Merry Christmas

This Sounds About Right

H/T to Clevergael, who reigns supreme as a Uber Cool Nerd Goddess.

My Holiday Gift To You

No, I am not ending the blog.

What I am doing is posting a pic of myself in my new hat. (Yes, I am that much of a dork.)



C'mon, admit it. You know you wanted it.

The 12 Days Of Global Warming

This is just thing to warm me up as I'm waiting for the NEXT autumnal snow-storm to hit.

Word Request

I just experienced something, and I want to know if there is a word in English for the phenomenon. Is there a word for doubting the veracity of your spell check program when it checks your document and doesn't find an error?

Why Isn't Chris Von Sneidern Famous?

If that isn't a question you have ever asked yourself, don't worry, you are not alone. But for those of us "in the know," it is a bit of a puzzle. Luckily, there is a new documentary aimed at solving the conundrum.



All I can say is, if there ever came a time that someone wanted to question my life and ask what it has all added up to, it would be damn nice to have someone like Wes Stace saying nice things about me.

I'm Officially Old Now

When I was a younger man and I would feel the pull of certain adult fashion symbols, I would push them out of my mind with the phrase, "I don't want to be some hipster doofus. I'll do that sort of thing when I'm old...you know, like 40."

Well, I turned 40 this year, and the first of these fashion impulses has successfully avoided all the warnings of my younger days and has landed squarely upon my head. Yes, I bought my first fedora.

Meet the Jaxon Iconoclast (Wool):



As far as hat purchases go, this one was not a matter of high finance. It set me back a grand total of $45 including shipping.

I must say....I like it....a lot. It is damn cold around here, and I'm not blessed with a full head of hair, so a hat is a necessity. Up until now I've only ever worn ballcaps or ski caps. I just didn't want to become "the old guy who wears nothing but ballcaps."

Still, this could be the start of something weird. I've already caught myself looking online at panamas, because, hey!, the Iconoclast is my fall/winter hat. I'll need something else to protect my poor bald head from the big bad sun too. That only makes sense, right?

Down this path lies madness...and quite possibly my taking up pipe smoking as well.

Hmmmm....pipe smoking....sounds good.

I Said It

But I didn't say it here. Go over to Blue Crab for the latest: Warning! Global Warming(tm) Will Cause The Same Weather!

Shocking!? Uh...Not Really

News flash! Corrupt Illinois machine politician corrupt. Blagojevich, chief of staff arrested and taken into custody

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday on charges of conspiring to get financial benefits through his authority to appoint a U.S. senator to fill the vacancy left by Barack Obama's election as president.

According to a federal criminal complaint, Blagojevich also was charged with illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., the owner of the Chicago Tribune, in the sale of Wrigley Field. In return for state assistance, Blagojevich allegedly wanted members of the paper's editorial board who had been critical of him fired.

Blagojevich also was charged with using his authority as governor in an attempt to squeeze out campaign contributions.

Blagojevich's chief of staff, John Harris, also was arrested.

This all begs the question, is it even possible to be Governor of Illinois and not be arrested? Current trends indicate otherwise.

I wrote this back in February:

The sad thing is you could see this coming from day one. Oh, the particulars of how it would go down were unknown, but the politics of Illinois, and especially the Chicago Democratic party, are so inherently corrupt it was only a matter of time. It is a shame for the voters of Illinois who went from a corruption plagued Republican Governor, in George Ryan, to the Democratic equivalent in Blagojevich, but they always knew it was coming.

The crazy thing is that was all predicated upon Blagojevich being up to his eyeballs in Tony Rezko illegalities. Since that time Rod has felt comfortable enough to engage in a whole host of new illegalities, which has led to this arrest.

Amazing.

New York Times Doesn't Want To Hear From Great Unwashed

How quickly they forget that Nazis too were elitists: Typing Without a Clue

The unlicensed pipe fitter known as Joe the Plumber is out with a book this month, just as the last seconds on his 15 minutes are slipping away. I have a question for Joe: Do you want me to fix your leaky toilet?

I didn’t think so. And I don’t want you writing books.

Well, excuse Joe for living you vacuous piece of shit. When did God come down and appoint you as being worthwhile of being published?

No wonder the Times is losing money hand over fist.

What The Hell Is Wrong With People?

This kind of thing is simply retarded:

A hearing has been set for next week to decide whether Delmar Boulevard in St. Louis also will be known as "Barack Obama Boulevard."

Alderman Kacie Starr Triplett, an early Obama supporter whose ward includes a portion of Delmar, is leading a push to dedicate the street in honor of the president-elect.

I don't mind ceremonial dedications for Presidents who, you know, actually accomplish something. Getting elected to the freakin' office isn't enough.

If it is, I'd like to re-name part of Olive the "Via Richard Nixon."

People Who Spout "Anti-Zionism" = People Who Are Anti-Semitic

Yep, every time. Here is (yet) another case in point:

The University of Ottawa "social justice agency" refused to fund a speech sponsored by the campus Hillel Society on grounds that Hillel has a "relationship to apartheid Israel." The agency, the University of Ottawa Public Research Interest Group, added that "Zionist ideology does not fit within OPIRG's mandate of human rights, social justice." The speech had nothing to do with Israel. It was given by Israel Sariri, head of a Ugandan group working on sustainable development projects. He talked about schools that feed and educate 500 Jewish, Muslim and Christian children in Africa.

Notice, Hillel is a recognized campus society but they are being singled out for discrimination because they are now somehow beyond the pale.

No word if the University of Ottawa is planning on having Jewish student wear indentifying Stars of David to make dastardly supporters of Israel easier to spot.

Boneheaded Nonsense

Sometimes you read an aside that just infuriates you. Take this from First Things:

While we’re contemplating life in the doghouse, treat yourself to Hank William’s classic, “Move It On Over” or try the blues-rock cover by the indefatigable George Thorogood and the Destroyers, justifiably called “the greatest bar band in the world.”

No disrespect inten...scratch that....with heaps of disrespect intended...that is the kind of stupid, insipid, East Coast elitist garbage those of us in "flyover country" have to deal with all the time.

Anyone with a finger on the actual musical pulse of the country knows The Bottle Rockets are the best bar band in the world. Easy.

Hell, for my money, I'd say Webb Wilder runs a respectable second in that contest.

Sometimes people forget the country doesn't end at the Delaware river.

{/tongue in cheek}

Please Stop The Stupidity

I'm sick and tired of reading stuff like this:

Polls show that Americans overwhelmingly approve of Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, but will the founding fathers veto this popular addition to Barack Obama's "team of rivals"?

What "rivals"? Hillary Clinton?? Really?? So Reagan had a "team of rivals" because he had George H.W. Bush as his Veep?

There is a word for such a notion, and the word is "stupidity."

All this journalistic penchant for invoking the term "team of rivals" proves is that journalists only read popular history. Why do we all have to suffer because they read so shallowly?

I'll See Your "3 Dangerous Myths" And Raise You One Dumb Idea

I saw this "advice" to small businesses courtesy of US News:

Sales forecasting: It's hard enough to get it right without all the ways we get it wrong. It was on my mind over the long holiday weekend, and in this case, it wasn't a particularly cheery back-of-the-mind thought. My company's recent sales reflect the economic downturn.

Not cheery, perhaps, but now more than ever, managing your sales forecast is really important and very much misunderstood. Most people fear forecasting. They think some expert should do it. Visions of econometric models and weighted moving averages dance, devilishly, in their heads.

So why do people hate forecasting? It's mostly because of myths and misunderstandings. Such as, among others, these three:

Myth 1: It's About Accurate Forecasting

Not really. We're all just human, so we don't predict the future all that well....

Myth 2: It's for Experts

Again, not really. In the real world, forecasting is a matter of good educated guessing in rows and columns on a spreadsheet. Real people, the ones who run the business, think about what they can realistically expect....

Myth 3: You Can Manage Without it

Managing a company without sales forecasting—the forecast, the actual results, and the management that follows—is about as smart as driving a car without a steering wheel, or maybe I should say with your windshield covered in black paint.

This prompted a response by yours truly:

Speaking as someone who ran a small business for a number of years, a lot of this strikes me as nonsense. I mean, I'm sure this is the way folks who teach business in universities want the world to work, but it is as far from the real world as I can imagine.

1. You admit up front that the "forecasts" have little to do with what actually happens. This is not a "so what" moment. Producing these "forecasts" take time and energy away from other things one could be doing. In any small business there are never enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done. Even the most cursory of a cost/benefit analysis would tell you to dump the attempts at "forecasting" as being, at best, non-productive, and, at worst, counter-productive.

2. I agree with the previous commentator; flexibility is the key. Forecasts can have the unintended effect of narrowing our options based upon what we believed would happen, as opposed to what actually happens. Yes, the author says you have to keep evaluating your situation, but how does a "forecast" help you do that? One could just as easily (or more easily) rely upon sales history (for example) to give one a comparison with present numbers.

3. It is a good rule of thumb to always be wary of what my father used to call "Onageristic Estimates." (An onager is the name of a wild ass....so an Onageristic Estimate is a "wild ass guess.") Such guesses were only employed when other methods/answers were, A) unavailable, or B) too costly (in one way or another.) You believed in an Onageristic Estimate at your own peril. The thought of an inventory manager basing her buying upon such a number should send shivers of horror through the mind of any small business owner.

That just about covers it.

Sorry Folks, But This Is The Science

I've been saying it for years, and luckily some scientists more interested in the truth than in pseudo-religious ideology making are saying it as well:

One of Australia's leading enviro-sceptics, the geologist and University of Adelaide professor Ian Plimer, 62, says he has noticed audiences becoming more receptive to his message that climate change has always occurred and there is nothing we can do to stop it.

In a speech at the American Club in Sydney on Monday night for Quadrant magazine, titled Human-Induced Climate Change - A Lot Of Hot Air, Plimer debunked climate-change myths.

"Climates always change," he said. Our climate has changed in cycles over millions of years, as the orbit of the planet wobbles and our distance from the sun changes, for instance, or as the sun itself produces variable amounts of radiation. "All of this affects climate. It is impossible to stop climate change. Climates have always changed and they always will."

His two-hour presentation included more than 50 charts and graphs, as well as almost 40 pages of references. It is the basis of his new book, Heaven And Earth: The Missing Science Of Global Warming, to be published early next year.

Plimer said one of the charts, which plots atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature over 500 million years, with seemingly little correlation, demonstrates one of the "lessons from history" to which geologists are privy: "There is no relationship between CO2 and temperature."

Yep. That's right. Al Gore lied to us.

Who could believe a politician would do such a thing?

Reality Bites

Let the casualties begin: NBC Fires Weather Channel Environmental Unit

NBC Universal made the first of potentially several rounds of staffing cuts at The Weather Channel (TWC) on Wednesday, axing the entire staff of the "Forecast Earth" environmental program during the middle of NBC's "Green Week," as well as several on-camera meteorologists. The layoffs totaled about 10 percent of the workforce, and are among the first major changes made since NBC completed its purchase of the venerable weather network in September....

Forecast Earth was hosted by former CNN anchor Natalie Allen, with contributions from climate expert Heidi Cullen. It was the sole program on TWC that focused on global climate change, which raises the question of whether the station will still report on the subject. Cullen's future role at the network is not known.

It's good to see the "climate change" crowd take the professional beating they so richly deserve. Their political ideology masquerading as science show was an embarrassment. I'm only saddened by the fact that Cullen wasn't fired outright.

From Patterico's place:

Dr. Cullen is famous - or infamous - for urging that “broadcast meteorologists be stripped of their scientific certification if they express skepticism about predictions of manmade catastrophic global warming.” Here’s Dr. Cullen’s December 2006 blog entry where she made her remarkable suggestion that climate change skeptics should be decertified by the AMS.

Cullen is a lousy scientist, which is the same thing as saying she is no scientist at all.

Maybe "Forecast Earth" will reappear on the SciFi channel. They like fantasy.

A Timely Reminder

I read a story like this....

The Welsh language, spoken by 600,000 people, got a cultural boost on Thursday when it was heard, and interpreted, at the European Union for the first time.

...and I think, "Hey, I've got a copy of 'Teach Yourself Welsh' on my bookshelf! Maybe I should finally give it a try!"

Then I read...

"Efallai mai'r Gymraeg yw un o'r ieithoedd hynaf sy'n cael ei defnyddio yn y DU, ond mae'n parhau'n un o'r rhai mwyaf bywiog," he told them.

And I say, "Or maybe I'll just stick with something nice and simple, like Chinese or ancient Greek."

Am I The Only One Who Finds This Unseemly?

You know, I'm as much of a free market capitalist as the next right-wing nutjob, but I have to admit the way the whole "bailout" scenario has been playing out looks bad.

SCENE: Senator Bigwig's office in Washington, DC.

Aide #1: Senator, there are some gentlemen from Wall Street financial institutions in the outer office, hats in hand looking for a handout.

Senator Bigwig: Wall Street, eh? Let's see...hmm...lots of good fellows from the country club. They're OK....what about their employees?

Aide #1: Mostly white collar workers, sir. Lots of folks whose professional organizations have given generously to your re-election campaign war chest.

Senator Bigwig: I see. In other words, loyal upstanding Americans, who should not, NAY, must not be allowed to feel the cold sting of a free market correction. My campaign finances...uh um...I mean the very existence of our credit markets require we give them what they want. Yes, that sounds about right.

ANOTHER AIDE ENTERS:

Aide #2: Senator, some gentlemen from Detroit have just arrived claiming they need a helping hand.

Senator Bigwig: Auto makers, eh? That would mostly affect blue collar workers, right? Unions and whatnot...

Aide #2: Yes, sir. Plus most of the supporting industries supplying tool and parts tend to be blue collar workers as well.

THE SENATOR TURNS TO AIDE #1

Senator Bigwig: Hmm...they been adding to the campaign war chest?

Aide #1: Not so much.

Senator Bigwig: Yes, I see.

THE SENATOR TURNS BACK TO AIDE #2

Senator Bigwig: Well, there is absolutely nothing I can do I'm afraid. The free market must be allowed to work through these things. Why, if the government were to get involved whenever a sector of the economy started to feel the pinch, where would that get us? No. Creative destruction is the order of the day. Tell the boys from Detroit they are on their own. Now, on to other business...

Aide #1: But Senator...the gentlemen from Wall Street?

Senator Bigwig: Oh yes...where's the checkbook?

END SCENE

I Don't Trust Many Politicians...

...but I trust Senator James Inhofe.

Dear Colleague,

I write to inform you of the actions I will be taking during the lame duck session of Congress regarding the funding status of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Given the recent news about Secretary Paulson's execution of the TARP program, I firmly believe action is required by Congress. I plan to push for legislation that will require Secretary Paulson's plan for the remaining $350 billion in authorized TARP funds to be ratified by an affirmative vote in the U.S. Congress.

In my statement opposing the Paulson Plan last month, I laid out two primary reasons why I voted ‘no.' The first is that I wasn't convinced that asset-purchase program was the right way to do this, and the second is that it would lead to increased lobbying for handouts and bailouts by any industry facing financial trouble.

I stated at the time that my vote was against the Paulson plan - not against taking extraordinary action to provide necessary confidence to financial markets. I stated that "The Paulson plan would have Washington take $700 billion worth of toxic Wall Street assets from financial firms' balance sheets and put them on the balance sheet of the federal government.... I'm not confident in its success."

The critics were right. On October 14th, in a significant shift, Treasury outlined a plan to directly purchase equity stakes in of major financial institutions. The Wall Street Journal noted that "critics...say Treasury should have formulated a comprehensive plan earlier in the crisis." This past week, Secretary Paulson announced that he has completed a remarkable about face, as summarized by November 13th Investor's Business Daily front page headline, which read, "In Major Reversal, Treasury Won't Buy Bad Mortgage Debt." This is a complete reversal. Why did Paulson reverse course? Thursday's Los Angeles Times provides the answer. "Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson's decision to abandon plans to buy troubled bank assets shows that he has come to two conclusions about what was once the chief focus of the government's $700-billion bailout: The first is that it wouldn't work."

I know many of you have serious concerns about how Secretary Paulson has executed the financial rescue program and I share them with you. Congress abdicated its Constitutional responsibility by signing a truly blank check over to the Treasury Secretary. However, the lame duck session of Congress offers us a tremendous opportunity to change course. We should take it.

During the lame duck session, I will be taking the following actions. First and foremost, if Secretary Paulson submits his plan to Congress in order to access the remaining $350 billion while we are in session, a doubtful prospect, I plan to immediately introduce the disapproval resolution pursuant to Section 115 of the EESA and push for its enactment. I will also introduce and actively pursue enactment of legislation to do two things: First, it will amend Section 115 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) to require an affirmative vote on the part of Congress to approve Treasury's plan for the remaining $350 billion, instead of the current statutory process which gives Secretary Paulson far too much latitude. Second, it will require a freeze on any remaining funds of the first $350 billion. It is imperative that we not allow that amount of money to be added to a deficit approaching $1 trillion this year without any input from the legislative branch.

Secretary Paulson stated in a CNBC interview at 2:00pm on Friday, November 14th that "the financial markets have been stabilized." If that is the case, it is Congress's duty to have a say in what happens with the remaining authorized amount of $350 billion. It is clear that it was a mistake to sign a blank check to one man for such a tremendous amount of money. Though there are still significant challenges in financial markets, it appears that the threat of a catastrophic financial crisis, which was the justification for the grant of such sweeping authority, has subsided. Perhaps the additional $350 billion should not be added to the deficit. Congress should have a debate.

"Global Warming" = Fraud

It's funny how its only the worst of the AGW(tm) alarmists that get caught making up data to support their fantasy "theories": The world has never seen such freezing heat

A surreal scientific blunder last week raised a huge question mark about the temperature records that underpin the worldwide alarm over global warming. On Monday, Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), which is run by Al Gore's chief scientific ally, Dr James Hansen, and is one of four bodies responsible for monitoring global temperatures, announced that last month was the hottest October on record.

This was startling. Across the world there were reports of unseasonal snow and plummeting temperatures last month, from the American Great Plains to China, and from the Alps to New Zealand. China's official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its "worst snowstorm ever". In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years.

So what explained the anomaly? GISS's computerised temperature maps seemed to show readings across a large part of Russia had been up to 10 degrees higher than normal. But when expert readers of the two leading warming-sceptic blogs, Watts Up With That and Climate Audit, began detailed analysis of the GISS data they made an astonishing discovery. The reason for the freak figures was that scores of temperature records from Russia and elsewhere were not based on October readings at all. Figures from the previous month had simply been carried over and repeated two months running.

Yep. They were using September's numbers, from an out of the way spot on the globe they thought no one would bother to double check, in order to fraudulently claim "record heat."

Funny how their so called "honest random errors" always work out to make things hotter than they actually were. That's just a coincidence I guess.

The error was so glaring that when it was reported on the two blogs - run by the US meteorologist Anthony Watts and Steve McIntyre, the Canadian computer analyst who won fame for his expert debunking of the notorious "hockey stick" graph - GISS began hastily revising its figures. This only made the confusion worse because, to compensate for the lowered temperatures in Russia, GISS claimed to have discovered a new "hotspot" in the Arctic - in a month when satellite images were showing Arctic sea-ice recovering so fast from its summer melt that three weeks ago it was 30 per cent more extensive than at the same time last year.

Oh, good Lord. Now it seems "fake but accurate" is not just the new standard for journalists anymore.

A GISS spokesman lamely explained that the reason for the error in the Russian figures was that they were obtained from another body, and that GISS did not have resources to exercise proper quality control over the data it was supplied with. This is an astonishing admission: the figures published by Dr Hansen's institute are not only one of the four data sets that the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) relies on to promote its case for global warming, but they are the most widely quoted, since they consistently show higher temperatures than the others.

So, they are making "scientific" pronouncements based about data the reliability of which they know nothing. Indeed, the data set is chosen because it gives them the results they crave, and not because it is the most accurate or verifiable.

This new "learning" amazes me.

Yet last week's latest episode is far from the first time Dr Hansen's methodology has been called in question. In 2007 he was forced by Mr Watts and Mr McIntyre to revise his published figures for US surface temperatures, to show that the hottest decade of the 20th century was not the 1990s, as he had claimed, but the 1930s.

All of this begs a question: Why isn't Dr. Hansen being treated like Dr. Hwang Woo-suk?

Gleaned from Power Line.

Amen To That

McQ over at QandO is channelling me:

I love the smell of desperation in the air, it smells of hypocrisy. It is as if Begala and the left have had the scales suddenly fall from their eyes and they’ve realized the depth of their vicious, hateful, nasty, venomous, personal and classless attacks over the last 8 years.

And they’re fearful that the right will engage in the same tactics of personal destruction and smear which has been their hallmark for so long.

They want to embrace Bush for a couple of months and that makes it all ok? You can’t help but laugh at such mewling claptrap.

...

In the meantime, to the left - STFU with all this hugging and loving nonsense. Your hypocrisy sickens me. And besides, I’d rather hug a porcupine.

He's right. They really are sickening.

Typical

Subject #1: Arrested for the crime of being a Republican around supporters of the chosen one.



What was all that post-partisan bullshit again?

Scumbags.

Some Centrist

Why is it that everyone Obama seems intent to hire for his new administration is the equivalent of a middle finger salute to the other side of the aisle?

Post-partisan my ass.

If you need it spelled out for you, Jaime Gorelick is unacceptable based upon gross incompetence alone.

Iowahawk Said It

Yeah, it's kinda mean. Sadly, it's also kinda true: America Can Take Pride In This Historic, Inspirational Disaster

So for now, let's put politics aside and celebrate this historic milestone. In his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial 45 years ago, Dr. King said "I have a dream that one day my children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Let us now take pride that Tuesday we Americans proved that neither thing matters anymore.

Obama Doesn't Lie, He "Evolves"

Really:

Despite campaign trail promises that special interests wouldn’t be a part of his administration, President-elect Barack Obama’s has sent signals to the lobbyists that they can get jobs with him.

The Obama policy, which appears to be evolving...

I don't even need to hear more. I'm pretty sure I don't care about what policy he actually adopts, but I'm sure that isn't the point. Remember, this was the guy whose word was supposed to be so much different than any other politician's word. He was sincere.

At least I wasn't stupid enough to ever believe it.

Michael Crichton Dead At 66

Michael Crichton dies of cancer

Michael Crichton, the million-selling author who made scientific research terrifying and irresistible in such thrillers as "Jurassic Park," "Timeline" and "The Andromeda Strain," has died of cancer, his family said.

Crichton died Tuesday in Los Angeles at age 66 after privately battling cancer.

"Through his books, Michael Crichton served as an inspiration to students of all ages, challenged scientists in many fields, and illuminated the mysteries of the world in a way we could all understand," his family said in a statement.

"While the world knew him as a great storyteller that challenged our preconceived notions about the Other-- and entertained us all while doing so -- his wife Sherri, daughter Taylor, family and friends knew Michael Crichton as a devoted husband, loving father and generous friend who inspired each of us to strive to see the wonders of our world through new eyes."

He was an experimenter and popularizer known for his stories of disaster and systematic breakdown, such as the rampant microbe of "The Andromeda Strain" or the dinosaurs running madly in "Jurassic Park." Many of his books became major Hollywood movies, including "Jurassic Park," "Rising Sun" and "Disclosure." Crichton himself directed and wrote "The Great Train Robbery" and he co-wrote the script for the blockbuster "Twister."

I enjoyed much of Crichton's work, although I hadn't followed his later fiction writing very closely. He could be wildly uneven, ranging from the wildly entertaining ("The Great Train Robbery,") to the thought provoking ("Jurassic Park" and "Sphere,") to the slightly paranoid ("Rising Sun,") to just plain awful ("The Lost World.") He was also prone to repetition (what is "Timeline" except a re-working of "Jurassic Park" with time travel filling in for dinosaurs?)

Still, I've spent many hours in his company, so to speak, and I was rarely bored. Crichton also had guts. He stood up against the Global Warming loons when it was a damn risky thing to do. His novel "State Of Fear" is not particularly good, even by Crichton's standards, but it contains much that needed to be said. His speaking out against the idea of "science by consensus" was an example of his courage and an example of his being in the right.

R.I.P.

Hope

Food for thought from Patterico:

I have endured some criticism for saying that Barack Obama, with whom I disagree about almost everything, is a good man trying to do what he thinks is right for this country.

Some commenters have disagreed, citing Obama’s support for grisly forms of late-term abortion; his attendence of a church with a pastor who said anti-American things in some of his sermons; his relationship with unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers; his disturbingly close relationship with corrupt individuals such as Tony Rezko; his broken promises; and his many falsehoods about John McCain. They point to his campaign’s inappropriate use of the race card; his disabling of credit card verification checks; his minions’ attempts to silence free speech with threats; and much more.

There is something to all that, and I don’t think we should pretend these things didn’t happen, or give Obama a false halo. The fact is that John McCain did some things that weren’t too savory during this campaign as well, and as the saying goes, politics ain’t beanbag. Good men do bad things, and in the pursuit of ambition, they almost always do. Barack Obama is not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination.

What’s more, I think he will damage this country with bad policies. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. Inevitably, he is going to take actions that I think are disastrous, and somebody will come back and say: “Hey, Patterico! I thought you said Barack Obama was a good man!” Yes, but I never said he wasn’t going to do horrible things. It’s quite clear he will.

Well, I certainly hope Obama is a better man than the one I saw in this campaign. Whatever his positive qualities, I cannot help but see a combination of the weaknesses and character flaws that defined Presidents Nixon and Carter.

I'd love to be proven wrong.

But I'll note that Obama has picked Rahm "Republicans can go fuck themselves" Emanuel to be his chief of staff.

Can't you already feel the healing?

Does Anyone Know?

Anyone have an ETA on all those government controlled thermostats?

Still?

When I went to bed there were four undecided Senate races, and six hours later they are still undecided. (Who counts the votes in Oregon anyway? Some sort of tree sloth?) Republican, as of right now, lead in all four races. The hopes Democrats had of knocking Chambliss under 50% are gone. Coleman has held on and has a 700 vote lead with 99% reporting. Smith in Oregon has a couple percentage lead right now (but only 75% tree sloth counted votes in.) And, believe it or not, Stevens has basically won up in Alaska. The Senate stands, right now, at the Dems holding 56.

Over in the House races, the Dems have picked up 20 seats with 11 calls yet to make.

Neither of those numbers was as bad as I predicted. Interesting.

IMW Election Live Blog!

If you are actually reading this on election night...what the hell is wrong with you? First thing you should do is leave a comment explaining why you came looking for information here. Go on...do that first. I'll still be here.

12:33 AM: Everything has ground to a halt result wise. I'll see what happens tomorrow. Now its time to put Delano the hamster back in his cage. He's been rolling around in his ball having a grand ol' time.

12:17 AM: Believe it or not it is not my intention to work with Barack Obama. I'm an actual liberal...you know, the government is best which governs least...government is a necessary evil...all that stuff. I'm not going to abandon my philosophical and morals beliefs to enlist in whatever crusade he has in mind. And really he has no right to expect me, or anyone else to do so. I am fundamentally uninterested in being who Barack Obama wants me to be. A real liberal society allows everyone to become the person they want to be, and does not seek to limit them by claiming such a movement is "selfish." The ideals Obama espouses are antithetical to human liberty and I, for one, will not bow down before them. Live with it.

12:04 AM: America: More ageist than racist? Probably.

11:59 PM: Local TV showing Franken closing the gap. I should have learned from the Jesse Ventura debacle, but Minnesota people are kinda dumb.

11:53 PM: McCain has taken the lead in the Omaha area congressional districts. Looks like the EV's wont be split for the first time in history.

11:49 PM: Results have slowed WAY down, but it looks like Chambliss will win in Georgia. Coleman is leading in Minnesota, and Smith has a 50/50 shot out in Oregon. 43 looks possible. (My prediction.) My prez picks look shot, unless Ohio switches back.

11:42 PM: Down to 1% in Ohio. Very interesting.

11:28 PM: IMW Prediction sitting at 45 of 46. Shit. Damn you Nevada!!!!!!!!

11:14 PM: As usual The Onion has the only sane look at the election.

11:08 PM: Coleman is taking a lead from nutjob Franken. Thank God.

11:04 PM: Obama is a dog person. Figures.

11:00 PM: The only way to get rid of "red states" and "blues states" would be to outlaw Republicans. People do realize that?

10:59 PM: Ohio down to 2%. Interesting. Obama is blathering.

10:43 PM: Might Ohio have to be taken off the board? McCain is behind only 50,000 votes with 40% to be counted.

10:28 PM: IMW Prediction 45 for 45.

10:02 PM: IMW Prediction 40 for 40.

10:00 PM: Fox calls for Obama. CNN calls for Obama. Let the smug arrogance reign!

9:58 PM: Switching to vanilla creme soda, for a little bit at least. Feeling kinda full actually.

9:09 PM: IMW Prediction 32 for 32!

9:00 PM: Stupid overreach comments abound. Obama has 1% lead in the popular vote and this is a "realignment election." Dipshits.

8:55 PM: Mark Shields makes the scumbag argument of the night. "The Confederacy lives!" Asshole.

8:45 PM: PA 12th District voters are proving John Murtha right; they are nothing but dumb rednecks. THey are returning Murtha 59% to 41%. (19% reporting.)

8:41 PM: Big news! First beer poured! Tragic news, however. I just discovered it is my only beer. NO BEER NO PEACE!

8:11PM: Based upon CNN projections the IMW Electoral Prediction is 22 for 22.

8:02 PM: Fox accidently calls Ohio for Obama. Oops! Jim Leher has company.

7:57 PM: McCain takes lead in popular vote. (By 2,000 votes out of 19 million cast.)

7:52 PM: Because I feel like it and it makes me happy.



7:43 PM: CNN can stop patting themselves on the back about "waiting" to call PA. CBS called it a half hour ago and CNN waited until 1/100th of one percent of the vote counted. Yeah, that's a real big difference.

7:31 PM: Even with all of the hard core Democratic states being counted the national vote numbers are Obama 50%, McCain 49%. That must disappoint Obamunists.

7:26 PM: This hummus is making me thirsty. Quesadillas in the oven. In a shocker, beer still unopened.

7:07 PM: I find it hard to believe the networks cannot call Mississippi and Alabama the same way they called Maryland or Delaware.

7:01 PM: CNN has an annoying little *bling* noise. It might make me homicidal by the end of the night. Everyone's holding par.

6:54 PM: All the networks are boring me. Stop it!

6:39 PM: CNN is reporting votes for Florida while the polls there are still open. They shouldn't be doing that shit. We can all wait an hour.

6:35 PM: CNN is showing a bogus popular vote total with almost 2 million votes cast. Under 500,000 votes have been counted. Oops.

6:33 PM: McCain leading all of the states with returns going, except Vermont. Early moments yet, but still PBS seems to be wondering why McCain hasn't conceeded yet.

6:25 PM: Roast red pepper hummus time. Yum. Beer still being eyed.

6:24 PM: Why does PBS insist on feeding us historians instead of Political Scientists? (I hope my wife, an historian, doesn't read this.)

6:12 PM: Pita bread in the oven. First beer being eyed.

6:05 PM: Jim Leher called Virginia for Obama...incorrectly. Oops. Breathe deeply Jim. Pace yourself.

6:02 PM (CST - aka God's time): The noshing has begun. Queso has been consumed. Guac has been made, sampled, deemed tasty.

The Dimwitting Of America

The real trouble with excluding conservative voices from college campuses is that it helps turn liberals into blithering idiots.

Take the case of Phil Busse, the moron college prof. who spent his free time destroying McCain/Palin yard signs, wrote an essay detailing his activities, and expected to soak up rapturous applause. What actually happened was quite different: St. Olaf prof resigns after election sign fiasco

Philip Busse, the St. Olaf College professor who admitted to stealing campaign signs in a national political blog read by millions, has resigned.

St. Olaf spokesman David Gonnerman issued the following statement Monday afternoon:

"The St. Olaf College administration first learned of Phil Busse's self-admitted theft and destruction of campaign signs on the morning of Oct. 31 as a result of his posting on the Internet.

"The St. Olaf administration immediately referred the matter to local law enforcement authorities and commenced an investigation of its own.

"Mr. Busse has tendered his resignation and is no longer affiliated with St. Olaf College.

"In a statement issued on Friday, the administration made clear that Mr. Busse's actions were in direct conflict with the college's values and mission and that the college did not in any way condone them.

"The statement also declared that St. Olaf College deplores unlawful interference with political campaigns and expression of speech.

St. Olaf obviously did the right thing in making clear that such behavior is deplorable and fundamentally not in keeping with the spirit of an institution of liberal education. The sad thing is Busse still doesn't get it.

In an e-mail correspondence with the News, Busse expressed remorse for stealing the signs, saying that the thefts were “immature and impetuous.”

“Writing the essay was an opportunity to explore and talk about political speech and the desire that most of us have to express our politics — both in mature and immature ways, and sometimes a mix of the two,” Busse said in the e-mail. “I’m disappointed that most readers seem to have focused on the thefts, and not on the larger thoughts.”

In the article, Busse likened his thefts to an act of civil disobedience and said that stealing the signs was “one of the single most exhilarating and empowering political acts that I have ever done.”

All this does is prove Busse has no idea what he is talking about. His acts have nothing to do with "civil disobedience" whatsoever. Had he read and understand the classic texts on the subject, Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from the Birmingham City Jail," he would see that real civil disobedience is directed towards the state, and not against the speech rights of fellow citizens. In fact, the only way this could be construed as civil disobedience is if his "larger thoughts" entailed the removal of First amendment protections for citizens who do not hold Mr. Busse's ideological prerogatives.

There is absolutely nothing noble about Busse's actions. Thoreau viewed his not paying taxes to the government as a blow against what he felt was an unjust war against Mexico. King Jr. took his actions because he was standing up directly against unjust law. All Busse did was express his hatred of John McCain, or Republicans in general, or all citizens who disagree with him politically, and in the most infantile manner possible. I'm sure he felt his personal experience in performing these acts was "exhilarating and empowering." The same was probably true of the brownshirts who participated in Kristallnacht.

The comparison is an apt one because Busse actions were not directed towards the government or an unjust law, but were instead directed against people he didn't like. The mere existence of McCain supporters is enough to enrage Busse to the point he will destroy their property. So what is the larger point there? Or how can we believe Busse's "larger points" don't mirror those of the brownshirst who also spent a night destroying the property of people they didn't like? And, what on God's green earth does Busse have to do with the high minded aspirations of Thoreau or Dr. King? The answer to the last one is apparent: Not a hell of a lot.

Bigotry: It's What The Left Wants For Dinner

It's like something from another world. The left in California has released an ad attacking Mormons that would make Joe McCarthy cringe from the sheer brazenness and crudity of it all.



I don't know what America is becoming...but I want no part of it.

Need A Last Second Push?

In case you were wondering where Barack Obama stands on Kelo v. New London, the Supreme Court decision that allows wealthy interests to take the property of poor people because, well, their wealthy, duh!...and, based upon how many times this site gets found via Google searches on the matter, I'd say it is more than a few...you'll be happy to know Obama supports Kelo in all its particulars.

At least it seems so. He has been cagey, shall we say, about the issue, but all evidence points to Obama supporting it. Obama's campaign website is silnet on the matter, but why wouldn't it be? He knows better then all you little people.

Obama Concedes!!!

Not really...just checking to see if you are paying attention.

I notice the net is buzzing tonight. Folks are really jacked up about tomorrow. I'll offer a little advice...actually I'll let Bette do it:

Predictions

I've already got my Electoral Vote prediction up, but here are some others.

Senate: Dems get to 57 (including the two "independents.")
House: Dems pick up 24.
President popular vote: Obama %50.9, McCain %48.0, all others %1.1.
Minnesota Senate: Coleman wins.
Pennsylvania 12th House District: Murtha loses. World rejoices.

It's Political Junkie Super Bowl Time

I know football fans will think me sacrilegious, but tomorrow is where it is at for me. Even though I'm fairly certain the wrong person to lead the country will probably win (Yeah Barack, I'm talking about you...now sit down and get back to work on your next lie), I still enjoy everything about election night.

So, if it akin to the Super Bowl, then I better get the snacks ready for a long night. This year I am forgoing dinner all together in favor of a serious appetizer binge. The wife and I are going with red pepper hummus & pita, chicken quesadillas, and queso dip & home made guacamole with tortilla chips.

I've not made up my mind about grain or grape. I'm leaning towards grain however. That would entail dopplebocks to start, and a nice Irish whisky to drown out the sorrows and toast the successes.

Sounds pretty good really.

Rasmussen Has Race Getting Tighter

Interesting:

Ohio
McCain 49%
Obama 49%

Florida
McCain 50%
Obama 49%

Colorado
McCain 47%
Obama 51%

Missouri
McCain 49%
Obama 49%

North Carolina
McCain 50%
Obama 49%

Virginia
McCain 47%
Obama 51%

Given these number I could see McCain winning each and every one of these.

What A Jerk

Obama gives McCain the finger.



Classy.

Economic Models Predict Barnburner Of An Election

Maybe there will be no Obamaslide after all; so says Yale's Ray Fair:

The final economic values ("final" as of October 30, 2008) are 0.22 for GROWTH, 2.88 for INFLATION, and 3 for GOODNEWS. Given these values, the predicted Republican vote share (of the two-party vote) is 48.09 percent. So the prediction is 51.91 for the Democrats and 48.09 for the Republicans, for a spread of 3.82.

The current situation is unusual in that the economy since the end of the third quarter appears to have gotten much worse. People may perceive the economy to be worse than the economic values through the third quarter indicate, which, other things being equal, suggests that the vote equation may overpredict the Republican share. But for what it is worth, the final vote prediction is 48.09 percent of the two-party vote for the Republicans. The Republican share of the two-party House vote is predicted to be 44.24 percent.

Interesting. If McCain runs stronger in the states he has a shot in, it could turn out to be a late night after all.

We shall see.

Gleaned from US News.

Chistopher Hitchens Needs To Lay Off The Sauce

It's clearly affecting his thinking ability:

It had been said that Sen. Barack Obama had once attended a dinner for professor Rashid Khalidi, a distinguished Palestinian academic.

Uh, no. It has been said that Obama has a long standing relationship with Khalidi, who was a frequent dinner companion of Obama. Chirst, is Hitchens so addle brained these days that he is going to give the ol' "He's just this guy who lives in my neighborhood" crapola?

It was further said that the Los Angeles Times, which had first reported the five-years-ago dinner in Chicago, was deliberately withholding a videotape of the evening

Yes, and do you know who said the LAT was withholding a tape? The LAT! It's not a matter of fucking opinion, its a fact.

...that would show Obama in the audience while tough criticism of Israel was being voiced.

That's right. Feting a mouthpiece for a terrorist organization whose avowed goal is the destruction of Israel equals "tough criticism." That's like saying the millions who died in Soviet gulags really only suffered "the mild displeasure of Stalin."

Here is how the Republican nominee for the presidency of the United States described the situation in a radio interview in Miami:

I'm not in the business of talking about media bias, but what if there was a tape with John McCain with a neo-Nazi outfit being held by some media outlet? I think the treatment of the issue would be slightly different.

I presume that in this fantastic piece of semicoherent Florida pandering McCain meant to imply the wearing of a neo-Nazi outfit rather than the membership of one,

Jeezus...now Hitchens is showing he can't read English either. Obviously, the term outfit is used in the sense of organization...you know:

Main Entry: out·fit
Pronunciation: \ˈaut-ˌfit\
Function: noun
Date: circa 1769

1: the act of fitting out or equipping (as for a voyage or expedition)
2 a: a set of tools or equipment especially for the practice of a trade b: a clothing ensemble often for a special occasion or activity c: physical, mental, or moral endowments or resources
3: a group that works as a team : organization ; especially : a military unit

This is the kind of stupidity and lack of reading comprehension I expect from my college freshmen.

So why is Hitchens being so obviously moronic? Ah, it's because he wants to whitewash Khalidi.

My main point, though, is not to call attention to the bullying and demagogy of McCain's attack. It is to observe how completely it undermines any claim on his part to foreign-policy experience. Khalidi has been known to me for some time and can easily be read and consulted by anyone with the remotest curiosity about the Israeli-Arab dispute. He is highly renowned, well beyond the borders of his own discipline, for his measure and care and scruple in weighing the issue. If he is seriously to be compared to a "neo-Nazi," then the Republican nominee has put the United States in the unbelievable position of slandering the most courageously "moderate" of the Palestinian Arabs as a brownshirt and a fascist.

Moderate? What the hell is Hitchens talking about?

Here is the real Khalidi:

Dr. Khalidi was a director of the official PLO press agency WAFA in Beirut from 1976 to 1982. During this time the US State Department considered the PLO a terrorist organization and the PLO was involved with terrorist attacks. WAFA was not an independent, unaffiliated news organization. While it is true that the PLO has moderated over time and moved in the mainstream of Palestinian politics, that is not the point. What we are talking about is perception. Dr. Khalidi, notwithstanding his current work, cannot pretend he was some outsider with no ties to the policies and practices of the PLO in the late 70s. That point will be seized on by Republican strategists. I am not saying this is right or fair, but it is reality. So deal with it.

...

And here is a shocking development–Dr. Khalidi has some strong opinions. During an appearance on Al-Jazeera (note, I also have appeared on Al-Jazeera, so that does not mean one is a reflexive anti-Semite) Khalidi said the following about the Washington Institute:

By God, I say that the participation of the sons or daughters of the Arabs in the plans and affairs of this institute is a huge error, this Israeli institute in Washington, an institute founded by AIPAC, the Zionist lobby, and that hosts tens of Israelis every year. The presence of an Arab or two each year can’t disguise the nature of this institute as the most important center of Zionist interests in Washington for at least a decade. I very much regret the participation of Arab officials and non-officials and academics in the activities of this institute, because in fact if you look at the output of this institute, it’s directed against the Palestinians, against the Arabs, and against the Muslims in general. Its products describe the Palestinians as terrorists, and in fact its basic function is to spread lies and falsehoods about the Arab world, of course under an academic, scholarly veneer. Basically, this is the most important Zionist propaganda tool in the United States.

Talk about "code words." There is no way this rant isn't anti-Semitic in effect and intent. This may be the sort of thing that Hitchens is comfortable with, or maybe even actively supports, but that doesn't make it "moderate."

Khalidi has called Israel a racist, apartheid state that was used U.S. supplied "weapons of mass destruction" against Palestinians.

This is the asshole Hitchens want to protect. (And the sort of ideas Barack Obama finds interesting.)

He must be drunk.

Again.

Coin Flip Florida

Alright, I'm still sticking with my "final" Electoral Count prediction (released on Saturday), but when I ran the numbers today Florida had switched back to McCain, and Nevada had gone to Obama. That would make the tally:

Obama: 311
McCain: 227

Still sticking with my Saturday as "official" but I'm just being a bit of a weasel.

Barack Obama: Misogynist

What a winner.

Obama's Plan To Destroy The Economy

At least he's honest about it, for a change:

The problem is, uh, can you get the American people to say, “This is really important,” and force their representatives to do the right thing? That requires mobilizing a citizenry. That requires them understanding what is at stake. Uh, and climate change is a great example.

You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know — Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.

Gee, would that be the same "Global Warming" which ceased back in 1998?

Hey, maybe after people start to complain about "skyrocketing" energy costs, Obama can calm fear by nationalizing the energy industry.

Not that he's a socialist or anything.

More Anti-Semitic Democrats

And this time they are running for Congress.

On Monday, journalist Joel Mowbray published an article looking at the state representative race between Republican incumbent Josh Mandel and Democrat Bob Belovich. Mandel won the Ohio 17th seat in November 2006 in a longshot bid in a heavily Democratic district, but he had to take a leave of absence from the legislature when he was called up for a second tour in Iraq, which he completed earlier this year.

According to Mowbray’s research, Belovich has openly criticized Mandel for his military service during the legislative term, with his wife, Barbara, saying publicly that Mandel “went AWOL” on his constituents by returning to Iraq.
...

To make matters worse, Bob Belovich added that Mandel was elected in 2006 because of his “blue sign” and his “Jewish name.” When Mowbray spoke with Belovich, he defended his openly anti-Semitic remarks by launching into a five-minute diatribe about the voting habits of Jewish voters in his district.

I would be happier if I could honestly say any of this surprises me. There are actually people who believe "Jews orchestrated the Iraq war" or some variation of that moronic belief system.

You can find such insanity at all levels of the social ladder these days, and the Democratic party is increasingly offering fertile ground for hate as a growth industry.

Obama: $97,000 = Rich

First it was $250,000.

Then it was $200,000.

After that it was $150,000.

Except for when it was $120,000.

Or is it $97,000.

St. Olaf "Professor" Phil Busse, Moral Retard

It's dipshits like this that make me ashamed of my profession.

He should be fired. He should never be rehired by an institution of higher learning.

But in this day and age they give you tenure for bombing the Pentagon.

Maybe Obama will make this moron Secretary of State.

IMW Electoral Vote Prediction: Final

This is it.

McCain: 205
Obama: 333

The breakdown of the "toss up" states: PA, OH, FL, MI, MN, WI, VA, NV, CO, NM, IN, NH, MO & NC

McCain:

NV
IN
MO
NC

Obama:

VA
PA
MI
MN
WI
CO
NM
NH
FL
OH

Switching from McCain to Obama: OH & FL

Switching from Obama to McCain: None

Earlier projections:

#5 10/22 Obama 286 McCain 252
#4 10/15 Obama 333 McCain 205
#3 10/03 Obama 273 McCain 265
#2 9/26 McCain 279 Obama 259
#1 9/17 McCain 315 Obama 223

And, I also predicted I would do better than Nate Silver. His new most likely outcome is Obama 353 McCain 185.

So he tightened up somewhat at the last second. His most likely had been at 375 all week!

Reality

This is what reality is:


So how isn't Obama "full of it" when he talks about taxes?

I mean, come on, if for you this distribution isn't "fair" enough, how are you not a socialist?

And if Obama really wants to call those in the Top 50% of wage earners "selfish" for only paying 97% of the income tax in this counrty...

Gleaned from QandO.

Pauperizing America: Part Two

Bonnie Erbe sees this as the rebirth of the Republican party:

Yes, too many Americans (unfortunately, in my view) want nationalized healthcare. Yes, they want Social Security to be made fiscally sound. But do they want Daddy Government to reach this far into their beloved 401(k) retirement plans and wreak fiscal havoc? Methinks not.
...

Puh-leeze, just how stupid do Democrats think each one of us is? I can see it now, President Obama and the "tax and spenders" in Congress will seize victory and turn it immediately into disaster by raising taxes, reinstating the inheritance tax, and nationalizing healthcare. (OK, I won't call it "socialized" healthcare.) Thereby they will catapult middle-income Americans and independent voters into a speed run back into the GOP camp—a re-creation of the so-called Reagan Democrats of the 1980s. Didn't they learn from their congressional losses in 1994? Didn't they learn from having to swallow eight years of the most incompetent White House governance we've ever seen (George W., that is.) Apparently not. In fact, apparently not at all.

The Democrats zeal for power will be their undoing. And it will be sickening to see all those dolts who complained about the Patriot Act (while being unable to point to a single instance of its misuse), who will sit back and applaud while the Democrats attempt to get their greedy little paws on the billions hard working Americans have managed to save for their retirement.

The most amazing thing is they are so drunk with the prospect of success next Tuesday that they don't even bother to hide it anymore.

Funny (And True)

The real Chris Buckley takes rather a suave beat-down courtesy of Iowahawk: As a Conservative, I Must Say I Do Quite Like the Cut of this Obama Fellow's Jib

By T. Coddington Van Voorhees VII
Columnist, The National Topsider
Membership Chairman, The Newport Club


When my late father T. Coddington Van Voorhees VI founded the iconoclastic conservative journal National Topsider in 1948, he famously declared that "Now is the time for all good conservative helmsmen to hoist the mizzen, pour the cocktails, and steer this damned schooner hard starboard." In the 60 years since he first uttered it after one-too-many Cosmopolitans at one of Pamela Harriman's notorious foreign policy black tie balls, father's pithy bon mot has served as a rallying cry for conservatives from Greenwich to Chevy Chase. Today, I say it's time for we conservatives to once again grab the rigging and set sail with the flotilla of the true conservative in this race: Barack Obama.

Trust me, I haven't taken this tack lightly. No Van Voorhees has supported an avowed socialist since great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandpapa Cragmont Van Voorhees lent Peter Minuet $24 and a sack of wampum to swing a subprime mortgage on Manhattan Island. Old dad himself often recounted how, as a lad, he would command the family chauffeur Carleton to drive the Duesenberg down to the Times Square Trans-Lux so he could hiss Roosevelt. But I've taken a good measure of this Obama fellow, and I must say I like the cut of the man's jib.

Undoubtedly, I enjoyed this bit best:

But there is an even more compelling reason to support Barack Obama: Sarah Palin.

If you are a conservative like me, you guffawed when you heard John McCain announced this declasse rube as a running mate, followed by good-natured applause, thinking it was some sort of whimsical campus prank he was reenacting from his Annapolis years. This was, of course, quickly followed the shock of realizing that he wasn't joking, and all that Hanoi unpleasantness had finally driven him around the bend.

It's an inescapable conclusion that this woman has, in 6 short weeks, single-handedly destroyed the Republican party. Certainly George Bush may share some of the blame; but we conservatives must remember how our hopes were buoyed by his impressive bloodlines and Yale degree before we realized his excursion to Texas had caused him to "go native." But la Palin offers true conservatives no such extenuating graces. I mean, my God, this woman is simply awful; the elided vowels, the beauty pageantry, the guns, the crude non-Episcopal protestantism, the embarrassing porchload of children with horrifying hillbilly names, the white after Labor Day. As fellow conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan quipped to me the other day outside a Martha's Vineyard antique shop, it's gratifying to know the Gipper isn't alive to see what has become of his party.

But it's not just American conservatives who are appalled. Just last week conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks and I were enjoying an apres-badminton apertif at the family weekend house in Montauk with my good friend Viscount Klaus-Maria Von Wallensheim, the conservative EU Agricultural Pricing Minister with whom I shared an Alpine chalet and manservant during our years as classmates at a Swiss boarding school. "Kloonkie" (my old school appellation for the Viscount) reported the growing dismay of the Continental Right over Palin's embarrassing enthusiasm for childbirth and Israel.

"Coddsie, old chap, " he warned, "You know I've always been been America's biggest defender in Monaco. But if you elect this ill-bred charwoman, I will be be forced to move anchor to St. Tropez out of pure shame."

Really, what we are seeing in the likes of Buckley, Brooks, Noonan, Frum and Parker is the intellectual dead wood of conservatism. They liked the "conservatism" of the A-list cocktail parties of Washington and Manhattan; the "conservatism" of Presidential and Congressional power; not to mention the cheap allure of influence and prestige. They never understood the necessity of limiting governmental power or the desirability of economic freedom for everyone.

McCain often says "We Republicans came into power to change Washington, and instead Washington changed us." There is some truth to that, but you cannot underestimate the role played by the yahoos I listed above. They were the champions of every move away from principled conservatism. Thus when Democrats proposed disastrous economic policies that ultimately ruined the housing market, so called "free market Republicans" did little but enable them. When a real conservative raised an actual objection they were dismissed with a "Don't these rubes know how things are done here?" and, sadly, often by people calling themselves conservatives.

In the end, there is a difference between being a pragmatist and being a sell-out, and it behooves us all to recognize that difference. I, for one, will not be fooled again.

The Democrats Plan To Pauperize America

Really, there is no other word for it: Why Democrats Will Target the Investor Class in 2009

There are at least two pretty effective ways to turn someone into a Republican: (1) get them married with kids and (2) get them to invest in the stock market. So, if I were a highly paid Democratic political strategist, I would make sure to spend a few minutes every day thinking of ways to get Americans out of the stock market—the faster, the better. And that's why if Barack Obama is elected president next week, 2009 may well bring a concerted and all-out effort by the Obama administration and a Democratically dominated Congress to turn the generally pro-Republican Investor Class into an endangered class by, among other tactics, raising investment taxes and ending the tax preferences for 401(k)'s, IRAs, and other retirement accounts. Here is the emerging battle plan for Operation Investor Class Rollback:

1) Hike Investment Taxes. Obama wants to raise capital gains taxes even though he has kinda, sorta admitted that it might be bad for the economy and might actually decrease tax revenue to the government. For now, he's talking about raising the highest cap gains rate by one third to 20 percent, though earlier in the campaign, he floated pushing it as high as 28 percent, a near doubling....

2) Eliminate 401(k)'s, IRAs, and other retirement plans. Democrats in the House are now talking openly about the longtime liberal dream of repealing the tax advantages of putting money into a 401(k) plan or other tax-advantaged retirement account....

Not only would removing the preferential tax treatment of these vehicles raise investment taxes by $100 billion a year and affect Americans making less than $100,000, it would surely prompt many Americans, already shell-shocked by the market's recent losses, to flee stocks. All this ignores the fact that there are trillions of dollars in American retirement accounts, and abandoning the higher-returning stock market at a probable bottom is classic financial foolishness. If you believe long term in the American economy, then you have to believe in the stock market. If you don't, then you have to admit the government won't be able to afford its promises anyway.

3) Replace private capital with public capital. But wouldn't a weak stock market hurt the economy by making it tougher to raise investment capital and lessen the return on risk? Surely, it would. But Obama is planning hundreds of billions of dollars of government "investment" in cutting-edge technology, particularly in the energy and healthcare sectors....

Fundamentally this is all designed for a single purpose, to make Americans beholden to, and dependant upon the state. The goal would be to make those with a middle class income unable to provide for their own retirement, or otherwise to direct the financial direction of their own lives.

The goal is also to limit social mobility. As the piece makes clear the trouble with people getting wealthier, from a Democratic point of view, is that they become more Republican. But if you are able to create a new class who feel the only way to have a middle class lifestyle is to have the government guarantee it for you, paid for by the pocketbooks of the rich 5%, then you will have permanent Democrats.

However, this fantasy is just that, a fantasy. There is no way 5% of Americans can pay for a middle class life for the other 95%. So, if you are anywhere in the top 50% of wage earners they are coming for your money next.

If you don't think this is Socialism then that only proves you don't know the meaning of the word.

Obama In A Nutshell

Zogby: Obama Lead Down To Four

I'm not normally a "poll hawk" but with one week to go these could actually mean something.

Democrat Barack Obama has a 4-point national lead over Republican John McCain as they head into the final week of the presidential campaign, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Tuesday.

Obama leads McCain by 49 percent to 45 percent among likely voters in the three-day national tracking poll, a slight dip from his 5-point advantage on Monday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

...

McCain, a veteran Arizona senator, has sliced Obama's 12-point advantage by more than half in the last five days but he has not been able to break through the 45 percent support mark.

Probably more significant is Obama slipping under the 50 percent mark.

The real key will be to see if this signals movement in important state battles. That probably wouldn't be seen until later in the week.

Stay tuned.

O.K. I Give Up

Why are all sorts of people coming to my blog after searching Google for "Thomas Jefferson consistently inconsistent"? In about only two hours it has become the number one way people find this blog.

And what are people finding? A post I wrote in 2005.

Did Obama hiccup again?

Hmmm....

I'm wondering if I'm to be banned from commenting at Donklephant. First, I responded to a post earlier today, but my attempt at a follow-up disappeared.

O.K. The Internet is a tricky place and sometimes weird stuff happens.

However, I just tried to comment on this thread and *poof* my comment disappears again.

If what I think is happening is happening its a nice "centrist" thing to do.

Anyway...what I attempted to follow up on was this comment by Alan:

Equality is the central tenant of liberalism. Universal health care. Affirmative action. Gay rights. Welfare. Minimum wage. Labor laws. Hate speech laws. Progressive taxation. They’re all attempts to equalize us.

I wrote (and luckily I copied it in case of another "accident"):

I teach a "Political Ideologies" course and as such I'm a stickler about some of the terminology.

"Equality is the central tenant of liberalism."

In terms of the political ideology this is assuredly wrong. Liberalism is about maximizing freedom (thus the Latin root "liber"). Maximizing "equality" is, and always has been, a central tenet of socialism. (Which is different than communism...you seem to use the terms interchangeably).

"Universal health care. Affirmative action. Gay rights. Welfare. Minimum wage. Labor laws. Hate speech laws. Progressive taxation. They’re all attempts to equalize us."

And, thus, not particularly "liberal."

Now, this distinction matters. For example, John Stuart Mill has always been classified as a liberal, but he would be horrified at the notion of "hate speech laws"...and rightfully so, as they are completely illiberal. That such laws are termed "liberal" in our weird world Mill would view as grotesque.

What is amazing about our society is there is no longer a popular term to apply to someone who values human freedom above all else.

Is says something unpleasant about the drift of our society.

And drifting it surely is.

(Believe it or not, any irony was completely unintentional.)

UPDATE:

Alan from Donklephant has kindly written me to let me know that their comment filter has been acting up. I'm glad to hear it because I, for one, enjoy good natured argumentation...even when, or especially when, I get worked up about it.

A (Not So) Bold Prediction

Whatever happens in the election I predict the final IMW Electoral Vote prediction (which will happen on Friday) will be closer to actual results than the "projection" of this guy.

Right now I can't decide if this fellow's work is an example of intellectual malfeasance or intellectual ineptitude.

We shall see.

An Obligatory Post

Yes, I saw this:

Pittsburgh police are still questioning a 20-year-old woman who said she was robbed and assaulted at an ATM in Bloomfield because of her political views.

Ashley Todd, of College Station, Texas, said she was using an ATM at Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street just before 9 p.m. Wednesday when a man approached her and put a knife to her throat.

Police spokeswoman Diane Richard said the robber took $60 from Todd, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim's car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using a dull knife to scratch the letter "B" into her face, Richard said.

My initial reaction is to be skeptical about the authenticity of this report. In spirit The Anchoress sums up my thinking exactly:

I did not jump on the story because I’m a New Yorker and my first thought was: Tawana Brawley.

I'll let police do their job. If there is a there there, I'll have plenty of time to be smug and hysterical.

UPDATE & BUMPED:

Well, that didn't take long:

Police sources tell KDKA that a campaign worker has now confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter “B” in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker.

Ashley Todd, 20, of Texas, initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car.

You could just feel this one coming.

Shooting up yard signs I could buy. Nut job tearing up McCain signs and hitting McCain supporters with them I could buy. But this always sounded fishy.

Ayers Plotted To Kill 25 Million Americans

Well, thank God this guy is a "valued educator."

Thank God, Barack Obama chose to launch his political career in this guy's living room.

(h/t CY)

Is There Any Law The Obama Campaign Won't Break

The Obama campaign accepted the following campaign "donation":

So I went to the Obama website this afternoon and clicked on the "Donate" button.

I used my real MasterCard number (but was not asked for the 3 digit security code).

Used the following information and it was accepted...

First name: Fake
Last Name: Donor
Address: 1 Dollar To Prove A Point
City: Fraudulent
State: AL
Zip / Post: 33333
Email Address: allmyinfoismadeup@mediabias.com
Phone Number: 2125551212
Employer: Mainstream Media
Occupation: Being in the Tank

And incredibly, my $5 donation was ACCEPTED!!!

Sadly, this isn't incredible. It is par for the course for the Messiah.

(In case you were wondering, camp McCain routinely reject such fraudulent "donations."

3000 Educators Sign Petition Insisting They Are Morons

If you've spent any time on college campuses you would have found there has traditionally been a view that faculty at the colleges of education aren't the brightest bulbs in the pack.

Well, here are some "bright" folks who want to reinforce that belief:

More than 3,000 educators have signed a statement in support of William Ayers, the University of Illinois-Chicago professor who has found himself under attack as a "washed-up terrorist" by the McCain campaign of late, the Brown Daily Herald reports.

The "friends and supporters of Bill Ayers" have circulated the statement online to combat the "character assassination and slander" of the Weather Underground founder.

Wow. It is as if these educators do not understand any of the words they use to communicate in English.

Truthful statements cannot be "slander" by definition. Look the word up morons.

Analogy This

Roland Martin says:

Watching Sen. John McCain and top Republicans swing wildly in their attempts to slam Sen. Barack Obama, with less than two weeks ago to go before Election Day, is like watching an old fighter --clearly out of gas, his legs turned to rubber, and all he can do is grab, hold, punch behind the back, just anything to try to win.

Watching the media attempt to suppress Republican turnout by portraying a tightening election as a fait accompli, is like re-watching the Nazified press in Germany help shut down all political opposition to Hitler in the mid 1930's.

Hmm...the trouble here is my analogy is more apt.

IMW Electoral Vote Prediction #5

Wednesday is the new Friday.

O.K., things are moving in the McCain direction for the first time in these.

McCain: 252
Obama: 286

The breakdown of the "toss up" states: PA, OH, FL, MI, MN, WI, VA, NV, CO, NM, IN, NH, MO & NC

McCain:

FL
OH
NV
IN
MO
NC

Obama:

VA
PA
MI
MN
WI
CO
NM
NH

Switching from McCain to Obama: None

Switching from Obama to McCain: FL & OH

Earlier projections:

#4 10/15 Obama 333 McCain 205
#3 10/03 Obama 273 McCain 265
#2 9/26 McCain 279 Obama 259
#1 9/17 McCain 315 Obama 223

The Truth Is...

And yes, this, is the truth:

Editor's note: Orson Scott Card is a Democrat and a newspaper columnist, and in this opinion piece he takes on both while lamenting the current state of journalism.

An open letter to the local daily paper — almost every local daily paper in America:

I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know.

This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.

It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans.

What is a risky loan? It's a loan that the recipient is likely not to be able to repay.

The goal of this rule change was to help the poor — which especially would help members of minority groups. But how does it help these people to give them a loan that they can't repay? They get into a house, yes, but when they can't make the payments, they lose the house — along with their credit rating.

They end up worse off than before.

This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.

Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans. (Though why quasi-federal agencies were allowed to do so baffles me. It's as if the Pentagon were allowed to contribute to the political campaigns of Congressmen who support increasing their budget.)

Isn't there a story here? Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?

I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. "Housing-gate," no doubt. Or "Fannie-gate."

Instead, it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed.

As Thomas Sowell points out in a TownHall.com essay entitled "Do Facts Matter?" ( http://snipurl.com/457townhall_com] ): "Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago. So did the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the President. So did Bush's Secretary of the Treasury."

These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was ... the Democratic Party. The party that tried to prevent it was ... the Republican Party.

Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to account for her lie. Instead, you criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout!

What? It's not the liar, but the victims of the lie who are to blame?

There is more at the link.

The moral decrepitude of the press is shocking to see. They have descended to depths that are positively Nixonian.

Yet, they are happy about it, because there is no one to hold them accountable.

Instead, we are presented with garbage like Joe Klein's incessant whining that John McCain is mean to him.

Orgasms For Obama?

Yikes:

The O’s for Obama campaign is a two-part series of events that will take place in San Francisco and streamed globally to an online community of participants. The vision for these events is to rally behind Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama and to celebrate his victory as the next President of the United States.

O’s for Obama is the brainchild of Destin Gerek, the Erotic Rockstar (www.EroticRockstar.com). His vision is to guide participants into a simultaneous group energetic breath-gasm that happens simultaneously around the world.

Participants will be guided into using breath, sound, and movement to access their erotic energy, raise its vibration, and circulate it throughout their entire bodies, culminating in a simultaneous group energetic breath-gasm. Sound too good to be true? Come and experience it for yourself!

Gee, no thanks...but I'm already scheduled to attend a "BM's for McCain" rally.