Why Sarah Palin gets hated:

She's Sexy.

MEN RULE. This is the "scandal" that let the dogs out. For weeks I've been wrapping my head in wet towels trying to noodle out the reason lefty (and some righty) women hate Palin so very much. Why she seems to unhinge them to such an astonishing degree. The flap over her $150,000 wardrobe budget just cut though all the crap to the truth of it. They hate her because she's sexy.

It really is that simple. It's not that she's managed to have a career, including being elected Governor of Alaska. It's not that she's given birth to five children without wanting an abortion. It's not that she espousestraditional conservative values like pistol-grop shotguns. It's not that she's become a vice presidential candidate without a degree in womanitude from Radcliffe, Smith, Barnard, or Wellesley. It's that she won a beauty contest long ago and could still win one today. It's that in spite of an accent that makes her sound like Herb's wife on WKRP in Cincinnati, she's a 44 year old mother of five who still has it, whatever it is. She's every insecure career woman's nightmare. She has it all -- success, family, a long-term marriage, happiness -- and she's still hotter than Britney Spears for a huge percentage of men in America. That's why they HATE her so very very VERY much.

There's actually alot more to read at Instapunk. Just keep scrolling.

The Angry Pharmacist.

Go and read him and be afraid. Very afraid.

Sex

A Confession:

One of my favorite episodes in all television history is this one:



"Good evening and welcome back to FYI. Recent events have convinced me of the need to address my much publicized 'Wild Night.' Let me say first that I am from the Old School: when silence was golden, mum was the word, and those with skeletons kept them in the closet, where they belong.

"But those days are over. Thus, I present you the truth about my twisted, abnormal life....

"I am as normal as I can possibly be. Judging by today's tell all books, that makes me our nation's number one pervert. In a world without stability, I remain the same solid citizen I always was. And, since no one else will say it, good for me.

"I come from a functional family. I had a perfectly delightful childhood. I loved my mother, adored my father, and good for me.

"Here's something freakish: I have been married to the same woman for 34 years. You know how many women I have made love to in my life? One! And good for me."

Watch to the end, if you want to know how such lives are rewarded.

A kind word

A Kind Word for Sen. Obama:

The Wall Street Journal is unduly harsh in calling his tax plans "nonsense."

Now we know: 95% of Americans will get a "tax cut" under Barack Obama after all. Those on the receiving end of a check will include the estimated 44% of Americans who will owe no federal income taxes under his plan.

In most parts of America, getting money back on taxes you haven't paid sounds a lot like welfare. Ah, say the Obama people, you forget: Even those who pay no income taxes pay payroll taxes for Social Security. Under the Obama plan, they say, these Americans would get an income tax credit up to $500 based on what they are paying into Social Security.

Just two little questions: If people are going to get a tax refund based on what they pay into Social Security, then we're not really talking about income tax relief, are we? And if what we're really talking about is payroll tax relief, doesn't that mean billions of dollars in lost revenue for a Social Security trust fund that is already badly underfinanced?

I think the truth is not that he's talking nonsense. I think he's just saying things he doesn't mean. I don't think we'll see, if he were elected, anything but a repeat in 2009 of 1993:

I had hoped to invest in your future by creating jobs, expanding education, reforming health care, and reducing the debt [deficit] without asking more of you. And I’ve worked harder than I’ve ever worked in my life to meet that goal. But I can’t because...

C'mon. We all know the truth. There's no reason to go through with this charade every year.

Son

Jackson and Junior:

Once upon a time, in the early days of color television, a man down South decided to try out the medium. So he got a few friends and made a show, but when he tried to sell it nobody up in New York wanted to buy it.

Now, out of the warehouse, a very early appearance by Johnny Cash and June Carter -- and the first TV appearance of Junior Samples.



Johnny Cash needs no introduction, but some may not now remember Junior Samples. Junior Samples was from Forsyth County Georgia, which is where I grew up. One day my father, who was with the volunteer Fire Department, was at a training fire. This is where they take an old property likely to be a hazard and burn it up, both to dispose of it and to practice firefighting techniques. My father was out by the road when a pickup truck pulled up. There was Junior Samples, who leaned out of the truck and told the firemen, "I hate to tell you boys this, but that place burned two years ago."

He was a very nice guy by all accounts.

Here's a much older Johnny Cash, singing about his horse:



You may wonder: can a horse have green eyes? Yes, but it's very rare. There's only one kind of horse that does, and "the color of the sun" is a good description.

John McCain 68-23

McCain Ahead 68%-23%:

Among the US military, according to the Military Times poll. Figuring that the undecicdeds and so forth break very strongly for Obama, that's easily a 7-3 split.

McCain leads 76%-17% among white servicemembers.
McCain leads 63%-23% among Hispanic servicemembers.

Active Duty break for McCain 67% to 24%.
Retirees break for McCain 72% to 20%.

Servicemen for McCain, 70-22%.
Servicewomen for McCain, 53%-36%.

There was one demographic that went 80%-20% for Sen. Obama, for reasons that we'll respect and can fully understand. Neverthless, that result was a clear outlier compared to the remainder of those polled.

Putting Your Minds At Ease:

Our good friend Doc Russia recently wrote me with a very kind offer: to lend me a good Bowie knife for the trip out East.

Now, Doc's about the greatest guy in the world, so I want you to know I took his offer as a true kindness. In case any of you are wondering, however, I am well provided on this particular score. There are many things I may not have enough of, and surely I am not a rich man, but a good Bowie knife I can at least claim.

I'm planning on taking this one in my kit:



It was made by a local Cherokee knifemaker named Jim Whitefeather, 82 years old. He didn't forge it -- it was cut from an old sawmill blade. Those were made of the finest steel that anyone knew how to make in the 19th century, and it is steel that has aged well. It is full tang, strong yet light. Indeed, it is both lighter weight and faster than a Kabar-style combat knife, but with similar strength.

I trust that Mr. Whitefeather will forgive me for altering the design somewhat. I prefer my Bowies to have a fully sharp backstrap, whereas he gave the backside of the clip point a flat surface. I spent a little time with a grinding wheel, followed by a medium and then a fine Arkansas whetstone, and now it suits me perfectly.

So be of good cheer. I know my art, and I am well equipped. Thank you all, though, for thinking of me.

Fair Warning

Fair Warning:

Kim du Toit starts a series I look forward to reading through:

So you want to get involved in Cowboy Action Shooting (CAS), but you don’t really want to spend a lot of money on it until you’re sure you’ll like it.

Silly rabbit.

CAS is, after home improvement, the easiest way to empty your bank account.

There are two reasons why this is true. One, you’re going to love it; and two, you’re going to get sucked into the “authenticity” thing. It’s impossible not to. I know a guy who bought a handmade twin-holster buscadero gunbelt which was almost as valuable as the two sixguns it carried—and we haven’t even started looking at accoutrements like clothing.

And here’s the simple reason why everyone who starts this eventually gets hooked: it is the greatest fun you can have without being arrested.

It sure sounds like it.

Some Links

Glass Jaw:

Deafening Silence has a manifesto for those remaining behind to fight for America, no matter who wins the election.

My love for this country does not depend on who runs the show. I wouldn't call it 'love' if it did.

Mr. President, I am a product of this nation. I was born here. It has fed my bones and blood. It's most sacred documents tell me that I am required to watch over it, to participate in it, to give it my eternal vigilance.

That is the bargain I was offered in exchange for my citizenship. And I have accepted it.

This nation also feeds the aspirations of thousands who adopt it as their home each year, newcomers who accept the bargain and know that the United State will exist in the bones and blood of their family as well.

I suppose there are some things you could do to drive me out, but they would have to be pretty extreme- things like credible threats to my life and my family. So far, you don't strike me as the type.

Would an Obama victory represent a credible threat to your life? Indirectly, yes... at least, if you listen to Joe Biden.

“Mark my words,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

“I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate,” Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. “And he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you - not financially to help him - we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right."

Sen. Biden raises an excellent point, and it's something I have thought about while preparing to deploy. An Obama victory is likely to result in a new wave of violence in Iraq, as Iranian-backed radicals and Qaeda militants test him. They will think, "Here is a guy who has always wanted to think this war was a mistake and that it couldn't be won. He'll take a bunch of new attacks as proof he was right all along, and the Surge was an illusion. He's got a glass jaw." They'll want to see if they can break it.

That may not be a reason to vote against Sen. Obama if you agree with him on policy, but Sen. Biden is absolutely right that it's something to expect. If Sen. Obama wins the Presidency, all Americans will need to be ready both to show support for the government against foreign aggressors -- but also to hold President Obama's feet to the fire, and not let him back off in Iraq or elsewhere.

That way lies disaster. Joe Biden is right in his diagnosis and proposed treatment.

Of course, the polls are tightening, so it may not be a problem. (Also from Hot Air: do you know that Gov. Palin now meets with the press at length on a near-daily basis, but Obama hasn't taken questions from the traveling press corps since September? How about that "cone of silence"?)

Hooah

The Oklahoma Resolution:

Now you're playing my song:

The resolution's language, in part, reads: "Whereas, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: 'The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.'; and Whereas, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and whereas, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and Whereas, today, in 2008, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government. … Now, therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the 2nd session of the 51st Oklahoma Legislature: that the State of Oklahoma hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States. That this serve as Notice and Demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers."

Hooah.

H/t: Kat at the Castle.

Profile in Courage

Profile in Courage:

Joseph Epstein calls fire on his own position:

One might think that liberal women would have some admiration for Governor Palin's appearing to have solved the working mother problem that bedevils most contemporary American women. She is very feminine yet doesn't regard herself as a victim, and seems to be entirely at ease with men. Here is a woman raising five children who is able not only to have an active hand in the life of her community but actually win the highest political office in her state. As the governor of Alaska, moreover, she took on the corrupt elements in her own party, which requires courage of a kind liberated women especially, one would think, might admire....

The daughter of a dear friend of mine used to say of her mother, "I sense her rage." Of course when the daughter said this, my friend's rage would only increase. Suggesting that liberal women feel rage over Sarah Palin is, similarly, likely only to enrage them all the more. But rage in their reaction to Governor Palin is emphatically what I do sense on the part of liberal women--that and delight in any attempt to humiliate her. (Tina Fey, take a bow, and, hey, let's watch that Katie Couric YouTube interview one more time!) I wonder if the women who loathe Sarah Palin with such intensity oughtn't perhaps to reexamine the source of their strongly illiberal feelings.

He's right, of course. On both counts.

Sherman

$herman:

Hm.

[W]hat does Obama do with the extra money? A three-to-one ad ratio in a given state is worth about a point in the polls. But that’s in states with at least a decent baseline of Republican advertising. What’s it worth in states where McCain can’t advertise at all, like North Dakota or Georgia? 3 or 4 points? Does Obama move into states at the fringes of the target map to 1) heighten the sense of panic in the GOP? and 2) go for 400 EVs? Can he legally bail out the committees to go for 270 in the House and 60 in the Senate?

Either way, this is going to be the political equivalent of Sherman’s March.

Well, I'm seeing a huge number of signs this year. Haven't seen an Obama sign yet. I did see an Obama bumper sticker down in Atlanta, but only one so far.

Yeah, I still don't expect to see Obama win Georgia. Every dollar spent here is a dollar wasted.

Grim on Colin

The Powell Endorsement:

Once, I took a man's word about some bioweapon labs. Thanks for your opinion, General.

McCain is Awesome

John McCain at His Best:

Holy crap, guys.





Where has THIS guy been all campaign?

UPDATE: Here's Obama's speech:

Yeah

"A Plumber Is The Guy He's Fighting For."

Seen today in Dawsonville, Georgia: a truck with a big sign on the back that read, "I love Joe the Plumber."



The media are trying to claim he's unlicensed, although his company is, and he is enrolled in the apprentice program -- and not eligible to complete the apprenticeship until next month. The union -- Local 50 of the Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics, which has endorsed Obama -- is making noises unsupported by the law (see the comments), in order to convince the media that he's not one of their plumbers and shouldn't be allowed to work. Union leadership has never been known to make dubious, politically-motivated claims before (or self-interested ones -- for example, putting out the notion that no plumber unaffiliated with them was legitimate) so I am sure we can trust them.

Obama stopped by this guy's house while Joe was playing football with his kids. Obama picked this guy to ask a question. And then the Senator broke a key rule: he gave an honest answer.

So now the Alinsky playbook kicks in: Joe must be destroyed. He must be shown to be a liar ("He's not a plumber. He works for a plumber."), a criminal (He's not licensed! Whether or not he could be yet!), a thug (Sammy Davis Junior!), and possibly a Republican plant (indeed, planted years in advance in a neighborhood Obama would pick at random in which to campaign, presumably under the influence of some sort of mind control ray! That was probably how they got him to answer the question honestly, too). Union muscle is brought in, democratic officials in the government, the media, the liberal bloggers, everyone focuses on wrecking this guy's life.

Not figuratively speaking, either. That American Dream of his, to buy the company and build it? He needs to be out of a job instead.

Joe's us, folks. Look hard. There's some rule you haven't followed, or that someone can plausibly claim to the ignorant that you might not have followed. You're a hypocrite. A criminal. You'd better watch your step. You'd better keep your head down, eyes on your work. If you want to continue to have work, you know what I'm saying?

Dude

"This Really Is The Apocalypse"

Ben Smith notes an email from a Republican focus group.

Reagan Dems and Independents. Call them blue-collar plus. Slightly more Target than Walmart.

Yes, the spot worked. Yes, they believed the charges against Obama. Yes, they actually think he's too liberal, consorts with bad people and WON'T BE A GOOD PRESIDENT...but they STILL don't give a f***. They said right out, "He won't do anything better than McCain" but they're STILL voting for Obama.

The two most unreal moments of my professional life of watching focus groups:

54 year-old white male, voted Kerry '04, Bush '00, Dole '96, hunter, NASCAR fan...hard for Obama said: "I'm gonna hate him the minute I vote for him. He's gonna be a bad president. But I won't ever vote for another god-damn Republican. I want the government to take over all of Wall Street and bankers and the car companies and Wal-Mart run this county like we used to when Reagan was President."

The next was a woman, late 50s, Democrat but strongly pro-life. Loved B. and H. Clinton, loved Bush in 2000. "Well, I don't know much about this terrorist group Barack used to be in with that Weather guy but I'm sick of paying for health insurance at work and that's why I'm supporting Barack."

I felt like I was taking crazy pills. I sat on the other side of the glass and realized...this really is the Apocalypse. The Seventh Seal is broken and its time for eight years of pure, delicious crazy....

There is a remarkable amount of 'end times' language surrounding the Obama candidacy, and as we've discussed, some of it is really his own fault. Obama is a scion of the Alinsky movement, and Saul Alinsky did dedicate his book on "community organizing" to Lucifer. All those emails I've been getting warning that Obama is the Antichrist? I've spent my whole life thinking the Book of Revelation was impossibly vague to be considered a useful prophecy, and that it was always foolish to trot it out to try and interpret contemporary events.

As Dad29 says, though, you don't have to think "Antichrist" -- it's enough to think "Lucifer," because Alinsky did. The Alinsky method is deeply inhumane: the declaration that you should 'hold opponents to every part of their rule book' is intended to rule out compromise and discourse. Every opponent is a hypocrite, because every opponent is human and people can't live up to their every principle all the time. The system intentionally makes the perfect the enemy of the good, in every case, all the time.

I hope Jim Webb is right, and I'm wrong: and it is comforting to find that there are people I respect who are Obama supporters. I know I can put some faith in them, even if I have none in the man himself. Jim Webb is out there, Phil Carter of Intel Dump, retired General Zinni -- these are people I respect, whether or not we always agree and even when we rarely do. That's comforting.

It's important to have trust in such good and worthy men as there are on the other side, in the event of an Obama victory. We shouldn't follow Alinsky's road -- of making the perfect the enemy of the good, and all our opponents enemies. Sen. Obama himself is an unworthy man and the follower of a vicious creed, but with him come also good men of accomplishments with whom we have only some disagreements. In the event that we are forced to endure an Obama presidency, I am glad to know there are good people on his team.

Joe

Joe Wurzelbacher, American Hero:

This guy is the kind we need more of in our country.

PM: To you, what exactly is the American Dream? Can you explain that?

JW: Me personally?

PM: Yeah, you personally.

JW: Me personally, my American Dream was to have a house, a dog, a couple rifles, a bass boat. I believe in living life easy and simple. I don’t have grand designs. I don’t want much. I just wanna be able to take care of my family and do things with them outdoors and that’s about it, really. I don’t have a “grand scheme” thing. My American Dream is just more personal to me as far as working, making a good living and being able to provide for my family, college for my son. Things like that – simple things in life, that’s really what it comes down to for me. That’s my dream.

PM: Do you think your question surprised Obama, caught him off guard at all?

JW: Well that was actually my intent. Most people, you ask them “do you believe in the American Dream?” Nine times out of ten they’ll sit there and go, “Yeah, of course!” That’s where he messed up, because as soon as I asked him that, his answer shows that he doesn’t believe in the American Dream. You know, like the question you asked before – he pretty much contradicted himself. “I don’t want to punish you but – “ Well, you’re going to anyways.

The whole interview is great. This guy is just what America is all about.

Firepit series

Firepit Series: A Lesson in Cleaning a Lever-Action Rifle

You folks liked the last picture from the firepit, so here's another from earlier in the week. This photo shows me teaching a boy how to clean a lever-action rifle. Mine, in this case, is a Cimarron Firearms Winchester '73. He is cleaning a Henry "Golden Boy" .22 rifle.



If you're moved to music by the photo -- while I didn't find a copy of "Back in the Saddle" by Cowboy Nation, I did find their MySpace page. If you skip to track 6 on their autoplayer, you can hear their version of My Rifle, My Pony and Me.

No Way!

No Way!

So, via FARK, a story about a couple who decided to declare themselves sovereign nations.

[I]n the 1990s, they stopped paying taxes and declared themselves independent of all government authority. They have been battling government ever since.

Joel, 76, went to jail. The IRS went after their money, and Seminole County sold their home because of unpaid taxes.

Now, they face a new battle: Florida's attorney general is suing them, accusing them of fraud and harassment for filing a lien naming four Seminole County officials: Sheriff Don Eslinger; State Attorney Norm Wolfinger; Clerk of Courts Maryanne Morse; and Clayton Simmons, chief judge of the 18th judicial circuit.

The couple recorded the lien in April, claiming ownership of every piece of property held by those officials.

The lady is in trouble for paying for things with a "money order" she wrote herself, claiming that as a sovereign nation she has the right to create her own financial system. The husband has been arrested multiple times for driving without a license -- as a sovereign nation, he need not bother with the laws that touch mere citizens who want to drive on the road.

On the other hand, they've paid heavily for this little act: they've lost everything they owned to the IRS, gone to jail, spent time in court, etc. A certain part of myself that resents government meddling and longs for greater independence is thinking, you know, the liens are a problem, but otherwise if they're willing to bear the costs of this crazy scheme...

...and then I got to this part.

When the Brinkles declared their tax independence, they owned those 5 acres in Geneva.

Now they rent an apartment in a low-income section of Sanford. They have central air conditioning and heat but can't afford to run it. When Donna needed dental work, the couple's church and one of their adult sons paid for it, Donna Brinkle said.

They scrape by on $1,300 in monthly Social Security benefits, she said.

No way!

I would be willing -- eager! -- to sign away all future Social Security benefits in return for the right not to pay any more into the system. But to claim you are totally immune to any law or duty to the United States, and live off the public treasury? That's their conception of a sovereign nation??

The mind attempting to grasp this line of reasoning loses its focus, like an eye staring into a vertigous canyon. Just how far down does this thing go?

Good Point

Good Point:

National Review has a remarkable piece on the debates. What's left to talk about after two presidential and one VP debate? Well, it turns out, most of the issues that we normally discuss in an election haven't been mentioned at all. They list:

1) Abortion.

This is the #1 domestic policy issue for millions of voters on each side. Normally it's a huge issue. Maybe the differences are so stark, this year nobody feels we need to debate it.

2) Cloning/stem cells.

Normally a minor issue, but one we do usually hear about. It is surprising that Gov. Palin was not asked about these issues given her decisions about child rearing.

3) School Prayer/Evolution/Creationism.

It is odd, given the heat Gov. Palin has taken in the media on the subject, that no one asked about this. Maybe the media prefers their straw man version of Gov. Palin's position to her actual position, which is rather moderate.

4) Gun Control.

This is another issue to be the #1 domestic policy issue for millions of American voters. Unlike with abortion, where the difference between the tickets is stark and obvious, on the matter of gun control there is significant obfuscation. Sen. Obama served in the Joyce Foundation, which under his hand spent millions trying to produce anti-gun-rights organizations, and as a Chicago politician took a position on gun rights that was far less friendly than the laws on the books in the majority of states. On the other hand, he says he supported the Heller decision (an apparent reversal from an earlier position).

Sen. McCain, meanwhile, has not been a consistent friend to gun rights. Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr said he expected to get the NRA's endorsement (due to his A+ rating from the NRA and membership on its board), but did not. Gov. Palin is the only person in the race with a clear, uncontradicted record she will stand by.

5) Supreme Court vacancies.

Probably this is an issue like abortion, where people feel there is little need to discuss it. Sen. Obama voted against both Roberts and Alito, and said that he felt Justice Thomas was unqualified. I think we're pretty clear on what kind of justice he feels is qualified.

6) Immigration.

Sen. McCain is the most immigrant-friendly candidate in recent memory, but his base is opposed to heavy immigration. Sen. Obama is probably also friendly to pro-immmigration policies. This may be the opposite of the abortion issue -- there's not enough difference between the candidates to bother with a debate.

7) Race, racism, affirmative action.

Now that's an interesting set to be absent. My guess is the media doesn't feel we should be talking about those things at this time.

It's an interesting list. I think most Americans, asked for their top three priorities, would find at least one of these issues on the list; and if you ask people for their top three issues other than "the economy" and "the war," you'd probably see two or three of these items on the list. None of them have been mentioned in the debates.