Trust No Media

Fox-o-Phobia - Bill O'Reilly - Townhall Conservative

Some nominal readers of my Blog or casual acquaintances assume that I must get all my information from Fox news. For your average liberal or left leaning moderate it is a pretty simple sort of equation; conservatism is ill-informed, people with conservative leaning views are being fed their shallow misconceptions by Fox News and talk radio, if they would expose themselves to REAL news and information, if the conservative's "problem" is simple misinformation ... assuming that their problem isn't the also prevalent liberally viewed conservative malady of low intellect.

Actually, my Fox News quota would rarely hit an hour a week, and my talk radio quota is zero unless I travel through AM radio country (areas with poor NPR or classic rock FM coverage!) on some rare occasions. Being busy, my standard media diet is short and simple:

1. A scan of the CNN page on the web to see what the top stories are and to make sure the other world isn't coming to an end today or something. Be a shame to do a bunch of wasted e-mail work if the end was that near.
2. NPR while driving around on my minimal short trips of the day -- to the office, to the health club, etc. Somewhat a "random sample", but again I tend to hear a top of the hour news show for some local MN flavor, plus the lefts view of reality.
3. Real Clear Politics. A sampling of the hot opinions of the day, left and right -- I do my best to read 50/50.
4. Powerline if I get a chance -- the Blog that blew the lid off from Rathergate, based out of the Twin Cities, just up the road. 
5. A scan of the local paper and Op Ed page for a local flavor
6. RARELY a little news channel surfing of Fox, CNN, MSNBC in the evening

Here is Bill's offending quote from Milbank;

"Immediately after the votes were counted, the incoming fire began. Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank wrote that Fox News held "a victory party" for Republicans on the air. Milbank then stated: "To be fair and balanced, Fox brought in a nominal Democrat, pollster Doug Schoen."

Not so bad -- completely untrue or course, how about Juan Williams? Geraldine Ferraro? Mara Liason? ...  What is deeper however is what I hear from a lot of youth and the left "Oh Faux News, they just ...". Normally they can't think of ANY specific examples of bias, they just KNOW that Fox is extreme. My take is that it IS "extreme", but only in the sense that it is an "outlier" from the  NYT, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC or NPR, it is just that of the widespread media, it is the ONLY media voice that considers conservative opinion to be anything more than some malady of low intellect or failed study. THAT is what makes it "extreme", certainly not the level of it's bias -- in fact, it always presents the liberal opinion as well, it just doesn't present it without exploring potential problems or arguments against that opinion.

 What is effective in shaping the opinion of the many is the drumbeat -- the steady onslaught of standard message, often very easily and very demonstrably false as it is in this case, but never ending -- fake proof after fake proof is mixed with the much rarer example of a real case of conservative bias on Fox ( I DO admit they have a bias ... as do I, and as does every other person and media outlet), and the eventual effect is the desired across a broad set of Americans. They are polarized against whatever news is reported by Fox -- for them, Fox has been successfully demonized, marginalized and trivialized so that even the mention of any person that would be willing to appear there is met with approbation Ultimately, that is true bias, and it's counterpart prejudice. Whatever the message, it is lost in the attack on the source.

The sad state of affairs is that the left in this country is afraid enough that they seek to remove thought alternatives and a freedom of speech beyond just the freedom to agree with their view.

ONLY Extend Bush Cuts for > $250K

RealClearPolitics - A Stunned and Dispirited Base

Remember when the Bush tax cuts were just purely bad and all the money went to the rich? Let's look at a little math.

In the linked and despondent article, far lefty Robinson says the following:

Let's examine this issue a little more closely. Making the tax cuts permanent for the wealthy would increase the deficit by $700 billion over the next decade. Which party claims to be urgently, desperately concerned about the deficit? The Republicans, of course. So which party is prepared to bust the budget, if that's what it takes, to serve the interests of the rich? The GOP. And which party, to get its way, refuses to approve desperately needed tax relief for the bruised and battered middle class? Once again, the Republicans.

Interesting, what he DOESN'T say is:

Liberal leaders contend their plan is fiscally more responsible. The Democratic proposal would add about $3 trillion to the deficit during the next decade, while the GOP plan would cost $3.7 trillion, according to data compiled by The Washington Post.

Hmm, how much have we heard the terrible Bush tax cuts lambasted as "all going to the rich"? Well, if one reads slightly between the lines of the liberal lies, they get backed into telling us the truth.

Cost for folks < $250K, $3 T
Cost for folks > $250K, $.7 T

Which seems larger to you? Apparently, if you are a liberal, the second number does.

On average, which group do you think is likely to make the most productive use of extra money to advance the economy? C'mon, be honest -- who is most likely to blow it on a flat screen, and who is most likely to invest it in "The next Google??".

Do most liberals even KNOW how to be honest? After 10 bleeping years of hearing how "unfair" these Bush tax cuts are (I know, this is a projection ... but I saw the old numbers, the ratios were the same), they can't even utter the truth when it is staring them in the face.

For the good of the country, for the good of the deficit, for more jobs, we would be FAR better giving the tax cut to ONLY the people that make OVER $250K!!!! That is if we cared about results, having a productive growing nation and leaving our kids better off than we are. But at least Democrats STILL don't care about any of that. They only want class warfare.

But, STILL, after the last election, the even the vast majority of the people DON'T GET IT, because the MSM is too darned biased to admit the truth directly. It has to be weaseled out from around the edges!!

A large part of our problem is simply that Americans are being sold the bill of goods that 99% of them can get more out of the government piggy bank than they put in and the top 1% are so stupid that they will pay for it.

It is the top 5% are the people that are overtaxed!!!!

The following from http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html

The top-earning 5 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $159,619), however, still paid far more than the bottom 95 percent. The top 5 percent earned 34.7 percent of the nation's adjusted gross income, but paid approximately 58.7 percent of federal individual income taxes.

We are penalizing our MOST PRODUCTIVE ... this is like forcing the top sports stars to play with weights on their wrists and annles. The net effect is a giant drag on our economy that prevents us from being nearly as competitive as we could be in the world -- maybe moving our "bottom" up from just having cell phones, flat screen TVs, high speed internet and weight problems, to maybe having trips to Disney and Cruises while still being poor. Were we to continue to allow the American economy to be unleashed as it was in the '80s, we may be close to the point where our "poor" would need better advice on the proper wine to go with camembert. Remember, SOMEONE will ALWAYS be in the bottom 20% of that income bracket!!!

Ok, Greed is bad, but SO IS ENVY -- especially when it allows us to make stupid decisions with the most powerful economy on the planet. BO is an anti-colonialist that wants to see America "cut down to size"!!! Get it, deal with it, and let's ignore him as much as we can and get this nation moving again!

Even a Democrat Can See

Requiem for the Pelosi Democrats - WSJ.com:

Good little column of a fairly unbiased inside view of the Democrat Congress meltdown. Baird saw it coming and decided to go ahead and leave on his own. I found the following to be pretty clear on what everyone really ought to know. This financial meltdown was PRIMARILY caused by the unholy public private confusion with Fannie and Freddie. The Bush administration tried to reign them in as early as 2002 but there were was just TOO MUCH MONEY -- when you combine the assets of the Federal Government, race pimps like Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangle IN the government and groups like ACORN on the street with the chance for everyone from Wall Street to low income home owners the chance to cash in at the casino, is it any surprise it comes to a bad end?

It ought not to be -- and guess what, blaming Bush doesn't help one bit when even a DEMOCRAT notices that the vaunted BO / Democrat financial reform fails to address Fannie and Freddie, which EVEN A DEMOCRAT realizes were the core of the problem.

Please, please, please forget about government "helping the little guy" -- ONLY as an accident of buying votes that typically cost FAR more in lost jobs, lost GDP, increased business uncertainty and the general corruption of our political, financial and legal system than ANY amount of money would be worth!!!

"Although he voted for it, he says he was troubled that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the entities at the heart of the housing meltdown, weren't addressed. They have clearly exercised undue influence on Capitol Hill, he notes. 'When I was first elected I was puzzled why they were holding events in my honor as a mere freshman. I asked myself, why is a federal entity so involved in political activity?'"

Daniels '12 (not Jack)

The American Spectator : Mitch the Knife:

While I think the Republican mission needs to be Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, we are in definite need of a solid anti-BO. Mitch is my pick at this point -- the whole article is good, the excerpt is a key. We MUST bust the government employee union - Democrat corruption nexus or it will strangle us as it has strangled Europe!

"Once elected, Governor Daniels started cutting right away. On his first day in office, he rescinded his Democratic predecessor's executive order allowing collective bargaining by government unions. As conservative journalist Conn Carroll later wrote, 'The decision has not only cost the left's perpetual dependence machine millions in taxpayer-funded union dues, but also enabled the state to cut costs by instituting a ‘pay-for-performance' personnel system.' Daniels trimmed the state payrolls by 14 percent and Indiana now has fewer state employees than it did in 1982."

EJ Perspective

RealClearPolitics - After Setback, Dems Must Not Retreat

First, here is something that EJ and I mostly agree on:

The most politically potent attack on the health care effort was not on the plan itself. It was the argument that Democrats should have spent less time on this bill and more on job creation. Every moment the Republicans devote to destroying this year's reform opens them up to exactly the same criticism.

Republicans have to focus on JOBS FIRST and only repeal the most onerous aspects of the health bill -- fines to people not buying health insurance, reporting of every transaction over $600. Meet with chamber of commerce and business leaders and try to remove the most job killing aspects of the bill. Don't give in to just "kill it all" without having specific reasons for the parts killed and solutions that are better than the parts that are potentially salvaged.

Execute on a reasonable plan, be prepared to deal with even unfair charges of "ideology over people". Some will be unavoidable -- there really isn't any free lunch, and we can't have all that we might like. But be VERY clear -- on some of the aspects, "Would you rather have unemployment under 6% or would you rather have a lot of health care goodies"? Your job or provisions x, y and z? The persistence of high unemployment should be enough to clue in all but the true left ideologues on what the real trade-off is.

In 2008, the largest number of voters in American history gave the Democrats their largest share of the presidential vote in 44 years and big majorities in the House and Senate. 

How did Republicans react? They held their ideological ground, refused to give an inch to the new president, and insisted that persistent opposition would eventually yield them victory. And on Nov. 2, it did.

"Yes BUT" ... Democrats NEVER said what they were going to do. People voted for "Hope, Change, Yes we Can" and if you REALLY believe in fairy tales, "the end of Business As Usual politics". In some ways, the last was more true than many realized -- BO governed as "compromise is you doing it my way, otherwise, you are obstructionist". So the electorate was handed the hardest left turn since Johnson and told it was moderate. The electorates view and answer to guys like EJ was fortunately "Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining".
Now on to EJ's summary:

Give Republicans credit for this: They don't chase the center, they try to move it. Democrats can play a loser's game of scrambling after a center being pushed ever rightward. Or they can stand their ground and show how far their opponents are from moderate, problem-solving governance. Why should Democrats take Republican advice that Republicans themselves would never be foolish enough to follow?

Egads. Bush was completely progressive rather than conservative. Remember prescription drug? remember the deficit spending? remember "uniter not divider"? The stupid thing is that he actually tried, where BO gave some options for some RINOS to sign on to exactly what he wanted and when none were available, he went to stiff arming the few remaining near-left vs far left Democrats to fall on their swords and go his way. Bush lost control of the Senate in his first term and barely eeked out a majority in '02 that held until '06. His administration was an orgy of compromise -- with his own party and recalcitrant Republicans, where BO's to date was an absolute fascist "my way or the highway" (although cleverly disguised with Nancy and Harry being the "bad cops" to BO's good act).
The "middle"? Where would that be? Germany? I think EJ sees the options as left of Sweden being desirable -- if not Cuba, Germany being "middle" and maybe Ireland  being "far right". What a difference perspective makes.

Judicial Independence

Political Judges - Thomas Sowell - Townhall Conservative


Solid column by Thomas -- worthy of full read, but this is the core.

As for judicial "independence," that does not mean being independent of the laws. Being a judge does not mean being given arbitrary powers to enact the liberal agenda from the bench, which means depriving the citizens of their most basic rights that define a free and self-governing peop

I'll Take Kevin

Kevin Rubs It In - NYTimes.com

I regularly (painfully) read Mareen. She often laments of the HORROR of having come from an unwashed conservative family that remains unenlightened. I chuckle as largely I remain the reverse black sheep of my unrepentant lefty clan (with slight apology to my brother ... who maybe sensibly seems to kind of go with the current general tide).

While Mareen nearly never has anything that I much agree with to say, I gotta admit that she has great taste in brothers. I do strongly compliment her for never rising to levels of snobbery where her poor family had to be "Un-familied.

The whole thing is good, but "France without the food" is an excellent description of what the liberal target America is:

The voters left no doubt about their feeling for his super-nanny state where the government controls all aspects of their lives and freedoms. Warning signs were up in the three elections held in Massachusetts, Virginia and New Jersey and with the noisy birth of the Tea Party. But the president, swathed in the protective cocoon of adulation and affirmation from the media and his own sycophants, soldiered on in his determination to turn our country into just another member of the failed European union — France without the food.

Poor Mareen ... a bad election loss for her makes T-day a real test. I'm pretty sure that 2004 was one of her saddest laments. Perhaps there is more news from what I'm sure I would find to be her wonderful family to share with us!

If only the NYT would pick up Kevin and fire her! I think she could produce a column almost as good as Kevin once or twice a year.

Defending BO

How Obama Saved Capitalism and Lost the Midterms - NYTimes.com

I think this guy has done a fairly reasonable left view of the "unfairness of BO treatment". Let me cover where I disagree with him:

1. Saving capitalism is like saving gravity -- it just shows you don't understand how the universe works. Even in the old USSR and China, the market continued to function. It was often "black", but it can't be removed. To think that someone "saved capitalism" shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the way things work.
   
2. POTENTIALLY, the TARP (which would have been W and Democrat congress fault), and/or the Stmulus MAY have HURT the economy. Note, I did not say that "I know", because I don't believe that anyone really does.  In my model, tax cuts are a better stimulus because they allow millions of people to decide where the "right place to spend money is". The BO stimulus assumes that some folks in Washington make better decisions on where to spend the money to get the best job growth. My view is that  it is impossible in anything like an economy for centralized intelligence to be as smart as distributed intelligence, and huge amounts of money put into the wrong things may well crowd out the right things for growth being done, and actually HARM the economy. To not at least believe that is POSSIBLE is again to not understand that in the human universe, there is no such thing as "unalloyed good".
   
3. The idea that "health care is a positive" is a similar world view issue. Whatever one thinks of the system we had, it was a system that American business understood and knew how to work with. We now have 3k pages of "the unknown", and for people that have to invest their own money, "unknown" is a gigantic disincentive. Again, there is NOTHING that man can do (other than seek redemption from Christ) that is an "unalloyed good" -- but take heart, we are very capable of doing pure evil!
4. The idea of voting by your stock market is quite odd for a liberal and disingenuous -- Reagan would have been a GREAT president by that metric, but I'm pretty sure that this guy isn't going for that. Markets are about "sentiment of future earnings" and "alternative returns". The markets really tanked AFTER BO was elected, so much of the "worst President" relative to markets is based on how bad the markets felt about the NEXT president, the glorious BO!!! When McCain picked Palin and Republicans had some false hope in Sept '08, the markets went up to 11,300 ... they were at 11,500 when W took office -- WAY different from "worst president ever" -- assuming that one wanted to use such a measure for anything.

Is it POSSIBLE that BO has done great and Americans have treated him unfairly? Sure, I think W was treated EXTREMELY unfairly after say "Katrina". My view of the major BO failings are 1). He doesn't realize he was elected president of an EXCEPTIONAL nation 2). Much of what he has done has INCREASED  business uncertainly 3). He appears to have no understanding that economic growth comes exclusively from THE PRIVATE SECTOR -- he keeps maligning the very people he needs to get the economy moving. I guess I'll stop there ... the list is long.

Liberals and American Exceptionalism

What’s So Great About America | The Weekly Standard

One of the areas that conservatives have a hard time communicating with liberals on is American exceptionalism.  My view on "why" is that the conservative vision is pretty much "One nation, under GOD, bequeathed by our founders and creator with a unique and superior position (broad fertile landmass between two oceans), superior people (self selected to be risk takers, willing to put independence and opportunity beyond safety and relative comfort), and superior government (designed to be LIMITED, not able to infringe on the people -- including allow them to bear arms as a final check against such infringement).

My view is that as we have moved away from the pioneer / emigrant ethos and into the misconception that "progress" (largely technical) somehow equates to "wisdom", we have lost our way, with BO being proof -- a PRESIDENT that no longer believes that America is any more exceptional than say "England or Greece".

Good column, read it all, I found this to be the core.

First, the idea of American exceptionalism has the benefit of being true. The United States is fundamentally and demonstrably different from other countries. It is bound together by a founding proposition, and properly applied the proposition has brought freedom and prosperity to more people, and more kinds of people, than any other. Second, a large majority of Americans believe American exceptionalism to be true. And third, it drives Democrats right around the bend.

It’s not clear why. Maybe liberal polemicists don’t quite understand what the phrase means, and so they pummel it into a caricature. In Politico last week, under the oddly truncated headline “U.S. Is Not Greatest Country Ever,” the columnist Michael Kinsley wrote that exceptionalism is “the theory that Americans are better than everybody else.” The next day, on a well-trafficked liberal website, another columnist said much the same thing—they tend to run in packs, these guys. Other countries, this columnist wrote, are “investing in infrastructure,” unlike the United States, which apparently just spent $780 billion in stimulus on chopped liver. At the same time, he went on, “the Republicans have taken refuge in an antigovernment ideology premised on the lunatic notion that America is the only truly free and successful country in the world.”

A Will Must Read

George F. Will - A recoil against liberalism

Odd syntax is sometimes correct. Just go read it all ... cogent, correct, well crafted. Being a reader of "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", I can tell you that liberals can change those as well as a leopard can change his spots, or Randy Moss can become a docile, always hustling wide receiver.

"These ideas," Boudreaux says, "are almost exclusively about how other people should live their lives. These are ideas about how one group of people (the politically successful) should engineer everyone else's contracts, social relations, diets, habits, and even moral sentiments." Liberalism's ideas are "about replacing an unimaginably large multitude of diverse and competing ideas . . . with a relatively paltry set of 'Big Ideas' that are politically selected, centrally imposed, and enforced by government, not by the natural give, take and compromise of the everyday interactions of millions of people."

Welcome Tea Party Conservatives

Jim DeMint: Welcome, Senate Conservatives - WSJ.com

Good honest appraisal of the temptations of Washington. The Republicans gave in to temptation sometime after 2K, their majority will be as short lived as the Democrats if they give in again!

"When you are in Washington, remember what the voters back home want—less government and more freedom. Millions of people are out of work, the government is going bankrupt and the country is trillions in debt. Americans have watched in disgust as billions of their tax dollars have been wasted on failed jobs plans, bailouts and takeovers. It's up to us to stop the spending spree and make sure we have a government that benefits America instead of being a burden to it."

A New Republican Face

Colonel and Candidate by Jay Nordlinger - National Review Online:

Read the whole thing, well worth it. I only quoted one great paragraph, but there were a bunch. I think West is a great example of the right kind or Republican. The left is determined to demonize him because he is a free thinking Black that has left the "Thought Plantation". As we see with Sarah Palin, in the left world view, everyone has their assigned role, and they ARE NOT allowed to leave it. Women need to be "pro-choice, anti-war and pro-government support of anything to take the kids off mom's hands" -- or they can stay home, back cookies and shut up. Michelle Bachman, Sarah Palin? THEATS! Big time threats -- diversity of thought in the groups bought and paid for by Democrat policy is DANGEROUS.

Likewise Allen West. Were he a Democrat and had committed any sort of crime and got off, he would have "an appealing life story". Being a Col in the military and firing a gun in the vicinity of a hostage to find out critical information that saved lives? HORRIBLE!!! Pretty much anything that a Black Democrat does is completely fine ... he was just re-elected again in the face of ethics violations of which the MSM has no concern about.

I expect to see a lot of good stuff out of Allen West!

"There are two things that could lose us our country if we’re not careful,” says West. One is the relinquishment of individual responsibility; the other is political correctness. He points to the case of Maj. Nidal Hasan, who murdered 13 people at Fort Hood, and who was not sidelined before that, despite his obvious Islamist predilections. “What can we say when political correctness has so seeped into our military that people are afraid to identify a problem situation because they don’t want to experience repercussions?” After Hasan’s massacre at Fort Hood, Army chief of staff George Casey said, “As horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.” West finds this repulsive."

Guess Who?

RealClearPolitics - Guess Who?

Cute little column by Sowell ... ground that has been covered in my blog before, but considering how many times many have heard the MISinformation about FDR "getting us out of the depression", it is likely impossible to repeat the facts too often!

MSM Setup in AK on Miller

Power Line - Plot still thickening in Alaska, cont'd

We've had "Jurnolist", we've had Rathergate, we've had a bunch more of them, but how long does it take for folks to figure out that the MSM is ACTIVELY seeking ways to get Tea Party and or conservative Republican people?

Do we really need to look any farther than the difference in the MSM coverage of BO vs Palin? Now we have this!

The CBS affiliate calls the candidate, gets the answering machine, fails to hang up, and we get treated to a scheme to "identify a child molester" at a Miller rally -- no doubt in some sort of a smear.

MSM coverage? Zilch, nada. Imagine if Fox or Limbaugh could be caught in something similar? Oh wait, we don't have to wonder! Limbaugh as "caught" with Viagra in an airport screen and even that was worth days of national news. When you are a conservative, NOTHING is off limits, but of course BJs at work if you are a Democrat ala Slick Willie are "private".

Strange Man In the WH

A Crossroads Election - Thomas Sowell - Townhall Conservative

Great article! I love the Democrat and MSM flip flop on "full disclosure" of bills going through congress and funding for ads. When BO ran, even when Democrats had controlled congress for 2 years already, braying about "putting bills on the internet so EVERYONE could comment and discuss them before they were signed" was somehow worthy of repeating over and over without the MSM laughing. The Democrats ALREADY controlled congress! Now? Disclosure? Not so much ... need to "pass it to find out what is in it"!

Blanketing the air waves with MoveOn.org ads funded by George Soros and other shadowy folks? No problem, and no need to "name names" in '06 and '08. When the Democrats were rolling in the dough, A-OK!

Read it all ... but here is the punch line:

We have a strange man in the White House. This election is a crossroads, because either his power will be curbed by depriving him of his huge Congressional majorities or he will continue on a road that jeopardizes both our freedom and our survival.

The SEIU, Harry Reid, And Voting Problems�|�NetRight Daily

The SEIU, Harry Reid, And Voting Problems�|�NetRight Daily

Interesting that there is zero MSM coverage of this that I can find. Remember Diebold?? I think EVERYONE knew that Diebold built voting machines and at least somebody in the company made contributions to some Republican sometime, therefore their voting machines could not be trusted. In '00, '02, and '04, ANY hint of any electronic voting problems was all over CNN and NPR.

Now we have voting machines under the control of a union that has actually been involved in vote fraud in more than one place -- Houston being a big one, and the local papers/media in Nevada reporting machines actually changing votes, but the MSM seems to think it is a "non-story".

Of course, we know they are unbiased -- and ONLY Fox has any bias!!

Electronic Voting Irregularities

Voter reports problem with ballot machine | machine, screen, voter - Local - Sun Journal

I've been concerned the last couple of elections because the MSM quit complaining about electronic voting. It was a HUGE problem in 2000,2002 and 2004 -- in fact, a number of Democrats were pushing to hold up the results because of the "potential of electronic vote fraud in Ohio" as late as 2004.

We know that ACORN and other groups manufactured millions of votes in '06 and '08, which I thought they had calculated was "enough" for their purposes, and indeed it was -- for those elections. Now we are in the midst of a new election and I remain concerned about the left's lack of concern for electronic voting. So what happened? What was the technical, procedural or other change in electronic voting that very suddenly made it completely disappear as an issue?

My explanation is the following, based somewhat on an excellent book by John Fund, "Stealing Elections".

1. Most of government is staffed by Democrats because of the number of lawyers and Government Union workers involved.
2. So most of the poll workers, people doing the contracts for the voting machines, handling of ballots, watchers, creators of procedures, etc are Democrats. 
3. It is well known that wide scale voter fraud has been going on for a very long time in many locales -- Chicago is only one of the most commonly pointed out with the Daly Machine. 
4. The "big problem" with electronic voting was the fact that the Democrats well known techniques for stealing elections needed to be "updated", and they were actually concerned that they could not figure out how to subvert the vote.
5. Now, I suspect that they have -- thus the MSM silence on the issue. 

If the numbers in the linked article are correct -- only 1 out of 5 Republican votes being counted, it seems that they have gone over the top. One of the problems with voter fraud has always been "too much success". One finds out that there were more Democrat votes from an area than there were voters -- this is amazingly common, it was one of the things that showed up in a solid Democrat precinct near the UofM during the last MN Senate race. Turned out there were a couple hundred more Franken votes than there were voters -- so of course, this being MN, and the votes being for Franken, the answer MUST have been that "the machine had the wrong voter count". Minnesota media of course had no problem with that at all -- "obvious". And of course a machine that can't count the number of votes is TOTALLY reliable in registering the direction of the vote!!! (as long as they were for Franken).

National Liberal Radio, Juan Williams

Power Line - The Williams Syndrome

Juan feels less secure about Arabs in full garb coming on a plane, so he gets fired. Here is a nice comment by an NPR Reporter that DID NOT get them fired:

"The man is on the Court. You know, I hope his wife feeds him lots of eggs and butter and he dies early like many black men do, of heart disease. Well, that’s how I feel. He is an absolutely reprehensible person."
-- USA Today columnist and Pacifica Radio talk show host Julianne Malveaux on Justice Clarence Thomas, November 4, 1994 PBS To the Contrary.

Ah yes, the ever civil left. If only we nasty righties could learn from their kindness.Isn't it cool how the left is always about "feelings", but of course they don't mean REAL feelings, they mean "approved feelings". I suspect that something like 90% of Americans have at least a bit of concern when they see a full dress Muslim come on a plane. I mean, don't Democrats have some bad feelings as soon as they find out someone is a "Republican" -- oh wait, that's right. Feeling animosity to Republicans is "approved".

Are people with psych problems now less protected than Muslims? What is up with that? I thought psych problems was an excuse for everything up to and including mass murder for Democrats.

The only potential "meanings" I can get from Schiller's comment about "Williams and his psychiatrist" are:
1). Thinking that people that blew up planes in the past might blow up planes in the future is "insane" -- in a liberal world view sort of way.

2). People that disagree with the approved State Radio view of the world are "insane"

3). She happens to have looked at Juan's personnel record, knows he sees a psychiatrist and wanted to "get in a dig"

In any case, isn't lumping Juan in with "those people that see psychiatrists" kind of making the statement that those "people that see psychiatrists" are somehow "sub standard"? The next thing you know, one might start WORRYING about "people that see psychiatrists". But I guess that a sterotype about Muslims is a firing offense -- statements about folks that see psychiatrists is not.

Oh, and BTW -- NPR is "unbiased" -- because their standards are too high for Juan WIlliams, but just fine for Julianne Malveaux or Vivian Schiller for that matter. Fox on the other hand is "biased" -- Juan Williams said that "The Tea Party uses Timothy McVeigh imagery" on a Fox show when talking about the revolutionary war "Don't Tread on Me" snake flag. Fox is so biased that they hired him for $3million to continue to provide liberal comentary.

Path Between the Seas

The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914, By David McCullough

Interesting book for a couple unique reasons beyond the fact that it is a very well written book, first, I read the book just preceding and during our 14 day cruise that included passage through the canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and secondly, because it was the first book that I read on the newest Amazon Kindle. There will be other blogs on those two elements for any that are interested.

The book covers the sweep of the history of the dream to span both the Suez and Panama barriers to global trade that went back to the time of Columbus. Also covered in sometimes maybe too much detail is Ferdinand de Lesseps, the Frenchman who was seen as the force behind the successful completion of the Suez Canal, and who became the primary driver of the ill fated French attempt at Panama. As in all great human stories, personalities play an often greater role than the technical and physical “facts”, and the canal is certainly not an exception.

What de Lesseps had was a vision, and a charm and force of personality to infect others with that vision, which he did for thousands of Frenchmen, costing many many thousands their fortunes, and some 22 thousand their lives in the jungles of Panama. His vision was for a sea level canal as was created at Suez, and he completely ignored the opinion of a well known (but not much liked) French engineer, Godin deLepinay, that the “obvious solution was” an “artificial Nicaragua”.

Nicaragua was the other competing route where the much longer 181 miles (vs 50 at Panama) would be shortened by large lakes and the use of rivers that were at least partially navigable, and could be dredged and damed to be of even more assistance. For de Lessups, the fact that the length and lake structure would be prohibitive of a sea level canal, made Panama the “only choice”.

The dreams of a sea level canal at Panama largely ignored two physical facts of the route – one being the Chagres river, and the other being the amount of earth that needed to be removed to get to sea level at the Culebra Cut. Putting a large dam at Gatun and creating one of the larges artificial lakes in the world 85' above sea level allowed the unruly Chagres to become an asset by providing the water required to operate the canal (in it's current form, 50 million gallons per ship) , and to reducing the depth of the cut at Culebra by that 85'.

The French ran out of money and ran out of lives – given the times, if more money could have been found, the lives would no doubt have been sacrificed, but as it was they lost something around 22 thousand to Yellow Fever, Malaria, Plague, Pneumonia and a host of other tropical ailments. There was also massive graft and corruption involved in their efforts, as well as innumerable technical difficulties. In any case, they fought long, hard, and expensively during most of the 20 years from 1870-1890, ending in a failure that was monumentally costly to their nation and of course many individual investors and participants in the venture.

We Americans tend to think that Teddy Roosevelt pretty much dug the canal single handedly, but while his role was key, the story is naturally much more complicated. The US had favored the Nicaragua route from the beginning, and when we started to get serious about actually doing the canal, that route was all but assumed, and but for a number of special circumstances would likely have been selected. One of the leading “circumstances” was Philippe Buanu-Varilla, the main lobbyist for the US purchase of the abandoned French assets. To make a very long and very complex story short – he helped get the price dropped by 60%, worked with the Colombians, played a major role in the revolution that created the Nation of Panama, and many other elements of politics, finance and intrigue that caused the current route to come about.

TR had a lot to do with the drive that made both the selection of the route and the selection of the men that would make the canal a reality. Two of the keys were Dr William Gorgas and John Stevens. Gorgas understood the detailed relationship between both Yellow Fever and Malaria and mosquitoes, and even better, he was able to push the techniques of the day to nearly eradicate those diseases in the canal zone, a feat without which it is fairly likely the US population would have turned against the loss of life that would have been required to complete the canal.

Stevens was considered the greatest railroad man of the day, and he was able to see that the canal was primarily a railroad problem – constructing a railroad with the equipment, placement and flexibility to move the massive amounts of dirt from the Culebra to where it was required. He also created the infrastructure to support the work effort, instituted planning and procedures and eventually forced the decision on the lock vs the sea level canal – a dream that bedevilled the Americans as it had the French.

Stevens left his post under slightly mysterious circumstances, although I find it quite likely he simply decided that there were other things he would rather do. His replacement was George Goethals, who was an organizational genius and tireless worker that saw the project through to completion.

Having now seen the canal I can say that like all well executed constructions, it “looks easy”. Being familiar with the Soo Locks as well as having gone through a number of different large locks on the Mississippi, it is hard to go back to the early 20^th century and put the canal in the perspective. The locks are roughly the same size as the Soo locks , although I believe the Soo locks are narrower – the Panama locks are 1000 x 100'. Somehow, riding in a cruise ship over the route seems to very much belie the difficulties of the creation. Sitting on our balcony as a downpour arrived, but completely dry because I was tucked under the massive overhang of deck 10 above me made it hard to appreciate men toiling in heat, bugs, mud, and the constant threat of painful death by disease as the French had experienced.

One might be traveling on the lower Mississippi in the US with the jungles visible on the shore being no doubt more dense and with less example of human impact in Panama than back home. When we passed by the bridge over the Chagras, it was hard to imagine that sleepy looking little inlet being any sort of a threat to the project, but 50'+ of dam will really change the complexion of a river.

All in all it was a fine book, if possibly a bit TOO long and detailed in some aspects – as with the Gettysburg trip, there is something special about reading a book on the subject of a current travel destination.

At Sea Georgetown - Cartgena

Grand Cayman

Greetings from the Celebrity Infinity at sea between Georgetown, Grand Cayman and Cartagena Columbia, cabin 9149. Seas look to be 5'-7', which the ship rides very well in. Uploads are slow, as I get some pictures up, they will be added to my picasa album for the trip.

We left Ft Lauderdale at 5:30PM Sunday, were at sea Monday and arrived in Georgetown Grand Cayman at 8AM Tuesday. Weather was warm and generally sunny for that trip, sometime during the early AM hours of Tuesday, we dodged around the little hurricane that was supposed to hit the coast around Cozumel Tuesday.

We got up on Tuesday, had a light breakfast and tendered in to Georgetown. We were scheduled for the sub adventure at 11:15, but they had seats an hour earlier, so we went out on that. It was a lot of fun for me just because of the idea of being on an actual sub, and we did see a lot of sea life and coral -- or just "solid sea life" I guess and descended to the advertised 100' depth next to "the wall", where the ocean goes from 100' to thousands of feet deep. The nice thing about the sub ride is that if they can't get back to the surface, they refund half your money! We made it back though, so no discount.

My personal view is that glass bottomed boats are actually better viewing platforms because once you get below like 30', the light compression takes out most of the colors except for the blues and yellows. In the clear waters of the Carribean, the reefs are very nice to view from the glass bottomed boats -- and also a little cheaper. Of course you don't get to see 100' on the depth gauge on a GB boat, but I suppose one could view that as being a rather nerdy concern.

Spent the next couple of hours buying a few items arout Georegtown, including a T and hat from Jimmy Buffet's Margueritaville. Nice lunch at "Breezes" overlooking the 5 cruise ships tendered in the bay.

The trip back was a little more exciting than we would have thought. Turns out the hurrcan was generating 5-7' swells, which was on the edge of the limits for re-boarding. They had this brawny greek sailor that is the chief security officer on the ship manning the gangway and directing folks one at a time as the tender and the ship rose and fell at different rates. We got some film that comes close to showing how much, but it was clear that it was a spot that injury was very possible and someone might have even been killed (fall between a 40' steel tender and a 900' cruise ship, and if they come together, they will be able to roll you up and send you home in a tube).

It was really interesting to watch the big greek guy operate -- he seemed to very much know what he was doing -- but it was also clear that the forces of the waves and weight of the ships were something that had to be "worked with" ... the swells got too large at one point and it started to crush the railings on the ramp, so we had to detach. We got on board with no problem, but with more of an adrenaline injection than we would have expected.

Food has been excellent as would be expected. We have talked to a lot of people -- mostly 60+ aged folks on this cruise, and predominately folks that have been on many cruises and many on long cruises. I'd say that so far we like Celebrity just fine, but still kind of talk about Carnival. Might be just because those were the first cruises with the kids, but we liked the idea of the midnight buffet -- which maybe even they don't do anymore.

One couple that we had dinner with was a greek guy and his wife who had been from NY and were now from Ft Lauderdale. He came to the US as a young man to "make his fortune" as painter -- as in contractor, not artist. It sounds like they have been going on 2-3 cruises a year, usually 14 days or longer, so, since he was just about to turn 62, he must have done OK to be semi-retired and cruising.

The internet speeds, especially uplink, are slow ( 20K up, 500K down) and expensive ( .35 a min in bulk). That is an area of cruising that I'm surprised they have not upgraded over the 3 years since we have been out. Could be frustrating to have only something like a netbook or iPad out here.

Infinity and Beyond

Cruise

Sitting in the cabin on the Celebrity Infinity still on the dock at Port Everglades, Ft Lauderdale. We should sail at 6PM on our 14day cruise through Panama. Got on board, got settled in, had lunch, toured the ship and plan to do dinner and show this evening as we head out. Day at sea tomorrow.

Shocking: Bigoted White Tea Party Woman Beats Petite Black Female Reporter - Doug Giles - Townhall Conservative

Shocking: Bigoted White Tea Party Woman Beats Petite Black Female Reporter - Doug Giles - Townhall Conservative

Violence against Tea Partiers is not news ... in fact, in this administration, it isn't even a crime!

As he points out, even though the signs say "socialism now", it is somehow wrong to report much of the left as socialists. "Some are more equal than others"!!

Regressivism

American Thinker: Progressive Feudalism

Great little thought provoking article. The bottom line is that once one moves away from individual liberty AND responsibility, some ruling class must be charged with operating the processes to "make it so". BO, Nancy and Harry are currently installed in that role and quite happy -- removing them quickly may be the only hope to avoid the rest of the decline to a long term feudal America.

The Sweep: What went wrong for Democrats - CNN.com

The Sweep: What went wrong for Democrats - CNN.com:

Why is it that liberals sometimes get a lot more reflective and almost "journalistic" as they face the prospects of "death" (political or otherwise)?

Generally good column, I think one of the things that Gloria misses is that while the common person is MUCH more intelligent than she imagines, they are also MUCH less interested in politics in general, and all but a couple political issues than she imagines.

"And they never stopped talking. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell gave 107 floor speeches on health care, and 25 speeches on why we shouldn't close the prison camp at Guantanamo. It was the first executive order -- a promise that was not kept, because it became messier than anyone thought. It was supposed to be a hugely popular idea, but within a couple of months, it just flipped: going from an 80 percent approval rating to an 80 percent disapproval rating."

Than ANYONE thought? Well, certainly no messier than rational people that paid any attention thought all along -- but I guess Gloria isn't in that camp. 

So how does such a thing as Gitmo shift like that? Democrats and Gloria assume that such fickle positions must equate to stupidity, while I assert it relates to priorities and attention bandwidth.

Democrats and their friends in the MSM identify something that 95% of Americans don't have any interest in and carpet bomb the front pages, first few minutes of news programs, glossy magazines and even entertainment shows with the "simple message" -- Gitmo bad, Bush stupid, no reason for Gitmo, Gitmo could be closed at any moment without issue. Since people don't care and only one side of the story is being presented, they figure "close Gitmo", why not?

Rhetoric changes to reality as the ruse pays off and a Democrat is elected -- there are very nasty folks at Gitmo, nobody wants them in their back yard, media and Democrats just give up on the issue. They never really cared about Gitmo for anything but a political ploy anyway, why not just drop it?  The people realize that they were snookered -- it happens all the time, this is nothing new. They are marketed to with overblown and false promises more than any set of humans in world history.

They know when they have been "played", and unsurprisingly, they don't like it. They like it even less when the elites that blasted "Gitmo, Gitmo, Gitmo" at the top of their lungs now don't care about it and call the general public "fickle" for "changing their mind". Apparently, folks like Gloria really DO think it is somehow "a mystery" ... or more likely their game is so old and so standard that they forget they are even playing it.

So at the time the president was proposing government solutions to problems, the nation's view of government was bottoming out. Only 20 percent trusted government to do the right thing all or most of the time. Even after Watergate, that number was at 36 percent.

When Dwight Eisenhower was president, trust in government was at 73 percent. Nowadays voters wouldn't trust the government to walk the dog.

How does such a thing happen? For 8 years, we had "the worst president in history" according to the MSM. His "destruction of personal liberty" was UNPRECEDENTED in American history. The world laughed at the US ... at least from the POV of our own MSM. He was running two wars -- one completely wrong and unjust which was "lost already" ... one that was "just" but he was losing because "he had taken his eye off the ball". The world was clear -- replace Bush and the sun was sure to shine. 

We elected the favorite son of the MSM. We win in Iraq using the "surge" he opposed. He sends more troops into Afghanistan, then more again, then he fires his own handpicked general and we are still losing. Dying troops were a major source of hand wringing, protests and charges of "Bush incompetence" before -- now they get barely notice with no analysis whatsoever. 

The economy tanks. Bush is blamed and blamed some more. We are told that if we spend a trillion dollars, unemployment will stay below 8%. It goes to 10%. It holds stubbornly over 9.5%. Bush is blamed some more -- but now the Democrats face a CONGRESSIONAL election and they have held congress for FOUR years. Since they claim no credit for the current economy, but rather blame Bush, can one draw any other conclusion but that they feel that having the opposition party in congress absolves them from responsibility? But wait, how can that be? When the Republicans took over in '94, they were the root of all evil. 

The MSM is convinced that "the problem" is "Tea Partiers and Fox News". Does anyone really have to wonder if the situation was reversed and John McCain was in office, what the MSM would be saying? We don't really need to ... in '92, the economy was far better than it is now, yet the MSM was as hard on the "it's the economy, stupid" as the Clinton campaign was -- which is to say RELENTLESS. 

You bash even the best Republican presidents endlessly (remember Reagan?), then you set the bar for your candidates ... Clinton, BO, impossibly high, and surprise surprise, they fall far short. And the people lose confidence in government. And the MSM wonders.

How BO Lost The Left

Dems turn on Obama over Iraq, Afghanistan, Gitmo | Washington Examiner

Superb Barone column. I think we all know that the BOasims on the left have ceased, but why? Pretty simple -- the left wanted America hurt and Bush completely repudiated. BO may not like America all that much, but he didn't go so far as to immediately pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and release all the Gitmo folks to do the liberal "news" shows to regale us with tales of torture -- probably 90% imagined, but some of them probably did miss their pet goats.

They might have been OK with Bush and Cheney not actually being locked up, but they at least wanted to keep heaping abuse on their chosen demons. BO's foreign policy, while still poor, was far more reality based than his domestic policy, so it mostly validated the Bush/Cheney foreign policy. While he has made vast progress in destroying the US at home, he has really not been nearly as visible a disaster abroad as may have been expected. I remain amazed we have not suffered a large domestic attack as yet, but suspect that my amazement will not last much longer.

The uncomfortable truth is that many -- not most, but many -- Democratic politicians and Democratic voters saw political benefit in an American defeat in Iraq. Many, including Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, then boss of Obama's new chief of staff Pete Rouse, thronged to the Washington premiere of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11." They tried to give every appearance of agreeing with the "Bush-lied-people-died" crowd and with those who charged that high-ranking officials colluded in systematic torture.

It was a lot of fun while it lasted, up to election night 2008 and Inauguration Day 2009. But then Obama had to govern. Knowing little of military affairs, he retained Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has loyally served presidents of both parties. Understanding even if not admitting the great headway Americans had made in Iraq, Obama declined to throw it all away.

Appreciating that Afghanistan was critical to protecting Americans, he made a commitment to increase troop levels there in May 2009, reconsidered it from August to November, then restated it Dec. 1, with a commitment to begin withdrawals in July 2011.

In so doing, Obama implicitly confessed that the view of the world held with quasi-religious fervor by the Democratic left was delusional all along. Bush didn't lie, we didn't go into Afghanistan and Iraq without allies and against their wishes, we didn't carry out policies of torture, etc. The effort to cast Iraq as another Vietnam and America under Bush as an oppressive rogue power were perhaps emotionally satisfying but unconnected to reality.

Without saying so, Obama has found himself having to teach this lesson to the Adam Serwers of the world. They don't like hearing it. They're keeping their ears plugged up and their eyes defiantly shut. Their MyObama Web pages are inactive and their checkbooks are closed. They've tuned out of the campaign and many of them won't even vote. The president they helped elect -- and the world -- have turned out not to be what they thought.

This is also a great opportunity to observe the difference between left and "right". Bush was never a conservative favorite and he lost their support with spending in general and entitlements in particular (prescription drug benefit). While I certainly didn't like what Bush did in those areas, I found the alternatives (Pelosi and Reid) to be so horrible that it was very easy to hold my nose.

Gallup Market?

RealClearPolitics - Stocks Gallup Higher

Good column guessing that Monday night's Gallup poll release ignited the markets because the prospects of a Republican take-over in at least the House look all but certain.

Released Monday night, the Gallup numbers demolished the new narrative of the elite mainstream media in Washington, and their prediction that somehow the Democrats are mounting a serious comeback based on frantic Obama campaigning and a slew of multimillion-dollar negative campaign ads.

Kudlow agrees with me that a lot of money in both private and business hands is just waiting for the stupid season to be over here before they jump back in to create new wealth. Why go take risks when you are being demonized by the party in power and being told with every other breath that they are going to tax and regulate you as hard as they can!

What I do think, however, is that highly profitable companies would love to get Washington out of their hair. Anything that even slows down the federal tax-and-regulatory pawing of American firms could conceivably prompt businesses to unleash their massive cash hoard into something that more closely resembles a normal capital-goods-investment and job-hiring campaign -- one that would increase economic growth and reduce unemployment.

Growth! Right ON!!!!

Daniel Henninger: The Only Policy Left Is Growth - WSJ.com

Great article. The bottom line is that maybe the American People have realized after a mere 4 years of mostly Democrat rule that without growth, the people perish. What Democrats realize is that without unions, they have no chance -- they need to get their kickbacks to their union masters and fool everyone else. It was a lot easier when the whole media was in the sack for them -- let us pray the predicted landslide comes to pass!

 The United States doesn't have Eurosclerosis yet, but the Democratic Party does. That's because the party has welded itself forever to the public-sector unions, as the social-democratic parties have in Europe (see the current wave of national strikes in Spain and France). Strong growth has no meaning to the public sector, so its political foot soldiers don't waste time pushing it. Exhibit A is the Obama administration's abandonment of trade deals with Colombia, South Korea and Panama.

Why Is He Sending Them? - Charles Krauthammer - National Review Online

Why Is He Sending Them? - Charles Krauthammer - National Review Online:

"What kind of commander in chief sends tens of thousands of troops to war while announcing in advance a fixed date for beginning their withdrawal? One who doesn’t have his heart in it. One who doesn’t really want to win but is making some kind of political gesture. One who thinks he has to be seen as trying but is preparing the ground — meaning, the political cover — for failure."

Well, clearly a bad one. Maybe due to incompetence, maybe due to naiveté, maybe due to fecklessness, probably due to all, but in the final analysis, does it really matter?

Good column by Charles. I think we all know that the Democrats had no stomach for Afghanistan ever ... when it was taking A MONTH back in Nov of '01, they were already concerned about "cost, prospects for victory, etc". The posturing about Afghanistan by Kerry, BO and other Dems about "the right war" and "Bush taking his eye off the ball", were just political posturing of the worst kind. Now we have the worst kind of political posturing with more troops dying to cover an exit by a bad president.

In Democrat philosophy, is it not ALL a "lost cause"? We randomly exist on this random ball in a random purposeless universe, with their best shot at a "purpose" so far being "the most pleasure/least pain possible for the greatest number". Their purpose is inconsistent with their premise for existence. Not very much about "survival of the fittest" would lead one to believe that avoidance of pain and a maximization of pleasure was somehow randomly selected as being salubrious for advancement of anyone or anything.

The nihilistic liberal outlook is at the core of their central tenet: "consistency is not an issue". This worship of the convenient seems to lead directly to some corollaries:

-- Anything hard or painful is not worth doing.

-- Find a small group, and get them to bear the pain ... "the rich" are a current favorite, but "The Religious Right" was recently popular. Historically, Jews, Slavs, Blacks (prior to 1964 for Dems) ... the small groups to bear the pain so the "many" can pleasure themselves.

-- If someone stronger comes along and tries to take your pleasure by force, let them ... then pout. The French were a great example of this in WWII. John Lennon summarized it nicely "nothing to fight or die for".

One realizes that our current leadership is tailor made to be destroyed by Islam. For the Muslim, pleasure in this life is not high on their priority list. They are very clear on what is worth fighting and dying for -- and not at all squeamish about a whole lot of others dying either. They have done away with that nasty concept of "innocence". Those that fail to worship allah and live under sharia are infidels -- convert or die are the only options.

Is BO a Muslim? In the words of Forest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does". If he persists in playing right into the hands of those that seek our destruction, does it really make a difference?

A conversation with P.J. O’Rourke - NYPOST.com

A conversation with P.J. O’Rourke - NYPOST.com

I love to read PJ ... conservative and NOT boring, a GREAT combination. I'm pretty much on board with adding "contempt for the common" to "consistency is not an issue" ... the "common" includes all things common ... common sense, common people for sure ... I likely need to work on the final form, but I think it is right up there in explanatory power with the lack of consistency in understanding the liberal mind.

The progressive mindset, O’Rourke thinks, amounts to a faith that "if you could just get the smartest people in the world together in a room, then by golly you can figure out a health care program. It’s this kind of contempt for the ordinary person’s expertise and what is best for him or her — contempt for the fundamental principle interest of self-interest that the world rests on — that [Obama] took away from the 1960s in large bags and cartons."

But the ’60s ultimately gave us Reagan. Obama has already given us the Tea Party and useful instruction on just how little can be accomplished by even the most eloquent and appealing of leaders. "We don’t vote to elect good people," O’Rourke says. "Certainly not great people, because they aren’t too great. We hold elections to throw the bums out."

Facebook Data Centers

The Facebook Data Center FAQ « Data Center Knowledge

Interesting to me at least. 60K Servers, $50million+ a year, nearly all Open Source Infrastructure, 1 employee per 1.2 million users. Mostly Rackable (now SGI) and Dell servers.

Farewell Tiger

Tiger

Our special Tiger kitty passed on sometime Tuesday night. Marla found him appearing to be peacefully asleep on the rocks outside the garage, and indeed he was, for the last time. He had been failing since the late winter to spring ... not painfully, just "being old". I'd bet that a urinary tract infection finally got him, but he seemed fine right up to yesterday, and he looked very peaceful.

The boys picked him out from the farm of my aunt and uncle up by Barron and he was a sickly little thing. In some ways he sort of picked them out ... he really wanted to play. He was always calm and always friendly. We got him in the fall of '95 when we moved in to this home, and he grew up with the boys -- he loved to get to sleep with anyone at night or for an afternoon nap. He loved people and he loved attention.

When we were going to take off on a trip, we always needed to know where Tiger was at before we could leave, and somehow he was always missing -- as if it was kind of a fun game for him. After a frantic search, he would come sauntering out from somewhere as if to say "OK, you did your penance for going off without me now". Naturally, when he was found he would get some extra loving before the launch.

His life was about as good as a life could be for a cat. Given our large lot and cul-de-sac, he was able to spend time inside or outside as he saw fit. One of his favorite games was "in and out", where he would go out for just a short time, scratch to come back in, and then maybe do that a couple of times just to make sure we were well trained at meeting his location desires. An entrance petting was required, and in the colder seasons, some comments about cold fur were always in order.

He enjoyed being held and fawned over in any way -- he could be held like a baby with his belly exposed, or drug around by kids in all manner of improper kitty holds, but he never seemed concerned. He seemed to know that he had hit the jackpot in the lottery of cat life, and was grateful. The warm chair, basking in front of a fireplace, but most of all the nice lap were his havens. He was also a good mouser. "Pure bred barn kitty" to the core.

One feels stupid shedding tears over a cat when the world is full of so much pain, suffering and loss of a much more real and human sort. Our pets remain special however -- our affection for them, and what at least appears to be their affection for us is simple, uncomplicated, elemental.

I sometimes think that when we think of "man in God's image" we jump to "reason" as the obvious thing that "makes us different". We like to think of God as "a really wise (smart) version of us", but I sometimes wonder if we don't completely miss the boat yet again, and that God's love for us might be a lot more like our love for pets -- caring, feeding, not really expecting much, happy when there is a positive response, but not really needing that. Just enjoying being a powerful and caring being that can help ... and glad that the creature in care has some appreciation of the gift they are receiving. Tiger excelled at being "more than happy to be here".

Their one to two decade lifespans provide another form of emotional era to our lives. Tiger was here with our boys, now he is gone, and they are off at school. The seasons and the eras change and there is bitter with the sweet. We will always remember you Tiger. Your life marked a mostly sweet time in ours, made even better by your presence.

January 2007

Postbulletin.com: Four years of Democrats is enough - Thursday, September 23, 2010

Dow mid 12,000s, unemployment 4.6 percent, previous quarter GDP 3.5 percent. The Democrats took over Congress.

Democrats and the media will tell you that Bush was entirely responsible for what happened after that, and if that is true, the upcoming election makes no difference. Unless you are terribly happy with unemployment hovering near 10 percent, growth hovering near 1 percent, and the Dow 15 percent below four years ago (more below the high), you may as well "send a message," or stay home.

If Congress makes no difference, Obama will be completely responsible for whatever happens to the economy over the next two years, just as we are told Bush was for '07 and '08. The Democrats told you in '06 that they would deliver "change." Either they just lied because they knew that Congress is powerless, they were clueless, or they were at least partially responsible for what happened since '07. I suspect a lot of truth in the latter two, but in any case, four years is more than enough.

Townhall - Taxing the Rich

Townhall - Taxing the Rich

If tax % are flat, the rich STILL pay more ... 10% of 10K is 1K it is also 10% of 100K. A guy making 100K would pay the the whole income of a guy making 10K in taxes. Better yet, every 10 poorer people are able to contribute as much as one rich person ... which would be a much more prevalent attitude if taxes were a shared cost of a reasonable government rather than a coercive transfer of wealth.

As I've said before, a tax cut is not a handout. It simply means government steals less. What progressives want to do is take money from some -- by force -- and spend it on others. It sounds less noble when plainly stated.

The Media Is a Myth

CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

I find this interesting from a couple fronts:

• MN Senator Franken was in the entertainment  business for decades, there were TONS of statements that he made that were objectionable in a ton of ways to many many people. One doesn't even have to resort to the "entertainment". He wrote a lot of "political satire" ... getting a pass on all of it. He didn't have to answer for a single thing ... it was all "entertainment or satire" ... none of his provocative statements were newsworthy.  
• Last I checked, the Comedy Channel and the Bill Maher show are actually "entertainment". Why the double standard? Thousands of potentially damaging Franken quotes were not even local news, let along national news. How can one possibly assert an even handed media when the treatment is so different. 
• The percentage of people in this country that believe in creation being done by a sovereign God is very large. The fact is that "he didn't say how" ... at least in detail, so I'm willing to let evolution be one of his chosen mechanisms. There are many people that have religious problems with that however. My position is that I'm willing to let an omniscient and omnipotent God create the universe and life any way he wants to. I'm sure Bill Maher would have GIGANTIC "respect" for Muslim views on the subject ... which would align with  Christian views. Does the fact that he is completely willing to malign Christian views, yet unwilling to do the same for Muslim prove that liberals only respect those willing to commit violence in defense of their views?

A Nation Of Peasants?

RealClearPolitics - A Nation of Peasants?

Well written and concise.

What optimistic Americans used to call a rising tide that lifts all boats is now once again derided as trickle-down economics. In other words, a newly peasant-minded America is willing to become collectively poorer so that some will not become wealthier.

The present economy suggests that it is surely getting its wish.

Mourning In America

Power Line - Mourning In America

I can well remember when it was Reagan and Morning in America -- it can be again, pull up our socks, take a shower, get out and vote, and before we know it we can be on the road to being free of BO!

Click the link and watch the video!

Hobbsian Logic

RealClearPolitics - The Money of Fools

Good column from Sowell,  worth the read.


The left believes that society is omniscient and omnipotent, but of course it is neither. Which makes their concept of "social justice" simply a foolish juxtaposition of words

You can talk or act as if society is both omniscient and omnipotent. But, to do so would be to let words become what Thomas Hobbes called them, "the money of fools."

Hmmm

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Have Been Compromised by Unidentified Aerial Objects | Reuters

Reuters, National Press Club? Not April 1? Other than some pretty whacked out political views, these folks aren't usually in the Art Bell category.

I'd be more on the "somebody has a cool drone" than "space aliens", but then Dennis Kucinich did see that UFO from Shirley McClain's hot tub ... and that put me over the top on believing in UFOs. (there are questions about his use of his tin-foil hat at the time however).

I'd go Chinese drone ... if it isn't just your garden variety set of "mistaken folks" (the most likely case). People often have a way small idea of how many or how expert a group of folks can get taken in by something that "looks good" or "seems right".

One would think that the election of BO would pretty much have proven that "mass hysteria", means MASS HYSTERIA!!! Supposedly there are otherwise reasonable people with IQs over 100 that voted for him! Take that to your Ripley's!

O'Donnell sidesteps specifics on funds, says 'no truth' to allegations - CNN.com

O'Donnell sidesteps specifics on funds, says 'no truth' to allegations - CNN.com

Nice to see how much focus a Senate Candidate in Delaware can get. BO ran for um, I think it was "President of the US" ... or some other formerly great nation, broke every campaign contribution and spending rule in existence (didn't even keep required books on a lot of it), came out of Chicago, the most corrupt political environment in the US (except maybe DC). No need for any "investigations" there.

He writes a book that casts aspersions on him being a Black Supremacist (get rid of "white blood"), declares that "his people" are the Luo tribe in Africa, and only comes on as emotionally alive in his writing when talking about Africa. Oh, and BTW, he touches a bit on the "magic" of the people / blood / ways that is very pagan, which is pretty much identical to Wicca (earth / nature worship) ... ooooh, wouldn't THAT be a good story???

Any reason to cover that in the MSM? Nope ... all one has to do is pick up his book and quote it. Tough reporting, or simply FILE SOMETHING on the biggest and most corrupt fundraiser in US history. See any articles like the above on BO? Nope ... no story there, but a Senate candidate from DelaWHERE???

Oh, that's right, our media is unbiased!! I keep forgetting that!

Carter Superior!

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - TRENDING: Carter declares his superiority to other presidents « - Blogs from CNN.com

Well, at least Jimmuh thinks he is great!

The Problem With Sound-Bite Economics

RealClearPolitics - The Problem With Sound-Bite Economics

Column is mostly standard moderate drivel that "both sides have problems". True enough, but one has to make a decision, and BO has made it pretty easy to see at least what side CURRENTLY is the farthest out in the weeds and needs to be reined in. When we see Government consuming an all time low % of GDP, the income tax abolished, and a safety net that applies to only the bottom 10% of society, then I'd say it will be time to consider the "actual right" (meaning heading for anarchy) as on the border of "going too far". Then I'm going to consider voting liberal.

The column did contain this observation which I find to be completely unique to BO in actually elected Presidents in my lifetime -- from the sounds of it, it is a throwback to the anti-business days of FDR. Democrats are always so worried about "turning the clock back to the failed policies" -- and yet they somehow they always end up pining away for the '30s!

Confidence is crucial to stimulating consumer spending and business investment, and Obama constantly subverts confidence. In the past year, he's undone some of the good of his first months. He loves to pick fights with Wall Street bankers, oil companies, multinational firms, health insurers and others. He thinks that he can separate policies that claim to promote recovery from those that appeal to his liberal "base," even when the partisan policies raise business costs, stymie job creation or augment uncertainty -- and, thereby, undermine recovery. His health care "reform" makes hiring more expensive to employers by mandating insurance coverage. The moratorium on deep-water oil drilling kills jobs; the administration's estimate of employment loss is up to 12,000.

How Obama Thinks

How Obama Thinks - Forbes.com

There won't be a lot new in this column for those that read this Blog, just confirmation and a slightly different angle. I read BO's first book and I think it would be impossible for anyone that is a Christian to read that book and consider BO to be anything but a pagan tribalist from a religious perspective. He wrote this book AFTER his "conversion" to Reverend Wrights brand of "Black Liberation Theology (BLT)" which subverts the message of Christ to be a message of anti-semitism (pretty ridiculous to call that "Christian", since Christ is a Jew) and Black Supremacy. Christ's message is that ALL have sinned -- even BO, there is no "pass" for being Black. BLT may or may not clean up your community, it is completely powerless to save your soul.

This article calls out some of the strong pagan-tribal messages, but puts them in the context of anti-colonialism. I find that to be an interesting perspective on the difficult to understand question of  "Why is BO so anti-American"? There are certainly pagan-tribalists that do not exhibit his level of anti American fervor. The anti-colonial connection with his alcoholic father may well be a good source for understanding the that part of BO.

It is rare that an American president has written a book prior to taking office that gives such a direct glimpse into his thought process -- even more rare that when such a book is as devastating critique of that president's paganism as this one, that it would be so little known!

In his own writings Obama stresses the centrality of his father not only to his beliefs and values but to his very identity. He calls his memoir "the record of a personal, interior journey--a boy's search for his father and through that search a workable meaning for his life as a black American." And again, "It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself." Even though his father was absent for virtually all his life, Obama writes, "My father's voice had nevertheless remained untainted, inspiring, rebuking, granting or withholding approval. You do not work hard enough, Barry. You must help in your people's struggle. Wake up, black man!"

The climax of Obama's narrative is when he goes to Kenya and weeps at his father's grave. It is riveting: "When my tears were finally spent," he writes, "I felt a calmness wash over me. I felt the circle finally close. I realized that who I was, what I cared about, was no longer just a matter of intellect or obligation, no longer a construct of words. I saw that my life in America--the black life, the white life, the sense of abandonment I'd felt as a boy, the frustration and hope I'd witnessed in Chicago--all of it was connected with this small piece of earth an ocean away, connected by more than the accident of a name or the color of my skin. The pain that I felt was my father's pain."

In an eerie conclusion, Obama writes that "I sat at my father's grave and spoke to him through Africa's red soil." In a sense, through the earth itself, he communes with his father and receives his father's spirit. Obama takes on his father's struggle, not by recovering his body but by embracing his cause. He decides that where Obama Sr. failed, he will succeed. Obama Sr.'s hatred of the colonial system becomes Obama Jr.'s hatred; his botched attempt to set the world right defines his son's objective. Through a kind of sacramental rite at the family tomb, the father's struggle becomes the son's birthright.

 

Speaking of Book Burning

Night in America vs Morning in America

Gwyn: Obama too smart, too black for declining America - thestar.com

To the left, it is night in America, the final night of darkness and death--as opposed to Reagan "Morning in America". It happens whenever the left takes over. They "discover" that "we" are a racist, ungovernable basket-case of a nation that is so far past it's prime that the situation is hopeless. All that is remains is endless decline.

 That is indeed true as long as the left remains in power, but to date the American people have always been exceptional enough to decide that as long as they still have freedom, they can throw off the chains of the sour left elite and bask in the sunlight of yet another daybreak for freedom, individual responsibility and the real chance to excel as people and as a nation!!

What is more "conceited" -- to believe that your nation with the help of God can achieve great things, or to believe that your own intellectual capacity is sufficient to consign a nation of 300 million people with an exceptional 200 year history to perpetual decline?

America’s conceit of “exceptionalism,” or of being better than anyone else and fundamentally different from all other societies and countries, can no longer be sustained. It’s exhausted its quota, a very large one indeed, of bright, confident mornings.