Ships At Duluth Canal

On our trip north we got a chance to watch a few ships go through the canal into the Duluth/Superior Harbor under the lift bridge.

Ships Through Duluth Canal

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BO On FICA

Power Line: Obama on Social Security

Being popular and having any relationship to reality are often at odds, and that is the core of the BO dilema here. On one hand, he wants to tell folks making less than $100K that "it isn't fair" that they have to pay FICA on all their income. On the other hand, he doesn't want to tell the bulk of his supporters, from $100K - $250K that they are going to have to have a 15% tax increase. A much larger percentage of people that make over $100K see through the fiction that "the employer pays half", just like a larger percentage of those people see through the idea that you can "tax corporations". Corporations only exist to make profits, if government chooses to raise the cost of doing business by adding corporate taxes, then the company passes along that cost to consumers. If the addition of that cost causes the product to be noncompetitive against foreign competition or on the basis of price, then the corporation will stop making it.

Likewise, every employee of a corporation has to earn the cost of employing them PLUS profits. If government chooses to increase the cost of employing them by adding further taxation, then that is just less money for the employee.

Why is it legitimate to have a cap on the earnings for FICA? Easy, there is a cap on the benefits. FICA wasn't SUPPOSED to be "alms for the poor", it was to be a safety net for EVERYONE. BO ignores that fact, as he ignores the fact that Buffet's wealth comes from capital gains, not salary at all, so Buffet pays ZERO FICA, not some tiny percentage. At least in this lunatic installment, BO isn't espousing FICA on capital gains, so any discussion of Buffett is either lying or lack of understanding, depending on what is in his head. This is a tough one for BO though. If he is the completely moral genius that the press would have us believe, then wouldn't he HAVE to understand the way FICA works? But on the other hand, is it OK for "The Obama" to not be truthful? I'm sure the press will be helping us understand this important dilema in the future.

In likewise impenetrable duplicity, BO criticizes Bush for "privatization foolishness", but laments how low the savings rate is for Americans and rolls out his idea that what he is proposing ... TA DA, Drum Roll please, is a private savings plan for citizens! No doubt some of his advisors will have to explain to him that a low savings rate is GOOD for Democrats. They WANT to have as many folks dependent on the government as possible, and the LAST thing they want to have is anything like an "investment society", where most Americans are invested in business and the economy and would have an interest in seeing through the kind of shell game that BO is pushing. INVESTMENT means putting your money in something that is going to produce a PROFIT, and thus GROW! No profits mean no taxes, no savings growth, no economic growth and in very short order; depression, hunger and death.

Maybe the stench of decay is just "longer term BO"?

Bluefin Bay

Sitting in a second story condo at Bluefin Bay on the North Shore of Lake Superior looking at a serene lake with some clouds rolling in. I love the ocean, but the ocean is too violent to build beautiful condos 25 yards from the waters edge, even if they are built on solid rock. The sound of the ocean surf is nice, but the lapping of the Superior "mini-surf" floating up to the room is just perfect for a Monday AM that bears no resemblence to 99% of the Mondays for one having just hit 30 years in a corporate career. I'm not going to bother to check my e-mail this particular day.

Yesterday was our 23rd anniversary, and we drove up from the Superior Shores hotel that we had spent a couple nights at in Canal Park there. Saturday was the "ultimate perfect June day" my wife and I both agreed, and we rode our bikes north on the lake shore bike trail to tour Glensheen, the Congden mansion. The day was the 100th anniversary of Glensheen, it having been completed in 1908. I was struck with the inclusion of electric lights, an intercom system and a servant call system that had little indicators that clicked to the room where a servant was needed when a button was pressed. It was interesting to see that our master bedrom complex will exceed the Congden's, who were the richest family in Minnesota in 1908, and we wouldn't rate in the top 100K in 2008.

That theme is what struck me about the mansion. In 1908, the real difference that wealth provided was that of servants, and it was the servants and education that made the Congden's a different "class". Technology has replaced those servants, and mass production has expanded the accessibility of all manner of conveinience to ever wider swaths of the population. We have not conquered envy, many still waste their precious mental cyles worried about what it is that someone else may have, but progress has expanded the amount of wealth available in aggregate, heavily leveraged the capabilities of that wealth (cars, computers, home appliances) and made the key advantages (education) available to all. We have had a lot of success in 100 years, why do I suspect that we sit on the cusp of throwing away a significant amount of that success? I certainly hope that I am wrong.

On our way north we vowed to stop at all the falls available since the water flow is at historic highs. A few years ago when we were up here, the drought was in full swing and the DNR had helpful little pamphlets explaining how that was due to Global Warming. I'm sure that the historic highs are due to "Climate Change", and they just haven't gotten the pamphlets printed yet. I'm always interested in having the Government give me the proper political view on water levels.

All the falls at Gooseberry were thundering with the most water at least we had seen over our years of coming up here, including the summer before our engagement 24 years ago. We then stopped at Palisade Head, a spot that most pass by, which is good, since it has a very narrow little road to the top, and is mostly visited by rock climbers. It is a great spot to experience the 100+ foot sheer rock cliffs that are occasionally in evidence on the North Shore, and Sunday was a great day to do that with the lake generally calm and light breezes.

We next stopped at Tettegouche park on the Baptism River and went up to hike to the 60' upper falls. The hike in went well, with the only problem being a number of muddy spots on the trail that needed to be snuck around. The falls was beautiful and roaring, and the cable bridge over the river above the falls was exciting. On the opposite side of the river though we made the mistake of thinking that there was a bridge at the lower falls. We hiked down to that, including the 100+ steps down to river level, and discovered that there was an important feature missing-no bridge. So, we had a lot of "up" for our hike back to the vehicle, and althought I do a lot of stairmonster for excercise, it really isn't the same as the real thing. Upon arrival at the car we decided that the jacuzzi at Bluefin sounded really nice, so we headed north, skipping Temperance River for one of our remaining two days.

The evening at Bluefin in no way disappointed. The suites here with their fireplaces and jacuzzi tubs probably gave us too much inspiration for our new master suite, and staying here while we are stuffed into our son's bedroom at home sharing a bath with the boys makes us even more anxious for the new setup to be completed. We aren't likely to have a restraunt like the Bluefin Grill in walking distance down a beaufiful boardwalk with Lake Superior beside us at our home however, unless virtual reality really moves along at a rapid pace. We had a baked brie with roasted apples and french bread for an appetizer that was to die for, and the New York strip done with some wondrous garlic sauce and beautiful Yukon Gold garlic mashed potatoes certainly more than undid any health benefits of the hike!

I'm going to have to work on the right kind of wave lapping sounds to see if I can't have something fun to wake up to in the new bedroom. The effect of looking out on the expanse of Superior isn't going to be possible to duplicate however.

Russert "Loving the Election"

"He Was Loving This Election" - TIME

Joe Klein, an unabashedly liberal commentator from Time, had one argument with Russert over the years. He treated the Clinton's too harshly. Wow. This is about the third time I've seen the "loving this election", and I think we all know why, Russert was excited about seeing Obama elected.

I don't know how Russert squared his Catholic Christianity with his political party's Abortion on Demand and Gay Marriage, but somehow he did. It is unreasonable to expect any political party to come close to agreeing with our views on anything close to everything. We all are going to live with some level of "cognitive dissonance" given that there are only 2 real choices.

Russert would certainly have been one of the top figures in the MSM. I'm struck with the similarities and differences with Buckley's passing. The loss of Buckley was of course way less tragic, he was older, it was expected. There was no secret as to where Buckley stood on ideas, and the media and politicians treated his death in the way they thought was "accordingly" ... "the conservatives lost a great ...".

Certainly every story about Russert that we read, including this one, tells us who he was, and of course it isn't as if we didn't already know that. He proudly worked for Cuomo and Moynihan, Dad, "Big Russ" a retired city employee, still very close, still mostly see eye to eye. This is "the old America", the "pre Reagan America" that the MSM and the left sees as the way things ought to be. "Everyone can agree" -- it is an America from their point of view where there really ought to be "no sides" on anything of merit. "Everyone agrees that Uncle Walter Cronkite is telling the truth". To suggest that Uncle Walter or Tim Russert might be just regular humans with normal human biases has somehow beccome inherently evil, it is the "politics of division", and it is high time we put that behind us.

When was it that actual diversity of thought became somehow wrong? Is that really what America is supposed to be? Diversity of race and behavior, but no diversity of thought? What is it that somehow makes is wrong to celebrate the life of Bill Buckley as "one of them" and for the MSM to celebrate the life of Tim Russert as "one of us" from the point of view of the "liberal elite, MSM, Democrat view"? Isn't that what he was? As MSM spokesman go, I'd certainly rather have had Russert have a lot longer career than Dan Rather. Even though Russert actually worked for Democrats, my belief has always been that he would be less likely than Rather to actually fake documents or use other methods to try to make the news come out his way.

"If Fascism comes to America, it will be called Americanism". If it comes to America, it will DEFINITELY come from the "dominant culture". That is what fascism is, the dominant culture politicising life to the point where holding views other than those dominant views is either actually or defacto criminal. If you don't agree with gays being married, that is "hate speech"--you can lose your job, or potentially be incarcerated if you make your thoughts known. We are on the path to make global warming a similar thought issue. I have no idea how long the list will become, can anyone be allowed to be against "hope" or "change"?

At his core I think Russert prided himself in being "one of the folks, down to earth, for the common man". Those are all good feelings, but they can also be dangerous. Our founding fathers had a solid understanding of the "tyranny of the majority", and realized that it was hard to the masses to realize that all progress depends on the "UNcommon man".

Russert was well loved by the "standard MSM" and many of the common folks. As MSM types go, I think he at least gave it his best shot to ask tough questions on both sides of the isle from time to time, but it was always clear where his heart was as well. In my book, that is fine, the only problem is when the dominant culture claims that their view is "truth", rather than just "their view".

How Faint Can one Be?

Progress in Iraq...and What To Do About It - Swampland - TIME

Even Time magazine is forced to recognize progress in Iraq. They have no idea why of course--can't be any credit to to Bush for example. Sort of one of those "mysteries of the left". Naturally, the war was still a huge mistake, so those Iraqis were MUCH better off being butchered by Saddam No doubt Joe hasn't noticed the massive reduction in suicide bombers in Israel since Saddam stopped paying the families of the bombers $30K either. Well, nobody would be so callous to blow themselves up for money, so THAT must be due to some mysterious reason not associated with any Bush policy as well.

Candidate on Far Left

Old but nice picture. Could probably win him points as "Candidate of the Far Left". Note, it is OUR far left ... from his perspective, he thinks he is on the right! Why? Well, he STOOD for the National Anthem of a racist, violent, corporatist, global pariah state didn't he? For at least those friends of his that are ex-Weathermen bombers, standing up like that is pretty radical even if you don't put your hand over your heart!

Maybe He Should Check With Pluto

Kucinich introduces Bush impeachment resolution - CNN.com

Dennis Kucinich, Representative from Pluto and the outer planets seeks to impeach both Bush and Cheney. I imagine if he could be successful, he would start on any other elected Republican officials. Potentially in the end, we may be ruled by Zok, laser ray dragon and receive our orders for happiness direct from mind satellites controlled by chief Dennis wearing his best tinfoil hat.

The Democrats are such a practical and unifying force. The scary part is that they seem humorous with just short observance-but Dennis would like to get rid of conservative media, register bloggers and who knows what else. He actually is serious, and down his path everyone eventually only has one choice, and they better like it or they will need some "retraining".

Troop Suicides and BO

Thomas Sowell is often the voice of reason. I have seen the media talk of "increases in troop suicides", giving one the impression that there must be a significant suicide problem in the military. Certainly, ANY suicide rate is too high, but when we discover that they in-theater and at home rates are LESS than the rates for the general population in the same age group, isn't it just a BIT disengenupous for the MSM to be trumpeting the "suicide problem in the military"? NPR had at least one hour long special on it for example.

Sowell is a black man that also sees that same sort of "Cocky Ignorance" in BO that I do. It is often the case that those that are in many ways the smartest are the most ignorant of all--sort of another version of the rich; "the can afford to be".


RealClearPolitics - Articles - Cocky Ignorance

Veto Beer vs Asthma Breathalyser

McCain, I'll veto every beer.

Obama decides that kids with asthma need a "breathalyzer".

So what does this prove? Well, the McCain flub is in a CNN headline, the BO flub had to be sleuthed off "Live Leak", and conservative website.

A Senior BO Moment?

Watch this and then imagine what the MSM coverage of it would be if it was McCain rather than BO. My thought on it is pretty much "Welcome, oh great and powerful BO to the human race!". This plots another point on his being "numerically challenged". He seems to be reaching for a number, and it just isn't there -- he can't recall if it would be millions, billions, or what, and the old gray matter just isn't working. We have ALL been there -- we technical people often on a name, but everyone has had the experience.

The nice part of being BO though is that when you have the experience, it is only the "right wing wackos" that are willing to point it out. If you are a Republican like Bush, they work to collect them all and make calendars out of them!

Why Are Gas Prices High?

If you listen to the MSM, gas is priced high due to some combination of global demand, speculation, failed Bush policies and Oil Company malfeasance. (Note, the Demcrats apparently haven't been involved in anything around energy for a long time). It all sounds complicated. My rule is that if the MSM has a complicated answer, then the answer is probably simple "Democrats"--if they have a simple answer (like "Bush"), then the answer is likely a bit more complicated.

How can you always oppose every single measure to improve production, spend a ton of words over decades indicating that "gas is priced too low" (as Democrats have), and then when it finally goes up again, you bear no blame for the policies that you have constantly encouraged? I guess that is the benefit of having the MSM in your pocket and a bunch of sheep that follow their every word.



Power Line: Who's to Blame for High Gas Prices?

ANWR Exploration
House Republicans: 91% Supported
House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Coal-to-Liquid

House Republicans: 97% Supported

House Democrats: 78% Opposed

Oil Shale Exploration

House Republicans: 90% Supported

House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Exploration

House Republicans: 81% Supported

House Democrats: 83% Opposed

Refinery Increased Capacity

House Republicans: 97% Supported

House Democrats: 96% Opposed

SUMMARY

91% of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the production of American-made oil and gas.

86% of House Democrats have historically voted against increasing the production of American-made oil and gas.

The Audacity of the Democrats

This article is very long, but VERY VERY worth the read! Most of what it says has been covered in Moose Tracks in the past, but this guy says it better and communicates many of the key facts much clearer (and even more concisely if one considers the time scope he is covering). READ IT!

(He completely slips a cog on his analysis of the 2006 election, but perfection is not something that real people are prone to)


American Thinker: The Audacity of the Democrats

A couple small excerpts for flavor, but these are LONG from doing this analysis any justice at all:

The Democratic Party has
devolved into a club for the illegitimately aggrieved, the
self-absorbed, the self-hating and the perpetually pissed-off. It is a
sanctuary where solipsistic malcontents and their disjointed causes
find refuge and support. It has long ceased being an earnest gathering
of broad minds where man's timeless problems are examined against the
backdrop of the Constitution and solutions to them proposed based on
the actual realities of the human condition. It is now the political
province of the intellectually deceased, where frightened, lock-step
ideologues and other small men and women concoct and promote divisive,
destructive, weird and cowardly policies developed within a
not-so-quaint, quasi-Marxist stricture of gender, class and race.

It is common knowledge, supported by history, that war is fraught with uncertainties and surprises that cannot always be planned in advance for. It is the side in a conflict that best adapts and adjusts in response to those vagaries that usually wins. The slaughter of 5,000 US soldiers at Omaha beach in a single day during WWII was not trumpeted by the US media to America and to the world as evidence of imminent US defeat against the Nazis, nor did US politicians of that era cry for withdrawal from the larger battle when disasters like Omaha Beach and Corregidor happened. They did not publicize enemy successes during the vicious battles of Guadalcanal nor did they pronounce defeat whenever Americans suffered setbacks while fighting the fanatical Japanese. But throughout every phase of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts nearly every negative event, every disaster or perceived disaster, exploded across the front pages of the major US papers and was broadcast by Democrats from the halls of Congress as evidence of Bush's malevolence, stupidity or incompetence and as evidence of impending American defeat. Michael Yon, the Iraq conflict's Ernie Pyle, best sums up the result of that grinding media assault on the Iraq War and its American leaders:

"Enemy dominance of the media battle space translated quite directly into military setbacks. Terrorists from many countries swarmed into Iraq to be part of the victory they saw happening on the TV screens."

Glenn Beck, Iraq Victory

Commentary: Iraq victory possible, if we want it - CNN.com

Glenn Beck continues to be about the only bright spot for reason over at CNN. They call him "conservative", I think he is pretty much "rational / pragmatic". Not a lot of ideology at all. The whole article isn't that long, and well worth the whole read, but I found this to be especially. Clear and the part of Democrats that I can just never fathom. I have ZERO trouble giving Clinton credit for NAFTA and Welfare Reform. Democrats seem intent on defeat in Iraq even if they don't have to give Bush any credit ... say they "forced him to do the right thing", fine! Say "the Iranian's did it", SUPER. Just WIN BABY!

That is the part I truly don't get. It reminds me of the Cold War. OF COURSE they were going to say "Ronald Reagan had nothing to do with winning", they are Democrats, one can't expect truth or pragmatism. BUT, it goes even deeper than that, it was as if they really didn't want that wall to come down. They really didn't want to see the USSR defeated and the US as the only remaining super power. But why?

This is not a new phenomenon. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi wrote "as
many had foreseen, the escalation has failed to produce the intended
results." They made this statement on June 13, 2007 -- three days
before the surge was even fully implemented and three months before the
military had said it was fair to judge the progress.

I'm not
naïve. I understand that regardless of the actual progress, they were
going to say it wasn't working anyway. But if I may borrow some Eliot
Spitzer-esque language: Don't we pay them enough to at least fake their
sincerity?

I have been a supporter of our efforts in Iraq from
the beginning, although I've harshly criticized our tactics many times.
But, it's important to recognize what an opportunity we have right now.

We can win.

This is not about politics. Our winning this war does not mean that you
have to vote for John McCain. I might not even vote for McCain.

Some Democrats have claimed responsibility for the success of the
surge, saying that they forced Bush into changing strategies. Fine.

Nancy Pelosi says some of the success of the surge is based on the "the
goodwill of the Iranians." Whatever. We can argue about that later.
After we've won.

I'm not asking you to think
the war was a good idea, I'm just asking you to think winning the war
is a good idea. We know where we've been. Now, let's all honestly look
at where we are. We haven't seen a situation this promising for some
time, let's take advantage of it. I'm sure Barbara Walters will agree.

He is being nice to Barbara ... or just cynical. I'm pretty sure that it is absolutely locked in her brain that Iraq has to be a horrible defeat for the US and that is that. That is the core of what I don't understand-I was very pleasantly surprised by the economy of the late '90s under Clinton. Yes, it was a "bubble", but it was MUCH better than my expectations, GREAT! I don't even mind Clinton getting the credit for it! I was employed, moved to a new home, my stocks went up (and then down, but hey, it was fun while they went up!), I was wrong about how bad the effects of the tax increases would be on the economy. SUPER! I live here! I invest here (and overseas as well). I'm happy when we dodge a bullet and things go better than they maybe have a right to. I would strongly advise folks against driving drunk, but if they do anyway, I'm not going to hope they get in an accident so I can say "I told you so".

I suspect that somewhere down that path relative to emotion and poltics lies the answer of why Democrats actually WANT defeat in Iraq even if it means more deaths from terrorism in the future. Some emotion there is much the same that says that they want policies that punish the rich, even if those policies mean that everyone including themselves is worse off.

Finally, A Little Detail on "Change"

Power Line: The friends of Barack Obama

BO hangs around a different crowd than those bad bad Republicans. He needs some "Street Cred", so it is important that at least some of his cronies be convicted felons. Looks like "Uncle Tony" (Rezko) now helps fill that role. No doubt there will be more as we learn more about the nuance of BO. Uncle Tony was very very good to young BO -- raising over $250K (that we know of) for his campaigns, getting him a $300K discount on his $1.9 million home so he could have it for a paltry $1.6 mil, and then buying the lot next door for $600K and selling a third of it to BO for $100K (maybe Uncle Tony is just bad at math?).

Naturally, none of this really bears any scrutiny since BO is a Democrat. He STATED that he didn't think that Rezko had done him any special favors. Kind of makes you wonder how much green has to change hands in his neighborhood before he thinks it IS a "favor". Guess the "low bar" must be some place north of $500K to get you into that sought after "favor category".

I'm sure if BO were a Republican, the MSM would be ignoring the irony of Uncle Tony being convicted while BO is claiming his nomination. It is good to finally be getting just a little handle on what "change" really means.

The Power of BO

RealClearPolitics - Articles - A Defining Moment for Our Nation

Here is an excerpt from the BO claiming victory in St Paul speech:

America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment - this was the time - when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals. Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

Wow, the sick and the planet are healed and the seas obey the power of BO. All hail the messiah, forget "religion as a wedge", as long as we all worship the great and powerful BO, we can rise above the "horror" of the last 8 years, and really all of history. I can hardly wait to see how well he accepts responsibilty for the future! He DID say that THIS is the moment ... not months or years from now, so that wonderful "change" that we all certainly hope for is HERE! This should be a wonderful thing -- all that nasty finger pointing and divisiveness is soon to be over. We will all love that BO!