Praise for John Kerry

Power Line - John Kerry Does Something Right

Kerry has a $7 million yacht, he keeps it in Rhode Island rather than Massachusetts to avoid $500K in taxes. A completely rational and reasonable thing to do!! -- were he a conservative with actual principles, it would be hypocrisy, but since he is a liberal with none, I fail to see why one would have cause for comment.

I ALSO applaud his flying of a large American flag from the boat -- this is an act of extreme courage for a liberal, and many would not do as much. Kudos to Kerry!

Understanding Sherrod

Op-Ed Columnist - You’ll Never Believe What This White House Is Missing - NYTimes.com

I had an interesting Thursday as I went up to the cities for a "Smart Grid" presentation at the U, so had a decent amount of car time. For my radio selection I got to hear, MPR, CBS Glenn Beck and Hannity. By listening to those outlets, here is what I heard on Sherrod:

• MPR -- Conservative media is dangerous because they "take things out of context", Ag Sectretary made a big mistake, BO fixed it. End of story unless we could somehow get rid of Andrew Breitbart.
  
• CBS -- Conservative radio evil, Ag Secretary "mislead", BO a saint. Nuff said.
  
• Beck -- The point of the story was how the NAACP audience reacted to her statement that she wasn't going to help the white guy much -- in reaction to the NAACP calling the Tea Party "racist". The BO administration screw up is just their over reaction because they realize that many blacks ARE racist, so they assumed that she "got caught".
• Hannity -- Waste of time -- he just wanted to dodge the issue, so my guess is that he took the "she is a racist path" and was embarrassed. He did have one reasonable point how likely is a white speaker / audience could get away with this, context or not ??? I think we all know the answer to that.
  

A little more net work, and my perspective is:

• By design or otherwise, the real point of this, that the NAACP is more racist than any Tea Party movement got lost. It is NAMED as a racist organization, and surprise, surprise, it is ... I think there IS a "NAAWP" for whites, and it is racist. Surprise.
  
• Anyone that read BO's first book knows that he is a racist or very close to a racist -- the idea that he would even consider or include discussion of "purging white blood"  would be seen as quite extreme were it reversed to "purging black blood". Even touching on the issue of "blood purity" has an awful lot of bad connotations and it is remarkable that he has been allowed to skate without even any questions on what he was thinking when he wrote that.
  
• The big screw up here is the BO administration. It is pretty surprising that Vilsak isn't under the bus already and there isn't a witch hunt to find out "who dunnit"? The IMMEDIATE media question under Bush would have been "was Karl Rove involved?" ... so here the exact question would be "Was Axelrod involved". One sees inside the different media approach a bit here. With Bush, the objective of the MSM on every story is "how can we most effectively damage the president?". They saw getting Rove out of there as a major objective, so the "puppet master" type question was asked over and over. That is how the echo chamber works -- ask and get some pundit to say "this has Karl Rove's fingerprints all over it" enough times, and most of the sheep believe.
  

Eject, Eject ...

Photoblog - Pilot ejects an instant before fighterjet crashes

"The nick of time" doesn't really do this justice.

The Wilson Has Landed

Wilson Combat CQB, G10 Starburst Grips

My long awaited Wilson arrived last week, so I now have a true 1911. My step is more sure, my back straighter, my gaze more direct. As US servicemen knew from 1911 to 1985, there is nothing as positive for the good of man in this mortal coil than the grip of a true 1911.

I took my Para Tac 4 hi-cap, LDA trigger out to the range for comparison. The only way to truly savor redemption is to face that which you have been redeemed from -- the Para is a fine weapon, at one level not a thing wrong with it, having 13 rounds of .45 vs 8 might come in handy. The fatal transgression is to believe that the metaphysical merits of the true 1911 could be bestowed by a double stack completely unrecognisable as a 1911. My handgunning soul has been redeemed, and I am free, truely free as only a real 1911 owning American can be, at last.

One beholds the Wilson with a sense of humility. Although the first outing was far and away my best first outing with a new firearm, including my best groups ever right out of the box, I realise this is a weapon that I will never do justice.  I have some concern of being apprehended at the range by some life NRA member for possession of a firearm in excess of my demonstrated skill level. I'm not exactly sure what the penalty would be, but after one outing, I'd say that even if it were death, it would be worth it -- providing it would be "death by Wilson". If one must die by gun, it may as well be by the very best.

First Wilson Groups

The target above is 10 yards, first center group from the bench, second upper right standing free hand. My tendency is to shoot low and left -- improper trigger control, a personal failing that the Wilson can't correct completely, but one which it VASTLY improved right out of the box. We put about 150 rounds through it. One of my buddies had a F2F on a Chip McCormick mag, otherwise completely flawless. As anyone that has dealt with new guns, especially 1911's, that is incredible -- usually it takes 500-1000 rounds to get them out of the finicky stage. Winchester white box, Blazer brass, and Remington ... all hardball.

Naturally, since it was my buddy that had the F2F, I won't consider the potential that he "limp wristed" it. 

I'm completely happy. Great gun to just admire, even better gun to enjoy shooting for a lifetime and then pass it on to the next generation.

The Rich

 http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/07/21/definition-of-rich/

All the Democrats in MN are very excited at what they hope is their future capability to "tax the rich" once they manage to get the Governor's office. As per usual, they have some arguments about "who is rich" ... basically they are sure it is either an income of $150k for a couple or $250K. Also, as usual, they are completely clueless.

MPR decided to get an economist from NYU into the mix (you can go listen on the link if you like), and he pointed out a "shocking fact" (for liberals) -- "rich" has a lot more to do with NET WORTH than it does with INCOME!!! Imagine that!!

He said that providing you had a net worth of at least $2.5 Million, a $250K a year income would be the "threshold of rich" ... but the NET WORTH was the more important factor.

The obvious point -- there are plenty of folks that make $150K, $250K and more that would be "on the street" if they quit working. It is very true that those are the kinds of "rich" that MPR and the Democrats love --- the kind that have less choice of restricting their income if taxed, but never the less, those people are far closer to "high income poor" than "rich".

You may have big debt because of going to medical school, setting up your small business, or just because you felt you needed a $400K home, a lake home, a fancy car, cool vacations, or whatever. It doesn't really matter WHY you are spending most of that income, but if you are, then you are not rich. You may in fact be very close to bankruptcy.

If you have to work, you aren't rich. Wealth has much much more to do with your assets and your cost of living (sometimes self imposed, sometimes not). Like health being a good input to help you be happy, but far from a guarentee, income may be an asset in eventually becoming rich, but it will depend MUCH more on what you do with it than the actual income figure.

HINT: Giving it to Democrats in taxes won't make you wealthy ... and given their philosophy and understanding of life, it likely won't help anyone else either. "Doing good" in all but the cases of really really good luck is going to require some exposure to what reality actually is, and mixing up income and net worth is just one more sign that is an area that Democrats are lacking in knowledge. Having "your heart in the right place" only goes so far.

PJ O'Rourke, Driving Like Crazy

Like most anything from PJ, extremely fun, irreverent, totally Non-PC and witty -- a "guilty pleasure" that doesn't leave you feeling guilty, because mixed in with the mayhem are some nuggets of real wisdom about the world.

As the title says, it is a "driving book", but what he has done is taken some of his old stories, updated them, commented on his own "foolishness of youth" and in my opinion, used some 30 years of writing experience to just make them better.

There are a series of very entertaining and somewhat surprising vignettes -- as in PJ and Mike Nesmith of ancient "Monkees" fame running the Baja race in a supertruck named "TimeRider". PJ's introduction to NASCAR and a trip from Islamabad to Calcutta on the Grand Trunk Road.

Along the way, some very solid tips are thrown in -- the Indian Sub-Continent Diet for example: take one tablespoon of the local water a day and eat absolutely anything you want (not likely to be much) and lose weight faster than a hunger strike!

Caution, PJ is politically "not a liberal" ... I think he might be a libertarian, he certainly really isn't "conservative" in any sense of moralizing that the media likes to associate with conservatives. He may be an anarchist -- or potentially just nuts.

The point is, liberals will likely be offended. This is another of the "monster gulfs" between conservatives and liberals. While it is darned hard to watch or listen to any popular movies, tv, music without hearing the equivalents of "They're beating plowshares into swords for this tired old man that we've elected king" (Don Henley, '80s, song I really like in general -- not too subtle reference to Reagan) . Liberal thought is pervasive, especially in the mass media, so conservatives have to have "perspective", and a sense of humor even. We also have the solace that much like the line above, just wait around for a couple years and the liberal thought will be proven idiotic like 90%+ of the time.

I think reading PJ would be a GREAT way for a liberal to work on being just a little less grim, or as PJ puts it "less of a FunSucker" ... although I realize that one couldn't really stay a liberal at all and try to understand a broader view.

Rated a big F for FUN! If you have any interest in cars, driving, drinking, stupidity, wit and just a guy that is interesting and has no right to still be alive -- go for it. Highly recommended.

Race Card Fraud

RealClearPolitics - Race Card Fraud

Excellent column by Sowell, just read it.

No Mosque At Ground Zero

 Forget the outrage -- it would be enough for me, but it isn't even 10% of the problem.

A whole lot of being human is about symbolism. Constructing this Mosque is designed to let the Muslim world know that we can be attacked and defeated. It memorialises a great Islamic "success", and shows that we are too decadent, foolish and confused to understand raw power.

This is an ACTUAL terrorist recruitment tool, not a fake one like Gitmo or Abu Girab.

Recruits like to see evidence that they can kick your ass, not that their ass is likely get beaten, locked up, and left to rot -- with a very long dry spell prior to any supposed virgin prospects.

How can we have liberals that go berserk over a Christmas tree but embrace a "religion" that condones the slaughter of those that disagree and the abuse of women in this life and the next -- for "diversity".

 The liberal hatred of America truly trumps all -- there really isn't any other explanation that even remotely makes sense.

Democrat Strategy 2010?

Andrew Alexander - Why the silence from The Post on Black Panther Party story?

Some folks seem to think the Democrats are going to lose big in 2010. I certainly hope they are right, but Democrats have "other options". Just imagine for a moment if this intimidation had been done by a guy in a KKK outfit in some black polling place and he was being given a pass by a Republican administration? What would I think of that? GOOD!!! Voter intimidation is just plain wrong. That ought to be an AMERICAN opinion, not a left or right opinion.

Sadly, we see that not only is the current administration willing to let past intimidation slide, they are also willing to tacitly encourage more of it by lack of enforcement and statements to that effect. Add to that the MSM being willing to soft pedal the story in the extreme, and we have one way to "turn the tide".

Here in MN we find that more felons voted in the last election than Frankens margin of victory -- a story of very close to zero interest to either the MN press, or the election authorities.

Add to this the millions and millions of questionable votes gained by ACORN and other "Community Organizer" groups, and we have a recipe for control of our elections by "other means". The exact methodology espoused by BO's chief mentor, Saul Alinsky.

Santa and Frank

Townhall - Santa and Frank

PJ O'Rourke does a much funnier version of the Democrats being Santa and the Republicans being god, but the effect is about the same. People in general, and especially post "New Deal" Americans love to get stuff under the assumption that "someone else will pay for it". Prior to Reagan, the Republicans always played the particularly bumbling Charlie Brown foil, and their unwillingness to constantly 100% fall on their butts to clean up the Democrats latest drunken spending orgy has brought the nation to what I believe to be beyond recovery -- in an time frame those of us 50 and older are likely to see.

We started scratching the surface of this grave with Teddy Roosevelt, took some big scoops out with Wilson, dug deep and wide with FDR, started lowering the casket with LBJ, shut the lid, folded the flag with Bush (love that bi-partisanship), and now BO is furiously pouring dirt in on the grave of the USA.

Sowell does a good job with the Lucy / Charlie Brown analogy though ... worth a read.

Respect For the Dead

Comparing Obama to Hitler: A Tea Party divided - The Week

A North IA billboard comparing BO to Hitler and Lenin had to be taken down as there were too many complaints of it being unfair to Hitler and Lenin.

Don't Underestimate BO

Charles Krauthammer - Obama's next act

Charles is one of the top minds around these days. A sobering but important article:

I have a warning for Republicans: Don't underestimate Barack Obama.

Consider what he has already achieved. Obamacare alone makes his presidency historic. It has irrevocably changed one-sixth of the economy, put the country inexorably on the road to national health care and, as acknowledged by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus but few others, begun one of the most massive wealth redistributions in U.S. history.

Republican's may do very well in congressional elections, but it is quite likely that the combination of BO and the MSM will turn that to his advantage in 2012. Much of "the worst that could happen" now HAS happened (multi-trillion deficits, health care takeover, pay-offs to unions/other interest groups, anti-business legislation) and America won't recover for decades, if ever.

The vast majority of Reagan's contributions -- quarter century of unprecedented economic growth, end of the USSR, are largely discounted. The Republican congress paid a heavy political  price for controlling the growth of government spending, and Slick Willie received the credit for the short stint of balanced budget due primarily to the .Net bubble.

The model is easy to see -- Hoover is considered the "cause of the depression", although he was just another "Progressive". FDR instituted a muddle of government policies, but the economy never turned around until WWII. Much of the competitive capability of the US has already been destroyed by the "Progressives" in the teens, late 20's, thirties, Johnston sixties, and now the final scoops of dirt are being thrown in on the grave by BO. Our media and academia LOVES "progressives". It might be better called "Progress in the destruction of America".

The once bright and proud "Shining City on a Hill", is essentially already "Canada South", or "Europe West" -- throw in immigration amnesty, and we are sort of "A Fascist Flavored Gangster Socialist State with a hint of Molson, Seal Meat and Salsa thrown in". The American left? They are PROUD to be "Canada South" or "Europe West" -- they found America to be "behind the times, hyper competitive (a bad thing for lefties), poor allocator of wealth (it ought to all be transferred to lefties) and just essentially "unfair". They have fixed all that.

Kill the Eagle -- we need a new national symbol. I'm thinking either "Road Kill" (maybe squashed Bald Eagle would be a good touch), or just a big Uncle Sam Pinata, where Uncle is a Mexican immigrant spewing inflated and useless dollars.

Bathtub Pumps Fail

Townhall - Walter E. Williams - A Failed Obama Hero

As I've said before, putting a pump in a 1/2 full bathtub to pump water from one end to the other is not going to make it run over.

The BushTax Cut Myth

Brian Riedl: The Bush Tax Cuts and the Deficit Myth - WSJ.com

Good summary, the very important part is even shorter -- "It's the Spending, Stupid"

Putting this together, the budget deficit, historically 2.3% of GDP, is projected to leap to 8.3% of GDP by 2020 under current policies. This will result from Washington taxing at 0.2% of GDP above the historical average but spending 6.2% above its historical average.

Franken, The Felon's Choice

FOXNews.com - Felons Voting Illegally May Have Put Franken Over the Top in Minnesota, Study Finds

There is absolutely no excuse for this clown being even CLOSE to having been elected -- but it is only fitting that illegal votes by felons may well have put him over the top. The shame we get to live with for six years and likely longer is proof that MN doesn't deserve to have a political voice!