WWOD

James Taranto links to this testimony where a convert declares "Obama as my Personal Jesus"

Then I began to realize I wasn't the only one trying to buy a WWOD bracelet and spending my weekends scouring CNN.com. The rock star-type love for Obama wasn't just because he was pretty and in the media. Others too, had seen him as a shining light, heard that mythical voice boom out over the mountaintops; people were wearing the t-shirt because they would rather wear something representing a politician than a pop star. People everywhere, young and old, were caring again. So what's the problem here?

Parody? Perhaps. But Obama praise and worship sessions are already breaking out (but for some reason the video has now been "disappeared"...).

But what would an Obama sabbath school lesson be like?:

Class, I'm going to provide you with ethical dilemmas and you will ask "What Would Obama Do" to help you decide your actions:

- You move to a new town and find a new church. Soon you learn the pastor preaches racist hate and wants God to damn America. What Would Obama Do?

- You're introduced to a neighbor who once tried to kill members of the military, bombed the capital, and advocated children kill their parents. To this day, this "neighbor" is proud of what he did and will even say he didn't do enough? What Would Obama Do?

- You state your campaign will participate in the Federal matching fund program and abide by the limits set. You also challenge your opponent to do the same. Then you see you have an opportunity to collect more money? What Would Obama Do?

- You state you would support a "born alive" bill to save infants accidently delivered during botched abortions, only if the legislation provides the same federal language preventing a roll-back. The legislation before you now has been amended to include such language. What Would Obama Do?

- You hear that some people oppose your views and they are going to the airways and publishing houses to make their opinion known. What Would Obama Do?

- You decide to run for State senator. You find you have an opportunity to eliminate opponents - including the incumbent from the ballot. What Would Obam Do?

Oh my!...class your answers...

Maybe the right question should be: What WILL a President Obama do?

Out of touch by the numbers

This week my 10 year old told me the U.S bought Alaska for $700. When I asked if that figure was more like $7 Million she said nope "$700 - a penny an acre". I ascertain the concept of an acre doesn't hold much meaning for 10 year olds.

Likewise, other numbers shed light on how some understand the world:

Cynthia McKinney uses the number 5000 to show she now exists only to provide comic relief:

I had a woman--in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I had a woman--I have never really said this in public, out loud, in front of a lot of cameras, and there's a lot in this room now. But I had a mother to call me because her son had a very gruesome task. Her son's charge by the Department of Defense was to process 5,000 bodies that had received a single bullet wound to the head, and these were mostly males. And her son was afraid to talk because he had signed a silence agreement, so he only complained to his mother. But the data about these individuals was entered into a Pentagon computer, and then reportedly the bodies were dumped in a swamp in Louisiana. This is as a result of the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina.

According to McKinney, New Orleans is so inconsequential 5,000 citizens can disappear off the face of the earth but no one bothered calling the missing persons department.

Last year Obama let the number 10,000 clue us that he has no feel for natural disasters in the U.S.

We smirk because such statements reveal the speaker has no clue what they are talking about. That's why James Taranto teases McKinney about another of her assertions:

There is a huge hole in the story, though: McKinney merely "suspects" that the 5,000 victims of the single bullet were prisoners. It seems to us they could well have been consenting adults, and the story would have made every bit as much sense.

In the case of Obama's 10,000 dead he made a mistake - but by 3 orders of magnitude. I might be off on how much gas my car's fuel tank holds but I wouldn't spout off 20,000 gallons.

Hence I was intrigued by this related Obama observation:

I noticed this in Obama's books as well, especially the second. He'll often discuss an issue, apparently showing a great range of empathy for both sides and state a real objection, and then he'll ignore that and go on to state his position.

That may work for issues such as his position on abortion, but economics is a matter of hard parameters. Obama doesn't seem able or willing to comprehend that, or do the hard work to assemble any reasonable policy position. I don't think he's able to do this.

The next president - any conceivable president - will have a very hard time of it. Pretty much all the wiggle room is gone. After last night, I literally believe that Obama isn't capable of understanding it. Maybe he's not very bright. Maybe he just dislikes quantitative thinking. But for whatever reason, his current stated policies are an exercise in fantasy.

Next year's priorities need to run along the lines of making sure that poor people in the US have enough to eat. To be babbling about expanding early childhood education?

McCain did not impress me, but he appeared to understand that we have our butts in a tight crack and are going to be facing some very rough circumstances.

Anyone who watched last night's debate and can still consider voting for Obama loses my respect. There's a limit to how far one can defy reality and live. That man is currently outside the parameters of the land of the living. It's probably due to inexperience.

h/t

Rainbow over Francis Peak

Rainbow over Francis Peak after a brief shower. The domed structures are FAA radars.

Wall Lake in the Uintas

Reid's Peak and Bald Mountain

The "Wall" at Wall Lake

View of Wall Lake with Notch Mountain in the background.

The Scarlet "T" of Inexperience

Splengler, whoever he/she is, succinctly sums up the McCain selection of Palin:

The young Alaskan governor, to be sure, hasn't any business running for vice president of the United States with her thin resume. McCain and his people know this perfectly well, and that is precisely why they put her on the ticket. If Palin is unqualified to be vice president, all the less so is Obama qualified to be president.

McCain’s pick couldn’t have highlighted Obama’s inexperience more than if he branded a scarlet "I" on the Chosen one’s forehead.

Ironically, picking a far more experienced executive for VP, such as Mitt Romney, wouldn't have had the same effect to highlight Obama's inadequacy. This is because the media had so far refused to make that living room elephant an issue; they were smart enough to not say anything when the differences were obvious. But then John McCain put out that juicy Palin bait and the liberals and their media compatriots couldn't help themselves. Seeing red meat they were drawn out and trapped long before they knew what happened. Now Mr Obama is forced to tout running a campaign as experience to be president. By that standard Ralph Nadar has more experience than Obama.

"I am a gullible dork"

The left may have hit rock bottom with the "Sarah Palin faked baby birth bit" but don't worry, they're breaking out the pick axes and continuing to dig. Curt at Flopping Aces links to a farcical video purporting to be a 34 year old Todd Palin having a manhood crisis about his wife's election as mayor of Wasilla, AK. Curt also links to a nutroot Rogers Cadenhead, an Alan Colmes source, who swallowed this hook, line, and sinker before he followed-up on his second thoughts and came to the conclusion he was a gullible dork.

The left is so spooked they are literally grasping anything that gives them hope to derail the impact of Sarah Pallin as the Republican VP nominee. The only thing leaving the tracks, however, is any semblence of rational thought the left may have had. McCain's VP choice appears politically shrewd on several levels, but no one could have anticipated the utter unraveling we are witnessing on the left.

The Reverend Made Me Do It

Maybe former DNC Chairman Don Fowler really is sorry for making gleeful comments about a potential devasting hurricane, but his apology makes a case he was sorrier for being caught:

One doesn't anticipate that one's private conversation will be surreptitiously taped by some right-wing nutcase

One does hate to always be guarded, but Fowler also is willing to reveal character flaws when he knows the tapes are running. In private we found he delights in the misfortune of innocents if it furthers his cause. In public, however, we've learned he is a buck passer when he blames a dead man as the genesis for his comments:

Fowler sought to contrast his religious views with those expressed by the late Rev. Falwell before his death.

"I believe in a benevolent God," said Fowler. "I'm a religious person. It was a facetious statement, some might even say satirical, play off of what Falwell said."

Obama Pulls a Page from the Thomas Hearings

Barack Obama and I are only six months apart in age and I figure he, like me, got his first detailed impressions of Senator Joe Biden through the widely aired confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court Justice. Biden was the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee responsible for the farce hearings. I suspect Obama looks at Biden’s experience as a character assasin as an asset.

I recall at one point Biden allowing a committee member to berate Thomas for not keeping an open mind about his accuser, Anita Hill, and her accusations of alleged sexual harassment perpetrated by Thomas. What an asinine comment - of all people, certainly Thomas knew whether the charge was true or false. The rest of us needed an open mind, but as Kathryn Jean Lopez notes – Biden’s was closed for the season.

During the hearings, Juan Williams wrote of the Judiciary’s behind the scenes attempts to smear Thomas. Perhaps Obama wants more of the same from Biden (change anyone?), but I think he will be handicapped in this “You-tube” age. It’s one thing to make bone-headed attacks in pre-Google times, but hard to do in an era of an “army” of fact checkers.

Biden detractors, on the other hand, are going to have a field day. For instance here is Biden on Thomas:

I think that the only reason Clarence Thomas is on the Court is because he is black. I don't believe he could have won had he been white. And the reason is, I think it was a cynical ploy by President Bush.

Couple the above (and Thomas had a resume), with Biden’s Obama is inexperienced declaration that Mark dug up and should we surmise Biden thinks Obama is a cynical ploy by the Democrat Party?

If he had any self respect, the next two months should be hell for Biden. Fortunately for him, he is a Democrat.

Dowd still using a Hand Press?

The "Bush vacations while Rome burns" schtick didn't have much traction seven years ago. Apparently only those stuck setting type in the New York Times missed out on the fact that the President of the U.S. pretty much takes his office on the road. This week Maureen Dowd sounds downright anachronistic as she pulls the typesetting duty in today's internet age:

America’s back in the cold war and W.’s back on vacation...

..He has spent 469 days of his presidency kicking back at his ranch, and 450 days cavorting at Camp David. And there’s still time to mountain-bike through another historic disaster.

I guess Maureen does all her writing on a typewriter chained to a desk in the New York Times building. The rest of us understand the concept of the mobile office. In the words of Rush Limbaugh - "It doesn't matter where here is."

For three years I worked out of my home office. My customers didn't know that and it didn't matter. Now I have a downtown office but I still do some work from home - usually after hours. It is all transparent to my customers and out of state boss. If the New York Times used laptops and cell phones they would know what I mean. And yes, the laptop and phone are with me on vacation - for the occasional urgent matter.

So Dowd might not identify with the capabilities technology affords the President, but the rest of us do.

Crossposted at UNCoRRELATED

Now we know why Europeans don't like Root Beer...

So much for those bumper stickers stating "Nobody's born racist":

Toddlers who say "yuck" when given flavorful foreign food may be exhibiting racist behavior, a British government-sponsored organization says.

The London-based National Children's Bureau released a 366-page guide counseling adults on recognizing racist behavior in young children, The Telegraph reported Monday.

366 page guide? Let Mikey read it.

H/T Small Dead Animals

Crossposted at UNCoRRELATED

Kaysville 4th of July Parade

Power Sweepers

David Stout, New York Times reportatorialist, rues Supreme Court decisions aiding and abetting the

Bush administration’s drive, at least for now, for sweeping executive powers in the post-9/11 world

Those sweeping powers?

...In one case, the court refused to stop the administration from bypassing environmental reviews in building a security fence along the border between the United States and Mexico. In the other, it agreed to hear the administration’s appeal of a lower court decision that, on environmental grounds, restricted the Navy’s use of powerful sonar off the Southern California coast.

Stout has the sweeping powers schtick bass ackwards. The only powers running amok here are those using environmental lawsuits to carry out a sweeping range of the leftist agenda - such as preventing the Navy to search for enemy submarines and preventing the border patrol from stopping illegal alliens.

Crossposted at UNCoRRELATED

It was either clean the garage or go hiking

Baer Canyon Trail overlooking the Great Salt Lake.

It Takes a Village

Whether you like it or not:

A Gatineau judge's bizarre attempt to undermine a father's authority sends a frightening message to all parents: When it comes to raising children, the state knows best.

Madam Justice Suzanne Tessier of the Quebec Superior Court sided with a 12-year-old girl who challenged, in court, her father's decision to ground her.

Doesn't seem like real Canadian courts are better than their "kangaroo" wanna-be's.

Crossposted at Uncorrelated

Time for a Texas CPS raid

From another compound:

As summer vacation begins, 17 girls at Gloucester High School are expecting babies...

...All it took was a few simple questions before nearly half the expecting students, none older than 16, confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED 20 Jun, 2008

The Chicago Way

Want to become a state senator the easy way? Hire a bunch of lawyers to disqualify your opponents' petitions to put their names on the ballot - including the incumbent. Barack Obama, the great community organizer who helped register 100,000 new voters, ensured he ran unopposed in 1996 - that's something Mugabe has failed to do so far. Amazingly, this is a CNN story:



via Flying Debris

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED 18 Jun, 2008

It's the Economically Stupid

The 1992 campaign gave us "It's the economy stupid". In 2008 it's the economically stupid.

Senator McCain wants to punish oil speculators. On the other hand he also wants to bail out other speculators.

Senator Obama wants to tax "windfall" oil profits. If that's good for oil, shouldn't it be good for any commodity?

Suffice it to say I won't be watching any presidential debates centered on the economy.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED 17 Jun, 2008

McCain should have been shot down over Illinois

After following an Instapundit link to gawk at McCain's household credit card debt, I stuck around to compare pension plans:

In addition to his Senate salary, McCain received an annual pension from the U.S. Navy that is worth more than $58,000.

...Obama reported between $50,001 and $100,000 in pensions from his work as an Illinois state legislator

So 20 years in the military, including six as a POW in North Vietnam, gets you $58,000.

But seven and a half years suffering in the Illinois legislature gets you somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000. Maybe that will make up for those missed dinners with the wife.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED 13 Jun, 2008

“This makes it very difficult for the rest of us to do our jobs”

Newsweek columist Eric Alter has his knickers in a bunch after blogger Mayhill Fowler scooped the legacy media on Obama's thoughts of gun-totin', God fearin' country bumpkins and Bill Clinton's opinion of Vanity Fair writers.

"If you don’t have trust, you don’t get good stories. If someone comes along and uses deception to shatter that trust, she has hurt the very cause of a free flow of public information.”

Ironically Fowler gets two pretty "good stories" that Alter implies he would have spiked. I guess "a free flow of public information" means different things between Alter and me. Seems he uses the word "trust" to mean Obama and Clinton should be able to trust a reporter not to report their candid but negative sides (think Alter would consider this rule for President Bush? - yeah right.)

Alter espouses the Eason Jordan style of journalism. Ensure constant access with your subject by only reporting favorable stories. Alter fools himself, however, if he seriously thinks this leads to a "free flow of public information."

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED 11 Jun, 2008

Priorities

Three times a year, Air Force major commanders meet to coordinate priorities. Defense Secretary Gates, however, set the priority at yesterday’s Corona gathering by firing both the Secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force Chief of Staff. Gates stated his actions were “based entirely” on a report critical of the Air Force’s handling of nuclear weapons.

Juxtapose the above story with this one and I can understand Secretary Gates anger:

E-mails reproduced in the report showed that Hornburg’s successor at ACC, now-retired Gen. Ronald E. Keys, told Moseley that ACC could not spare $50 million for a video show at a time when, due to budget contraints, it could only fund 75 percent of its base operating support needs. Keys wrote, "I cannot support burning that kind of money to fix something that isn’t broken when I am not buying fixes to things that are broken." Keys noted that the $50 million could fund many important projects.

ACC – or Air Combat Command – is the command responsible for nuclear bombers.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED 6 Jun, 2008

Al Quada's image falters - except in America

Good to read killer elephants are being named after Osama Bin Laden. No small wonder he is held in disdain in India - they have suffered 10 Jihadist terror attacks killing 81 people this year alone.

But Al Qaeda's image is suffering in Muslim countries too. Deborah Haynes reports of young Iraqis who want to look like American Soldiers:

Elbow or knee pads strapped deliberately to ankles and goggles worn back to front over helmets, some Iraqi soldiers have a unique sense of style. Efforts to mimic their American mentors or simply spruce up and re-enforce their regular army gear result in a variety of different outfits whenever the troops are on patrol. Sejad Mehdi, 21, said that he habitually fixes a pair of goggles to the back of his American helmet – bought at a Baghdad market for 50,000 Iraqi dinar (21 pounds) – because he saw US troops wearing them that way rather than because he uses the mask in his job.

Richard Fernandez dubs this phenomenon the Ray-ban theory of History noting the similarity of Filipinos wearing MacArthur style sunglasses after World War II:

In the years after the Second World War the hot fashion item in war-ravaged Manila were Ray Ban aviator sunglasses. Not because people had any Hellcats to fly, but because everyone wanted to look like a "winner".

While Richard notes "In short, winning against al-Qaeda has been largely achieved by winning", I believe an element of foreign respect is also atributable to the way the American military conduct themselves overall.

Interestingly, Richard, like Anne, see the left replacing their Che Guevara caps with the keffiyeh:

It is significant that some members of the Western elite want to wear a keffiyeh at precisely the time when young Muslim men in Baghdad are saving to buy Wiley-X's

The common denominator underlying opposing style choices, however, appears to be America. One side wants to emulate it, the other wants to scorn it.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED May 31, 2000

Carter fails to lead again

Does Jimmy Carter think superdelegates will ultimately give the nod to Obama or is he just hoping?

"I'm a superdelegate, having been president before, and I think that a lot of us superdelegates will make a decision ... quite rapidly, after the final primary on June 3," Carter told Sky News. "I think at that point it will be time for her to give it up."

So why does superdelegate Carter continue to hedge his bet by not making a commitment now?

Ironically, it was President Carter's landslide loss to Ronald Reagan that resulted in the present Democrat superdelegate system. Gee, is it any wonder the process is flawed when you make superdelegates out of the people you wouldn't want to be your nominee?

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED May 26, 2000

You talk'n about my Momma?

For a guy who ran around with the unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, it doesn't seem particularly smart to remind everyone you're also the terrorist appeasing fool George Bush is talking about. Obama's like the hapless kid in Bill Cosby's high school shop class who put a bullet in the furnance. After it exploded, the shop teacher tried to find out who did it. When no one claimed responsibility, the teacher remarked how such an act looked poorly on the mother of the boy who did it. That's when the perpetrater couldn't help himself defend his momma.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED May 14, 2000

Tough to do from Okinawa

The surge is more than putting more troops on the ground:

"One month ago, the patrols are back, and they are walking, not in Humvees. Different soldiers from the soldiers in the first patrols, but behaving like them – very courteous, very watchful.

"When the patrol knocks on my door, I say, 'Please come in – I would like some lubricant for my pistol.' The patrol leader looks at me with a funny look, then he smiles, then they all come in and drink tea and I draw a map of where the Wahabi are..."

h/t SDA

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED May 14, 2000

Do You Have a Better System?

Edward Cropper located these salient remarks on capitalism from the master economist, Milton Friedman, who points out the term "self-interest" is a better term then "greed". After all, everyone has self-interest, but only "other" people exhibit greed. "The world runs on individuals pursuing their self interest".

This self-interest operates regardless of the capitalist, communist, or socialist society in place, however:

"In the only cases the masses have escaped from the grinding poverty you are talking about - the only cases in recorded history - are where they've had capitalism and largely free trade..."

In a capitalist society, self-interest has a way of producing fair results. My wife's American history professor demonstrated how self interest could lead to equitable results. He provided a student ten one dollar bills and told the student he could divide the money in two piles to split between another student. The second student, however, got to choose which pile to select. The first student invariably would ensure the ten dollars were split evenly.

Obama wants to raise taxes to make them "fair" (whatever that means) - even if the over all revenue to the treasury goes down. Clinton wants to tax "excess" oil company profits - does that mean she is willing to confiscate "excess" profits of other industries with higher margins? These aren't new concepts. There are plenty of examples to see how they don't work. For example unemployed luxury yacht and plane workers can tell you what happens when the self interest of boat and plane buyers kick in.

Where the economic policies of Senators Obama and Clinton depart from capitalism, society will be the worse for it.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED May 8, 2008

Statistical Oddity

If Obama wins the presidency, I'm going to pine for the days when Hillary was first lady.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED May 6, 2008

SUV vs F-16

A friend sent me this photo of the rental SUV attacked by an F-16 in the Utah desert. Wrong target, but as James Edwards would say "That's a good shot though..."

Fortunately the military occupants were not killed, but they were injured while escaping the vehicle. The F-16 fires 20mm rounds. This will make one interesting insurance claim.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 30, 2008

Hillary Goes for Broke

A year ago she was boycotting Fox, but Senator Clinton's face-off with Bill O'Reilly on the O'Reilly factor was a shrewd move for a number of reasons:

1. O'Reilly is no softball pitcher. If you can face him, you pretty much can face anyone. The not so subtle message to the Democrat super delegates is she can face down John McCain and any media onslaught. The other not so subtle message: "Did you see Obama fold during the last debate?"

2. The interview highlights Senator Obama's cowardice to debate her mano el mano, and she did it by taking on someone tougher than Obama. Did I mention his glass jaw at the last debate?

3. Next to Obama, Hillary comes across as a Republican (John McCain variety). O'Reilly, however, comes from the right which frames Hillary as a leftist. Good for the democrat image when you still got democrat primaries to win.

I only saw a few moments of O'Reilly's interview, but in that part Clinton held her own. The supers got to be wondering, can Obama do that?

By the way, this really irks the far left. But then again, if you don't support her she doesn't owe you a thing.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 30, 2008

Fear the Left More

I agree completely with Frank Cagle's column:

At the recent Associated Press convention, presidential candidates showed up to kiss the collective butts of America’s newspaper managers. They promised to enact a federal shield law. This is the Holy Grail of corporate newspaper financial officers everywhere, who really dislike spending money defending the First Amendment.

How will the government know to whom it will grant this federal shield? It will be necessary for the federal government to define “journalists.” It is, in effect, a federal license to practice the First Amendment. Won’t it be a comfort when your license to practice journalism is granted by the likes of John Ashcroft or Alberto Gonzales?

While I don't want any attorney general "licensing" journalists, I would expect a John Ashcroft or Alberto Gonzales to be more restrained than a Janet Reno. For some reason those on the left never seem to consider boogymen other then conservatives even when the vast amount of censorship in this country is conducted by left leaning Universities. One need go no further than our northern border to see where leftist political hate speech codes will take us.

h/t Instapundit

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 24, 2008

If You Can't Win, Beat Em!

My high school hockey team's unofficial motto above fits the temperment of some in Congress who would overturn the Air Force decision to award an air refueling tanker contract to Northrop and the European consortium EADS:

"We're going to try to eliminate the funding," said Washington state Democratic Rep. Norm Dicks, a member of the defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. "We're going to try to make a fight on the funding of this in the regular bill."

The comments were made at an outdoor rally on Capitol Hill attended by union leaders and lawmakers representing Washington and Kansas, where Boeing has a significant presence. Some attendees held signs reading "U.S. Workers -- Protect U.S. Military" and "Tax $$ for U.S.A. -- Not France!"

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 22, 2008

The Difference Between Waiting and Seeking Opportunity

Is this a problem, much less a President's problem?:

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

After all, we'll never lack for small towns where the jobs have gone for years. Or millennia. There will always be remnants of blighted industrys for a campaign backdrop.

Am I heartless? Well, I have put people from small towns in Pennsylvania and New York to work. In Utah.

What's wrong with moving to pursue better opportunities? I've done it, Barack Obama's done it, and so has Hillary Clinton.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 21, 2008

Maybe He was Held Up by a Bitter, Religious, Gunman

Sheldon Alberts searches for Obama's bitter people in Rocky Balboa's old neighborhood, but forgets the Senator's thesis that bitter people are supposed to turn to guns or religion, not Belgian Beer:

When Obama said recently that blue-collar voters are "bitter" and cling to guns and religion for solace, the message resonated for Steve Reeder, 50, a Fishtown college teacher.

Three weeks ago, Reeder was held up at gunpoint near a Kensington 'el' train station.

"I am bitter. I don't go for guns or religion, but I'll go down to a bar and knock down some Belgian beers. That's my form of bitterness," says Reeder.
(emphasis added)

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 21, 2008

As a Matter of Fact...

Don't tell Jesse!

H/T SDA

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 14, 2008

For the Children

Fifteen years ago this month the Federal Government under the auspicies of "saving the children" launched an assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco Texas. 76 people including 21 children died in the ensuing fire set by the Branch Davidians. While I hold the adult men in the compound responsible for those deaths, Janet Reno's claim of being motivated to save the children appeared more an excuse to cover the ineptness of her department.

Fifteen Aprils later, it's the state of Texas making the child rescue claim while seeking sex-offending men. But after 10 days some 419 children are the only people in custody. It appears the same level of ineptness is in play.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 14, 2008

Friendly Fire, not Just for Iraq Anymore

Training on the Utah Test and Training Range got a little dicey as two soldiers were injured by a strafing F-16. Reminded me of the New Jersey School strafed by an F-16 a couple of years ago.

Not to be outdone, the Army is lobbing artillery at homes in New Jersey. Reminded me of the Utah home shelled a couple of years ago.

Code Pink will be calling for troop withdrawals from Utah and New Jersey.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 14, 2008

Obama Spikes Manchurian Jihadi Image

Until a week ago, Clinton staffers could circulate email implying Senator Barack Hussein Obama is a closet Jihadist. Obama, however, sets our minds at ease with this carefully crafted statement projecting how he really feels about those who take religion seriously:

...they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Not really the viewpoint of an Islamic warrior. With luck, Obama may get credit for not actually believing what Jeremiah Wright taught; unfortunately it’s just the Christian parts.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 14, 2008

Nothing to Lose But His Honor

Recalling a deal sealed by your handshake is usually done to demonstrate your honor:

Mike Flagler, says he was hired on a handshake in the 1970s to help produce the events Wal-Mart holds each year for managers and shareholders, including entertainment portions of its annual meeting and important sales meetings. He filmed them as well.

Flagler cites his handshake, however, to prove nothing else stands between him and big bucks:

In recent months, Flagler has opened its trove of some 15,000 Wal-Mart tapes to the outside world, with an eye toward selling clips. The material is proving irresistible to everyone from business historians and documentary filmmakers to plaintiffs lawyers and union organizers.

…The best part, maintains plaintiffs lawyer Gene P. Graham Jr., is that "Wal-Mart has no control over this stuff."

With lawyers circling over 30 years of candid moments, Wal-Mart now stands in the market square with pants wrapped securely around the ankles. But for the grace of the candid camera and the lack of deep pockets, there go we. Though Wal-Mart was foolish not to secure the tapes when they had the chance, I still find the lack of honor, on the part of Mike Flagler and his handshake, the more troubling aspect of this story.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 10, 2008

Big Blue a Little Bluer

The EPA is allowing IBM to do business with the Feds after a week suspension. While I opined a short suspension; the allegations against IBM employees appear serious. In an interim agreement between IBM and the EPA that paved the way for lifting the suspension, IBM acknowledged:

Information available to IBM indicates that one or more IBM employees appear to have obtained and used source selection information in apparent violation of the Procurement Integrity Act

The evidence of foul play must be strong since IBM agreed to suspend five employees pending investigations by the Government and IBM. Big Blue also agreed to forgo its protest of the award and pay the Government's investigation costs - included those incurred by the General Accounting Office investigating IBM's protest.

Interestingly, despite having inside information, IBM still lost the original award. On one hand the competitor could have had an unbeatable award, on the other hand the EPA itself may have been biased towards the competitor. Unfortunately, the reported year long GAO investigation tends to imply EPA bias. A meritless protest usually is wrapped up in a hundred days. The EPA may have dodged a bullet due to IBM malfeasance.

No word on the fate of the EPA employee who provided the illegal information to IBM.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 8, 2008

Looking to North Korea for Guidance

Harvey Goldberg, Canadian Human Rights Commisar Commissioner:

.. a justifiable infringement of the right to free expression, is "actually the predominant view among most of the states of the world. The view in the United States [that the right to free speech is near-absolute] is really a minority view.

Mind you, Goldberg is speaking to a reporter questioning Canadian Human Rights investigators posting racist rants from unprotected wireless networks owned by unsuspecting individuals.

While many still see the values of the United States as a beacon, the Harvey Goldberg's of the world call them a "minority view" (read "undemocratic"); of course he must be refering to Government's views - not the people they govern.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 8, 2008

Huckabee's "Mitts"

A few of the first twenty-five signers of the No Mitt for VP petition have someone in common:

Grace Tate

Mark West

Micah Lankford

Marion and Gwen Eddy

Mark Johnson

Beth Sheets

Regina Brown

Brenda D. Turner

James West

Ted Baehr

Ann E. Ritterbush

Regarding a related ad, Muckety notes "The political action committee, Government Is Not God, has paid for an advertisement warning GOP presumptive nominee John McCain not to select Mitt Romney as his Vice President for the 2008 election." Muckety then digs deeper:

A look at the political donations by the PAC via FEC watch at OpenSecrets.org shows that during the 2008 election cycle they gave money to three presidential candidates who are no longer in the race…

$3,500 to Mike Huckabee
$1,500 to Tom Tancredo
$1,000 to Sam Brownback

There were no contributions to McCain or Romney on the report which was last update 12/31/2007. Maybe they should donate some money to McCain’s campaign before threatening to not support him.

Huckabee always did run a low budget campaign.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 1, 2008

HillaryCare 2008

So Hillary stiffs insurance companies $292,000. Image the bath they'll take if she becomes President.

h/t Surber

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 1, 2008

IBM Suspended From Government Work

Suspending a large company from Federal work is unusual:

IBM Corp. was apparently blindsided by the Environmental Protection Agency’s move to suspend the company from pursuing new government work.

I don't expect the EPA's decision to stand, especially since the dispute seems to involve a contract IBM did not win:

The suspension apparently involves an $84 million EPA contract won in February 2007 by the CGI Group to modernize the agency’s financial management system. IBM filed a protest of the award, which stopped work on the project, according to market research firm Input Inc. The Government Accountability Office still has the protest under review, according to Input.

Whatever IBM's sins in this area, it would seem strange that other unassociated divisions of this company would be penalized. I expect the EPA will recieve blowback from other Government agencies. It will be interesting to see what is going on here.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 1, 2008

Mostly Dead...

... means you're somewhat alive. McCain was mostly dead once.

While pundits write off Clinton's chances for winning the nomination, apparently there are enough super delegates who aren't sure. If they thought otherwise, they would declare their support for Obama and end the handwringing. They don't, which is why she remains somewhat alive.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 31, 2008

Stone Cold Sober

As a BYU grad, I don't take offense that the University of Texas at San Antonio lifted parts of their honor code from BYU's. The question is, did UTSA copy the right parts:

Any consumption of alcohol, in any form, is a breach of the Honor Code. The following are examples of serious noncompliant behavior related to alcohol use:

- Being present where alcohol is being consumed by others

- Personal consumption of alcohol socially or as a consequence of alcoholism

- Furnishing alcohol to others

- Having alcohol in one's apartment

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 31, 2008

Boeing Pounds the Table

Since most source selection details are still sealed, we have little insight to the merits of Boeing's protest to the General Accounting Office over an Air Force aerial refueling tanker contract to competitor Nothrop/EADs. Boeing's PR offensive, including a full-page Wall Street Journal ad, indicates however, the merits are pretty slim. As the lawyers say, if the facts are on your side pound the facts; if not pound the table.

The fact that Boeing's ad and talking points primarily takes issue with Air Force requirements suggests they have a weak case; afterall those requirements were known over a year ago and the time for dispute was then. That's what the Northrop/EADs team did when the deck was stacked in Boeing's favor. All the GAO can do now is pretty much rule whether the source selection was conducted fairly.

Boeing's complaint that requirements were changed to "unfairly [skew] the results against Boeing" can easily be restated: the Air Force modified requirements to inject competition into the process. When Boeing acquired McDonnell Douglas, they became the only domestic company that had boom capable tankers (booms allow high speed fuel transfers). Six years ago Boeing almost pulled off a sole-source tanker deal that Senator John McCain disrupted. Revelations that Boeing offered a job to the top AF acquisition official during those negotiations resulted in a black eye for the Air Force. New Air Force leadership probably realized replacing a 500 plane tanker fleet with only one source wasn't going to bode well for the pocket book. Northrop/EADs, however, wasn't content to be a patsy to offer a pretense of competition. If they were going to play the Air Force needed to have requirements that gave them a viable chance of winning.

Boeing is now posturing for Congress, who can always pull funds for the tanker deal. Indeed the Illinois based company already has Obama (Illinois Senator) and Clinton onboard; ostensibly for the American jobs being exported to Europe (though Northrop/EADs will assemble planes in Mobile Alabama). No doubt the democrat presidential contenders see this as an opportunity to attack John McCain as anti-U.S. worker.

While the next step will be the GAO decision, it won't be the final act.

UPDATE: Boeing ad here.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 27, 2008

I'll Pass on Boycotting the Olympics

If you wanted me to back a boycott of the Chinese Olympics, you should of talked to me when I was an idealistic teen. Back then I thought it was an appropriate response to Moscow when they invaded Afghanistan. I've since learned that this was a better response:

The massed deployment of the FIM-92A Stinger in Afghanistan tipped the scales in favour of the Mujahedeen insurgents who shot down large and medium transports, helicopters and significantly, tactical aircraft. This forced the Soviets to change their weapon delivery profiles much to the detriment of bombing accuracy.This in turn rendered Soviet air superiority meaningless, as the low density point targets typical of such warfare cannot be accurately hit from altitude with dumb weapons. The Soviets lost their greatest tactical advantage in the campaign and the result is evident in this year's reluctant withdrawal.

So maybe this was really an attempt to get the Chinese' attention.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 26, 2008

Mark Observes and McCain Delivers

Mark's observation is apparently picked up by McCain's staff!

H/T Instapundit

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 25, 2008

Super Delegates

This evening, I and 22 others attended the local Republican precinct caucus. I'm told there are 800 registered Republicans in the precinct, making ours the fourth most Republican precinct in Utah. (The town I live in has only 4000 people but four Republican precincts. It's actually a friendly place for Democrats - we know both of them by their first name.)

Despite our 3% caucus turnout, our precinct is allotted five county and three state Republican convention delegates because nearly 80% of the precinct Republicans vote on Election Day.

In Utah, however, Election Day is the wrong day to make a difference. In the most Republican state in the union, the State Republican convention in May and the Republican primary in June usually determine the final slate of State officers.

Super delegates indeed.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 25, 2008

Three for the Price of One

Akhil Reed Amar proposes Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton share the presidency because, well... its do-able. It certainly would save the Democrats a lot of grief over picking a nominee. Democrats would get credit for another black president and the first women president (but wait there's more! Hillary could throw in the first black president as co-co president to seal the deal). A perfect application of the 25th amendment and the elastic constitution:

...By creatively using the constitutional rules created by this amendment, the Democrats can, if they are so inclined, present the voters in November with a new kind of balanced ticket.

...that the person heading the Democratic ticket would, if elected, take office in January 2009 but would serve as president for only the first three years of the four-year term. In January 2012, the teammates would use the 25th Amendment to switch places, and the person elected vice president would assume the presidency for the final year of the term. There is nothing magical about these dates. Almost any date would do.

While Amar gets goose bumps about the possibilities of packing the White House he forgets to consider whether such an arrangement would actually be good for the country.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 20, 2008

Agenda Journalism?

Minneapolis Star-Tribune crack investigative reporting:

Reader inquiry: Are you a woman in the military whose marriage has ended?

Are you a woman in the military whose marriage has ended?

We'd like to talk to you for a possible story.

Please call reporter Pam Louwagie at 612-673-7102 or e-mail plouwagie@startribune.com.

Please leave your name and a telephone number where you can be reached.

h/t Small Dead Animals

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 20, 2008

Another Rovian Plot

Karl Rove offers free advice, probably because he knows the Democrats are too bone-headed to take it:

One out of five is not a majority. Democrats should keep that simple fact of political life in mind as they pursue the White House.

For a party whose presidential candidates pledge they'll remove U.S. troops from Iraq immediately upon taking office -- without regard to conditions on the ground or the consequences to America's security -- a late February Gallup Poll was bad news. The Obama/Clinton vow to pull out of Iraq immediately appears to be the position of less than one-fifth of the voters.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 20, 2008

Jesse Jackson: A Typical White Person

Obama has hit rock bottom but is now brandishing a pick ax:

"... .. The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person who, uh, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know there's a reaction that's been been bred into our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way and that's just the nature of race in our society. We have to break through it. ... .." - Senator Barack Obama

Jesse and Grandma Obama must live in the same neighborhood:

I hate to admit it, but I have reached a stage in my life that if I am walking down a dark street late at night and I see that the person behind me is white, I subconsciously feel relieved.
- Jesse Jackson

UPDATE:

Can we declare China Syndrome yet? The Obama Campaign is now passing out photos of Bill Clinton shaking hands with the newly radioactive Jerimiah Wright. I guess in Obama's morally equivalent universe the first black president was also a closet Black Liberationist. The only thing that can make this more hilarious is if Hillary actually jumps into Obama's ever deeping hole and responds. Surber is gonna need more popcorn.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 20, 2008

Korean War Grinds Into its Sixth Decade

In case you were wondering what happens when we don't leave.

I've posted this before but it bears repeating as the media focuses on protesters during the fifth anniversary of the Iraq combat operations. Here Donald Rumsfeld provides perspective on Iraq by pointing to the Korean experience.

Many of you may be aware that I keep a photograph on my desk under glass. It's a satellite image taken at night of the Korean peninsula. And I think they're going to put one up, if they have one. It's powerful. I often give it to foreign dignitaries when they visit my office. It's evidence of Bob Bartley's vision.
And as you can see, in the south, below the Demilitarized Zone, the land is bright with energy and life. In the north, that one pinprick of light is the capital -- of Pyongyang in North Korea. The same people in the north and south, the same resources in the North and the South -- no difference. The difference is that in the south, they have a free political system and a free economic system -- and that that freedom has unleashed the power of human ingenuity to the great benefit of the South Korean people.

In the North, with a repressive dictatorship, a command economy, the people suffer starvation. They are taking people into the North Korean military that are four feet, 10 inches high and less than a hundred pounds because of malnutrition in that country.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 20, 2008

More Obamanation

Obama on Imus:

"I understand MSNBC has suspended Mr. Imus. But I would also say that there's nobody on my staff who would still be working for me if they made a comment like that about anybody of any ethnic group. And I would hope that NBC ends up having that same attitude. ... He didn't just cross the line. He fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America. The notions that as young African-American women — who I hope will be athletes — that that somehow makes them less beautiful or less important. It was a degrading comment. It's one that I'm not interested in supporting." (October 2007) emphasis added

I guess Obama's trepidation about stereotypes took Sundays off:

Jeremiah was a bullfrog,
He was a good friend of mine,
I never understood a single word he said,
But I helped him drink his wine.

It's not the age of Aquarius that is dawning on America.

H/T Don Surber and Alexis' comment for the "Joy to the World" reminder.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 19, 2008

Super Mess

Michael Goldfarb surveys a potential train wreck

What if I told you in 2004 that the Democratic party would run an African American candidate for president in 2008? I tell you National Journal will officially label this candidate the most liberal member of the United States Senate. This candidate will also have served less than three years in that Senate, with no executive, foreign policy, or military experience. Then I tell you that this candidate will lose the party's primaries in Texas, California, New York, Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Oh, and his minister sounds like Louis Farrakhan, and actually pals around and gives awards to Farrakhan.

...Obama has been fatally wounded, and yet the Democratic party superdelegates, who exist solely to prevent such a catastrophe in a close primary battle, can do nothing about it. If they hand the nomination to Clinton, the party loses the black vote, and Clinton cannot win without those votes.

I figure we'll learn a lot from the super delegate tally. If they think it will be a lost cause, they'll vote for Obama - losing the election will be on his shoulders. On the other hand, if they think Hillary has a fighting chance even with the loss of the black vote, we'll see her as the nominee. Once again race panderers have managed to marginalize the black vote.

Early Canary: Jack John Murtha, always looking out for the interests of others, cast his lot with Clinton. Who knew she had a 26% Pennsylvania margin...

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 19, 2008

The Audacity of Navel Gazing

Want to see the races working together? Join the military. They train, work, play and fight together. Their kids go to school together. They live in the same neighborhoods, shop in the same stores, and get seen by the same doctors. There are black, white, and brown generals - none of whom skipped a rank or started from the top. This is the life I know – I grew up in an Air Force family, and later raised my own Air Force family. You won’t see a more integrated community, working together, than a military base or post. Somehow this worked without whites, blacks, and browns having to prostrate themselves to the insecurities of each other; maybe that’s why I reject the propositions of those who think we do.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 19, 2008

It's the Culture Not the Race

The Clinton camp has been trying hard to get the nation to notice that Senator Obama is black. The problem for the Clintons, however, is it's not race but the Sister Souljahs that most Americans find objectionable. Or as my wife noted to me it's not about the race, its about the culture - the one typified by the race baiting Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons. Obama's repudiation of those two early in his campaign seemed to bolster hopes that Obama wasn't part of that divisive, racist, crowd. Hence the hits he took for not being "black" enough or in other words a purveyor of the Jackson/Sharpton hate culture. That cultivated image has been shattered as Obama's "spiritual advisor" of twenty years turns out to be cut from the same cloth as Jackson/Sharpton.

I'm sceptical that Obama will be able to disassociate himself from Jeremiah Wright. It is just not believable that the Senator did not know about the bigoted, hateful things Jeremiah Wright had been consistantly preaching. This same preacher was actively working on Obama's campaign till Friday.

Too bad; when Hillary Clinton strong arms the super delegates at the convention to beat Obama, maybe the black Democrats will care, but the rest of America won't.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 17, 2008

A Tax By Any Other Name

My trip last week to Las Vegas and back entailed gasoline purchases of up to $3.50 a gallon. Two weeks ago I was paying around $2.85. I'm no economist but it seems to me Washington's propensity to save people from themselves amounts to a tax on the rest of us as our currency tanks. The WSJ seems inclined to agree:

Speculators are adding to this commodity boom, betting that the Fed has thrown price stability to the wind in order to ease U.S. housing and credit woes. The problem is that dollar weakness is making both of these problems worse. The flight from the dollar has made U.S.-based investments less attractive, at a time when the U.S. financial system urgently needs to raise capital. And the commodity boom is translating into higher food and energy prices that are robbing American consumers of discretionary income. In the name of avoiding a recession, reckless monetary policy has made one more likely.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 17, 2008

Email Campaigns

Two years ago I made one $25 donation to Representative John Murtha's congressional opponent. Murtha still won, but now I've got a friend for life with the Pennsylvania Republican party. I figure they spent my wad, however, on postage to solicit more money from me. Now that they have run out of stamps they just email - daily. There are no links to unsubscribe. I might send $25 again, but leave John Murtha's email and address.

On the other hand, I take a certain amusement receiving the weekly kook fringe email from Democrats.com. They are on a tight deadline to get Congress to impeach Vice-President Cheney before his term expires. I figure a $25 donation to this group might inflict more damage on Murtha then the Pennslyvania GOP has managed.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 15, 2008

In Mesquite

As Mark with a "K" notes, I'll pass on the drunk blogging. Being the designated driver has it's advantages.

I'm escaping the snow and cold in Mesquite Nevada. Earlier my wife and I drove to Las Vegas to see Bodies, the Exhibition, It's an amazing anatomical display of the human bodies and their inner workings. Water and fats are replaced with colored plastics to preserve the specimans. It's something my wife has wanted to see for a while. If you come to the exhibit in Las Vegas, be prepared to walk the casino gauntlet.

I'll try to post something a little later this evening.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 14, 2008

MSNBC Wishes

Actually, with 34 percent saying they are better off and 21 percent experiencing no change, a majority of people don't think they're worse off than 4 years ago. Have we a headline writer that doesn't understand the word "plurality" or is MSNBC creating a myth hoping the public doesn't do the math?

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 13, 2008

Value of Dead Fugitives Halved in Eight Years

In 2000 the FBI was still paying the asking price for a fugitive as a group of hunters claimed $150,000 for finding Alan ("Monty") Pilon. Last month the going price dropped to $75,000:

The FBI is defending itself against claims it shortchanged the man who found the skeletal remains of the last of the notorious Four Corners fugitives.

Eric Bayles, a Blanding cowboy, was given a $75,000 check by federal agents on Feb. 22 for finding the remains of Jason McVean. He stumbled upon the fugitives bones in the deserts of San Juan County last year.

The wanted poster for McVean originally advertised a $150,000 reward and Bayles feels cheated.

In a statement to the Deseret Morning News, the FBI's Salt Lake City office said it has paid out approximately $225,000 in reward money for the Four Corners fugitives. A group of 11 Navajo deer hunters collected approximately $13,600 each for discovering the remains of Alan Pilon in 2000. The third fugitive, Robert Mason, killed himself after shooting a San Juan County Sheriff's deputy back in 1998.

In 2001 Unsolved Mysteries still showed $300K in the reward kitty. While I agree with the FBI that finding a dead fugitive nine years after the crime is not as valuable as finding one earlier, how much would they have paid if McVean was still alive? Coughing up the additional $75K might be a small price to pay to avoid negative publicity - or is the reward on Osama's head only half as much as the $25 Million 2001 asking price?

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 11, 2008

Get Worked Up Over Real Injustice

So a "liberal" judge denies a 17 year old's request to join the military - big deal. The kid is still a minor; that means someone else gets to make the call and in this case it's a judge. If the young man had "liberal" parents they'd probably make the same call and yet we woudn't be complaining to the papers. Heck, if he was my kid I wouldn't give him permission - and I'm a flaming classical liberal.

I'm glad the young man wants to join the military and saddened the judge has a poor attitude about the military. But neither opinion is relevant to a parent or guardian's right to make decisions regarding their charges.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 8, 2008

Clinton Launches a Hail Mary

Hillary's definately going long on this play. It shows she knows she is behind, deep in opposition territory, and no time on the clock. Obviously the intended receivers are soccer moms whom she is hoping never heard of John McCain. One would think the ad has zero credibility with anyone else but I cease to be amazed.

Meanwhile, you don't have to be answering phones at 3 a.m. if your'e not keeping everyone on a short leash and you trust your military:

In 1981, his counselor Edwin Meese called a 3 a.m. staff meeting after learning that U.S. fighter jets had shot down a pair of Libyan planes earlier that night. They decided against calling Reagan in his Los Angeles hotel room.

Addendum: Of course giving your staff a free hand assumes you're working with competent and responsible people in the first place. I figure when Hillary gets a call at 3 a.m. one of her first thoughts is "Where is Bill and what's he up to?"

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 1, 2008

What Did His Great Great Grandfather Write?

Ironically a Donner is worried about a lack of snow:

We asked friends to write letters about climate change to their great, great grandchildren. Here's what they said:

"I thought of you, the future Donners. Are you still shoveling snow off the lake and playing hockey at the cottage? Do you have to wait an extra month for the lake to freeze? Or does the lake not freeze at all?"

Dr. Simon Donner, Climate Scientist

Read Simon's letter, then write your own and send it to us!

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Feb 29, 2008

Conservatives with Time on Their Hands

Unfortunately for Hillary the Republican primary stopped being fun for the vast right wing conspiracy :

As many as a tenth of the Texans voting in the Democratic contests could be Republicans, and overwhelmingly they favor Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, the polls show.

...a significant proportion say they are temporarily backing Obama for strategic reasons. They plan to vote Republican in November, but for now, their goal is to try to make sure Clinton cannot win.

This has probably been happening in all the primaries since McCain became the presumptive Republican nominee. Republican voters figure they can now make a bigger splash in the Democrat pool. Some want to be part of that stake being driven through the heart of the Clinton machine.

The strategery only pays off if Obama actually loses the general election. But that seems achievable. A significant number of Obama’s primary wins are red states that usually go Republican in the general elections. Furthermore, an Obama candidacy will ensure Iraq is front and center in the presidential debate and play into McCain's strength. I still think there are enough adults in America to want us to act responsibly in Iraq. If so, McCain can thank the conservatives he denigrates.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Feb 29, 2008

Utah Things

A while back, I noticed quite a few trampolines in the neighborhood. When I mentioned to my wife that I didn't recall so many growing up she said it was a "Utah thing". Neither one of us grew up in Utah, so maybe she is right.

More Utah things?

Hang Gliding
Mountain Biking
Ski Jumping
ATVs
Rock Climbing
Deer Hunting
Backpacking
Dirt Bikes.

Safety? Nah! but helmets and broken bones make the survey.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Feb 27, 2008

Tough Love

To avoid an "occupation of undetermined length" Obama's prescription for Iraq is a dose of tough love: "The best way to press Iraq’s leaders to take responsibility for their future is to make it clear that we are leaving."

That medicine cured South Vietnam into oblivion and resulted in death, re-education camps, or exodus for millions. For a man of hope, Mr Obama shows an amazing callousness for the tragedy his reversal of American policy will bring. Meanwhile, from a country in its 63rd year of an "occupation of undetermined length" eyes are beginning to open:

A quick withdrawal from Iraq? Sounds great. But the mistake of having started this war in the first place cannot be corrected by ending it in a mad rush to get out of Iraq. A rapid withdrawal of the US military would most likely be followed by a bloody civil war. Al-Qaida would manage to sink its teeth into Iraq once and for all. Iran would rejoice. And Osama bin Laden and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be the real winners of the 2008 American presidential election.

It seems Europeans may have second thoughts about the U.S. electing a man who thinks like them. America's willingness to protect them and their interests allowed Europe to atrophy her military might (and pump the savings into the social programs Obama envies). Obama's willingness to let Iraq sink or swim can easily be seen as a harbinger that Europe (and Japan and Korea) will be next to receive the opportunity "to take responsibility for their future" as Obama seeks options to pay for his social utopia.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Feb 25, 2008

Can Journalists live without Economics Knowledge?

Journalism ethics Professor Ed Wasserman asks "Can journalism live without ads" and tries to convice us taxpayer subsidies are the way to go. The professor should ask instead "Can journalism live without writing compelling copy?". Wasserman writes:

In the United States the union dates from the advent of the penny press in the 1830s, when newspaper owners realized that by slashing what they charged readers they could send their circulations soaring and get rich off advertising sales. News found a durable source of funding, and manufacturers hitched a ride into the homes of the burgeoning masses of American consumers.
That era is now ending, not because the public no longer needs news or because people mistrust news any more than they always have -- but because new technologies are churning out better ways to reach customers who are shopping for cars, jobs or homes.

Seems Wasserman mistakes the symptom for the disease. Advertisers go where the people are. If the press can't draw an audience when the content is free what makes Wasserman think they'll want to pay for it. What's next, subsidies for buggy whip manufacturers?
Wouldn't it be ethical for a Journalism Ethics professor to visit his economics department for a few pointers?

H/T Surber

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Feb 20, 2008

Conservatives Already Staying Home?

Discussing the Virginia primary with my son, I opined I may have chosen to stay home once the Republican field narrowed to McCain and Huckabee. Without missing a beat my conservative teenager said he would have just voted for Obama. Maybe that's what some Virgina conservatives did.

John McCain won Virginia with less votes than he received in his 2000 loss; however, Barack Obama, received more votes than the total number of people voting in the entire Virgina Republican primary. While George Bush carried Virginia in the last two presidential elections, today's turnouts don't bode well for McCain's prospects in November. McCain can only hope there were a lot of Republican mischief makers in Obama's totals, but somehow I doubt it.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Feb 12, 2008

Viva Obama

As much as John McCain is a liberal seeking conservative votes in Arizona (see the Ann Coulter video below), I doubt McCain's campaign workers are inclined to sport a Cuban flag with Che Guevara superimposed. That distinction apparently goes to the Obama campaign. A Clinton set-up? - Or is the Obama campaign emphasizing his promised summit with the world's nefarious leaders?

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Feb11, 2008

Huck's Stuck

Mitt Romney's exit from the race puts Mike Huckabee in a deliciously awkward spot. If he gets out now he exposes his irrelevance in the "two-man" race. If he sticks around he risks becoming more irrelevant than Ron Paul.

Mitt Romney preserved his 2012 viability; Huckabee knee-capped his.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Feb 7, 2008

"Not Fit for This Office"

The first sitting Senator elected president, Warren G. Harding, said "I am not fit for this office and never should have been here". Exactly sums up my sentiments regarding Obama, Clinton, and McCain - one of whom will only be the third sitting Senator to be elected president.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Feb 7, 2008

The Manly Man

If you mention the name “McPeak” among a gathering of Air Force alum be prepared for eyes to roll. General Merrill “Tony” McPeak will always be remembered for his unpopular changes to the Air Force uniform. Invariably, one of the eye-rollers will reply “the Manly Man” – a moniker he earned for his fetish to have airmen wear “V” neck T-shirts. His focus on the uniform over other priorities was an embarrasment; particulary when working with the other services.

McPeak’s uniform changes have mostly been undone by his successors. He now surfaces each presidential election cycle as a "top military advisor" to the Democrat contender lacking military acumen (those that do wouldn’t touch him with a ten foot pole.) In 2004 he advised John Kerry. Up until about yesterday he was an advisor to Barry Obama:

The jousting continued Friday when a top military advisor to Clinton's rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, ridiculed Clinton's implication that she would offer voters the better credentials.

The advisor, retired Gen. Merrill A. "Tony" McPeak, said in a telephone interview that Obama has "real gravitas, not artificially created, focus-grouped, poll-directed, rehearsed gravitas."

He also said Obama "doesn't go on television and have crying fits; he isn't discovering his voice at the age of 60" -- references to Clinton's much-publicized show of emotion during the New Hampshire primary campaign and her speech after winning the contest in which she declared that she had "found my voice."

McPeak later retracted his remarks, and the Obama camp disassociated itself from them.

Looks like McPeak will have to wait for the next election cycle for that long shot as National Security Advisor. Ironically, he would never have been the Air Force Chief of Staff it wasn’t for Hillary’s husband, Bill Clinton (see the part about military acumen above), but loyalty isn't part of a Democrat's credo. Perhaps the NSC position has been promised to someone else but my guess is Hillary already learned McPeak was a hind end during her eight year Presidential apprenticeship.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Feb 2, 2008

Profits exclude Patriotism?

If capitalism is evil what was John McCain doing fighting the communists in Vietnam?

I'm getting a bit tired of Senator McCain's anti-business shtick. The line about serving "for patriotism, not for profit" is pathetic. America spends more on its military than the next 35-40 biggest military spenders on the planet combined: Where does he think the money for that comes from?

We need to go no further than McCain’s Navy to see the fruits of such spending.

By the time Lt Commander McCain flew his A-4 Skyhawk over the then most heavily defended city in the world and was shot down, 45 other Skyhawk pilots had been captured and another 69 were killed or missing in action . In addition to Skyhawks, the U.S. was also sustaining combat losses with F-4 phantoms, F-105 Thunderchiefs, A-7 Corsairs, and A-1 Skyraiders among others.

By 2003 Baghdad’s air defense system possessed far greater lethality than Hanoi’s 1967 ring of fire that claimed McCain’s aircraft. But in 2003, not a single naval fixed wing aircraft was lost due to hostile fire during the battle for Baghdad – nor has one been lost since (one F/A-18 was shot down due to friendly fire*). In fact only three coalition fixed wing aircraft and 39 helicopters have been lost due to hostile fire through 2007 - well under a half of the Skyhawk losses in the first four years of Vietnam combat.

Granted, our forces fought with sever constraints in Vietnam that contributed to our losses, but American business can not be discounted as a major engine under girding our stunning success in Iraq – from taxes to pay for intensive pilot training or the direct application of technology infused in our weapon systems.

For over twenty years I’ve helped the Air Force acquire weapon systems to defeat various enemy threats, including some used to defeat Baghdad’s air defense system. Not one contractor worked for free and yet all were patriots. If things worked out right, they made a profit. Incidentally, I never crossed paths with a military pilot who worked for free either (I have met non-military pilots who did).

McCain’s attempts to kill the golden goose will only starve the hawk he claims to feed.

*Lt Nathan White, a fellow BYU alum was killed in this incident.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Feb 2, 2008