Thursday, August 14. 2008
No, not Osama. Bigfoot! He is finally brought to justice. But how did he get from Oregon to Georgia? Jet Blue? And are there more of them out there? Is Global Warming to blame? Should he have been a protected species? Some people are going to believe this stuff. We do live in a remarkably credulous world. And, related to credulity, a reporter writes Johnny, I hardly knew ye. What a dope. Did that reporter ever work on a city desk? I doubt it, because that is where you learn that everybody in public life is full of it. Healthy and realistic cynicism and skepticism are required if you wish to address reality. And, also related to the theme of human credulity, this is borrowed from Lucianne: 
 The real story behind the hockey stick graph. h/t, Watts
Jules' wife Amy MacKinnon has published her second book. A novel, which involves undertakers. Ernest Hemingway and trout fishing in Michigan. WSJ Brits ban plastic flowers in cemetaries. Too dangerous. What about the dangers of real plants? Big Brother, Via Englishman, "Councils and health authorities are to be given the right to access e-mail and internet records under surveillance powers to be introduced next year, the Home Office said yesterday." Good grief. For a second, I thought this was satire. You will be relieved to learn that Al Gore's new boat will have solar panels! Obama without his script. Related: Rev. Wright is back! How to revive dried-out cigars Hooray for blockbuster drugs. City Journal Swiftboating Obama? Neoneo Race Preferences vs. Class Preferences. Powerline. What has this crazy world come to? And why is this an issue anymore? America has become so meritocratic that nobody gives a darn about anybody's background these days - to the dismay of the genteel classes (of which I am not a member).
Wednesday, August 13. 2008
Roger Kimball. Related: NYT debt heads towards junk status (h/t, Vanderleun). The title of the eventual book will be "How to Destroy a Successful Franchise."
 We spoiled Americans love to bitch about things, but even without the recently dropping gas prices, fuel is more affordable than it was during the early '60s.
Sometimes I think we Americans want everything for free, a life without limits, without pain, without death and with perfect love: fairy tales and childish dreams.
 Is this for real? Massive armada heads for Iran
Lieberman: Obama doesn't put country first. Right or wrong, that is a devastating charge. Why trees cannot grow any higher Huge drop in US oil demand. Related: The myths about offshore drilling Some things about hot peppers you might not know More on the MSM's double standard Megafauna: looks like we killed them (h/t Jungle Trader) Is the invasion of Georgia an East-West tipping point? Human Events. Related: There's always a "but" monkey Postdiction of the day: Obama claims he's been warning about Georgia for months. Related: This doesn't sound like Christianity to me. Related: Obama campaign gets more from "big oil" than McCain, but lies about it. Truth is, the Dems get more $ from Wall St., Hollywood, Martha's Vineyard, Big Oil, Big Media, Big Tort Legal, Big Education, and Big Unions than the Repubs ever will.
Tuesday, August 12. 2008
 The thrill is gone. But still some wholesome thrills at Theo's place (pic).
Obambi's response to Russia's invasion. And yes, George Clooney is his foreign affairs advisor. You can't make this stuff up. Where are the marchers for peace? The revolution on cable TV. Right Wing Prof Nancy Pelosi falls for drilling hoax. Maybe she read the polls. If you love your government, you should smoke more. Is Obama still smoking? Many people, like Flopping, have noted the obvious fact that Russia has a veto in the so-called Security Council. Bad news: You can choke on food. Good news: Chicago suburb drops handgun ban. Unsurprising news: The cute Beijing singer was a phony. Cool news: MA gets another income tax referendum Related cool news: NY Dem Gov proposes income tax cap Related stupid cool news: Obama proposes no taxes for the elderly. This is getting weird. Obama terms his wife a "fellow traveller." Yes indeed. h/t, Insty Top colleges for getting rich The Iraq war is over. What next? NY Mag: Racism is hurting Obama. Did racism hurt Stevenson, McGovern, Carter, Dukakis, and Kerry too? Sanctimonious, condescending, anti-American Lefty metrosexual weenies tend to lose, regardless of skin tone. Yes, Obama is metro: see Surber for proof. Hurray for blockbuster drugs. City Journal The dumb Whole Foods fad takes a pounding. They do have a good cheese section, though. And organic arugula for Barack "Do you know how much arugula costs now?" Obama. It's summer. Hey kids, “Why don’t you get out of the house and do something useful, like memorize the Koran or learn how to fire a shoulder-launched rocket?”
BBC. We'll see. I think Dino has it right: Saakashvili was looking for trouble, and Russia was looking for an opportunity. More at Belmont.
Monday, August 11. 2008
 A cold August. We have never had such a cool and comfortable August in my memory up here. Never used my A/C once this month.
"Organic" foods nothing more than a "lifestyle choice." Duh. The terrible Calvo case and the dopey war on drugs. Bainbridge. Marching boldly into the past: Chavez sees Cuba as a model. Morales is big on "change" too. "Change" means government running the businesses. Good luck, morons. Accountability America is nuts. This is beyond hardball: It's like ACORN. When the economy slows, retail pulls back. When the economy expands, they always overbuild. Greenspan, via Mankiw: It has become hard for democratic societies accustomed to prosperity to see it as anything other than the result of their deft political management. In reality, the past decade has seen mounting global forces (the international version of Adam Smith’s invisible hand) quietly displacing government control of economic affairs.... The danger is that some governments, bedevilled by emerging inflationary forces, will endeavour to reassert their grip on economic affairs. If that becomes widespread, globalisation could reverse – at awesome cost. It's not all Russia's fault. CSM. Maybe not, but I underestimated their goals. They are taking over the country. Not trustworthy people, the Russians. Georgia headed back to Russian domination. 25 strangest fetishes Wolfson: Edwards made Hillary lose. Probably true. What a strange world. Mark Penn had the best, if dishonest, strategy for Hillary: roots and values. Worrisome signs for Obama. Politico. Related: Who wrote this for him? No doubt intended to make him look substantial. Related: It's OK to make jokes about Obama now. Related: slobbering acolyte says Obama is a movie star, not a rock star. Related: Dreams of a Denver nightmare. A quote from the latter: As for the substance, the Speech can’t be yet another helping of the same frothy, over-the-top rhetorical junk food he has been serving up for eighteen months. The pundits could yawn, the McCain team could chuckle and the voters could well say “It’s that all he’s got?” More ocean adjustment and invocation of “the moment” would likely bring eye rolls and guffaws, and not much tingling even from the increasingly skeptical media cheerleaders. In short, he needs to say something new, non-cloying and substantive that will convince voters he’s more than the self-parody which he’s quickly becoming.
Related, from Why isn't Obama winning? Hillary Clinton would have won this election. Joe Biden would have won this election. Bill Richardson would have won this election. Barack Obama just might lose this election. Has anybody noticed that, in this Year of the Democrat, Barack Obama is starting to choke? In a year when voters seem fed up with all things Republican, and poll after poll pitting a hypothetical Democrat against a hypothetical Republican shows the GOP candidate getting slaughtered, Barack Obama is in a dead heat with the oldest and least-inspiring man ever to run for the presidency. Is it time to start recognizing that...
Related: More Obama problems: His definition of sin. It's not my definition. Which "values" is he referring to? Another problem: List Obama's accomplishments.Brits in Basra now say: "While we had a strategy of evasion, the Americans just went in and addressed the problem.” Iraq The Model terms it a betrayal. From Junk Science: Global Warming, Global Myth - During the 20th century, the earth warmed 0.6 degree Celsius (1 degree Fahrenheit), but that warming has been wiped out in a single year with a drop of 0.63 degree C. (1.13 F.) in 2007. A single year does not constitute a trend reversal, but the magnitude of that temperature drop — equal to 100 years of warming — is noteworthy. Of course, it can also be argued that a mere 0.6 degree warming in a century is so tiny it should never have been considered a cause for alarm in the first place. But then how could the idea of global warming be sold to the public? In any case, global cooling has been evident for more than a single year. Global temperature has declined since 1998. Meanwhile, atmospheric carbon dioxide has gone in the other direction, increasing 15–20%. This divergence casts doubt on the validity of the greenhouse hypothesis, but that hasn't discouraged the global warming advocates. They have long been ignoring far greater evidence that the basic assumption of greenhouse warming from increases in carbon dioxide is false. (Edmund Contoski, Liberty)
Nevertheless, these bozos are already planning for big sea level rises. Better yet, just plan for extinction. Plan how? Photo on top: Union Station, 1921, via Shorpy. It's a lot more fun now.
 Bush's good time at the Olympics. (photo via Class. Values)
Why Obama will not win. Am. Thinker. Also, the big fund-raiser in Switzerland. How about George Clooney for Secretary of State? He seems to have all the answers. Slow-mo lightning video. h/t, Flares Party-poopers. Don't pass the popcorn Sovereign funds buying up distressed US real estate Let's fill our tires with greenhouse gasses Roger Kimball: Remembering Hiroshima, and the ongoing debate
Massive artillery and air strikes, and maybe a naval blockade. Belmont: Cheney talks tough, but Russia wants regime change in Georgia now that they have taken South Ossetia. It's half-amusing to hear the Russians speak of Georgian attacks on the Russian "peacekeeping forces." Georgians ask: “Why won’t America and Nato help us? If they won’t help us now, why did we help them in Iraq?” Seems to me to be a complicated puzzle composed of South Ossetia's separatism, oil pipelines - "the West's jugular", and geopolitics. Related: Bobby Jindal on Georgia (h/t, Insty). Jindal basically says that Obama doesn't know what he is talking about. And a quote from EU Referendum: Ukraine has plenty to worry about, being the next on the shopping list. After all, former President, now Prime Minister, Putin has always made it clear that he intended to restore the Soviet geopolitical territory and, in particular, he was anxious to take back the two biggest ones that got away: Ukraine and Georgia. Obviously, he meant that, if necessary, it will be done by force.
Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, has demanded a very strong response from the European Union. That will be a little hard to achieve with Germany being so dependent on Russian gas and with other West European states being more anxious "to stand up to America" than pay attention to what is going on next door to it. Well may Ukraine and the Balts worry.
And Strategy Page puts the whole mess in perspective.
Sunday, August 10. 2008
 Russia broadens conflict. Russia bombs Tbilisi.
It's not part of the Olympics - it's all about oil - and Russki domination. Belmont Club is on the job. Where's the outrage from the peaceniks? Where are the protests, except from McCain? John at Powerline ripped Obama's reaction, concluding with: It is often said that Obama is not ready to be President, but I don't think this is exactly right. It seems pretty obvious that Obama, given his temperament, his self-regard, his blithe ignorance of history and of the material conditions of life on this planet, will never be ready to be President. He is not unready: he is unsuited for, and inadequate to, the office.
As am I. Good point, John, but you spoke too soon. Obama has already changed his tune. I guess he changed his mind in 24 hours after hearing the reactions of others. He had said everybody should sit down and talk. About what? About Ludacris' talent? When nations and powers have strong interests at stake, they don't mess around. It's rough out there. Too rough for metrosexuals.
 This is your final warning. IowaHawk
Which is worse? An Insty poll. Do you want a "hospitalist" when you get sick? I want my own Doc. Or my Veterinarian. McCain's last frontier. Alaska NYC vs. London More fun with pomo prose: David Thompson Invasion of Georgia was a "3 AM moment. " Also, Is Russia returning to imperialism? Roger. Also, from Rick Moran, A Splendid Little War Mrs. Edwards was part of the cabal. Just like the Clintons. An effort to scare Repub donors. Michelle Do urban congestion taxes do any good? CSM  We're soooooo virtuous. Plus pygmie goats.
Why the poor are often happy. George McGovern wants to save the union secret ballot. Unions hate that secret ballot. Prof B: Hijacking Scholarly Organizations to Advance Left-Liberal Agendas What would FDR think of today's Social Security? LA: The most puritanical city on earth Lieberman on McCain short list Love and sex in Denmark. Dr. Helen From Tammy Bruce: This article was written by a Republican to bolster the McCain campaign. So there's an agenda here, but the points are worth knowing. They will eventually become an important factor in the election. How aware is the public that McCain has raised seven children? Or that he adopted his two oldest sons as small boys (children from his wife's prior marriage)? Or that he has raised a Bangladeshi girl with severe health problems adopted from Mother Theresa's orphanage? Or that his own sons have served in the military, including in Iraq?
Lower photo: Bush with Kerri Walsh. Where do you innocently touch a beautiful girl wearing underwear?
Saturday, August 9. 2008
Obama has Kenyan citizenship. OK. That clinches it. Now I am definitely voting for the guy. After all, we're enlightened and sophisticated internationalists, and it's about time for a Kenyan, right? An insider Chicago Machine pol community activist left-wing Kenyan with special real estate deals from now-indicted Rezko, of course. The kind of Kenyan that wants Crony Capitalism for himself, and Socialism for me. Same as all the limo Dems like Kennedy, who keeps his investments offshore unlike us regular folks who invest normally. Now back to my gardens if I can walk at all after my grueling tennis match in which I served far too many serves, on the most beautiful day of the year. We did win. We do not believe in losing, even if we have to win ugly with backspin drop shots and nasty angles. We could have easily beaten Mr. and Mrs. Obama with our tricksy ball control and our deep topspin slammers that bounce like crazy fiends.
Friday, August 8. 2008
 Peggy Noonan, in Political Cycles:
For the first time the idea began to take hold that John McCain can win this thing. You saw the USA Today-Gallup poll this week, with Mr. McCain gaining six points since late June among those Gallup dubbed likely voters. Mr. McCain took the lead, 49% to 45%.
The new McCain ad contrasts regular folks with Obama's Chardonnay-land. Finally proves he's not gay. The final chapter of the Edwards story. Can't trust the MSM to be honest about Dems. Lefties leap to his defence. Who cares? We always knew he was a phony scumbag. A surprise in Turkey. Good news. The Brits' shame in Basra "Blight" is in the eye of the beholder. Same as pine "barrens." Your barrens are my fine wilderness. Via Tim Blair ...the best way to reduce carbon emissions is to kill as many rich Westerners as possible. Beginning with Al Gore, presumably.
How about reciprocity for concealed carry permits? Enough with our militarized police. I agree. Baha'i Moslems persecuted in Iran Krugman thinks you're stupid Paternalism or fascism? What's the difference? A quote from Anchoress: You remember Bush, right? The guy who goes to Asia and tells China to free her people, while the press jeers, the guy who, while in Asia also meets with Democracy Activists in Burma and gets ignored for it, the guy who drew enormous and supportive crowds in Korea, while the American press yawned?
Sure, you remember Bush! He’s the guy whose life was threatened along with Barack Obama’s but only the threat to Obama was newsworthy for a very long time at CNN. Bush? You mean the creepy moron who will be charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity as soon as congress can figure out how to do that without exposing itself or having to put some of its own members under oath? Yeah, that guy! The guy who does more than just talk about freedom and progress. The guy who has brought real hope and change to people all over the world, and yes, here in America. But you don’t want to hear it. It’s the wrong and inconvenient narrative, the embargoed one.
Why can't we all just get along? Russian tanks invade Georgia. Where's the UN? Where's love, peace and hope? Guess what? For better or worse, the world is not populated with Oregon hippie-dippie moonbats. We do not live in a fairy tale. McCain already has a comment.
A typical Obama supporter asks everybody to leave Barack alone. h/t, Classical Values. Good grief.
 Larrey Anderson visits the Oregon Country Fair, and reports at Am. Thinker.
If these nice folks grew up and quit smoking pot, they might have half a chance to get real.
 "Skinny" is racist. Everybody knows that: it's the phantom subtext.
Beware the Kinder Eggs. If the mechanical monkeys don't kill you, the Kinder Eggs will. Shoreditch Theater finally found. Hillary is playing hardball. As far as I know, that's all she has ever done. No accomplishments I am aware of. Who has done less with their careers: Obama or Hillary? Related: Hillary emerges from the shadows. "Digger" Dowling died. Brave man, great book, wonderful movie. Arctic sea ice won't go away. We're all gonna freeze to death. Funny how CNN edited out half of the story. Good news from Iraq? Then let's focus on Afghanistan instead. Maybe it's a quagmire? I happen to like quagmires: they are good challenges. Random House scared out of their wits by Moslems. Our brave and bold publishers. How come the corporate world doesn't have more assassinations? A big zero? At first, I thought our friend at Moderate Voice was waxing satirical: This Obama view isn’t just a policy, however. It’s a vision of a new way to do things for a new century, a new millenium, a new world economic order. A way that uses the “live” energy of sun, wind, water and the earth itself to replace the long “dead” and buried energy we have depended on for so many years.
I was wrong. He was being serious. Moderate Voice lost me there. I will not drink that "transformative" Kool Aid. I might be young, but I've been around long enough to see through that kind of BS. Honestly, I used that kind of line on girls when I was in college and it only worked on the dumb ones. "America is no longer what it once was"? What the hell is he talking about? We never do Rush, but just this once (h/t, Hot Air): Photo on top: a fairly big burger from In-N-Out
Thursday, August 7. 2008
 Our Dylanologist is back from his European travels. He asked a passer-by in a Paris park to take this photo of him, on right.
America's fastest dying cities. Creative destruction? The Repub protest continues in the House. The cost of PC academic majors. Mankiw The hedgies are hurting. But it's a great time of opportunity for them too: cheap credits and loans that will pay off in a while. What's a "book town"? Rove: What McCain should do now. Good advice. I want my culturally-appropriate health care too. Is Obama's tire gauge like Jimmy Carter's sweater? Related: First presidential campaign plane in history to have all American flags removed. Related: pundits begin to worry about Obama. One quote: The bottom line: liberal pundits — following months of analysis by their conservative counterparts — had figured out that despite the best possible terrain for the Democrats to recapture the White House, the Democrats (with a whole lot of cheerleading from the mainstream media) have chosen a thinly experienced, irresolute, underachieving and obnoxious standard bearer. And his excuse-mongering just makes it all the more irritating. It is not clear what provoked the soul-searching or why reality didn’t dawn on the pundits sooner. After all, they knew all along that he had virtually no experience and that he often sounded bizarrely confident about his nonexistent credentials.
Nice wrapping paper, but is there anything in the box? Also related, via Belmont, Alinsky's Ten Rules for Radicals and how Obama is breaking the rules: RULE 1:”Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.” Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood. RULE 2: “Never go outside the expertise of your people.” RULE 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” RULE 6: “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” RULE 7: “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” RULE 9: “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” RULE 10: “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.”
Wednesday, August 6. 2008
 I have to be down in NYC early tomorrow, so I will leave you dear readers with these excellent links:
The Bush 41 grocery scanner myth Is time an illusion? And what's an illusion anyway? Parody no longer acceptable in academia. It's all so stupid, from supposedly bright people. TigerHawk wants to see this happen. Me too. I hate it when this happens: Cougar comes into house, kills family dog. Can't we all just get along? Parallel lives: Orwell and Waugh. They are two of my favorites. Obama's big donors. But I thought... Related: Jonah Goldberg notes postmodernism on the left Related: The Nation warns Obama about moving to far to the right (!?!?) Russia: "If we had no sexual harassment we would have no children," the judge ruled. Ain't that the truth. Most people can ignore prostate cancer. That's good news. I will. Dogs and cats and Moslems don't mix. It's their loss. Still no recession. Why are people grouchy? Maybe they aren't. The anniversary of Little Boy. Still a moral puzzle. And August 4th was the one good day of the French Revolution Morgan Stanley freezing home equity withdrawals. Ouch. Guns and violent crime in VA Rather amusing: John Edwards with his love child. Yes, it's a dumb story - but what if he were a Repub? Doubling down on dumb. Dino Abuse of the Red Cross symbol in Colombia. They do have a point. On the other hand, all's fair in war... Cops need training in sensitivity to transexuals, or whatever they are. First things first, right? Studying boredom Bill Clinton's plea for African monogamy. Good grief. World's smallest snake discovered, and why snakes can't come any smaller (h/t, YARGB)  Maggots and the National Health Service. And rats in French jails.
From Coyote, one quote: I generally have a bet I make for new light (and heavy) commuter rail systems. I bet that for the amount the system cost to build, every single daily rider could have instead been given a Prius to drive for the same money; and, with the operating losses and/or subsidy the system requires each year, every one of those Prius drivers could be given enough gas to make their daily commute. And still have money left over.
Where have all the Pangolins gone? No wonder I never see them around here. Beware the mechanical monkeys. Robert Samuelson: A tyranny of true believers. But do most people care all that much about public affairs? I doubt it. I was, maybe unfortunately, taught to care. Citizenship and all that. How our culture keeps kids out of the sciences. Does it, really? Maybe it self-selects...for IQ. A great Bush speech, Sept. 20, 2001. Video Toon from Don Singleton
The easy answer, at Moonbattery. By these criteria, you probably are one. I am.
 Happiness inequality in the US. Marginal Rev. Interesting, but still a wacky topic no matter how it is defined.
Best time in a decade to buy your second home. Go for it! You only live once. Childhood innocence is bourgeois? Mediocracy They have been found: Obama's lost years. Why the death of the daily paper is a bad thing. He is correct. Death.com? I think that Monster and Craig's List were two genius uses of these internets. Why not death notices too? Alaska Gov. Palin's polar bear lawsuit A quote from Obama, Shaman by Beran in City Journal: Unlike the English Whigs and the American Founders, the modern liberal regards suffering not as an unavoidable element of life but as an aberration to be corrected by up-to-date political, economic, and hygienic arrangements. Rather than acknowledge the limitations of our condition, the liberal continually contrives panaceas that will enable us to transcend it.
and Machiavelli’s prince was the first intimation of a modern charismatic type, the demiurge who used a demonic virtù to overcome divisive self-seeking in the name of social solidarity. Self-interest led to market capitalism and alienation; civic selflessness led to public-spirited communitarianism and happiness. The “Machiavellian vocabulary,” the historian J. G. A. Pocock argued in The Machiavellian Moment, became the “vehicle of a basically hostile perception of early modern capitalism.” Machiavelli rejected the commercial ethos (predicated on the pursuit of private interest) that the leading Anglo-American statesmen sought to encourage. In doing so, he anticipated modernity’s childish dream of an anodyne world. His communitarian state is the prototype of the workers’ paradises of Marx and Lenin and the Nordic Valhallas of Hitler and Houston Stewart Chamberlain. His influence is evident in both the enlightened despot celebrated by the Continental philosophes and the socialist wizard admired by intellectuals like Edmund Wilson, who hailed Marx as a mix of “Prometheus and Lucifer,” a heroically diabolic figure who could redeem the waste land of modern capitalism...
Photo by BD: I like the high rake of the bow on this 23'(?) center console skiff with a good bow rail by Seaway Boats. I want this.
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