Busy

Busy:

There's a lot to do to prepare for a long deployment.



Some of it is making sure to spend time with family and friends. Tonight we had Grim's Buffalo Chili, cooked on a fire over my own firepit.

The hard part will come soon enough. There's still a little time for the bittersweet part.

Notice the hook holding the Dutch oven over the firepit. That was forged from a piece of scavenged rebar by a former Navy SEAL turned blacksmith, "Tiny" Robinson of Moose Creek Forge. The last time I talked to "Tiny" (the nickname is precisely like "Little John" in its form and function) he told me he'd had to give up the hammer due to arthritis. That's a pity, because he was a real artist: one of the very best.

The Cats of Paradise

The Cats of Paradise:

"Only a Woman Could Make A Man So Foolish."

In honor of this story.

Back in the Saddle

Back in the Saddle:

My favorite version of this Gene Autry song was by the band "Cowboy Nation," but I don't see a verison of that one available online.



These guys are good too. Horses like it if you sing this to them. It calms their nerves.

UPDATE: Oh, here's Chet Atkins:



If you know of a Jerry Reed version, send it.

UPDATE: I give up. Here's Chet Aktins and Marty Robbins, the later-great Cowboy singer.



And here is Marty Robbins alone, rounding it out.



That last one I first learned from Atlanta's "Banks and Shane" group, who recorded a cover version on an album my father owned.

"The Western Financial World is Over."

"But, some of us have some money in the Western financial world!"

Berg

Berg Speaks:

Some of you will recall we discussed recently Philip Berg's assertion that Sen. Obama is not a US citizen. Elise in particular was fascinated with the assertion, so I thought I'd provide a link to a video involving Berg defending his case.



I think the hard evidence suggests that Berg is a nut, based on his previous lawsuits claiming that the US was behind 9/11, and the attempt to get SCOTUS Justices disbarred for their rulings on Bush v. Gore. That said, here he is speaking for himself: see what you think.

Boom

Boom:

An economist writes on the global situation:

On the real economic side all the advanced economies representing 55% of global GDP (US, Eurozone, UK, other smaller European countries, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Japan) entered a recession even before the massive financial shocks that started in the late summer made the liquidity and credit crunch even more virulent and will thus cause an even more severe recession than the one that started in the spring. So we have a severe recession, a severe financial crisis and a severe banking crisis in advanced economies.

There was no decoupling among advanced economies and there is no decoupling but rather recoupling of the emerging market economies with the severe crisis of the advanced economies. By the third quarter of this year global economic growth will be in negative territory signaling a global recession.

'A severe global recession touching emerging markets' the kind of technical speech that masks hard reality. What this means is that war and famine are coming to much of the world, and with them the rider of the pale horse.

We tend to think mostly in terms of what this means for America, especially this close to an election: our minds are focused on the immediate. America is stronger than most of the nations, though: this is why the dollar is growing steadily through this crisis. The world is burning, and America is the safest place. It is unlikely that war will reach these shores, though not impossible given the political divisions in the nation and the deep distrust that will greet the incoming President, whoever he is.

Allah notes what we can look forward to tomorrow.

These things, dire as they are, take time to fall. You can see them coming, and there is time to prepare. I am in no way a financial advisor, lawyer, or other expert, but it is the experts who brought us to this pass. Here is what I have done: you may do what you like.

1) I moved all of our money into FDIC-insured accounts, both in the military's USAA and in another secure bank. All of it. The FDIC fund is limited, but it is backed by "the full faith and credit of the United States." If that fails, money will be the least of your problems.

Why this is worth doing: The market is losing massive value every day. The experts seem to think you should be buying now, so that you'll be in a better position when the market comes back. In the meanwhile, every dollar you sink into this is worth less tomorrow. That suggests to me: Walk away from whatever you've lost, and rebuild shares when the situation does turn around.

Several people I respect have declared they are doing the opposite, rather than be part of the problem as they see it, which is panic causing these credit shortfalls. I don't agree that panic is the problem; I think there are real, structural problems. Leaving your retirement funds in your 401K may be patriotic, in a sense; but I would have to consider it an act of patriotism, a sacrifice for some common good.

2) I purchased a large quantity of dry goods: dry beans, flour, salt, dry yeast, baking powder and soda, powdered milk, and so forth, plus oil, whiskey (for medicinal use only, of course), and other such goods. The real danger in America is transportation difficulties: so much of our economy is based on 'just in time' deliveries that can be disrupted by even minor variances in the fuel supply. Anyone living in the South knows this right now, because of the gas outages we've had lately. A major finance crisis could cause shortfalls, and most people keep only a few days' supplies on hand at most.

Stock up. Buy a few months' emergency supplies. As insurance goes, it is very cheap, and can prevent disaster. Right now supplies are plentiful and inflation is no problem.

Why this is worth doing: There is a real risk of disruption in fuel and shipping; at the least, you'll be sure of living in comfort through any such shocks. This kind of 'insurance' is cheap, and if all turns up aces, you'll eat the stuff anyway. So there's no risk, no loss, but you are protected from a danger that has potentially severe consequences and a nontrivial chance of happening.

3) I laid in a few hundred extra rounds of ammunition: not just heavy stuff for defense and deer hunting, but bird shot to make it easy to bag squirrels and birds for the pot. I trust it will not be needed except for sport, and I will have a pleasant day at the range some afternoon in the future. Yet if it is needed, it will be needed intensely.

Why this is worth doing: If you live where there is abundant wildlife (and deer populations are at or near record levels), it's another source of food in the case of fuel-caused shocks. In the case of wider chaos, you're prepared; and if the absolute worst happens, and even FDIC insurance is no good, you have a valuable barter item. Unlike the food, there is a small cost (you can't eat it later if everything works out fine, although you can enjoy a fun day shooting). Still, the potential benefit to having adequate ammunition stores easily outweighs that small cost.

4) I'll be leaving on another Iraq adventure much sooner than I wanted. The parallel for readers: if a solid, good paying job you may not really want appears, take it anyway.

Why this is worth doing: We've heard that in a recession or depression, cash is king. Adding to rather than living off your savings will be difficult at this time, but at the end of the collapse, there will be a lot you can buy cheaply: real estate, businesses priced below their value, homes, etc.

Conclusion:

The advice I hear the financial experts giving boils down to: buy, buy, buy. Double down on the 401K. Shares are undervalued, so pick up bargains and make a fortune on the rebound. Getting out of the market means you can't make up the value you've already lost.

As the AP notes in passing today, however, that money was never real. I would suggest a different approach to understanding wealth.

Wealth doesn't come from speculation. It comes from work.

If your hard work has left you with money to invest, invest it in your own work. Alternatively, invest it in the business of a man you know, whose work ethic is known to you. Use it to buy land, and put cattle or crops on it -- or hire someone who knows how.

These things have real value that can't just 'go away.' They aren't fairy gold. They're real wealth. Hard work, friendships with men of strong ethics, land, cattle, food: this is what we built the country on to start with.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb is right: banks don't make out on this.

Clearly, with current International Monetary Fund estimates of the costs of the 2007-2008 subprime crisis, the banking system seems to have lost more on risk taking (from the failures of quantitative risk management) than every penny banks ever earned taking risks.

I intend to focus on the real fundamentals of the economy. It's hard work and sacrifice that got us where we are, and that is how America will thrive -- if it does -- in the future. There is no substitute.

Voting

"I Have Voted":

Since I'll be leaving before the election, I took advantage of Georgia's new 'advance voting' policy. I have some remarks on it.

1) I hate electronic voting. It's easy and convenient, but I don't love the fact that there is really no physical record of how I actually voted.

2) I was reminded again this year of how the real election in Georgia is the primary. Almost all the races consisted of one candidate running unopposed. When I was a boy, the Democratic primary was the real election -- nobody believed he could win as a Republican, so everyone ran as a Democrat, and whoever won the Democratic primary ran unopposed in the election.

Now, that's reversed: the word "Democrat" hardly appears on the general election ballot. The three national elections -- President/VP, Senator, Representative -- had Democratic candidates, but I don't think any of the other races did.

It's odd, for the few of us left who hold to the old ways. There were more Libertarians on the general election ballot than Democrats.

3) I voted for Governor Palin. Oh, and the gentleman she's running with.

Palin Cover

The Palin Cover:

I was off yesterday, but I see that the LA Times attempted to show how Newsweek got its cover picture.



Times reporter Elizabeth Snead writes:

How did Newsweek convince Gov. Sarah Palin to pose with a rifle for its cover?

Simple. It didn't.

Instead, it used an archive (fancy speak for old) stock photo of her taken back in June 2002 and used it for the cover without her knowledge.

However, to the magazine's credit, it did not try to hide the fact that it's a stock photo, even printing circa 2002 on the cover and again referencing the date in editor Jon Meacham's letter entitled "The Palin Problem."

So that makes it OK.

Right? Or maybe not? What do you think?

Hey, is that even the right way to hold a rifle? Can't you shoot your foot off like that?

Just wondering.

Grim's Hall readers will be laughing pretty hard about now.

But don't fail to follow the link and read through the comments. My favorite:

Good catch. That is a 50 caliber automatic street-sweeper cop-killer assault weapon. Not only could she have blown her foot off, she could've killed every human within a 1000 yard radius. Which she would've probably enjoyed, since she loves to kill things. She is terrifying, and I have nightmares about her every night.

Hold me.

Eric Blair would say, "This thread is full of win."

Debate

The Debate:

The moderator and the audience have asked some extraordinarily good, insightful, and deep questions tonight (as well as a couple of duds). The candidates have flatly refused to answer any of them.

Paraphrased based on my memory of the question:

Q: 'What does this $700 billion bailout do for the little guy?'

Nothing at all directly. It may help keep the economy a whole from derailing, which would be good for the little guy as well as the big guys.

Neither candidate wants to say, "It wasn't designed to help the little guy," so we got two dodges. Sadly, this was the least evasive answer of the night.

Q: 'Should health care be a commodity?'

This is a fascinating question, and one I was very sorry that both candidates dodged completely. It's a fundamental issue, and I would like to know what they both think about it. A 'no' answer calls for a European-style system whereby health care is instead considered a right, which we make arrangements as a society to provide for that right to be met. A 'yes' answer is compatible with a market system.

If the answer is yes, as I think it is, it is not only because many people have spent time and money becoming health care providers -- whether doctors, paramedics, nurses, etc. This is an issue, because the government would be seizing their means of making a living if it declared health care a noncommodity: all "commodity" means is that there is something you can buy or sell.

The more important reason, though, is that the market regulates the amount people spend on a commodity. If you take it out of the market, you regulate the supply by law instead. You tell doctors and other health care providers, "You will provide as much as is demanded, and we will pay you what we decide to." So fewer people become doctors, until you have to mandate that, too.

Furthermore, the government's resources become increasingly devoted to health care. Supply is limited by the number of doctors, etc., but demand for health care is essentially unlimited. I could go to the doctor every time I get a cold, or think I might be getting a cold. I could ask for a prescription of Tamiflu just in case. I don't, because of the copay.

If it's my right to receive that health care, then the government has to provide me not with the same level of service I currently get, but a much higher level. Me and everyone else.

Q: 'We all recognize that things are going to be tighter. Prioritize entitlement reform, health care, and energy policy as first, second, and third most important.'

This was an outstanding and direct question from the moderator. McCain flatly dodged it ("I think we can do all three") and Obama followed him. The proverbial tar and feathers should be applied here to both of them.

This is the question that has now been asked in all three debates: 'If you find you won't be able to keep your campaign promises, which ones are you really going to do, and which ones will go by the wayside if things are too tight?' It's a tremendously important issue, and one I'd like to see pushed. McCain came closest to answering it, by reminding people of his spending freeze plan, but that's still not an answer to the particular question (although based on the answer he did give, I'd estimate his priorities as: 1) Entitlement reform, 2) Energy, 3) Health care). Sen. Obama's answer was even less direct, just a recitation of his health care talking points and his energy talking points (which bled into his non-answers to the other questions).

Q: Best question of the night. 'How can we trust either of you, given how badly your parties have both behaved up to now?'

McCain almost answered this one, by pointing people to watchdog agencies that would show he was committed to bipartisanship, whereas his opponent voted with his party every time. True enough, although the real question wasn't about who will work with the other party. If both parties are so bad they cannot be trusted (which seems largely beyond dispute), bipartisanship is not the same virtue as if there are good ideas on both sides (which is less clear).

Instapundit and Brendan Loy spoke to this today:

[I]t's hard to argue with this: "It isn't just that McCain and Obama are flawed candidates; it's that there aren't really any better alternatives. Who would you rather see up there? Hillary Clinton? Mitt Romney? John Edwards? Mike Huckabee? Joe Biden? Sarah Palin? Nancy Pelosi? John Boehner? Harry Reid? Mitch McConnell? George W. Bush? John Kerry? Dick Cheney? Al Gore? Please. Our political class is totally failing us, almost as much as we're failing ourselves."

Yes, the political class isn't attracting the best talent in the nation. It's not even attracting the second-best.

This is the hope people have for Gov. Palin, who at least is a complete newcomer -- real fresh blood. My suspicion is that we'll see a whole lot of incumbents turned out this year, whatever the polls say about it now.

Q: Second best question, from a seventy-something lady: 'Since WWII, Americans haven't been asked to sacrifice anything for the good of the nation, except the blood of our heroic troops. What will you ask?'

Best answers of the night. Sen. McCain actually raises the prospect of cutting social programs and entitlements. Sen. Obama says he'll double the Peace Corps and volunteer programs for the youth. He tries to talk about the civilian expeditionary force concept, but doesn't really know how to phrase it. Pity.

Q: 'What about climate change?'

I can't believe we're still talking about global warming, but apparently we are.

Both candidates reiterate their energy policy talking points.

Most of the night, actually, was talking point hell. For those of us who are following these issues intensely and watching them with people who don't, that is very frustrating ("Obama just said clean coal! Do you know..." "Shh!" "McCain said he voted against the new tanker! Why..." "Shhh!").

The funniest moment of the night was when the moderator, after several warnings, took them both to task for not keeping their answers to the one minute required. Sen. Obama -- having just a few minutes earlier told a questioner that he knew they weren't there to see politicians pointing fingers at each other -- actually stood up and pointed his finger at McCain.

I don't know who won in the mind of the average voter. I am reminded of our discussion of who would be a good VP pick, when Cassandra asserted that one of her standards was, "Who would make a good standard bearer in 2012?" I said then that I didn't see anyone on the slate I'd want to be thinking about in 2012. Gov. Palin is better than I expected, but I hope we'll see a complete turnover between now and then. I'd still believe that our country needs to ask some of those good men who have done so well in Iraq and elsewhere to step up to the task. Sign me up for the Mattis in '12 ticket.

Election "2K H8"?

Those of you who try to keep up with Cassandra saw this fellow earlier today, and Mrs. G. linked to him as well. (Cassandra's post was the same one where she called me an ignorant racist.)

I was amused to read, via Mrs. G., that the Freepers invited him and banned him within 24 hours. That's kind of awesome.



So what did he say to get banned?

BIG BANG recreated!!! That's fantastic!!! Someone recreated a model of the big bang. But hey, you can't have a recreation without an original creation.... if [our] intelligence has brought [us] to a point where [we] can model a big bang recreation, then there must have been an intelligence that gave ignition to the original, and endowed it with life to boot!

I didn't realize creationism was a banning offense at Free Republic. Still, there's two things to say about this that ought to be said.

1) The fact that it requires intelligence to build a model of something does not mean that it required intelligence to create the original. I've seen a carefully-constructed wave pool built to study the movement of sand in tidal regions. That doesn't mean that the ocean was similarly designed. It may have been, or not; we don't know.

2) However, the fellow has a good point. Is it really a "recreation" of the big bang if it doesn't produce a new universe? What if you can make a 'universe,' but it doesn't contain intelligent life?

As Chesterton wrote, people lose the wonder of the thing sometimes.

If trees were tall and grasses short,
As in some crazy tale,
If here and there a sea were blue
Beyond the breaking pale,

If a fixed fire hung in the air
To warm me one day through,
If deep green hair grew on great hills,
I know what I should do.

In dark I lie: dreaming that there
Are great eyes cold or kind,
And twisted streets and silent doors,
And living men behind.

Let storm-clouds come: better an hour
And leave to weep and fight,
Than all the ages I have ruled
The empires of the night.

I think that if they gave me leave
Within the world to stand,
I would be good all through the day
I spent in fairyland.

They should not hear a word from me
Of selfishness or scorn,
If only I could find the door,
If only I were born.

Awe and wonder are too often lost, and this young man has pointed at a place where they are deserved. Our scientists have done a glorious thing! And yet, how very far we remain from knowing even the first things: How? Why?

WV Blog

A West Virginia Blogger:

You might like Deafening Silence, a blog by a lady from West Virginia. I had a pleasant email exchange with her recently, and I think she's the sort of person you'd all like.

Good Ad

A Good Ad:

It seems to me that any effective ad by the McCain team starts the way this one does. The most dangerous question Sen. Obama has ever had to face is, "Who are you?"

Joyce

Obama & Joyce:

Did you know that Obama was a director of the Joyce Foundation? Not that I needed another reason to be opposed to him, but:

[D]uring his time as director, Joyce Foundation spent millions creating and supporting anti-gun organizations.

The Geek With a .45 mentions Joyce occasionally. His point is that they create and support all these little groups so that, when they all say the same thing, it sounds like there are lots of different people independently coming to the same conclusion. In fact, it's bought and paid for by Joyce -- astroturf, in other words.

la horde sauvage

La Horde Sauvage:

From the Sergio Leone film My Name is Nobody:



You'll hear a tinny version of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" worked into this. This is the French version, Mon nom est Personne.

Hooah

"How To Speak Southern"

Feddie at Southern Appeal says that he realizes this link is "a little blue," but since he got it from his mother...

"Bless your heart." An ancient Confederate curse, used in cases of extreme censure. Rough translation: "F#*& you, Yankee." Sample usage: "You're supporting Obama? Why, bless your heart."

That is, um... yeah.

Racism

"Unsubstantiated"

Greyhawk takes note of the AP's remarkably evenhanded journalism:

By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is "palling around with terrorists" and doesn't see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign.

And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.

UNSUBSTANTIATED???

What would it take to substantiate this in the AP's view?



See also "Founding Brothers" by Stanley Kurtz, which was written out of the archives for the Chicago Annenberg Challenge; and this piece, describing a clear effort by the Obama camp to avoid discussing it.

And then there was the time Obama got a job from Ayers:



So, aside from video archives, documentary evidence from the CAC, and the fact that the Obama camp has gone to great lengths on multiple occasions to try to silence discussion of the subject -- even trying to get people who talk about it prosecuted -- no, there's nothing to this at all.

Oh, and it's racist. Ayers is white, but whatever.

Get Some

Get Some, Governor:

Now this is the Sarah Palin we thought we knew:

Palin told a group of donors at a private airport, "Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." She also said, "This is not a man who sees America as you see America and as I see America."

That's sure enough true. It was obvious when he told that little girl that 'America is not what it once was.'



The question never asked: just when was America better than now? The answer to that would tell us quite a bit.

Indian Dancing at Cumming Fair

Honoring Fathers:

We went to the Fair at Cumming, GA, last night. It's mostly like a fair anywhere -- rickety rides, unpleasant carnies, concerts, livestock, etc. However, the folks in Cumming decided to set aside a portion of their fairgrounds for their heritage exhibitions. There are several that treat what life in the small-town South was like before the post-WWII economic boom. There is also a small 'village' at the far end of the fairground that recalls the earliest days of America in the area, when this area was part of the Cherokee nation, and when the Old Federal Road was pushed through the wilderness from Savannah to Knoxville.

There are several Cherokee-style buildings on this place, plus a reproduction of the Tavern that sat on Old Federal Road at the ford of the Chattahoochee river. This was the center of early American life in what was then the wilderness, at a time when white settlers who wanted to live here had to apply to the Cherokees for the right to emigrate to their nation. In those days the deep forests of North Georgia were populated with wildlife that had not learned to be frightened of people: one of the early settlers, the day after she gave birth to a daughter, was attacked by a wildcat when she went to get water from the river. She choked it to death.

This 'village' is employed during the fair by various living history groups. I always enjoy spending time with reenactors or living historians: these are people who make sense to me. The drive to preserve and extend what you love, to let it inform your life and define the future, is something that I understand. One of the groups does traditional Native American dancing, although not of purely Cherokee styles. One was Cherokee, the next Chiricahua Apache (the lodge lionized in our most recent movie club film), the next of another line. The chief spokesman and lead dancer was Commanche, and performed the "men's traditional" dance.

This photo shows the Chiricahua Apache dancer. The building in the background is that replica of the Old Tavern that I mentioned above.



The coup stick carried by the Commanche was the man's own: it measures his and his family's victories. These include especially military service, his own and that of his father, grandfather, and so forth. He remembers them and honors them in his daily life, and in his art, both to inform himself and to teach his children to do likewise. Likewise, the women dancing bore tokens of warriors in their ancestry, and their dances involved bows toward the symbols of their warrior fathers.

That explanation earned quite a round of applause from the crowd. It is something they understood on a deep and personal level.

Debate

The Palin - Biden Debate:

Of three focus groups, two said Sen. Biden won, but the third gave Gov. Palin a runaway victory. People listening to her found her intelligent, a regular American, and said 'she sounds like everybody.' She seems to have done that well.

It was clearly a major focus of the debate: I guess the Obama campaign figures that the one thing he can't do is seem like a regular guy, which he just isn't, so that's got to be Biden's job. The problem is, Sen. Biden has been in the Senate for more than three decades. Joe Biden tries to sound normal by naming places: "Scranton," "Katie's Diner." He speaks of "kitchen table issues." Sarah Palin sounds normal by talking about people, doing ordinary things.

It's clear that normal America is a place that Joe Biden visits, but that it is where Sarah Palin lives.

Well, what about the substance?

There were a number of factual errors; Gov. Palin's most obvious was her claim that "millions" of small businesses make more than $250,000 a year. That's correct if and only if you mean that they bring in that much money; once you deduct their operating expenses, advertising costs, salaries, benefits, etc., the figure is far lower.

The bigger mistake here is simply to accept Sen. Obama's tax plan at face value. The fact is that he obviously can't do what he says he'll do: cut taxes for most Americans, increase government spending, establish universal healthcare, bailout the economy, and create a bunch of new programs. Every time anyone points out that this is impossible, Sen. Obama accuses them of 'not being honest' about his plan, which is really to do all those things.

My new economic recovery plan is to give everyone wings out of their shoulders so they can fly to work, thus breaking our dependency on foreign oil; and then mana from heaven to eat, so that their wallet will no longer suffer under rising food costs. Anyone who says I can't is not being honest about my plan. Right.

The debate moderators get this, which is why both of them have asked several times each what new cuts might have to be pondered under 'changing circumstances.' That's a highly legitimate question, and one that the Obama camp in particular has dodged. Gov. Palin dodged it as well tonight, although in a sense fairly: she pointed out that she, personally, hasn't really pledged much, and therefore there's not much of her pledged spending that she'd have to cut.

Sen. McCain alone gave a straightforward and honest answer to that question. It's a question that we should continue to press. If pushed to the wall, what's more important to Sen. Obama? The tax 'cuts,' as Sen. Obama likes to call giving people money over and above what they ever paid in taxes? Or these social programs? What's more important to Sen. McCain? We know: he told us.

Gov. Palin's strongest policy moment, I thought, was this:

Now you said recently that higher taxes or asking for higher taxes or paying higher taxes is patriotic. In the middle class of America which is where Todd and I have been all of our lives, that's not patriotic. Patriotic is saying, government, you know, you're not always the solution. In fact, too often you're the problem so, government, lessen the tax burden and on our families and get out of the way and let the private sector and our families grow and thrive and prosper. An increased tax formula that Barack Obama is proposing in addition to nearly a trillion dollars in new spending that he's proposing is the backwards way of trying to grow our economy.

That resonates with Americans. It's definitely not the case that we don't pay enough taxes, or that we should pay more to prove how much we love our government. This is a policy statement -- low taxes are the better way to grow out of economic trouble -- but it's deeply tied to a powerful emotion. Policy statements work best when they are. Not: "I believe we need lower taxes," but: "You said we weren't patriotic of we didn't pony up to you, but you're the problem a lot of the time. I say people should keep their money. They'll do better with it than you will."

It also puts the Democratic ticket off balance on patriotism. I don't think it's as effective aimed at Sen. Biden, who is clearly a great American in his way. I would feel not at all uncomfortable with this year's election if he were at the top of the ticket, policy differences aside. Patriotism is a bigger problem for Sen. Obama, because of his pastor (who actually is a bigger patriot than he is -- the Rev. Mr. Wright was a Marine and Navy Corpsman, which in my book means he's earned the right to say whatever he thinks), and his terrorist associate Bill Ayers, his wife's statements, his own statements to a certain little girl, etc.

Biden's strongest moment was this:

You know how Barack Obama -- excuse me, do you know how John McCain pays for his $5,000 tax credit you're going to get, a family will get?

He taxes as income every one of you out there, every one of you listening who has a health care plan through your employer. That's how he raises $3.6 trillion, on your -- taxing your health care benefit to give you a $5,000 plan, which his Web site points out will go straight to the insurance company.

And then you're going to have to replace a $12,000 -- that's the average cost of the plan you get through your employer -- it costs $12,000. You're going to have to pay -- replace a $12,000 plan, because 20 million of you are going to be dropped. Twenty million of you will be dropped.

So you're going to have to place -- replace a $12,000 plan with a $5,000 check you just give to the insurance company. I call that the "Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere."

My question, though: don't most of us pay for the insurance we get through our companies, out of our paychecks? As an independent contractor, I don't: I actually buy my family's health insurance alone on the free market. (The cost is nowhere near $12,000 -- closer to half that -- but maybe 'the average American' has better insurance than I do).

Feel free to sound off with what you think.

!!!

!!!

This is the most astonishing thing yet: a sitting US Federal District Court Judge has issued an order that accepts an argument that Senator Obama lost his citizenship in 1967, and has ordered him to produce documents proving he reclaimed it according to law.

By tomorrow.

We've all been ignoring the 'birth certificate' issue, but it suddenly exploded.

UPDATE: Or not. Valerie at Winds of Change says it's a draft of the order the plantiff would like to see, not the actual order. So it's still a nonstory (although I would appreciate some commentary from a lawyer or two on the claims re: the possibility of losing one's citizenship, which I find extraordinary).

Cash is King

A King of Infinite Space:

A little history on a remarkable year. In 1873, Winchester produced the Winchester 73, "The Gun That Won The West." Col. Colt produced the Single Action Army revolver, probably one of the two most famous pistols of all (the other also being a Colt). And none of that touched The Real Great Depression.

As the panic deepened, ordinary Americans suffered terribly. A cigar maker named Samuel Gompers who was young in 1873 later recalled that with the panic, "economic organization crumbled with some primeval upheaval." Between 1873 and 1877, as many smaller factories and workshops shuttered their doors, tens of thousands of workers — many former Civil War soldiers — became transients. The terms "tramp" and "bum," both indirect references to former soldiers, became commonplace American terms. Relief rolls exploded in major cities, with 25-percent unemployment (100,000 workers) in New York City alone. Unemployed workers demonstrated in Boston, Chicago, and New York in the winter of 1873-74 demanding public work. In New York's Tompkins Square in 1874, police entered the crowd with clubs and beat up thousands of men and women. The most violent strikes in American history followed the panic, including by the secret labor group known as the Molly Maguires in Pennsylvania's coal fields in 1875, when masked workmen exchanged gunfire with the "Coal and Iron Police," a private force commissioned by the state. A nationwide railroad strike followed in 1877, in which mobs destroyed railway hubs in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Cumberland, Md.

In Central and Eastern Europe, times were even harder. Many political analysts blamed the crisis on a combination of foreign banks and Jews. Nationalistic political leaders (or agents of the Russian czar) embraced a new, sophisticated brand of anti-Semitism that proved appealing to thousands who had lost their livelihoods in the panic. Anti-Jewish pogroms followed in the 1880s, particularly in Russia and Ukraine. Heartland communities large and small had found a scapegoat: aliens in their own midst.

The echoes of the past in the current problems with residential mortgages trouble me.

'Cash is King,' I have read in several pieces on the potential for an economic downturn. But how wide a kingdom will it rule? That's a thing yet undetermined.

GO SEE APPALOOSA THIS WEEKEND

GO SEE APPALOOSA THIS WEEKEND

After I returned from Iraq a little over a year ago my wife and I celebrated with a vacation to Mexico.  While I was waiting in the airport I stopped by a book store to pick up something to read on the plane.  The book that caught my eye was Appaloosa by Robert Parker.  It turned out to be a great choice.  I devoured the book in no time flat.  In fact, I enjoyed the book so much that I immediately bought the sequel, Resolution, when it was released.

Consequently, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Appaloosa has been made into a movie and is being released nationwide this Friday.  Early reviews say that the movie follows the book very closely, which is good.

If you like a good western then this movie is a must see.  Western themed movies are an iconic slice of Americana.  Robert Duvall once said that Westerns were America’s unique contribution to film and literature. He said that no ones does Shakespeare like the British and no one does westerns like America.  So, do your patriotic duty and see this movie.

Gov. Palin

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.

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.

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:

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.

What did Eric say?

What Was That Thing Eric Used To Say?

Via Reason, which is on the same page as our Mr. Blair.

GHMC: Broken Arrow:

So, what did you think?

TSIR

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.

OBAMA CAMPAIGN ADOPTS POLICE STATE TACTICS TO SUPPRESS DISSENT

OBAMA 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.

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.

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.

Debate

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.

Forty-eight percent of these voters think Obama would make the right decisions about Iraq. Fifty-six 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.'

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.

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.

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.

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.

GHMC: BA

Grim's Hall Movie Club: Broken Arrow

I would like to nominate this movie, available online for free, as the newest entry. Let us discuss it on Monday.

Smallness

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.

Obama Gardens

"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:

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.

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.

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.

Oops?

McCain/Clinton

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....

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.

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?

Mother on Palin

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?

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.

And two, from Couric's interview with McCain:

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?

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?

Well, Katie, is it? You brought it up.

The AP went hook, line and sinker, of course.

Now that's a Priest

"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.

An Argument in Pictures

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.

Obama: Already the President

Obama: Already the President

Dad29 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.

Munson

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.

ATL

ATL @ WRK:

Fulton County, home of the Atlanta public school system:

H/t: FAILblog.

Confed Yank

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.

Georgia

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.'

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.

Today via Cassidy and Mary Katherine Ham, an observation:

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.

Preach it

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.

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)

The Great Tragedy

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.

Raving

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.

...

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.

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?

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.

Just a Man

"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.

"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.

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?

Living The Dream

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.

It was hard, demanding and stressful work, but I actually felt like I was 'living the dream.'

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.

Vegas AAR

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.

Revolution?

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.

Wait!

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.

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.

You guys are going to make me cry. With laughter.

Everybody's using this clip. I think I have seen about a half dozen parodies of this thing.



(via Instapundit)

Health Care Crisis

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.