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