Wednesday, October 29. 2008
It's like doing the Limbo Rock:  The Dem definition of "rich" drops daily The world is drowning in oil again. Bloomberg Oregon: Got cancer? Try a death pill. Central bankers and recent history. Kling. More on the subject from McCardle The Sarah Party Embarassed to call himself a reporter. These confessions accumulate daily. Obama and rural voters in Ohio. Obama wants to turn this country into a nation of beggers. Also, why Virginia is in play this year. More on the Khalidi tape. Gateway. Believe me, the LAT does not want to piss off Obama. Bad consequences. Amazing: the CSM quits its print edition. h/t, Insty Dick Morris: The election is a referendum on Obama Thomas Sowell explains how higher taxes damage everyone Looking back on Obama's first year as Pres. Wizbang Will Dems let Charlie Rangel skate? Nobody wants to piss off Rangel. Bad consequences. How "critical race theory" molded Obama It's the courts, stupid. I agree Dr. Sanity's Quote of the Year, from Mark Levin A tough Megyn Kelly takes on Obama's Bill Burton:
Tuesday, October 28. 2008
How long must we wait for the Dems to propose socialized legal care? It's only right, isn't it? How many folks are economically destroyed by legal bills? Or go without justice because they cannot afford legal help? Universal legal representation is a right, not a luxury. Come on, Dems. Get on board, and help level the legal playing field!
From Mark Steyn's The Dog is about to Catch the Car: Peggy Noonan thinks a President Obama will be like the dog who chases the car and finally catches it: Now what? I think Obama will be content to be King Barack the Benign, Spreader of Wealth and Healer of Planets. His rise is, in many ways, testament to the persistence of the monarchical urge even in a two-century old republic. So the "Now what?" questions will be answered by others, beginning with the liberal supermajority in Congress. And as he has done all his life he will take the path of least resistance. An Obama administration will pitch America toward EU domestic policy and U.N. foreign policy. Thomas Sowell is right: It would be a "point of no return," the most explicit repudiation of the animating principles of America. For a vigilant republic of limited government and self-reliant citizens, it would be a Declaration of Dependence. If a majority of Americans want that, we holdouts must respect their choice. But, if you don't want it, vote accordingly.
Yes, it's an appeal to our weakest, most cowardly and pitiful instincts.
As BD posted yesterday, it's sort of like feudalism, run by a "caring," "benevolent" political aristocracy on top of the heap. Scott at Powerline. You know, Panem et Circenses for the great mass of ignorant, feckless unwashed. Like me. It's truly heart-warming to know how much they care, and who can resist the loving, altruistic care of politicians? What the Left always forgets, however, is that the State is totally dependent on us for its existence - on our wealth creation and wealth accumultation. The State does no work, produces no value, and pays no taxes: only free people can work that magic. Governments cannot do it, nor do they know how to do it.
 Despite all the other headwinds he is fighting against (recession, the MSM, his age, his skin color), one major problem McCain faces is well-described in the Villainous piece we linked yesterday. McCain is not a visionary type, and he is not an ideologue. He is a solid, practical, trustworthy and remarkably strong fellow. He is running against a youthful (Socialist) visionary who promises to make your life easy and beautiful, but McCain is characterologically unable to present a competing vision. Like Bush 41, he probably thinks "the vision thing" is BS and unmanly, and cannot or will not fake it.
My problem with that is that McCain does have a vision, but he takes his vision of America so much for granted that he doesn't see it. It's the vision of freedom through strength, economic opportunity for all, holding the line with Federal power, and fiscal prudence. It's not Pie in the Sky, but it's an important and fundamentally American vision which deserved better "marketing" in this election, and people would rather vote for somebody than against somebody. My vote will be a bit of both. Selling visions requires sales and marketing skills, just like selling cars: you have to make them feel that the new car will make them happier. Reagan knew how to sell freedom, and he knew what Obama knows: mass market politics is sales and marketing (including packaging). I think that notion is beneath a man like McCain's dignity. To his credit, he is not "a natural politician." (Sarah Palin is, which is why they want to destroy her.) Now to my morning links: Can you imagine if this were an Obama effigy? (I thought the current theory is that nooses were racist.) What the Weather Underground had in mind. Insane sociopaths. Dean Barnett: A real writer whose outlet was blogging. What's wrong with the idea of energy independence? 2008 Economics: The two middle classes Why Obama's health plan would make businesses sick New book by James Kalb: The Tyranny of Liberalism: Understanding and Overcoming Administered Freedom, Inquisitorial Tolerance, and Equality by Command (h/t, Vanderleun) The interbank markets are recovering. That is good news.
A quote from Malanga in City Journal: Nothing could be more misguided than to renew this “tin-cup urbanism,” as some have called it. Starting in the late 1960s, mayors in struggling cities extended their palms for hundreds of billions of federal dollars that accomplished little good and often worsened the problems that they sought to fix. Beginning in the early nineties, however, a small group of reform-minded mayors—with New York’s Rudy Giuliani and Milwaukee’s John Norquist in the vanguard—jettisoned tin-cup urbanism and began developing their own bottom-up solutions to city problems. Their innovations made cities safer, put welfare recipients to work, and offered kids in failing school systems new choices, bringing about an incomplete, but very real, urban revival. Yet this reform movement remains anathema to many liberal politicians, academics, and journalists, who have ignored or tried to downplay its achievements because it conflicts with their left-of-center views. The arrival on the scene of Obama, a former Chicago community activist and the first presidential nominee in recent memory to rise out of urban politics, has given these back-to-the-future voices their best chance in years to advance a liberal War on Poverty–style agenda. As the nation debates its future in the current presidential race, it’s crucial to remember what has worked to revive cities—and what hasn’t.
Whole thing here.
Monday, October 27. 2008
Villainous gets this election. I could not say it as well. But it's not over yet.
 P.J. O'Rourke's 1988 Eat the Rich begins thus.
Out of print I guess, but readily obtainable if you never read this wise but highly entertaining treatise on basic economics.
Yesterday, near Lebanon, TN 
This is a bombshell - or should be. Here's one of the missing Obama videos. I know it's racist to call the guy a Commie, but he is. We still wait for the Khalidi video...
 Biggest danger for hunters is heart attack. Maybe, but when it's your time to go, why not go while hunting or fishing? You really don't want to crap out while atop a wife or girlfriend and leave them unfulfilled, and with an unpleasant memory of your face turning grey-blue.
How the McCain health care plan would help everybody. Obama's advisors preferred McCain's plan. LAT refuses to release Obama video. The Khalidi video might damage him. "Might"? Watch the TED spread, not the Dow. The TED matters.(h/t, Viking) Indices matter. Why we suck. Jules on autism and other topics Palin's treatment by the press. Driscoll. I heard a 15 year-old girl this weekend say "Palin makes me barf." I prudently said nothing. Tired of "the Vietnam effect." Me too. Working for a non-profit. AVI Obama's inauguration speech is already in its first draft. Message: Don't bother voting, Repubs. Related: Why there is hope for a McCain victory. Another reason the press is going easy on Obama-Biden. Access. Obama: A celebrity the world will adore. Maybe, but who cares? World adoration is not the job description. That's for Elvis. A turn in the housing market. It will be slow, but it will happen eventually. David Thompson takes a look at redistribution in practice. Barone: Beware of the early exit polls Meteorological image from Theo
One quote from Obama on the Constitution: (It )"says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the Federal government or State government must do on your behalf, and that hasn’t shifted and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change. In some ways we still suffer from that.”
The community organizing? Are you joking? More at Surber. I do not think that he understands the concept of freedom at all. That concerns me. I think the Constitution is quite clear about the role, and mainly the limits of the Federal government. They knew all about power-seeking. It's one of the things that makes us unique.
Arthur Laffer: The Age of Properity is over. One quote: ...unfortunately in this world there is no tooth fairy. And the government doesn't create anything; it just redistributes. Whenever the government bails someone out of trouble, they always put someone into trouble, plus of course a toll for the troll. Every $100 billion in bailout requires at least $130 billion in taxes, where the $30 billion extra is the cost of getting government involved. If you don't believe me, just watch how Congress and Barney Frank run the banks. If you thought they did a bad job running the post office, Amtrak, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the military, just wait till you see what they'll do with Wall Street.
He concludes: Twenty-five years down the line, what this administration and Congress have done will be viewed in much the same light as what Herbert Hoover did in the years 1929 through 1932. Whenever people make decisions when they are panicked, the consequences are rarely pretty. We are now witnessing the end of prosperity.
Via Insty from Mankiw: If there were no taxes, so t1=t2=t3=t4=0, then $1 earned today would yield my kids $28. That is simply the miracle of compounding. Under the McCain plan, t1=.35, t2=.25, t3=.15, and t4=.15. In this case, a dollar earned today yields my kids $4.81. That is, even under the low-tax McCain plan, my incentive to work is cut by 83 percent compared to the situation without taxes. Under the Obama plan, t1=.43, t2=.35, t3=.2, and t4=.45. In this case, a dollar earned today yields my kids $1.85. That is, Obama's proposed tax hikes reduce my incentive to work by 62 percent compared to the McCain plan and by 93 percent compared to the no-tax scenario. In a sense, putting the various pieces of the tax system together, I would be facing a marginal tax rate of 93 percent. The bottom line: If you are one of those people out there trying to induce me to do some work for you, there is a good chance I will turn you down. And the likelihood will go up after President Obama puts his tax plan in place.
Is it possible that the Dems don't want folks to work hard?
Sunday, October 26. 2008
 So there I was, innocently minding my own business, when suddenly I came across a video on some blog site named Maggie's Barn or sumpin' and I wanted to watch it. Little knowing that my fate was already sealed, I clicked on the box.
It started playing, but it seemed a little small so I clicked on the side of the window to go to the YouTube version so I could watch it full-screen. The original was still playing in the background when the YouTube page opened and its video started playing as well.
Blink!
That was the last online video I heard for the rest of the evening. Somehow, two videos playing at once messed up something in the system and that was that. I ran Registry cleaners, Norton WinDoctor, warm-booted, cold-booted, prayed to the various computer gods, promised I'd never look at porno again, but nothin' worked. (I think my computer knows when I'm lying to it, dammit)
The next step would have been to reinstall Flash, but I wouldn't have been hopeful. Program files don't "break", and internal system settings (like what got messed up here) usually aren't touched by program installations. Regardless, in this case I had a much better option.
It's to note that during this entire time, when most people would be pulling their hair out, my blood pressure never rose an iota. After trying the fix-it programs last night and getting nowhere, I watched a movie and hit the hay. This morning while I was eating breakfast I reinstalled the image file I made of the C Drive last Saturday and the system works perfectly.
And if this had happened to someone not using an image file backup system?
Nightmare.
Regular backup programs only back up files, and, even if you tell it to back up the system files, it can't get them all because the ones that are "in use" can't be copied. The answer is an image file program. It makes a 'snapshot' of your entire C Drive and turns this 'image' into one great big file. Come meltdown time, you merely tell the program to write the big file back to the hard drive, overwriting your damaged system. Ten minutes later and you're good to go. Nor do you lose any email or bookmarks or personal files if you follow my routine.
And that's all. Just a little reminder as to how quickly a system can go into the toilet, and how easy it is to fix if you have the right tool. The full Maggie's post is here.
By the way, a couple of readers named "Meta" and "Luther McLeod" left a whole bunch of nasty comments in my posts over the weekend (since deleted) so I'm forced to moderate the comments until the situation improves. An example from Meta is down below in the comments (the quote). If you think you're actually real, Meta begs to disagree.
 Spring Island, SC, is just a stone's throw from Savannah, GA, one of my favorite towns in the US.
If I planned to remove myself from Yankeeland when I get tired of working, I think I'd like Spring Island. However, I will never do that. I have roots where I am, and the idea of leaving real life behind for a WASP ghetto of prosperous aging golfers has only slight appeal. Might be nice for a getaway place, though. I wonder how the duck hunting is down there. The comfortably unpretentious Spring Island bungalow pictured is here. The two guest cottages are great additions. Here's the Spring Island website.
Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us. - P.J. O'Rourke  Who is greedy? New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore bankers who work 18 hrs/day, and the investors around the world who take the risks which make economies work and grow?
No. Those are folks with real and challenging jobs. I'll tell you who is really greedy: Politicians with their endless demands on my money, and the people whose votes they want to buy by making me pay their bills (after passing it through the governmental/political machine which always takes its own generous cut) and to give them the money I have earned through hard work and taking risks. That is real greed, and "Gimme yours" is the Dem agenda. Anybody who wants an entitlement from somebody else's effort and risk and energy and creativity is, by definition, greedy. But Greed is Good, right? Once upon a time, it was a sin...but that's ancient history. The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it. - P. J. O'Rourke
 Photo: A silver salesman, Lincoln, VT, 1940 (h/t, Dr X). I imagine that she's 54, with two kids in the army and one home helping with the farm, and that she wants this shiny junk because her life doesn't have much that shines except for Yankee persistence and love, and the effort that goes with it, but she knows she cannot afford this pretty stuff. She is going to look at it but plants her hands on her hips so she doesn't touch it, because touching is a step towards owning.
The San Diego Union-Trib takes on media bias. But that is just one MSM. Heck, even the Russian papers are reporting it. The Term Paper Artist. S,C&A David Warren on Messianic politics Ten years of physician-assisted suicide in Oregon. Now Washington State has the same thing on the ballot. Really, everybody should off themselves - for Gaia. Speaking of which, letters from Jonestown. The Paranoid State: The UK. It creates a State vs. Citizen model. Are they nuts? Europe to force airlines to buy emission permits. Are they nuts? Sherry with food? What vote fraud? LGF Biden loses it with tough questions. Related: Biden is a dumb-ass, but we're covering for him anyway. Yep. Nothing to see here. Look at moron Palin instead. Barney Frank vows Dems will cut Defense, raise taxes, and spend lots of money. Voters can't say they weren't warned. The Washington Times looks at VA, WVA and NC turning into blue. Related: How Wisconsin moved Left fast Ponnuru: Ideological Conservatism and operational Liberalism?
The North Canaan, CT Congregational Church Psalm 16 | 1 | Preserve me, O God:| | | for in thee do I put my trust. |
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| | 2 | O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord:| | | my goodness extendeth not to thee; |
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| | 3 | but to the saints that are in the earth,| | | and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. |
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| | 4 | Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god:| | | their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, | | nor take up their names into my lips. |
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| | 5 | The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: | | 6 | The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places;| | | yea, I have a goodly heritage. |
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| | 7 | I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel:| | | my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. |
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| | 8 | I have set the LORD always before me:| | | because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. |
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| | 9 | Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth:| | | my flesh also shall rest in hope. |
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| | 10 | For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; | | | neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. |
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| | 11 | Thou wilt show me the path of life:| | | in thy presence is fulness of joy; | | at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. |
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Saturday, October 25. 2008
We mistakenly posted the short version. Here's the full version. Dynamite. It's why Fred is an honorary Maggie's Farmer.
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