Saturday, October 25. 2008
Thanks for the reminder, Jules: From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
This brief talk by Fred is wonderful. I still think he would have been a great candidate in this election. He always speaks from basic American principles, which keeps his talks well-oriented, centered, thematic, and logically coherent. Unlike most pols.
 The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp lost 4.8 billion in the stock market last year. Why are they in the stock market anyway?
Did you know that Obama said this in a church: "I am confident we can create a Kingdom right here on earth"? That's the sign of a false prophet. Preventing a nuclear Chavez. WSJ Video If McCain loses, I will agree with this explanation. Where will Obama get the trillions he wants to spend? (h/t, View from 1776) Campaign fund-raising fraud. Journalism Rule #1: Obama gets a pass on everything. (Rule #2: Destroy Palin.) Stupidonomics at the NYT, with an ice cream shop "We have to do this for Ted." Ted Kennedy's socialized medicine will be bad for your health. Teaching tort law via John Edwards. Sheesh. The change the Dems have already brought to DC Is the race over? Not quite yet. Related: Dick Morris: Don't count McCain out yet Hedge fund manager: "Goodbye and f- you." Kurtz: ...get ready, any conservative or Republican who gains some notice for criticizing Democrats. They won't just debate you. They'll do their best to destroy you.
It's called "by all means necessary..."
Friday, October 24. 2008
Quoted from a Megan McArdle piece: This brings me to a pet peeve that has been increasingly irritating me as the crisis wears on: people with little or no understanding of markets confidently opining on the causes of the crisis. Funnily enough, the cause of the crisis is always exactly what they happened to be against before the crisis happened, and the solution is for the people they disagree with to be banned from polite society and exiled from the political process. What is most infuriating is that the people who know the least are the most confident about their appraisals. Anyone with any sort of expertise in the field knows that no one understands this crisis very well. Economists all over the ideological spectrum are rethinking the lessons we thought we had learned from the Great Depression and the Japanese experience. As it unfolds, we will no doubt be seriously rethinking our model of the relationship between the financial markets and the real economy. The problem is, ignorant people who have somehow gotten hold of one or two precious facts, and brandish those facts like a mighty Sword of Truth, are superficially convincing. They are convincing because they misunderstand the situation in, well, the way that ignorant people misunderstand it. The stories they concoct are therefore very convincing to the ignorant, except those who have an ideological predisposition to doubt their story. Those ignorant people are busy listening to some other huckster peddling financial snake oil. No one who did not know what a CDO was before the crisis should be opining as to the causes or the possible solutions. And anyone who tells you that they understand exactly why this happened, why we got this crisis instead of the dollar crisis we were expecting, and what kind of regulations will unquestionably fix it, is definitionally too ignorant to be opening their mouth.
 Will Self visits the most remote and God-forsaken of the Shetland Islands.I would like to go, unless Dem taxes prevent me from ever going anywhere again. These islands were Scandinavian until relatively recently. Photo by Will Self of the Brough of Mousa, a remarkably well-preserved Iron Age dwelling. More like a fortress. I'd guess it had a thatched roof on top. It is especially interesting to me because I am halfway through Francis Pryor's Britain BC. Do not read Pryor's book unless you want a ton of detail about prehistoric Britain. My sense is that pre-Neolithic, ie pre-agricultural man lived pretty much the same way everywhere on the planet, digging roots and picking nuts and killing stuff - including each other. Likely eating each other too. During most of that late-glacial history, Britain was connected to the Continent, with what is now the southern part of the North Sea being a giant marshy plain full of reindeer, elk, horses, pig, auroch, moose, beaver, and deer. (There are tons of prehistoric artifacts sitting in the now-undersea peat.) The Neolithic history is more interesting, and everything post-Neolithic isn't too much different from today except technologically.
This ad is not from the McCain campaign (h/t, Gateway, who thinks it needs to be sent around.) I pretty much agree with it. Yes, it is Christian - and so am I:
The Krautmeister explains why. I cannot remember when I've ever disagreed with him (meaning Krauthammer - not McCain).
From the WSJ, another bubble bursts. A good thing for all, but only in the long run. Nasty in the short run. If you want stocks to only go up and up and up, you should not buy them. (link fixed) The upside is that good things are relatively cheap, now. But the "Are you better off..." thing doesn't work right now politically, when bubbles are finally popping.
 John H at Powerline. To be fully accurate, I should say that Maggie's is not in the red, since we neither have nor want income from our enjoyable efforts here.
All we want are visitors to our humble yet elite boutique site. Please promote us with your friends and email lists, because we are not going out of business and I believe we do add a bit of unpredictable pleasure and unreported info to daily humdrum life. And the price is right.
 In our "It's all about ME!" America, it's no surprise that reporters feel narcissistically ungratified by the idea of being observers. Maybe just writing and talking about what other people do makes them feel small and insignificant if they are inclined that way. Shucks, they want to be important too, like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. You know, they want to personally "make a difference," "save the world," and all that nice Miss America stuff. They probably also want chicks and dough, too, along with getting rid of land mines. Who doesn't?
Dang. A white spider keeps running across my keyboard and distracting me. Run away home, little guy. It's a Little Miss Muffet moment at Maggie's. OK, he's gone. Now, to continue. Today, we have yet another confession from a political reporter at Newsweek. But he's not a reporter, he's a blogger getting paid to pretend to be a reporter. This sort of thing, which we have seen everywhere this election year, demeans the entire profession of reporting. In fact, it mocks the very illusion that it is a profession at all if my definition of a profession holds. This fellow is basically saying "I am neither capable of, nor interested in, being a devoted, ethical, and disinterested professional in my professed profession." In real professions, you get tarred and feathered if you screw the pooch. A note pad does not a reporter make any more than a knife makes a surgeon. I want to say to these guys, who should have their hands full just trying to find and state the facts, "When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it."
 What's driving down stock prices? The Hedge Fund Contagion. They are puking everything to cover redemptions - and to shut down. High gain - high risk. That's the game.
Economist: Obama's socialism will wreck the economy. But that's the whole idea, isn't it? To bring down free markets and put politicians in control? Greenspan's testimony yesterday. With luck, the abominable Murtha may go down this year. NYT debt drops to junk. They blame the economy. Do you feel an attack of "non-filer syndrome" coming on? As I recall, NYC Mayor David Dinkins had a bad case of that affliction. William Ayers: A media effort to hide the truth fails, thanks to blogger Patterico. But don't expect to read about it in the LAT. Related: Ayers was back at his bomb throwing as recently as 2006. Can anybody name one decent friend of Obama? The quaint Dutch Death Boat. Holland: famous for tulips and death for young and old. McCain outlines his presidential goals. It's about time. The myth that laissez-faire is responsible for our problems: Reisman. It's a good essay, but provides no populist boob bait. More on Dems wanting to eliminate 401-Ks. Would they dare? What's up with this Obama fundraising? I see that both John Galt and Adolph Hitler have given money. When I gave money to McCain, I had to fill out a form. Much more from Ace. I feel like the whole country is in the middle of a giant con game. The always-grandiose Obama claims a "righteous wind." Good grief. I cannot believe how self-referential this guy is. I guess he refers to God's banking and credit crisis that, thus far, pulled him up out of a hole. More on intelligence and pattern-detection. AVI Academic termites set the stage for Obama. Memo to self: never take political opinions from people who have never worked in the real world. Speaking of the naive and innocent, why young folks should shun Obama, from Viking: In a letter to young voters, Robert Samuelson writes that everybody's taxes will be heading skyward soon enough: "You'll pay Social Security and Medicare for aging baby boomers. The needed federal tax increase might total 50 percent over the next 25 years. Pension and health costs for state and local workers have doubtlessly been underestimated. There's the expense of decaying infrastructure -- roads, bridges, water pipes. All this will squeeze other crucial government services: education, defense, police." But those taxes will only be paid by the rich...until they won't.
Re Palin, via Surber: It’s Lord of the Flies time for the media. She made the mistake of being different. I have not seen such a mass blind rage by the media since Clarence Thomas was “electronically lynched” by the press. Liberal racism was apparent then. Now it is liberal chauvinism. All women must be dowdy, angry libs who are fierce defenders of abortion rites — or else they aren’t real women.
"Rites"? That's clever. I prefer ladies who like to look good. I try to look good, too, on the off-chance that some gal will like me.
Thursday, October 23. 2008
Here's the world's most remarkable yacht, The Maltese Falcon, in San Francisco Bay with Angel Island on fire in the background. We tracked down the photographer: he is George Dapsevicius. Kudos to him. 
A low-down blues from Love and Theft (2001). Was it really that long ago? Audio:
Today's IBD/TIPP tracking polls: Contrary to other polls, some of which show Obama ahead by double digits, the IBD/TIPP Poll shows a sudden tightening of Obama's lead to 3.7 from 6.0. McCain has picked up 3 points in the West and with independents, married women and those with some college. He's also gaining momentum in the suburbs, where he's gone from dead even a week ago to a 20-point lead. Obama padded gains in urban areas and with lower-class households, but he slipped 4 points with parents.
Whoever wins this election will provide plenty of material for us at Maggie's to get indignant about and worried about. That's a shame, because we'd rather write about other subjects - like real life. I guess we can do both.
 I am told that Krauthammer made the interesting point on TV last night that the intensity of the hatred for Sarah Palin from women has little or nothing to do with her personality.
He said it's because she, as a lovely and feminine mid-40s woman with a litter of kids including one with Down, a cool masculine Eskimo hubby, and a stunningly-successful Governorship, stands as a reproach to the complaining and whining class of American women: a reproach to the cult of victimology and a reproach to the abortion fetishists. (Plus she's just too happy about life and her country, and intelligent, sophisticated folks aren't supposed to be happy about things.) A reasonable person might have expected her candidacy to be a source of pride and pleasure for those women. I promise you that, if she had a "D" after her name, she would be a MSM heroine. Colorful and exotic. The Dems would find a way to make her "Josephine Sixpack" - "The fresh voice of the American worker from the American Frontier." Anybody who criticized her would be slammed as "classist" or "intellectual snob" or "an elitist out of touch with real Americans." And they would, no doubt, remind you that she runs a $6 billion budget and 26,000 employees and plays hardball with the oil companies. Nobody else running has ever done anything like that. Something similar applies to Obama. Clearly his race (What is his race? I guess I mean his skin color) is a source of fascination to the MSM, Leftists, and black voters. However, black Repubs have had little success in elections with black voters, including Repub stars like Michael Steele in Maryland. That is why Obama is not detested by black Americans as a reproach to their victimology and resentment (although he was seen that way at first, most notably by Jesse Jackson who expressed the tolerant opinion that Obama "was too white" implying that his success served to discredit, and to alienate him from, grievance-seeking blacks). Had Obama been a celebrity "R" preaching freedom and opportunity, how far would he have gotten? Would he have given Chris Matthews a thrill up his thing thigh? I suppose my point is that, for the MSM and the left, race and gender are only a big deal when they are combined with that magic "D."
 Karl Marx was black? Who knew?
Has the banking crisis affected the non-financial economy? Supply and Demand Face to face with the "insurgency" BBC Dems attempting to sell the idea of wage stagnation Kurtz with facts about the media bias Suddenly everybody wants the Joe vote "Maybe Rush should try to blow up the Capitol and the Pentagon. Then instead of being a terrorist, liberals would call him an education reformer." "If you run a business with more than a very few employees, if Barack Obama wins your life is going to get much more complicated long about March next year." More at Moonbattery. A clueless Obama caller. Can we "pluralize" this example? Related: Why I am voting for Obama The evidence for AGW continues to unravel. But will it matter? Sarah's clothing and hairdressing budget. Funny, we never hear the cost of Obama's tailored suitings, and never heard about Hillary's silk pantsuit, Botox, face-lift, make-up, and hair-do budget. Nor about Joe Biden's Botox budget (which appears to be high).
Wednesday, October 22. 2008
Dear Barack, I'm rich in income by your tax standards, although at your age of 45 working in government and community organizing you appear to have a greater net worth than I do. What did I do wrong? Maybe it's because I have the wrong sort of pals, and maybe it's because my wife didn't get a $350,000/year job because I'm in politics. What is "rich" is, of course, relative. It takes a lot more money to be rich in NYC or CT than it does in Montana or Louisiana. Anyway, here's my plan to adjust, if you get elected and your tax plan goes through: 1. I am going to cut back on my billable hours, and put my wife on our payroll as an expense. She'd be glad to do that to minimize our tax burden.
2. I am going to fire the lawn guys, and do it all myself. Harming them. And I will mow the fields myself, eliminating money from the economy.
3. I will, of necessity, donate less to church and charities.
4. I will patronize restaurants less, harming their incomes and employees.
5. I will buy less stuff I want, harming retail and manufacturing.
6. I will do what I can to put my assets in tax-advantaged investments which do little or nothing to invest in economic growth.
7. I will call the handyman less often, harming his kids. I will do the jobs myself instead of reading by the fire.
8. I will skip a hunting trip, harming travel, guides, hotels, and etc.
9. I will keep our cars longer, harming our automotive industry.
10. I'll take a pass on my plan to replace the upstairs windows in the barn, thus harming Anderson Windows and their employees. Fact is, there are two kinds of redistribution of money. One is the type that we all do voluntarily to obtain things we want and need, and to invest in business growth, and the other is the kind governments do at gunpoint to buy votes. Taxes come out of my disposable income because I live within my means, on a budget - but at some point they start hitting bone. When it hits comforts, conveniences, and luxuries, I just get mightily annoyed, but if it hits bone (as Clinton's tax hikes did while I was paying tuitions), I get mad. And remember, the USA already has the highest corporate taxes in the world. That is not something for us to feel especially proud about either, because businesses taxes are simply indirect and invisible taxes on consumers and savers. With warmest personal regards, The Barrister
No, nobody at Maggie's is threatening to move to Canada, but Michael Medved takes a grim look at the Consequences of Defeat (h/t, reader). His points about immigrants are telling. Rove warned us about that consequence during the immigration debates last year. Rove, Bush, and McCain knew that hispanic voter loyalty was up for grabs, and that they were, in a number of ways, a natural Repub constituency. 
I have a good example here of how powerful a simple picture can be when it comes to selling a message. In the web ad below, note the strong, wise look of presidential candidate Joe Biden as he takes his young vice-presidential protégé by the arm and points to his vision of a better tomorrow.
Who could fail to be moved?
(more silliness below the fold)
Continue reading "The power of advertising"
 Home sales: The 10 fastest-selling zip codes
Metrics looking good for Obama. It amazes me. WSJ: Get ready for the New New Deal. We are an ungrateful nation. Germaine Greer and a bit of "magnificence" from the 1960s. Good grief. They thought this was quite arty. What can be done about campus decline? Kimball Sea turtles in Cyprus. I didn't know the Med had sea turtles. The rise of "disaster socialism." Reason The Gods of the Copybook Headings America's most overrated product: The Bachelor's Degree. h/t, Viking Congress will look at Fannie and Freddie - after the election
Tuesday, October 21. 2008
Another sunset from Lake Winnipegosis, taken from Gwynnie's duck boat last week. I term these sorts of day-glo sunsets "post-nuclear": 
 Would the last honest reporter please turn on the lights? Orson Scott Card (read his bio on that page!) h/t, Synthstuff. We like Orson Card, but do not know where he blogs these days.
Shulman on how social class plays into the election - and how it affects the "opinion-makers." I am afraid that the "opinion-makers" all fantasize that they could be polo players with Locust Valley Lockjaw, hobnobbing with the Groton and Andover and Choate and Hotchkiss and Deerfield grads instead of getting stuck with the socially-marginal hacks in Washington. Some of us at Maggie's may be "elite," but Sarah represents our view of the soul of America.  From Mark Salter:
I think much of the media has a thumb on the scale for Obama. I think the thumb has been there the entire time. There are many honorable exceptions, I don’t mean to tar everybody, but I think there’s one standard for us, and one standard for Obama. He has run more negative ads than McCain has run ads. They run from the quite misleading to the blatantly untrue.
America's biggest enemy is cynicism? I am not falling for that cliched BS. One of America's best hopes has always been her cynicism towards, distrust of, and mocking of politicians and their aspirations for easy jobs, power, and personal validation. John McCain excepted. Speaking of cynicism, "transformative"? You want transformative back to the 1930s and 1970s? Where would Obama get the $ to suckle his wards? Well put. Wards of The State is what it's about. Gimme. Palin's "absence of structured thinking." Fair enough, Ann. But name me one national pol with "structured thinking." Pols don't do that: they do political thinking. It's different. If they were rocket scientists, they'd be busy designing rockets. Generally speaking, they aren't too smart and not very wise - just clever and calculating about their personal goals. Images: We are still permitted to write-in Papoon for President when we vote. He has a chance! As I recall, he stood for "One Organism, One Vote," and hoped to win the previously disenfranchised and marginalised Bacterial Community.
Hurray for Captain Spaulding. ("Did someone call me shnorrer?"). It's my favorite Groucho bit, of which yesterday's Marx post reminded me:
Give me chastity and continence, but not yet. Saint Augustine
|
