Time Magazine has posted an article called "The Five Mistakes Clinton Made".
The list is woefully incomplete. (I work in shipping and logistics. Therefore, I know these things.) The article in Time is by Karen Tumulty, BTW. Here are Ms. Tumulty's Five mistakes, somewhat condensed:
1. She misjudged the mood "Being the consummate Washington insider is not where you want to be in a year when people want change," says Barack Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod. Clinton's "their initial strategic positioning was wrong and kind of played into our hands." But other miscalculations made it worse:
2. She didn't master the rules "How can it possibly be," (Clinton strategist Harold) Ickes asked, "that the much vaunted chief strategist doesn't understand proportional allocation?" And yet the strategy remained the same, with the campaign making its bet on big-state victories. Even now, it can seem as if they don't get it. Both Bill and Hillary have noted plaintively that if Democrats had the same winner-take-all rules as Republicans, she'd be the nominee. Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign now acknowledges privately:
3. She underestimated the caucus states She had a reason: the Clintons decided, says an adviser, that "caucus states were not really their thing." Her core supporters — women, the elderly, those with blue-collar jobs — were less likely to be able to commit an evening of the week, as the process requires.... "For all the talent and the money they had over there," says Axelrod, "they — bewilderingly — seemed to have little understanding for the caucuses and how important they would become."
By the time Clinton's lieutenants realized the grave nature of their error, they lacked the resources to do anything about it — in part because:
4. She relied on old money Though Clinton's totals from working the shrimp-cocktail circuit remained impressive by every historic measure, her donors were typically big-check writers. And once they had ponied up the $2,300 allowed by law, they were forbidden to give more. The once bottomless Clinton well was drying up.
Obama relied instead on a different model: the 800,000-plus people who had signed up on his website and could continue sending money his way $5, $10 and $50 at a time. And that reflects one final mistake:
5. She never counted on a long haul Clinton's strategy had been premised on delivering a knockout blow early. If she could win Iowa, she believed, the race would be over. Clinton spent lavishly there yet finished a disappointing third. What surprised the Obama forces was how long it took her campaign to retool. She fought him to a tie in the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests but didn't have any troops in place for the states that followed.
Ok, those are good reasons. But I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that Karen Tumulty is a Democrat who wouldn't mind an Obama/Clinton ticket, or seeing Hillary try again in 2016. The statements listed above have to do with strategies possibly put in place by others. Group mistakes. As someone who didn't have a horse in that race (but who likes Obama a lot), here are my top five, which relate more to actions taken by The Clintons:
1. She never acknowledged the reasons for her 50% negative approval ratings There are people who dislike her for no reason, and there are people who dislike her with good reason. For reasons that I can't quite fathom, Hillary Clinton simply reminds me of the little girl in the fourth grade who got on my nerves. Hillary never did anything to counteract that image of the class president who was always trying to get everyone into a herd when we just wanted to hang out. I'll admit that I'm incapable of viewing her YouTube videos of her speeches all the way through.
2. She was "ready to lead on day one", but not on the days after Super Tuesday. That's sort of a cross between Karen Tumulty's #2,3, and 5. When Obama ate her lunch and drank her milkshake in February, she had absolutely no plan in place for what came next. She as much as admitted that her staff had to research how the Texas primary system worked. Granted, the Democratic Party's Texas primary/caucus system makes about as much sense as the Pelagian heresy. (Oh, and by the way, Obama won Texas. Why the mainstream media still refers to her surprising victory here is beyond me. When you factor in the caucuses, Obama came away with the most delegates.)
3. The sniper fire fable made people remember Bill. And it made people remember jokes about what "is" is. It made her seem totally untrustworthy. She didn't just tell the sniper story once when she was tired. It was in there multiple times at multiple places. You can't recover from that if you want to be President.
4. Bill managed to alienate black voters. The Clintons once had a fiercely loyal African American following. Toni Morrison called Bill the first black president. Bill has an office in Harlem. He plays golf with Vernon Jordan. etc etc etc..... And then came South Carolina, with Bill comparing Obama's victory to that of Jesse Jackson. End of Story.
5. The gas tax holiday was a pitiful pandering moment It was as fake as the shot of Crown in the Pennsylvania bar, the tears in New Hampshire, and the migrating accent and speech patterns.
I could add that her staff (Ickes and Penn) seemed to genuinely despise each other. Barack ran a much tighter ship, and didn't tolerate any infighting.
I bet she's waiting to see how the Rezko trial turns out before she concedes. Perhaps the Superdelegates will start stampeding to Obama and make even that albatross seem irrelevant.
I'm just ready for her to go away. I don't know if you can tell or not, but that woman bothers me.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Vigilant Border Beagles
This Photoshop pic doesn't say anything about illegal immigration that I haven't already said here. Can you feel the sense of superiority in the beagles?
I just thought it was funny.
I Can't Believe People Still Fall For This
Like just about everyone else with a BlogSpot account, I got this email:
From Mrs Rebecca Williams
No 38 Rue Des Martyrs Cocody
Abidjan,Cote d'Ivoire
ATTN:DEAREST ONE OF GOD
I am the above named person from Kuwait. I am married to Mr Benson Williams, who worked with Kuwait embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year 2004. We were married for eleven years without a child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days.
Before his death we were both born again Christian. Since his death I decided not to remarry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of $2. 5 Million (Two Million Five Hundred U.S. Dollars) in the bank here in Abidjan in suspense account.
Presently, the fund is still with the bank. Recently, my Doctor told me that i have serious sickness which is cancer problem. The one that disturbs me most is my stroke sickness. Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to a church or individual that will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct herein. I want a church that will use this fund for orphanages, widows, propagating the word of God and to endeavour that the house of God is maintained.
The Bible made us to understand that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I don’t have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are not Christians and I don’t want my husband’s efforts to be used by unbelievers. I don’t want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly way. This is why I am taking this decision. I am not afraid of death hence i know where I am going. I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. Exodus 14 VS 14 says that the Lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace.
I don’t need any telephone communication in this regard because of my health hence the presence of my husband’s relatives is around me always I don't want them to know about this development. With God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the bank here in Abidjan. I want you and the church to always pray for me because the Lord is my shepherd. My happiness is that I lived a life of a worthy Christian. Whoever that wants to serve the Lord must serve him in spirit and Truth. Please always be prayerful all through your life.
Contact me on the above e-mail address for more information’s, any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing another church or individual for this same purpose. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I Stated herein. Hoping to receive your reply.
Remain blessed in the Lord.
Yours in Christ,
Mrs Rebecca Williams.
And of course, you give them access to your bank account so they can deposit the 2.5 million, they take out what you have in it, and your money winds up somewhere in The Ivory Coast.
From Mrs Rebecca Williams
No 38 Rue Des Martyrs Cocody
Abidjan,Cote d'Ivoire
ATTN:DEAREST ONE OF GOD
I am the above named person from Kuwait. I am married to Mr Benson Williams, who worked with Kuwait embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year 2004. We were married for eleven years without a child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days.
Before his death we were both born again Christian. Since his death I decided not to remarry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of $2. 5 Million (Two Million Five Hundred U.S. Dollars) in the bank here in Abidjan in suspense account.
Presently, the fund is still with the bank. Recently, my Doctor told me that i have serious sickness which is cancer problem. The one that disturbs me most is my stroke sickness. Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to a church or individual that will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct herein. I want a church that will use this fund for orphanages, widows, propagating the word of God and to endeavour that the house of God is maintained.
The Bible made us to understand that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I don’t have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are not Christians and I don’t want my husband’s efforts to be used by unbelievers. I don’t want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly way. This is why I am taking this decision. I am not afraid of death hence i know where I am going. I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. Exodus 14 VS 14 says that the Lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace.
I don’t need any telephone communication in this regard because of my health hence the presence of my husband’s relatives is around me always I don't want them to know about this development. With God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the bank here in Abidjan. I want you and the church to always pray for me because the Lord is my shepherd. My happiness is that I lived a life of a worthy Christian. Whoever that wants to serve the Lord must serve him in spirit and Truth. Please always be prayerful all through your life.
Contact me on the above e-mail address for more information’s, any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing another church or individual for this same purpose. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I Stated herein. Hoping to receive your reply.
Remain blessed in the Lord.
Yours in Christ,
Mrs Rebecca Williams.
And of course, you give them access to your bank account so they can deposit the 2.5 million, they take out what you have in it, and your money winds up somewhere in The Ivory Coast.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
A Visual Metaphor
Fort Worth residents might recognize this as the interior of Broadway Baptist Church. We're trying to repair some things, close some ruptures, and firm up our foundation.Doing so has made it necessary to bring in additional support.
Photography by DG.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends
Here are a few things that I couldn't put anywhere else:
Patrick at Lone Star Liberty has a rare good word for Senator John Cornyn. Senator Cornyn has figured out that ethanol subsidies might be killing people.
Adamant has some unbelieveable before and after cyclone satellite photos of Burma.
Marko at The Munchkin Wrangler has an interesting concept called "Search Term Safari". Whatever search terms people key into his blog (see the top left search field on this page), he tries to write about every Monday. I would try that, but I think I've written enough already about Brett Younger, Is There A Hell?, and Ethanol Subsidies.
He's got another good post about his site being hit by a splog. If I hadn't read about it, I would've never known what was happening to my site the last few days. A legit blogger that I've linked to (most splogs aren't legit) is apparently logging in here and going back and forth between my site and his a few dozen times (we've linked to each other) about once an hour. He's got a reciprocal link thing going with a few other sites and he's doing it to them also. It's to get his advertising revenue up. Kinda pitiful.
I like getting hits the old fashioned way. By writing about Brett Younger, Is There A Hell?, and Ethanol Subsidies.
In honor of D.G. at T.C.U., here's a rare link from The Whited Sepulchre to Greg Mankiw to Paul Krugman. It's a good analysis of why politicians bring up a red herrings like the gas tax holiday.
Robb Allen, filling in for Hazel at The Line Is Here, has a post that would've fit well in the rant I did yesterday. Let's see if we can fill in the blanks....
"In the face of [Motorcycles popping wheelies], Florida Representative Carlos Lopez-Cantera has urged [a Florida legislature with lots of time on it's hands] to [ mandate two wheels on the pavement at all times ] in order to [ prevent Darwinian laws of natural selection from going into effect ]."
I love that formula. It's like Mad Libs for cynics.
Mississippian Gus Van Horn, who presides over the best objectivist blog on earth or any other planet, provides us with this abomination. Here's Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson taking a few moments away from fleecing their flocks to warn us of the evils ofGlobal Warming, NO ! Climate Change, NO ! the weather changing.
Mr. Van Horn ordinarily writes deep philosophical posts about self-interest as it relates to the good of the rest of our species. The video above is due to a rare lapse in taste.
The great Alan K. Henderson has three consecutive posts about wooden heads, plants, and Ann Coulter. As if there's a difference.
The good folks at The Pheisty Blog, who I've been neglecting lately, once again force me to trot out The Formula that I posted yesterday.....
"In the face of [some home foreclosures ], Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has urged [the people who spend your taxes ] to [bail out a lot of people with bigger houses than mine ] in order to [ stabilize house prices in neighborhoods with lots of bigger houses than mine ]."
I think that summarizes Bernanke's statement nicely.
Back To The Drawing Board explains the difference between rights and entitlements. There is one.
According to Saint Albert, The Goracle of Music City, the recent tragedy in Burma was due to our failure to contribute to The Saint Albert retirement/pension fund. Compliments of Counting Cats. The Cat Counter has another one here, about how people and organizations tend to become what they hate.
Rex Flex alerts the nation to a legislative scheme that would send every Mississippi restaurant into bankruptcy. I'm tempted to apply The Formula to it, but as a potential target of this legislation, it's too depressing.
Munzenberg, who co-blogs with my sorta online friend Jay at Soobdujour, takes a Michael Gerson speech and breaks it down into the rhetorical devices used. (Rhetorical questins, irony, hyperbole, metaphors, parallelism, etc.) Has anyone ever done a complete book of speeches this way? Or is that what you find in every Rhetoric textbook? If so, is there one that's considered the standard? Munzenberg, please advise....
Law, Legislation, and Lunacy encourages Bill Maher to visit Clues "R" Us, in hopes that he will purchase one.
Andrew Ian Dodge, of Dodgeblogium, posts the infamous picture of Obama associate and convicted terrorist William Ayers wiping his feet on the United States flag. I've heard all about it, but this is the first time I've seen it.
Either my site is running slower because of all the links on this post, or I'm running slower because of all the links I've done on this post.
Good Night !
Patrick at Lone Star Liberty has a rare good word for Senator John Cornyn. Senator Cornyn has figured out that ethanol subsidies might be killing people.
Adamant has some unbelieveable before and after cyclone satellite photos of Burma.
Marko at The Munchkin Wrangler has an interesting concept called "Search Term Safari". Whatever search terms people key into his blog (see the top left search field on this page), he tries to write about every Monday. I would try that, but I think I've written enough already about Brett Younger, Is There A Hell?, and Ethanol Subsidies.
He's got another good post about his site being hit by a splog. If I hadn't read about it, I would've never known what was happening to my site the last few days. A legit blogger that I've linked to (most splogs aren't legit) is apparently logging in here and going back and forth between my site and his a few dozen times (we've linked to each other) about once an hour. He's got a reciprocal link thing going with a few other sites and he's doing it to them also. It's to get his advertising revenue up. Kinda pitiful.
I like getting hits the old fashioned way. By writing about Brett Younger, Is There A Hell?, and Ethanol Subsidies.
In honor of D.G. at T.C.U., here's a rare link from The Whited Sepulchre to Greg Mankiw to Paul Krugman. It's a good analysis of why politicians bring up a red herrings like the gas tax holiday.
Robb Allen, filling in for Hazel at The Line Is Here, has a post that would've fit well in the rant I did yesterday. Let's see if we can fill in the blanks....
"In the face of [Motorcycles popping wheelies], Florida Representative Carlos Lopez-Cantera has urged [a Florida legislature with lots of time on it's hands] to [ mandate two wheels on the pavement at all times ] in order to [ prevent Darwinian laws of natural selection from going into effect ]."
I love that formula. It's like Mad Libs for cynics.
Mississippian Gus Van Horn, who presides over the best objectivist blog on earth or any other planet, provides us with this abomination. Here's Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson taking a few moments away from fleecing their flocks to warn us of the evils of
Mr. Van Horn ordinarily writes deep philosophical posts about self-interest as it relates to the good of the rest of our species. The video above is due to a rare lapse in taste.
The great Alan K. Henderson has three consecutive posts about wooden heads, plants, and Ann Coulter. As if there's a difference.
The good folks at The Pheisty Blog, who I've been neglecting lately, once again force me to trot out The Formula that I posted yesterday.....
"In the face of [some home foreclosures ], Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has urged [the people who spend your taxes ] to [bail out a lot of people with bigger houses than mine ] in order to [ stabilize house prices in neighborhoods with lots of bigger houses than mine ]."
I think that summarizes Bernanke's statement nicely.
Back To The Drawing Board explains the difference between rights and entitlements. There is one.
According to Saint Albert, The Goracle of Music City, the recent tragedy in Burma was due to our failure to contribute to The Saint Albert retirement/pension fund. Compliments of Counting Cats. The Cat Counter has another one here, about how people and organizations tend to become what they hate.
Rex Flex alerts the nation to a legislative scheme that would send every Mississippi restaurant into bankruptcy. I'm tempted to apply The Formula to it, but as a potential target of this legislation, it's too depressing.
Munzenberg, who co-blogs with my sorta online friend Jay at Soobdujour, takes a Michael Gerson speech and breaks it down into the rhetorical devices used. (Rhetorical questins, irony, hyperbole, metaphors, parallelism, etc.) Has anyone ever done a complete book of speeches this way? Or is that what you find in every Rhetoric textbook? If so, is there one that's considered the standard? Munzenberg, please advise....
Law, Legislation, and Lunacy encourages Bill Maher to visit Clues "R" Us, in hopes that he will purchase one.
Andrew Ian Dodge, of Dodgeblogium, posts the infamous picture of Obama associate and convicted terrorist William Ayers wiping his feet on the United States flag. I've heard all about it, but this is the first time I've seen it.
Either my site is running slower because of all the links on this post, or I'm running slower because of all the links I've done on this post.
Good Night !
Hillary On The Night Shift
From ABC News website, on Hillary Clinton's strategy in blue collar states:
"Yo. Wassup, wassup," she said to the guys waiting in line to clock in, paying particular attention to the Superdelegates.
"Ready for a long night?" asked Jose, the night shift foreman.
Hillary nodded, reaching into the pocket of her bright yellow pantsuit for her I.D. badge. "I gotta believe I got a unique set of experiences an' qualifications to be ready on Day One. Yep. Gonna git her done."
Jose was relieved. A week earlier, when he'd asked her about not arriving to work on time, she'd answered "Jose, I'm not gonna give ya any B.S. Ya know, me an Chelsea were coming in from the airport? An' the snipers were worse than I ever seen 'em? An we had to run cross that tarmac? with all our work crap? an' this little girl wanted me to stop? and get flowers?...."
Jose was grateful that Hillary's airport episode had been overlooked. If word got out about sniper delusions and airport fantasies, the other employees wouldn't trust Hillary to run the grinders, much less the heavy equipment. Except for, perhaps, some of the diehard Democrats who were accustomed to such stories.
"Whatcha got me workin' on tonight?" Hillary asked. "Cause I been lookin' forward to workin' for you, the Merrican people." Hillary took off her New York Yankees cap, underneath which was a Arkansas Razorbacks cap. Which covered the top of a Chicago Cubs hoodie.
"I don't know," Jose answered. "How much help would you need if you worked on the Healthcare project?"
Hillary cleared her throat and set down her lunchbox so she could dig out a wedgie. "I got the experience an' the gumption to make sure nothin' happens again like that uninsured woman who died because a' no insurance. I'm takin' a personal inerst in it. If we gotta fix Healthcare and give the Merrican people the healthcare and stuff they got comin', I'll work tirelessly to..."
"Hillary," Jose said again, "Just answer me. How much help will you need?"
"Glad you had the cajones to ask, Jose," Hillary said. "Me and Bill was talkin' that over when I got in last night. If you was to put me in the leadership position I deserve, and gimme your support, we could run out the lobbyists and since you done helped me find my voice, I'm gonna..."
"Hillary, how much help will you need?"
"It Takes A Village," she said.
She aggressively targeted blue collar and low-income voters, hammering her message that she will fight for them.....Hillary got out of her pickup with her lunchbox and welding hood.
"You notice as she campaigns that she drops the ending of words, and becomes 'we're working people,'" said Peri Arnold, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. "She becomes sort of Rosie-on-the-night-shift and stylistically she becomes very attractive to these voters."
"Yo. Wassup, wassup," she said to the guys waiting in line to clock in, paying particular attention to the Superdelegates.
"Ready for a long night?" asked Jose, the night shift foreman.
Hillary nodded, reaching into the pocket of her bright yellow pantsuit for her I.D. badge. "I gotta believe I got a unique set of experiences an' qualifications to be ready on Day One. Yep. Gonna git her done."
Jose was relieved. A week earlier, when he'd asked her about not arriving to work on time, she'd answered "Jose, I'm not gonna give ya any B.S. Ya know, me an Chelsea were coming in from the airport? An' the snipers were worse than I ever seen 'em? An we had to run cross that tarmac? with all our work crap? an' this little girl wanted me to stop? and get flowers?...."
Jose was grateful that Hillary's airport episode had been overlooked. If word got out about sniper delusions and airport fantasies, the other employees wouldn't trust Hillary to run the grinders, much less the heavy equipment. Except for, perhaps, some of the diehard Democrats who were accustomed to such stories.
"Whatcha got me workin' on tonight?" Hillary asked. "Cause I been lookin' forward to workin' for you, the Merrican people." Hillary took off her New York Yankees cap, underneath which was a Arkansas Razorbacks cap. Which covered the top of a Chicago Cubs hoodie.
"I don't know," Jose answered. "How much help would you need if you worked on the Healthcare project?"
Hillary cleared her throat and set down her lunchbox so she could dig out a wedgie. "I got the experience an' the gumption to make sure nothin' happens again like that uninsured woman who died because a' no insurance. I'm takin' a personal inerst in it. If we gotta fix Healthcare and give the Merrican people the healthcare and stuff they got comin', I'll work tirelessly to..."
"Hillary," Jose said again, "Just answer me. How much help will you need?"
"Glad you had the cajones to ask, Jose," Hillary said. "Me and Bill was talkin' that over when I got in last night. If you was to put me in the leadership position I deserve, and gimme your support, we could run out the lobbyists and since you done helped me find my voice, I'm gonna..."
"Hillary, how much help will you need?"
"It Takes A Village," she said.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The Blogosphere vs The Radio
I've just listened to eight hours of talk radio. I wasn't in the mood for Soccer-Mom Country, or the 500 canonized tunes now known as classic rock. The only radio preachers on the air were reasonably rational and therefore had little entertainment value, since I wasn't in the mood for self-improvement.
Four hours to Houston and four hours back with Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Jon-David Wells, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, David Ramsey, Dennis Praeger, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, and, the only candle in the darkness, Dennis Miller.
Good Lord in heaven, what a crew.... Going over the same rants and clips and sound bytes over and over and over. Heck, I'll post a popular Youtube video now and then, but once I've posted it, I don't put it up again thirty minutes later.
One issue kept coming up on most of the shows. Since there's little difference in the Obama and Clinton platforms, the disagreement over repealing the 18 cent gasoline tax through the summer months has been the only real point of contention for the last week.
A North Carolina Superdelegate named David Parker was briefly interviewed on WBAP on the gasoline tax. I don't remember the exact words, but he was asked if an 18 cent break was enough to make a real difference. Parker claimed, and once again, this is a paraphrase, that "it's not the pennies saved, it's the symbolic value of doing something."
What a steaming pile of it. The talk show host heard what Parker said, and let it pass.
We already have something like 15 linear feet of volumes and volumes of regulations, tweakings, adjustments, and laws designed to show that government is doing something.
One of the world's most colorful blogger groups, The Devil's Kitchen, has developed a formula for this type of statement. They're British, and are referring to the EU in this example, but the same principle applies here in the U.S. (And don't even think about hitting that link unless you've got a high tolerance for colorful profanity.)
Ok, let's try it. Follow along at home, and perhaps you can do it on your own in a few minutes.
"In the face of [rising gasoline prices], North Carolina Superdelegate David Parker has urged [Congress] to [eliminate gas taxes] in order to [lower gas prices]."
Well, that's accurate but incomplete. And dull. Let's add some subtext.
"In the face of [rising gasoline prices because we haven't opened up ANWR or brought any new refineries online in Britney Spears' lifetime], North Carolina Superdelegate David Parker has urged [the people who originally caused the problem in Congress] to [exacerbate the problem by encouraging people to increase gasoline usage] in order to [magically make the supply increase.]"
Let's try another one.
"In the face of [rising medical costs], Presidential Candidate Barack Obama has urged [ Congress ] to [ throw some more regulations at insurance companies ] in order to [ make it look like they're doing something ]."
Here's a proposal from The Devil's Kitchen for what should actually be done. In this case, the issue is the food riots in Asia:
What was it that Flannery O'Connor said about communicating with audiences who disagree with you?
That's one of the things I like about the blogosphere. People shout, and draw large startling figures.
Four hours to Houston and four hours back with Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Jon-David Wells, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, David Ramsey, Dennis Praeger, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, and, the only candle in the darkness, Dennis Miller.
Good Lord in heaven, what a crew.... Going over the same rants and clips and sound bytes over and over and over. Heck, I'll post a popular Youtube video now and then, but once I've posted it, I don't put it up again thirty minutes later.
One issue kept coming up on most of the shows. Since there's little difference in the Obama and Clinton platforms, the disagreement over repealing the 18 cent gasoline tax through the summer months has been the only real point of contention for the last week.
A North Carolina Superdelegate named David Parker was briefly interviewed on WBAP on the gasoline tax. I don't remember the exact words, but he was asked if an 18 cent break was enough to make a real difference. Parker claimed, and once again, this is a paraphrase, that "it's not the pennies saved, it's the symbolic value of doing something."
What a steaming pile of it. The talk show host heard what Parker said, and let it pass.
We already have something like 15 linear feet of volumes and volumes of regulations, tweakings, adjustments, and laws designed to show that government is doing something.
One of the world's most colorful blogger groups, The Devil's Kitchen, has developed a formula for this type of statement. They're British, and are referring to the EU in this example, but the same principle applies here in the U.S. (And don't even think about hitting that link unless you've got a high tolerance for colorful profanity.)
"In the face of [insert crisis here], Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged [insert supranational body here] to [insert zany 'action' here] to [insert imagined outcome here]"
You could churn this stuff out by the hour if you wanted.
Ok, let's try it. Follow along at home, and perhaps you can do it on your own in a few minutes.
"In the face of [rising gasoline prices], North Carolina Superdelegate David Parker has urged [Congress] to [eliminate gas taxes] in order to [lower gas prices]."
Well, that's accurate but incomplete. And dull. Let's add some subtext.
"In the face of [rising gasoline prices because we haven't opened up ANWR or brought any new refineries online in Britney Spears' lifetime], North Carolina Superdelegate David Parker has urged [the people who originally caused the problem in Congress] to [exacerbate the problem by encouraging people to increase gasoline usage] in order to [magically make the supply increase.]"
Let's try another one.
"In the face of [rising medical costs], Presidential Candidate Barack Obama has urged [ Congress ] to [ throw some more regulations at insurance companies ] in order to [ make it look like they're doing something ]."
Here's a proposal from The Devil's Kitchen for what should actually be done. In this case, the issue is the food riots in Asia:
Approximately 88 years after everyone else realised that a mish-mash of ('fair trade') forced agragrian backwardness, (Government driven) rising fuel costs, extra demands on land usage, the (Government-inspired) dash for bio-fuels and the (Government endorsed) steps away from adoption of GM technology was causing food prices to rise, he is demanding that Governments (there's that word again!) take co-ordinated, urgent action to resolve the problem.They go on from there. DK is not for the faint of heart. But beneath all the profanity, hyperbole, and scatalogical references, there is an intelligence that's lacking on the USA's AM radio wasteland. No one on that blog would've taken David Parker's gas tax line seriously.
What was it that Flannery O'Connor said about communicating with audiences who disagree with you?
“When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs as you do, you can relax a little and use more normal means of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock, to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind, you draw large and startling figures.”
That's one of the things I like about the blogosphere. People shout, and draw large startling figures.
All I Need To Know, I Learned At Auctions Part 1
I'm at an auction in Houston this morning.
These things are one of the greatest learning experiences available. I don't think you should be able to graduate from the Fort Worth ISD without going to a Richie Brothers auction. There's much to be learned there. Had I started going at age 17 instead of age 35, I'd be in better financial shape now.
So along with the monthly wisdom of Thomas Sowell, and the monthly deconstruction of the advertising in Harper's magazine, I'm going to add.....
All I Need To Know, I Learned At Auctions, with apologies to Robert Fulgham's bestseller with a similar title about kindergarten.
Lesson #1 - Nobody has any idea what anything is worth.
Things are worth what people will give for them, "as is", "where is", as the auction saying goes. Appraisals don't mean a thing, except as a marketing tool. The only way to determine the value of something is to sell it.
The Reverend Doctor Karl Marx advocated something called the Labor Theory of Value. I'm oversimplifying here, but this is the idea that things are worth the amount of labor that went into them.
Equal amounts of labor went into the latest Kanye West and K-Fed CD's. One of them sold well, and the other couldn't be given away with McDonald's Happy Meals.
The labor of Bill Gates would be worth very little in a Mississippi Rice Field. The same labor was almost priceless on the west coast.
Ditto for VHS vs. Betamax video players.
Nolan Ryan rookie year baseball cards vs. Ned Yost rookie year baseball cards.
Don't get me started on Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Dolls, and other now valueless, once priceless, collectibles.
So far, I've seen things sell for pennies on the dollar, relative to the original price. I've seen other things sold for 80% of the cost of a new equivalent item.
Rev. Dr. Marx lived in a fairly simple society.
Today I'm trying to buy some forklifts. I know what I think they're worth.
They're worth what people in Tomball Texas are willing to give for them on May 6, 2008. Not a penny more, not a penny less.
These things are one of the greatest learning experiences available. I don't think you should be able to graduate from the Fort Worth ISD without going to a Richie Brothers auction. There's much to be learned there. Had I started going at age 17 instead of age 35, I'd be in better financial shape now.
So along with the monthly wisdom of Thomas Sowell, and the monthly deconstruction of the advertising in Harper's magazine, I'm going to add.....
All I Need To Know, I Learned At Auctions, with apologies to Robert Fulgham's bestseller with a similar title about kindergarten.
Lesson #1 - Nobody has any idea what anything is worth.
Things are worth what people will give for them, "as is", "where is", as the auction saying goes. Appraisals don't mean a thing, except as a marketing tool. The only way to determine the value of something is to sell it.
The Reverend Doctor Karl Marx advocated something called the Labor Theory of Value. I'm oversimplifying here, but this is the idea that things are worth the amount of labor that went into them.
Equal amounts of labor went into the latest Kanye West and K-Fed CD's. One of them sold well, and the other couldn't be given away with McDonald's Happy Meals.
The labor of Bill Gates would be worth very little in a Mississippi Rice Field. The same labor was almost priceless on the west coast.
Ditto for VHS vs. Betamax video players.
Nolan Ryan rookie year baseball cards vs. Ned Yost rookie year baseball cards.
Don't get me started on Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Dolls, and other now valueless, once priceless, collectibles.
So far, I've seen things sell for pennies on the dollar, relative to the original price. I've seen other things sold for 80% of the cost of a new equivalent item.
Rev. Dr. Marx lived in a fairly simple society.
Today I'm trying to buy some forklifts. I know what I think they're worth.
They're worth what people in Tomball Texas are willing to give for them on May 6, 2008. Not a penny more, not a penny less.
The Recession Is Over ! ! !
The U.S. economy grew in the first quarter of 2008. That's what it did in the last quarter of 2007. The quarter we're in now is almost guaranteed to grow.
Despite all the media cheerleading for a recession, despite Alan Greenspan cheerleading for a recession (so his successor will look bad?), in spite of the Clintons' earnest prayers for a recession, the years 2000 through 2008 will probably be known to future historians as "The Bush Boom".
Libertarian types generally believe that the government should leave the economy alone. Just stay out of it. When government intervenes, they're postponing misery. When they manipulate interest rates, they're merely creating static, confusing the signals that the economy is trying to send. Any government action usually arrives too late to do any good, or is flat-out wrong.
Keynesian economists believe that government should be knee-deep, if not waist-deep, in the health of the economy. Government intervention is vital since only government can speedily and efficiently operate the appropriate levers of control.
The President and Congress recently passed legislation to give us tax rebates to get us through our recent non-recession, which has recently been declared "over".
If you're undecided on the libertarian vs. Keynesian points of view, let me ask some questions....
During which quarter of the recent non-recession (4th quarter 2007 or 1st quarter 2008) did you get your rebate check? Or have you gotten it at all?
Heh heh heh heh heh
Despite all the media cheerleading for a recession, despite Alan Greenspan cheerleading for a recession (so his successor will look bad?), in spite of the Clintons' earnest prayers for a recession, the years 2000 through 2008 will probably be known to future historians as "The Bush Boom".
Libertarian types generally believe that the government should leave the economy alone. Just stay out of it. When government intervenes, they're postponing misery. When they manipulate interest rates, they're merely creating static, confusing the signals that the economy is trying to send. Any government action usually arrives too late to do any good, or is flat-out wrong.
Keynesian economists believe that government should be knee-deep, if not waist-deep, in the health of the economy. Government intervention is vital since only government can speedily and efficiently operate the appropriate levers of control.
The President and Congress recently passed legislation to give us tax rebates to get us through our recent non-recession, which has recently been declared "over".
If you're undecided on the libertarian vs. Keynesian points of view, let me ask some questions....
During which quarter of the recent non-recession (4th quarter 2007 or 1st quarter 2008) did you get your rebate check? Or have you gotten it at all?
Heh heh heh heh heh
Sunday, May 4, 2008
John Hagee, The Roman Catholic Church, The Antichrist, Hitler, The Holocaust, (all on one convenient chart)
Here's John McCain's latest bear to cross, or cross to bear, depending on your theological perspective.
McCain fell all over himself accepting this guy's endorsement several weeks ago.
Here is Reverend John Hagee, explaining that the anti-christ (in the form of his spiritual ancestors in Rome) is the Catholic Church.
Hagee references "the cup", from The Book of Revelation, traditionally interpreted as a cup of suffering. Notice where his pointer is aimed when he first talks about The Cup. I'm no expert, put I think that's a Double-D cup.
I spewed Gatorade all over the table when he did that.
I think Hagee and Jeremiah Wright will soon put together a vaudeville-style tour, where they'll bring their theological wisdom to bear on the great issues of the day.
Hagee does make a somewhat valid point, if you're a scriptural literalist. Hitler was only continuing a persecution that the church started; after Hitler, God will continue to punish those who don't believe, and it will be for worse and for a much longer period of time than anything The Inquisition of The Nazis could accomplish.
Please discuss amongst yourselves....
If the John Hagee tempest in a teaCUP continues to gain traction, you'll soon see feature stories on the Protestant difficulties with Roman Catholic doctrine.
Among these will be the Catholic emphasis on Church Tradition.
The Protestants will say that Christianity should only focus on what is revealed in scripture, not tradition.
The Catholics will respond with "How do you know what is and isn't scripture?"
The Protestants will shuffle their feet, cough, and respond with "Unhhhh....Catholic Tradition?"
These arguments, charts, and doctrines about Saint John's Acid Trip In The Book Of Revelation will have an impact on our choice of Next Leader For The Free World.
And so it goes.
To read an update on the McCain/Hagee Strange Bedfellows situation, click here.
McCain fell all over himself accepting this guy's endorsement several weeks ago.
Here is Reverend John Hagee, explaining that the anti-christ (in the form of his spiritual ancestors in Rome) is the Catholic Church.
Hagee references "the cup", from The Book of Revelation, traditionally interpreted as a cup of suffering. Notice where his pointer is aimed when he first talks about The Cup. I'm no expert, put I think that's a Double-D cup.
I spewed Gatorade all over the table when he did that.
I think Hagee and Jeremiah Wright will soon put together a vaudeville-style tour, where they'll bring their theological wisdom to bear on the great issues of the day.
Hagee does make a somewhat valid point, if you're a scriptural literalist. Hitler was only continuing a persecution that the church started; after Hitler, God will continue to punish those who don't believe, and it will be for worse and for a much longer period of time than anything The Inquisition of The Nazis could accomplish.
Please discuss amongst yourselves....
If the John Hagee tempest in a teaCUP continues to gain traction, you'll soon see feature stories on the Protestant difficulties with Roman Catholic doctrine.
Among these will be the Catholic emphasis on Church Tradition.
The Protestants will say that Christianity should only focus on what is revealed in scripture, not tradition.
The Catholics will respond with "How do you know what is and isn't scripture?"
The Protestants will shuffle their feet, cough, and respond with "Unhhhh....Catholic Tradition?"
These arguments, charts, and doctrines about Saint John's Acid Trip In The Book Of Revelation will have an impact on our choice of Next Leader For The Free World.
And so it goes.
To read an update on the McCain/Hagee Strange Bedfellows situation, click here.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
It's Not How Well They Bowl Or Drink
My little sister, Dr. Amy Cooper, has once again made it onto the Fort Wort Star-Telegram's editorial page.
Click here to go to the Star-Telegram's site, and read "It's Not How Well They Bowl Or Drink".
Or you can click here, just in case they ever take the link down, like they did with her previous one.
In this wonderfully written editorial, Amy marvels that the next leader of the free world might be chosen because of his bowling ability or lack thereof. Hillary's barroom shot of Crown Royal is also ridiculed.
I'd give almost anything for our (now deceased) father to be able to read this essay.
I can't remember which of her "two white grandmothers" used to iron out used aluminum foil to reuse it, but I don't doubt the story. I don't remember seeing an Obama sign in her yard, but it apparently didn't last very long.
If they put a Hillary sign in their yard, I'll make sure that one doesn't last long either.
Amy also displays an impressive knowledge of Brazilian and Argentine iron ore pricing. You'd think she married someone in the metal business.
It's all good stuff. Since I started blogging, she's been on the editorial page twice and I've only made it once. (She's on the Community Columnist Panel.) Not that we're competitive or anything.
I can beat her at Bowling and Drinking.
Click here to go to the Star-Telegram's site, and read "It's Not How Well They Bowl Or Drink".
Or you can click here, just in case they ever take the link down, like they did with her previous one.
In this wonderfully written editorial, Amy marvels that the next leader of the free world might be chosen because of his bowling ability or lack thereof. Hillary's barroom shot of Crown Royal is also ridiculed.
I'd give almost anything for our (now deceased) father to be able to read this essay.
I can't remember which of her "two white grandmothers" used to iron out used aluminum foil to reuse it, but I don't doubt the story. I don't remember seeing an Obama sign in her yard, but it apparently didn't last very long.
If they put a Hillary sign in their yard, I'll make sure that one doesn't last long either.
Amy also displays an impressive knowledge of Brazilian and Argentine iron ore pricing. You'd think she married someone in the metal business.
It's all good stuff. Since I started blogging, she's been on the editorial page twice and I've only made it once. (She's on the Community Columnist Panel.) Not that we're competitive or anything.
I can beat her at Bowling and Drinking.
Big Brown Wins The Kentucky Derby
Big Brown, the racehorse named for UPS, just won the Kentucky Derby.
In honor of this glorious event, here's a link to the complete text of "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved" by Hunter S. Thompson. I think it's one of the greatest pieces of weirdo jounalism ever written.
Enjoy.
In honor of this glorious event, here's a link to the complete text of "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved" by Hunter S. Thompson. I think it's one of the greatest pieces of weirdo jounalism ever written.
Enjoy.
Friday, May 2, 2008
The Empire Strikes Barack Obama
I love this video.
I repeat, I love this video.
If you don't laugh out loud at least three times during this video, you're beyond hope.
If you don't laugh when Howard Dean makes an appearance, you probably voted for him.
I love being alive these days.
Obama is the only viable candidate who isn't pandering with the idea of a tax cutback on gasoline for the summer months. The Clintons and my homeboy John McCain claim to be in favor of it.
I'm generally in favor of lower taxes on just about everything. But if the idea is for us to consume less because the supply is dwindling....aren't McCain and the Hildebeast being illogical?
This has taken some courage on Obama's part. But not nearly as much courage as was required to face Lord Vapid in this movie trailer.
Enjoy.
I repeat, I love this video.
If you don't laugh out loud at least three times during this video, you're beyond hope.
If you don't laugh when Howard Dean makes an appearance, you probably voted for him.
I love being alive these days.
Obama is the only viable candidate who isn't pandering with the idea of a tax cutback on gasoline for the summer months. The Clintons and my homeboy John McCain claim to be in favor of it.
I'm generally in favor of lower taxes on just about everything. But if the idea is for us to consume less because the supply is dwindling....aren't McCain and the Hildebeast being illogical?
This has taken some courage on Obama's part. But not nearly as much courage as was required to face Lord Vapid in this movie trailer.
Enjoy.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Things To Write About
I'm generally amazed when, during my websurfing, I find Blog Posts lamenting that there isn't much going on to write about.
Yes, those statements are out there. Put the phrases "not much to write about" or "nothing to write about" into Google, and you'll find them.
It's the Year Of Our Lord 2008. China's got Olympics problems with Tibet. A former P.O.W. who was tortured for years by the Vietnamese is running for president against either a black man with serious preacher problems or a white woman with more hidden and lost baggage than Heathrow Airport. Our government has checks in the mail in a Keynesian effort to end a recession that we can't be in yet (recessions require two consecutive quarters of negative growth.) There are millions of people online, just waiting to read what you have to say about all this. But sometimes we all need a kick start.
So as a service to our Republic, here are my suggestions for what to do when you think there's nothing to write about.
1) Somewhere near you is a newspaper with an online presence. In my case, there's my beloved Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Just looking through the first page of the site, there's an article about the Methodists having a "negotiated disruption", whatever that is, about same-sex unions, gay clergy, and the like. The Star-T also has more info on John Peter Smith Hospital, our local government funded charity health care center, which is underfunded but has $72,000,000 in the bank. Plus, the Top Dawg was pulling in $700,000 per year. Eminent Domain abuser Jerry Jones has signed Bad Boy Pacman Jones. If you don't have something to bring to the table on any of these issues, you need to turn off your computer and go watch American Idol.
2) Because God loves us, She has given us a world that includes an internet search engine called Google. You have information at your fingertips that, just twenty years ago, was inaccesible to all but the most privileged academics. As further proof of Divine Blessing: a feature called "Google Trends". This lists the top 100 search terms put into Google over the last hour.
By the time you read this, Google Trends will have changedfrom these topics, but.... I have an interest in one called Paul vs Hillary, which is a court case involving the baggage lady mentioned above.
Another term in the top Google Trends Top 100: May Day. May 1st. The traditional holiday for socialist labor. Following the links provided led me to this article in the Guardian (UK), about Raul Castro having to lead Cuba's May Day ceremonies in place of ailing brother Fidel. I LOVED the last line of the article....Marches were held simultaneously in other Cuban cities; several million people were expected to attend. As if the poor bastards had a choice.
If you can't spend five minutes on Google Trends and find a topic to type about, give up, get up, turn off your computer, and go watch "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?".
(FYI... As soon as "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?" goes off the air, an embarrassing number of the show's questions show up on the Google Trends site. I fear for my country.)
3) Do you ever wish that you had a subscription to Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, Harper's, Atlantic Monthly, and every other major magazine? Well, those are the links. It doesn't matter if you're into dogs, kites, coffin-handle manufacturing, cars, or the life and career of Millard Fillmore, somewhere out there is a magazine or site devoted to that interest. I probably write more about politics than anything else, so from far left to far right, there are websites for The Nation, Mother Jones, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, The American Spectator, and National Review. On the libertarian side of things (different continuum) you have Reason and Liberty magazines. (I can never sign onto the New Republic site. I've either ripped them to shreds so many times that they've blocked my URL, or they're going through a financial crisis, or they just can't keep their site running.)
If you can go into those and not find something to make your blood boil, then give up. Go watch Bill O'Reilly or Keith Olbermann. Let tell you what to think. I apologize for the snarky tone toward bloggers who have nothing to write about. I've seen so many great topics in these links.... I could type for days.
4) There are other sites called "Aggregators". They simply collect links on a given topic. Republicans generally like Instapundit or Little Green Footballs. There's one called Real Clear Politics that covers the entire political spectrum. Alan K. Henderson's Weblog and Libertarian Blog Place are the best ones for libertarians. Whatever interests you, simply type "Blog" "aggregator" and _____ into Google. Chances are, you'll come up with something. I just tried it with the word "Decorating" in the blank, and came up with this. It has all sorts of stuff on Decorating, House, Home and relationships. I tried it again with Macroeconomics in the blank, and got this.
Surely you will find something to love, link to, and discuss.
5) Then there's YouTube. Lord, have mercy. I was looking today for something for my next safety meeting and discovered this:
Youtube has enough video of forklift accidents to give me bad dreams for months. Whatever floats your boat, they've got movies of it. Type in the keywords, you'll find it. Amazing. I might do an entire post of "Worst Forklift Accident Videos" sometime soon.
6) How many jokes, funny pictures, photoshops, and email chains are you forwarded every day? Copy them. Post them.
7) What cool places and things are in your city or neighborhood? I once gave online directions to Lee Harvey Oswald's grave, and that thing still gets about a dozen hits a week.
8) You can put together lists of new sites that you've discovered and enjoyed.
I'm tired and going to bed. Hope this has been useful.
This has been a public service of The Whited Sepulchre Outreach Ministry.
Yes, those statements are out there. Put the phrases "not much to write about" or "nothing to write about" into Google, and you'll find them.
It's the Year Of Our Lord 2008. China's got Olympics problems with Tibet. A former P.O.W. who was tortured for years by the Vietnamese is running for president against either a black man with serious preacher problems or a white woman with more hidden and lost baggage than Heathrow Airport. Our government has checks in the mail in a Keynesian effort to end a recession that we can't be in yet (recessions require two consecutive quarters of negative growth.) There are millions of people online, just waiting to read what you have to say about all this. But sometimes we all need a kick start.
So as a service to our Republic, here are my suggestions for what to do when you think there's nothing to write about.
1) Somewhere near you is a newspaper with an online presence. In my case, there's my beloved Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Just looking through the first page of the site, there's an article about the Methodists having a "negotiated disruption", whatever that is, about same-sex unions, gay clergy, and the like. The Star-T also has more info on John Peter Smith Hospital, our local government funded charity health care center, which is underfunded but has $72,000,000 in the bank. Plus, the Top Dawg was pulling in $700,000 per year. Eminent Domain abuser Jerry Jones has signed Bad Boy Pacman Jones. If you don't have something to bring to the table on any of these issues, you need to turn off your computer and go watch American Idol.
2) Because God loves us, She has given us a world that includes an internet search engine called Google. You have information at your fingertips that, just twenty years ago, was inaccesible to all but the most privileged academics. As further proof of Divine Blessing: a feature called "Google Trends". This lists the top 100 search terms put into Google over the last hour.
By the time you read this, Google Trends will have changedfrom these topics, but.... I have an interest in one called Paul vs Hillary, which is a court case involving the baggage lady mentioned above.
Another term in the top Google Trends Top 100: May Day. May 1st. The traditional holiday for socialist labor. Following the links provided led me to this article in the Guardian (UK), about Raul Castro having to lead Cuba's May Day ceremonies in place of ailing brother Fidel. I LOVED the last line of the article....Marches were held simultaneously in other Cuban cities; several million people were expected to attend. As if the poor bastards had a choice.
If you can't spend five minutes on Google Trends and find a topic to type about, give up, get up, turn off your computer, and go watch "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?".
(FYI... As soon as "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?" goes off the air, an embarrassing number of the show's questions show up on the Google Trends site. I fear for my country.)
3) Do you ever wish that you had a subscription to Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, Harper's, Atlantic Monthly, and every other major magazine? Well, those are the links. It doesn't matter if you're into dogs, kites, coffin-handle manufacturing, cars, or the life and career of Millard Fillmore, somewhere out there is a magazine or site devoted to that interest. I probably write more about politics than anything else, so from far left to far right, there are websites for The Nation, Mother Jones, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, The American Spectator, and National Review. On the libertarian side of things (different continuum) you have Reason and Liberty magazines. (I can never sign onto the New Republic site. I've either ripped them to shreds so many times that they've blocked my URL, or they're going through a financial crisis, or they just can't keep their site running.)
If you can go into those and not find something to make your blood boil, then give up. Go watch Bill O'Reilly or Keith Olbermann. Let tell you what to think. I apologize for the snarky tone toward bloggers who have nothing to write about. I've seen so many great topics in these links.... I could type for days.
4) There are other sites called "Aggregators". They simply collect links on a given topic. Republicans generally like Instapundit or Little Green Footballs. There's one called Real Clear Politics that covers the entire political spectrum. Alan K. Henderson's Weblog and Libertarian Blog Place are the best ones for libertarians. Whatever interests you, simply type "Blog" "aggregator" and _____ into Google. Chances are, you'll come up with something. I just tried it with the word "Decorating" in the blank, and came up with this. It has all sorts of stuff on Decorating, House, Home and relationships. I tried it again with Macroeconomics in the blank, and got this.
Surely you will find something to love, link to, and discuss.
5) Then there's YouTube. Lord, have mercy. I was looking today for something for my next safety meeting and discovered this:
Youtube has enough video of forklift accidents to give me bad dreams for months. Whatever floats your boat, they've got movies of it. Type in the keywords, you'll find it. Amazing. I might do an entire post of "Worst Forklift Accident Videos" sometime soon.
6) How many jokes, funny pictures, photoshops, and email chains are you forwarded every day? Copy them. Post them.
7) What cool places and things are in your city or neighborhood? I once gave online directions to Lee Harvey Oswald's grave, and that thing still gets about a dozen hits a week.
8) You can put together lists of new sites that you've discovered and enjoyed.
I'm tired and going to bed. Hope this has been useful.
This has been a public service of The Whited Sepulchre Outreach Ministry.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
My Barack Obama & Jeremiah Wright Conspiracy Theory
Take a look at this, this, and this. They're all editorials that ask why Barack Obama took so long to disown Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I believe they all come to the wrong conclusions.
Consider this as a conspiracy theory. Nothing more than a theory. How well do you think it holds up?
1) Obama has been a member of Jeremiah Wright's church for two decades. Wright is, by all accounts, the reason Obama became a Christian. Wright baptized both of the Obama daughters. They're buddies. They're both very smart men. But they have a problem. See #2.
2) Jeremiah Wright occasionally went off on anti-American, anti-White, and anti-Semitic diatribes from the pulpit. It's part of the expected liturgy in some black churches. This wasn't a big deal for a local Chicago politician, an Illinois state senator, or even a Senator from Illinois. It's a huge problem for a potential President Of The United States. But Obama can't disown Wright. They've known each other for too long.
3) Obama begins distancing himself from Jeremiah Wright at the very beginning of the election, and won't let Wright appear on the platform during the announcement of his candidacy. Obama can distance himself from Wright, but he can't disown him.
4) The Youtube videos (Wright Goddaming America, stating that our government infected blacks with Aids, etc.) hit a nationwide audience. Obama probably wishes he'd become a suburban Episcopalian. He can't disown Wright.
5) Damage control begins. Wright is referred to as an "eccentric uncle".
6) Damage control fails. Obama gives his "Race In America" speech, to wide acclaim. Obama says he can't disown Wright any more than he can disown the Black Community. At this point, he really can't.
7) The issue still won't go away. Jeremiah Wright isn't heard from. Obama still won't disown Wright. It would make him look like a flip-flopper.
8) Talk Radio and The Clintons see to it that Jeremiah Wright stays in the discussion. Something must be done. But Obama can't possibly disown Wright. He's waited too long, and it would make him look weak. Especially after that great speech.
7) Obama's people meet with Wright's people in some smoke-filled room. Strategies are discussed. Deals are made. (We're now into serious conspiracy theory territory....)
8) Wright is then brought forth from the cave where he's been hidden from public view. They wind him up. They take off the sackcloth and ashes and put him back in his regular clothes. Wright, knowingly or unknowingly, aggrees to cooperate by giving speeches that make Al Sharpton look like Thomas Sowell. Obama, along with everyone else, is now able to be publicly appalled. The media breaks out into polite operatic applause as Obama starts clearing his throat to totally disown, condemn, and slap down Jeremiah Wright.
9) Wright starts working the cameras, screaming at the microphones, and breaking out in stigmata. He's so over the top that most people think he's obviously gone insane.
10) Obama is finally able to sadly shake his head, make some tsk tsk tsk noises, say "this isn't the Jeremiah Wright I knew".
11) And now he's finally disowned Jeremiah Wright. It took about a year. By the time it comes down to Obama vs. McCain, Jeremiah Wright's sad decline into a full blown rabies victim will be perceived as a process that began about 5-6 years ago, instead of a pre-existing condition from 25 years ago.
12) Obama will then be adequately inocculated from criticism over his past relationship with the sad, delusional, rabid Jeremiah Wright.
Please discuss amongst yourselves.
Consider this as a conspiracy theory. Nothing more than a theory. How well do you think it holds up?
1) Obama has been a member of Jeremiah Wright's church for two decades. Wright is, by all accounts, the reason Obama became a Christian. Wright baptized both of the Obama daughters. They're buddies. They're both very smart men. But they have a problem. See #2.
2) Jeremiah Wright occasionally went off on anti-American, anti-White, and anti-Semitic diatribes from the pulpit. It's part of the expected liturgy in some black churches. This wasn't a big deal for a local Chicago politician, an Illinois state senator, or even a Senator from Illinois. It's a huge problem for a potential President Of The United States. But Obama can't disown Wright. They've known each other for too long.
3) Obama begins distancing himself from Jeremiah Wright at the very beginning of the election, and won't let Wright appear on the platform during the announcement of his candidacy. Obama can distance himself from Wright, but he can't disown him.
4) The Youtube videos (Wright Goddaming America, stating that our government infected blacks with Aids, etc.) hit a nationwide audience. Obama probably wishes he'd become a suburban Episcopalian. He can't disown Wright.
5) Damage control begins. Wright is referred to as an "eccentric uncle".
6) Damage control fails. Obama gives his "Race In America" speech, to wide acclaim. Obama says he can't disown Wright any more than he can disown the Black Community. At this point, he really can't.
7) The issue still won't go away. Jeremiah Wright isn't heard from. Obama still won't disown Wright. It would make him look like a flip-flopper.
8) Talk Radio and The Clintons see to it that Jeremiah Wright stays in the discussion. Something must be done. But Obama can't possibly disown Wright. He's waited too long, and it would make him look weak. Especially after that great speech.
7) Obama's people meet with Wright's people in some smoke-filled room. Strategies are discussed. Deals are made. (We're now into serious conspiracy theory territory....)
8) Wright is then brought forth from the cave where he's been hidden from public view. They wind him up. They take off the sackcloth and ashes and put him back in his regular clothes. Wright, knowingly or unknowingly, aggrees to cooperate by giving speeches that make Al Sharpton look like Thomas Sowell. Obama, along with everyone else, is now able to be publicly appalled. The media breaks out into polite operatic applause as Obama starts clearing his throat to totally disown, condemn, and slap down Jeremiah Wright.
9) Wright starts working the cameras, screaming at the microphones, and breaking out in stigmata. He's so over the top that most people think he's obviously gone insane.
10) Obama is finally able to sadly shake his head, make some tsk tsk tsk noises, say "this isn't the Jeremiah Wright I knew".
11) And now he's finally disowned Jeremiah Wright. It took about a year. By the time it comes down to Obama vs. McCain, Jeremiah Wright's sad decline into a full blown rabies victim will be perceived as a process that began about 5-6 years ago, instead of a pre-existing condition from 25 years ago.
12) Obama will then be adequately inocculated from criticism over his past relationship with the sad, delusional, rabid Jeremiah Wright.
Please discuss amongst yourselves.
Carnival Of The Libertarians, #8 & #9, send posts to Hell's Handmaiden and Dodgeblogium
I run something called "Carnival Of The Libertarians". It's a blog carnival, which is a travelling collection of blog posts on a particular topic. People from all over submit their favorite posts to the host sites. Mine started at this site, gained some steam, and now I've sent it off to make its way in the world.
When I hosted it, the end result looked like this.
Here's what they did with it for the current issue at Wench Wisdom.
Judy at Consent Of The Governed did a double-back-flip, triple-spiral somersault with a perfect landing. Judy gave us additional commentary. She threw in pictures and logos. Judy is an over-achiever.
John at Hell's Handmaiden will be hosting the next edition May 11th, but there haven't been many submissions yet. I can promise you he's going to post anything you send him on seperation of church and state, or freedom of religion, or freedom from religion, or freedom and religion.
And if you have anything else for John on the subject of smaller government, human rights, 2nd amendment issues, free markets, or anything else that fits underneath the libertarian umbrella, submit a link to your post by clicking here.
After that, on May 25th COTL travels to the site of Mr. Andrew Ian Dodge - Dodgeblogium - where Mr. Dodge "combines a taste for heavy metal music with heavy metal politics". Mr. Dodge apparently jumps back and forth between the U.S. and London. If he's in London when the Carnival posts, we will have gone international.
Back in January, I wrote an admiring post about a British politician named Boris Johnson, a semi-libertarian candidate for Mayor of London. Turns out, Mr. Andrew Ian Dodge knows Mr. Boris Johnson, and has spent quite a bit of time with him. Click here for the Dodgeblogium dissection of Mr. Johnson's opponent. Worth reading, even if you can't vote there. Final results of this mayoral election to be announced this Friday, I believe.
You can use the same link (above) to submit your posts when Dodgeblogium is the host site. You'll have to wait until after May 11th. But you've got at least a dozen things you'd like to see linked on these sites, don't you? So send John a batch to read now, and send Andrew a batch after the 11th. These are good people and good writers. Can't wait to see what they do with it.
-P.S. Go Boris. Defeat the socialist.
When I hosted it, the end result looked like this.
Here's what they did with it for the current issue at Wench Wisdom.
Judy at Consent Of The Governed did a double-back-flip, triple-spiral somersault with a perfect landing. Judy gave us additional commentary. She threw in pictures and logos. Judy is an over-achiever.
John at Hell's Handmaiden will be hosting the next edition May 11th, but there haven't been many submissions yet. I can promise you he's going to post anything you send him on seperation of church and state, or freedom of religion, or freedom from religion, or freedom and religion.
And if you have anything else for John on the subject of smaller government, human rights, 2nd amendment issues, free markets, or anything else that fits underneath the libertarian umbrella, submit a link to your post by clicking here.
After that, on May 25th COTL travels to the site of Mr. Andrew Ian Dodge - Dodgeblogium - where Mr. Dodge "combines a taste for heavy metal music with heavy metal politics". Mr. Dodge apparently jumps back and forth between the U.S. and London. If he's in London when the Carnival posts, we will have gone international.
Back in January, I wrote an admiring post about a British politician named Boris Johnson, a semi-libertarian candidate for Mayor of London. Turns out, Mr. Andrew Ian Dodge knows Mr. Boris Johnson, and has spent quite a bit of time with him. Click here for the Dodgeblogium dissection of Mr. Johnson's opponent. Worth reading, even if you can't vote there. Final results of this mayoral election to be announced this Friday, I believe.
You can use the same link (above) to submit your posts when Dodgeblogium is the host site. You'll have to wait until after May 11th. But you've got at least a dozen things you'd like to see linked on these sites, don't you? So send John a batch to read now, and send Andrew a batch after the 11th. These are good people and good writers. Can't wait to see what they do with it.
-P.S. Go Boris. Defeat the socialist.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Scared To Death
It was just this Saturday I was lamenting that Christopher Booker and Richard North's "Scared To Death" was not yet in print in the U.S.
My need brought it forth, like a burning bush in the wilderness. I got the last copy that Border's Books had on the shelf. Amazon.com (see link above) is temporarily out of stock. One of the authors, Dr. Richard North, is co-blogger of the EU Referendum blog to your right. He's a retired food safety consultant, and is freakin' brilliant.
Remember when all your friends and relatives were dying from Mad Cow Disease? That's funny....I don't either.
Remember when the computers all went nuts on New Year's Eve of the new millenium because of the date change and the electrical grid shut down and all the airliners crashed into the oceans? You don't remember that happening during Y2K? I don't either.
How about all the kids in your neighborhood who were subjected to Satanic Ritual Abuse? I know that my streets aren't full of them.
So how are we supposed to act when Saint Albert, The Goracle of Music City, stands atop the mountain and threatens to bring us darkness at noonday and fill the moon with blood and give Waco, Texas, some beachfront property unless the government contributes to his Kleiner Perkins /Al Gore pension fund? (Counting Cats, I gave you the link....)
Now that this book has entered the world, we have no excuse. We are obliged to laugh.
This book lists about two dozen of our Chicken Little moments, what caused them, how the media, lobbyists, and governments reacted, and the embarrased silence that followed their exposure. I've just recently started it, and wanted to help these guys out as much as possible. Here's a link to the only review written on the American Amazon site so far.
You can't imagine what I went through in China, trying to avoid Asian Bird Flu.
If I'd only known then what I know now....I would've eaten a lot more duck.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Happy Confederate Memorial Day ! ! !
Just Joking.
But it really is Confederate Memorial Day in a few places. Wikipedia has the best chart of Confederate Memorial Days, state by state.
Question: Why isn't Confederate Memorial Day celebrated on the same day in all the Southern States ?
Answer: That's what happens with a confederation, unlike a nation, and it's part of the reason why Confederate money was eventually used as wallpaper. Rebels aren't known for being cooperative.
When I saw a web posting about Alabama's Confederate Memorial Day observance, it made me remember a few things..... and I have no idea where I'm going with this.
I went to a Mississippi school that had grades K-12 under one roof. I played snare drum in the 5th grade band, and stuck with it through the 12th. Our fight song (it was a segregationist academy) was "Dixie". I played that song in every parade, pep rally, pregame and halftime. I played "Dixie" after every field goal and touchdown for eight years.
Then I went to The University of Mississippi - a.k.a. Ole Miss.
At Ole Miss, I was also in the marching band (triple drums), and the fight song was, of course, "Dixie. I played that song for all of the occasions listed above plus blocked punts, 3-pointers, fourth-down completions, and coin-tosses. After two years, I transferred to a much smaller college. It had a different fight song, but the college was in the middle of the Mississippi Delta, immortalized in at least one book as "The Most Southern Place on Earth".
We didn't have to play "Dixie" quite as often there. Just before, during, and after the games. So from 5th grade until college graduation (10 years), I played Daniel Emmett's minstrel ballad "Dixie" more than anyone should ever have to.
Shortly after I graduated, African-American athletes wisely decided that schools which played Slaveholder Anthems should be avoided. The song fell out of favor, and I haven't heard it in years.
Therefore, since I got such a head start, I can make the case that I've played "Dixie" more than anyone else alive. I don't know where I'm going with any of this, in case you're wondering. Stop reading now if you're expecting me to make a point.
I had a "maiden" great aunt, to use a Southern euphemism for unmarried female relative, who we called Libba. Libba had seemed ancient for as long as I could remember. The day eventually came when she had to move into a nursing home in Jackson, Mississippi. Her mind was as sharp as ever, but her body was betraying her.
It was a nice enough nursing home. Ross Barnett - the infamous Mississippi governor who stood in the doorway of the University of Mississippi administration building to prevent James Meredith from integrating Ole Miss - had spent his last days at the same facility.
Going to the nursing home was traumatic enough for Libba. One of the many things she found to gripe about: the nursing home, as an integrated care center, didn't observe Confederate Memorial Day. OMG.
Ok, I know where I'm going with this post. It'll be worthwhile.
Libba eventually adjusted, and spent her time watching Jeopardy and writing hate mail to Alex Trebek for not agreeing with everything she'd learned at Yazoo City Consolidated High School. I don't remember the name of Libba's first roommate, because that lady was white.
You know what happens next, don't you? The white roommate went on to the place where you go after you leave the nursing home.
Libba's next roommate, Mrs. Mackey, was black. There was major trauma for all involved. We're talking about people who grew up in the Jim Crow south.
Mrs. Mackey was in her early sixties, totally blind, but otherwise healthy. She was one of the most genuinely kind and caring people I've ever known.
Libba was outraged over being assigned a black roommate. Worked herself into a devout Methodist fury. She was too polite to say anything to Mrs. Mackey, of course. I think part of the problem was that Libba could see that Mrs. Mackey was black. But Libba had know way of knowing if Mrs. Mackey, being blind, really knew that Libba was white. (I know, I know, this is almost like a Henry James novel....)
Libba made phone calls to the family whenever Mrs. Mackey shuffled outside the room. Plots were plotted. Whispers were whispered. The nursing home wouldn't budge. They were an integrated facility, and Libba and Mrs. Mackey were going to be roommates unless one of them could come up with the money for a private room.
And then, it happened....as they always say before the crucial moments in episodes of "The Wonder Years".
Libba's electric wheelchair stopped working.
The electric wheelchair had been Libba's status symbol, giving her a level of mobility denied to most of the others on her floor. The electric wheelchair got her to the cafeteria before all the red jello was gone. Not only that, but the electric wheelchair said "My nieces are married to guys who are RICH !"
The tragic wheelchair malfunction brought Libba down to the commoner level. She knew more than Alex Trebek, and could work the New York Times Crossword with a permanent marker, but she wasn't strong enough to push her wheelchair to the cafeteria.
That's when the two roommates finally bonded. Libba could see, but couldn't walk. Mrs. Mackey could walk, but couldn't see. Unless they started cooperating, lesser beings would beat them into the cafeteria, and there would only be nasty green jello left. So Mrs. Mackey started pushing Libba and the wheelchair while Libba navigated. I think they eventually ditched the heavy electric contraption for a more streamlined manual model.
They learned about each others' relatives. They worked out a joint custody schedule for the radio and television programs. Theological debates took place in their room that would've left Martin Luther and John Calvin scratching their heads in wonder, wondering "just who is this Jimmy Swaggart person, anyway?" Libba and Mrs. Mackey spent a lot of time wandering around the nursing home in a symbiotic relationship, stopping in various rooms to show off their mobility and say "howdy".
Somewhere in that relationship is a good screenplay. Sort of a cross between "Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Defiant Ones", where Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier are chained together but still escape from the chain gang.
In fact, I hereby copyright this movie idea: Imagine mixed race nursing home roommates who aren't allowed to leave for the black grandson's graduation or the white granddaughter's wedding. Something like that.... So they escape in the middle of the night in order to attend both events. They have road trip adventures. They get the wheelchair onto a Greyhound bus. They bond together. They go into a redneck bar in the middle of the night to earn meal money by singing Jimmy Swaggart songs for tips. The crowd goes wild over them, and many of the bar patrons resolve to live a better life. Everyone learns important life lessons, like in The Wonder Years or Grey's Anatomy.
They float the wheelchair down the Mississippi River on a barge, with Huck Finn overtones. They're given up for dead, and watch their own funerals from the church balcony, in a Tom Sawyer homage. They eventually get back to the nursing home cafeteria in time for the red jello, and discover that the white half of the duo has forgotten all about Confederate Memorial Day.
As we all should. It was a hundred and forty years ago.
Let's give up Dixie too. I hate that damn song.
But it really is Confederate Memorial Day in a few places. Wikipedia has the best chart of Confederate Memorial Days, state by state.
Question: Why isn't Confederate Memorial Day celebrated on the same day in all the Southern States ?
Answer: That's what happens with a confederation, unlike a nation, and it's part of the reason why Confederate money was eventually used as wallpaper. Rebels aren't known for being cooperative.
When I saw a web posting about Alabama's Confederate Memorial Day observance, it made me remember a few things..... and I have no idea where I'm going with this.
I went to a Mississippi school that had grades K-12 under one roof. I played snare drum in the 5th grade band, and stuck with it through the 12th. Our fight song (it was a segregationist academy) was "Dixie". I played that song in every parade, pep rally, pregame and halftime. I played "Dixie" after every field goal and touchdown for eight years.
Then I went to The University of Mississippi - a.k.a. Ole Miss.
At Ole Miss, I was also in the marching band (triple drums), and the fight song was, of course, "Dixie. I played that song for all of the occasions listed above plus blocked punts, 3-pointers, fourth-down completions, and coin-tosses. After two years, I transferred to a much smaller college. It had a different fight song, but the college was in the middle of the Mississippi Delta, immortalized in at least one book as "The Most Southern Place on Earth".
We didn't have to play "Dixie" quite as often there. Just before, during, and after the games. So from 5th grade until college graduation (10 years), I played Daniel Emmett's minstrel ballad "Dixie" more than anyone should ever have to.
Shortly after I graduated, African-American athletes wisely decided that schools which played Slaveholder Anthems should be avoided. The song fell out of favor, and I haven't heard it in years.
Therefore, since I got such a head start, I can make the case that I've played "Dixie" more than anyone else alive. I don't know where I'm going with any of this, in case you're wondering. Stop reading now if you're expecting me to make a point.
I had a "maiden" great aunt, to use a Southern euphemism for unmarried female relative, who we called Libba. Libba had seemed ancient for as long as I could remember. The day eventually came when she had to move into a nursing home in Jackson, Mississippi. Her mind was as sharp as ever, but her body was betraying her.
It was a nice enough nursing home. Ross Barnett - the infamous Mississippi governor who stood in the doorway of the University of Mississippi administration building to prevent James Meredith from integrating Ole Miss - had spent his last days at the same facility.
Going to the nursing home was traumatic enough for Libba. One of the many things she found to gripe about: the nursing home, as an integrated care center, didn't observe Confederate Memorial Day. OMG.
Ok, I know where I'm going with this post. It'll be worthwhile.
Libba eventually adjusted, and spent her time watching Jeopardy and writing hate mail to Alex Trebek for not agreeing with everything she'd learned at Yazoo City Consolidated High School. I don't remember the name of Libba's first roommate, because that lady was white.
You know what happens next, don't you? The white roommate went on to the place where you go after you leave the nursing home.
Libba's next roommate, Mrs. Mackey, was black. There was major trauma for all involved. We're talking about people who grew up in the Jim Crow south.
Mrs. Mackey was in her early sixties, totally blind, but otherwise healthy. She was one of the most genuinely kind and caring people I've ever known.
Libba was outraged over being assigned a black roommate. Worked herself into a devout Methodist fury. She was too polite to say anything to Mrs. Mackey, of course. I think part of the problem was that Libba could see that Mrs. Mackey was black. But Libba had know way of knowing if Mrs. Mackey, being blind, really knew that Libba was white. (I know, I know, this is almost like a Henry James novel....)
Libba made phone calls to the family whenever Mrs. Mackey shuffled outside the room. Plots were plotted. Whispers were whispered. The nursing home wouldn't budge. They were an integrated facility, and Libba and Mrs. Mackey were going to be roommates unless one of them could come up with the money for a private room.
And then, it happened....as they always say before the crucial moments in episodes of "The Wonder Years".
Libba's electric wheelchair stopped working.
The electric wheelchair had been Libba's status symbol, giving her a level of mobility denied to most of the others on her floor. The electric wheelchair got her to the cafeteria before all the red jello was gone. Not only that, but the electric wheelchair said "My nieces are married to guys who are RICH !"
The tragic wheelchair malfunction brought Libba down to the commoner level. She knew more than Alex Trebek, and could work the New York Times Crossword with a permanent marker, but she wasn't strong enough to push her wheelchair to the cafeteria.
That's when the two roommates finally bonded. Libba could see, but couldn't walk. Mrs. Mackey could walk, but couldn't see. Unless they started cooperating, lesser beings would beat them into the cafeteria, and there would only be nasty green jello left. So Mrs. Mackey started pushing Libba and the wheelchair while Libba navigated. I think they eventually ditched the heavy electric contraption for a more streamlined manual model.
They learned about each others' relatives. They worked out a joint custody schedule for the radio and television programs. Theological debates took place in their room that would've left Martin Luther and John Calvin scratching their heads in wonder, wondering "just who is this Jimmy Swaggart person, anyway?" Libba and Mrs. Mackey spent a lot of time wandering around the nursing home in a symbiotic relationship, stopping in various rooms to show off their mobility and say "howdy".
Somewhere in that relationship is a good screenplay. Sort of a cross between "Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Defiant Ones", where Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier are chained together but still escape from the chain gang.
In fact, I hereby copyright this movie idea: Imagine mixed race nursing home roommates who aren't allowed to leave for the black grandson's graduation or the white granddaughter's wedding. Something like that.... So they escape in the middle of the night in order to attend both events. They have road trip adventures. They get the wheelchair onto a Greyhound bus. They bond together. They go into a redneck bar in the middle of the night to earn meal money by singing Jimmy Swaggart songs for tips. The crowd goes wild over them, and many of the bar patrons resolve to live a better life. Everyone learns important life lessons, like in The Wonder Years or Grey's Anatomy.
They float the wheelchair down the Mississippi River on a barge, with Huck Finn overtones. They're given up for dead, and watch their own funerals from the church balcony, in a Tom Sawyer homage. They eventually get back to the nursing home cafeteria in time for the red jello, and discover that the white half of the duo has forgotten all about Confederate Memorial Day.
As we all should. It was a hundred and forty years ago.
Let's give up Dixie too. I hate that damn song.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
An Armed Society Is A Polite Society
Here's an interesting piece of info on the benefits of gun ownership....from the BBC News, of all people:
....Why is it then that so many Americans - and foreigners who come here - feel that the place is so, well, safe?
I have met incredulous British tourists who have been shocked to the core by the peacefulness of the place (the USA)
A British man I met in Colorado recently told me he used to live in Kent but he moved to the American state of New Jersey and will not go home because it is, as he put it, "a gentler environment for bringing the kids up."
This is New Jersey. Home of the Sopranos.
Brits arriving in New York, hoping to avoid being slaughtered on day one of their shopping mission to Manhattan are, by day two, beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about. By day three they have had had the scales lifted from their eyes.
I have met incredulous British tourists who have been shocked to the core by the peacefulness of the place, the lack of the violent undercurrent so ubiquitous in British cities, even British market towns.
"It seems so nice here," they quaver.
Well, it is!
Violent paradox
Ten or 20 years ago, it was a different story, but things have changed.
And this is Manhattan.
Wait till you get to London Texas, or Glasgow Montana, or Oxford Mississippi or Virgin Utah, for that matter, where every household is required by local ordinance to possess a gun.
Folks will have guns in all of these places and if you break into their homes they will probably kill you.
They will occasionally kill each other in anger or by mistake, but you never feel as unsafe as you can feel in south London.
It is a paradox. Along with the guns there is a tranquillity and civility about American life of which most British people can only dream.
I've copied the whole article here, just in case the BBC takes down the original. Worth reading.
Hat Tip to Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit for the post title.
....Why is it then that so many Americans - and foreigners who come here - feel that the place is so, well, safe?
I have met incredulous British tourists who have been shocked to the core by the peacefulness of the place (the USA)
A British man I met in Colorado recently told me he used to live in Kent but he moved to the American state of New Jersey and will not go home because it is, as he put it, "a gentler environment for bringing the kids up."
This is New Jersey. Home of the Sopranos.
Brits arriving in New York, hoping to avoid being slaughtered on day one of their shopping mission to Manhattan are, by day two, beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about. By day three they have had had the scales lifted from their eyes.
I have met incredulous British tourists who have been shocked to the core by the peacefulness of the place, the lack of the violent undercurrent so ubiquitous in British cities, even British market towns.
"It seems so nice here," they quaver.
Well, it is!
Violent paradox
Ten or 20 years ago, it was a different story, but things have changed.
And this is Manhattan.
Wait till you get to London Texas, or Glasgow Montana, or Oxford Mississippi or Virgin Utah, for that matter, where every household is required by local ordinance to possess a gun.
Folks will have guns in all of these places and if you break into their homes they will probably kill you.
They will occasionally kill each other in anger or by mistake, but you never feel as unsafe as you can feel in south London.
It is a paradox. Along with the guns there is a tranquillity and civility about American life of which most British people can only dream.
I've copied the whole article here, just in case the BBC takes down the original. Worth reading.
Hat Tip to Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit for the post title.
Kay Bailey Hutchison, Undoing America's Ethanol Mistake, One Decade At A Time
You can't imagine my joy at seeing Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison leading off an Investor's Business Daily editorial with a quotation from the great Milton Friedman.
Undoing America's Ethanol Mistake
By SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON Posted Friday, April 25, 2008 4:20 PM PT
The Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman once said, "One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results."
So far, so good. That's what is so irritating about campaign ads claiming that "My opponent voted against helping starving gay orphans in Darfur." Chances are that the policy or program in question would've done nothing for the starving gay orphans in Darfur except create more of them.
When Congress passed legislation to greatly expand America's commitment to biofuels, it intended to create energy independence and protect the environment.
No, we're already going off the rails in this editorial. Congress intended to take care of corn farmers in Iowa, where the first Presidential primaries are held. Then they intended to take care of other giant agribusinesses scattered throughout a lot of congressional districts. All other considerations were secondary.
But the results have been quite different. America remains equally dependent on foreign sources of energy, and new evidence suggests that ethanol is causing great harm to the environment.
In recent weeks, the correlation between government biofuel mandates and rapidly rising food prices has become undeniable.
Yep. It's like what would happen if the Government paid lots of money for people to kill weiner dogs. The supply of weiner dogs would go down, but the value of weiner dogs, as they become scarce, would go up. Weiner dogs would have to be brought in from elsewhere. Especially if the Government insisted on paying people to kill weiner dogs long after the supply had diminished.
We would be creating a supply of weiner dogs to support the weinerdog killing industry.
If you think this is the dumbest analogy you've ever heard, you're probably correct. I just happen to be looking at three weiner dogs diggin up my back yard....
Wait a minute.... read this Time magazine article about Iowa becoming a net IMPORTER of corn to convert into ethanol. IOWA no longer has enough corn to make ethanol, so they're bringing in corn from other places.
My weiner dog analogy is dead-on, and borderline brilliant.
At a time when the U.S. economy is facing recession, Congress needs to reform its "food-to-fuel" policies and look at alternatives to strengthen energy security.
Good. How about letting us build some nuclear power plants?
On Dec. 19, 2007, President Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act. This legislation had several positive features, including higher fuel standards for cars and greater investment in renewable energies such as solar power.
Good. But the legislation exempted certain trophy vehicles like Hummers and other Neo-Fascist Military Limousines. Your legislation only applies to the little people. But solar power is good. How about some nuclear power plants?
However, the bill required a huge spike in the biofuel production requirement, from 7.5 billion gallons in 2012 to 36 billion in 2022.
This was a well-intentioned measure, but it was also impractical. Nearly all our domestic corn and grain supply is needed to meet this mandate, robbing the world of one of its most important sources of food.
So what results were we expecting ? ? ? Did anyone think that food prices would remain stable? ? ?
We are already seeing the ill effects of this measure. Last year, 25% of America's corn crop was diverted to produce ethanol. In 2008, that number will grow to 30%-35%, and it will soar even higher in the years to come.
Unless we end the mandates and the subsidies. Senator, you know, you could simply end the mandates, quotas, and subsidies. Let the market determine the price for all of this stuff, and the Invisible Hand will take care of the rest far better than you and Trent Lott and Nancy Pelosi could dream of doing.
Furthermore, the trend of farmers supplanting other grains with corn is decreasing the supply of numerous agricultural products. When the supply of those products goes down, the price inevitably goes up.
Subsequently, the cost of feeding farm and ranch animals increases and the cost is passed to consumers of beef, poultry and pork products.
If Ashley and Jason use all the corn to drive the Volvo to Whole Foods to buy groceries for Dylan and Joplin, that doesn't leave much corn for the hog farmer, does it?
Since February 2006, the price of corn, wheat and soybeans has increased by more than 240%. Rising food prices are hitting the pockets of lower-income Americans and people who live on fixed incomes.
While the blame for higher costs shouldn't rest exclusively with biofuels — drought and rising oil costs are contributing factors — the expansion of biofuels has been a major source of the problem.
Wow. Someone has beaten her about the head and shoulders with a Clue Stick.
The International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that biofuel production accounts for between one-quarter and one-third of the recent spike in global commodity prices.
I did a little reading on The International Food Policy Research Institute. They seem to be a pretty decent left-wing organization. But they see policies and programs as the solution, not the leading cause of the problem. Therefore, if they're going out on a limb and suggesting that biofuel mandates are responsible for one-third of the problem, you can safely double that number.
For the first time in 30 years, food riots are breaking out in many parts of the globe, including major countries such as Mexico, Pakistan and Indonesia.
The fact that America's energy policies are creating global instability should concern the leaders of both political parties.
Restraining the dangerous effects of artificially inflated demand for ethanol should be an issue that unites both conservatives and progressives.
OMG, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is now calling them "progressives" ! ! ! What are they "progressing" toward, starvation and riots? A proper phrasing of that sentence would be "Restraining the dangerous effects of blah blah blah Getting out of the price-fixing business should be an issue that unites both conservatives and progressives that causes both Republicans and Democrats to look at the Free Market Libertarian concept of leaving things alone."
As a recent Time cover story pointed out, biofuel mandates increase greenhouse gasses and create incentives for global deforestation.
In the Amazon basin, huge swaths of forest are being cleared to meet the growing hunger for biofuels.
Kind of like weiner dog breeding farms would spring up if the Government paid people to kill them. Got to meet that quota.
In addition, relief organizations are facing gaping shortfalls as the cost of food outpaces their ability to provide aid for the 800 million people who lack food security.
The recent food crisis does not mean we should entirely abandon biofuels.
The best way to lower energy prices, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, is to accelerate production of all forms of domestic energy.
But we're going to get rid of the quotas and subsidies, right? There's no way an intelligent human could write this article and NOT advocate ending the quotas and subsidies. We're causing chaos and upheaval all over the world with this insane mess. Please, please, please, tell me you advocate making this all stop. Please, Senator, please....
Expanding biofuels while refusing to take other measures, such as lifting the ban on oil and natural gas production in Alaska and the Outer Continental Shelf, is counterproductive. We should be tapping into a broad portfolio of energy options, including clean coal, nuclear power and wave energy.
O yes, yes, yes. So we're going to go drill in Alaska, AND the mandates and subsidies are going to end? You now understand that we're digging a hole that's getting deeper and deeper, and we're not going to pay people to shovel any longer???
The key is increasing energy supply. By taking these measures, we can enable biofuels to be part of the energy solution, instead of contributing to the energy problem.
Good, good, good. Our Senator sees where the problem lies. Subsidies of biofuels are the energy problem. If someone wants to grow corn and biofuel manufacturers pay more for it than anyone else, great. But no more quotas, mandates, or subsidies. People are gonna start dying at an even greater rate if that stupidity continues.
Congress must take action. I am introducing legislation that will freeze the biofuel mandate at current levels, instead of steadily increasing it through 2022.
THE MIND RECOILS. THE MIND IS SHUTTING DOWN. ABORT !! ABORT !! I THINK SENATOR KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON JUST ADVOCATED LEAVING THE CURRENT SYSTEM IN PLACE.
Congress must take action. I am introducing legislation that will freeze the biofuel mandate at current levels, instead of steadily increasing it through 2022.
Wait a freakin' minute. You call that "taking action"? Leaving an acknowledged financial, ethical, environmental and moral disaster like the one you just outlined in place? That's "taking action"? Let's look at that amazing sentence one more time.
Congress must take action. I am introducing legislation that will freeze the biofuel mandate at current levels, instead of steadily increasing it through 2022.
Good Lord have mercy, she really said it.
This is a common-sense measure that will reduce pressure on global food prices and restore balance to America's energy policy.
I've seen more common sense in the "Dumb and Dumber" movies.
As the Senate debates this issue, we must remain focused on the facts.
Yeah, the fact that you people have wealthy contributors who want the current system to remain intact.
At one point, expanding biofuels made sense for America's energy security. But the recent surge in food prices has forced us to adapt. The global demand for energy and food is expected to rise about 50% in the next 20 years, and the U.S. is well-positioned to be a leader in both areas.
That will require a careful, finely tuned approach to America's farm products.
Senator, you people couldn't carefully fine-tune a banjo, much less something as delicate as food production and pricing. No one can fine-tune something like this. You should leave it to the Market.
By freezing the biofuel mandate at current levels, we will go a long way to achieving that goal.
So we're going to leave everything at "Bad", instead of putting out a decree moving us to "Worse". And we call that an improvement.
There are days when I just don't think I can stand it.
Undoing America's Ethanol Mistake
By SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON Posted Friday, April 25, 2008 4:20 PM PT
The Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman once said, "One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results."
So far, so good. That's what is so irritating about campaign ads claiming that "My opponent voted against helping starving gay orphans in Darfur." Chances are that the policy or program in question would've done nothing for the starving gay orphans in Darfur except create more of them.
When Congress passed legislation to greatly expand America's commitment to biofuels, it intended to create energy independence and protect the environment.
No, we're already going off the rails in this editorial. Congress intended to take care of corn farmers in Iowa, where the first Presidential primaries are held. Then they intended to take care of other giant agribusinesses scattered throughout a lot of congressional districts. All other considerations were secondary.
But the results have been quite different. America remains equally dependent on foreign sources of energy, and new evidence suggests that ethanol is causing great harm to the environment.
In recent weeks, the correlation between government biofuel mandates and rapidly rising food prices has become undeniable.
Yep. It's like what would happen if the Government paid lots of money for people to kill weiner dogs. The supply of weiner dogs would go down, but the value of weiner dogs, as they become scarce, would go up. Weiner dogs would have to be brought in from elsewhere. Especially if the Government insisted on paying people to kill weiner dogs long after the supply had diminished.
We would be creating a supply of weiner dogs to support the weinerdog killing industry.
If you think this is the dumbest analogy you've ever heard, you're probably correct. I just happen to be looking at three weiner dogs diggin up my back yard....
Wait a minute.... read this Time magazine article about Iowa becoming a net IMPORTER of corn to convert into ethanol. IOWA no longer has enough corn to make ethanol, so they're bringing in corn from other places.
My weiner dog analogy is dead-on, and borderline brilliant.
At a time when the U.S. economy is facing recession, Congress needs to reform its "food-to-fuel" policies and look at alternatives to strengthen energy security.
Good. How about letting us build some nuclear power plants?
On Dec. 19, 2007, President Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act. This legislation had several positive features, including higher fuel standards for cars and greater investment in renewable energies such as solar power.
Good. But the legislation exempted certain trophy vehicles like Hummers and other Neo-Fascist Military Limousines. Your legislation only applies to the little people. But solar power is good. How about some nuclear power plants?
However, the bill required a huge spike in the biofuel production requirement, from 7.5 billion gallons in 2012 to 36 billion in 2022.
This was a well-intentioned measure, but it was also impractical. Nearly all our domestic corn and grain supply is needed to meet this mandate, robbing the world of one of its most important sources of food.
So what results were we expecting ? ? ? Did anyone think that food prices would remain stable? ? ?
We are already seeing the ill effects of this measure. Last year, 25% of America's corn crop was diverted to produce ethanol. In 2008, that number will grow to 30%-35%, and it will soar even higher in the years to come.
Unless we end the mandates and the subsidies. Senator, you know, you could simply end the mandates, quotas, and subsidies. Let the market determine the price for all of this stuff, and the Invisible Hand will take care of the rest far better than you and Trent Lott and Nancy Pelosi could dream of doing.
Furthermore, the trend of farmers supplanting other grains with corn is decreasing the supply of numerous agricultural products. When the supply of those products goes down, the price inevitably goes up.
Subsequently, the cost of feeding farm and ranch animals increases and the cost is passed to consumers of beef, poultry and pork products.
If Ashley and Jason use all the corn to drive the Volvo to Whole Foods to buy groceries for Dylan and Joplin, that doesn't leave much corn for the hog farmer, does it?
Since February 2006, the price of corn, wheat and soybeans has increased by more than 240%. Rising food prices are hitting the pockets of lower-income Americans and people who live on fixed incomes.
While the blame for higher costs shouldn't rest exclusively with biofuels — drought and rising oil costs are contributing factors — the expansion of biofuels has been a major source of the problem.
Wow. Someone has beaten her about the head and shoulders with a Clue Stick.
The International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that biofuel production accounts for between one-quarter and one-third of the recent spike in global commodity prices.
I did a little reading on The International Food Policy Research Institute. They seem to be a pretty decent left-wing organization. But they see policies and programs as the solution, not the leading cause of the problem. Therefore, if they're going out on a limb and suggesting that biofuel mandates are responsible for one-third of the problem, you can safely double that number.
For the first time in 30 years, food riots are breaking out in many parts of the globe, including major countries such as Mexico, Pakistan and Indonesia.
The fact that America's energy policies are creating global instability should concern the leaders of both political parties.
Restraining the dangerous effects of artificially inflated demand for ethanol should be an issue that unites both conservatives and progressives.
OMG, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is now calling them "progressives" ! ! ! What are they "progressing" toward, starvation and riots? A proper phrasing of that sentence would be "
As a recent Time cover story pointed out, biofuel mandates increase greenhouse gasses and create incentives for global deforestation.
In the Amazon basin, huge swaths of forest are being cleared to meet the growing hunger for biofuels.
Kind of like weiner dog breeding farms would spring up if the Government paid people to kill them. Got to meet that quota.
In addition, relief organizations are facing gaping shortfalls as the cost of food outpaces their ability to provide aid for the 800 million people who lack food security.
The recent food crisis does not mean we should entirely abandon biofuels.
The best way to lower energy prices, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, is to accelerate production of all forms of domestic energy.
But we're going to get rid of the quotas and subsidies, right? There's no way an intelligent human could write this article and NOT advocate ending the quotas and subsidies. We're causing chaos and upheaval all over the world with this insane mess. Please, please, please, tell me you advocate making this all stop. Please, Senator, please....
Expanding biofuels while refusing to take other measures, such as lifting the ban on oil and natural gas production in Alaska and the Outer Continental Shelf, is counterproductive. We should be tapping into a broad portfolio of energy options, including clean coal, nuclear power and wave energy.
O yes, yes, yes. So we're going to go drill in Alaska, AND the mandates and subsidies are going to end? You now understand that we're digging a hole that's getting deeper and deeper, and we're not going to pay people to shovel any longer???
The key is increasing energy supply. By taking these measures, we can enable biofuels to be part of the energy solution, instead of contributing to the energy problem.
Good, good, good. Our Senator sees where the problem lies. Subsidies of biofuels are the energy problem. If someone wants to grow corn and biofuel manufacturers pay more for it than anyone else, great. But no more quotas, mandates, or subsidies. People are gonna start dying at an even greater rate if that stupidity continues.
Congress must take action. I am introducing legislation that will freeze the biofuel mandate at current levels, instead of steadily increasing it through 2022.
THE MIND RECOILS. THE MIND IS SHUTTING DOWN. ABORT !! ABORT !! I THINK SENATOR KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON JUST ADVOCATED LEAVING THE CURRENT SYSTEM IN PLACE.
Congress must take action. I am introducing legislation that will freeze the biofuel mandate at current levels, instead of steadily increasing it through 2022.
Wait a freakin' minute. You call that "taking action"? Leaving an acknowledged financial, ethical, environmental and moral disaster like the one you just outlined in place? That's "taking action"? Let's look at that amazing sentence one more time.
Congress must take action. I am introducing legislation that will freeze the biofuel mandate at current levels, instead of steadily increasing it through 2022.
Good Lord have mercy, she really said it.
This is a common-sense measure that will reduce pressure on global food prices and restore balance to America's energy policy.
I've seen more common sense in the "Dumb and Dumber" movies.
As the Senate debates this issue, we must remain focused on the facts.
Yeah, the fact that you people have wealthy contributors who want the current system to remain intact.
At one point, expanding biofuels made sense for America's energy security. But the recent surge in food prices has forced us to adapt. The global demand for energy and food is expected to rise about 50% in the next 20 years, and the U.S. is well-positioned to be a leader in both areas.
That will require a careful, finely tuned approach to America's farm products.
Senator, you people couldn't carefully fine-tune a banjo, much less something as delicate as food production and pricing. No one can fine-tune something like this. You should leave it to the Market.
By freezing the biofuel mandate at current levels, we will go a long way to achieving that goal.
So we're going to leave everything at "Bad", instead of putting out a decree moving us to "Worse". And we call that an improvement.
There are days when I just don't think I can stand it.
Still More People That I Think You'll Like
A couple more British Libertarian sites for your consideration:
Helen and Richard at The EU Referendum have an insanely popular site devoted to the general goofiness associated with the European Union. You can spend days in there, reading Comment Threads, following links, and learning the cast of characters who now make up European government.
It's almost enough to make you grateful for Nancy Pelosi.
My favorite post is one that Dr. (they all have doctorates) Richard did on a missing 900,000 tons of government subsidized Italian tobacco. Ghost tobacco, they're calling it. He asks my usual question....Why in the world do we subsidize the stuff when we spend an equal amount encouraging people not to use the stuff?
We get into a similar embarrasment when we continue paying dead farmers not to farm. Are the dead any worse at not farming? What disqualifies them from participating in the program?
It's called Anarchic Hand Syndrome.
First runner-up goes to this one, about the disastrous consequences of using Food for Fuel in an effort to appear "Greener Than Thou".
Dr. Richard is also co-author of "Scared To Death", a book about Global Warming, Y2K, Bird Flu, Second-hand smoke, and other boogeymen. I've been looking for it for almost a year, but it's only published in England.
Then there's the Nation Of Shopkeepers blog. (Hitler derisively referred to Britain as "a nation of shopkeepers.) Where to begin, where to begin.....
There's this one, where he vents his frustration over the term "relative poverty". I have many of the same frustrations, but have never thought to combine Marxist terminology with old episodes of The Simpsons.
Enjoy.
Helen and Richard at The EU Referendum have an insanely popular site devoted to the general goofiness associated with the European Union. You can spend days in there, reading Comment Threads, following links, and learning the cast of characters who now make up European government.
It's almost enough to make you grateful for Nancy Pelosi.
My favorite post is one that Dr. (they all have doctorates) Richard did on a missing 900,000 tons of government subsidized Italian tobacco. Ghost tobacco, they're calling it. He asks my usual question....Why in the world do we subsidize the stuff when we spend an equal amount encouraging people not to use the stuff?
We get into a similar embarrasment when we continue paying dead farmers not to farm. Are the dead any worse at not farming? What disqualifies them from participating in the program?
It's called Anarchic Hand Syndrome.
First runner-up goes to this one, about the disastrous consequences of using Food for Fuel in an effort to appear "Greener Than Thou".
Dr. Richard is also co-author of "Scared To Death", a book about Global Warming, Y2K, Bird Flu, Second-hand smoke, and other boogeymen. I've been looking for it for almost a year, but it's only published in England.
Then there's the Nation Of Shopkeepers blog. (Hitler derisively referred to Britain as "a nation of shopkeepers.) Where to begin, where to begin.....
There's this one, where he vents his frustration over the term "relative poverty". I have many of the same frustrations, but have never thought to combine Marxist terminology with old episodes of The Simpsons.
Enjoy.
Friday, April 25, 2008
"Shut Up And Sing", Natalie Maines, Radio Censorship
I watched a DVD of "Shut Up And Sing" this afternoon. It's a documentary about the Dixie Chicks' popularity meltdown following lead singer Natalie Maines' criticism of George Bush.
Two observations I'd like to make:
1) All rock, pop, and country music documentaries now remind me of Spinal Tap.
2) Natalie Maines was right.
And now for some full disclosure....
My daughter The Future Aggie has always been a huge Dixie Chicks fan. She started a Dixie Chicks tribute band in the sixth grade. (You haven't lived until you've heard 12-year-old girls sing "Goodbye Earl" with their own instruments....) We've been to two Chicks concerts, and own the $90 Dixie Chicks baseball jersey. We own all the CD's, the songbooks, the concert DVD's, and some random Dixie Chicks jewelry.
Charlie Robison (see the About Me column, at right) is married to Dixie Chicks banjo/guitar/dobro utlity infielder Emily Robison. Charlie Robison puts on the best shows of anyone now alive. I've been to either 10 or 11 of them. If anyone wants to join me at Billy Bob's or 8.0's next time he comes to town, my email is also in the "About Me" link.
Charlie's brother Bruce Robison is the best songwriter in country music. "Angry All The Time" "Travelin' Soldier" "Wrapped Around Your Pretty Little Finger" etc etc etc.... If he were to record his laundry lists, I'd buy them.
Bruce's wife, Kelly Willis, is greatness. I own everything she's ever recorded. If you follow the link to her site, you'll learn that she's no longer touring. Something about trying to raise four kids.
Let's keep wandering around the family trees.... Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines has one of the most perfect voices on this or any other planet. Her father, Lloyd Maines, is possibly the best steel guitar maestro in existence. I've heard him 4 or 5 times with Terri Hendrix.
My next door neighbors, Amy and Cheryl, are good friends with Susan Gibson. Susan wrote the song "Wide Open Spaces", which became a mega-hit for none other than....the Dixie Chicks. Whenever Susan is playing in town, she usually comes to Amy and Cheryl's place afterwards and we sit around the backyard campfire and play guitars and sing. (Note: having Susan Gibson play along with my puny little 3-chord stuff makes me sound GOOD....)
My point is that the Dixie Chicks and their extended families are a favorite "brand" at my house. What with recordings, concerts, and other purchases, we've probably invested a thousand bucks in that extended family over the years.
Two observations I'd like to make:
1) All rock, pop, and country music documentaries now remind me of Spinal Tap.
2) Natalie Maines was right.
And now for some full disclosure....
My daughter The Future Aggie has always been a huge Dixie Chicks fan. She started a Dixie Chicks tribute band in the sixth grade. (You haven't lived until you've heard 12-year-old girls sing "Goodbye Earl" with their own instruments....) We've been to two Chicks concerts, and own the $90 Dixie Chicks baseball jersey. We own all the CD's, the songbooks, the concert DVD's, and some random Dixie Chicks jewelry.
Charlie Robison (see the About Me column, at right) is married to Dixie Chicks banjo/guitar/dobro utlity infielder Emily Robison. Charlie Robison puts on the best shows of anyone now alive. I've been to either 10 or 11 of them. If anyone wants to join me at Billy Bob's or 8.0's next time he comes to town, my email is also in the "About Me" link.
Charlie's brother Bruce Robison is the best songwriter in country music. "Angry All The Time" "Travelin' Soldier" "Wrapped Around Your Pretty Little Finger" etc etc etc.... If he were to record his laundry lists, I'd buy them.
Bruce's wife, Kelly Willis, is greatness. I own everything she's ever recorded. If you follow the link to her site, you'll learn that she's no longer touring. Something about trying to raise four kids.
Let's keep wandering around the family trees.... Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines has one of the most perfect voices on this or any other planet. Her father, Lloyd Maines, is possibly the best steel guitar maestro in existence. I've heard him 4 or 5 times with Terri Hendrix.
My next door neighbors, Amy and Cheryl, are good friends with Susan Gibson. Susan wrote the song "Wide Open Spaces", which became a mega-hit for none other than....the Dixie Chicks. Whenever Susan is playing in town, she usually comes to Amy and Cheryl's place afterwards and we sit around the backyard campfire and play guitars and sing. (Note: having Susan Gibson play along with my puny little 3-chord stuff makes me sound GOOD....)
My point is that the Dixie Chicks and their extended families are a favorite "brand" at my house. What with recordings, concerts, and other purchases, we've probably invested a thousand bucks in that extended family over the years.
I think the government has intentionally set out to harm the brand.
When Natalie went to London and said "We're ashamed that the President Of The United States is from Texas", it was a throwaway remark, and it was a cheap applause line. The video of the statement shows her looking very proud of herself. It got a huge ovation in London, but the negative response in the U.S. was overwhelming. It has cost them millions of dollars in recording and concert revenue. Perhaps that's as it should be.
When Natalie went to London and said "We're ashamed that the President Of The United States is from Texas", it was a throwaway remark, and it was a cheap applause line. The video of the statement shows her looking very proud of herself. It got a huge ovation in London, but the negative response in the U.S. was overwhelming. It has cost them millions of dollars in recording and concert revenue. Perhaps that's as it should be.
However....
She had every right to say what she said.
Country music fans have every right to avoid their concerts and avoid their CD's.
But radio stations, in my opinion, despite being privately owned entities, do not have a right to suddenly stop playing Dixie Chicks' music.
Here's why. Radio frequencies are a government controlled monopoly. There are a limited number of broadcast frequencies, and the rights to those frequencies are tightly controlled. That's why you may have read editorials concerning Clear Channel's purchase of multiple stations in the same market. Not only are the broadcast frequencies a scarce commodity, but one organization (Clear Channel) is purchasing multiples of them in some areas.
Because of that glorious privilege (a monopoly of the airwaves), radio stations are in effect acting as government censors if they suddenly drop an artist from their playlists after the artist in question criticizes the government.
She had every right to say what she said.
Country music fans have every right to avoid their concerts and avoid their CD's.
But radio stations, in my opinion, despite being privately owned entities, do not have a right to suddenly stop playing Dixie Chicks' music.
Here's why. Radio frequencies are a government controlled monopoly. There are a limited number of broadcast frequencies, and the rights to those frequencies are tightly controlled. That's why you may have read editorials concerning Clear Channel's purchase of multiple stations in the same market. Not only are the broadcast frequencies a scarce commodity, but one organization (Clear Channel) is purchasing multiples of them in some areas.
Because of that glorious privilege (a monopoly of the airwaves), radio stations are in effect acting as government censors if they suddenly drop an artist from their playlists after the artist in question criticizes the government.
If Kanye West or Amy Winehouse or NWA or Lawrence Welk has the #1 selling CD, I'm not required to purchase their music and play it in my back yard. Backyard jamboxes aren't a monopoly.
But if Kanye, Amy, NWA, or Lawrence have the #1 CD in a particular format, and the government-controlled monopolies don't EVER play the CD ? Something's wrong. That's excatly what happened in the Dallas/Fort Worth market with the Chicks' CD "Taking The Long Way". I didn't hear a single tune from that CD on the radio.
But if Kanye, Amy, NWA, or Lawrence have the #1 CD in a particular format, and the government-controlled monopolies don't EVER play the CD ? Something's wrong. That's excatly what happened in the Dallas/Fort Worth market with the Chicks' CD "Taking The Long Way". I didn't hear a single tune from that CD on the radio.
And it won a Grammy, fer heaven's sake....
If an otherwise popular artist can only access a particular audience through a group of Clear Channel radio stations, then everything changes. Unless I'm missing something, the government has given these radio stations a unique privilege and the Clear Channel stations are returning the favor by stifling dissent. I don't think we'd put up with this from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
I heartily recommend this documentary, although I think going into Iraq was a necessity. Saddam had wiped out 90,000 Kurds with poison gas. The world is better with him out of the picture. We coulda woulda shoulda done a better job of the aftermath.
I heartily recommend this documentary, although I think going into Iraq was a necessity. Saddam had wiped out 90,000 Kurds with poison gas. The world is better with him out of the picture. We coulda woulda shoulda done a better job of the aftermath.
Here's the trailer for the documentary. I think it's worth a rental.
Look for Charlie Robison and Emily on their ranch in San Antonio. Lloyd Maines puts in an appearance about halfway through. John McCain is shown at a congressional hearing, gleefully grilling some corporate flak-catcher.
Look for Charlie Robison and Emily on their ranch in San Antonio. Lloyd Maines puts in an appearance about halfway through. John McCain is shown at a congressional hearing, gleefully grilling some corporate flak-catcher.
Don't watch this if you've seen "Spinal Tap" recently. You'll get the giggles.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Gun Control Bumpersticker
The Future Aggie came home laughing about this bumpersticker today:
You can purchase them here, if you are so inclined.
Just in case you're wondering why Rosie was singled out for this honor on a bumpersticker....She's the one who spoke out against gun ownership, but had armed bodyguards for herself and her kid. She's not popular among the 2nd amendment crowd.
You can purchase them here, if you are so inclined.
Just in case you're wondering why Rosie was singled out for this honor on a bumpersticker....She's the one who spoke out against gun ownership, but had armed bodyguards for herself and her kid. She's not popular among the 2nd amendment crowd.
Paul Verhoeven, The Jesus Seminar, and "Jesus of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait"
Film Director Paul Verhoeven, who brought the "Robocop" and "Basic Instinct" movies into the world, happens to be a member of the controversial Jesus Seminar group. They're also known as the Westar Institute. (See Blogroll to your right.)
Verhoeven is making a movie called "Jesus of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait". Among the many ideas resurrected by the movie will be some anti-early church propaganda that Mary was raped by a Roman soldier. This soldier, instead of Joseph, was the father of Jesus.
That should get 'em fired up.
There will be a swarm of publicity about the Jesus Seminar as a result of this film. The group is comprised of top-notch Biblical scholars whose major work concentrates, not on What Would Jesus Do, but on What DID Jesus Do. What did he really say.
For instance, if you look at the last half of the last chapter of the Gospel of Mark, you'll notice that there is usually a page break of a few lines before the last eight or nine verses. The footnotes (in the newer Bibles) claim that these last verses aren't in the oldest manuscripts, but are of a more recent vintage.
The Jesus Seminar scholars believe that these additions to ancient texts were a widespread practice.
Please allow me to recommend the following: The Five Gospels: What did Jesus really say? The search for the authentic words of Jesus, by seminar member (and founder, I think) Robert Funk. Interesting stuff. The passages that they believe are most authentic are printed in a darker color, the least authentic are another color. Various shades are used to show the ones in between. Detailed reasons are given for these choices.
Or don't read the book. Don't see the movie. Remain fiercely loyal to your current beliefs, and refuse to have them challenged.
By the way, a good friend of mine has loaned me an actual Geneva Bible. Printed in 1610. Fascinating book. People risked their lives to get this book printed and distributed.
Verhoeven is making a movie called "Jesus of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait". Among the many ideas resurrected by the movie will be some anti-early church propaganda that Mary was raped by a Roman soldier. This soldier, instead of Joseph, was the father of Jesus.
That should get 'em fired up.
There will be a swarm of publicity about the Jesus Seminar as a result of this film. The group is comprised of top-notch Biblical scholars whose major work concentrates, not on What Would Jesus Do, but on What DID Jesus Do. What did he really say.
For instance, if you look at the last half of the last chapter of the Gospel of Mark, you'll notice that there is usually a page break of a few lines before the last eight or nine verses. The footnotes (in the newer Bibles) claim that these last verses aren't in the oldest manuscripts, but are of a more recent vintage.
The Jesus Seminar scholars believe that these additions to ancient texts were a widespread practice.
Please allow me to recommend the following: The Five Gospels: What did Jesus really say? The search for the authentic words of Jesus, by seminar member (and founder, I think) Robert Funk. Interesting stuff. The passages that they believe are most authentic are printed in a darker color, the least authentic are another color. Various shades are used to show the ones in between. Detailed reasons are given for these choices.
Or don't read the book. Don't see the movie. Remain fiercely loyal to your current beliefs, and refuse to have them challenged.
By the way, a good friend of mine has loaned me an actual Geneva Bible. Printed in 1610. Fascinating book. People risked their lives to get this book printed and distributed.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Let Them Eat Ethanol, With A Side Dish Of Biofuels
The Chicago Tribune has decided that maybe the current rice shortage might be caused by the rising cost of biofuels.And rain might be caused by those fluffy white things called clouds.
"We feel that the developed countries should seriously rethink the whole issue of biofuel, particularly the biofuel subsidies," (Asian Development Bank Director General Rajat) Nag said. "Giving subsidies for biofuels ... basically acts as an implicit tax on staple foods."
Yep. You can look it up. The great Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics states that Economics is the study of the allocation of scarce resources which have multiple uses.
Rice has multiple uses. It can feed Filipinos, or it can be converted into fuel for your Volvo so you can go to Whole Foods Market. If our government gets a wild hair up its ass and decides to provide price supports for the rice grown for fuel, that action raises the price of rice everywhere.
So if you Greenies are still feeling that warm virtuous glow when you see the "this fuel contains 10% ethanol" sticker on the gas pump, get over it. Your ethanol mandates have been hit with The Law Of Unintended Consequences.
Here's more from the Tribune, quoting Mr. Bank Director Nag:
He urged governments faced with rising food prices not to impose price caps or export bans, as the measures could prove counterproductive.
Excellent advice from Mr. Nag. He's obviously studied President Nixon's disastrous venture into price controls.
Price controls are disincentives for farmers amid the rising costs, he said."The cost of production is going up, so the obvious, rational reaction (to price caps) of the farmer is to reduce planting, which is exactly the opposite of what we want. We want production to increase, not decrease," he said.
I'm copying the entire article here, just in case the Tribune takes it down because of pressure from the Rodham administration.
The chart at the top is from the always useful Cato Institute.
Lopez Obrador, Hitler, Mussolini, Pinochet, and the rest of the guys
Here's Perry De Havilland of Samizdata, explaining that Mexican politician Lopez Obrador is a Hugo Chavez Wannabe:
People opposed to Obrador have made a very effective advertisement likening him to sundry totalitarian thugs. However Obrador has demanded this advertisement be ordered off the air by Mexico's federal electoral authority, indicating as well as disliking democratic processes he cannot control, he also does not believe in freedom of expression.
Obrador's opponents "go negative in the political ad below.
You don't have to be fluent in Spanish to follow the commercial....
Wow.
I thought our politicians could go over the top.
People opposed to Obrador have made a very effective advertisement likening him to sundry totalitarian thugs. However Obrador has demanded this advertisement be ordered off the air by Mexico's federal electoral authority, indicating as well as disliking democratic processes he cannot control, he also does not believe in freedom of expression.
Obrador's opponents "go negative in the political ad below.
You don't have to be fluent in Spanish to follow the commercial....
Wow.
I thought our politicians could go over the top.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Pennsylvania Primary Results
For those of you coming here for early info on Pennsylvania Exit Polls, or Googling the PA Primary, the PA Election Results, or perhaps the Penn Primary, or information on the Pennsylvania Election, facts on the Pennsylvania Primary Election 2008, the Pennsylvania Vote results, the Democratic Primary process, the PA Polls, what happens when the Penn Primary Polls Close, PA Primary Exit Polls, or Pennsylvania Returns....(that should cover it)
Hillary Clinton has won Pennsylvania. Big Deal.
Now, stop obsessing over the percentage. She's not going to gain enough in Pennsylvania to catch Obama in the regular delegate count. She can beat him by 15% in Pennsylvania, and it's not going to make a difference in the regular delegate count.
Regular voters like you don't count in a Democratic primary election that's this close. The wise old men of the Democratic party have put a system in place that will allow party hacks (superdelegates) to overrule you if you try to nominate a black man. This allows the hacks to remain in control, and it allows more money and political favors to change hands.
The war is over. Go back to your farms, your families, and your crops. Turn off your laptops. Turn off CNN and Fox.
A friend of mine sent this bit of brilliant bit of Photoshopping to me today. I think this guy is a Democratic Superdelegate....
Monday, April 21, 2008
More On The Tarrant County Libertarians
I made it to the Tarrant County Libertarians meetup last Saturday afternoon.
The tables were full of laid-back people throwing around names like Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises, and Thomas Sowell, in addition to discussing getting their candidates elected in November.
I instantly geeked out. These people were speaking my language. Compared to the usual Democrat and Republican bilge in the newspaper and on TV, this was heaven. It was poetry. Imagine finding a King James Bible after spending twenty years all alone with nothing but a copy of Good News for Modern Man.
They knew all about Angelina Jolie's interest in making a movie of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged". And they were pumped about it !
These are my people.
Then my dang cell phone started ringing. Every truckload that I'd brokered for pickup that afternoon was either late, missing, or lost. I had drivers in Dallas who couldn't find Texas. Future phone records will show that I made or received 20 phone calls in 40 minutes. Libertarians are a very tolerant bunch, but I was stretching their patience, constantly getting up from the table, leaving the coffee bar, coming back to the table, and trying to catch up on the agenda.
The offending freight companies know who they are, and they WILL atone....
Here's a plug for one of the guys I met there.... Stephen M. Smith is running for Texas State Representative, District 98. He's a very smart, extremely committed person. Look here for his priorities. And I thought I favored limited government....
According to his web page, which I hope you'll check out, Smith also works in shipping and logistics. mostly with shipments going to, from, and within Latin America. His cell phone was silent throughout the entire meeting.
If he's that effective with Latin America, just imagine what he could do with Austin.
Our next meetup will be held at Fort Worth's Rahr Brewery, May 17, 1:00 p.m.
They also put out the word about a new blog for the Libertarian Party of Texas: Lone Star Liberty.
If you don't think these guys are for real, look at what George Will had to say in the latest issue of Newsweek. There just might be a Libertarian surge.
The tables were full of laid-back people throwing around names like Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises, and Thomas Sowell, in addition to discussing getting their candidates elected in November.
I instantly geeked out. These people were speaking my language. Compared to the usual Democrat and Republican bilge in the newspaper and on TV, this was heaven. It was poetry. Imagine finding a King James Bible after spending twenty years all alone with nothing but a copy of Good News for Modern Man.
They knew all about Angelina Jolie's interest in making a movie of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged". And they were pumped about it !
These are my people.
Then my dang cell phone started ringing. Every truckload that I'd brokered for pickup that afternoon was either late, missing, or lost. I had drivers in Dallas who couldn't find Texas. Future phone records will show that I made or received 20 phone calls in 40 minutes. Libertarians are a very tolerant bunch, but I was stretching their patience, constantly getting up from the table, leaving the coffee bar, coming back to the table, and trying to catch up on the agenda.
The offending freight companies know who they are, and they WILL atone....
Here's a plug for one of the guys I met there.... Stephen M. Smith is running for Texas State Representative, District 98. He's a very smart, extremely committed person. Look here for his priorities. And I thought I favored limited government....
According to his web page, which I hope you'll check out, Smith also works in shipping and logistics. mostly with shipments going to, from, and within Latin America. His cell phone was silent throughout the entire meeting.
If he's that effective with Latin America, just imagine what he could do with Austin.
Our next meetup will be held at Fort Worth's Rahr Brewery, May 17, 1:00 p.m.
They also put out the word about a new blog for the Libertarian Party of Texas: Lone Star Liberty.
If you don't think these guys are for real, look at what George Will had to say in the latest issue of Newsweek. There just might be a Libertarian surge.
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