast new spending on top of that is a refusal to admit to reality.
Finally, a number of people are talking about the OODA Loop again:John McCain out-thought Barack Obama early on, and increased that throughout the debate.As we've discussed before, Sen. McCain's reported IQ is reasonably high: at 133, in the 98th percentile. It wouldn't be at all surprising if he were more intelligent than Sen. Obama, because he'd be more intelligent than most people.
I don't pretend to know if John McCain is smarter than Barack Obama, but in their first head-to-head, it was clear that thinks faster on his feet.
Looking back through the campaign season at the various "3 A.M." moments and the candidate's reactions, this doesn't appear to be an isolated event.
That doesn't necessarily translate into votes. Still, Sen. McCain manages to be intelligent without being pretentious, and that can be powerful with voters. No one wants a dunce for a President, but they also don't want someone who thinks he knows better than they do how to run their lives.
Message for tonight: the economy is #1, and for now voters haven't realized just how big $700B is, and how it will cut into future government spending. We can't have it all, and will have to prioritize. Sen. McCain promised to do that. Sen. Obama refused.
Foreign policy is almost considered a distraction at this point, but it will be important in the next term. On that ground, Sen. McCain is vastly superior.
Friday, September 26, 2008
posted by Grim 20:31 Grim's Hall Movie Club: Broken ArrowI would like to nominate this movie, available online for free, as the newest entry. Let us discuss it on Monday.
posted by Grim 18:54 Smallness:FbL at The Castle points to this story:
CBS New anchor Katie Couric ordered staff to drop all references to "Governor" or "Gov." from her interview with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. When a staff member pointed out that in other venues, Couric and CBS News had referred to Governor Palin's opponent, Joe Biden, using his title of "Senator" or the abbreviation, Couric, according to a CBS News editorial aide, sought approval from CBS News management to drop the "Governor" reference during her broadcast interview with Palin that began on Wednesday night.FbL says, "[Y]ou gotta laugh at the smallness of it all."
Maybe. Even I refer to Sen. Obama with his title, and I have come to despise him and think him unfit to speak in the company of men. In spite of my powerful feelings of disdain, however, I don't deny him the honor given him by the people of Illinois.
Gov. Palin is treated with a special hate by the media. It's not the "Liberal Media," either: it's the Beltway conservative media as well. It's the media generally.
You would be hard pressed to find a journalist whose actual accomplishments in life were half of hers. They may be able to speak eloquently on a given subject, whether it is the difference between Sunnis and Shi'ites or the exact calibrations of the various Bush Doctrines. Yet which of them has accomplished so much, or half so much?
Forgive them, though, if they don't feel she merits even her current title -- the one already achieved in an honest election. Forgive them, for they know better than the people of Alaska, or than us.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
posted by Grim 13:06 "Obama Gardens"I like Hot Air's take on this story as well. As a state senator, Obama got a hundred grand from taxpayers to build a botanical garden in his district:
Oops?A $100,000 state grant for a botanic garden in Englewood that then-state Sen. Barack Obama awarded in 2001 to a group headed by a onetime campaign volunteer is now under investigation by the Illinois attorney general amid new questions, prompted by Chicago Sun-Times reports, about whether the money might have been misspent.Eighty-five percent of the funds wound up going no farther than the pockets of Obama’s campaign volunteer. Chris Fusco and Dave McKinney track down the contractor who supposedly got most of this funding to find out what happened. He told the Sun-Times reporters that he only was asked to cut down a few trees and to grade the surface of the park, which would have been overpriced at $3,000. So what happened to the other $82,000? No one knows, and the Smiths don’t have any explanation.
The garden was never built. And now state records obtained by the Sun-Times show $65,000 of the grant money went to the wife of Kenny B. Smith, the Obama 2000 congressional campaign volunteer who heads the Chicago Better Housing Association, which was in charge of the project for the blighted South Side neighborhood.
Smith wrote another $20,000 in grant-related checks to K.D. Contractors, a construction company that his wife, Karen D. Smith, created five months after work on the garden was supposed to have begun, records show. K.D. is no longer in business.
posted by Grim 11:04 The McCain/Clinton Economic Recovery Act of 2008:What are the prospects for Senator McCain -- the most successful Senator in living memory at reaching across the aisle -- will provoke a compromise bill that will please both parties and pass the Congress at this time? I think you can look at these statements for some evidence:
[Bill Clinton], just a week after calling McCain a “great man” and mere hours before stressing how “personally, profoundly honored” he is to have him speak at his charity....So, which is more likely: that McCain and Sen. Clinton will be the ones who put together the compromise bill (next week's headline today: "Markets Soar as McCain/Clinton Act Signed Into Law")? Or that the threat of such a bill will push Reid, Pelosi et al into a compromise today?
The best part of this isn’t the “good faith” bit but his point — which he repeats, so that no one misses it — that Maverick actually wanted more debates, not less. That’ll be a handy riposte tomorrow if McCain ends up skipping out and the left starts accusing him of being scared.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
posted by Grim 22:11 A Southern Lady on the Media and Sarah Palin:About once an election cycle I mention my mother, whose views on politics always interest me. She is one of those undecided voters most years, a swing voter who can be persuaded to support either candidate usually until the last (and even then, with some uncertainty: as she said tonight, she is glad that there are millions of others also casting votes, as she doesn't want to be the one who decides for us all).
She's still not at all sure who she'll vote for this year, but she was not happy with the way that CBS treated Sarah Palin. Two excerpts will explain her irritation. One, from Couric's interview with Palin:Couric: If this doesn't pass, do you think there's a risk of another Great Depression?And two, from Couric's interview with McCain:
Palin: Unfortunately, that is the road that America may find itself on. Not necessarily this, as it's been proposed, has to pass or we're going to find ourselves in another Great Depression. But, there has got to be action - bipartisan effort - Congress not pointing fingers at one another but finding the solution to this, taking action, and being serious about the reforms on Wall Street that are needed.Couric: Earlier today, senator, I spoke with your running mate, Sarah Palin, and she told me that if action is not taken a Great Depression is, quote, "The road that America may find itself on." Do you agree with that assessment?Well, Katie, is it? You brought it up.
McCain: I don't know … if it's exactly the Depression. But I know of no expert, including Mr. Bernanke, the head of the Federal Reserve, and our secretary of treasury, and the outside observers ... every respected economist … in this country is saying, "You better address this problem, and you better do it now, or the consequences, obviously, of inaction are of the utmost seriousness." So I agree … with Gov. Palin. There's so much at stake here. That's why I am confident that we'll sit down and work together on this thing.
Couric: But isn't so much of this, Sen. McCain, about consumer confidence?
McCain: Sure.
Couric: And using rhetoric like the "Great Depression," is that the kind of language Americans need to hear right now?
The AP went hook, line and sinker, of course.
posted by Grim 14:10 "May God Defend the Right"A priest in Australia was confronted by a robber with a knife who had broken into the church. After the backside-kicking, the robber said: "I only wanted money … you're a priest and you're not helping."
The priest told the press, "I thought: 'I'm a priest but that's not the kind of help [we should give].'"
Oh -- and the priest is 72.
H/t: FARK.
posted by Grim 13:56 An Argument in Pictures:Via Southern Appeal, two pictures that accompanied an endorsement.
What's great about these images is that they work no matter which side you're on. If you are a liberal who wanted to endorse Sen. Obama as a sensitive, caring, gentle soul with echoes of Lincoln -- and to reject Gov. Palin as a bloodthirsty monster -- it works for you.
On the other hand, if you're a conservative who wants to endorse Gov. Palin as an outdoorswoman, mother and huntress -- and reject Sen. Obama as a pretentious light-in-the-loafers sucker apt to be run over by terrorists and Iranian nuke-mongers -- it works for you too. The same two pictures encapsulate everything that supporters love, and everything opponents detest, about the two candidates.
You can't say we don't have a clear choice this year. Except that, again, Gov. Palin is running for vice president -- an office that Sen. Obama is somewhat more qualified for than the one he has chosen to seek.
posted by Grim 13:54 Obama: Already the PresidentDad29 points us to Obama's new coinage.
Democrats have begun striking coins with Barack Obama’s profile — and already proclaiming him President.... The coins show Senator Obama’s face, along with a picture of the White House and the legend “President of the United States of America”.The link points to Hot Air, which says: "Barack Obama may be the first person in history to start striking coins in his image before taking power. Maybe he just wants to look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills[.]"
Yeah, maybe.
posted by Grim 13:44 In Praise of Larry Munson:Some of you probably saw this in the comments, but Mike informs us of the retirement of the voice of the Bulldogs. Larry Munson is the kind of announcer who never made any pretense to objectivity, but loved his team and the game with unreserved passion. Autumn won't be the same without him. He is 86, so we understand, but today is a sad day for football in America.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
posted by Grim 23:26 ATL @ WRK:Fulton County, home of the Atlanta public school system:
H/t: FAILblog.
posted by Grim 22:53 Confederate Yankee on Rape Kits:You know how Gov. Palin supposedly required victims to pay for their own rape kits?
Yeah, well, no. Her city picked up the cost even before the Alaska law requiring them to do so went into effect.
See the comments to his post also.
posted by Grim 20:39 Georgia:It was back in June when we talked about Georgia:
It is probably a sign of things to come that the Obama campaign is talking about winning without Ohio or Florida. I'm sure they intended that as a sign of confidence, but it's a remarkable formula -- 'We don't necessarily need to win battleground states, because we'll win red states.'Today via Cassidy and Mary Katherine Ham, an observation:
Consider the conceit that Georgia is 'in play,' for example. I live in Georgia. I've spent most of my life in Georgia. The suggestion that Obama will win Georgia is just whistling past the graveyard. It's never going to happen.Earlier, Obama halted television advertising in Georgia. Idaho was conceded a Democratic write-off early on, as is Alaska now, given the presence of its popular Republican Gov. Sarah Palin as the vice presidential running mate on the GOP ticket.Let's take a little broader perspective on that.Republican presidential nominee John McCain leads Democratic rival Barack Obama by 10 percentage points, 51 percent to 41 percent, among rural voters in 13 pivotal states, a poll released on Monday shows.We won't be seeing any Red States go blue this year. We may see some swing states go blue: that's still to be determined. But the concept that Sen. Obama was a transformational politician is dead. If he wins, he'll win the hard way -- just like everyone else.
posted by Grim 20:33 Preach It, Son:Allah notes that Sen. Obama lashed out at both the UN and Iran's President today, and loses his cool just a bit:
He must be joking. Am I hallucinating or hasn’t this tool made his own willingness to meet with either Ahmadinejad himself or the people who sent him to the UN the cornerstone of his foreign-policy approach?Don't worry, Allah. Losing your cool on this matter just makes you cooler in my book. Sen. Obama's shamelessness is starting to grate on us all.
posted by Eric 19:08 Dans ce pay-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un CEO pour encourager les autres.Corporate India is in shock after a mob of sacked workers bludgeoned to death the chief executive who had dismissed them from a factory in a suburb of Delhi.
apologies to Voltaire (and Admiral Byng)Labels: Failure, India, management worker relations
posted by Grim 13:38 The Great Tragedy:A website called Abortion Changes You gives voice to those suffering from a "choice." It is remarkably moving, and restores something of the honesty so often missing from the discussion.
posted by Grim 09:22 The Revolution Continues:I don't remember Naomi Wolf being quite so... well, read for yourself:
In McCain-Palin's America, citizens who are protesting are being charged as terrorists. This means that a violent war had been declared on American citizens. A well known reporter leaked to me on background that St Paul police had dressed as protesters and, dressed in Black -- shades of the Blackshirts of 1920 -- infiltrated protest groups. There were also phalanxes of men in black wearing balaclavas, linking arms and behaving menacingly -- alleged "anarchists." Let me tell you, I have been on the left for thirty years and you can't get three lefties to wear the same t-shirt to a rally, let alone link arms and wear identical face masks: these are not our guys.So, the anarchists we've all been seeing at all these protests for more than a dozen years are really part of a Karl Rove plot? That seems like a testable claim: I would think a little Zombietime would resolve your mind on the matter. But: Sarah Palin's operative is stealing your daughter's letters home from camp?
...
Almost everyone I work with on projects related to this campaign for liberty has been experiencing computer harassment: emails are stripped, messages disappear. That's not all: people's bank accounts are being tampered with: wire transfers to banks vanish in midair. I personally keep opening bank accounts that are quickly corrupted by fraud. Money vanishes. Coworkers of mine have to keep opening new email accounts as old ones become infected. And most disturbingly to me personally is the mail tampering I have both heard of and experienced firsthand. My tax returns vanished from my mailbox. All my larger envelopes arrive ripped straight open apparently by hand. When I show the postman, he says "That's impossible." Horrifyingly to me is the impact on my family. My childrens' report cards are returned again and again though perfectly addressed; their invitations are turned back; and my daughters many letters from camp? Vanished. All of them. Not one arrived.
There are probably some fringe blogs out there that posit that an Obama victory would mean the end of Democracy in America, and some sort of coup against the Constitutional Order. I believe it would mean the end of much of American power, through the defunding of the military's efforts to replace and improve their equipment, and wasteful social spending on a scale that would strip away much of our capacity to do much of anything except social spending (see Canada, Europe).
Still, my operating assumption has been that he would mostly obey the law: and Obama, not McCain or Palin, is the one who was trained by men who advocated violent revolution (Frank Marshall Davis, Williaim Ayers) or self-described radical means to undermine the social system (Saul Alinski -- who actually dedicated his book on "community organizers," Rules for Radicals, to Lucifer; Ayers again; the Rev. Mr. Wright, who at least isn't on Lucifer's side; etc).
For that matter, he's the one whose supporters are calling for armed revolution. They're the ones who are trying to shut down news outlets that report opposition viewpoints.
Wolf says:Am I trying to scare you? I am. I am trying to scare you to death and ask you to scare your Republican and independent friends most of all.It's a remarkably unselfconscious thing to say, given:Under the Palin-Rove police state, citizens will be targeted with state cyberterrorism. Bruce Fein of the American Freedom Agenda, a former Reagan official, warned me three years ago that the Bush team went after a Republican who had crossed them through cyberstalking: they messed with his email...Whose email was hacked and published on the internet for all to see? Sen. Obama's, right? No?
Likewise, consider how she finishes:Scharansky divided nations into "fear societies" and "free societies." Make no mistake: Sarah "Evita" Palin is Rove and Cheney's cosmetic rebranding of their fascist push: she will help to establish a true and irreversible "fear society" in this once free once proud nation. For God's sake, do not let her; do not let them.Who was selling fear?
There are some people out there who should take a deep breath.
Monday, September 22, 2008
posted by Grim 23:22 "Just a Man."This weekend made me remember something, and reflect on it. It is in the desert around Las Vegas, lingering beyond the last of the lights. It was in the call for armed revolution from fools who never could manage their claim. It is in what we spoke of below, where the Milbloggers alone play taps among a conference filled with businessmen.
"It was an age akin to the Homeric or the Elizabethan, and a man bred to either age would have been at home in the West, and would have talked the language of the men about him.Sometimes it seems like there are not a lot of us left. A statistic often repeated at the conference: fewer than one percent of Americans choose to serve in uniform. It's not the only way, of course, but among the rest, how many? And how many just like what White People like, forgetting to be men?"Achilles and Jim Bowie had much in common; Sir Francis Drake and John Coulter or Kit Carson would have understood the other.
"They were men of violence all, strong men of strong emotions, men who lived with strength and skill. Ulysses could have marched beside Jedediah Smith, Crockett could have stormed the walls of Troy."
-Louis L'Amour, How the West Was Won, 1962.
posted by Grim 20:44 Living the Dream:Doc Russia has what he would call a good night:
Last night was one of those nights were I got worked hard, and put up wet, but actually had a Hell of a time.Go see what living the dream entails for Doc Russia. When you're done, don't forget to take a moment to thank God there are men like him.
It was hard, demanding and stressful work, but I actually felt like I was 'living the dream.'
posted by Grim 16:05 Vegas AAR:Some remarks:
1) Thanks to Allen for coming out. It was great to meet one of the Grim's Hall crew in person. He was the other guy in the cowboy hat, but since he runs tall by anyone's standard, it wasn't hard to tell us apart. I enjoyed meeting you.
2) When we announced the BlackFive party at the Penthouse Club (and once we had all understood that was Penthouse Magazine, not just some penthouse somewhere), Miss Ladybug asked: "I've been to Hooter's before, so is that too much different?"
I still haven't been to a Hooters. Nevertheless, I think I can now say with a high degree of confidence that there is indeed quite a difference.
3) I didn't really think I'd much enjoy all those hours of sitting at the various panels, but in fact they were quite interesting.
4) FbL was very proud that her coin outranks mine.
5) The DOD was paying close attention to what was said. I asked one question, and had answers from the staff of two general officers within ten minutes or so.
6) The Greyhawks were there and were, as always, great fun. Greyhawk hosted a panel and I must remark that he has a proud future career as a broadcaster in front of him if he wants it. He has the perfect voice for narration. News, documentaries, game shows, whatever he wants: he just needs to send in a sample to some agent.
7) Carrie and I sat together on the bus. We remarked that we were sorry Cassidy couldn't make it out this year. I've never met her in person, but she was missed.
8) OldSoldier54 brought us outstanding cigars. Thank you.
9) Matt at BlackFive insisted I take the statue and camera that went with the BlackFive award he had me receive for us. So, now I have a statue for my office that says, "BlackFive: The Paratrooper of Love." I'm sure that will be confusing to my great-grandchildren when they're cleaning out my kit after the funeral. (Actually, one of the great pleasures of the afterlife may be sitting in on their attempts to make sense out of the relics.)
10) Speaking of which: I stayed at the Sahara. I have a money clip my grandfather left me that is ancient and burnished by long use. It's engraved, but you almost can't tell it anymore. If you hold it so the light reflects just right, though, it says: "SAHARA, LAS VEGAS" and has the hotel logo.
The Sahara was one of the earlier movements away from the old-fashioned Las Vegas casinos, and to a "theme" casino. The concept was a tremendous success. Now, the biggest casinos are all that way: Caesar's Palace is done up in a Roman style (especially the Forum shops: my favorite thing in Las Vegas was the fountain and statues honoring King Bacchus), "Paris" in a faux-Parisian style, there's one for New York City, one about Pirates ("Treasure Island"), one about castles and knights ("Excalibur"), one about Egypt (the "Luxor"), and so forth and so on.
The Sahara has ceased to be interesting as a theme, and so its star is fading. You can see that they tried to grab at the mantle of history -- there are pictures of Gary Cooper on the wall, Elvis, Jack Benny: Golden Age Hollywood and its decadence, which looks like elegance given the far deeper and worse decadence of the nation today.
That wasn't enough, and in a way, it's their fault. They were the ones who introduced the 'next big thing' concept, and started the change that is now undermining them. Trying to claim the mantle of history and 'old Vegas' only points up that they were the ones who undermined that old Vegas.
There is one exception to the otherwise general decline at the Sahara. The House of Lords has been with them since the beginning, and is still the best meal you can readily imagine. I had the Colorado Rack of Lamb. They also do steak, potatoes -- baked or mashed -- fresh bread, salads, fine wines, dessert and coffee.
Some things really are simple, and really are elegant. Those things last.
11) I didn't go to the other meetings at Blog World Expo, but I will lay you any odds you like that the MilBlogs Conference is different in one crucial way. I bet you no other part of the conference ended with a memorial to bloggers of that sort killed in action in the last year, a remembrance of those killed since the start of this war, and the playing of Taps.
In the short speech Matt asked me to give, I said: "We're not biased. We're partisans." That means we've left some behind. I doubt anyone in that room had not sacrificed something, whether it was months away from family, loss of time with children, being asked to do what was hard, or the suffering of injuries in the line of duty.
MAJ Olmstead, as Matt pointed out in our toast to Absent Companions, wanted us to honor him with joy. We had a lot of fun, and good for us. That's what he wanted: that we should live boldly while we can.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
posted by Grim 00:43 The Revolution Started While I Was in Vegas?So, apparently The Huffington Post is calling for armed revolution? Following back to the original, it seems a little overwrought:
We are in a crisis so dangerous that should these people succeed in their coup, your party affiliation will no longer matter, your American flag will be a nice collectible item of something that once was, and your version of God will be worshiped in secrecy because your freedoms will be owned by the few.Um, really? Can we wait until I get back home? I left my rifles at the house.
We'll discuss it at the BlackFive pub crawl tonight, see if we can't hammer out a strategy. I wouldn't want to miss out on a good revolution. Of course, I doubt we'll all be on the same side, Ms. Alexandrovna. I'd probably need to hear a more convincing argument for why the recent bailout plan was not just a hastily-written-law-with-bad-parts-that-might-need-ironing-out-later, but in fact an attempt to destroy America and God.
Anything's possible, though, I guess.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
posted by Grim 10:45 Leadership!Sen. Obama, against Sen. McCain:
Senator McCain offered up the oldest Washington stunt in the book: you pass the buck to a commission to study the problem. But here's the thing: this isn't 9-11. We know how we got into this mess. What we need now is leadership that gets us out.The majority leader of Obama's Senate party, explaining their absence:The Democratic-controlled Congress, acknowledging that it isn’t equipped to lead the way to a solution for the financial crisis and can’t agree on a path to follow, is likely to just get out of the way.You guys are going to make me cry. With laughter.
Lawmakers say they are unlikely to take action before, or to delay, their planned adjournments — Sept. 26 for the House of Representatives, a week later for the Senate. While they haven’t ruled out returning after the Nov. 4 elections, they would rather wait until next year unless Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who are leading efforts to contain the crisis, call for help.
One reason, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday, is that “no one knows what to do” at the moment.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
posted by Eric 19:06 Everybody's using this clip. I think I have seen about a half dozen parodies of this thing.
(via Instapundit)
posted by Grim 12:03 Is the Health Care Crisis a Fiction?Cassandra has a post up that shows a marked equality of spending on health care across the American spectrum, from poorest to richest. The sources claim that if you look at all spending from all private and government sources, the difference between the poorest fifth (per capita) and the richest is about twenty bucks -- in favor of the poor.
Certainly there are some serious problems with the system from the provider's perspective -- ask Doc Russia sometime! Yet advanced care is more available here, and we don't have to fund a huge government bureaucracy. Neither do we have to give up control of our lives to the government as we would if they were paying the bills ("No drinking! You may not eat meat! No smoking! Keep costs down!").
Drift over and see what she has to say.
posted by Grim 08:00 Dear Mr. Obama, II:I don't know if this guy is a vet like in the original, but the fellow's got the concept down.
H/t: Miss Ladybug.
I made what was essentially this point in my first BlackFive piece, "Red State, Blue Collar." I included a link to that in my recent "Cowboys and Liberals" piece at Winds of Change, and got this insightful comment:The barter arrangement you described in your Blackfive post also has one issue that nobody discussed, but that any bureaucrat would spot in their sleep: there's a bunch of imputed taxes and regulations being avoided and bypassed by such arrangements.He goes on from there to indicate how common such 'off books' arrangements are. The point is well taken, though: taxes are already strangling the economy. Regulations are already strangling initiative. Setting out to start up a business is an act of tremendous risk, but now it is also probably a felony -- that is, the regulations with prison time as a remedy have expanded so fast, you are likely committing a serious crime without knowing it.
In a fully taxed and regulated world, the work you did for your landlord as imputed rent payment would have to be declared as self-employment income, subject to 15.7% self-employment tax as well as ordinary income tax. There may also be sales taxes involved, as well as numerous worksite regulations and insurance issues and even possible "without-a-license" violations, depending on the type of work you did.
Indeed, even if you hire a lawyer to advise you and do your best not to commit a crime, you may well be committing one. Even the lawyers can't keep up with all the new regulations and laws. The famous legal saying is, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse," but that depends on the law being something a reasonable person can expect to know. We've passed that point, and entered territory where the law changes so quickly and at such depth that good faith efforts are not enough to ensure that you don't violate some regulation.
That seems to me to be a very serious problem. It is surely one that acts as a brake on economic growth, both by increasing the setup costs for a business (those good-faith legal efforts) and by looping up at least some of these businesses in court. (Criminal court!)
Several of you have pointed to the entitlements collapse as a more serious economic problem than anything else. I agree, but the government doesn't. Last year, we talked about how very serious it might be, and the government's attitude:The federal government recorded a $1.3 trillion loss last year — far more than the official $248 billion deficit — when corporate-style accounting standards are used, a USA TODAY analysis shows.So why don't we change to the corporate-style accounting method?
The loss reflects a continued deterioration in the finances of Social Security and government retirement programs for civil servants and military personnel. The loss — equal to $11,434 per household — is more than Americans paid in income taxes in 2006.
...
Modern accounting requires that corporations, state governments and local governments count expenses immediately when a transaction occurs, even if the payment will be made later.
The federal government does not follow the rule, so promises for Social Security and Medicare don't show up when the government reports its financial condition.
Bottom line: Taxpayers are now on the hook for a record $59.1 trillion in liabilities, a 2.3% increase from 2006. That amount is equal to $516,348 for every U.S. household. By comparison, U.S. households owe an average of $112,043 for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and all other debt combined.
Unfunded promises made for Medicare, Social Security and federal retirement programs account for 85% of taxpayer liabilities.The White House and the Congressional Budget Office oppose the change, arguing that the programs are not true liabilities because government can cancel or cut them.Right.
They're already telling you that they have no intention of making these payments. They are "not true liabilities." The government can "cancel or cut them."
Economics 101? The whole government needs that lesson.
UPDATE:Obama has received almost $400,000 from Lehman employees in his three-plus years in the Senate. McCain has gotten less than $150,000 from them since 1989. Certainly both have benefited from Lehman’s largess, and simply taking donations doesn’t prove any kind of corruption. But a hundred k a year certainly cuts into Obama’s message of “change.” “Hope,” too.
In fact, of the nearly three million dollars Lehman employees and PAC distributed in the last 19 years, just two senators — Obama and Clinton — received more than a quarter of the total, split nearly evenly. McCain got about five percent.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
posted by Grim 17:42 Grim's Buffalo Chili:Cassidy, often inspitorial in her posts, has a piece on comfort food.
This convinces me to share my recipe for chili. You may want to serve this with tamales or Southern style cornbread; or just by itself. It does go well with beer.
Start with a double-fistful of fresh-chopped jalapenos (or hotter, if you prefer). Do not core and seed them first: include the whole pepper except the stem. In a hot dutch oven or black-iron pan of at least several quarts' size, sautee these in beer (preferably Murphy's Irish Stout; Guinness will also do; failing that, any beer). Use no more than half a pint of the beer, reserving the rest for the cook.
Once it is simmering, add one pound ground buffalo. Lean ground beef can be substituted. Once this is browned, and you have cut it apart into small chunks while stirring it, add enough chili powder to make the whole thing a threatening color, much darker than the chili you want to eat (as you expect to add more ingredients, which will lighten it).
Add three freshly chopped tomatoes (or one can of minced tomatoes, or one can of tomato sauce) once the peppers begin to soften. At the same time, add one chopped medium red onion, as much chopped cilantro as you expect to want, and simmer more. Add as much minced garlic as you expect to want.
At last, add two normal-sized cans each light red kidney beans and Bush's best chili beans; or one large can each. Salt to taste, but you may not need much b/c of the canned beans. If you taste it and it doesn't have enough chili powder, add more; you can also add dried, ground ancho or chipotle peper at this stage if you desire.
Allow to cook through. It'll be better tomorrow, but good enough tonight.
Finish with shredded cheddar, diced onions, and jalapenos. Serve with cornbread, over tamales, or straight up. Serve with habenero pepper sauce, since this is a toned-down version of the chili suitable for the whole family.
If your wife whines about her mouth being on fire "after just the first bite!", you've done it correctly. Her response should look something like this:
When you get there, you're done. Add the pepper sauce to your own, and eat with good cheer.
posted by Grim 11:24 Operation Rabbit:Sarah Palin v. the Coyote, via Iowahawk.
Good afternoon, madam. Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Wile E. Reporter, investigative correspondent for an international network news gathering organization. No doubt you may have seen my award-winning coverage, assuming your igloo is equipped with a satellite dish. No, I am not selling anything nor am I working my way through college, so let's get down to cases.If this leaves you nostalgic, here's what you're looking for:
You are a Republican candidate, and I am going to eat you alive. Now don't try to get away! I am more educated, more cunning, faster, and larger than you are... and I'm a genius. In fact, I have not one, but two diplomas from the Acme Correspondence School of Journalism. And you? Why, you could hardly pass the entrance examinations to kindergarten, let alone the vice presidency of a major western democracy....
posted by Grim 09:46 Fundamentals:Are the "fundamentals of our economy sound"? That's the question of the day, and it's a fairly interesting one. It starts with this question: just what are the fundamentals of the economy?
If you come up with the banking system, the housing sector, and the strength or weakness of the dollar, then the fundamentals are not looking very good. I think a lot of people look at those as being what "economics" are all about, and from that perspective, the economy looks shaky.
Yet if you look at the infrastructure of the country, the availability of capital for new ventures (even during a financial crisis!), the education of the population, and the availability of raw materials, the fundamentals are not just sound. They are rock solid.
To some degree this is the difference between a short and long term approach. Are you asking, "Is it possible that we will have a quarter or three of negative growth?" Or are you asking, "Is the economy going to survive and grow in the long term?"
What we have going on right now is the destruction of a massive amount of fairy gold. This happens from time to time: the banking sector builds up a vast store of imaginary wealth, and then it goes away. This has repercussions throughout the real economy, and people's real lives, but those arise mostly within the human mind: we believe that some massive amount of wealth has been created and destroyed, and so we act as if it has, and so the economy contracts.
In fact, the money never really existed at all. This is like housing bubble: is your house worth a million dollars? It is if someone will pay you that for it: that is, it is because they believe it is. But is it really? How much labor went into it? What did the materials cost? What is the land worth, in terms of expected revenue from where you are located v. the place where you want to do business?
There is a thinker in statistics for whom I have a great deal of sympathy, because he and I both tilt at windmills. His is financial markets, and mine is psychology, and the two sectors make up the great bedrock of modern American and European life. Both sectors are all about speculation, and he and I keep trying to make the same point: the methodology that underlies the whole field is worthless.
His name is Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and I've mentioned him several times before. This is a good occasion, though, to focus on what he's trying to tell you about the limits of human knowledge and understanding.I start with my old crusade against "quants" (people like me who do mathematical work in finance), economists, and bank risk managers, my prime perpetrators of iatrogenic risks (the healer killing the patient). Why iatrogenic risks? Because, not only have economists been unable to prove that their models work, but no one managed to prove that the use of a model that does not work is neutral, that it does not increase blind risk taking, hence the accumulation of hidden risks.Readers will recognize this form of argument, because it's just the one I field against psychology: the models cannot be proven and they cannot be disproven. They are not therefore neutral, though, because they leave people with the belief that they may be able to know (and control!) things that they really can have no certain knowledge of, and no control over. You can't even know if the model is correct.
Figure 1 My classical metaphor: A Turkey is fed for a 1000 days—every days confirms to its statistical department that the human race cares about its welfare "with increased statistical significance". On the 1001st day, the turkey has a surprise.
Figure 2 The graph above shows the fate of close to 1000 financial institutions (includes busts such as FNMA, Bear Stearns, Northern Rock, Lehman Brothers, etc.). The banking system (betting AGAINST rare events) just lost > 1 Trillion dollars (so far) on a single error, more than was ever earned in the history of banking. Yet bankers kept their previous bonuses and it looks like citizens have to foot the bills. And one Professor Ben Bernanke pronounced right before the blowup that we live in an era of stability and "great moderation" (he is now piloting a plane and we all are passengers on it).Now you would think that people would buy my arguments about lack of knowledge and accept unpredictability. But many kept asking me "now that you say that our measures are wrong, do you have anything better?"That is a noble project, and he has much to say about it. I suppose, in a very real sense, it is also the subject of much of my own work in philosophy rather than statistics.
I used to give the same mathematical finance lectures for both graduate students and practitioners before giving up on academic students and grade-seekers. Students cannot understand the value of "this is what we don't know"—they think it is not information, that they are learning nothing. Practitioners on the other hand value it immensely. Likewise with statisticians: I never had a disagreement with statisticians (who build the field)—only with users of statistical methods.
Spyros Makridakis and I are editors of a special issue of a decision science journal, The International Journal of Forecasting. The issue is about "What to do in an environment of low predictability". We received tons of papers, but guess what? Very few addressed the point: they mostly focused on showing us that they predict better (on paper). This convinced me to engage in my new project: "how to live in a world we don't understand".
Are the fundamentals of the economy sound? How would you know? What are they, really? And who are the experts you can trust to help you learn, the ones who really know? The same ones who just ran it up on the rocks?
posted by Grim 09:16 Ladies and Gentlemen, Generals David Petraeus and Ray Odierno:The TOA of MNF-I has occurred, with General Odierno taking command. As a Lieutenant General, GEN Odierno commanded III Corps. III Corps served as MNC-I until last winter, when they returned home and XVIII Airborne Corps took over MNC-I's responsibilities. Now GEN Odierno is back to command MNF-I as a whole, and GEN Petraeus is going to become the combatant commander of US Central Command.
The headline of this article tells an important story, though: GEN Petraeus' tour as head of MNF-I was twenty months. The Surge units of the Army did fifteen months each, a grueling stint away from home and family. GEN Petraeus did what an officer is supposed to do: he asked nothing of them he did not do himself, and in fact did more.
His command of MNF-I will be remembered in history books as the time when we got the focus right, and began to reverse the chaos that had been rising in Iraq until his tenure. He leaves Iraq in a far better state than he found it.
At the appropriate hour, whenever that is for you, I suggest a toast to the gentlemen. In fact, I suggest three: one to their health, one in honor of their last assignment, and a last to hope for success in their next.
Monday, September 15, 2008
posted by Grim 22:08 Historical Accuracy, Eh?Since we're getting complaints about the historical accuracy of the Old Guard's band, try the 7th Cavalry Drum and Bugle Corps on for size (sample viewer comment: 'Is the drum major sober?').
The 'Indian maidens' remind me of something...
posted by Grim 17:20 Tax Cuts:Looks like FOX News called out a McCain supporter for claiming Obama would raise taxes on the middle class. In fact, he has campaigned for cutting taxes on the middle class. He said:
I want to make it very clear that this middle-class tax cut, in my view, is central to any attempt we're going to make to have a short-term economic strategy and a long-term fairness strategy, which is part of getting this country going again.Oh, wait, no. That was Bill Clinton who said that, before he was elected and enacted massive tax increases on the middle class (and everyone else).
Look, we go through this every time. Kerry said he was going to cut taxes on the middle class. Gore said he was going to cut taxes on the middle class. Bill Clinton said he was going to cut taxes on the middle class in 1992, and this year Hillary Clinton and Obama have said it too.
The other thing all of these candidates have done is propose massive new spending, as for example on universal health insurance plans. When that gets crossways with the 'middle-class tax cut', which one do you think is going to give?
Me, too.
This puts us in a difficult position. On the one hand, you want to be fair to people -- even politicians -- and take them at their word when you can. On the other hand, I believe that there is close to 100% certainty that, if elected, President Obama would push through tax increases on the middle class and the rich, just as Clinton did.
Of course, Obama could be the one guy who means it, and he could be the one guy who -- when his pet programs turn out to cost too much -- chooses to cut taxes and forgo his desired reforms instead. My belief on the point aside, there's really no way to know for sure until and unless he does one or the other.
Still, surely it's fair to point out that the track record is not so good, the expected new spending is going to require more taxes, and I think they care much more about the new programs than they care about tax cuts.
When the McCain campaign says, "Barack Obama will raise middle class taxes," I think they're speaking the truth as a matter of fact -- I absolutely believe that he will, if elected. Yet it is necessary to make some nod to his claim to the contrary, since (unlike President Clinton) he hasn't proven himself false on the point. Not doing so is not playing fair, even if they believe -- as I do -- that they're right.
posted by Grim 00:36 Justifying the Sacrifice:In the film Little Big Man, there is a scene where the Seventh Cavalry destroys a peaceful indian village to the sound of the Garryowen. The music is beautiful, and the carnage horrible. The movie uses the disparity to lay a charge of hypocrisy at the feet of the US military, both historic and -- as this was a Vietnam-era movie -- contemporary.
The charge is that the beauty is a false overlay on something wicked. The truth, I think, is precisely the opposite: that the beauty is real, and the thing that has to be defended. It is not to make you feel better about the cruel reality of war; it is to remind you of why you thought to fight at all.
The Old Guard here captures the objective beauty missing in so much of our modern culture. It reminds us of the achievement of the West, and why we might fight for her.
The world is as we inherited it, both the good parts and the bad. We can neither claim credit for the good that came before us, nor can we suffer blame for the awful truths about the basic nature of our world. It is not our fault that life must feed on other life: we did not make the rules.
What we can do is recognize the beautiful, and defend it.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
posted by Grim 23:52 Et qui non habet, vendat tunicam suam et emat gladium:Luke 22:36, as lived today.
A man who threatened to behead two women because they were Christians was attacked in self-defense early Saturday and injured so severely, police say, that his eye was to be removed.Indonesia? Colorado.
Russell Bowman, who called himself an atheist, showed up with a large knife at the women's apartment in the 700 block of Tia Juana Street about 3:15 a.m., police said.
Another resident grabbed a shotgun and ordered him to put the knife down. When Bowman refused and began approaching, the person hit him with the butt end of the weapon, police said.
posted by Grim 22:32 Cowboys & Liberals:I wrote a post at Winds of Change on the subject.
posted by Grim 00:21 Oh, Worry, What Could It Be?Like all right-thinking people, I love the Fail Blog.
These folks would be proud.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
posted by Grim 12:11 Cookware?Prof. Reynolds has a poll on Gov. Palin as a cookware line.
Which kind of cookware is Sarah Palin?I'm afraid he's more of a gourmet than I am, as I wasn't familiar with either of those lines, but I did enjoy the joke. If I may venture an alternate opinion, I would suggest she is best symbolized by Lodge Cast Iron Cookware.* All-Clad: Its tough, riveted construction matches her personality.
* Cuisinart Nonstick: Because so far attacks have slid off of her with no residue remaining.
That is to say: a time-tested formula that succeeded well on America's frontier, is so well-made that it has the potential to last forever, and one that continues to be valued in homes across rural America.
In some parts of America, cooking on black iron today seems hopelessly old-fashioned. Still, if you learn how to do it right, it makes food that is just better than food made any other way.
UPDATE: By comparison, Sen. Obama would be Pioneer enameled cookware. It's a lightweight, with a smooth exterior; but it scratches up quickly and will scorch food if heat is applied to it too fast.
Friday, September 12, 2008
posted by Grim 23:37 Thinking of Texas:Since we are thinking of Texas tonight, and those who are riding out a potentially deadly assault, let us remember the Alamo.
Once you get past the initial music, it's a black and white film of John Wayne talking about David Crockett. I have another reason to be interested in that tonight, but it matters here too.
"I hope you'll do the best you can. I'll do the same. Don't be uneasy about me. I'm with my friends."
posted by Grim 22:11 High Level Iraq Update:I've written a top-down view, from a number of recent interviews. It's at BLACKFIVE.
Oh, and if you're coming to Vegas next week? Join us at the Penthouse Club.
Those pictures of me are from Baghdad. The baby picture is obviously fake. :)
posted by Grim 00:28 Matagorda:The night was still and the air seemed close; there was something in the atmosphere that made animals restless and men irritable. There lay over the town and the flatlands beyond a breathless hush that seemed like a warning.I don't believe I recall reading a government warning quite like this one.The truth of the matter was that Indianola had not long to live.
-"Matagorda," by Louis L'amour.
PERSONS NOT HEEDING EVACUATION ORDERS IN SINGLE FAMILY ONE OR TWO STORY HOMES MAY FACE CERTAIN DEATH.I've had to evacuate from hurricanes myself, and I've ridden out some lesser ones. Grim's Hall has some several Texas readers: those of you down Houston way, when you get to shelter, let us know if there's anything you need.
MANY RESIDENCES OF AVERAGE CONSTRUCTION DIRECTLY ON THE COAST WILL BE DESTROYED. WIDESPREAD AND DEVASTATING PERSONAL PROPERTY DAMAGE IS LIKELY ELSEWHERE. VEHICLES LEFT BEHIND WILL LIKELY BE SWEPT AWAY.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
posted by Grim 23:04 Chesterton:From The Ballad of the White Horse:
"One man shall drive a hundred,And so did we, not so long ago. Like Geraint, struck with no just cause. So we rode to Afghanistan, and Iraq, and the corners of the world.
As the dead kings drave;
Before me rocking hosts be riven,
And battering cohorts backwards driven,
For I am the first king known of Heaven
That has been struck like a slave."
...
Roaring they went o'er the Roman wall,
And roaring up the lane,
Their torches tossed a ladder of fire,
Higher their hymn was heard and higher,
More sweet for hate and for heart's desire,
And up in the northern scrub and brier,
They fell upon the Dane.
One man can drive a hundred, we have learned. The 'sweet hymns of hate' have faded with the years, and now we look upon an Iraq made freer and finer than it ever dared dream; but an Afghanistan in many ways little better than it was, for all we have done.
No longer full of wrath, where to from here? Is it enough? Russia is resurgent, strikes down our allies, sends heavy bombers into the Western hemisphere for the first time in history -- but her demographics fail. The Islamic world rises, but that is hope as much as peril. Iraq is surely a great hope; and yet we look at Pakistan, and Africa, and Iran, again at Russia.And each with a small, far, bird-like sightThe fools and the cheerful mad have the better part of this world. Perhaps the best thing is to resolve to be one or the other, and lay aside all fear. If the other choice is 'the despair that grows with the day,' then surely this is best. Hope and faith may sometimes seem like little more than foolishness or madness, but these are two of the best of things.
Saw the high folly of the fight;
And though strange joys had grown in the night,
Despair grew with the day.
And when white dawn crawled through the wood,
Like cold foam of a flood,
Then weakened every warrior's mood,
In hope, though not in hardihood;
And each man sorrowed as he stood
In the fashion of his blood.
For the Saxon Franklin sorrowed
For the things that had been fair;
For the dear dead woman, crimson-clad,
And the great feasts and the friends he had;
But the Celtic prince's soul was sad
For the things that never were.
...
Then Eldred of the idle farm
Leaned on his ancient sword,
As fell his heavy words and few;
And his eyes were of such alien blue
As gleams where the Northman saileth new
Into an unknown fiord.
"I was a fool and wasted ale--
My slaves found it sweet;
I was a fool and wasted bread,
And the birds had bread to eat.
"The kings go up and the kings go down,
And who knows who shall rule;
Next night a king may starve or sleep,
But men and birds and beasts shall weep
At the burial of a fool.
"O, drunkards in my cellar,
Boys in my apple tree,
The world grows stern and strange and new,
And wise men shall govern you,
And you shall weep for me.
"But yoke me my own oxen,
Down to my own farm;
My own dog will whine for me,
My own friends will bend the knee,
And the foes I slew openly
Have never wished me harm."
...
But Colan.... said, "And when did Britain
Become your burying-yard?
"Before the Romans lit the land,
When schools and monks were none,
We reared such stones to the sun-god
As might put out the sun.
"The tall trees of Britain
We worshipped and were wise,
But you shall raid the whole land through
And never a tree shall talk to you,
Though every leaf is a tongue taught true
And the forest is full of eyes.
"On one round hill to the seaward
The trees grow tall and grey
And the trees talk together
When all men are away.
"O'er a few round hills forgotten
The trees grow tall in rings,
And the trees talk together
Of many pagan things.
"Yet I could lie and listen
With a cross upon my clay,
And hear unhurt for ever
What the trees of Britain say."
posted by Grim 00:00 Seven Years: Enid & Geraint
This is a poem I wrote seven years ago today, when I could no longer stand to watch the replayed news on television. I went out into the forest, down to the creek that ran through the woods. I crossed it halfway onto an island, and sat among the stones and wrote this. It may be one of the oldest 9/11 poems, as I wrote it around three in the afternoon on the very day. It draws, of course, on Tennyson, but it is not blank verse. Rather, it is in the old alliterative style of the Beowulf.
It happens to touch on a great deal we have been discussing lately, so it is even more appropriate to repost it today -- as I do every year on September 11.
Enid & Geraint
Once strong, from solid
Camelot he came
Glory with him, Geraint,
Whose sword tamed the wild.
Fabled the fortune he won,
Fame, and a wife.
The beasts he battled
With horn and lance;
Stood farms where fens lay.
When bandits returned
To old beast-holds
Geraint gave them the same.
And then long peace,
Purchased by the manful blade.
Light delights filled it,
Tournaments softened, tempered
By ladies; in peace lingers
the dream of safety.
They dreamed together. Darkness
Gathered on the old wood,
Wild things troubled the edges,
Then crept closer.
The whispers of weakness
Are echoed with evil.
At last even Enid
Whose eyes are as dusk
Looked on her Lord
And weighed him wanting.
Her gaze gored him:
He dressed in red-rust mail.
And put her on palfrey
To ride before or beside
And they went to the wilds,
Which were no longer
So far. Ill-used,
His sword hung beside.
By the long wood, where
Once he laid pastures,
The knight halted, horsed,
Gazing on the grim trees.
He opened his helm
Beholding a bandit realm.
End cried at the charge
Of a criminal clad in mail!
The Lord turned his horse,
Set his untended shield:
There lacked time, there
Lacked thought for more.
Villanous lance licked the
Ancient shield. It split,
Broke, that badge of the knight!
The spearhead searched
Old, rust-red mail.
Geraint awoke.
Master and black mount
Rediscovered their rich love,
And armor, though old
Though red with thick rust,
Broke the felon blade.
The spear to-brast, shattered.
And now Enid sees
In Geraint's cold eyes
What shivers her to the spine.
And now his hand
Draws the ill-used sword:
Ill-used, but well-forged.
And the shock from the spear-break
Rang from bandit-towers
Rattled the wood, and the world!
Men dwelt there in wonder.
Who had heard that tone?
They did not remember that sound.
His best spear broken
On old, rusted mail,
The felon sought his forest.
Enid's dusk eyes sense
The strength of old steel:
Geraint grips his reins.
And he winds his old horn,
And he spurs his proud horse,
And the wood to his wrath trembles.
And every bird
From the wild forest flies,
But the Ravens.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
posted by Grim 17:19 Earmark Generosity:Gov. Palin went after Sen. Obama on earmarks today.
One of the things she said was, "In just three years, our opponent has requested nearly a billion dollars in earmarks, and that’s about a million dollars every working day."
This is the first thing Gov. Palin has said that suggests to me that she really doesn't have enough experience to understand Washington.
You need to recalculate that average. :)
posted by Grim 09:22 Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel on Sarah Palin:He was also a former Democratic candidate for President this year, and a committed liberal (who says he left the Democratic Party because 'it is a party of war!'). He's here appearing on a left-wing radio show.
Major points:
* Gravel says Gov. Palin is a great choice in spite of his ideological differences with her, and someone he respects;
* That she went up against the Republican establishment with courage, and has "put the people and integrity above party";
* That she has more experience than Obama, especially executive experience;
* That she hasn't been corrupted by the partisan process in Washington;
* That she was right on Troopergate, and showed strength in going up against the entrenched unions, just as she had gone up against the oil companies;
* And... well, listen for yourself.
He finishes up by noting that, while he won't vote for McCain, he won't be voting for Obama either.
H/t: Hot Air.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
posted by Grim 23:57 Oh, Son!The worst thing for Sen. Obama about this comment is that there is no way to claim it wasn't scripted. It was a planned response by an Obama spokesman. There is no walking away from it.
Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn't define what honor was. Now we know why.Son!
A man who has never fought for anything wants to call out a warrior on honor?
I can see why they were hoping McCain would define it for them. Plainly, they have no concept of what the concept might mean.
Here's a hint. If you look at the Wikipedia entry, don't focus too much on the words. Focus on the picture to the side. What's that doing there?
posted by Grim 19:54 PUMAs Live!Gallup today:
In fact, Republicans didn’t shift much at all, trans-convention. Most of the bounce came from “pure” independents, whose support almost doubled from 20% to 39% in a week. McCain has opened a 15-point gap among independents overall, by far the widest gap in the race to this point. In contrast, the Democratic convention only provoked a small bump in this demographic for Obama, one that quickly evaporated.The Washington Post poll, though, paints a different picture:
McCain also scored among Democrats. Overall, he increased his draw by more than half, from 9% to 14%. Most of that came from conservative, “Blue Dog” Democrats, where McCain gained 10 points from 15% to 25%. Even his support among self-described “moderate” Democrats increased by five points, from 11% to 16%. Gallup even showed a two-point gain among liberal Democrats, but going from 2% to 4% probably is more polling noise than a real move.A Washington Post/ABC News survey published on Tuesday found most of McCain's surge in the polls since the Republican National Convention was due to a big shift in support among white women voters.One way to reconcile these findings? PUMAs live. In spite of assurances that they were a fake movement, or falling in line, they seem to be a real trend.
posted by Grim 16:58 In Which Grim Attempts To Refrain From Bursting Out In Laughter:Ahem.
No, I can do this. Ahem. Today, we'll... discuss... this article.I rarely remember my dreams, but for the past week, GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin has been haunting me. Night after night, she appears in my dreams, always as a scolding, ominous figure.BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
When I mentioned my Palin dreams to Slate colleagues, they volunteered their own. One Obama-supporting colleague dreamed she had urged her young son to kill Palin with a string bean. Another dreamed she was at a fashion show and Palin served her crème fraîche on little scooped corn chips. A third says, "In the Sarah Palin dream I keep having, she has superhuman powers but is not really a person at all. In fact, she is more like the weather with glasses and an up-do, pushing clouds around and pitching lightning bolts."
I suspect we are not unusual.
OK, I made it up until that last line. That was too much, though. You got me fair and square.
UPDATE: Matt Yglesias says:I didn’t want to mention that I had a dream about Sarah Palin (she was driving a piece of farm equipment back and forth on the football field of the high school catty-corner to my house, laughing maniacally and I was trying desperately to install some kind of codec on my laptop so they could capture it on video) because it just seemed to weird and creepy. But according to David Plotz, Palin-related dreams are a growing national trend...No, I think your first instinct was correct, son.
OK, reader poll: Have any of you ever had a dream featuring anyone from the realm of politics? I don't remember my dreams very well, but of all the ones I can recall, never has there been a political figure in any of them. I mean, politics is serious business, but not that serious. Friends, family, loved ones turn up in dreams. Politicians?
Never for me. If your experience is different, though, shout out.
posted by Grim 13:24 Criteria:Richard Cohen notices that Obama won't fight, not for anything at all:
Thank God for Sarah Palin. Without her jibes, her sarcasm, her exaggerations, her smug provincialism, her hypocrisy about family and government, her exploitation of mommyhood, and her personal attacks on Barack Obama, the Democratic base might never be consolidated. This much is certain: Obama could never do it.Cohen isn't the first to notice this about Obama -- Maureen Dowd called him "a weak sister." I had forgotten how much Cohen's ilk hates "provincials" who don't have the good taste to wish they lived in some big city instead, and how irritating they would find it.
Still, Cohen's conceit that she is "exploit[ing her] mommyhood" is echoed on the Right, as well. Kay Hymowitz, who shares Cohen's big-city roots, worries about reinvigorating feminism's claim that women are in some sense better:[C]entral to Palin’s red-state appeal is her earthy embrace of motherhood. She differs from mainstream feminists in that her sexuality and fecundity are not in tension with her achievement and power. If anything, they rise out of them. Instead of holding her back, her five children embody her energy, competence, authority, and optimism.There's a signal difference between getting "behind Clinton because she was a woman," and getting behind Palin in part "because she's a mom." The embrace of motherhood is about choices and values: the embrace of womanhood is not. You are born male or female, but you choose to become a mother -- and if you have five children, it is because you chose to embrace motherhood.
...
Still, whatever the appeal of red-state feminism, it should bring no comfort to anyone in favor of a more mature political culture. Red staters share with their blue-state counterparts a tendency to sentimentalize and trivialize politics. They heighten the salience of Lifetime Television–style personal stories and gossip. They reduce candidates to personalities, lifestyles, and gonads. Some blue staters got behind Clinton because she was a woman; red staters want to vote for Palin because she’s a mom. Both positions are misguided.
That's not an accident of birth, but a choice that tells us a great deal about who you are and what you value.
I am someone who believes that sex is a tremendously important factor in a person's life, perhaps the single most important biological factor -- though even so it is less important than some cultural factors. If you are going to do business with someone you've never met before, it is more important to know their nationality than it is to know their sex.
Edward Abbey said that he had once harbored dreams of becoming a great man; later, just a good man; and finally, had found it challenge and honor enough simply to be A MAN. There's a lot of truth to that: and it's a lesson Sen. Obama could stand to learn.
Gov. Palin is A WOMAN, whether she is a good woman or a great woman. She's made a lot of decisions and choices, and they look like good decisions and choices for the most part. There's much in that fact. Character counts, and Gov. Palin's embrace of motherhood is an important part of her character.
We used to say that nobody would run against motherhood or apple pie. The Left, this year, looks ready to do just that. The right shouldn't join them. Motherhood is a wonderful thing, and deserves its place of honor in our culture.
posted by Grim 12:39 Scary:They’re going to try to make me into a scary guy. They’re even trying to make Michelle into a scary person. -Sen. Obama
Ed Koch is in the news today.
"The designation of Palin to be vice president," he said. "She's scary."By 'scary,' he means that when she was mayor she asked the librarian what the policy was on banning books. The town notes that no books were banned, and Gov. Palin says that she never intended to ban any -- she just wanted to know what the policy was.
Why would a mayor ask such a question? Well, two good reasons: first, "banning" books is one of the most contentious issues in small-town America. Second, every library has a policy on how they deal with requests from patrons to remove items from the shelves. If any of you are mayors or county commissioners and don't know what that policy is where you are, you had better find out.
It may never come up, but if it does, it's going to touch a dangerous nerve in the American psyche. We as a people are opposed to banning books, or any restrictions on the quest for knowledge. At the same time, however, there are certain topics that strike us as inappropriate for the public space. Pornography and incitement to violence are likely to come to mind, but the real danger spot is children. We believe it is proper to shelter children from certain things, until they are ready. When the child is "ready" differs from family to family and from child to child. As a result, childrens' books that treat troublesome subjects will sometimes cause conflicts in small-town society.
Such conflicts are the more explosive because all sides believe they are acting out of the morally right position. The ones protecting the children don't feel they are doing anything wrong by protecting the children, and they point out correctly that their request in no way limits adult liberty (including the liberty to buy the book for your own kids if you really feel that it's appropriate for them). The ones against removing books from the shelves point to the importance of the First Amendment, and a basic shared understanding that Americans don't ban books.
Having a good procedure means that insures all sides are treated with respect, and given a chance to see that the other side aren't "scary book-banners" or evil people who hate children. The exact nature of that policy may differ depending on the makeup and location of the community, but that is the goal.
The actual disposition of the book is really a small matter, since the library isn't really "banning" the book: it will still be available privately. Whether it stays or goes from the public shelves isn't as important as coming to a solution that the whole community can accept: if they decide to put it behind the desk, available only on adult requests, that's fine. If the community decides to remove it, that's fine. If parents who are troubled can be convinced to spend time reading every book before they hand them over to their children, that's fine too. What matters is that the community comes to the decision, and in a way that increases its members' respect for each other.
Still, it is an explosive issue, as anyone who has seen their community go around on it can attest. It's a wise mayor who wants to know just exactly what to expect, should the issue come up.
Monday, September 08, 2008
posted by Grim 21:09 Good Stuff from the Comments:I want to tip my hat to you folks, who have generated a fine discussion in not just one but several of the comment threads below. I'd like to draw attention to a few of the remarks.
Fiacha has some advice for wife-seekers:An old man told me how to find a good woman, ask, Can she ride? Can she dance? Can she shoot? Sounds terribly sexist, I am afraid, but its not about her capabilities nor is it a vetting process so I find someone that enoys my hobbies.I'm not sure I can improve upon that. If any of you would like to try, however, have at it.
A gun means many things to many people, to me it means the ability to stand up and protect,
A horse is a symbol of dealing wiht and utilizing that which can be both dangerous and intimidating but is very useful.
The ability to dance is about confidence and trust.
Meanwhile, The Lady of the Lake thread is still going on. Lumpenscholar and I had an exchange this morning that seems fruitful:Well, I am late to this meeting of the Hall, it seems, and what a wonderful discussion it was to read.This has been one of the finest discussions we've had, and I want to thank all of you for participating in it. There is much here to consider even yet.
In hopes someone is tending the coals, restless of mind, and may be around to listen, and I hope to reply ...
Regarding Jeff's argument:
Grim, when we have a code for men, but for women you say "One of the chief things to understand about chivalry (and courtly love) is how heavily women influenced the ethic to begin with", it does indeed make it sound like men are servants and women can do whatever they please.
When I enlisted in the military, I signed a contract. I knew what was expected of me (even if only in ideal terms at the time), and I knew what I could expect. When a knight swore fealty, he had that same assurance: he knew what he gave, and he knew what he received in return. In an age and nation when men are routinely taken advantage of, and in a society that sees that abuse as proper revenge for historical wrongs, it is hard to embrace a moral contract of service that does not come with some clearly defined expectations.
douglas speaks to this, and I hope he can in some way communicate how he handles this with his daughter.
My answer, as far as I've thought it out to date, is that it is a lady's responsibility to be worthy of any service she may require of a knight. Likewise, when the roles are reversed and it is the lady who renders service to a knight (as also happened in the old stories), the knight can do no less than ensure he is worthy of such service. Indeed, receiving such service can be a great motivator to be worthy.
At the same time, a knight and a lady are both free to ignore those they consider unworthy of service. Not all women in distress are ladies worth rescuing, and not all men in armor are knights worth guiding.
In that vein, Grim, you wrote: "We've discussed Eleanor of Aquitaine... She was accused of every sort of unchastity in her lifetime ... and never lacked for knights ready to declare themselves her willing servants and true lovers."
Setting aside the guilt or innocence of the lady, I think that pointing out an action and saying a knight did it does not make for a valid exemplar. There were Good knights and Evil knights, true knights and false. If chivalry is to mean anything, it must give us virtue, it must point out the actions of true, Good knights and give them honor, and it must also point out the actions of false, Evil knights and damn them. If it is the case that virtuous knights rose to her defense, then it tells us something indirectly about her. On the other hand, she was a powerful, beautiful woman and there were enticing, less-than-virtuous reasons for knights to come to her defense.
Not all those who bear arms are virtuous, and while it may be best for us to see our enemies as fellows in chivalry who have agreed to this bloody contract, it does not make it true.
lumpenscholar | Homepage | 09.08.08 - 12:08 am | #
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I'm still reading.
As to your first point:
In a more recent post, we've been talking about oaths: the oath of enlistment, the pledge of alliegence. None of them posit what you are asking for here: none of them say, "I promise X, and in return, I realize I shall receive Y."
Rather, they say, "I promise X." Your reasons for taking the oath are in a sense your own: the oath is about service, though, not benefits.
Why do you take the pledge, or swear the oath of enlistment?
Why would you pledge love to a lady?
De Charny's response is excellent here. I mentioned it above, as re: marriage, but it applies to love of this chivalrous kind also.
De Charny says -- not just here, but throughout his work -- that there are many kinds of good men; but then he tries to separate out the good from the better, and the better from the best, and says consistently: "He who does best is most worthy."
So in marriage, he notes that there are those who enter into the oath of love in expectation, and that is fine; but these are unlikely to have happy marriages. Their reasons to serve are not really based in love, but in considerations of gain, and therefore they will be unhappy 'for the devils must be at their wedding.'
Then there are some who marry for children, or to have company in their age, or for other good reasons; and they will be happy, and are doing better.
But the best of all are those who with their wives "live joyfully and pleasantly."
If love is true, it seeks no reward but itself. There is no greater reward to be had.
Yet if love is true, it is rewarded. Though not sought, all these things that a man might seek do come: for a true lover will give not only generously, but even of her last penny of money and her last ounce of strength.
The place to focus your mind and heart, then, is not on the gains you expect or demand. It is on finding what you love.
To your second point:
De Charny agrees -- and so do I -- that bearing arms is not virtuous in itself. He devotes a page to "those unworthy to be men at arms," which include: those who wage war without a good reason; those who attack without warning; those who are dishonorable, or cowards; and those who allow men under their command to behave in such ways, even if they would not personally.
Eleanor of Aquitaine was accused of very many things. She never lacked for defenders, and perhaps some of them were like the suitors who marry for money or gain. Yet perhaps the charges were false, given by the sort of men who seek through slander to hurt those whom they cannot hope to best in any honorable contest.
The old way to deal with such claims was in trial by combat, "And may God defend the Right." We have other ways, though I sometimes wonder if we have better ones. We have a media that chases madly after slanders against Gov. Palin, excusing themselves by claiming that they have no choice given their refusal to chase after John Edwards. These things are tried in a court of media, with no final end to the claim possible -- you can still today read conspiracy theories about every politician and public figure of the last decade. The proven ones are still denied; the disproven ones are still believed.
Much is made of the fact that, under the old system, a strong man might spread lies and simply kill those who dared to challenge him. Yet not enough is made of the fact that such lies carried a price, and a danger. Now they are free, and as numerous as a plague of frogs. In Eleanor's day, at least there was a brake on the tongues of cowardly men.
Grim | 09.08.08 - 1:01 am | #
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In writing a draft of a post on this topic, I re-read Grim's original post. It seems he answered Jeff's concern and gave my own answer here:
The key things that matter are these: the lady is noble of spirit ... she is morally worthy of service ...
lumpenscholar | Homepage | 09.08.08 - 1:02 am | #
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Quite right. And if she is worthy of love, and you love her, you and she will find "joyful and pleasant" rewards. :)
Grim | 09.08.08 - 1:05 am | #
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Thank you very much for your replies, Grim.
First, a point of disagreement. My point about Eleanor's defenders was simply that, unless we know why they defended her, we cannot say it was virtuous behavior. When you put them forth as an example, I took it to mean that because knights did it, it was chivalrous, which I disagree with. Although of course I might have misunderstood your example.
On to more profitable points.
If love is true, it seeks no reward but itself. There is no greater reward to be had.
But-but-but, that takes COURAGE!
:-D
I have to laugh at myself, else I'll soon call myself a coward.
Yet if love is true, it is rewarded.
And that takes faith, and hope, to go with the charity of seeking to love in the first place.
As the Go players say, "Victory lies in the attack," i.e., you can't win if you're focus is only on not losing.
Thank you for posting on this. It is exactly what I needed right now. It is late and I need to move on, but I will revisit this thread soon.
From Ecclesiastes 9:7-10: "Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun ... Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom."
lumpenscholar | Homepage | 09.08.08 - 2:46 am | #
Sunday, September 07, 2008
posted by Grim 19:49 I'm Beginning To Like Prof. Althouse:This poll demands your attention.
I believe her when she says she's under a vow of "cruel neutrality." That's what makes it so funny.
posted by Grim 18:41 On Shooting Short:Information Operations, Texas Ranger style:
If you are fighting the right way, everything is part of your information operations. In this case, we have military deception (shooting short), which encourages the enemy to make a bad decision; and then a PSYOP, to make clear that the the Ranger can not only hit you, he can out-think you too.
The arms, by the way, are an 1860 Henry Rifle, a Sharps Rifle (which gave us the word "sharpshooter"), and a Walker Colt revolver.
The "Walker" was named for Sam Walker, one of the early famous Texas Rangers, who helped Col. Colt design it. He asked for a heavier ball than the .36 caliber ball used by the Patterson Colt, which the Texas Rangers had used successfully against the Commanche. The .44 caliber Walker model was huge -- later .44s were much smaller -- and prone to losing the lock on its reloading lever (see the video above, under "Walker Colt"), which slowed repeat shots.
As far as I know, it was not prone to the particular eccentricity attributed to it by Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven. Blowing up in your hand was not to my knowledge "a failing common to the model." But since we are on the subject, here is a beautiful piece of music from that movie.
I trust you are having a fine weekend.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
posted by Eric 23:03 You have to watch the whole thing.
(via American Thinker Blog)Labels: Iraq, Men, Military, More than Meets the Eye, Politics
posted by Grim 13:37 Awesome:This is one of those outstanding moments in life:
I suppose I should be embarrassed to admit that I have a few of those little, tiny flags that they distribute at the 4th of July around here. They're just made of very cheap cloth, but when they wear out and fall off the sticks, I have painstakingly folded them into tiny triangles and stored them until I could dispose of them properly. That day never comes, because it's a chore I continually forget, so I now have quite a few American flags to dispose of in the traditional fashion.This morning, Republicans tell me that a worker at Invesco Field in Denver saved thousands of unused flags from the Democratic National Convention that were headed for the garbage. Guerrilla campaigning. They will use these flags at their own event today in Colorado Springs with John McCain and Sarah Palin.
Before McCain speaks today, veterans will haul these garbage bags filled with flags out onto the stage — with dramatic effect, no doubt — and tell the story.
They are stored in the very top of my closet, on the top of my hat boxes, because I would never set anything on top of an American flag or a Bible. Why not? I really couldn't tell you why. It's just how I was raised.
I sympathize somewhat with the Obama supporters who are pulling their hair out over this story: 'Why can't we get past this kind of thing, and talk about what we think are the real issues facing the nation?' Substance is surely more important than symbol, yes. Yet there is a reason you can't 'get past' it, and that is this: you don't understand what these symbols mean to people.
Men are both rational and irrational. We have a part of our soul for each. The irrational part is not bad, and can be very good: it is what gives rise to love as well as hate, joy as well as sorrow. Even sorrow can be noble, when it points the way to the beautiful, for a man ought to be able to mourn the loss of something beautiful.
A man who wishes to lead must be the right kind of man: he has to win the loyalty and service of his fellows. This is the real meaning of the Marine Corps University motto, Ductus Exemplo, "Command by Example." It is not that you should set a good example in the hope that others will follow. It is that the example you set is what wins the right to command. Men follow you because their hearts tell them to do so.
Substance matters, no doubt about it. It is not enough alone, however: it never can be.
UPDATE: Think they found 12,000 people to give 'em to? Looks like it to me.
Hard to say for sure, though, since the NYT piece doesn't mention the flags. At all.
UPDATE: The NYT piece has now changed the picture, so it no longer shows the massive McCain-Palin rally. It now shows Sen. Obama standing in a small ring by himself.
Friday, September 05, 2008
posted by Grim 23:04 PUMAs On The March:I have a certain fondness for the PUMA movement, as someone who has also spent a certain part of his life as a Democrat trying to move the Democratic Party away from some of its dumber ideas. (As is Armed Liberal of Winds of Change: see here).
So, today I notice three important posts by PUMAs moving against the Obama campaign.
Drawing the Line:From the NYTimes an hour ago, we have this, Obama Camp Turns to Clinton to Counter Palin.... This is a career ending move for Obama for countless reasons.Hey, Precious! Fight Your Own Fights.News last night from The NY Times, via Riverdaughter, that Obama has run home to Big Sister to plead with her to fight his battle with Saracuda Palin for him. Oh, the poor Precious! Can’t face a tough woman on his own, huh? What’s the matter Barack? Just tell Saracuda that she’s likable enough. Call her a Sweetie and tell the media that she gets moody and bitchy periodically when she’s feeling down. That oughtta work.These ladies seem a little... bitter? How about some video?
PUMAs for McCain.
H/t to Southern Appeal and Hot Air.
UPDATE: Link fixed above. Meanwhile, this one is not by a PUMA but cites one of Sen. Clinton's female advisors.McCain has a strong woman? Well, the Obama campaign wants voters to know they’ve got one, too, and they’re going to deploy her to crush the moose hunting hockey mom from Alaska. In a strange twist of logic, the Obama campaign is touting the woman they passed over as the woman they need to beat the woman the other guy picked....Yeah. Not good enough to be (even considered as!) my VP; good enough to save me from that evil Palin woman!
So, let’s get this straight. They didn’t choose her and her 18 million voters to put on the ticket. They gave the VP spot to Joe Biden. But now that Sarah Palin has arrived on the political scene, they’re promoting Hillary as the female answer to the Republican VP nominee. Awkward, to say the least. And as one female democratic strategist tells me, don’t think that Hillary hasn’t noticed.
My favorite of the Sarah Palin "facts," by the way: "Sarah Palin is the reason compasses point north."
posted by Grim 17:39 A Man's Oath:The latest discussion on chivalry has generated well over a hundred comments, plus now two poetic oaths from readers. Fiacha put forward this one:
Come dance with me...It's not that often, these days, that you see tough men moved to poetry. I write poems on rare occasion -- I wrote one on 9/11, for example, which will be reposted soon on the anniversary. It was once a man's business, poetry, and still today if you list the greatest poets, you'll go a long way down the list before you hit the first woman (Emily Dickinson? But how far below Homer and Shakespeare does she come?). We normally think of poetry as a female endeavor today, but that is really quite new.
Is it evil? For I believe in that which is better than I. Willing to strive for that which I cannot show proof. To suffer from a disease called faith. You say I am evil, for I have killed, I have caused harm, and I proclaim I will do so again, for I know the cost. You say I am a monster? Come dance with me...
I tell you this my soul is not beautiful, I carry shame for that I could not stop, guilt for the harm I have caused,and despair is burdan twists my spirit, I do not blame others for those things that I cannot change. I chose action instead of letting others carry the sword. I bring fire instead living in darkness. Come dance with me...
I have the tarnished and broken armor, and sword of one who works and builds and wants to selfishly protect what others have made. I gather to feed those I love, and to support the causes I believe. I am a monster because I am willing to make hard decisions and not expect others to do it for me. For those that call me monster, come dance with me...
Let me show you what truly is in a monsters heart, and learn about the darkness.
Please; you who call me monster bring me the key... for you are willing to sacrafice another, a child, while I am willing to sacrafice myself, and you call me monster? Come dance with me...
The lock and chains I wear are those I forge myself, off love, and friends, of hope, and faith, the codes and oaths and chants of old help me bind myself, so please bring me the key if a monster you wish to be...
For when I look into the lake, the reflection of a paladin is what I wish to see...
I though Douglas had an insightful comment as well:I'll have to work on this, but it will take time. We take many oaths, though- Wedding vows, Pledge of Allegiance, Boy Scout Oaths, Religious Creeds (the Apostle's Creed for me, as I'm Catholic). I always make an effort, any time I'm repeating one of those- like the pledge, or the creed, that I not simply repeat it from rote, but consider what it means, and mean what I say. I only wish others would give such oaths the reverence they deserve, along with the deep consideration they require.I think I agree. And with the anniversary of 9/11 coming up fast, we have a proper occasion for swearing oaths, and rededicating ourselves to certain tasks.
The idea of the personal oath is an interesting one. It reminds me of the admonishment from an instructor in Architecture school that an artist should do a self-portrait at least once a year. The introspection required is a good excercise, and the product a good record of our growth (hopefully). This strikes me as another means of self-portrait. A useful exercise indeed.
So: what oaths can you think of that we should consider? Every man might well write his own, but many have come before us, and had good ideas to consider. One of my favorites is from the old Boy Scout Handbook, written by Sir Baden-Powell (a knight himself, note). As far as I know, it does not have the historical accuracy that the Boy Scouts claimed for it -- Baden-Powell had a right to write a "Knight's Code" on his own, being one, but there seems to be no one before him that used it. Aside from that -- and a clumsy last verse -- it has some good qualities.The odd clumsiness of the last verse does not detract from the truth of it. It is true that young men in training were asked to do a great deal of humble tasks, from helping their lords dress and arm, to serving them at table. This teaches the high truth, "Respect your elders," but it also does a great deal to undercut the false pride that comes of high birth.The Knight's Code BE ALWAYS READY with your armor on, except when you are taking your rest at night.
Defend the poor, and help them that cannot defend themselves.
Do nothing to hurt or offend anyone else.
Be prepared to fight in defense of your country.
At whatever you are working, try to win honor and a name for honesty.
Never break your promise.
Maintain the honor of your country with your life.
Rather die honestly than live shamelessly.
Chivalry requireth that youth should be trained to perform the most laborious and humble offices with cheerfulness and grace; and to do good unto others.
This is as true today as ever: Americans are of "high birth," the very highest, because we are free men and because we are citizens with a vote in the running of the most powerful government on earth; and because we are powerfully rich. Just yesterday I got a toy catalog in the mail with any number of toys for children of all ages, many priced over a hundred dollars each, some priced several hundred dollars each, and my wife remarked: "How rich we are! People have that kind of money to spend on toys for their four year old!" And more yet when he's five -- well, I don't, but obviously quite a few people have.
So, engendering pride and an ethic of service in the young is a good thing. Most of what is phrased here are good things. I think "not offending" is more an English than an American value (or necessarily a chivalrous value -- D'Artagnan was advised to fight duels at the drop of a hat).
There's the oath of enlistment. What else should we look at?
posted by Grim 17:04 Politics and Clothing:National Review has a piece on a certain article of Democratic Party clothing. The t-shirt is offensive, so please bear that in mind if you choose to click the link.
So I’ve been taking note of how many of those pro-Obama, anti-Hillary... t-shirts there are on the streets, and by my count the number is higher post-primary than before.Today, a top Obama supporter and fundraiser declared that Gov. Palin 'should be home taking care of her kids.' So apparently this is a theme for Obama supporters.
A commenter at Hot Air notes:Shouldn’t [Sen. Obama] be in Kenya to take care of his African grandma[?] Oh, just remember his grandma can’t vote so she’s ain’t helping Micheele [sic] and Barry’s kids. And neither can Barry’s half brother who’s living on a $1 per day budget.A noteworthy observation, that.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
posted by Grim 13:21 "All's Hair"?I don't know what Deborah Tanen is talking about. This kind of article is purely evenhanded.
Yes, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has a lot on her plate: a pregnant teen daughter, a son on his way to Iraq, an infant with Down syndrome and a looming national election.I'm sure we all remember the last time the media took to mocking a Republican figure over hair: John Bolton.
But must her hair suffer?
Totally evenhanded. Uh, well, they're both Republicans, but other than that.
posted by Grim 12:10 Sukiyaki Western Django:This sounds like a highly memorable movie.
A lone gunslinger rides into town, ties his horse to the hitching post, and strides down the middle of Main Street. Two rival gangs come flooding out of their respective hideouts: the White Gang on one end of the street, the Reds on the other. There's a buried treasure hidden somewhere nearby, and everyone's crazy to find it, so the lone gunman stands between the two gangs and makes them an offer.Now, by "memorable" I don't mean to imply "good." On the other hand, the director has quite a reputation, and the Japanese have already mined this ground with some profit. For example, the famous cult film Django's trailer will explain a mystery to anyone who saw Cowboy Bebop's mushroom episode on the Cartoon Network. The anime's makers apparently felt no explanation for the reference was necessary, suggesting their audience will be familiar with the Spaghetti Westerns -- and not just the Eastwood ones.
"Witch axe gonna by it. Marvy rose? What there—if tank glut treasure, no pain."
Welcome to Sukiyaki Western Django (First Look), the English-language Western by Japanese director Takashi Miike. The all-Japanese cast, augmented by Quentin Tarantino in two cameo roles, learned their English dialogue phonetically and attack their lines as if the words were small furry animals that need to be beaten into submission. The dialogue is crammed with weird, Christopher Walken-esque line readings and bizarre placement of emphases—phrases like "You old biddy," "Dang!" and "You reckon?" become hilariously divorced from meaning.
The film Django was also apparently inspirational to the director Robert Rodriguez, whose title character in El Mariachi uses a guitar case for the same purpose as the coffin. As I imagine most of you know, Rodriguez and Tarantino have since worked together on a number of cult-movie projects (mostly bad ones); and now Tarantino is hooking up with the Japanese effort here.
That makes it dangerously likely that the film will get lost in in-jokes; but I suspect, from the description, that it will be hard to forget in any case.
posted by Grim 10:16 A Comparison in Pictures......and a few words. Well done.
(H/t: The Castle).
posted by Grim 09:53 Tom Shales Speaks:It is unfortunate, he says, that the media is being falsely portrayed as biased.
It's unfortunate considering the strong showing of Palin that the Republicans have again decided to run against "the media" as well as against the Democrats, and to portray themselves as poor, abused victims of media aggression. Giuliani, who has made a second career of courting the press, referred sneeringly to "the left-wing media." Mike Huckabee spoke of "the elite media." And a poorly made film about Ronald Reagan, shown to the delegates on Tuesday night, included the outright lie that "the media hated" Reagan, when just the opposite is closer to the truth.!!!
Reagan's time in the White House was a virtual love affair with the press, whom he charmed as infectiously as he charmed the whole country.
Does he think none of us were alive in the 1980s?
posted by Grim 09:16 The Palin Speech:I stayed up too late last night so that I could watch this speech, and then read some of the early commentary.
The speech was good: a sketch of an introduction, a sketch of the line of attack she intends to pursue through the election, a sketch of a biography of John McCain for those Americans who still don't know his heroic story -- of which there remain a few who are unaware, a few more that are vaguely aware, and others who are aware of the story but not the powerful details. In and of itself, it was only a sketch of each of these positions, with the details to be filled in later: but that is important too.
This is why books have introductions: to take a moment to sketch the overall picture for you, before they delve into details that you might not understand without that framework. If she can fulfill the promise of the introduction, she should have no trouble with Obama and Biden.
Let's talk a moment about the importance of our reaction to Gov. Palin. For the last few days, we've been angry at her mistreatment by the press and Obama loyalists, and especially her family's. We've defended her, fought back a bit against the attacks, and praised Sen. Obama for taking a better road.
Last night, she seemed to show that she was capable of defending herself without such help. Yet look again, not just at her but at her family. They are smiling and proud, even Bristol, who was the target of the worst of the attacks.
That comes from this: from the tremendous support that they have received, and -- especially at the convention -- has let them understand the depth of conviction with which so many Americans are ready to fight alongside them. You can see that confidence in their faces. You can hear the reason for it in the wild cheers and applause. They have reason to be smiling, they have reason to be proud.
A few days ago I said I had never before seen the press try to destroy a candidate outright in her first week. Now we have all seen them try: and the wave has burst against the rock.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
posted by Eric 18:13 Smoke 'em.As most of the on-air cable television personalities focus on the national politics of the Republicans' nomination of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for vice president, stories and footage of clashes between the St. Paul police and protesters at the Republican National Convention are turning up on the internet.
The Uptake, an online citizen-journalism training outfit in Minneapolis, has been at the forefront of documenting much of the unfriendly interaction between the police and the protesters.
I wouldn't really call this a clash. But look at the crusties: First you got the tubby guy on the bike yelling sieg heil, and then the idiots advance on the police. What the hell did they think was going to happen?
Lenin would have been laughing at these amateurs. This is why I have such contempt for them. They're just playing around. They're not serious, they have no idea that they look both foolish and stupid. More bored, white-bread middle class kids. They have no idea how good they've got it.Labels: Failure, Impotent Protesting, innovative policing methods, Politics
posted by Grim 17:03 The War Against What?Howard Kurtz titles his column of today, "The War Against the Press."
I've talked to many political professionals over the years who were mad at the media, or me in particular."The press" isn't the one having a war waged against it. Not yet. The war -- as is absolutely obvious to any observer -- is being waged against Governor Palin. It is that war in which we are called to enlist in the defense of the lady, and in seeing that she and her family are treated fairly. No one asks that she not be held to the same standard as other vice presidential candidates, like for example John Edwards ("there will be a glow").
But I've never quite had a conversation like the one Tuesday night...
Peggy Noonan, senior American female conservative journalist, was... rather strongly moved on the subject.Fact and data are our product, we're putting everything into reporting, that's what we're selling, interpretation is the reader's job, and think pieces are for the edit page where we put the hardy, blabby hacks.Now that's something I never thought to see.
That was a long way of saying: Dig deep into Sarah Palin, get all you can, talk to everybody, get every vote, every quote, tell us of her career and life, she may be the next vice president. But don't play games. And leave her kid alone, bitch.
It's no service to our country that we've come so far as to have to see it.
posted by Grim 16:19 "This Man's Path" and Creeds:Reader 21stCenturyMike posted the following in the comments below. I thought it merited its own post.
This mans pathIf any of you have similar oaths you want to take or declarations to make, let us hear them.
I am a man that wishes to walk in peace, but prepares for war. It is my way, it was my father’s way, and it is my ancestral heritage to become the warrior when called. That warrior spirit has become restless and I now seek refuge in an old code. Ancient whispers call to me and I feel the grail I seek is near. The choice is mine and I can no longer ride between the many trails that life has presented me. Now I stand before two paths as I emerged from the wilderness of time. I have sought the spirit guides of old and felt the yearning power of both paths. I am a man of the sea and soil and before me lies the time to choose. I seek the righteous path, that path of honor and loyalty my heart aches to follow. Let me walk with you for a short time on this gloomy day as I seek the wind and sky above the ground I shall walk and defend as my own. I may never have need of the comfort I perceive in chivalry, but will have the joy of knowing a knightly existence. The human condition is warmed by the hearth shared with comrades in arms and friends well defended. Chivalry shall be the foundation of my hearth and home. Come, join me, teach me, and experience my joy as I learn how to follow this primordial calling.
In the meantime, "The Lady of the Lake" has hit 99 comments at this time. I believe that's far and away a record for the Hall.
posted by Grim 16:16 A Fine Idea!Rand Simberg, via InstaPundit, has a poll on debates. Which debate would you most like to see?
One of the options is "Palin v. Obama." It is currently the runaway winner at 89%.
This would be a fine way to settle a certain question about experience and qualifications. The debate should be held! The challenge should be put forward in public, and as soon as possible.
posted by Grim 09:22 The Less Respectable:We have seen what even some who pretend to be respectable enough for public discourse have said and done to destroy Gov. Palin's candidacy through attacks on her family, in the post just below. At First Things, they have been watching the less respectable:
Film-maker Michael Moore has apparently praised the gulf weather for its chance of disrupting the Republican convention: “This hurricane is proof that there is a god in heaven.” Another low point in politics, though possibly one that could be passed off with a laugh—a partisan irony, rather than a serious derangement.That is a kind of summons: Abyssus abyssum invocat! It is an evil magic, because it has the danger of summoning exactly what it imagines. Men are monsters, and the only thing that restrains them are the chains they lay on themselves: courtesy, chivalry, honor.
But over on the leftist Daily Kos website, there is a post that sinks much lower—so low that it caused many of the commentators to denounce it. Which led another commentator to make this remark:I am prepared to do whatever is necessary to destroy the Republican Party as it exists today as well as everything it stands for.
If health insurance for all, an end to the Iraq War, an end to torture and illegal wiretapping, and a sane energy policy can be obtained at the price of destroying one teenage girl, her family, and the surrendering our self-respect I see that as a cheap trade.
Go talk about nobility of purpose to those 4,000+ dead American soldiers in Iraq.
Indeed, as another comment added:This is about Power . . . How it is obtained—and how it is wielded in ways that affects all of us.
Are you telling me that you would not use character-destroying lies to ensure a war against Iran does not occur?
Are you telling me you would not spread lies about a man’s integrity, even if it defeated a candidate who take away the right to choose?
Are you telling me you would not destroy the love a family holds for one another, even if it meant letting someone who would destroy the constitution become president?
None of use would use these tactics in a perfect world. It is not a perfect world.
It is a fallen world. We have to judge costs and benefits, not moral absolutes. I know this is the way to fanaticism and destruction—believe me I do. But, when we face opponents such as the ones we face . . . what else is there for us to do?
What choice do we have? When faced with monsters, we have to be monstrous ourselves.
It is possible to fight monsters without becoming one, but it is not easy. St. George could fight the dragon without becoming a dragon, but only by becoming a saint. If he had set out to become a worse monster instead, we would have a different legend -- and a different world.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
posted by Grim 20:47 A New Frontier, Indeed:I'm a little bit astonished today.
The Politico has received an opposition research file from the Alaska Democrats. You can read it in PDF here.And the Drudge Report:
In the file, the Democrats have released Sarah Palin's social security number minus the last four digits. Also tied to the information are her various home addresses.
Back in 2005, Democrats used Michael Steele's social security number to get his credit record.
It is atrocious that the Democrats would not only seek out Sarah Palin's social security number, but release it in opposition research to the press.NY TIMES FEATURES 3 PAGE ONE STORIES ON PALIN'S TEEN DAUGHTER IN TUESDAY EDITIONS...At this:
McCain campaign rips NYT reporter for factual errors...
Philadelphia Columnist Warns: 'If McCain wins, look for full-fledged race war'...SCHULTZ: The facts are this. What kind of mother is she? Is she prepared to be the vice president? Is she going to be totally focused on the issues.And this:
MOLINARI: Wow. You got to be…
SANCHEZ: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
SCHULTZ: There are questions.
MOLINARI: I bet you don’t have a lot of women listeners there, do you? If you do, you’re not going to have them tomorrow after…
SCHULTZ: Actually, today on my show, I took only phone calls…
MOLINARI: Oh my gosh.
SANCHEZ: Wow.
SCHULTZ: from women and they are not happy with them.
MOLINARI: So every — so every person out there who has an unwanted pregnancy in their family is a result of bad mothering? Wow. That’s really bold to say that.
SCHULTZ: Don’t tell me she’s a role model.
MOLINARI: Come on…
SCHULTZ: You know, most professional gardeners have a really nice yard, you know what I mean?
SANCHEZ: You know what, she’s…
SCHULTZ: Most professional gardeners cut their own lawn.
SANCHEZ: No, I’m thinking in all of our families…
SCHULTZ: It seems to me they have trouble in their backyard.Video: “How can a woman run a state and bring up … five children at the same time?”I've seen rough politics before, but they really came out swinging for the fences this time. I've seen the media try to deny air to a political campaign to kill it, and I've seen them run imbalanced coverage of the two sides (rember 'the glow about them' when it was Kerry/Edwards?).
I don't believe I've seen the media try to actually destroy a candidate in the first week before this.
Governor Palin is obviously terrifying to these folks, and it's not because she's 'inexperienced' or because she has a teenage daughter. She's running for VP, and has at least as much experience as Sen. Obama -- who is running for the top spot.
I will be steadfast in defense of this lady. Neither she nor her family deserves this. Entering the public eye has come to entail some rough-and-tumble treatment, but this is new. Releasing her social security number to the public? Three (!) front page stories on her daughter in one day?
And the attacks -- when we were talking about Senator Clinton, it was things like Senator Obama saying "the claws come out." They were small, belittling but each affront from any noteworthy individual too small to point to by itself. "I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she's feeling down," he said, and it could have been just an odd phrasing. You couldn't prove it was an attack on her as a woman. What was disturbing was the pattern, which grew ever larger, but the individual statements were never so blatant, neither from him nor those supporters who pretended to respectable behavior.
That standard has been abandoned entirely.
As Cassandra notes, it's not just us to notice.It’s Over. We’ve lost.It's a good post. The language is rough, but I gather it is rough from righteous anger. They have a right to be angry, and so do we.
September 2nd, 2008. The 2008 Election ended this morning as a vast cadre of liberals, progressives, Democrats and like minded journalists lifted the white flag and surrendered.
We surrendered something a whole lot more valuable than our vote. We surrendered our principles. We surrendered our core values.
We surrendered all hope. We surrendered our shared dreams that our daughters would inherit a better world, a world of promise, equality, justice, fairness and honor.
We had dreamed of a world where our 17 years old daughters wouldn’t be striped naked and raped on the front page of the New York Times, above the fold.
posted by Grim 17:41 Good Night, Jerry:A sad headline passed across the screen today, and with it, I knew that Jerry Reed had passed from the world.
He was one of Georgia's greats, a simple man with a long laugh. I guess most people know him best -- or only -- from his role as the Snowman, the outlaw truck driver in Smoky and the Bandit. He also wrote and sang the theme song, and indeed all the songs from that movie.
He had quite a talent, though, for jazz, blues, and rockabilly, as well as country music. If you were from the South in that time, you probably saw him far more often than that once. He and Chet Atkins did a large number of pieces together. Here they are playing our state's song.
You might have heard this song during the high gas prices of the summer:
Along with the Late, Great Lewis Grizzard, Jerry Reed was a pretty good icon for what Georgia was about in the 1970s and early 1980s. It's amazing how much the place has changed in so short a time.
Thanks, Jerry. Goodnight.
posted by Grim 12:15 Large Hadron Rap:Via Shari, a remarkably coherent lesson in particle physics:
I wouldn't have thought that rap music would be an ideal teaching tool, but it certainly works here.
Monday, September 01, 2008
posted by Grim 16:27 As Regards Young Bristol Palin:I realize that this will be a topic for discussion in coming days. In order to ensure that the Hall's courtesy is in full force, we will treat the young lady as if she were a member of the Hall.
The regular courtesies will apply, as if she were here to listen to what you have to say. You may say what you want about her philosophy, if she has one you can find; but we will be respectful of her personally, as we are of each other. The normal ethic of the Hall is: 'Be nice to your neighbors, be hell to their ideas.' So: be nice to the lady, though we may debate the issues in terms that are not personal.
Comments in violation of this rule, as usual with comment violations, will be deleted. My co-bloggers, all of whom have access to the comment code, are invited to use their discretion in this matter. I will honor their judgment in cases of dispute.
posted by Grim 15:48 A Good Word for Sen. Obama:I once lauded Senator Obama's defense of his wife; let me now laud his defense of his mother, and by extension, the daughter of Gov. Palin. He said:
Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama Monday afternoon issued a strong statement to "back off" reports of Bristol Palin's pregnancy, telling reporters families — and especially children — are off limits in this presidential campaign.Let it be noticed here that the Senator is entirely correct on this occasion. Good for him.
Mr. Obama, campaigning here, also noted that his own mother was 18 when she gave birth to him.
"People's families are off limits," he said. "People's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president."
posted by Grim 15:20 From A Friend of a Friend:I don't know anyone in Alaska to ask about Gov. Palin directly; but I do have a friend who has an old friend, known to him from Vietnam and elsewhere, who has a few things to say. He sent me this today. I have redacted personal information about the sender, as indicated by notes or ellipses.
I met and spoke with Sara Palin about two years ago at our downtown Park Strip. It is a place for walking, carnivals, political outdoor things and such. She was cooking hotdogs at a fund raiser and introducing herself to the public as a Governor hopeful. She came by and said the usual "Hi, I'm Sara Palin and I am running for Governor"...and I expected her to keep on to the next person but she asked me who I was and what I did in Alaska and we ended up talking for 15 minutes about me [personal details redacted, but you should know this is a pilot. -Grim]. She is a pilot (Super Cub) I'm told although all she told me about that was that she loved flying.This is the first candidate we've had in the race to whom I've felt any personal sympathy. I was supporting the McCain ticket merely because it was the least-bad option; but I think I genuinely like this governor.
As I watched her over the next six months as she successfully ran for Governor I was really impressed. I was impressed greatly even before that after she resigned a good position (Alaska Gas and Oil Regulatory Commission) because a fellow Commission member (Chair of the Alaska Republican Party) misused their office and position. He was using the FAX, computers, printing room and all to promote the Republican endeavors while in a State job. That is a huge no-no in any government employment position. She resigned and made her point and within weeks Randy Ruderich (the above bad guy) found his ass out on the street and a subsequent investigation found him guilty and he was fined $12,000. Small change actually but a giant point was made.
Next she went after our most horrible Governor ever, Governor Murkowski, and damned if she didn't beat him! All of us here in Alaska, except the Democrats, are sick of our State's corruption. That fact was shouted to the heavens after she was elected with an overwhelming point spread. After she got into office she started after corrupt legislators and with the FBI's help we've put four of them in prison, indicted six more and the "Corrupt Bastard's Club" as they arrogantly called themselves (even had hats made with CBC on the front!) suddenly found it no fun anymore. Club membership is now in the toilet!!
The current flap which has cost her a ten point loss of popularity (she's still 82%!) was over firing a popular Commissioner of Public Safety who is responsible for our Alaska State Troopers. She fired him for no STATED reason which was her prerogative as the Gov. He served entirely at her option. She and her whole family had a bad, bad experience with a rogue Trooper who was married to Sara's sister. His name is Trooper Wooten. This dimwit Trooper had threatened Sara's father (death threat!), threatened Sara ("I'll get you too"), tasered his 12 year old stepson, drove drunk in his AST cruiser, got a pass by a fellow Trooper who stopped him for erratic driving a second time while in civvies and just a host of other things not yet released to the public. He got away with it and got another pass by the Commissioner's appointed AST Trooper Internal Affairs investigator with a tiny slap on the wrist. Five days off without pay to be exact!! This maverick Trooper is still on the payroll but only just. The Union intervening saved his malcontent ass. He'll yet get his I'm sure. Incredible heat is being heaped on the Troopers. Public heat, not the Governors office. The Democrats had the audacity to appoint a obviously biased investigator, Rep. "Gunny" French (so called because he lied about being in the USMC while running for the Legislature) is a staunch liberal and under the orders of Senate President Lyda Green who hates Sara. She hates Sara because after being elected Governor Sara told the whole Legislature in one of her first meetings with them that, quote; "All of you here need some Adult Supervision!!!". Sara was seriously pissed and not afraid of anyone there.
That played wonderfully well with Alaskan's after all of our corruption and after all of her successful battles against a seriously entrenched corrupt government here in Alaska. It pissed off the whole Legislature though! They have stayed pissed but also afraid of her because of her popularity. She reminds me personally of our Alaska wolverine which will fight anything in it's path if it see's fit to do so. No respect at all for size or position....
In closing I must tell you that she is the best, most moral and most focused leader I've seen since President Reagan. I feel, really strongly, that like Alaska the rest of our country will love her within a few weeks. Put simply, she represents middle America like NO leader we've ever had.
I think McCain made a totally brilliant move in choosing her. She's a maverick who is probably tougher and more focused than McCain himself....and she won't be a total "Yes Man" or more appropriately, woman. McCain will love her.
In 2012 she will be President.
My best to all of you in the hurricane belt....
Semper Fi
