A man in the arena

A Great Day for America

2010-01-20T03:04:00.001-05:00

It is a great day for America, when I can say that my ancestral home has elected Senator Scott Brown.

Damn the Socialists, Full speed Ahead!

Happy Veteran's Day

2009-11-11T18:21:00.001-05:00

Happy Veteran's Day everyone.

A Comedic Stand on Principal

2009-08-15T20:29:00.002-04:00

Colbert's show may have become far too self-referential to be funny anymore. However, this interview with George Will is the perfect antidote to Leftist thoughts on Conservatism.

V-J Day

2009-08-15T20:17:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was V-J Day. Remember.

The Zombies Must Shut Up

2009-08-14T03:28:00.003-04:00

"I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking, I want them just to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess." - Obama

The "folks" that created this mess were FDR and his administration when they allowed companies to offer health insurance as a benefit under wage and price controls during WWII. Obviously, Obama knows this. What he is doing is obliquely referring to the threat we face from the undead. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Pelosi, Paglia says it is time to go

2009-08-13T05:56:00.002-04:00

Much like when Johnson lost the support of Cronkite, when Pelosi has lost the support of an angry pseudo-Nietzsche-butch-lesbian, she has lost middle America.

repeat then repeat then repeat...

2009-08-13T05:38:00.007-04:00

On ReasonTV, Robert Samuelson describes the last 25 years of prosperity as a time when we forgot that crashes and downturns really do happen. "We lost our sense of risk." That is very similar to Kissinger's explanation of World War I. After a century without a major war the Europeans "lost their sense of the tragic."

Never learning from history, we seemed doomed to always be Santayana's bitch.

half-assing your way to recovery

2009-06-23T20:16:00.005-04:00

The Washington Post has an article (registration required) on the dropping poll numbers on Obama's stimulus plan. This is a shock? The plan is doomed. People are instinctively realizing this fact. I say instinctively, because most people don't study economics. So they don't realize that economic theory states that the plan is doomed.

The well-known theory about macroeconomics is Keynesian. And Keynesian theory states that in the midst of an economic slump, borrowing and spending by the government will revive underused assets, put money in people's hands, and jump-start the economy. Now I don't buy this theory. But even if I did buy it, Obama's plan wouldn't jump-start the economy.

The money has to be spent in order to stimulate the economy. Obama's plan spends most of the money in 2010 and later. Nobody is going to spend, money today because they hope to get a government job in 2011. If Obama was serious most of the stimulus would have been on the military. Expanding government military contracts would have been the quickest way to push money into the economy in 2009. The military knows how to spend money fast. It is not a big surprise that he didn't do that.

Obama is creating a huge deficit to support his environmental and health care goals. You may or may not agree with those goals, but they are not primarily being pursued to stimulate the economy. And people know it.

Game Changer

2009-06-22T21:23:00.003-04:00

We have this mythical idea of the mass uprising. Gandhi "saved" India through peaceful protest. It was peaceful because the British decided not to keep killing Indians. They lost the stomach for colonial rule. Tienanmen Square was a nightmare because the PRC would use force. And guess what: 20 years later the communists still run the country.

Now we should be realistic and accept that the mullahs will be violent and eventually crush the protesters. However, however, if the reports are true and the Commander of the Iranian Revolution Guard Corps has been arrested for refusing to use force against the protesters the game has changed. The end may be near for the theocratic medievalists in Tehran. They mullahs can't use force if they don't control the force. We can only hope.

Ivy League

2009-05-28T20:31:00.002-04:00

Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor's Princeton education keeps being mentioned in the media to prove that she is an intellectual giant. The only two private industries that think an Ivy league degree equates to genius are Wall Street and Journalism. This begins to explain why they are both so successful.

Belgian Whimsy

2009-05-10T05:28:00.000-04:00

Music at the Metro

Best Health Plan Ever

2009-04-30T06:43:00.002-04:00

Billionaire octogenarian Sumner Redstone attributes his good health to "antioxidants, exercise and a shot of vodka a day."

Map O' Doom

2009-04-27T18:20:00.001-04:00

Google has a swine flu map.

What is going on?

2009-04-27T18:01:00.003-04:00

We have a pandemic exploding in Mexico and it is spreading to the US. Why are we not closing the border? Tyler Cowen quotes a study that shows that cities that aggressively reacted to the Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919 had death rates 30% to 50% blower then cities that didn't react aggressively.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano notes that those infected with swine flu may not show symptoms for a few days, so border closure is "a very difficult judgment to make." That is the problem. We can't be sure that the pandemic is spreading because of the delayed symptoms. If we don't close the borders before we are 100% sure the pandemic is spreading, it will be too late.

Her reasoning gets worse. She states that "You would close the border if you thought you could contain the spread of disease, but the disease is already in a number of U.S. states." Correct, and we have some idea of where it is and we can quarantine. By leaving the borders open, the government has no idea where the next break out will be.

Napolitano simply does not believe in closing the border for any purpose. However, this isn't about illegal immigration it is about protecting Americans from a flu pandemic. And she is obviously not approaching the problem from a risk management perspective. If this pandemic continues to spread from Mexico to the US and is anything like the Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919, history is going to place the responsibility for the deaths of thousands directly on Napolitano and President Obama. And history will be right to do so.

Casual Lying

2009-04-14T21:08:00.004-04:00

The reason why conservatives probably do not spend enough time attempting to refute arguments by Paul Krugman is his casual disregard for the truth. He is a respected Nobel Prize winning economist with a huge influence on the Left. However, as a pundit he says anything, true or not, that helps his political point. Why argue with someone like that? It is pointless.

I've written before about Harvard economist Robert Barro's comments on Krugman the pundit. When Krugman was quoted stating that World War II did not lift the US economy out of the depression, Barro said "He said elsewhere that it was good and that it was what got us out of the depression. He just says whatever is convenient for his political argument." And the Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus pointed out that Krugman wrote about the crisis in Social Security when the Democrats were trying to put it in a "lock box", and then wrote about the myth of any crisis when the Republicans tried to reform it.

Now on This Week Krugman states that "All the news says that the economy is getting worse...all the measures that you use about the health of the economy are continuing to deteriorate." Stephanopoulos points out that durable goods orders and housing sales are rising. Krugman calls these "bits and pieces." But they are not trivial, they are "measures about the health of the economy", and Krugman was lying when he said that "all" the measures were deteriorating.

This is at least part of the reason why he is mostly ignored by people who disagree with him, and lauded by those agree with him. Arguing with someone who will change positions without acknowledging the change and ignores facts is fruitless.

Luck?

2009-04-14T20:21:00.003-04:00

Chris Matthews asks if the "luck" angle of the snipers saving an American citizen is going to be part of the story. We can stipulate that luck is a part of every scenario, without agreeing to the idea that trained snipers did their job excellently because of luck. Matthews is simply someone who never served in the military and does not know anything about military training. It would usually be an insult for someone to talk about luck when highly skilled operators in the US military save a life. However, it is really just pathetic that Matthews is simply so unaware of his own ignorance.

Why game theory is evil.

2009-04-11T11:19:00.002-04:00

This show will eventually get someone killed.

rain

2009-04-11T11:10:00.002-04:00

It is raining in D.C. For whatever reason I think of Robert Frost if it rains or snows.

Oh yes

2009-04-08T23:49:00.003-04:00

Just in case you forgot how awesome the 80s were.

Terminology

2009-04-06T01:46:00.003-04:00

There is a wonderful new terminology floating around the internet. Obama is advocating a new ideology of Corporate Progressivism and the few who are against him are The Resistance.

George W. Bush saved GM and unified big business and the government. Obama continues the trend. Some of us remember. Some of us know that America was once a nation of free people. People whose money was not taken by bureaucrats who get to choose which companies win or lose. There was a better country once.

Bama Humor

2009-04-05T23:49:00.002-04:00

SNL makes fun of Obama. Oh not really. Sort of. At least it is something. However, notice that every skit on Obama manages to layout all of the administration's talking points.

Coordinate my ass

2009-04-05T23:42:00.002-04:00

I have heard enough from Obama when it comes to the need for international coordination in the face of the financial collapse. He already signed into law the US stimulus without talking to any other nation's leader. We can't coordinate anything! We already did it! Coordination just means "do what we did". What an arrogant bastard.

the value of freedom

2009-03-15T03:12:00.003-04:00

President Bush pardoned John Forte when he was 7 years into a 14 year sentence. It was a good call.

thoughts I never thought I would have

2009-03-07T19:40:00.004-05:00

Electing Barack Obama as President during a financial crisis is like seeing that your house is on fire and then handing the fire extinguisher to your three year old.

Sweet baby Jesus, I wish Mitt Romney was President!

Words I would like to hear....

2009-03-06T08:26:00.001-05:00

"President Coburn"

Left-Wing Obama Worshipping Hippies

2009-03-05T20:47:00.003-05:00

There is nothing I can say about the type of person who carries a cloth bag to the grocery store and refuses to use the plastic bags for their vegetables that George Carlin didn't already say.

Awesomeness

2009-03-05T20:42:00.001-05:00

Pure Awesomeness

Doom and Gloom

2009-03-05T20:07:00.002-05:00

"So we've got a man now who says he is in favor of protectionism and taxing capital. If that happens, Mr. Stevens, its all over."

Jim Rogers on Barack Obama

Sleepytime

2009-02-25T05:15:00.001-05:00

I could have watched Obama last night or gone to bed two hours early. A full nights sleep is a good thing.

A New Hope

2009-02-22T17:10:00.001-05:00

According to Uncommon Knowledge, Tom Wolfe is writing another novel.

There is hope for the Republic!

Save the whales!

2009-02-22T14:04:00.003-05:00

What the hell does this discussion mean? If Obama says that "cutting benefits is not the right answer; and that raising the retirement age is not the best option" to save Social Security how is he going to change anything? Oh, well he could raise taxes. Or just do whatever he wants, nobody seems to care that his campaign promises were a sham.

Obama on Meet the Press:

Q: You said earlier this year that everything should be on the table for Social Security, including looking at raising retirement age, indexing benefits, and then suddenly you said, "I'm taking them off the table."

A: That's not what I said. I said I will convene a meeting as president where we discuss all of the options that are available. I believe that cutting benefits is not the right answer; and that raising the retirement age is not the best option, particularly when we've got people who are still in manufacturing.

Q: But in May you said they would be on the table.

A: Well, I am going to be listening to any ideas that are presented, but I think that the best way to approach this is to adjust the cap on the payroll tax so that people like myself are paying a little bit more and the people who are in need are protected. That is the option that I will be pushing forward.

Q: But the other options would be on the table?

A: Well, I will listen to all arguments and the best options.

Source: Meet the Press: 2007 "Meet the Candidates" series Nov 11, 2007

Live by the sword

2009-02-22T13:44:00.003-05:00

For eight years George W. Bush led this nation with a compassionate conservative agenda. This meant expanding Medicare, giving the ultimate control of public schools to the federal government, and spreading democracy through out the world. The premise was that a limited activist government could be used to achieve conservative goals. This premise is wrong.

Now in the midst of a massive credit crunch and recession there is no argument against government action. If government could be used in a boom to help people why could it not be used in a recession to help people? The Republican party has disemboweled itself by supporting compassionate conservatism.

This has left us with the Obama agenda. Obama and Pelosi have not attempted to hide the fact that the "stimulus" is an attempt to remake the citizen's relationship to government. This power grab is built on Obama's historic election. A historic election that gave him 53% of the vote. The other 47% of America have no one to defend them, because we all love the federal government now.

It is an old story. We thought power was great when it was used for our agenda. And we forgot that someday someone else would have that power.

Tell me something I don't know

2009-02-15T11:20:00.001-05:00

Every week Chris Matthews asks his guests to tell him something he doesn't know. Why does that part of the program not last for hours?

Talking Twits

2009-02-15T10:25:00.002-05:00

This morning on Meet the Press, Obama political advisor David Axelrod had much to say about the economic stimulus. He may be a great political advisor, but he does not have a background in economics. Why do we care what he has to say?

I am not saying that you need a PhD in Economics to be a talking head. However, I have a B.S. in economics and I can tell that most of these talking heads are economically clueless. Why are we not hearing from the likes of Martin Feldstein, Brad Delong, and Robert Barro? These guys would disagree on the stimulus. However, at least they would give Americans real analysis and would not repeat brainless political talking points.

Rational Expectations rears it's ugly head

2009-02-15T10:13:00.004-05:00

A friend of mine, who is the founder of his own successful company, might be the canary in the coal mine. Although his business is doing well, he told me that he and his wife are changing their spending habits and saving more. They are worried about the economy and they are looking at the stimulus and expect that in the future their taxes are going up.

This is rational expectations at it's most basic. The Government spends more money to stimulate the economy. The consumer looks at the economic future, knows his taxes will be raised, and makes a rational decision to spend less. The drop in spending counteracts the government's increase in spending. The economy is not stimulated.

This scares me.

Hell Yeah!

2009-02-12T20:18:00.004-05:00

Gregg is out! The Senate keeps a Republican and Obama loses a Secretary of Commerce!

“However, it has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me."

Irresolvable conflicts! Damn straight! The first one might be the biggest spending binge in US history. A binge not designed to stimulate the economy but to enshrine liberal goals for generations.

Dissent?

2009-02-11T07:16:00.005-05:00

"Am I going to just get ripped to pieces because the stuff I disagree on with an unpopular President is the same stuff I disagree on with a popular President? I don't know."

Penn Jillette

Are you changed?

2009-02-10T20:23:00.000-05:00

Reason.tv asks Obama supporters if they are the change they have been waiting for. Even the Asian chicks respond in a perfectly retarded fashion. Reason miraculously went into a crowd and found two Asians on the wrong side of the Bell Curve.

Hat Tip: Instapundit.

Realists in agreement!

2009-02-10T20:14:00.001-05:00

David Ignatius is one of the best writers on the Washington Post Op-Ed page. While that is faint praise, he is worth reading. His column on Iran this week and who Obama should ask to lead the approach on Iran and the nuclear question is excellent.

Although talking to Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft to find out if a Republican and a Democrat can agree on foreign policy is a little silly. There isn't a Republican/Democrat divide in foreign policy; there is a realist/idealist divide. Zbigniew and Scowcroft are both realists. It is not exactly shocking that they agree.

P.S. And I might go with George Carlin regarding someone named Brent.

Barack "Straw Man" Obama

2009-02-10T06:16:00.000-05:00

In his press conference last night, Obama referred to people who think that tax cuts alone can save the economy. Who is he talking about? Not the Republicans in congress who proposed a tax cut and spending bill. Politics as usual is when you ignore your opponents' ideas and then claim they are unreasonable. Obama is just ending politics as usual by ignoring his opponents' ideas and claiming they are unreasonable.

P.S. Will Helen Thomas just die already?

My Man Ron Paul

2009-02-09T00:27:00.000-05:00

Ron Paul is right. The Senate is caving. What a bunch of nancies.

Camelot fades

2009-02-09T00:08:00.000-05:00

The Weekly Standard has a nice take on Caroline Kennedy's political implosion. I would add that one reason why Caroline thought she would have been given the Senate seat on a silver platter is Hillary Clinton.

Clinton had an incredibly easy time with the press in 2000. As Chris Matthews admitted the consensus seems to have been that Hillary deserved a Senate seat because her husband got a hummer from a chubby chick. Caroline's father and uncle were assassinated while serving this country. Is it unfair to expect that Caroline would get as much sympathy from the press as did someone who was so phenomenally stupid that she was surprised that Bill Clinton was an adulterer?

About time

2009-02-06T06:17:00.000-05:00

Paul Krugman won the Nobel prize in economics this year. Fair enough, but I always thought that his political and economic commentary is full of straw man arguments and personal attacks. He doesn't seem to understand the arguments of anyone who disagrees with him. Obviously, they must not disagree with him because he is obviously right, so they are sneaky and evil. I have been waiting for a long time for someone to say what Harvard economist Robert Barro just said:

"He said elsewhere that it was good and that it was what got us out of the depression. He just says whatever is convenient for his political argument. He doesn't behave like an economist. And the guy has never done any work in Keynesian macroeconomics, which I actually did. He has never even done any work on that. His work is in trade stuff. He did excellent work, but it has nothing to do with what he's writing about."

Is Wal-Mart Evil?

2009-02-03T11:02:00.000-05:00

I didn't think so.

Ward 3's rules

2009-02-03T10:23:00.000-05:00

David Brooks has a great piece on how social mores for rich people across the country are now going to be determined by Ward 3 residents in Northwest DC. Those are the people who essentially run DC (Obviously I live in Ward 2). Rich person, do you want to buy a private plane for your company? Sorry, no. The Ward 3 consensus is that the private plane is excessive. And you can't do anything about it because you took bailout money and the Feds have you by the balls.

Brooks may be right, this could reverberate across society.

Why Does Everyone Hate New Jersey?

2009-02-03T10:08:00.000-05:00

Proof that SNL can mock politics and still be funny.

Hat Tip: Hot Air

Good Government in the era of The One

2009-02-01T10:53:00.000-05:00

Brownie and FEMA are once again doing a heck of a job handling a massive crisis. One week after an ice storm devastated Kentucky, 536,000 homes have no power in the middle of the winter. And dozens of people are dead so far. It is surprising that the media isn't covering this everyday.

Oh yeah! Bush doesn't run FEMA anymore. Obama runs FEMA. No story here. Move along, move along.

Silly Americans, National Security is a Republican Issue

2009-02-01T01:03:00.000-05:00

Obama is cutting the Department of Defense 2010 budget request by more then 10%. This is not the only cut in National Security funding Obama has made. It is just the only cut that has gone public.

When Obama won the election I told friends that he wouldn't be stupid enough to cut Intelligence and Defense spending. If Obama did cut the spending and then another terrorist attack happened, he would be directly blamed for the deaths of Americans. I was obviously wrong. I guess Obama assumes that his entire time in office will be praised by the media no matter what he does. And he is probably right.

Update: During the campaign Obama's website said that "Obama and Biden will complete the effort to increase our ground forces by 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines. " And he set the following three goals: 1. Barack Obama will rebuild the military for 21st century tasks; 2. Restore the readiness of the National Guard and Reserves; 3. Engage our allies in meeting our common security challenges. Good luck rebuilding without any money. Does Obama need to take an accounting class?

Propaganda

2009-02-01T00:48:00.000-05:00

If CNN sells a shirt that says "Obama raises hand, lifts a nation", then they have shifted completely from a news organization to a propaganda machine. We all know this. At this point it feels tedious to point it out.

The One and his Stimulus Walk on Water

2009-02-01T00:33:00.000-05:00

Saturday Night Live just got through Weekend Update without a single reference to Obama or the stimulus package. This is a stimulus with millions for family planning that Speaker Pelosi says will stimulate the economy: "contraception will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."

SNL couldn't find a way to mock the idea that an upsurge in condom sales will save us from a depression?

The Truth is Worse Then Fiction

2009-01-29T08:06:00.000-05:00

"For the moment, all is peaceful and quiet. The political class, which loves the unitary European state precisely because it so completely escapes democratic or any other oversight (let alone control), and for whom it acts as a giant pension fund, holds the upper hand for now. But tensions and frustrations in Europe have a history of expressing themselves in nasty ways."

Theodore Dalrymple

Stand-up Economics

2009-01-26T21:51:00.001-05:00

At the start of a depression, we should still laugh at economics.

econothoughts

2009-01-26T21:25:00.000-05:00

I do not know what can turn the economy around, if it is possible to be turned around, or if it needs government intervention to turn it around. I do remember studying economics in the 1990s, and the ideas behind a fiscal stimulus from government spending were pretty much dead. Professor Mankiw at Harvard has a list of economists that are reminding us that a fiscal stimulus most likely will fail.

Skeptics of the stimulus might be wrong, but we are not cranks. Not when the list includes Robert Barro and Nobel prize winners Robert Lucas and Gary Becker. I have definitely been in worse company before.

Stimulus for what?

2009-01-26T02:36:00.000-05:00

When I read comments like these I start wondering if we need a new website: FuckTheStimulus.com.

STEPHANOPOULOS: We also heard from Congressman Boehner coming out of the meeting today that again a lot of that spending doesn't even meet the same test you just talked about right now. Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services. How is that stimulus?

PELOSI: Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So no apologies for that?

PELOSI: No apologies. No. we have to deal with the consequences of the downturn in our economy.

I used to like myths

2007-12-27T22:50:00.000-05:00

Myths used to be cool. Viking Gods slaughtered at the end of the world, Greek Gods sleeping with their sisters, etc. However, modern mythology is more stomach turning.

The first myth of modern politics is that Hillary Clinton is the experienced Democratic candidate. Joe Biden is the experienced Democratic candidate. Hillary Clinton is the junior Senator from New York with zero legislative accomplishments. Well, not zero if you count pork.

She claims to be experienced because of her time as First Lady. However, if anyone asks about her time in the White House she states that she has a policy against talking about the advice she gave her husband. What the hell. “I am a seasoned politician who has lived on the world stage …uhmm but don’t ask me about it.” Arrogance without accountability; Hillary Clinton is a class act.

Hillary cares about national security, no really...

2007-12-26T11:03:00.000-05:00

I believe the New York Times just dropped a bombshell and no one heard it explode. The article “Clinton’s Résumé Factor: Those 8 Years as First Lady” is turning heads because it implies that Hillary had a minor role in the Clinton Administrations foreign policy. That is not the important part of this article. The important part of the article is that Clinton admits to violating national security.

The Times writes that Hillary did not have a security clearance while acting as First Lady. Yet she “was briefed on classified intelligence before going on some important diplomatic trips.” That by itself is illegal and is a violation of national security.

Furthermore, when asked if she read the highly classified President’s Daily Brief, which the Times describes as “a rundown of the latest intelligence and threats to national security provided to the president each day”, Hillary said “I would put that in the category of I-never-talk-about-what-I-talk-to-my-husband-about.” Another way to look at this is when asked were you illegally given access to classified information she refused to answer.

It would be one thing if the issue were that Hillary discussed classified information with her husband. That would be illegal but few people will get angry over a husband talking to his wife about work. This is not what happened. Hillary was “briefed” on classified intelligence. And Hillary would not answer if she had regular access to classified information.

This is another example of the Clintons’ standard operating procedures. Laws apply to other people not to the Clintons. In this case were not talking about illegal loans, perjury, improperly firing career civil servants, or even taking campaign money from the Chinese. This is far more serious. This is Sandy-Burger-stealing-classified-documents serious. In this instance, the laws that only apply to other people are there to protect the lives of the men and women of the armed forces and the intelligence community.

Someone should ask Hillary how much illegal access did she have? More importantly someone should ask her if, as President, would she illegally give classified intelligence to people who do not have security clearances?

The Argument may be Ending

2007-11-29T21:05:00.000-05:00

Rep Murtha thinks the Surge is working.

The debate may be over. Murtha is a Left wing pork-hog who is also a retired Marine Officer. If this obstinate poll cannot argue against the surge, then McCain, Petraeus, and Bush were right.

French Police Spokesman on Muslim Riots

2007-11-28T20:04:00.000-05:00

“This is a real guerrilla war,” Mr. Ribeiro told RTL radio, warning that the police, who have struggled to avoid excessive force, will not be fired upon indefinitely without responding.

How many times do you have to shoot a French cop before he responds? The world may never know.

excellent

2007-11-28T19:05:00.000-05:00

"We have allowed our nation to be overtaxed, and over regulated, and overrun by bureaucrats. The Founders would be ashamed of us for what we're putting up with."

Ron Paul

The necessary endorsement

2007-11-28T19:01:00.000-05:00

"Don't forget my Man, Ron Paul."

George F. Will

definitions

2007-11-11T12:28:00.000-05:00

A swing voter is someone who is clueless, apathetic, and every four years determines the fate of the free world.

Political Predictions made on Sunday morning after a third glass of whiskey at 11am on November 11th, 2007

2007-11-11T11:02:00.000-05:00

McCain beats Hillary in 2008.

The war is shifting. No one seems to be talking about it, but US deaths, Iraqi deaths, and insurgent attacks started dropping in August and are still dropping. Iraq is stabilizing. Hillary has been triangulating since 2003. McCain has been calling for more troops since 2003. Who was right? And if you are running in 2008 and there is a stable Iraq would you rather have Hillary Clinton's record or John McCain's record?

What really drives me nuts

2007-11-11T10:27:00.001-05:00

What really drives me nuts is that Hillary gets a pass on everything by her supporters. If you say she has no experience they say she was a co-president. If you then point out the mistakes and indiscretions in the Clinton White House they say it was Bill's fault.

She voted for a resolution condemning Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group thereby giving Bush the legal ability to strike Iran. Her defense has been that we need sanctions to stop Iran's nuclear capability. What drives me absolutely bonkers is that no one calls her on this. That was NOT the vote! Using sanctions to stop nuclear proliferation may be a good idea but it had nothing to do with this vote. This is Hillary once again trying to play both sides of an issue. She is not weak on terrorism but if Bush strikes Iran that is not what she voted for. And she will get a pass by her fans because this is a historic election and she is the most charismatic android to ever run for President or whatever.

Now her campaign aides are getting called out for planting questions in the "town hall" meetings she is holding in Iowa. And I can already hear my friends telling me "Everybody does it." and "Is this a big deal?" This is the B.F. Skinner operant conditioning of the 2008 election.

Long Live the King!

2007-11-11T10:24:00.000-05:00

King Juan Carlos tells Chavez to shut up.

Standards and the New York Times

2007-11-11T10:18:00.000-05:00

The NYTimes is very upset that Michael Mukasey has been confirmed by the Senate as our new Attorney General. They claim that these questions were not asked:

"Was the nominee truly qualified, with a professional background worthy of the job? Would he discharge his duties fairly and honorably, upholding his oath to protect the Constitution? Even though she answers to the president, would the nominee represent all Americans? Would he or she respect the power of Congress to supervise the executive branch, and the power of the courts to enforce the rule of law?"

That is an interesting standard. Can anyone tell me which question Robert Bork failed? He must have failed one of them because before George W. Bush we didn't have partisanship in the nomination process. Everybody knows that.

Socialism Light

2007-05-29T21:46:00.000-04:00

Hillary Rodham Clinton:

"I prefer a 'we're all in it together' society," she said. "I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none."

1. She only used the word "opportunity" because Reagan forced this word into the politician's lexicon. If Hillary dropped the word, then Americans would immediately know that she believes that they are all failures without government intervention.

2. "I prefer a 'we're all in it together' society," Funny peculiar. I prefer a "let everybody live their own lives society." And if my old friend doubles my salary by becoming a businessman, God bless him. Before you tax his success away, wait until the Christmas party so that I can toast his drive, intelligence, and decency.

Hope?

2007-05-29T21:39:00.000-04:00

I cannot claim that the surge is working. I cannot claim that areas of Iraq are being stabilized. I can only hope that in September, General Petraeus reports that the tide has turned.

"In addition to basic services being restored, the city of Hit has rebuilt its library. Citizens had stored away the books during the war here. They are preparing to re-stock the library."

Affleck gets off a ripper

2007-05-27T18:27:00.000-04:00

Bill Maher, PJ O’Rourke, and Ben Affleck discussing Massachusetts:

Bill Maher- “America was started in Massachusetts. Massachusetts, Philadelphia, and Virginia. And these guys want to pretend it started in Kansas.”

Ben Affleck- “I know. And then Mike Dukakis got in a tank and then everyone hated us.”

Yes the immigration bill sucks, so sayeth The Sage

2007-05-27T09:23:00.000-04:00

Fred!

Welcome to Reality

2007-05-27T09:06:00.000-04:00

Somebody is getting rich and its not you.

Run Fred Run!

2007-05-20T17:39:00.001-04:00

Afte Michael Moore challenged him to a debate about America and Cuba's healthcare systems, this was Fred Thompson's reply.

The Bull Moose Lives!

2007-04-26T22:42:00.001-04:00

Much of the political talk about McCain is missing the point and is misguided. "McCain will lose because of the war." "McCain has ruined his chance." "McCain is no longer a maverick."

McCain is more of a maverick than anyone else running. With a Democratic Congress, a weak President, and the polls decisively against the war, McCain still stands by it. McCain has always called for more troops, and now that they are going into Iraq he is not backing off. If America wants a maverick here he is.

More importantly the commentators still think this is a horse race. To McCain this is a final crusade. He believes in his ideas. He knows that a collapsed Iraq will create a tremendous nightmare. And he is running against the odds to stop that from happening.

His hero, Theodore Roosevelt, went down swinging in 1916. McCain will not give up this fight.

By the Way

2007-04-26T22:41:00.000-04:00

Watch McCain on Jon Stewart’s Show. I would follow that bastard through the gates of hell.

A Few Thoughts

2007-04-11T21:57:00.000-04:00

A few thoughts on the mean-spirited things Don Imus said about the Rutgers women’s Basketball team:

That’s game. It’s over. Imus is a racist? Because he called the women of the Rutgers basketball team a name? Who gives a fuck. That is not the story.

Some cranky old guy calls you a “nappy-haired ho” and it scars you for life? The trauma is devastating to your fragile self-esteem? These are grown fucking women, who are college educated, and tough enough to make it to the NCAA Final Four. And two words from the least funny son-of-a-bitch in politics ruins their day? What kind of namby-pamby bullshit is that?

Are you fucking kidding me? I’ve said meaner things about my Mom and she laughed.

Are you fucking kidding me?!? That is not a rhetorical question. Somebody tell me this is some elaborate joke and that at next year’s MTV Music Awards Imus and the whiners are going to jump on stage and do a wonderfully choreographed version of “Putting on the Ritz.”

And who defends Imus? Rosie O’Donnell. Yes, Rosie this is a free speech issue. Because that whole “Congress shall pass no law” thing in the First Amendment was a typo. It had nothing to do with Congress, it was all about entertainers. James Madison really meant to write “if you say something retarded other people are required to pay for it.” If Paris Hilton had a talk show, no sense of humor, and a thyroid problem she would be Rosie’s twin. We are not talking about brilliant commentary here.

Damn, I need a drink. But I have four empty bottles of whiskey in my apartment and no money.

Nietzsche again?

2007-01-28T23:12:00.000-05:00

I recently finished rereading Nietzsche’s “Twilight of the Idols”. This was the first book of philosophy I ever read. And it will be the last for the time being. Every few years I go back to reading Philosophy. However, Nietzsche's brilliant observations no longer mask his flaws. Thankfully.

The moral dilemma of political action.

2007-01-21T16:39:00.000-05:00

It is widely believed that the President’s plan to surge troops into Baghdad will fail. Congress, while controlling the power of the purse, can still do nothing to stop this action. However, it does have two possible choices. First, it could de-fund the war. This would cause the President to evacuate Iraq within say six months. Alternatively, it could pass a non-binding resolution. It seems the Democratic leadership has decided on the latter option.

The political problem is that the Democrats have neither the votes nor the courage to de-fund our troops in combat. They fear the accusation “unpatriotic.” So they will not risk a substantive action. Instead they will pass a resolution condemning the President’s action.

So instead of trying to stop the war, they will announce that the war is wrong. Instead of trying to bring troops home, they will announce that the troops are doomed to fail. This is patriotic?

If the Democrats believe the war is lost and that the surge is foolhardy they should, out of moral obligation, try and de-fund the war. A resolution is a cowardly move that is detrimental to our Soldiers in the desert.

Winter

2007-01-21T16:35:00.000-05:00

A cold wind. Snow on the roofs of old buildings. A warm bar and the Patriots in the playoffs.

I am Shocked, Shocked!

2007-01-12T20:51:00.001-05:00

The Superficial claims that Jessica Alba’s butt looks terrible. He is lying. Why would he lie? He lied just so he could link to a picture of Jessica Alba’s butt. It was so reprehensible that I needed to link to the evidence. Only as proof of The Superficial’s diabolical nature, of course.

Outlooks: The Pessimist and the Optimist

2007-01-12T20:27:00.001-05:00

To put it simply, the difference between Schopenhauer and Nietzsche is between pessimism and optimism. Schopenhauer sees man driven by a will to life that causes suffering and must be denied. Nietzsche sees man driven by a will to power that brings greatness and must be affirmed. The choice in life is between a turning away or an embrace.

Strategic Reasoning

2007-01-12T20:11:00.000-05:00

What has Bush given us? A strategy made by committee, the very worst kind.

“We need 50,000 troops to pacify Baghdad.”

“But we need the Iraqis to be in on it, or the Dems will never buy off on the plan.”

“Ok, then we’ll get 5 Iraqi brigades.”

“But the Iraqis won’t fight the Shia militias. We have to stop those.”

“Then 5 brigades of Iraqis and 50,000 US troops.”

“Yeah, well the President’s poll numbers are so low he’ll face a rebellion if he activates the Reserves.”

“So we don’t have 50,000 troops?”

“Nope.”

“OK, then how about we don’t let anyone leave Iraq and when the replacements come for the soldiers who are there we can call it a surge.”

“Brilliant”

Strategic reasoning.

Liberal Moral Logic

2007-01-12T20:10:00.000-05:00

“Iraq is not worth one more soldier’s life.”

“Then what is worth one soldier’s life?

Only a pacifist could answer this question with clarity. The question is demanded by the statement. And the question is absurd, as is the statement.

A Public Service

2006-11-28T22:22:00.000-05:00

I only have a few rare British readers but I thought I should post a link to this blog.

Thoughts on Milton Friedman

2006-11-20T02:05:00.000-05:00

Milton Friedman was the most articulate and important intellectual defender of freedom in the 20^th Century. Period. Others were quite good. He was better.

The difference between obituaries for Friedman is defined by a single word: Chile. If the article mentions his trip to Chile in the 1970’s to lecture on economics as “controversial”, the reader would do well to stop reading and move on to the sports section.

I read “Capitalism and Freedom” in 1995. I have never really been the same since.

John Kenneth Galbraith has been mentioned in most of the articles. This is a good thing. Not only were they good friends, and that speaks well of both of them, but they were the archetypes of two different political and economic philosophies. However, the papers always neglect to mention that Galbraith’s influence on the science of economics has been reduced to zero, and the descendants of Friedman dominate.

In college, my Libertarian friend and I always referred to Friedman as Uncle Milty. We disagreed on much but not on our favorite intellectual relative.

Friedman visited Chile to lecture on economics and was attacked by the Left as supporting the dictator Pinochet. Then he visited Communist China and heard only silence. This said more about his Leftist critics then it ever did about Friedman.

If we had appointed Friedman Dictator for Life he would have implemented a flat tax, drug legalization, school choice, and a negative income tax instead of welfare. Then he would have resigned.

Economics is complex, but one idea is simple. Inflation only happens when the government prints too much money (Friedman’s first point).

The Right has forgotten a simple debating tactic: smile. Friedman’s good nature never hurt his cause.

In front of a hostile 1960’s college audience, Friedman’s debate opponent sarcastically read Friedman’s policy proscriptions out loud. There was much laughter until he stated that Friedman wanted the draft eliminated. The crowd was Friedman’s from that point forward.

Friedman was an economic advisor to President Nixon. After Nixon declared wage and price controls, he stopped speaking to Friedman. The President did not want to be lectured on elementary economics by the Professor.

Friedman, Galbraith, and William F. Buckley were all fierce partisans of their political views. They were also avid skiers and good friends. Try to imagine Anne Coulter and Michael Moore on a ski lift together.

To Hell with Texas

2006-11-08T03:01:00.000-05:00

Kinky Friedman has lost.

Duty

2006-11-08T02:28:00.000-05:00

I have done my civic duty and voted. This was my take on the election.

A Conservative’s Dilemma

The Right wing punditry is buzzing with a plea: please vote. The well founded fear that motivates this plea is that conservatives are so disenchanted by the current Republican Party that they will not vote for anyone in November and give the Democrats their de facto support.

National Review’s blog, The Corner, has become an electronic billboard for the Republican Party. And the usually bombastic Michelle Malkin has recanted her previous position and now advocates voting for the incumbents.

In the DC Examiner Jay Ambrose has argued that one should vote for Republicans for congress because “The Democrats, by and large, are far worse.” Congressional careerists may reason that if their political positions are dependent on a lesser of two evils argument it may be time to consider alternative employment.

Ambrose has summed up the pro argument for a Republican Congress: what would a Democratic majority in congress accomplish? The majority would attempt to erase part of, if not all of, the Bush tax cuts. A bill for nationalized health care may also be passed. It can be reasonably assumed that any of these events would cause the phantom veto of President Bush to finally manifest itself.

The con argument is a question: What conservative position is furthered by voting Republican in the current election? This question demands a positive answer. In order to compel support from the electorate, the position should be articulated that a Republican congress will actually do something conservative.

Would a Republican Congress reform the US tax code? The last tax cut may have reduced taxes on all Americans however it also added more complexity to the already incoherent mess that is US progressive taxation.

Could we plausibly expect that a Republican Congress will implement any conservative political goals such as Congressional term limits, a balanced budget, real tax reform, expanded free trade, or some kind of realistic foreign policy? Well none of this has occurred in the last six years, the expectation that it will in the next 2 years is a strange instance of the triumph of hope over experience.

In the next two years a Republican Congress will in all likelihood elicit cheers from a single section of the conservative big tent. Votes against embryonic stem cell research and for Constitutional amendments prohibiting gay marriage and flag burning would be assured. This will excite the minority of the electorate that make up the entirety of the President’s anemic approval rating.

Perhaps the solution to the conservative’s dilemma is to plagiarize the late great liberal congressman Tip O’Neill and state that all politics is local. If one believes that Michael Steele would be an excellent Senator then by all means vote. However, ambivalence regarding Senator Allen’s campaign against Jim Webb should not be remedy by references to the supposed necessity of a Republican Congress.

That will not satisfy the Republican partisans however it may satisfy what was once styled the conscious of a conservative.

I no longer have a sense of shame.

2006-10-29T22:40:00.000-05:00

I must admit that I love this trailer.

A Change?

2006-10-29T22:22:00.000-05:00

There are three people I would like to see in the next Senate: James Webb, Harold Ford, and Michael Steele. Two Democrats, one Republican: am I getting soft in my old age?

Freedom and Order?

2006-10-22T21:31:00.000-04:00

Judicial independence is an oxymoron of dubious value. What is a judge independent of? Politics? The People? Fine, that independence is all well and good as long as the judge is dependent on the text of the constitution and the law. And our judicial system hasn’t bothered with the actual written law for a very long time.

Wouldn’t it be nice…

2006-10-22T21:26:00.000-04:00

Wouldn’t it be nice if people just dropped the word Neo-con from their vocabulary? It is a word used by people who don’t know what it means and don’t have the intellectual depth to understand what it means.

The Neo-cons were the Left’s idealistic anti-communists of the sixties and seventies. They (Irving Kristol, Bill Kristol, Daniel Patrick Moynihan etc.) demanded that pushing democracy on the world and emphasizing human rights should be the centerpieces of US foreign policy. And the simple fact is that the Neo-Cons supported all of Clinton’s interventions (Bosnia, Kosovo, etc.). And somehow no one on the Left complained.

The real question that should be answered is should the United States use military force to push a democratic and human rights agenda? That is the important debate that is not happening.

We have done it before. We have gone to war for idealistic reasons and without UN approval. Lucky for us we fought it from 20,000 feet and it was for us relatively bloodless. Iraq has been a messy. However the agenda is the same. If you supported the Kosovo intervention then you can still disagree with the tactics used in Iraq, but you cannot coherently disagree with the strategy.

P.S. Interestingly the best critiques of neo-conservatism have come from the right and are a few decades old. Russell Kirk was not a fan.

This cannot be true.

2006-10-22T21:23:00.000-04:00

This has not hit the mainstream media yet, so its authenticity is unknown. It is being reported that an internal KGB memo from the early eighties describes Senator Ted Kennedy’s overtures to the Soviet Union. Specifically the memo describes a possible political deal between Kennedy and Prime Minister Yuri Andropov to improve the

USSR

’s image and weaken the Reagan Presidency.

Wouldn’t that be treason?

Tonight

2006-09-24T22:37:00.000-04:00

I am too damn tired to blog. I am going to have a scotch and read some Schopenhauer.

Milton Friedman on Everything

2006-09-20T21:31:00.000-04:00

This video is an elegant defense of that unusual human condition called freedom.

So Helpful

2006-09-12T22:40:00.000-04:00

CNN Headline:

Air Force chief: Test weapons on testy U.S. mobs

Actual Quote from the Secretary of the Air Force:

"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. "(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press."

The key word is “test.” Exactly where did he say that he would experiment on US citizens? Using non-lethal weapons on US citizens is commonplace so that story would be boring. Add a headline implying that U.S. citizens are guinea pigs and then you got something. You have the outstanding U.S. media proving their value again.

Whither Hope?

2006-09-12T22:06:00.000-04:00

A writer at National Review now believes the President has promised preemption with this quote from his 9-11 speech:

“If we do not defeat these enemies now, we will leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons. We are in a war that will set the course for this new century — and determine the destiny of millions across the world.”

I don’t know what to write. I hope the threat is a bluff that works and the Iranians back down. This is a war we should not want.

The Iranians will develop nuclear weapons unless otherwise stopped. Multiple leaders of the Iranian government have claimed that the Israelis should be wiped out. No my dear liberal friend not occupied like the West Bank, annihilated. They also want us destroyed and proclaim that often. Iran also has a large and well trained Army, a rugged terrain more akin to Afghanistan then the flat desert of Iraq. And a world wide terrorist organization, Hezbollah, that we know has infiltrated the U.S.

The U.S. does not have the will to fight the long and bloody war that will involve destroying the Iranian military machine. And I do not know what we should do.

What about you?

2006-09-12T16:48:00.000-04:00

If I was on the jury I would let this gu y off.

Question

2006-09-10T17:46:00.000-04:00

These days is there anyone defending the idea of freedom who has the stature and intelligence of Milton Friedman?

iTunes 25

2006-09-10T17:05:00.000-04:00

I am not sure what this says about me. Here are the top 25 songs that I listen to on iTunes.

1	Disappointed	Public Image Ltd.
2	Go Big	The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
3	Fly	Nick Drake
4	Rise	Public Image Limited
5	Hang On to Your Ego	Frank Black
6	Paradise City	Guns N' Roses
7	Hank Williams Junior-Junior	David Allan Coe
8	No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature	The Guess Who
9	Our House	Madness
10	Magic Carpet Ride	Steppenwolf
11	November Rain	Guns N' Roses
12	Dare to Be Stupid	Weird Al Yankovic
13	Surrender	Cheap Trick
14	Hurt	Johnny Cash
15	Folsom Prison Blues	Johnny Cash
16	I Want You to Want Me (Live)	Cheap Trick
17	Reagan	Robin Williams
18	Party Hard	Andrew W.K.
19	The Fightin' Side of Me	Merle Haggard
20	Here I Go Again	Whitesnake
21	Ready to Die	Andrew W.K.
22	Eve of Destruction	Barry McGuire
23	Amazing Grace	Dropkick Murphys
24	I Want It All (Single)	Queen
25	Dancing With Myself	Billy Idol

Signs

2006-09-10T10:15:00.000-04:00

The penultimate sign of pop cultural ignorance is when you watch a Weird Al polka but don’t know half the songs because they are too new.

The ultimate sign is that he wrote the parody in the 1990s and you still don’t get it.

Replaced

2006-09-09T06:17:00.000-04:00

I have replaced Instapundit with his wife Dr. Helen on my blogroll. This is not only because she is much better looking. It was also caused by the fact that she writes statements such as this:

"What's with all the grown men blubbering in public on all the talk shows? Katrina is certainly a tragedy, but all the crying is not going to help and frankly, it's exploitative and irritating."

Advice

2006-09-06T22:29:00.000-04:00

3 Parts. Just watch it.