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If everything is going to hell, then why am I so upbeat?
ABC - Always Be Closing. Good Advice...
Polls-schmolls. Nobody knows nuthin....
Here's a small breakdown of what I think at this late date in the game.
1. Its 2000 all over again. I said awhile back, that for Obama to win this election, he would have to have a landslide and that all John McCain needed to do was continue to break even and he would probably win. The late undecideds would go for the "safe bet" in the election and that was before the world economy collapsed in September.
I see lots of polls. I don't see any poll that shows a landslide Obama win. Sorry kids, you take the outliers on either end and toss them in the trash and the rest, thats the polls that matter. Those show its within 3-5 at best for Obama. Thats margin of error- that's a tie.
Incredible as it may seem, we are right back where we were on the 2000 election. We could finish this election once again with an electoral college win on one side and a popular vote for the other guy.
For either McCain - Or Obama. And wouldn't that be funny as hell if it were Obama who got the Electoral College win!
Advantage McCain.
2. Shopping habits. This last couple of months have been historic times for Americans and the world. The reason why everyone you meet these days is ready to bite your head off is all sorts of things they used to be able to count on has suddenly gone into a tailspin. If I were to categorize the entire American electorate right now, I would say two words would do it:
"Risk Averse"
Everyone is making decisions in their daily life right now, but no one is taking any risk. Buy a car? Ahhh, not right now honey, lets wait on that for a bit, ok? Hey should we swing our savings into some real estate right now babe? Ah, no not right this second, I'm filling out my resume and buying bullion. You see the Stock Market going all over the place, which I admit is fun, but what you don't see is trading volume. America is losing sleep because their mattresses are stuffed with dollar bills right now. These are dollars that used to be in their 401k, but now, people are looking at those dollars to make it through a some of the next few months rather than buying a new speedboat or condo in Maui.
When people are in survival situations, they don't tend do risky things. I don't think the Donner Party spent a lot of time wondering how they could do a bit of bungee jumping off the cliff tops while they waited for rescue. People tend to get focused on "Maslows Hierarchy of Needs" when there is a lot of risk in the air and they are trying to survive.
Its into this environment that Barack Obama has decided to start talking about taxes and specifically why you don't pay enough. His Vice President has already started redefining wealth down to 150,000 a year. Mistake? Well sure, it could be, but I think we know what he means. He means that 250, 150, heck its just a number we picked out of the sky anyway, so what the hell, right? Anyway, it's not about raising revenue to keep the government running, its about "fairness", right? Come on man, everyone loves a little "fairness", don't they?
Note to Barack Obama - Your timing stinks.
Right now, right here in the middle of all this, the "new kid on the block" wants to diddle with the Tax System, take your 401k away and make it so you never want to buy stocks or bonds again, all to create his idea of a socialist paradise right here on earth, just for you, the voter! Eh, Sorry kid, nows not a good time, why don't you come back when things have settled down a bit, ok?
You think back to the last time we elected a Democrat to the White House. It was 1992. What was significant about that year is it was the first time in many of our lifetimes that we could say that there was no real big threat or risk to a Nuclear War. That was really, really big for us back then. We could, for the very first time afford the luxury of a president who wasn't a "wartime military qualified" President. We took a risk on Bill Clinton, because we could do it without fearing for our lives.
Now we have Russia's Putin putting the bear back in the woods and he's hungry, frankly hes eating all of the neighbors that he can get his hands on and threatening the rest of them. Venezuela is now run by a fat version of Castro. Iran wants the bomb so bad they are probably even willing to kill for it. We are in the worst financial crisis in 60 plus years, if not in the entire history of mankind and no one can tell how much oil there really is out there to still be had and so on, and so on etc, etc...
Oh yeah, and the Islamic terrorists are still out there, doing what they do best. killing and maiming women and children in increasingly more disgusting and inhumane ways.
So tell me, you feel like taking a little risk with the fundamental foundation of your country right now, hmmm?
Advantage McCain.
3. The-Car-Salesman-who-tries-too-damn-hard. You go into a car lot because you like a certain car, and you want to buy the car, and suddenly you get 'Mr. Slick' right there with you at all time, he's so on top of you that he's practically humping your leg like he's Ernest T. Bass' bloodhound. Whatever you might have thought of the car and no matter the price, you just have to get away from this guy.
This is what it feels like to be "uncommitted" in this election.
I found myself watching the Military channel this weekend and guess what I saw. Each and every commercial break was an ad for Barack Obama. Now, I thought it was funny because it just showed me what a fire hose of cash the Obama campaign has at its disposal. But I can bet that more than a handful of people who watch the Military Channel and were toss ups, found after two hours of watching nonstop impressions of "Hi Im Barack from Shamwow!" or "Barack Obama - Apply directly to the forehead" from his deep saturation campaign ads that viewers were now (thanks to the never ending barrage) making up their minds, but in favor of McCain.
The thing is, when people get a sense of creepy "overselling", they start to think, "Gee Mister, you sure do want me to but that Pontiac Aztek awfully bad don't you. I wonder if there is something wrong with it. If its so good, then why are you trying so damn hard"?
I think the biggest, weirdest part of the polls is the rather constant 10-11% who say, even today, that they are uncommitted. This has been one long assed campaign, I don't believe that anyone is still uncommitted after all we have seen in this unrelenting horror show we call "politics". What I do believe is that most people who are still saying they are "uncommitted" that they are now - in large part voting for McCain. They just don't want to explain to you why they are voting for McCain.
In some ways its just like high school, no one wants to be seen as voting for the "unpopular" kids, everyone wants to be seen sitting with the hip kids in the cafeteria, no one wants to be seen with the A/V Geeks. But come the mid-terms, everyone is calling the A/V Geeks for help with trigonometry homework. They just don't talk about it.
Advantage McCain.
4. The Polls. I believe the polls this year are unlike any other set of polling we have ever seen. In 1948, the problem was there was one polling group - Gallup, and they were just wrong. Everyone believed the polls they took that year because it was what those folks in the press of the day wanted to believe, not what was actually happening on the ground. It was the opposite problem of what we have now, and yet the problem was similar to todays situation. The problem we have now isn't that there is one polling group, its that there are hundreds and they are all feeding off of each other for their data and the result is, the data is crap. I saw Karl Rove tonight say that there have been more polls taken in the last 30 days then the entire 2004 race. And that seemed like a pretty intense race to me, didn't it to you?
It's not that we have too little data sampling, its that we have too much. In computer science, we call this sort of thing "thrashing". The CPU is running at a 110% but not very much work is really getting done. Its all sort of tangled up on itself.
You can't really use the polls this year for anything other than a general trend, the actual numbers are goofy and in my opinion its because the sample population is being oversampled. The trend is and continues to be, that yes, Obama is ahead, but consistently it moves back and forth about 3 to 5 points, which is within the margin of error. That is a tie, and as I said, a tie will mean that McCain is going to win the actual election.
And another thing, you can't really use the polls overall sampling because politcal polarization has reached a point in this country where people cant say the Presidents name in polite company. Support Bush? Sure you might still do that, and there are still three times as many that say that they do "Support Bush" than say they support Congress, but say it out loud? Oh I don't think so... Its just so, you know, icky...
If the polling groups were accurate, then several of the primary polls that showed Barack Obama winning against Hillary! would have held up. They didn't. Barack Obama consistently underperformed in the actual election against what he was polled to win. (Theres a reason for this that I will get to later.)
Advantage McCain.
5. The Kitchen Sink. I'll say this about Barack Obama, if he can run the country half as well as he has run his campaign, we should do ok. This guy has poured everything into this race. It really shows you what an incompetent clod John Kerry was in 2004( and in my opinion he still is an incompetent clod, but thats another subject for another time). Obama has done it all, he's taken every advantage he can, taken every shot he can get, thrown every bit of ammo there is into his target whenever and wherever he can. The Media is part of his campaign, and thats not just me saying it, they are saying it! They don't care, its no longer non-partial, they look right at ya and say they are on Obamas side. Its almost not a fair fight and you feel sort of sad for McCain, even if you don't like him.
And yet, theres good old John "Old Ironsides" McCain, sitting within the margin of error. Why cant Obama put this guy away? Its John McCain for crying out loud! John McCain tied himself to public financing so he hasn't got a dime. John McCain is a lifetime sufferer of the horrible disease of "Senator-itis". Senators make lousy candidates, the longer they are in the Senate, the worse they are and yeah, John McCain has been in the Congress since Barack Obama got out of High School.
And yet, Barack Obama, with the campaign equivalent of the entire 8th Air Force at his disposal, hasn't retired John McCain from the contest.
Why the hell not? Well lets be totally honest here, its not because John McCain is all that great of a candidate. He is a great man, but he is not a great candidate. Its not because John McCain is better or more capable campaigner than Obama, so what could it be?
Its because even now, there are significant doubts about Barack Obama. The risk factor, the fear factor, the dare I say it "old folks voting their pocketbooks and for their grandchildren" factor is the whats really keeping the "John McCain, Captain of the USS Constitution" afloat. Despite everything that the left and Obama has put downrange on John McCain, he still hasn't been "de-masted", and hes still fighting and he hasn't gone down with the ship. Its this fundamental "Failure to Close" that has caused Obama to go upside down in his primary polls vs. the actual election results ( see above.)
People respect that McCain is still in the game, and running hard against what can only be called overwhelming odds. You don't hear anyone saying "John McCain is too old" anymore, do you? With all his built in disadvantages, he's within the margin of error to a behemoth campaign of huge proportions. Thats not bad.
Advantage McCain.
What is it Alec Baldwin said in "Glengarry Glenn Ross"? "ABC - Always Be Closing?". Barack is out there selling like a demon, but he's just not closing the sale with the "Nyborgs", but in point of fact, the Nyborgs have long since made up their minds and they are not buying what you are selling, they just like to have you pay attention to them and keep them company.
My bet is that its going to be Barack Obama that is getting 'Steak Knives' and its McCain thats getting the Cadillac in this election contest.
So there you have it. In a few days, we will all see. Until then, nobody knows nuthin...
Posted @ October 29, 2008 09:11 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (7) | TrackBack (1)
A thought occurs
Translation: Unless you are The Messiah or unless you have a pair of wooden shoes - watch out.
Jim Geraghty is starting to get some interesting data on the polls. Read on....
It besgs the question: "Wouldnt it be hee-frickin-larious of Obama won the electoral college, but lost the popular vote"?
Its at times like this that I like to remind people that running for the President is whole lotta fun. Running the country on the other hand, is a bitch.
Posted @ October 29, 2008 02:32 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
question of the day - Pathological Journalism?
Its a widely held observation that in this election the media isnt just following its normal bias, its acting in a way that is indistinguishable from the way that they would act if they were paid campaign workers for Obama.
In science, the issue of observer bias is central to the scientific method. Observer bias, or more simply put, the desire on the part of the person doing the experiment to get the results they wish to see in the result is a constant problem that all scientists are on constant watch to work against.
Question of the day - In this election has modern journalism just adapted itself into a form of journalistic Lysenkoism where the politics matters far more than the actual observation?
Here's my case: The "Main Stream Media", now more than ever before, is a single party, single culture group. Their observations are not based on the data they actually see as much as the result they wish to get. When they encounter data that doesnt fit the template, they attack the person that brings the data or they interpret the data as to fit the preconceived results rather than see how the data effects their hypothesis. If the data doesnt fit their hypothesis, then there is something wrong with the data. Theres a parallel for this in science, its called "Pathological Science":
"...the process in science in which "people are tricked into false results ... by subjective effects, wishful thinking or threshold interactions".
If this is the case( and I think it is), then why would you trust or believe anything that they say about this election being "in the bag" for Obama?
Posted @ October 29, 2008 10:34 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
A random thought - Locust season
On what part of the population is the entire election going to turn?
It occurs to me that the very people most likely to vote for Obama in this election are the exact same people who took out subprime loans to buy homes that cost nine times their annual earnings, only to walk away from the mortgage a year later because they were shocked to find that the bank wanted their mortgage payments each and every month. You know these people, the exact same folks who with their complete inability to understand the meaning of the word "VARIABLE" have now managed to so destroy the world economy to a point where the words "Great Depression" are no longer descriptive enough for the situation we face.
And now these same people want to put a marxist in the White House and increase the power of Congress. Oh yes, that will help, thanks for that guys. Good Work Kids!, 7,000 years of western civilization completly undone in one generation and its all to be replaced with a governmental system that incorporates the social dynamism found in "Lord of the Flies" and fiscal soundness thats found in each and every PBS pledgebreak.
Posted @ October 27, 2008 08:38 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Question of the day
My father once said that the most magnificent thing about the Nixon Administration was that an entire goverment was removed from power by nothing but the simple rule of law and not a single tank or military division was ordered to be moved in support of the President as he was removed from office. This act, and its reponse by the powers of all of the various area of Government as well as both political parties, he felt, was all that really separated us from the other Democracies in the world. At the end of the day, Richard Nixon was just a man and no man was above the law.
Question of the Day -
All Presidents face executive challenges and all Presidents can and do make errors, some of the errors they perform might even fall into the area of 'crimes and misdemeanors'. The Constitution offers a remedy to the Republic for this problem via the legislative branch, which is known as "Impeachment".
Yet, given the volitile state of politics in this country, is it at all possible that 'President Obama' could plausibly face impeachment at some point in the future?
Extra Credit - What happens to the Republic if such a thing were to actually occur?
Posted @ October 26, 2008 03:49 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
John McCain was never tortured in my jail
I never tortured or mistreated the PoWs and nor did my staff,” Reports Tran Trong Duyet to the UK Times. He is the man who acted as warden to the infamous "Hanoi Hilton", where United States Prisoners of War were handled by the North Vietnamese.
When he says "there was no torture" you understand of course that he is referring to the grotesque inhuman examples set by American troops and Abu Ghirab and Guantanmo Bay, where inmates were forced to wear womens undergarments and were photographed with Lynnde England. Thats what the world thinks is torture. The Mail never manages to mention John McCains own account of his time in Hanoi, or point out why it is that he still can't comb his own hair. Mr. Duyet would have you believe that John McCain stayed at a youth hostel, a Best Western Hotel or in Col. Klinks own Stalag 13 for 5 years.
Sadly, He did not.
Oh, I'm pretty certain that those things that our horrible troops did in Abu Ghirab didnt occur while you were the warden of that Prison, Mr. Duyet, but I am absolutely sure that the following things did occur:
murder, beatings, broken bones, teeth and eardrums, dislocated limbs, starvation, long term isolation, purposely serving of food contaminated with human and animal feces and medical neglect of infections and tropical disease occurred.
How do I know these things occured?
Well -
Bud Day recounted the same things during his time in your care.
Robbie Risner alsso recounted similar things during his time.
Jeremiah Denton also shared his findings, hes also a Democrat.
Joe Kittinger also reported the same thing during his time.
James Stockdale said he saw the same thing.
Everett Alvarez recounted the same things during his time.
Ernest C. Brace, said the same thing.
Floyd Thompson, said the same thing and he was a civilian.
John McCain even recounted them in his book, Faith of My Fathers.
These men are my heroes. You sir, are a disgusting little guttersnipe. Oh, I dont blame you though, you worked for a government that saw the organized destruction of Catholics in the south, through work and reeducation camps that was done on a scale not seen since the end of dachau and treblinka. A human created disaster so total that thousands of your countryman took to the seas in whatever would float, just to get away. Most of them died trying to get away from you and your comrades and the socialist society you helped make. Oh but rest assured, some of them managed to get away. I went to school with one. you'll be happy to know she's doing just fine here in the States. Her brother even went on to become a valedictorian at the US Air Force Academy. Imagine that, people who were so willing to take to the open ocean, survive deprivation and horrors of what met them out there, just to get away from you and yours.
Oh, you can't be blamed because you are just a little man a big machine now can you? just a little man serving "the state", thats what you were then and what you are now. Who are you to question your orders when they told you to break men in your care?
Damn shame for you that they never broke, isnt it Mr. Duyet? It must be hell to wake up every day with that on your mind, knowing that one of your former charges lives life large and free, while you drink fresh sewage from the tap in your squalid little apartment in Hanoi.
Posted @ October 25, 2008 08:30 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Question of the day - Bubble?
Irving Janis, a research psycologist at Yale devised eight symptoms that are indicative of 'groupthink'. 'Groupthink' is described as the systematic errors made by groups when taking collective decisions.
Let's work through these symptoms:
1. Illusions of invulnerability creating excessive optimism and encouraging risk taking.
2. Rationalising warnings that might challenge the group's assumptions.
3. Unquestioned belief in the morality of the group, causing members to ignore the consequences of their actions.
4. Stereotyping those who are opposed to the group as weak, evil, disfigured, impotent, or stupid.
5. Direct pressure to conform placed on any member who questions the group, couched in terms of "disloyalty".
6. Self censorship of ideas that deviate from the apparent group consensus.
7. Illusions of unanimity among group members, silence is viewed as agreement.
8. Mindguards — self-appointed members who shield the group from dissenting information.
Question of the day - The Media, Democrats and the Obama campaign are deeply entrenched in the culture and process of 'Groupthink' and hence, the Obama campaign can be thought of in terms of an irrational 'bubble'.
Discuss amoungst yourselves.
Posted @ October 24, 2008 02:29 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (4) | TrackBack (1)
Monster
"You're shocked that the market is going down? Really? I'm shocked that its holding up as well as it is. You understand when a politician says that he wants to 'spread the wealth' that what he is going to do is confiscate your wealth and give it to other people. You understand that, right? Confiscate...Your...Wealth! Your home, your property, your 401k, your bank accounts, your stocks and bonds, your health accounts - all are in the process of becoming the property of 'the state'. All of it. Thats what "spread the wealth" actually means, it means CONFISCATE and then "distribute along party lines'. This is no longer about this tax rate or that tax rate or what party has a better plan to grow the economy, its about the Government of the United States - all three branches of it - that is now actively and aggressively pursuing and acting on a plan to confiscate private wealth (your wealth) and punish those who create it (you).
When I look at the market, I cant help but think that the Democrats misunderstood the chant 'drill baby drill' from a rallying cry for more oil into a rallying cry for drilling the whole idea of markets into the ground. People keep asking 'when the housing market will come back?' but they dont seem to understand that there is no housing market anymore. There is no up, no down. No gain, no loss. With no up and down, no loss or gain, then what is it? That is not a market, that - is a morgue. That is just a small sample of what is happening to each and every market in the United States. And incredibly, this distruction is entirely by design. By destroying your faith in markets, that faith can be supplated by a newly found faith in government. This is their plan, their design, and they will sell it you by promising to remove all uncertainty and volatility from the market (Its for your own good dontcha know! ). What they dont say is that by removing all uncertainty then there is no 'market'. The market has now been replaced by the 'committee'. A committee that is chaired by Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, The Media and Barack Obama.
You ever heard of Richard Matheson? He wrote some pretty good science fiction back in the day, lots of Twilight Zone Episodes and a whole host of short stories back in the 50's and 60's. He's most remembered for one short story thats been made into a movie about a half a dozen times. It's called "I AM LEGEND". Its the story of the last man on earth after a plague wipes out most of the population. What parts of the population the plague doesnt wipe out, becomes transformed into what can best be described as 'vampires'. Most people know that narrative of the story, but most every filmed version and most retelling of the story forget is the main point of the story. The point is this; When you live on a planet where humans are normal and vampires are the monsters, thats something we understand. What Mathesons story forces the reader to come to grips with is the opposite, that when you live on a world where the vampires are the normal, then you, as the last remaining human, have become the monster.
This is what we conservatives and libertarians have become. With the plague of 'fairness' now loose in the ecosystem of public ideas and discourse, we have become the monster. They are working to destroy our nest (the markets) and after that is destroyed, they will come for us. "
Casual hallway conversation. Captured on October 24th 2008.
Posted @ October 24, 2008 12:20 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)
Always work the negative angle
A video of John McCain was released today. Whats the lead sentence in the Sky News article?
"The video portrays the Republican as a hero but the message may be tarnished as he is filmed smoking a cigarette."
Unbelievable.
Posted @ October 23, 2008 09:39 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
I am Joe
From Iowahawk:
Go here and download the graphic, print it, and place where its best seen. Stand with Joe. Show all the other Joes you stand with them.
Remember, Obama came to his house. Joe just asked Obama a question and for that, they took his job. The Press and the media hounded this man out of the life he made for himself and his son.
All he did was ask a question. He didnt insult him, throw a pie, call him names or any of the things that the Bush administration has to deal with every day for the past eight years, he just asked a question.
If they can do this to him before the election, what will they do to you afterwards? If they have no shame, if they have no "checks and balances" on their power, if the media( who normally report such an abuse of the electorate as an abuse ) are the ones that are actually perpetrating the crime, what makes you think it will all go away after the election?
Stand with Joe. Stand up while you still can.
Posted @ October 22, 2008 11:29 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Redshirts Unite!
Star Trek T-Shirts. Its About Damn Time!
Must...Fight...Urge...To...Buy...One...Of...These...Must...Resist...
Must...Fight...On...Should...I...Buy...Red...Shirt?...ooooh...Damn...
Im...Losing...My...Will...To...Resist...Willpower...Growing...Weak...
Cant...Fight...For...Much...Longer...This...Is...Just...Like...
Episode#24...Where...Spock...Gets...Hit...With...Those...Spores...
and...Gaaaaaahhh!...Must...Not...Talk...Trek...Must...Not...Must...
Fight...Bones!...Uhura...Scotty!..NEEDMOREPOWER!...
Vultures!...Assassins!......Khaaaaaaannnnnn!!!!!
UPDATE: Im not getting anything at all done today.
Posted @ October 22, 2008 12:19 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
60 years ago...
From Wikipedia:
snip.
"Truman toured -- and transfixed -- much of the nation with his fiery rhetoric, playing to large, enthusiastic crowds. “Give 'em hell, Harry,” was a popular slogan shouted out at stop after stop along the tour. However, the polls and the pundits all held that Dewey's lead was insurmountable, and that Truman's efforts were for naught. Indeed, Truman's own staff considered the campaign a last hurrah. The only person who appears to have considered Truman's campaign to be winnable was the President himself, who confidently predicted victory to anyone and everyone who would listen to him. However, even Truman's own wife had private doubts that her husband could win."
end snip...
Trumans victory in 1948, which was predicted by not one single poll, was in large part based on the fact that he was able to secure a 1% advantage in just three key states, all three of which he had been predicted to lose by as much as 10%. Truman, who is beloved by the American public today was actually derided and hated in that time as much as President Bush is today. President Truman was noted in a Chicago Tribune editorial given that very year as a "nincompoop".
Great Presidents are recognized by their decisions in the face of history, not by how much they are loved by the press while they are in office. Harry Truman, who ordered the destruction of two Japanese cities, lead the fight for integration the military, dealt with an unpopular war in Korea and an economic recession was not rehabilitated until the late 1960's.
I'd also like to point out that in 1948, The president worked against the advice of many of his advisors and world opinion on long shot foreign policy project that everyone at the time predicted would most certainly fail.
It was later known in history as "The Berlin Airlift". I humbly suggest Dear Reader, that the Berlin Airlift was "The Surge" of its day.
UPDATE: I'm not the only one thinking that things are askew.
Posted @ October 21, 2008 08:37 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Who you gonna believe?
Staggering News - According to this poll, Proposition 8 in California is ahead by a nose.
Proposition 8 is a "marraige-is-between-a-man-and-a-woman" intiative. Now based on this poll, were supposed to accept the idea that Proposition 8 has a chance of passing, yet John McCain has zero chance of winning in California. This, as the Robot on 'Lost in Space' would say: "Does Not Compute".
How do proposition 8 voters feel about McCain? If you take a look around the town where I live, when you see John McCain bumper stickers or lawn signs, you almost always see "Yes on Proposition 8" signs as well.
Remember, the poll says Prop 8 is winning. Remember as well that Prop 8 has been viciously opposed by the very same people who are voting for Barack Obama. They have poured millions into the Anti-Prop 8 campaign. This has become a pivotal Proposition in this election. In one case, 8 memebers of a college student council face a recall election because they support Proposition 8. Thats pretty stong stuff from the anti-prop 8 crowd. You used to get recalled from office if you were doing something illegal or failing to do your duty, now all you have to do is take the politically incorrect side of an argument and it seems you must be removed from your civic duty, lest the populace be harmed because of your spreading dangerous perverted ideas like "only one man and one woman owning the franchise of marraige in society" and crazy stuff like that. Once upon a time I dare say you could be recalled from office if you were suspected of being gay.
How times have changed.
And I say again, Proposition 8 appears to be winning in California, against everything that the core of the liberal world can throw at it. Does anyone really believe that there are lots of people who will vote for Prop 8 and also vote against John McCain? Im sorry, Im just not willing to buy that. Statistically there will be some small number, but there will be far more who because of the issues behind Proposition 8 wil be voting for McCain who otherwise would not have done so. I think its also statistically small that there are Pro-prop 8 people who are voting for Barack Obama this year, yet I'm sorry to report that I havent seen a single yard sign with Obama/Biden and "Yes on Prop 8". That tells me that the number of pro-obama, pro prop 8 voters is mighty small.
In my little neighborhood, I see more signs for Prop 8 than I do any of the two candidates. That is very interesting to me. It says that this issue has exercised a part of the populace that doesnt normally get exercised. This may be the source of what has moved this poll in the direction it has gone. It may be the key to the election in California for John McCain.
How can Proposition 8 be winning and John McCain also be losing in California? It seems to be that if you go to the polls for one, you are going to pull to level for the other too. Either Prop 8 is winning which will give some form of "political coattails" to John McCain, or the poll is silly and doesnt really show an accurate representation of the political landscape. I can accept that the poll is goofy but I can't accept that Prop 8 will pass but John McCain will lose.
My wife asked me yesterday how the election was going, and I said "cant really tell". That was before I saw this poll result. I honestly have no idea what is going on, I only know that things are not as they appear to be.
Posted @ October 21, 2008 07:47 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Ok, thats the last time I do that.
I finished reading "Fugitive Days", "Dreams From My father" and "The Audacity Of Hope".
The problem with reading crap like that is you can't un-read it. Its like looking at crime scene photos, watching LBJ lift up his shirt to show you his scars or accidentally finding your grandmothers teeth in the bottom of the glass you just drank out of. You did it, but now you got to deal with the thought of it for the rest of your life as the little images rattle around in your head from time to time.
I wont go into detail tonight but I have discovered the one thing I deeply dislike and distrust about Barack Obama. Its something I think completely disqualifies him to be President.
(You Star Trek Geeks will get this one) What I dont like about Barack Obama is that he's never faced failure. He's never passed the "Kobyashi Maru" test at the Academy. He's simply trying to hard to be liked. I dont trust a man who hasnt absolutely blown it once in his life. You ask a man "whats your biggest mistake?", you better see him immediately look at his feet and then look away for a moment while he decides if he should trust you or not, else you've got a liar on your hands. You've either got a liar, or you've got a man who doesnt entirely trust you either. This is not a good place to start a relationship as intense as the one he's asking us to take part in.
"Whats your biggest failure" is actually a question I ask all my potential hires. If they start giving me some half assed ear candy about failure teaching them everything and it was a great experience, they usually get the door. If they stop and get real humble, if they start to get that face that only comes from experience and if they can tell me how it changed them, they get to continue.
Nowhere in either book or Ayers' book do I get any sense of failure. Loss? yeah, lots of loss, regrets? yeah but not in the way you would think. The word "Pentinent" comes to mind for both men and "they aint it" as my Dad would've said. I'm struck by Obamas non answer to that question in the first debates. It would not have passed my test in a job interview. Obama simply leaped out with the answer as if he was a student too eager to please the teacher. John McCain changed the pitch in his voice and looked down. McCain faced failure. Obama has no idea what I'm talking about, no man who has ever failed leaps out at that question anymore than "one-armed lion tamers" are anxious to get back into the cage with the lions.
To Obama, "Failure" is an interpretation, a grade to be made in class. With McCain, its the bitter taste of bile and the acrid smell of self doubt that lingers over a lifetime. Its that ghostly thought that crosses your mind at 2:00 AM and causes you to sit upright at the end of the bed.
To Obama, Failure is a judgement that you pass onto others, its meaningless and its not a threshold he's crossed in his life, he's been swaddled in words of soft praise throught his life and protected from any harm by those who love him. Frankly, its made him soft and malleable, like super putty. You put him on any image and he becomes a facsimile of that image and you can stretch it to any dimension you like. To McCain, failure is the beating the anvil takes to make soft metal into hard iron. You can bang on it all day long, it only tempers the Iron, it wont suddenly transform into Bamboo because its the fashionable thing to do.
To be honest, only one person out of ten actually passes that test in my interviews. Most people are just simply as full of crap as a Christmas goose and would do anything in the world for you in an interview, except of course, confess it all to you about how "way back when", they totally and completely screwed up. People will try to dress it up into something more than it was or minimize it into less or place the blame someone else or even parade out some fashionable illness to allow them to take the role of victim in the story. But try as they might, no one can quite get the blood out of carpet of their soul. The stain is there, you either make it part of the scenery and you learn to tell a great story about it or you buy a really big potted plant to cover it and hope no one notices.
But you know that you will have this thought rattling around in your mind making noise on your soul like that of a single marble running loose in the bottom of a 55 gallon metal trashcan; that everyone will know why it is that you have a potted palm tree right there in the center of your living room. The harder you try to hide it and the stain just becomes all the more obvious.
So when someone at a job interview asks you the equivalent of "Say buddy,whats with the big potted plant - you tryin to hide something?", try to remember that confession is good for the soul. And for job interviews?, its not so bad either. Just dont make a habit of it. One potted palm shows you are human, two or more shows you have a complusion.
(I will be in the shower with a large container of Comet cleanser and a wire brush for the next 24 hours trying to get the stink of these three books off me.)
Posted @ October 20, 2008 10:56 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Question of the Day: Whats it all about, Alfie?
Heres todays "Question of the Day"
Are elections about the candidates or are candidates simply a reflection of the larger issues at hand?
Let me say it another way, "What if this election really isnt about Obama or McCain after all"?
Then the question becomes - what is it really all about?
If you start to think about the election and take the effort to not make it a personality contest, lots of things become very clear. Spend a few minutes thinking about it that way and I'll get back to you this evening with what I thought of with my own exercise on this question.
Posted @ October 20, 2008 03:47 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
I Am Spartacus!
David Corn of Mother Jones meets the "working class" and downtrodden he says he supports and the ungrateful bastards give him an earful:
snip:
"The scene turned into a mini-fracas when David Corn, of Mother Jones, defended press coverage. Munoz was having none of it. Why, he asked, would the press whack Joe the Plumber when it didn't want to report on Obama's relationship with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber? "How come that's not in the news all the time?" Munoz said. "How come Joe the Plumber is every second? I'm talking about NBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN." A black woman with a strong Caribbean accent jumped in the fray. "Tell me," she said to Corn, "why is it you can go and find out about Joe the Plumber's tax lien and when he divorced his wife and you can't tell me when Barack Obama met with William Ayers? Why? Why could you not tell us that? Joe the Plumber is me!"
"I am Joe the Plumber!" Munoz chimed in. "You're attacking me"
end snip.
I ask you dear reader, which side of the microphone would you like to be on at that particular moment? Poor David, he has no idea where these folks are coming from.
"I am Joe The Plumber!" Thats a ralling cry thats on a par with "I AM Spartacus!".
I can't overlook the irony of a left wing, "supporter of the working class" and the lowly downtrodden getting his lily white ass handed back to him by the very same working class and downtrodden he says he is so interested in helping. I wonder if he will change his mind now that he's actually met them face to face? ( the ungrateful wretches simply dont know what's good for them!)
I'm also reminded that in all my life, one that is straight out of the working class, with time spent working on swing shifts and graveshifts in real life working class factory jobs (just like they show in hollywood), working in plastic factories and working as a landscaper, I never once met a communist or a socialist until I went to college, not one. They were always easy to find in college there because they were always whining about everything under the sun while driving the very newest sportscars and living in apartments paid for by their mommies and daddies. They went to rallys against Nuclear power while I worked at pizza restaurants, ate pallets of top ramen and walked or rode a bike until I graduated. Did I whine or complain about the "unfairness" of it all? Hell no. I enjoyed every minute of it and was grateful for the chance to do what I do. I know what a great and wonderful thing this country is because I've seen the faces of people who didnt get that chance. I known people who came here from Vietnam, unable to speak the language, with literally nothing and go on to achieve great things. I've worked with men who crawled here across deserts I wouldnt drive through and I know what life in this country really means because they have risked it all to come here. I've known people who came here from Afghanistan who know what freedom really means. I know people who lost it all in the dust bowl in Oklahoma in the 1930s who later went on to own their own home construction companies and live a life of comfort in their old age.
They all had hope for the future and they knew where to get it. Not in Europe which wouldnt have them, not in Cuba which would kill them or in Vietnam which would force them into reeducation camps for the crime of simply being catholic or some other socialist paradise set to destroy their souls before they feed their bellys, but here where a man could start with nothing and go on to make a life for himself. For the freedom, for the liberty to live their lives, they have sacrificed it all. They know where home is, they know where their heart is and it is here.
They Are And I Am - Joe the Plumber!
Posted @ October 20, 2008 01:02 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Further Proof that John McCain is a Maverick
Fresh from testifying for his friend Senator Ted Stevens in Alaska, who is on trial for corruption, Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Endorses Obama. It seems that McCain chose someone Colin disapproves of for Vice President. Someone who is also from Alaska like his friend Ted Stevens, I think shes the Govenor up there. The name skips my mind at the moment.
It's good to see Colin finally get some good press again. They sure gave him a hard time back when he worked for Bush in the first term, you know back when he gave that big press conference on "Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq" and all that Yellowcake controversy. Ah, those were the days, back when a few Jedi mind tricks from Cheney and Rove could make a good man go and do silly things.
Hey, take one guess who it was that gave Secreatary of State Colin Powell a hard time when he was in the Senate Armed Services Committee?
John McCain.
There is something about "Payback" that might be appropriate to mention here. On the other hand, Powell should understand that being a turncoat doesnt mean you will get rehabilitated, it means that no one on either side will trust you anymore. On the third hand, Colin is 72, so I dont think he's looking for a seat in the cabinet. I think hes looking for a way to avoid long drawn out legal battles.
(Synopsis - Changes nothing, neans even less. Obama gets to tout "General Colin Powell, A Republican endorses me!" while overlooking the irony of who it is thats endorsing him. John McCain gets to point out "Whos the more Bush than Bush, Obama or McCain?" Colin Powell has long since passed his "Sell By" date, which was either 1992 or 2002, I cant remember which. Republicans dont like him, Democrats dont trust him. To the "Average Joe" this smells of political opportunism a barely veiled attempt at political rehabilitation. My own sense is he did it because he actually likes Obama, which tells you all you need to know about his political judgment. Summary - a Good General and a poor politician, Powell gets the Ephialtes Award for teamwork in this election. )
Posted @ October 19, 2008 08:55 AM | Current Events | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Sunset
Commander-in-Chief President Barack Obama.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
All with the sure and solid backing of each of the large commercial media outlets in every country around the world. Go ahead and speak out, lets see where that gets you. I know a guy who once asked Barack Obama question and he paid the price for it. He was evicerated for having the gall for actually talking to Barack Obama.
So, when the entire governmental system of 'checks and balances' rests solely on their shoulders with no measure of accountability, what will remain of our freedoms? and for how long?
The feeling that it leaves me with reminds me of a scene in the 1960's TV show "The Prisoner":
(Number 2 describes "The Village" - a secret installation where the character "Number 6" is being kept against his will for the crime of "resigning". The Village is a place where the prisoners and their guards are indistinguishable from each other. Number 2 is essentially the warden of prison. )
Number 2: What in fact has been created? An international community. A perfect blueprint for world order. When the sides facing each other suddenly realize that they're looking into a mirror, they'll see that this is the pattern for the future.
Number 6: The whole earth as... 'The Village'?
Number 2: That is my hope. What's yours?
Number 6: I'd like to be the first man to live on the moon!
I know the feeling brother. I surely do.
Posted @ October 18, 2008 08:46 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Question of the day
I just heard Obama at a rally say that "McCain wants to cut Medicare". I want someone to explain to me - point it out to me, show me any example at any time where any President ever cut anything or any size or shape! We still have Mohair subsidies in the budget and a sizeable Helium reserve just in case we get back in the dirigible business and all of a sudden someone is going to cut Medicare?
I want to ask - and this is the question of the day - how does the budget get created? President Mccain can propose anything he wants, but all he gets to do is sign off on whatever the congress decides to do.
And I ask you, who is in charge of both houses of Congress? Democrats!
A future President McCain can propose anything he wants to congress, they will immediately override whatever he says is important with their own ideas. So how is the future President McCain or the future Senator McCain going to cut anything in the budget?
All President McCain can really do is stop the Congress from taking more of your money by the power of the veto. President Obama is running his campaign saying you already have too damn much money and wouldnt veto anything under any circumstances from the Democrat congress.
Posted @ October 17, 2008 11:53 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Hey! Guess who else gets a "Middle Class Tax Break"?
While the battle of Joe the plumber" plays out, with Joe Biden and Barack Obama now making fun of the idea of a mere plumber making 250,000 a year its important to remember that Senators get 188,000 a year.
Hey wait a second....Oh my gosh, do you mean that Obama is proposing a tax cut for those in the Senate?
Sounds like it to me! Who knew the Senate was considered Middle class!
Posted @ October 16, 2008 06:56 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Geraghty Provdies the Inspiration - You supply the caption
Jim Geraghty provides the inspiration.
Caption 1: "I simply can't understand your tax plan Senator Obama and I work for H&R Block!"
Caption 2: "Democrats - This man is your ENEMY!"
Caption 3: "Senator, the government says its was ok to make 250,000 dollars a year but when I accidentally made 251,000 dollars last year, they took it all away from me. Now I have had to lay off my employees. Senator Obama, what do I tell them when they ask me what happened to their lives? "
Caption 4: "Can you please not say "spread the wealth" because when you do, it makes me feel icky inside."
Caption 5: "Senator Dodd, can I get the same mortgage that you got?"
Caption 6: "Senator Obama, I bought a house I could afford in a place I could afford to live. I put 20% down and pay my mortgage payments early. I try live within my means. I've been married to the same woman for 25 years and have two lovely kids. I pay my taxes, serve on the school board and support the Boy Scouts of America. I own a rifle, two shotguns and a pistol. I also own a truck and a jeep as well as a Harley Davidson. I believe this is the greatest country on earth and I have faith that the future will be better than the past. Senator, what does all this make me in your eyes? "
Caption 7: "Senator Obama, if your party wont trust me with a 401k, why should we trust your party with the US Treasury?"
Caption 8: "No sir, I aint never been to Europe. My Daddy went there through, back in 1944. He came back, but alot of friends of his are still there, at a place called Colleville-sur-Mer. Oh I'm sorry Senator, you were saying something about how I needed to pump up my truck tires to save the planet, right?"
Caption 9: "So If I understand your position Senator Obama, all the problems you see out there in the world can be solved if only I willingly give up more of the money it will be spent more wisely by the government, correct? Really? "
Caption 10: "Thank you for meeting me face to face without preconditions, Senator Obama"
Posted @ October 16, 2008 10:59 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Sandbagged
SO - we no longer ask our Presidential candidates any questions that involve the military?
I wanted to hear McCain talk about Missile Defense. I wanted Obama to explain how missile defense is different than aircraft defense. I wanted Obama to tell us how many carrier battle groups we are going to have in his administration. I wanted to hear him explain what weapons system he would cut. How big an Army? How many ships in the Navy, how many aircraft and what kinds? Should the V-22 get cut? Should the B-52 be retired? How about a question or two about the damn Air Force tanker deal?
Three debates and I don't get any answers on these and many other important issues, I get the equivalent of what it feels like to have two used car salesman run back and forth and "ask their manager" if they can get me a "discount on the price for the undercoat" ( an undercoat that I don't want or particularly need, but will be forced to take to get off the car lot with my wits and my wallet mostly intact.)
I seem to remember questions about the military in 2004, 2000, 1996, 1992, 1988. 1984. I guess we wouldn't want to ask questions that might embarrass one of the two candidates. I guess since were all safe now and theres no threat from abroad anymore we can just dispense with that whole idea, right?
Just keep saying to yourself "Commander-In-Chief" Barack Obama. If that doesnt do it for you, then this picture just might:
Yeah. I know. I laughed for 15 minutes when I saw it today...
OH! - and one other thing, can we please stop calling these things "debates"? They are at best a joint press conference. There's no actual debating going on in these things, just two guys taking questions at the same time. The only thing missing is Helen Thomas isn't the moderator.
It occurred to me tonight, that based on most of Obamas answers to questions that McCain really isn't running against the Senator from Illinois, he's actually running against 'Santa Claus'. People wait in line for days, then hop in his lap, squirt a couple of tears and then "Senator Santa Obama" promises to send them a big pile of someone elses money down their chimney to make everything all better.
Posted @ October 15, 2008 08:06 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Question of the day: Whats the Difference?
Question - What is the essential difference between William Ayers and Terry Nichols?
Is it class? ideology? marketing? writing ability?
Would any politician who was a known associate of Terry Nichols be called to explain themselves for this association? Would the excuse "I do not defend the things Mr. Ayers did" wash in the same way if you changed the sentence to "I do not defend the things Mr. Nichols did". No it wouldn't. so why does it hold as an excuse for William Ayers and his political ties?
I have an additional question - What the hell is wrong with Thomas Frank?
Posted @ October 15, 2008 09:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)
On this date - October 14th 1912
On this date October 14th 1912, Theodore Roosevelt who is running for President under the new "Progressive Party" is shot in the chest by John F. Schrank. The bullet is stopped by TR's glasses and his written speech. He went on to speak for ninety minutes at the rally in Miliwaukee, but he at times managed to speak no more than a whisper. His opening comments to the gathered crowd were, "I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose." From that point on the party was called the "Bull Moose" Party. Afterwards, doctors determined that he was not seriously wounded and that it would be more dangerous to attempt to remove the bullet than to leave it in his chest. Roosevelt carried it with him until the day he died.
Posted @ October 14, 2008 10:20 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Research Notes: William Ayers in "Fugitive Days" Part IV
Day one ---
I was just thinking of a line from the movie "Minority Report": Watch out chief, you go diggin up the past, and all you get is dirty!"
I have to say that before this exercise, I didn't really know that much about the Weatherman except for little bits of this and that. After spending about 6 hours crawling around in the debris they left behind, I wish I didn't know what I know now. I do feel a bit dirty for my efforts. Over the past few years since 9/11, I have always struggled to deal with one thing that has always dropped my morale every time I think about it. Its not that there are people in the world who want to see everything we have destroyed (and us along with it), that I can accept. In an odd way, I think its almost an honor to know that certain people can't stand the idea and ideals of America.
That's not what gets me down. What gets me down is that there are so many people here, who have lived in the US, people who have benefited from its strengths and values, that think the exact same thing. I find it so hard to accept that so many people right here at home make a fetish of destroying this country and the people in it. They live right next door, they go to school with me, work in the same place as me, only when they see the flag they don't get a jolt of pride, instead they feel the urge to spit at it.
To put my feelings on what I've read so far in clear terms; The Weatherman and their generational ilk simply make me sick to my stomach. To read this book and the parallel efforts gives me the same reaction that I get when I read about the people in "Berlin Diaries" or "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" People who saw evil and didn't just do nothing but actually took steps to help the evil occur, then justified it later under a crazy quilt of half truths and rationalizations. These are deranged people. They are sick and very sad. They live in a deep dark place that I cannot quite see into. They live in world that is populated by the cartoon like figures on the front of Communist propaganda leaflets, angry workers rising up, cold hearted capitalists enslaving the working man while trampling on his children. Imagine living in a world where those goofy puppets that are in each and every protest are real, and thats the world these folks live in, only the 20 foot tall statues of Bush with blood dripping down his teeth are actually real. The reality I live in is nowhere to be found in this book. Where I would look out at the horizon in the morning and see the Sunrise and I would see it for the miracle that it is, they would see only a source of skin cancer and a burden to the oppressed working man picking fruit while the greedy rancher whips them from his air conditioned truck while it sits there belching its industrial fumes.
Every sentence is a pronouncement of class, race or privilege and each motivation is one made of revenge or retribution. They want to excuse their violence behind the shield of some sense of vigilante street level justice but its just violence for hates sake. There is no rhyme or reason in their acts, no strategy beyond the shock of it, no real end to justify the bloody means. It seems that the more bloody the means, the better.
From what I can see, until they managed to kill themselves in one big "todo" in Greenwich, it was all great fun to them. It seems to have brought meaning to their lives as if to say that this all had more to do with establishing their own sense of self worth to their poor wounded upper class "daddy didn't love me" egos than it ever did with "changing the world".
I simply do not get these people.
Posted @ October 14, 2008 08:32 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Research Notes: WIlliam Ayers in 'Fugitive Days' - Part III
Here's an excellent review of the book "Fugitive Days",written on September 30th 2001.
The author of the review makes the case that Ayers is a "spinner of tales". To me, it will represent a stylistic marker for his writing that should show itself in either of the two Obama "autobiographies" in question.
snip:
"The story of Oughton's struggle is poignant, whether or not it's true. But elsewhere in ''Fugitive Days'' the task of choosing among the true, the near true and the untrue is frustrating. Ayers reminds us often that he can't tell everything without endangering people involved in the story. But his partial retelling reaches fraudulence when he writes, ''Everything was absolutely ideal on the day I bombed the Pentagon,'' then backs and fills, saying that he bombed it, not literally but metaphorically, as part of the Weathermen group in charge of the operation. He says that he needed to ''claim'' the explosion in order to write about it, and he adds later that he is not ashamed of any of the bombings and would not rule out planting another bomb someday; ''I can't imagine entirely dismissing the possibility.''
In Ayers's hands, a career in terrorism becomes a harmless episode out of a John le Carré novel, in which our hero lives on the run, steals explosives, sets off explosions using ''tradecraft,'' as the flap copy puts it -- as if the Weathermen were characters in ''Smiley's People.'' But the Weathermen game was never really a game. Nor was it ever noble, or even moral. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks that killed thousands of people in Lower Manhattan and the Pentagon, readers will find this playacting with violence very difficult to forgive. "
end snip.
Well, most of us would find it hard to forgive. Yet, the man who is potentially the next President of the United States seems to have found the task quite easy.
Posted @ October 14, 2008 08:14 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Research Notes: WIlliam Ayers in 'Fugitive Days' - Part II
Ayres has a brother, who is also an educator. How much you wanna bet he writes...
UPDATE: He writes for the Huffington Post.
Posted @ October 14, 2008 05:47 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Research Notes: WIlliam Ayers in 'Fugitive Days'
William Ayers had a girlfriend prior to his marriage to Bernadine Dohrn. Her name was Diana Oughton. So who was she? She was in the Greenwich Village Townhouse explosion. According to the forensics report, she was at the point of detonation for the explosion.
William Ayers volunteers the information that she had a fight with Bernadine Dohrn over the construction of the bombs. Dohrn wanted anti-personnel style weapons to be used by using roofing nails with the dynamite. Oughton wanted to stay with simple dynamite. Ayers suggests that it was Oughton who set off the bombs. How he would know this information is not discussed, we have to assume that Dorhn told him of the fight between herself and Oughton.
The target for the bomb was the NCO club at the US Army Base at Fort Dix.
The only survivors of the Weathermen who were at the site were Kathy Boudin and Cathlyn Wilkerson. Kathy Boudin went on to rob armored cars, and Cathlyn? She went to work training teachers in the New York School system.
UPDATE: It cant get any better than this, Bill Ayers speaks in a forum about the weatherman. Apparently, he hates Bush ( who knew!). Unfortunately the link shows me he has written more books that I will now have to read for the forensics exercise.
Gosh, He sure writes a lot, doesn't he?
Posted @ October 14, 2008 05:17 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Someone Save me from myself - PLEASE!
When I first heard the "psst- Obama didnt write his own book" conspiracy, I found it a little hard to accept. Then I read the Jack Cashill post that started it all and it got me thinking, but I still didn't think it was reasonable.
So, quite by accident I happened to hear Michael Medved interview the man himself.
This is most unfortunate because its going to screw my free time all to hell and I have precious little of it at the moment. Now, because of Jacks initial post and what I heard on the interview today, I am now going to devote the next three days to reading 4 books.
Fugitive Days - By Bill Ayers
Sing a Battle Song - Bernadine Dohrn
Dreams from My Father - Barack Obama
The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama
I'm looking for more examples, but those are a good start for the first 72 hours.
The "Cashill Postulate" is this:
That the most famous writing of Barack Obama, 'Dreams from My Father' does not follow the same literary language and style as any of his earlier writings. How does he determine this? Literary Forensics. Imagine reading a book that someone said was by Hemmingway, only every sentence was a run on sentence. Hemmingway is recognizeable by his crisp and economical use of words. Hemmingway writes sentences like "The night was hot" not "It was a sultry Jamaican evening on the evening tide as the sun dropped below the palms". By itself, this would say that Barack Obama used a ghostwriter, which is not really that big of a deal. What is a big deal is that Mr. Cashill proposes that the ghostwriter is none other than William Ayers himself. This is a problem for a candidate who once described Bill Ayers as "an old guy who lives down the street" and committed his crimes when he was only 8 years old.
This is a quick 72 hour exercise in "Literary Forensics" which will most likely do nothing but make me want to gouge my eyes out. I do not expect to do anything with this except satisfy my own curiosity. If it pans out, if my first level exam passes the 'smell test" then we shall proceed, I have already set aside some software to confirm my findings and let me assure you, it does work.
I will liveblog the experience just so we can share the pain. Yes, come here to varifrank for all your leftist literature needs.
Blech....
It should be no secret that I've learned to loathe politics this season. This exercise will probably cement that feeling in my mind. Fundamentally I find this whole election to be far less interesting than the 2004 contest because I think that the differences between the two are so incredibly stark that it simply could not be more clear. If you have a contest between a leftist and anyone else, to me, anyone else who is running who doesn't a felony on their record or a brain tumor in their head is probably a better choice than the leftist that's running.
To me, socialism has always been a game that is too expensive for anyone but the truly rich to be able to afford to play.
Posted @ October 13, 2008 04:06 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping
"Acquisitions that we have been looking at for some time may now be more attractive," Mr. Ellison said Friday at the software giant's annual meeting of stockholders. He added that he expects to target small-but-growing companies rather than large publicly traded ones.
I'm going to say this in the most heterosexual way I can possibly say it but I'm going to say it anyway. So here it goes:
I absolutely love this man.
You can whine and cry and talk about the "end of capitalism" if you want, Larry is going shopping while you sit around feeling sorry for yourself.
Posted @ October 10, 2008 12:04 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2) | TrackBack (1)
Say, about that autobiography....
An interesting thought on the authorship of "Dreams of my father".
You of course, do know there is software that you can use to determine authorship, right? Anyone out there want to be the "buckhead" of this election?
Posted @ October 09, 2008 08:33 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
The Fremen have awakened!
Sarah Palin - Carson City Nevada, October 4th 2008.
"And how can this be? For (s)he is the Kwisatz Haderach!" From Frank Herberts' Dune.
Posted @ October 04, 2008 08:14 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)
Ready to be President on day one?
Joe Biden went for a walk down memory lane last night, walking down to "Kaites Restaurant in Wilmington".
You know, that nice place right next to the Home Depot that Joe hangs out in.
Only its been closed for 20 years. Apparently he used to stop by when it was open, but again, that was 20 years ago.
Now, I'm absolutely sure that had McCain made such an error, it would be immediately overlooked as quaint(insert smirk here). Sadly, I think its my duty at this point to say that Joe is only a few years younger than McCain and you know what that means dont you? Sure you do...
Headline:
"Biden gaffes prove that McCain not capable of being President"
Ah. That is so easy!
Posted @ October 03, 2008 08:45 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
This Just In...
Tina Fey is doomed to play Sarah Palin for the next 4 years.
Posted @ October 02, 2008 08:32 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Fossett
Steve Fossetts plane has been found.
Reasonable Rational Questions that outstanding:
1. Was the engine running at the time of the crash?
2. Why was he traveling south from Barron Hilton's place? On his way to Mojave? Why didn't anyone know that was his plan, including anyone at Mojave?
3. ELT's are triggered when aircraft undergo G-loads. I know, I've set off my fair share of ELT's back when I was a student pilot( Let's just say that if Cessnas came with tailhooks, I would have perfected the 20ft. short field landing. I had a hell of a time with the concept of "flair" in landing. I just slammed the thing down on the numbers. My instructor cured me of this by making me fly along the runway at 10 feet, and then doing about 10 hours on short grass fields, so I got over my 'carrier landings'. ). So where was the ELT on this aircraft and what is its state? It's not impossible that it didn't go off, but why exactly?
4. Where is the body? My guess is its 6 feet buried into the mountainside or has been ingested by the wildlife in the area over the past year. The fact that the first thing detected of the crash site was his personal clothing items, seems to back up that hypothesis.
5. Why didn't they find the wreck at the time of the accident? Well, you have to know where to look. Without a flight plan and some idea where you were going, your search area is 360 degrees in every direction as far as the aircraft in question can fly. In rough numbers, lets say the Citabria can fly for about 5 hours at 100 mph. If you don't know what direction the pilot was flying and you are flying over the empty and untraveled terrain of the Owens valley, the High Sierra and western Nevada topography then there are literally thousands of square miles to search and in that area, you have to find something about the size of a king-size bedsheet, only the bed sheet has been ripped to shreds and buried partially by rocks and dirt. Remember, Aircraft that crash don't always look like aircraft when the crash, they end up looking like trash and theres a tremendous amount of trash and debris in that part of the world. Aircraft that hit the sides of mountains are usually covered with dirt and rocks as well, which helps to hide them from the eyes of search pilots. Oh, and Search pilots don't go flying up next to mountain tops in the eastern sierra unless they have a good reason to go look there, because, as you can see, its dangerous.
It's entirely likely that:
- Mr. Fossett died prior to the crash. This may shock non-pilots, but aircraft that are correctly trimmed by the pilot will fly without input from the pilot until something changes, like they run out of gas or, as it appears to be in this case, hit something hard. The most famous examples are the Payne Stewart accident, or the B-24 "Lady Be Good", both examples flew on for hundreds of miles without a pilot in command.
- Oxygen deprivation. He was at high altitude, I don't know if he was using any supplemental oxygen. If he was, there is a fair chance it didn't work. If he wasn't, then his physical state at the time is a prime suspect.
- He was caught in a phenomenon known as a mountain wave, or "rotor' which he was fighting at the time of the accident. I was in one of these off of Catalina Island once, it was the most frightening thing I've ever been in. For 15 minutes after we departed Catalina Airport, we were not so much an aircraft as we were simply a 'leaf in the wind'. We had absolutely no control over the aircraft. If we tried to go towards the ocean, the aircraft plummeted towards the sea, if we tried to turn towards the island, (Catalina is just is a big mountain sticking out of the ocean) it would climb like a banshee but not in a good way, it was climbing directly for the island, which being hard, was something we wanted to avoid. We just went flinging around the air like a swimmer inside the tube of a big wave in the ocean. The best we could do was to try to stay in the middle of the 'tube' which was not good, but it was better than the other two options. Once we crossed the south end of the island, it stopped as suddenly as it started. My friend, whom I was flying with that day( he was a 'Raven' in Vietnam ), said it was the most frightened he had ever been in a small plane. We actually watched the wings on the little Cessna 140 we were in - flex. When we departed Catalina Airport, There was no sign, no clouds, there was nothing to tell us that the wave was there.
- The most likely cause of the accident is that he simply flew into the side of the mountain. Its easier to do than you think, especially if you are a high time IFR pilot who is flying VFR. Overconfidence is a constant killer of pilots.
I'm not willing to entertain any crazy "Fossetts Still Alive" theories. Did he run away and is living his life on Tahiti? I honestly would love to think so, but I think Mr. Fossett met his end in the air over California and is buried on a mountainside.
I only hope that now that the wreck has been found that his family can find the peace they have been looking for.
Update: Steve has been found at the site, as expected. Rest In Peace, my friend.
Posted @ October 02, 2008 11:31 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Genius
Posted @ October 02, 2008 09:45 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Im having second thoughts
Not about Palin, but I am having second thoughts about this election. I used to think it was just important, but now I think its more like:
"Vote for McCain, before its too late"
In regards to Palin, I want you all to remember that they aren't laughing at her, they are laughing at you. McCain and Palin are nothing but proxies for the left to take out their rage at you for all that you have done to them( specifically not letting them have the power they so richly deserve). They really don't understand you, so what makes you think they are going to understand McCain or Palin?
How dare you even consider the idea that you can rule yourself, peasant...
These people don't just want to run the government, they want to run your life(ed: yeah, right inta da ground too...)
Posted @ October 01, 2008 12:35 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)