Unfit For Duty?

One of my tag lines in class is "Americans are too stupid for democracy."

If you think that is harsh, ponder this emerging story:

Donor Daughter Fair Game for Nutso Congress-Critter

OK, he's 56. The daughter graduated from high school in 2010, so that makes her either seventeen or eighteen. His description is that it was consensual.

A normal person would stop right there. Fifty-six year old men in positions of elected office do not have sex either consensual or forced with teen-aged girls.

But that doesn't support my claim. It's simply a Clinton-standard of what the definition of sex is and whether a public figure has any private life that is off-limits to the media. Sorry, that's lame.

Consider this from that news piece:

Shortly before the 2010 elections, Wu began behaving erratically, according to The Oregonian and other news outlets. Wu sent a bizarre picture of himself in a tiger costume to his staffers, and some of them urged him to seek psychiatric help. More than a half dozen staffers and campaign consultants quit as Wu bombarded them with troubling phone calls and emails.

Erratic behavior, psychiatric help, bizarre acts and a staff that abandons him; that's something to hang a re-election bid on! Or maybe this:

This episode is the latest in a long list of troubling incidents for Wu, including a previous allegation of sexual assault lodged against him by a former girlfriend when they were both attending Stanford University in 1976.

Oh, I see this has been going on since 1976.

The confirmation of my thesis is that despite these reports he still got re-elected last year. That's the demonstration that we are too stupid for democracy. When we vote these people repeatedly into office, how can be be surprised when our government is totally screwed up?

One can only wonder if the parents of the girl are going to remain Wu campaign donors for the next election.

No Surprise

No great shock here. Following the grand tradition of Janet Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, et. al.

Amy Winehouse Dead In London

At His Finest

This, my friends, is your post-partisan President at his finest hitting his talking points with precision:



Did you get all those? Let me help you:

At 0:14 "on the backs of seniors"
At 0:18 "slashing out commitment to make sure kids can go to college"
At 0:25 "kids off the Medicaid rolls so they can't get basic care..."
At 0:37 "some fairness"
At 0:50 reference to Cap, Cut & Balance which was tabled in Senate several hours earlier
At 1:10 "all the burden on the people least able to protect themselves"
At 1:14 "lobbyists in this town"
At 1:16 "lawyers working on the tax code for them"
At 1:18 "working stiffs out there, ordinary folks"
At 1:27 "struggling every day and they know they're getting a raw deal"
At 1:45 "somebody who is willing to look out for them"
At 2:04 "some talk radio show host"
At 2:12 "or what pledge we signed on the campaign trail"
At 2:40 "if you want to be a leader, then you've got to lead...."

That's a tour de force for the Nanny State from the Leader who takes great pride in his position of "leading from behind."

You get class warfare, envy, the paternalistic obligations, the slam at talk-radio, the implication that the 51% that pay no federal income tax are bearing a burden, that college is a right rather than individual responsibility, that seniors are under attack, and that he is above the fray, Der Fuehrer.

It was an embarrassing moment for America last night at 5:20 CDT.

Norwegian Madness

The initial knee-jerk toward al-Qaeda appears to have passed and the perpetrator of yesterday's madness in Norway is identified as a 32-year-old Norwegian with neo-Nazi ties.

For probably the most complete and clearest report on the day take a look here:

Terror on the Island

Reports indicate the police response took roughly thirty minutes to reach the scene. This confirms once again that the only response to immediate threat which you can depend upon is the one you carry with you.

Saturday Morning Rocker

From the days when they were hot. I never was a fan of Michael McDonald but this was pre-MM.

From the Horse's Mouth

I didn't post the link to the video or the video itself, but if you hit any of the Regular Stops links in the right-hand column in the last three days you would have encountered the outrageous video of law-enforcement malfeasance in Canton OH. It is an officer run amok and should frighten not only the citizens of Ohio but throughout the nation. It can happen in your town.

To read an excellent analysis of the video visit Warrior Class here:

Details on Training and What Went Wrong in Canton

I respect and support law enforcement. I've never encountered a less-than-professional officer and I surely can understand the stress of working in some of the neighborhoods and with some of the people they face. But we must recognize that there can be a lot of problems festering. Without involved leadership and supervision they can rapidly get out of hand.

Wiley Clapp TALO Commander

Is this pretty or what? No, Wiley Clapp's name isn't scrolled on it. This is the left side and there is virtually nothing on the right side of the slide. The company nomenclature is "21st Century Commander" and it is a well thought-out very update 1911 with all the goodies you need and none that you don't...at least according to Clapp.

The brass bead sight seems a bit old-fashioned but it simply pops out at you as though it were really a golden LED. Pretty amazing.

The grips taper at the forward edge and the aggressive front strap checkering flows right into the grip surface and creates probably the best non-slip surface I've ever felt.

Just the thing to start hinting to Santa Claus about if you are one of those folks who still needs a 1911. Maybe I should sell a Kimber? I get bad thoughts whenever I stop at my local gun-shop. But the folks there are fun to talk to and you get to touch neat things.

Over the Transom

This came across my desk recently. I always try to attribute other's writing, but there's no way to track down who originally penned this parable of progressive tax operation. Snopes.com doesn't deal with the veracity or logic, merely the determination of who wrote it and they can't pin it down. Regardless, I admit up front that I didn't write it but it is a good lesson in exactly what we've got in America today:

THE TAX SYSTEM EXPLAINED IN BEER

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this...

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20". Drinks for the ten men would now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men? The paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% saving).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% saving).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% saving).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% saving).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% saving).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20 saving," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,"but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar too. It's unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!"
"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back, when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "we didn't get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and government bureaucrats, is how our tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

Paying For The Privilege

Being honored by the presence of the Great One for even a single day can have a high price. But simply being able to ponder his intellect, his beauty, his grandeur and his historic significance is well worth the cost.

Ireland Says Day-Tripper Cost $16.5 Million

I suppose it would have been better if he had left a foreign aid bundle of a couple of hundred million on the nightstand after he left. But hey, Ireland isn't Venezuela.

And what is Ireland griping about? Can you imagine what the American taxpayer has coughed up so far for these facetime trips? Why can't we just get him an iPad and a wireless account and then everyone can be enthralled continually around the globe?

Sleep. To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

Do you harbor the American Dream? Do you believe you live in a golden land of opportunity? Do you know in your heart that your family will grow and prosper in a stable world and that your children will have a better life than you, just as your life has been better than your parents and theirs was much better than their parents before them?

I do, but according to John Zogby, I am part of a shrinking demographic:

Fewer Believe In the American Dream Today

What may be the most chilling thought from that piece is that the electorate which embraced the Messiah in 2008 comprised a preponderance of those who despair of a better life for their families. Is this the sort of fertile ground that spread beneath the feat of Lenin?

Alternative Fuel

The cost of gasoline is a hot topic and it seems to persist whether it is rising or falling. It is always griped about as too high. Growing up in Chicago gasoline cost about two-bits a gallon. (For those maturity impaired who don't remember the term, that's twenty-five cents.) Occasionally the gas stations would break out into a price war and the price would dip to eighteen or seventeen or sixteen cents a gallon.

Despite that seeming low cost, when we gathered in the hot summer evenings and sought to hop in a car and go cruising we would pool the change in our jeans pockets and after separating the pocket lint, empty matchbooks and occasional tiny pieces of gravel, we'd come up with enough for a gallon or two. If it was late at night and the station wasn't busy we would move the car from pump to pump and drain the excess in the hoses. Hey, a bucks a buck!

If we adjust for inflation over the decades, we can usually demonstrate that there really isn't much creep in gasoline prices today. The long-term, however, usually masks pain that the short cycle exacerbates. We don't care what portion of our income we spent on gas in 1970 or 1985. We care about how much we see at the end of a fill-up today compared to last month or last year. At about $2.75 a gallon, gas is as cheap as it was in my childhood. At $4.00 it is a factor worthy of discussion.

We should be aware that gasoline comes from oil and oil is a global commodity not a national one. We compete and supply/demand rules. Factors like political stability in oil producing regions play on the price. Growth and industrialization of huge population centers like China and India raise demand exponentially. Restrictions on exploitation of domestic resources reduce supply at home and increase dependence. Regulation of additives, refinery construction, transportation and a complex multi-governmental tax structure all add up.

So, it occurred to me that we might want to consider cost per gallon of other products. I wondered, for example if maybe we could run a vehicle on milk if it were cheaper. It is a totally domestic product and only minimally regulated. Other than baby farts and cow methane it doesn't seem to contribute much to environmental hazards or global climate seasonal variations. I'm not sure if a swap to nourish the kids on gasoline could succumb to an engineering blitz for new technology though.

Here are some comparative prices per gallon to consider other candidates:

Cost per gallon:

1. Gasoline $3.55
2. Milk $3.79
3. Bleach $2.20
4. Auto coolant/anti-freeze $4.19
5. Blush wine (box) $5.65
6. Hershey's Chocolate Syrup $13.23
7. Soy Sauce $15.23
8. Red Bull Energy Drink $30.69
9. Absolut Vodka $58.69
10. Tabasco Sauce $94.46

Well, I guess it wasn't such a good idea. Other than the public service of taking all that blush wine out of circulation, it seems that we are stuck with gasoline and its annual price cycles and market volatility. 

Not All News Babes Are Smart

You sort of lose perspective after watching a lot of the women on Fox News. Somehow they all seem knock-out gorgeous and they turn out to be both articulate and well educated; many of them with law degrees.

But not all networks are so fortunate. Some hire for looks and some hire for brains. Apparently MSNBC made a poor choice.

"Yes, Maam, I Do Have a Degree in Economics"

She seems to have violated a basic principle there. If you absolutely must make ad hominem comments about what an interviewee's qualifications are, you should already know the answer. Otherwise you wind up looking like a buffoon.

Ahhh To Be Thirty Again

This would be the office I would chose if I could only be thirty years old again.

Linebacker II...By Request

The Flying Barrister recalled some comments about Jane Fonda in Palace Cobra in light of the current dismissal of the pre-historic harpy from her PR gig because of her traitorous past. He asked for an excerpt.

The chapter deals with Linebacker II, the Christmas bombing campaign that ran from the eighteenth to the twenty-ninth of December of 1972. It was the effort that should have been unleashed in 1965 and a lot of lives would have been spared on both sides. We were going to Hanoi in large numbers and there was a lot going on.

It was, after all, the holiday season. It was a time of Christmas cheer and finally, even on the flightline without the benefit of the classified briefings and target listings, they knew that this was the real thing. We were finally, after more than eight years of tepid, half-hearted, politically driven war, going to take the war to a conclusion. So, it was only appropriate that these youngsters, slaving on the flightline would send their greetings and wishes to the enemy. They had created Christmas cards for delivery by their pilots. The huge white centerline fuel tanks, sure to be jettisoned on the way in to the target areas were festooned with red and green spray painted sentiments for Ho Chi Minh, Jane Fonda, and Ramsey Clark. Some were traditional Christmas sentiments, sent sarcastically and others were more ribald. There was scatology and insult aplenty, surrounded by artfully sprayed green Christmas trees and red Santa’s sleighs. Some tanks were works of remarkable talent and others were crude scribbling, but every tank on every centerline on every airplane that was going to Hanoi was painted.

It didn’t take long for the word about the painted tanks to get to the wing commander, Colonel Vojvodich. The idea of defacing government property wasn’t one that he could tolerate without demanding some answers. Where did all this spray paint come from? Whose idea was this? Who was in charge of Government Issue spray paint? The answer came quickly. It was Turk Turley, the Field Maintenance Squadron commander. Turk, an F-105 hundred mission veteran from my first tour, was now flying the F-4E as a maintenance squadron commander attached to the 34^th Tac Fighter Squadron. It was FMS that owned the paint locker, and therefore Turk’s responsibility. “Get Turley in my office, NOW!”

“I think he’s flying, sir,” the wing king’s exec responded. “I’ll track him down as soon as he gets back.”

The wing boss knew Turk well. Turk had volunteered to fly his wing on any Pack VI missions, not only as a way of keeping the wing commander whose experience in fast jets was mostly related to reconnaissance flying alive, but also as a way of keeping young lieutenants isolated from “the man” and out of harm’s way. Turk knew he could take care of himself and might even be able to put himself in place to get a MiG if he had to pull the boss’ chestnuts out of the proverbial fire.

Turk reported to headquarters smartly as soon as he got the word. “Yes, sir. What seems to be the problem?”

“Turk, what’s this about your flight line troops misusing government paint and putting all that crap on those centerline fuel tanks?”

“Beats me, sir. I heard something about some markup going on, painting on the bombs and centerlines.”

“You know that’s prohibited. What the hell do you intend to do about it?”

“Well sir, I think I’m going to have to order more paint.” Turk saluted smartly and withdrew.

The skies were clear over Hanoi when we got there. Tendrils of smoke drifted up from targets that had been hit during the night and still smoldered. There was always tenseness as you left the foothills and got out into the flats, but today there was little going on. The A-7s were hitting targets to the north and west of Hanoi while the F-4 bomb droppers were dealing with bridges and storage areas closer to Bullseye. Only one or two SAMs were fired and little was seen of the big guns. A MiG engagement had taken place during the chaff drops and the contrails of the missiles formed a tic-tac-toe game overhead, white against the bright blue sky. The air defense was either overwhelmed from the previous night or had made a conscious decision to horde their resources and wait for the BUFFs to return. Either way, we had a light day.

The second night of the campaign, the B-52s returned with three more waves of bombers. Recce photos showed both the damage and the precision of the campaign. Bomb strings from the huge aircraft walked across the targets and carefully seemed to sidestep residential areas or designated off limits compounds. Intelligence information on probable POW compounds was put to good use and while we may have joked about dropping one on Jane Fonda, we were well aware that a lot of our friends had a front row seat for the battle that was going on.

Jack Van Loan and a lot of his friends had been moved out of Hanoi early during the Linebacker campaign. They had been transported out of the city in mid-May to a new camp they dubbed “Dogpatch” near the Chinese border. Some said it was an attempt to break up the cadre of senior resistance leaders among the POWs. Guys like Jack Van Loan, Robbie Risner, Paul Galanti, Larry Guarino and others had been well organized and with the commencement of Linebacker, they were working hard to integrate the new arrivals to the POW camps into their organizations. Maybe it was breaking up the leadership or maybe it was a way of protecting the North Vietnamese bargaining chips at the peace talks. Either way, they were going to miss the show.

Dave Mott, on the other hand, was still in the center of town. He had been at the Hoa Lo prison, the infamous Hanoi Hilton, from shortly after his capture until early December when he was moved, in apparent anticipation of a possible rescue effort similar to the 1970 Son Tay raid from Hoa Lo to the smaller Plantation in the northeast section of Hanoi. With rudimentary hand tools, they were ordered to dig bomb shelter trenches in their cells, under their rough board beds, large enough to crawl into in the event of attack. The similarity in size between a sheltering trench and a man-sized grave was not lost on the prisoners.

Tough to Stay Current

You know you are old when planking is prehistoric and owling is so very yesterday because there is a new craze for the ungainfully un-employed privileged youth of America. It's "Leisure Diving". 

If you need more examples, there are a bunch here:

Summer Pastime and Pool Pollution A Specialty

It must be wonderful to be that age and affluent too.

With Friends Like These...

Remember Thomas Eagleton? It was 1972, Nixon was seeking re-election and the Democratic candidate for the presidency was anti-war George McGovern. He nominated Eagleton as his running mate and shortly thereafter it was revealed that Eagleton had been exposed to electro-shock therapy years earlier, a treatment for severe mental illness that has been vilified for years in dark horror movies about insane asylums. The Eagleton candidacy ended immediately. A few months later McGovern lost 49 out of 50 states and Nixon won by a landslide.

All well and good as a history lesson. That was media reporting on a chosen candidate. This is a different category entirely. This is a conservative web-site  that is dumping this on a conservative candidate for the presidency that is currently running second in horse-race (and meaningless) popularity polls. See if you remain a supporter for her after reading this:

Pill-Popping Prima Donna Put Down Often

Shocking? I read it a couple of hours ago and my first reaction was to find out exactly what sort of background we have on The Daily Caller. It is labeled as a conservative news blog. It certainly seems to focus on right-wing issues and personalities. But I couldn't get past the feeling of Stalinist-era disinformation permeating the site.

I guess I'm not alone because here is what the well-established folks at Hot Air have to say about the item:

One "Confirmed" Others Doubtful. Motivation Questioned

I'm no Bachman fan. She is vocal and she is populist. I don't mind vocal but I intensely dislike populism in all of its forms. Saying what people want to hear is fine, but it isn't truth and it doesn't convince me of integrity or security in the future. We've seen too much of selective messaging tailored to today's audience.

But this smacks of a Russian Roulette Roundtable where someone in the circle has all chambers loaded. I'd almost smell a George Soros if I were the paranoid type.

Another Bloody Flash Mob

Cape Cod MA, July 4th:

About Time!

I'll confess, when my first book was published I was checking Amazon.com sales ranking almost hourly for a month. It was a thrill to watch and hope for fleeting fame. As time went by I checked the page once a day and then once a week and now I've not looked for several months. I'm familiar with the sales curve and I've seen it cycle now three times. I still enjoy getting to see the reader review comments. It probably isn't as easy if they are not complimentary, but I've been lucky in that regard.

I dropped by today to see if the hardcover edition of When Thunder Rolled was still available. I've given away almost all of my copies and I still like to have one or two around to offer to someone who visits. That's why I was pleased to see this:

When Thunder Rolled (Kindle Edition--Sept 11, 2011)

I really never thought Smithsonian Books would get that far into the 21st Century!

Now if we can get St. Martin's Press to release Palace Cobra in Kindle edition...

WWCD

What would Congress do if:

Economic Sense Over Political Posturing

That's not really outside-the-box thinking. It is market-driven economics.

Your creditors set your loan limits. They do so based on assessment of risk. You determine whether it is a sound fiscal decision whether to spend more or less and whether you can tolerate more or less debt. If your determinations are irresponsible your credit rating suffers. That is the constraint on your behavior.

You have to make choices. Choices have consequences. Bad choices have unpleasant consequences. Good choices reward themselves. Why is the US one of the few industrialized nations in the world to develop a number by process of anal-extraction that then governs whether our defense or our welfare culture prevails in the pay queue?

Oh, it's about elections and voting and pandering, isn't it?

Pesky First Amendment Again

He started well and certainly sounded promising. A businessman with appeal and a clear message coupled with financial experience in a Federal Reserve Bank and ability to appeal to minority Americans from the right side of the political spectrum; what's not to like?

Well, this sort of ill-advised comment might be one objection:

Cain Says Local Option on Mosque Building

The linkage of building a house of worship by those which embrace the most widely practiced religion in the world to the controversy over the World Trade Center proposal for a Muslim Community Center is a stretch. The characterization that somehow a mosque in your town leads inexorably to adoption of Sharia law seems equally over-the-top.

If you put synagogue or temple or tabernacle or shrine in place of mosque, how would that sound? If you swapped out African-American, Latino, Native-American or Asian for Muslim, would it still work for you?

Isn't the law connection a parsing of terms that somehow ignores the Torah and the Bible as the source of our often-touted Judeo-Christian ethics? We don't get kosher dietary restrictions because we built a synagogue in town. We didn't have to abstain from meat on Fridays in my childhood neighborhood because St. Somebody's church was built down the street. You can have a mosque without sharia contorting your legal structure.

The sort of populist pandering that Cain appears to have stepped into in this instance will not work out in his favor.

Here is some more on the Murfreesboro mosque:

Tennessee Town Resists Islamic Center

If you can make an objective argument on zoning restrictions to deny that location, go for it. If, however, the restriction is based specifically on the objections to the religion, then it would clearly be a violation of that meddlesome ol' First Amendment.

Altamira

Some different Steely Dan, following a hint from Billy Beck:


For those who were born too late to have been able to see them directly:

The cave is in northern Spain. The paintings on the wall were done circa 15,000 BC. When I was still living in Spain the caves were open to the public and I had the chance to visit. The caves were closed to visitors in 1977 because the paintings were deteriorating from carbon dioxide in the breathing of visitors. They were reopened about five years later for a very limited number of daily visitors. Currently the waiting list is about three years long. 

I'm not sure how the Creationists would fit this into their 6,000 year old universe. But it certainly works for me to contemplate a Supreme Being. 

Teaching To the Test

When I was in the academic training business in USAF pilot training we learned about course design and evaluation. We were in the business of "training" which should be distinct from "education."

What's the difference? I like to describe it as the difference between K-12 and college. Children in K-12 are being trained. We like to call it education, but the fact is that they are being trained to a basic standard of performance. Adding, subtracting, writing, and reading are skills to be learned. You can't go much beyond proficiency in the skill. You train to saw a board or hammer a nail. You can't become a more technical board sawyer or nail-pounder. You either can or you can't. You can either do arithmetic, read a book, write a paragraph in standard English, or you can't. That's the essential of training.

Colleges are the doorway to learning. You go to a college/university and the way to more information is opened to you. You may pass or fail the course, but how much you come away with after the exposure is up to you. There is no limit to education.

In pilot training it was training. We learned about standardized education. The basics are that you determine what is to be trained, then establish a standard of satisfactory performance and finally evaluate whether the trainee can meet the standard. It is important to have objective standards and quantifiable measurements. This is exactly what K-12 education is supposed to do.

Let's take basic addition for example. You might establish an objective as, "Student will be able to add a column of six or more four-digit numbers." The standard might be, "90% of students will be able to find correct answer 90% of the time." Now you create an examination of several addition problems to evaluate your objective.

How can you argue with that?

Lot of folks do, don't they? How many times have you heard the gripes about "teaching to the test"? Ever heard the one about, "teachers are forced to prepare students for the state test and don't have time to teach the important stuff"? Or maybe, "my child can't take the pressure of having to perform on exams"?

Isn't life a continual exam? Isn't your job a constant measure of your training? If you've established meaningful objectives and a standard for measuring achievement the essential job of a teacher IS teaching to the test.

How about this tidbit from Atlanta:

Cheating Party Saturday Night at My House!

Notice the bleating from the unions about "fairness"? Is it fair to the children who don't get educated?

But, not to be outdone by the modern metropolitan system of Atlanta, the Dallas suburb of Desoto is now dealing with this:

Sole Finalist for Super Fails First Day

That's right, folks. No one was in the final round of competition she was so impressive in the interview. They hired her without a glance at the smell of the news coming out of Atlanta.

She was the number two (no pun intended) in the Atlanta school system. She had to have been a part of it. Yet the Desoto ISD Board of Education can't deal with the simple termination for cause that seems indicated here. She is hired. She reports. She goes on PAID leave. And they can't figure out what to do.

Grow Up and Get a Job

You've probably heard about "planking." It's a fad that started in Australia/New Zealand. The idea is to take a picture of someone laying face down, stiffly horizontal with your arms by your side. Do it in the most unusual place you can think of then post it to Facebook or YouTube. The world will beat a path through your door and you will be famous and in demand at all the swanky parties...or not.

Now planking has come to America and we are nothing if not the vapidity leaders of the free world. Talk about mindless:

Owling Is the New Planking

At least they aren't wasting a lot of time with books or professional development.

Saturday Morning Rocker

I'm ambivalent about Steely Dan, but sometimes their sound soothes:

Of Course! That's It!

It isn't about the jobs. It isn't about the debt. It isn't about the future. It isn't about the legal obligation to have a budget for the government. It's about...

Race! 

This pony isn't even "one trick" any more.

Seems Logical to Me

We've reached the point in our progressive tax structure for federal income tax in America where 51% of Americans pay no federal income tax. Some of those even get an "Earned Income Tax Credit" which is political double-talk for a refund when you don't earn any income in the first place so there is nothing withheld. The legerdemain comes from refunding Social Security and Medicare payments so that the burden of those costs are also borne by the rest of the population.

So, if you ask American whether they are in favor of raising taxes to fund more government redistribution programs it isn't unusual to get this outcome from a poll:

55% Oppose Higher Taxes

That actually means a few people really don't know that they aren't paying taxes in the first place. Maybe they are smart enough, however, to deduce that taking more money out of a citizen's pocket will not fuel a robust economy.

How then can the Bamster stand up and with a straight face palm off this whopper?

Really! 80% of Americans Want to Send Me More Money!

Do facts actually mean anything to the man?

Tone Deaf Oblivion

You couldn't make this stuff up:

National Bankruptcy Looms. Birthday Bash Plans Expand.

This is like FDR attending a Bund rally in 1943. Doesn't he have a PR person to say, "I recommend delaying your gratification, your majesty."

Bastille Day

Remember Bastille Day:

"Respect an Establishment" or "Free Exercise Thereof"?

There are two distinct clauses in the First Amendment's dealing with religious freedom. One stops government favoritism of a religion. It goes beyond prohibiting "establishment" of a state religion such as the Church of England or Islam in Iran. It prohibits "respecting" an establishment which generally means supporting or abetting one religion over another. If a law exempts religious facilities from certain taxes, then it does so for all recognizable religions not just one flavor.

The second phrase deals with individuals. It insures that government action won't restrict free citizens from practicing their own worship rituals. There are obvious limits such as ceremonies involving the tossing of virgins into volcanoes, but with the shortage of both in the US that hasn't been problematic.

Now consider this:

Wisconsin Group Seeks Injunction Against Texas Prayer

Most folks know that when it comes to religion I refer to myself as a "recovering Catholic." I grew up in a religious home and my education up to college was in Catholic schools. It served me well, but the ritual and changing moral standards along with the apparent hypocrisy of a visible few of the clergy has left me pretty much out of the retail religion business. I eschew the intermediaries and when I seek divine guidance I tend to go direct. I also respect those who walk a different path. They are welcome to interact with their deities under their own terms. I've got no dog in their hunt.

But I've got a lot of questions about this story.

The governor of Texas is undeniably conservative and undeniably seeks support from what has become identified as the religious right. He is Christian, he prays and he is a potential Presidential contender.

The nation is in a time of turmoil and he has chosen to support a PRIVATELY sponsored prayer rally. It is in Texas and all who wish to attend are welcome. It is funded by recognized non-governmental entities. No one is compelled to attend. Any who wish to ignore it may freely exercise that privilege.

How does a group in Wisconsin gain standing to bring suit against a group of believers in Texas gathering to pray for their nation? There are certainly no federal tax dollars involved. In fact, there are no state tax dollars incurred beyond the governor's routine security expenses which would exist regardless. Where is their tort?

Is this Presidential politics? Is this selective outrage? And, how does this compare to Rev. Jeremiah Wright?

After-Action Report

Three nights in Dallas with a top-tier restaurant scheduled for each of them.

First night was in-house at the Ritz-Carlton. Fearing's is Dean Fearing's place after Ritz lured him away from the Mansion at Turtle Creek.

Fearing's

The menu is a fusion of classic continental with Southwest influences. Since we're great fans of the SW cuisine of Santa Fe, it looked like a sure bet. Foie gras and crab cake appetizer for me then a roast breast of pheasant.

Night two was Stephan Pyles stand-alone restaurant. Pyles has long been recognized as a landmark of Dallas fine dining. The restaurant  is modern, glass and tile clearly meant to contrast with places like the traditional and stodgy French Room at the Adolphus Hotel.

Stephan Pyles

Again the cuisine is billed as Southwestern. First course was the signature tamale tart and then a "surf and turf" offering of a tenderloin filet and a "chicken-fried" lobster. A high point was an introduction to a winery that I had not previously encountered, Wrath Vineyards. A rich, full-bodied syrah was possibly the start of a beautiful friendship if I can get more of the limited production offerings.

Night three was Charlie Palmer's at the Joule. The Joule is a boutique hotel on Main Street Dallas and a treasure chest of modern art and decorating. The restaurant was even more impressive than the hotel lobby.

Charlie Palmer at the Joule

The decor is designed around wind and the power of wind energy. The ceiling focuses on six huge "fans" which are art and not air circulation. Fifteen foot diameter blades rotate ever-so-slowly creating kinetic sculpture. The walls feature a set of eight large art pieces based on wind and famous literary linkages to wind. Here is the one from just above our table. Can you figure out the story?

Dinner was seared foie gras on pineapple upside down cake for a first course followed by a bleu cheese crusted filet with Armagnac reduction. I seldom make it to dessert, but the offering of a pecan tart with bourbon whipped cream was enough to get my attention.

A neat feature in concept, but not quite mature in execution was an e-winelist presented on a tablet computer. You choose type (red/white/rose/bubbly) then pick a region, varietal, winery and/or price range. The tablet delivers the choices and you can check wines of interest to build a list for yourself and to discuss with the somellier. The problem was that you really didn't get to browse and for someone who was not already fairly wine-savvy it could be restrictive and intimidating. It makes it difficult to stumble upon new varietals or offerings from unfamiliar regions. The waiter agreed and said he has many customers who ask for the traditional paper wine list. Still, it is something for the future.

Of the three night bacchanal, SWMBO and I agreed that Charlie Palmer's was the best experience on all fronts--ambience, service, staff, presentation and food. Fearing's was a disappointment with too much smoke in the flavors and way too many contrasting notes piled upon the plate. The informal short-sleeved striped shirt "uniforms" of the wait-staff seemed out of place for the Ritz. Stephan Pyles was similarly steeped in smoky flavor and noisy. Both were definitely up-scale but the perfection was at Palmer's.

Darwin Cheated

I've never been that big into having a souvenir baseball for my mantel. Sure, when I attend a ball game I think it might be neat if as the culmination of an act of self-defense I found a baseball in my hand. One Rockies game the guy I was with snagged a ball that came our way down the right field line just past first base. We were on ground level and the ball got deflected and he snagged it on the rebound. Before I even was aware that he had it he had done the same thing I would have. He gave it to a ten year old boy who was three seats down from us.

When you are in the upper deck and particularly in the front row along the railing it doesn't make sense to go lunging forward for a baseball. It should make even less sense in the light of the tragedy at the Ballpark in Arlington four days ago.

Fan Cheats the Reaper at Home Run Derby

The Ranger game tragedy was a man trying to reap a souvenir for his son. This was a man with his friends collecting balls. It wasn't a once in a lifetime thrill. It was a calculated exercise in greed. There is very little doubt in my mind that there was quite a bit of ten-buck a pint beer involved.

Darwin got cheated this time.

La Dolce Vita

I seldom scrimp when taking a few days off, but this time I think I've over-done it. I am now officially spoiled for all future travels. The idea for this summer was rather than a marathon two-week or so vacation road trip we would do several shorter three or four day excursions. The first was last month when we returned to one of our favorites, Santa Fe. I reported on the Inn of the Anasazi and a couple of the great dining experiences.

This month it is a business/pleasure excursion to nearby Dallas. After nearly six years in Texoma we've never really spent any time in downtown Big D. We wanted to hit some fine restaurants and not have to face the 90 mile drive home afterward. When SWMBO got the opportunity to attend a continuing education conference on autism, we started planning.

Here is where we are:

Puttin' On the Ritz

The deal clincher when shopping for a place to stay among the legendary hotels downtown was the special of three nights for the price of two at the club level. If you're a Motel 6 fan, don't ask. But if you appreciate what spending a few bucks can get you, this is an amazing experience.

What does "club level" mean?

It is a special amenities floor. The rooms are a premium price compared to non-club level, but when it becomes three for two you suddenly find yourself in the lap of luxury for less.

Free valet parking. Incredible staff and service. The "club" offers free continental breakfast, snacks, hors d'oeuvres all day, more snacks and wine at close of business and finally after-dinner drinks and sweets at bed-time. Five different layouts all day long. Last night after dinner we sipped Remy Martin cognac with beautiful petits fours and chocalates. All comped.

Dinner was at Fearing's in the hotel. Dean  Fearing is the master chef who essentially elevated the legendary Mansion at Turtle Creek to Mobil Five Diamond status with his restaurant there. His move to the Ritz-Carlton has cost the Mansion and boosted the Ritz.

Tonight it will be Stephan Pyle's, another Dallas top restaurant. And, as a guest at the club level, we get a free ride to and from the restaurant a couple of miles away in the hotel's complimentary Bentley. That's top drawer.

Neatest thing I've seen in the hotel?

How about a television built into the mirror in the bathroom? Yep! While you shave you can be watching the news embedded in the full wall over-the-sink mirror.

Life is good.

UPDATE: Life just got better still. It's 11:30 AM now and after the newspaper and cappucino, I'm browsing and blogging in the club room and the concierge just brought me a frosty, chilled glass of champagne. Spontaneously, not asked for, just part of the treatment. YGBSM!

Still Drawing Raves

The release of the trade paperback edition of Fighter Pilot in May has started another round of reviews and they keep getting better:

Fighter Pilot Tells The Story

It is rewarding when a great man's life is recognized.

Even the Dallas Morning News Noticed

My default major metro newspaper by virtue of where I live is the liberal leaning, but not quite outrageously so, Dallas Morning News. I grouse about their inability to exercise even minimal editorial oversight of their Letters to the Editor virtually every day. I don't advocate censorship of reader comments, but unless they are simply trying to highlight the ignorance of their readers it would seem prudent not to publish many of the baseless assertions which are put forth in support of you-know-who in Washington. If a reader writes absurd fairy tales that have long been debunked maybe they shouldn't make the cut for publication or maybe there should be a brief editor's comment correcting the falsehood.

To their credit, however, the DMN does a regular column called "Fact Checker" which takes statements in public debate of prominent political figures and subjects them to scrutiny. Even the Bamster gets the treatment and his whoppers are usually minimized if not totally debunked. The DMN tries not to make their Messiah look too buffoonish.

They went after Texas Sen. John Cornyn's statement a few days ago that we've finally reached a majority of Americans who pay zero federal income tax. To counter the bleats of the left that the successful need to pay their fair share, Cornyn pointed out the absurdity of half the population not paying anything but reaping the payouts. Here is what they found:

51% Don't Pay Uncle Sam a Dime

They twisted it, they turned it, and they couldn't make it come out any different. Maybe there is hope for the DMN yet. And maybe it gets a bit easier to understand why the Republican majority in the House is so adamant that there must be spending cuts without increasing income taxes on those few who still pay something.

Stunningly, it is the GOP that wants the successful to pay their fair share more so than the Dems.

Angus, Don't Even Think About It

Puppy Angus, over at Warrior Class and Murphy at Lagniappe's Lair might think twice before challenging Inua Tikaani (Ghost Leader of the Wolf Pack) for his squirrel.

Doing the Math

The Democrats seem to be in a state of civil war over the budget and debt reductions. The cliche about when you find yourself in a deepening hole you should stop digging is not in their repertoire. The Bamster seems to recognize that the 2010 election outcome and the will of the working people in America demands that we cut the redistribution spending and reduce taxes to get people back to real private sector jobs. The rank-and-file in the legislature doesn't seem eager to forego their power to send the wagons into their districts to distribute bread and invite the voters to the Circus Maximus. They still want to tax the successful and give to the failures of life.

WaPo Outlines Dem Budget Plan

When you stumble over seemingly outrageous numbers it is often a good idea to do a bit of simple math. Try this example for starters:

It would also scale back the array of tax breaks and deductions known as tax expenditures, perhaps by focusing on the wealthiest households, which claim an average of $205,000 in tax breaks each year on average income of $1.1 million.

OK, that sounds like a real abuse of the deductions doesn't it? Grabbing a reduction of your gross income of more than $200k is a lot. Now, consider that it means that the $1.1 M gets reduced to $900,000 and you're getting upset that these fat cats can't give up those deductions and pay their fair share!

But, then notice that with a marginal tax rate of 39.6% they will be coughing up in the neighborhood of  $350,000. Throw in some state income tax and some self-employment tax and maybe a FICA contribution and it gets a bit harder to maintain the argument about "paying their fair share", doesn't it?

Now, take that tool and go forth to spread the gospel.

Only the Good Die Young

It was going to be a classic outing. The father and son go to the ball-park together. He is a firefighter, well respected in his community and advancing in his profession. The son is eight-years old and looking forward to that dream of every youngster, being in the stands and catching a souvenir baseball. Dad stops on the way to the ballpark and buys a new glove so that he is prepared.

It is just the first inning and a foul-ball comes arcing toward them. Dad rises to make the catch but misses and the ball drops to the field. Then the dream begins to come true. The son's hero, left-fielder Josh Hamilton last year's American League MVP, scoops up the ball and in a well-meaning gesture tosses it up into the stands.

That's when the dream becomes a nightmare. Dad reaches out to grab the ball but it is just out of reach and in the process he loses his balance and tumbles more than twenty feet head-first to the concrete below. A fan tries to grab him but can't hold on. Other fans shield the son. Medical response is rapid but the father dies enroute to the hospital.

Nothing can replace the father or erase that horrible memory from the son. Nothing can measure the feelings that Josh Hamilton must be experiencing. Nothing can wind back the time to those blissful moments before the fall. But, in a class gesture, the Rangers are trying to do something good. It will never be enough, but it is well meant.

Rangers Establish Fund, Express Grief, Respond to Tragedy

It is a very sad story.

Saturday Morning Rocker

A mellow memory:

Spin Doctor Throws Knuckleball

This knuckler doesn't spin at all. It is wishful thinking and living in a fantasy world.

Ploufe Says Unemployment Won't Matter to Re-election

I'm a strong believer in the economic principle that a government cannot "create" a job. They can offer make-work, like having the yard-birds paint the rocks white along the pathways, but it is free enterprise and the private sector that creates a vibrant labor market. A low tax structure, reasonable regulatory environment, and confidence that your capital will not be confiscated by the government tomorrow is what creates jobs.

This President can't create jobs no matter how hard he asserts that he can. He can only stifle growth and he has seemed hell-bent on doing that.

Ronald Reagan, another president Obama is sometimes compared with, was reelected in 1984 when unemployment was 7.2 percent. Obama isn’t likely to see a number that low.

Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, predicts the nation will have added 110,000 jobs in total in June, with 125,000 added in the private sector. Hiring by the public sector will continue to fall.

The economy would have to add 350,000 jobs every month between now and December 2014 to get back to the pre-recession low of 5 percent unemployment, last seen in December 2007, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

Reagan saw that kind of growth after the recession of the early 1980s, and it helped him win reelection by a comfortable 18 points. 

The important thing to remember about that period is that Reagan took office with mortgage rates at 18% and inflation over 22%. Within 18 months he passed the largest tax rate reduction since JFK despite being hampered with a hostile Democratic-controlled Congress. They gleefully spent the newly generated revenue, but the nation was working and once again confident in the future.

Reagan also stood up as proud to be an American, confident in the correctness of our direction and proud of our moral standing in the world. He rebuilt the military, drove the Soviet Union into bankruptcy and collapse, and left a legacy that will be difficult to equal.

Obama has shown not the slightest inclination to move at all in those directions. Mr. Ploufe's spin isn't spinning. It is wobbling erratically toward the plate and will be very hard to catch.

Every Picture Tells a Story

The headline shouldn't be a surprise to anybody except the Bamster, the Veep, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Anybody outside of the party hierarchy and/or inside the business community would expect it. You can't threaten taxes, impose restrictive and arbitrary regulations, redistribute wealth to the unproductive and foster an unstable global economy while still creating jobs.

The monthly report shows few jobs created and the acknowledged unemployment rate up to 9.2%.

But that isn't what this item is about. This is about this picture. It says a lot about why we are where we are today. Can you read the story told here:

What do I see? 

The good news is that I see a nuclear family. I see a male who didn't hit and run when responsibility arose. 

But what are the negatives? 

Who is at the computer? Who is seeking a job? Who apparently has the computer skills to access the opportunity databases? 

How is he dressed? You aren't a credible job seeker with your hat on backwards, your three day beard, your designer glasses jauntily on the back of your head. Holding the baby while mama looks for work and you can't wait to get back to the couch or chilling with your homies isn't feeding the baby or the bulldog. 

We've got a society without class, without awareness, without training or ambition or skills. And the exception here in the picture is that at least he stuck around. 

Every picture tells a story, don't it? 

The Fat Lady Begins an Aria

Tonight the lights will be going out for someone who deserves it. Texas will be executing a man who brutally tortured, beat, raped and then murdered a sixteen year old girl. He was tried, convicted and sentenced in 1994. Rick Perry was still nine years short of the governor's chair at that time.

Yet the Atlantic seems to be casting the governor as the villain in this scenario:

Perry Opposes Obama Plea to Stop Execution

You can be very certain that there have been plenty of appeals before this day. But, the final straw being grasped is that the murderer is a Mexican and not an American. He did the crime, but he didn't get his embassy involved. Now his justice is an international incident and the courts of Texas should be listening to the President's pleas that the world won't like us for terminating this disgusting creature's existence in a much more humane manner than he offered to his victim.

We should be letting the courts of other nations set precedent for our decisions.

The Obama administration is seeking a stay of Leal's execution until January in order to give Congress time to pass legislation that will force Texas to comply with the law. The Mexican government has also petitioned for a stay and says the execution could have long-term negative consequences.

"Another execution of a Mexican national in direct violation of international law would undoubtedly affect public opinion in Mexico, undermining support for a constructive and forward-leaning bilateral relationship," said Ricardo Alday, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in the United States.

Note to Obama administration: The House of Representatives is in Republican hands. Passing legislation to "force Texas to comply" with an unratified international agreement is bloody unlikely. Reread 10th Amendment for details.

The umbrage of the Mexican government meanwhile has not been attracted by the deaths of some 150 Mexican nationals as an outcome of the Obama administration's inept gun-running scheme that armed hundreds of cartel thugs.

No, Governor Perry is going to follow the laws of Texas tonight and let the will of the court be carried out.

UPDATE: Supremes Rule. Lights Out. Remember Goliad.

Modern Miracle

I'm old and stodgy. I'm skeptical and curmudgeonly. I'm cynical that our best days are past and the future isn't very bright. Then something like this comes along and I begin to wonder what the future may hold:


Take a look at YouTube for "3D Printing" and you will be amazed at the spread of this technology. Several companies are offering products and apparently usage is spreading very rapidly for design, prototyping and developmental activity.

Whoa! Can She Do That?

Delusional

There is a truly artistic level of madness in the serious proposals of the global Left. Try this little beauty on for size:

UN Solves Everything But Pays For Nothing

Imagine that! No more hunger. No more poverty. No more carbon-based life-forms? It's all a question of investment and then reaping the profits. "You guys invest, and we will take the profits."

I particularly liked this little classic:

Naomi Klein, author of "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism,”.... was controversial because she admitted the left was looking for the first world to pay a “climate debt,” what she described as “the idea that rich countries should pay reparations to poor countries for the climate crisis.”

You've got to admit that would be simply insane.

Sowing Seeds of Discontent

You know your threat is real when the New York Times seeks to undermine you. This fine piece of reporting shows just how seriously the threat from Texas is being considered:

Perry Not Bush's Best Buddy

Is that for real? Would former President Bush really bring the guns to bear in opposition? What to make of the details there?

Well, let's go back to the beginning. How did Perry become governor? He was then-governor Bush's Lieutenant Governor. When Bush won the presidency, Perry was the successor to fill the remainder of the term. It's reasonable to conclude that they worked together pretty well then.

Does Bush have some baggage in terms of his accomplishments in office? All presidents do and Bush is no exception. He got a lot done, but he also veered from the true path in a couple of instances such as his economic policies. No one can be all things conservative while at the same time filling the office of President of the entire nation. The herding of that bunch of cats is a big job and a few felines get loose in the process.

Perry undoubtedly has to put some distance between himself and Bush if he is to garner broad support. That is very clear to Perry, Bush, Rove and others.

Has Bush shown some gap between himself and Perry? Absolutely! The most visible break was during the last re-election campaign where Bush supported challenger, Kaye Bailey Hutchison. She didn't come close in her attempt. The voters didn't believe an 18-year incumbent senator was fine but a 10-year incumbency for a governor was too long. They didn't believe that an Austin resident was out-of-touch but a Beltway denizen was linked up with Texas politics.

So, there is a reason for some space between them. In fact there are a couple of reasons. But both of these guys are big-league players and they know a brush-back isn't always a beanball. It's simply part of the game.

Does the NYT succeed in damaging the threat? I don't think so. I think they actually enhance Perry's position with their report.

How I Became Famous

For those who haven't seen it recently and those who have never seen it, here is a bit of what I did in my misspent youth:

Through the Looking Glass

The Fourteenth Amendment is part of the post Civil War trilogy. There's a three-pack that with the Thirteenth frees the slaves, elevating the Emancipation Proclamation from executive order of a President to basic law of the land. The Fourteenth corrects the terrible Dred Scot decision and affirms that the now freed slaves are citizens with all the rights and privileges of that status. The third component, the Fifteenth Amendment, gives the former slaves, now citizens, the right to vote.

The Fourteenth also added an interesting phrase: "equal protection under the law." That essentially says that a citizen has the same basic rights and privileges wherever they are in the nation. It provides for "incorporation" or the extension of the protections of the Bill of Rights. After that phrase there could no longer be a separate standard for the national government and the state governments. "Congress shall make no law..." meant state legislatures as well.

Unfortunately not all of the provisions of the Bill of Rights are fully incorporated. Why this should be, particularly in light of the related "full faith and credit" clause in the basic document, is a conundrum.

In the last third of the Twentieth Century the civil rights movement brought us a new interpretation of equality. Well-meaning legislators and courts determined that there was an obligation to aggressively move to correct past discrimination.

There was no denying that despite the statements regarding equality there was vestigial discrimination throughout society. Colleges remained largely white. Executive positions were filled with good ol' boys. Doctors, lawyers, bank presidents, cops, firemen, military officers and most positions of prestige and authority remained in the hands of the majority white population. Correction would require more than simple barrier removal. Enter Affirmative Action.

Preferences were established and applied. Quotas imposed. Set-asides granted. The inevitable problems eventually surfaced.

If quantities are limited and a different standard is set to achieve a social goal then someone is eventually going to be discriminated against. The landmark decision came in Bakke v Univ. of California. The Supreme Court acknowledged reverse discrimination and found it unlawful. Programs would have to be modified, rewritten, or eliminated. It wasn't that simple.

A body of law has arisen which nuances the entire process. A clientele for favoritism has arisen and affirmative action has become a holy grail for some. Few in the majority like it. Few in the minority want it eliminated. Justice is not about majority rules, however, it is about law.

Michigan fought back and voted to eliminate AA. The outcome of the election was challenged in federal court. Now an appeals court has struck down the first court ruling and over-ruled the people of the state.

What is chilling about the ruling is the language used to justify the decision. Take a look:

Manipulating the Channels of Change on Issues of Importance to Racial Minorities

An "issue of importance" to minorities should have no more standing in court under the law than an "issue of importance" to any citizen. The fact that an ethnic minority is concerned doesn't enter the vision of a blind Justice.

Non Sequitur

In a classic example of failing to detect an entire forest because it was blocked by several trees, Maryland's finest Democratic Representative to the US House, Elijah Cummings bloviates:

DOJ Attempt to Bypass Laws Means We Need More Laws

Without commenting on the ludicrous statement with regard to supplying of "military grade" weapons, let us note that the laws in place already were the ones violated. The violation was not by criminal elements or straw purchasers, but by the crack representatives of the DOJ seeking to build a case for exactly the sort of repression which Cummings desires.

It is the government which violated the trust of the people. It is the federal bureaucracy under the direct control of the President's personal appointee that directed decent officers to not enforce the law. It is the result of that malfeasance in office that hundreds of weapons were allowed to flow across the border and resulted in the deaths of both Mexican citizens and US agents.

A law denying Americans their Constitutional rights would not correct that.

But why have facts mattered recently?

Tough Decision

I'm certainly not the only one to wonder how Joe Biden got tabbed in the first place and kept his job in the second. He's certainly reasonably experienced, although the background doesn't seem to keep him out of deep-water gaffe territory. He's got a nice smile and mouth-breathing voters like that sort of thing. Biden doesn't have much difficulty offering the ultra-libs a dose of free-range chicken and eco-friendly autos.

On the down-side, he is from an incredibly small state and even then he's a transplant who is more Pennsylvania than Delaware. He certainly doesn't appear to be very effective in his coordination of budget issues or foreign policy matters. Probably the greatest issue is that if the Messiah doesn't manage to covert the republic into an authoritarian dictatorship by the end of his second term, then Biden clearly can't capture the presidency. He is too old and too clearly incompetent. He is also too egotistical to accept his fate gracefully.

So, we get this rather reasonable suggestion:

Dump Joe. Draft Andy. Win the Future

Is that fanciful? Is it a good idea for the Bamster? Is it a good idea for Cuomo?

It certainly would work for Obama. He needs a boost and incorporating the scion of one of America's biggest political families will definitely provide that. He gains a strong and articulate running mate with major executive experience. He gets a favorite of east coast liberals and a balance to the rap of Chicago hard-ball political style. Cuomo actually brings some moderates to the fight. It's all good from that side.

But what about Andy's position?

There can't be much doubt that he harbors presidential ambition at some level. It is almost a default for New York governors to make the short list. He will assuredly be in the field in 2016 whether or not he is VP in '12.

But does Obama win with Cuomo on the ticket. Will Cuomo's future be damaged by a run and a loss in 2012? The disappoints a lot of supporters if he bails out after serving only two years as governor. He offends a lot if he tries to keep the guv's seat while simultaneously running for VP. Is he better off sitting it out on the bet that Bamster gets dumped by the voters. Or does he take the chance?

The Impact of A Day and A Declaration

Ponder the weight of this action and more importantly the impact of the document:

Once There Was a Place Called Camelot

Once there was a Democrat President who was unflinching in grasping leadership. It was before the party had fully embraced the concepts of a welfare state, before we had descended into the morass of Vietnam, before we had entered the hedonistic years of sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, before the civil rights movement had fully taken off. It was a Democrat who had a dream. He had a vision for the future. He was a Democrat who still had pride in America, who had served his country in war, who had gifts of birth but still a sense of obligation to the nation which had given his family these opportunities.

Remember this?



Much has changed since then. We met his challenge and showed the world what we could do. But then we abandoned that sort of ethic and began our inexorable descent into dependency, doubt and guilt.

Today, the legacy of this great challenge is reduced to this:

NASA's Last Hurrah and Fuzzy Future

We're reduced to unclarity. We would rather squabble about how much welfare should be given to whom and how much wealth should be confiscated from where. We haven't exploited the moon or even revisited in nearly 40 years. We beg the Russians for a seat on their old bus. The bureaucracy which is NASA follows the same ruts as so many other governmental institutions. It perpetuates itself without a greater goal.

Does the current administration really have any of the fire left that is demonstrated in that fifty year old video?

Grin and Bear It

When government runs amok, goes bankrupt, fails to provide essential services and is obviously both incompetent and operating beyond constitutional limits it isn't unreasonable to point that out.

It was last year while on the campaign trail for re-election as governor of Texas that Rick Perry somewhat facetiously suggested secession as an alternative to federal oppression. My reading of the Constitution pretty much tracks with the Abraham Lincoln judgment that the document prevents individual states from opting out without the approval of the rest, but Perry was referencing the original agreement for bringing Texas into the union after the Texian victory at San Jacinto.

There were two unusual provisions. One allowed the huge state to some day, if desired, break up into five smaller states. The other authorized unilateral withdrawal or secession if things didn't work out, sort of a no-fault divorce from the Union. Neither hold the force of law today, but they certainly are worth pondering. I somehow can't see a federal intervention and a Second Civil War to keep us in, if we chose to drop out.

Well, just to demonstrate that great and reasonable ideas develop legs of their own, we see this from a troubled region:

County Supervisor Proposes State of SoCal

What should be noted here is the reaction to these proposals. The opposition doesn't seem to address the concerns or even to point out the laws regarding such an alternative. Nope, what they do is say things like this:

“A secessionist movement? What is this, 1860?” Brown spokesman Gil Duran told The Press-Enterprise.

Maybe a better question to ask, Gil, is what makes this elected official entertain such a notion in the first place? Ridicule is not debate, nor is it constructive.

Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster called Stone’s proposal a “crazy distraction.”

...

“The temperature has gone up in Riverside County and it seems Supervisor Stone has gotten too much sun recently,” he added. 

And calling people crazy or experiencing heatstroke is ignoring the issue that drives the discussion.

Nothing Off the Table...Except For....

It is so good to see the Messiah taking the budget seriously. It's simply a shame that after two and a half years of his party in power and operating without a budget, now those pesky Republicans want to demonstrate a standardized accounting practice like writing down an actual spending plan that relates to your revenue; aka "budget."

You've probably already heard about his bipartisan approach to economic cooperation two days ago in which he vilified hedge fund managers, oil company executives, corporate jet owners, and all those millionaire/billionaire Americans making more than $250,000 per year. Pay no attention to the fact that the "corporate jet loophole" is nothing more than depreciating the asset in five years rather than seven. The huge revenue gained from elimination of the regulation would be just under one tenth of one percent of the required debt reduction of $4 trillion over ten years.

You Guys Discuss, I'm Going on Vacation With the Jet and Entourage

Don't you love that? Nothing will be off the table, except for stuff like entitlements and payments to all our non-productive Democratic voters and union members who keep us in office.

Try this approach to your household expenses:

"We've got to cut the deficit, but we can do that while making investments in education, research and technology that actually create jobs," the president said. "We can live within our means while still investing in our future. That's what we have to do. And I'm confident that the Democrats and Republicans in Congress can find a way to give some ground, make some hard choices, and put their shoulders to wheel to get this done."

In terms of my household that means my credit cards are maxed out and my debt service is eating up all of my income and what I need to do is buy that new car and humongous flat-screen TV with the home theater audio system.

So, the Messiah charges the Dems and the Reps to fight it out with everything on the table while the exhausted  Bamster, who apparently has no suggestions of his own, hies off to Martha's Vineyard for a lobster or two and a bottle of chilled Pouilly-Fuisse.

Saturday Morning Rocker

A salute to Cavalry troops everywhere:

Word of the Day

The word for the day is "blethoplasty".

Use it in a sentence: "I just had bilateral blethoplasty so probably won't be blogging today."

Don't feel bad, don't feel great. Great friends now with two bags of frozen green peas.

Assignment

Here's what I want you to do this week-end:

Refer to Monday as Independence Day.

Simple, isn't it? It reminds people that we are celebrating the Declaration of our Independence from Great Britain. It is the founding of this once great nation. It is more than a number on a calendar.

Don't call it simply "the Fourth". It is Independence Day.

But Didn't He Say...

As always, what the Messiah says is going to prove to be exactly the opposite of what he does.

Growlers and Weasels-in-a-Can Plus JDAMs

Yes, the "no kinetic missions" and just support, recce, and resupply seems to be considerably different from the practice. But, at least the guys and gals from Aviano, Spang and Shaw are getting a chance to exercise a bit and probably eat a lot of good pasta and seafood.