Voter Registration -- OHIO STYLE....

Today I was on an errand, and happened through Northern Lights Shopping Center off of North Cleveland Avenue in Columbus.

Today, October 6th, was the last day to register to vote in this year's General Election.

Two of the Center's major tenants are a Thrift store and a Liquor store, and being the first Monday of the month, there was quite the little steady stream of people heading into the "Likker Sto'" for their noon bag and lotto tics.

As I drove through the lot near the Liquor and Thrift stores in the Center, I noticed two cars at the curb and three people, volunteers of some sort, waylaying the people on the sidewalk in front of the liquor store and approaching cars that were driving past. They had clipboards, and were conducting what appeared to be a shuttle service, carting "prospective voters" to the registration and early absentee voting.

I noticed they were approaching every car that came near, so I drove around the lot and then coasted by really slow, my window rolled down and looking "interested". No luck. I did it again. Still no luck.

Then I noticed a couple of guys across the lot -- they had cameras and appeared to be documenting the scene.

Now, it's not against the law to talk to people outside of liquor stores -- AT 12:00 NOON on a MONDAY; but if you're looking for a certain type of prospective voter, then you're outside of a liquor store in a certain part of town at 12 Noon on a Monday. Right?

Right.

I'm a-bettin' they weren't Republican volunteers. Know what I mean?

The Fine Print Scam of the Debates....

The Candidates don't really want to hear the people's questions....

It's called The Memorandum of Understanding.

What a joke.

McCrazy and Obamamania don't want you to understand s**t!

Coming to grips with the Healthcare Crisis....

As a "Paleo-Conservative", Libertarian oriented American, this has been a tough one to deal with -- but I've done some research, and having recently come to grips with the inadequacies of our health care system, I've also had to come to grab hold of the fact that, in this instance, my economic ideals are trumped by belief in the righteousness of mercy, by logic and by need.

If Jesus healed the sick, should we not at least try to do likewise?

McCain is wrong on healthcare.

Simple.

If you ask the right questions.

The healthcare lobby, who wrote most of McCain's "health care program", pits the healthy, the young, and the wealthy against the poor in a Class War. And the poor cost us much more money.

Given the current economic facts, many more of us are soon to be poor. Which means that without some kind of national plan, many more of us will very soon be without healthcare.

The economic facts are CLEAR. As a nation, we would save money by enacting a one-payer, national healthcare system.

The Insurance Lobby will not let that happen.

And Obamamania is not much better. He's not in bed with the big business lobby as much as McCrazy, but his party is....

Replies to "Religulous"....

Bill Maher picks the easy targets throughout this heavily edited Moorer-like expedition into "Religion". I have not seen the movie -- just as I plan not seeing American Carol, but from what I've read, it is just an expedition into the ego of Bill Maher in the form of a very weak rant, unburdened by any actual intellectual exploration of world-views. Evidently, when anyone says anything remotely sensible, Maher takes the easy way out, using the magnetics of editing it until the compass points to his previously decided conclusions....

Here's the skinny:

"... At one point, he interviews a scientist who believes in God and sees nothing inconsistent with science and religious faith. This man is no hick, and it would have been nice to hear what he had to say. But Maher doesn't give him a chance to talk. Maher's not interested in talking."

Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle

“Maher can target Christians because, if they take their calling seriously, they will heed the words of Jesus, which include: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" -- or in this case "mock you". It would be helpful if Maher would expand his definition of religion a bit and discuss worldviews. I'm sure he has one and wonder if he would be willing to articulate it.

If not, some questions: How did we get here? What time is it (i.e. in history)? What is our purpose in life? What is the source of [his] truth? It sounds like he is judging religious people against some moral standard he expects them to recognize as valid. Great, he should tell them how he stumbled upon it or how it was revealed to him.

There are people (atheists and theists alike) who are taking this discussion much more seriously and demonstrating some intellectual rigor in the process.”

UnConstitutional Fleecing....

The UnConstitutional FLEECING of the American People continues....

Biden Wins Debate, Palin Wins "Most Improved"....

Some fact-checking on the debate. As usual, the candidates lied about or distorted a number of things.

Amazing the difference between the way the Con and Lib blogs are spinning this. Each one saw a different debate and very few of them seem to have actually heard the answers (or, in most cases, the non-answers).

I wish there was a way to actually get candidates to answer important questions… so here's Palin's Debate Flow Chart.

Candidates very often ignore a question they don't want to answer and go about espousing whatever line of tortured reasoning gives them an out and they think makes points with the viewers. It's a common debate tactic. However, few have ever done what Palin did by announcing: “I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you (Biden) want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people.” In other words, silly debate rules don’t apply to me, even though the McCain-Palin campaign negotiated and signed off on those rules.

This "folksy" speech crap has gone too far.

I'm sick and tired of both of them (especially Palin) droppin' the G off of everythinG. I get why she does it -- evidently she's goin' fer what someone is telling her is the countrified/illiterate vote, but why does Biden have to match her? Brings both of them down in my eyes (Biden didn't have far to fall anyway.).

Palin narrowly lost the 1st 3rd, won the 2nd (Energy) and massively lost the last third. But then I was actually listenin' to what was actually said.

She avoided most of the questions. To be fair, Biden avoided them when it was convenient, but he won point by point. Some of her answers were not even in the same Galaxy in relation to the questions, while he was on point almost across the board.

Funny quote from Reason Mag's blog: “I think it was clear that Palin rolled up her sleeves, went a-rufflin' some feathers, winked a few times, was a maverick somethin’ somethin’ and is not from the East Coast. That's good enough for me to think she can handle the job.”

I do think it’s clear that everybody loves Israel. Except that both candidates were talking to Christian Zionists – not Jews.

The upshot is that Biden won the debate, and Palin won the "most improved" award, simply because expectations for her were (and rightly so) soooo low.

Ifill did a terrible job. She didn't make them ANSWER. Probably the debate format and her revealed book deal had something to do with it. Still, she was not an aggressive questioner at all.

I'm sick to my stomach listening to the various spin-meisters doing their fact-avoidance. The obvious is that our “News” providers are becoming more polarized. Each is a functional non-stop press-release of a particular party. Nobody "reports" anymore. They just spin, and spin, and spin, and spin, and....

Palin/Biden Debate....

I've decided to ignore the economy and concentrate on something a little more fun: The Heart-beat Away Debate, or McCain's "Damn. I should have picked Christine Todd Whitman." moment.

Re.: Hard questions for candidates: "Why should a politician/candidate for high office have an easier time of it than a Doctoral candidate during the oral portion of an examination?"

I say "put 'em ALL on the grill", and not just for an hour debate, either. I'm talkin' serious, hard questions asked in front of the American people, complete with instant fact-checking of the answers -- on TV.

But we all know that could never be allowed -- at least by the American people, who would immediately get bored and flip to reruns of American Idol.

On the VP debate, I've changed my mind. No prediction here. I have no idea whether Palin will be able to handle the pressure.

The most important thing is that Gwen Ifill will decide the questions and I believe that very few of them will be what is expected. The questions will be calculated to highlight any unpreparedness of either candidate -- and give them rope to hang with....

I'm a-bettin' that while the candidates are prepping for the debate, Ifill is cribbing up on foreign policy questions. (Who's the Pakistani Assitant Minister of Defense?)

"... If you want to start your watch, it's 49 and a half hours before Gwen Ifill is accused of sexism and bias against moose-hunters."

Of course, Palin's team knows that, and they will try very hard to ready her. She may be a quick study. Or not.

Will be interesting.

Why McCain Will Lose....

The indictment of the Republican Party.

It no longer knows what it believes.

It no longer knows what is important.

"Credit Crunch" -- Who's to blame?

Will history remember that Bush tried to fix it in 2003?

Via Jack Of All Trades blog, by Master Of None.

From the N.Y. Times Sept 2003:

“The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago. Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry. ”

But, Democrats didn’t see the need:

‘’These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'’ said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ‘’The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing. Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed. ‘’ ”

Anyone who asked for regulation that kept banks from lending to people who couldn't afford houses were accused (by Democrats -- look up the history of the "Community Reinvestment Act") of racism. As if a computer and a credit history could tell skin color or country of origin. Thus, these bad bets infected other good loans through "bundling" in an effort to limit risk.

This crisis has been brewing since the Carter administration, and was propelled by loosening reigns during the Clinton years.

The Democrats, for the most part ARE to blame for this mess.

BUT, why would anybody believe The President when he crys wolf? He has been wrong on practically everything else.

One last note, from poster "Paul" at Reason Mag.Blog:

"The only 'credit crunch' that exists- and even that is being generous to the 'credit crunchers' is interbank lending. Anyone with decent credit can still get a loan, just like you could yesterday, a month ago, two years ago. Banks are still lending-- and some bank managers have gone to the media saying as much. However, they have been drowned out by the din of "credit crunch!". In fact, I'm thinking that the words "Credit Crunch!" can now finally replace "9-11!".

There has been a slow-down in interbank lending-- tightening of terms, shortening of timelines, etc. This, however is probably a necessary correction, and allows the market to adjust to new lending mechanisms. The fact that the market is acting cautiously is precisely why the market is working like a well-oiled clock."

"... We should all look especially askance at the hurry-up offense coming out of the White House, the Congress, and the media. Bush is desperate for a legacy that doesn't involve quagmires and broken bodies; Congress is trying to give voters some goodies; both McCain and Obama want to show that they can lead, dammit, and please all the people all the time. And the press is desperate for copy and for change."

And so, we "mortgage" the future. Or, in reality, which DC doesn't deal in, we flush it....

Italy, circa: 1933....

(Update: Well, it went down BIG. Wonder what TPTBs will try next?)

Trying to handle the crisis, the Fascist government nationalized the holdings of large banks which had accrued significant industrial securities.

The government also issued new securities to provide a source of credit for the banks and began enlisting the help of various cartels that had been created by Italian business leaders since 1922.

The government offered recognition and support to these organizations in exchange for promises that they would manipulate prices in accordance with government priorities.

A number of mixed entities were formed, called instituti or enti nazionali, whose purpose it was to bring together representatives of the government and of the major businesses.

These representatives discussed economic policy and manipulated prices and wages so as to satisfy both the wishes of the government and the wishes of business.

The government considered this arrangement to be a success, and Italian Fascists soon began to pride themselves on this outcome, saying they had survived the Great Depression without infringing on private property.

Banking also came under extraordinary control. As Italy’s industrial and banking system sank under the weight of depression and regulation, and as unemployment rose, the government set up public works programs and took control over decisions about building and expanding factories.

The government created the Istituto Mobiliare in 1931 to control credit, and the IRI later acquired all shares held by banks in industrial, agricultural, and real estate enterprises.

Oh NO!!!! "Bush Confident Bailout Will Work"....

Talk about pounding nails in a coffin and spelling out doom.

This man has been so wrong about so many things, that this confidence spells the death-knell for something that I am sure won't work anyway....

"Ultimately, all the bad banks out there that are insolvent will not be saved. They will be taken under in one form or another. This "bailout" is really nothing more than a stalling tactic that puts the day of reckoning for some banks to the future by 1-24 months."

On this connected note: Bush has not only been wrong about most things, he has been flat caught-out on so many lies that the only credibility he has is with people who's world-life view rests on their ends justifying his means.

Dodd Screws the Taxpayers Again....

From The Volokh Conspiracy:

From Crony Capitalism to Crony Community Organizing: "Profit” Loophole in Bailout Bill Doesn’t Require Net Profits.

Much of the blogosphere is up in arms because of the provision in Senator Dodd’s financial bailout bill that might funnel profits from the bailout plan to ACORN Housing (related to the disreputable activist group ACORN), and other more reputable service organizations.

I have read Dodd’s proposed statute and in some respects, it is far worse than has been reported. Senator Dodd has placed a loophole in the bill that is explicitly designed to siphon off tens or hundreds of billions of dollars to the Housing Trust Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund even if there are no net profits in the $700 billion venture.

Here is the provision that has already been widely noted:

d) TRANSFER OF A PERCENTAGE OF PROFITS.-
(1) DEPOSITS.-Not less than 20 percent of any profit realized on the sale of each troubled asset purchased under this Act shall be deposited as provided in paragraph (2).
(2) USE OF DEPOSITS.-Of the amount referred to in paragraph (1)-
(A) 65 percent shall be deposited into the Housing Trust Fund established under section 1338 of the Federal Housing Enterprises Regulatory Reform Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 4568); and
(B) 35 percent shall be deposited into the Capital Magnet Fund established under section 1339 of that Act (12 U.S.C. 4569).
(3) REMAINDER DEPOSITED IN THE TREASURY.-All amounts remaining after payments under paragraph (1) shall be paid into the General Fund of the Treasury for reduction of the public debt.

The biggest problem here is that the 20% is not taken from net profits, but rather from any profit in the sale of each and every individual troubled asset.

For example, assume that the new Agency buys three troubled assets for $1 million each. One is sold for $2 million, while the other two are sold for $300,000. Thus, $3 million in investments are sold for $2.6 million, representing a $400,000 loss.

But Senator Dodd’s bill does not provide for losses to offset gains: “Not less than 20 percent of any profit realized on the sale of each troubled asset” must be given to the two housing funds, so $200,000 of the $1 million profit on the one asset that made a profit must be siphoned off to the housing funds, despite the $400,000 net loss on the three deals taken together.

As an analogy, imagine a regular trader of stocks who takes lots of hedged positions and had net losses of 25% this year, but couldn’t offset his gains with his losses, instead having to pay 15% income taxes only on his gains.

How much might be siphoned off under the Dodd bill? It all depends on how long the new credit Agency is in force, how often it turns over its portfolio, and how variable its returns are.

If the agency is in force for 4 years and turns over its portfolio every two months, then it would generate about $15 trillion in sales overall (650 billion x 6 x 4 = 15.6 trillion).
Let’s assume that $7 trillion of sales generate a profit of $2 trillion and $8 trillion of sales generate a loss of $2.1 trillion, leaving a net loss of about $100 billion.

With a net loss, one might think that nothing would be funneled to the housing funds for service organizations, but that is not what the statute says or means. One looks only at the sales generating gains to determine the size of the payments to the housing funds. With $2 trillion in profits and $2.1 trillion in losses, the housing funds nonetheless get $400 billion dollars in “profits.” (This is over 40% of a typical year’s US total federal income tax receipts.) And that is the result if only 20% of "profits" are skimmed; the statute puts no upper limit on the skimming, so long as they come from profits (not net profits). Theoretically, the new Agency could potentially siphon off $2 trillion to the two housing funds, more than its $700 billion portfolio limit.

400 billion dollars may be a high estimate for the housing fund payments, but if they turn out to be only a tenth as large ($40 billion), they would still be huge. To reduce this massive skimming required by the Dodd statute, the new government Agency would have the incentive to engage in fewer transactions and do less to create a public market for troubled assets, thus significantly undercutting the chance that the bailout will work.

I was mildly in favor of the bailout until I read Dodd's proposed statute. The way that the statute is drafted is so tricky and its definition of profit is so unsophisticated and nonsensical that the statute smells more of graft than of an honest attempt to solve the financial crisis. We are moving from failed "crony capitalism" to failed "crony community organizing."
Other posts will deal with other provisions in the Dodd bill and whether ACORN Housing will actually apply for any funding.

Incentive Problems in the Dodd Bailout Bill.

Chasing Bad Money....

Talk about chasing a bet and throwing bad money after bad....

What caused it, you ask? Well, HERE you go.

The Dems want to add 56 Billion in add-ons to the Bailout, part of which is to "save" the US car industry.

Our whole economy is an empty movie set facade propped up by Monopoly money. We just can't be competitive, can we?

From "Capitalist Pig": You know how you can avoid systemic meltdown? Let the market break up into less centralised centres of organisation and capital as it wants to. The message from the free market is clear - it demands a more decentralised structure that can adapt and is more resilient to the rapid changes of the modern economy, where only parts suffer when a crisis/build up of mistakes hit and the whole system is never in threat. The idea of “Too big to fail” (bailouts and more regulations that concetrate power) would be turned into “Too big not to fail”, if we were really to heed the message of Mr Market.

"We Have Met the Enemy". Ron Paul on the "Bail-out"....

... and he is us.

I'm posting this in entirety. Sanity will not prevail, but the I Told You So needs to be on record.

Ron Paul: This man deserves to be President, BUT we get what we deserve; an ineffectual McCrazy or a drowning Obamamania.

So, without further ado: Congressman RON PAUL.

Many Americans today are asking themselves how the economy got to be in such a bad spot.

For years they thought the economy was booming, growth was up, job numbers and productivity were increasing. Yet now we find ourselves in what is shaping up to be one of the most severe economic downturns since the Great Depression.

Unfortunately, the government's preferred solution to the crisis is the very thing that got us into this mess in the first place: government intervention.

Ever since the 1930s, the federal government has involved itself deeply in housing policy and developed numerous programs to encourage homebuilding and homeownership.

Government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were able to obtain a monopoly position in the mortgage market, especially the mortgage-backed securities market, because of the advantages bestowed upon them by the federal government.Laws passed by Congress such as the Community Reinvestment Act required banks to make loans to previously underserved segments of their communities, thus forcing banks to lend to people who normally would be rejected as bad credit risks.

These governmental measures, combined with the Federal Reserve's loose monetary policy, led to an unsustainable housing boom. The key measure by which the Fed caused this boom was through the manipulation of interest rates, and the open market operations that accompany this lowering.

When interest rates are lowered to below what the market rate would normally be, as the Federal Reserve has done numerous times throughout this decade, it becomes much cheaper to borrow money. Longer-term and more capital-intensive projects, projects that would be unprofitable at a high interest rate, suddenly become profitable.

Because the boom comes about from an increase in the supply of money and not from demand from consumers, the result is malinvestment, a misallocation of resources into sectors in which there is insufficient demand.

In this case, this manifested itself in overbuilding in real estate. When builders realize they have overbuilt and have too many houses to sell, too many apartments to rent, or too much commercial real estate to lease, they seek to recoup as much of their money as possible, even if it means lowering prices drastically.

This lowering of prices brings the economy back into balance, equalizing supply and demand. This economic adjustment means, however that there are some winners -- in this case, those who can again find affordable housing without the need for creative mortgage products, and some losers -- builders and other sectors connected to real estate that suffer setbacks.

The government doesn't like this, however, and undertakes measures to keep prices artificially inflated. This was why the Great Depression was as long and drawn out in this country as it was.

I am afraid that policymakers today have not learned the lesson that prices must adjust to economic reality. The bailout of Fannie and Freddie, the purchase of AIG, and the latest multi-hundred billion dollar Treasury scheme all have one thing in common: They seek to prevent the liquidation of bad debt and worthless assets at market prices, and instead try to prop up those markets and keep those assets trading at prices far in excess of what any buyer would be willing to pay.

Additionally, the government's actions encourage moral hazard of the worst sort. Now that the precedent has been set, the likelihood of financial institutions to engage in riskier investment schemes is increased, because they now know that an investment position so overextended as to threaten the stability of the financial system will result in a government bailout and purchase of worthless, illiquid assets.

Using trillions of dollars of taxpayer money to purchase illusory short-term security, the government is actually ensuring even greater instability in the financial system in the long term.

The solution to the problem is to end government meddling in the market. Government intervention leads to distortions in the market, and government reacts to each distortion by enacting new laws and regulations, which create their own distortions, and so on ad infinitum.

It is time this process is put to an end. But the government cannot just sit back idly and let the bust occur. It must actively roll back stifling laws and regulations that allowed the boom to form in the first place.

The government must divorce itself of the albatross of Fannie and Freddie, balance and drastically decrease the size of the federal budget, and reduce onerous regulations on banks and credit unions that lead to structural rigidity in the financial sector.
Until the big-government apologists realize the error of their ways, and until vocal free-market advocates act in a manner which buttresses their rhetoric, I am afraid we are headed for a rough ride.

The End of Empire is in sight....

The beginning of the middle of the end of Empire.

Rome is Burning. Wright was right.

I feel like Hari Seldon.

"Of course our financial systems being based on confidence and greed are doomed to fail at some point. The only question is, is that time now?" - buckblog


Now to the 2nd, and connected, part of this post:

We are failing on two major fronts, A war that we will lose long-term, and financial system crisis. All empires fall.

I am an American. I love my country. I just don't love her Imperial Ways.

"... Standing in the pulpit of his church, Dr. Jeremiah Wright spoke of his country and what he said shocked almost everyone who saw it. Wright described America as a nation where racism and exploitation run rampant. He claimed that ours is a ruthless, corrupt regime that oppresses at home and terrorizes abroad. Sermonizing just five days after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Jeremiah Wright said:

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and The Pentagon, and we never batted an eye... and now we are indignant, because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

In a sermon two years later, Wright said that our "government lied in its founding documents and the government is still lying today." He then concluded:

"God damn America! -- that's in the Bible -- for killing innocent people! God damn America, for treating our citizens as less than human! God damn America as long as she tries to act like she is God, and she is supreme!"

He then said of Barak Obama:

"Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls. Preachers say what they say because they're pastors. . . . I do what pastors do; he does what politicians do."

..." (End of quote. Source: Reason Magazine Online.)

So you tell me, where is this man lying? I guarantee you, both McCain and Obama are lying to you. This man, whether he meant it or not and for questionable reasons or not, is saying the truth.

We excuse almost everything our government does by exclaiming "This is the BEST nation on earth." "We are so blessed to live here." Well here's some news: Manifest Destiny don't get it! And you people who believe in that "destiny" don't get it. And believe you me, best on earth doesn't mean anything to a perfect and righteous God.

Who can say from Rev. Wright's reasons or goals, but what he literally said was accurate.

Recommended Reading

Here is a list of some books that I, in my not-so-infinite wisdom, think that YOU NEED TO READ.

Currently:

Shadow World: Resurgent Russia, The Global New Left, and Radical Islam", by Robert Chandler

The Limits of Power - The End of American Exceptionalism, by Andrew Bacevich

The Latino Education Crisis: The Consequences of Failed Social Policies

http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trsorbonnespeech.html

For ALL Time:

Anything and everything by C.S. Lewis

The Bible, particularly the NIV.

David Foster Wallace: February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008

David Foster Wallace.

We only get a couple of these guys every generation.

What a shame.


The best commencement speech ever.

There Has Got To Be A Mourning After....

A note on Buckeye (Ohio State, remember them?) football:

If I did not have a wonderful family and a fairly interesting life, I would be speaking to you from a very dark place.

So... from a very dark place (Just kidding. Kinda.), here are the things, in no particular order (Does it really matter?), the OSU coaching staff needs to do to remain a national laughing stock:

10- Recruit more Large, Slow Guys.
9- Play at least five MAC teams every year (And, yes, I can count, but this includes the ones already in the "Big-10".).
8- Outlaw face-painting, except when using Max Factor.
7- Make very sure that our “kids” are polite, well-mannered, and scared to death to make any mistakes. (This assures the proper resulting game-day behavior of tentative fear.)
6- Give the coach a $3 million raise every year, as long as we beat Michigan.
5- Stay in the Bubble of the Mid-west forever by making sure that the next scheduled coast road game is Rutgers, in 2015.
4- If a play develops “way-too-slow”, practice to make it slower. (See #1 -- Ah, the old "Power-O".)
3- As a coach, never show any emotion other than disappointment, despair and disgust. That way the kids get used to it.
2- Practice your after-game speech. Seed it with various cliche that cancel each other out. This will prepare you for your next job. You’ll need it to handle the economy. Yes, that’s it: your next hopeless gig is head of the Federal Reserve.
1- Make sure you network with Charlie Weiss and Rich Rodriguez. You are going to need their advice.

Addendum:
"I don't know that we did the best we could do, but I think we fought extremely well," Tressel said. "USC has got a fine team and is going to obviously be a team to be reckoned with."

Hey, how about "We got our asses kicked way back to nowhere". Or, "I am so ** pissed. I am angry and I will make sure this doesn't happen again, or you can ** dock my pay.

Sadly, that isn't going to happen, but instead, platitudes will abound....

Palin is getting to the Left....

I thought that most people have already made up their minds, but the Left's over-reactionary sexest condemnation of Palin may actually cost them votes....

“Ms.” Cintra Wilson wrote a piece in Salon Magazine that is the so sexist and misogynistic that I choose to not link it.

But, I feel the need to mention it as the most despicable piece of political clap-trap and pseudo-psychological bullshit that I have ever read.

She makes Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin look "reasonable".

She wins the "worst-human-being award". And I think she has a good chance to hold onto it for awhile....

Here's an excellent fisking of Wilson's attack from Neo-Neocon.

Here's a link to Michelle Malkin's blog entries on the Charlie Gibson "interview".

Regarding Wilson, one poster said:
"... Why is it I get the feeling little Trig Palin, not "feminism," is really at the heart of this rant? After all, Palin has managed to "have it all" and STILL have a "special needs" child instead of making the "politically correct" decision of having an abortion."

The "Polls" have no idea....

As an honest-to-goodness Libertarian, I can and have to say this:

To quote a really awful 80’s song, most ‘pubs are “fooling yourselves”.

As it stands right now, with all the new voters, I am betting an actual Demo lead of somewhere around 10 pts overall and 4-5 points in several key swing-states.

My contention is that the only hope ‘pubs have is that the Dems do not get their voters to the polls…. Of course, as it is Pew, and if you are a 'pub Faithful-Foxer, then you can do your normal thing and discount the messenger, but if the research is right, then there has been a -10 and +4 shift in swing states.

Apart from this whole swing-state shift, the race card will play a big part in the Independent turn-out, and I think it will generate more in both rural and urban areas, with urban winning the numbers battle.

The Demo turnout will be the highest in (recent) history. As it gets closer, they will actually USE the polling for certain states (KY, WVa., Alabama, etc…) to pump up the base and get ‘em up and move 'em out, wooahhhh doggies.

One of my points is that Demos will use the perceived (and in some cases obviously real — see Dem voters in KY and WVa who will never vote for a black man and either stay home or cross over - more likely staying home) racial bias in some areas to pump up the vote in their strongholds and the swing states.

I think that the current polls are inaccurate, and the reality is that Dems lead by a fairly large margin in the popular vote that will result in a smaller but almost insurmountable edge in the swing states and thus the E.C.

Whether it is “swift-boating” or real fact-finding, ‘pubs need some startling revelation that prompts a huge opinion swing -- and I don't see McCrazy doing that well in the debates.

Free cigs and beer will NOT be needed this time (not that there won't be any along with the free bus rides to the polls).

Unless things change radically (like really, man…), Obamaniacs will win big -- and tha's a fac' Jack, unless all you're a-listenin' to is Faux “News” — something that bothers me, until I remember that McCrazy is almost a Democrat, whether or not you don’t believe it….

The Hypocrisy Shotgun Rant... Palin-Obama-McCain. Updated.

Given the Sarah Palin/Obama/Rev.Wright/McCain/Special Interest topics in 'da News, I opted for the easy out on this one, with a redux:


The Hypocrisy Shotgun Rant (Where I take inaccurate aim at Society in general. This was originally written in response to a book review of "In Defense of Hypocrisy", by Jeremy Lott.)


Cliché = truth. Glass houses, two wrongs don’t, actions speak louder, etc....

You can spin anything, if you can afford a good writer and have an audience (check out any Faux News program) that wants or needs to believe you.

Hypocrisy is word thrown about a lot, with all the descretion of landmine explosions and accuracy of North Korean missles.

Actions do speak louder, which is why anyone who wants to lecture should be held to example. However, sometimes well-meaning folk with high morals who should be talking about the issues are afraid to speak up, simply because of the intense scrutiny anyone undergoes who takes any kind of public stand. If they have ever made any missteps, have even the skinniest skeleton in the closet, they will be accused of hypocrisy. So, relativism reigns, Jerry Springer becomes the (lack of) national conscience, the Carlyle Group runs the nation, Ann Coulter becomes the voice of reason (ok, reaching a bit there) and passing lies off as political spin becomes the norm. Something to fight and die for. But maybe only after lookin' at the alternatives.

There’s always room for another accusation of personal "hypocrisy", but few people want to talk about "sin nature", which is really where it all starts. But if the only people who can call us to account are those that have no visible or obvious faults, then there won’t be any call. At least not until it’s too late.

Is it hypocrisy to hold your Pastor, Priest, President, Rabbi, Imam, or even your favorite “talking head” (or candidates for President and Vice President) to standards you don't apply to your own life? Definitely. Is it hypocrisy on their part to dare to occupy positions where they expound or direct or lead in word but possibly not in practice? You betcha. Gonna market a t-shirt that says “Hypocrisy = Human”. Should sell. Won’t.

Is tolerating hypocrisy (whether it’s “little white lies” or big, fat, global-effecting whoppers) just the same as endorsing the back room, good ol' boy, business as usual, need to know practices that mark practically every “necessary evil”, end justifying use of power and human rights violation in the history of man?

Seems to me that there’s a humanity-wide referendum in favor of white lies -- and whoppers. So we get what we voted for. Either way.

Do I care whether Rush is tumescent (Them thar little blue pills are evidently a dirtier secret than "momma's little yeller pills".) as well as "right”? Not really. But I do care to know that Enron execs have been one of the largest group of contributors to our President over his political life, and that the past head of the DNC recieved and sold stocks worth who-knows-what from Global Crossing before their crash, which ended up hurting many more investors and causing much more long-term damage than the Enron collapse.

Do I care that John McCain has changed positions like he was editing a new version of The Karma Sutra? Or that Obama's speeches and declarations are filled with exaggerations and "little white lies"?

Sure, I do.

I care that the Mays family (Woo-Hoo, from Texas), who basically own Clear Channel Communications (where a lot of you lemmings get your talking head fix), run a successful deregulation PAC (to which all their employees must donate) and give huge amounts of money to elected officials who effectively decide how many sources of news you get.

When a man who preaches morals to the rest of the nation on a radio show loses hundreds of thousands of dollars gambling, should that not be public? Sure, and here's why: It wasn’t hypocrisy until he got paid to soap-box.

If pedophile priests are put on trial by a blowhard news reader (O'Reilly) who turns out to be an office predator, shouldn't you know about both? After all, they’re out lookin’ for little boys and he’s "lookin’ out for you".

Is hypocrisy a problem? Should you care? Is there a right way and a wrong way and not just expediency? Of course there is.

But it's too hard.

Anything it takes! -- McCain's Recent position changes....

Reason Magazine has the documentation.

As a Real Conservative, the more research I put into John McCain, the LESS I like this.

He has changed his position on so many important issues, and flat-out prevaricated on others, that I won't be surprised if he is chosen to edit the new version of The Karma Sutra.

IF the rumor is true....

And I said IF...

The Palin pick will be withdrawn, and McCrazy will look, well, INSANE.

Talk about NOT vetting....

My prediction for McCrazy's Veep....

Update: Probably Palin. A private jet into Cinci/Dayton area: "A Gulfstream IV from Anchorage, Alaska, flew into Middletown Regional Airport in Butler County near Cincinnati about 10:15 p.m. Thursday, said Rich Bevis, airport manager. He said several people came off the plane, including a woman and two teens, but there was no confirmation of who was aboard."

Looks like I was wrong, again. Good choice.

Still, the only two candidates left on the main page on InTrade, are Palin and my guess, Tom Ridge.
---------------------------------------------
Fer better or worse, ya heard it here first:

Tom Ridge.


Although I really would like to see Palin. Or Kasich.

Pawlenty is blah.

Crist is better, but still pretty blah.

KBH is risky and they don't like each other.

Leiberman is insane, but hey, this is McCrazy here.

If he picks Romney, his butt is toast. The un-likeablity factor there, will be insurmountable.

To edit this a little, I forgot my favorite candidate/TV preacher/Governor: Mike Huckabee.

The Huckster would be a breath of fresh air, bring crunchy-Cons into the fold, and be an enormous treat during the debates.

He hasn't got a prayer.

Too bad.

Demo Convention stage -- a BAD fashion choice....

Dateline: The "Heartland"....

Well, looking at the stage design for tonight’s Demo Convention finale, I can’t decide whether it’s an old set from the TV Star Trek, or something they borrowed from The Scientology Convention.

I keep expecting David Miscavige, Tommy Cruise and Spock to walk out with Obamamania to the worship of an adoring crowd of blue-staters.

Maybe Nancy Pelosi can find a “virgin” - or at least an intern - somewhere in her delegation that they can sacrifice.

The Only King -- A repost from Old Hop's Hideout....

I will be voting -- I'll be voting for Ron Paul. And, there are several local issues that need my attention as well. Local politics, at least partially, still work. But this is a worthwhile post....


The Only King

Let all those that seek thee be joyful and glad in thee; and let such as love thy salvation, say always, the LORD be praised. As for me, I am poor and needy; but the Lord careth for me. – Psalm 40:19-20

John Taylor of Caroline County, Virginia (1753-1824) was a political prophet. The historian William Appleman Williams said Taylor, “made the best case against empire as a way of life.” Taylor knew where collusion between elected government, central bankers and businessmen would lead. He had witnessed what had happened in England with its perpetual wars and overreaching colonization. He hoped the several American states would choose the quiet path of small commerce and local farming.

Empires are predicated on “creative destruction.” Their health depends on expansion which hinges on internal improvements, growth, and managed trade, all of which are debt-funded – the hidden tax from which some privileged enterprises profit. People follow their leaders. Americans are debtors as their government is in debt – just as the British fell into debt. This is empire as a way of life.

The Christian may find himself impoverished, but he possesses an inner joy that no man or government can take from him. He submits to the powers that be at every level and renders tribute as due; but his confidence ultimately is not in those earthly powers. He has no king but Jesus.

American Christians live in an empire whose leaders are populist demagogues. They are inundated by the same slick marketing techniques that sucker millions of unregenerate voters. Government is the messiah. Listen to the evening news: three quarters of the stories involve issues related to some government problem or proposed government solution. We are saturated with the notion that government ought to do something. This is empire as a way of life.

In John Taylor’s day there was no such thing as sacrosanct universal suffrage. Wise men once knew that great numbers of the populace did not have the understanding of competing philosophies to cast wise votes. A high school diploma or a baccalaureate degree does not a responsible citizen make. We Americans are generally well-trained but not all are well-educated. We vote for the best-looking and the most eloquent with the most promises.If ever there was a time in the nation’s history that people ought not to vote – especially Christians – that time is now. Taylor Somers wrote,

"...spend your time on election day doing something creative, productive, and useful, instead of wasting time at the ballot box. Paint a picture, write poetry, compose a song, learn economics or philosophy or literature; it’ll do so much more good than voting [which] thereby legitimizes the jokers who see fit to rule our lives."

We are not between the devil and the deep blue sea. Refusing to participate in media-rigged elections is not the shirking of one’s sacred civic responsibility – it is rather an eloquent protest. As Neil Peart wrote, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”For the Christian we might add to Somers’ list praying, worshiping, studying the Scriptures, and doing simple kindnesses for family, friends and neighbors. The choice is for community over empire; for King Jesus over of the latest, media-manufactured messiah.

If John Taylor were with us today he would no doubt agree.

McCain's VP pick process....

I can see it now:

Dick Cheney, head of McCrazy's VP search, has emerged as the leading candidate.

Love and Loved Ones....

"This is how God's love was revealed among us: God sent his unique Son into the world so that we might live through him." -- I John, 4:9

Loved Ones, may you experience the Love of God and His Salvation through belief in Jesus, the Unique and Only Begotten Son of God, who shed His Blood for you, died on the Cross and rose again so that you may be Saved.

I pray always that we will meet in heaven.

Goodbye and hello as always.

Name Above All Names....

I was recently having a public conversation with four intelligent, educated people when the subject of Religion and it's influence in society came up.

It was a round-a-bout conversation, short sentences and even shorter opinions. Several Religions were mentioned: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and especially the various forms, both main-stream and fringe, of Protestantism.

At different times throughout the conversation the names Allah and Buddha were mentioned. I mentioned the name "Jesus", in a normal conversational voice, and volunteered that what I meant by "Christian" was that I believed that Jesus Christ had died for my sins, and that by accepting his gift of Salvation I believed that I had been given, though His Grace, eternal life.

All four people visibly flinched at the name "Jesus" -- before I mentioned my belief. The conversation quickly changed subject and soon ended.

I wonder what causes that? Guilt? Fear?

These people are my friends, but I have the feeling that if any one of them had to choose between having eternal life through the Grace of God in His Son Jesus and eternal death, they would and will choose death.

I was so sad.

Here's an article that explains the way that I feel and what I believe.

Name Above All Names - by Karen Hancock

Before I was saved, I didn't like to talk about Jesus. A believer friend recalled to me later our conversations about evolution and the Bible, and how the discussion would roll easily along until the moment he mentioned the name of Jesus Christ. Then I would close like a teapot lid slamming shut. He was right. I can still remember how uncomfortable it made me to speak or hear that name. Jesus Christ. No! I don't want to hear about Him. Let's talk about something else.

What is it about that name that it carries such power? It's okay to mention God, or Allah or Mohammed or Buddha -- but Jesus Christ makes people squirm, makes them want to mock and laugh, or get angry or talk of something else. And is there any other name quite so commonly used as an epithet? Did you ever wonder why?

Perhaps because His enemy has made such widespread attempt to belittle it, to degrade it, to make it seem like something silly, or stupid, something only the ignorant or the weak or the gullible are interested in. But maybe also because the name draws your thoughts to the person, and the person has a claim upon your life. The Bible tells us that God has placed the desire for eternal things in the heart of every man, and that in the end, every knee shall bow to the King of Kings. I believe that all of history revolves around this one Man, and that on some deep level, everyone knows it, either to embrace Him or reject Him.

So what do you think about Him? Just who do you think He is?

A famous historical personage? A good teacher? A Jewish holy man?

According to the Bible, we have all fallen short of God's righteousness. Few would argue that, for we all know our own failings. None of us is perfect. Except for God. And someone who is perfectly righteous can not fellowship with someone who is not. Like light and dark or gravity and anti-gravity, they cannot be together. If righteousness were to accept unrighteousness, it would no longer be righteousness. If justice were to accept injustice, it would no longer be justice.

But God loves us. He loved us in eternity past when he looked down the corridors of time and knew we would be sinners in need of deliverance from the darkness in which we dwelt. And so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, Lord General of the Armies of Heaven, ruler of stars and angels alike – to do something about it. And Jesus agreed to go, giving up the splendor and majesty and power of His divinity in the process. From His love and by His own choice, He became a man, experiencing the limitations and weaknesses of human flesh, and receiving the rejection, mockery and hatred of those He came to save. He allowed mere men to seize Him and beat Him and nail Him to a cross, though He could have taken the life of every one of His tormentors with a word. Instead He chose to allow the mistreatment, so that on the cross he could be judged for the sins of the world. Every sin that every person would ever commit, past, present and future. He took the punishment that each of us deserved.

Did you know that He thought about you, personally, when He decided to go to the cross? Did you know that He thought about you personally when He hung there and screamed as your sins were poured upon Him, the only perfect, sinless person ever to be born? He paid a grievous penalty that was rightfully yours so you could live with God forever. He did it because He loves you as no one else ever has or ever will.

It is His gift to you. And all you need do is receive it. If you have never done so, or even if you're not really sure if you have, you can do it right now. In the silence of your thoughts, you can tell God the Father that you recognize you are a sinner and are believing in His Son for eternal salvation. That is the moment you receive eternal life. Know that by that single, free will decision you have been born into the Royal Family of God, never to be removed, no matter what you do. There is not a sin that you can commit from here on that Jesus did not pay for.

You're going to heaven. Whether or not you'll receive reward when you get there, is another matter. Whether or not you'll ever know in this life the power you have just been given, is another matter. But if you have made the one crucial decision in the life of every person, the decision to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, you can be certain you are saved and will be with Him in eternity, forever.

Jesus Christ. Son of God. Savior of the whole World. Name above all names.

"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." -- Romans 3:23

"For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten (uniquely born) Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." -- John 3: 16 – 18

"And I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand." -- John 10:28

My aborted YouTube video idea....

Like every other fool, I was going to do myself up on YouTube -- you know, show myself in my environment, etc....

But, I soon realized that there are literally thousands of videos showing angry, overweight, middle-aged (almost) men, throwing computers around offices and generally breaking out of their normal passive-agressive existence.

In related good news for my co-workers, I've decided NOT to bring my gun to work tomorrow.

I can't promise about next week, though....


(Now look here: if you are idiot enough to think I'm serious about the gun thang, then maybe you do need to be shot -- for the sake of humanity, whatever that is....)

Russia, Georgia (Not that one), and the US....

Repost from The Athens News and Editor Terry Smith:

ONE OF THE MOST persuasive arguments against reckless aggression in foreign policy, and mistreating enemy combatants, is that you risk squandering your own moral authority.

In the past week, we’ve seen the results of this twice in our country’s international affairs. First, we had the spectacle of President George W. Bush, the immoral authority behind Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and military kangaroo courts, scolding the Chinese on human rights.

Then, we had trigger-happy VP Dick Cheney lecturing the Russians about aggression in their own backyard. More than anyone else in the current administration, Cheney provided much of the energy behind our unilateral, poorly planned, bogusly justified invasion of Iraq.

Neither China nor Russia deserves a pass on human rights or aggression. I just wish our country could stand tall on these issues, and actually exert some credible influence. But without moral authority, that’s pretty hard to do.

ONCE AGAIN, WHERE foreign policy is concerned, the U.S. broadcast media aren’t covering themselves with distinction. In the days after the Russia-South Ossetia-Georgia conflict erupted, much of our TV news set aside the actual fact situation on the ground, and replaced it with a tidy plot that fits their preconceived notions of right and wrong in the world. As many of us know from watching the Iraq drama, the Bush administration works better when it can read from such a script.

Ask a dozen people on the street who shelled South Ossetia’s capital late last week, producing civilian casualties, and who sent its troops into the disputed republic. Eleven out of the 12 will probably quickly answer, “Russia.”

Then ask your dozen whether the people of South Ossetia want to be a part of Georgia, or prefer to be autonomous, with strong ties to Russia. Once again, most will probably get it wrong and assume that the South Ossetians are being subjugated by the Russian Bear. In reality, most South Ossetians fiercely prize their independence from Georgia, and rejoiced when Russia unceremoniously threw the Georgian military out of their territory.

But if you’ve been listening to Fox News, MSNBC or CNN over the past several days, you probably wouldn’t know any of this stuff. They might have mentioned it in passing, but for the most part their focus has been on the aggressive Russian response to the original Georgian attack.

So when Cheney, Bush and McCain get all hot and bothered about the Russians, they’re assuming that most Americans are unaware of the actual background and chronology of events. (Or maybe they really don’t know themselves.)

I’m not saying that the Russians are without guilt in this crisis — by their brutally disproportionate response to Georgia, they’re telling the world that they will no longer stand for anyone else asserting authority on their borders. But if we’re to respond credibly and productively to world crises, it would be nice if we address what actually happens, rather than whatever trumped-up television drama that our news media and leaders come up with.

Highway Patrol Salaries -- The Revenuers are at it all the time....

Ohio State Highway Patrol Lieutenant in trouble over relationship.

She makes 81K/year as an administrator.

Which brings us to another item:

How much do OSHP Troopers make and are they worth it?

Ohio State Troopers Earn Salary in Speeding Tickets

The top state police officers in Ohio earn far more than their annual salary in traffic tickets issued.

At least 57 Ohio state troopers brought in six-figure revenue from speeding tickets last year.

According to a Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper analysis, the Ohio Highway Patrol issued 563,565 tickets in 2006. Fifty-seven troopers reached the magic "1000 ticket" mark by writing at least that many citations for a number of offenses -- most often for speeding.

The state's top trooper was responsible for writing a total of 1530 citations. With speeding tickets averaging between $100 to $500, that lawman single-handedly brought in between $153,000 and $765,000 in state and municipal revenue.

Although the Ohio Highway Patrol technically receives its funding from a transportation account funded by gas taxes, increased general revenue from tickets allows lawmakers to spend more on other priorities. These priorities sometimes include additional funding for new state police programs.

Trial Lawyers mount class-action suit against "Silky Pony"....

“A man not honorable in his marital relations is not usually honorable in any other.” –Harry Truman

How low do you have to go to make a trial lawyer queasy?

Now we know.

And you just know the kid is his, too.

I can see it now: Trial Lawyers will sue him for defamation, and John-boy "Silky Pony" Edwards will volunteer to take the case... for his usual fee, of course.

And Jesse Jackson (Father to a couple recognized "illegitimate" children, himself.) will offer to "counsel" him, just like he did Prez BC.

Reposted from Hot Air (jeff_from_mpls); I thought this was appropriate:

"If the man himself doesn’t matter, but only his platform, his positions and his policies, then what’s the point of a democratic republic at all?

If the mob is really just voting for an outline of ideas, and not for the man with his judgment, his integrity, his trustworthiness, then we have a system where people are voting directly on legal proposals, like a referendum, instead of voting indirectly for a man whom we trust to judge the merits and faults of various proposals. A man who will be our moral proxy.

If the man himself is of no account, then let's cut the pretense and just vote for manila folders containing party platforms. It seems to me that’s what our politics have been reduced to; and I think a certain segment of the political spectrum is very pleased about this; they’re the ones screaming that character doesn’t matter.

We ought to be ashamed of ourselves for how superficial we are.”

Republican Soiree vs. PBS and Ron White....

Someone was "nice" enough to invite me to the local Republican Soiree and Easter Egg/money hunt featuring John Kasich (Former Congressman and now sometime bloviator for Faux News).

No thanks to the Repub’ din-din and scam session. (And any Demo function, too.)

I’ll be at home watching another PBS program on the raping of the taxpayers by the corrupt US/Iraq Goverments and featuring cash payouts to terrorists, Kellog-Brown & Root and Halliburton and the search for the missing Billions-with-a-B of our/my money.

Oh, and while I’m watching PBS, I’ll be sitting naked in a leather chair, eating Cheetos, a’la Ron (Tater Salad) White.

McCain going "Negative" early on.....

McCrazy IS using Karl Rove’s company. That’s why he’s going neg so early.

Big mistake. The people who are impressed by these ads are already voting for him. The swing voters he is after will, for the most part, be turned off by this crap.

Obamamania can be stopped by focusing on the issues. Unfortunately McCrazy’s whole approach is unfocused and confused. He is letting Obamamania get away with the warm and fuzzy stuff and not addressing the particulars that will require pointed responses from Obamamania.

We have one candidate who wants to give away a gas tax holiday, and another who wants to give another stimulus/cash advance with nonexistant money.

They are hopeless and we are doomed either way.

Cops Lie Under Oath -- Surprise, Surprise....

... and they do it ALL the time.

Re.: NY Bicyclist's Mugging.

"...Clearly, Officer Pogan was in the wrong. Even Commissioner Kelley and Mayor Bloomberg said so.

What is interesting is that so many people who don't think Pogan did anything wrong in brutally attacking the cyclist, also seem to ignore the fact that Pogan blatantly lied in his police report.

Also, everyone is up in arms about cyclists - saying that cyclists deserve what they get because they ALL run red lights and disobey traffic laws.

Think about that statement next time you "cross between, and not at the green" or otherwise jaywalk or go 4 miles per hour over the speed limit or do a 2 mile per hour roll through a stop sign. Do you think in every one of those cases that Officer Pogan would be justified in clocking you in the head so that you fell to the pavement at 15 mph? Without even giving you a warning?...." -- by K9 Patrol

Several times I have been a personal witness to this truth:

Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) lie all the time.

Usually they get away with it. Usually they get the benefit of the doubt from courts, where their unwitnessed testimony on everything from traffic violations to serious felonies is rarely challenged.

In this instance they don't.

Here's hoping that more of them get caught out.

The Point of this Whole Presidential Campaign....

I don’t like either candidate. Neither will solve the problems of out-of-control spending and big government.

The only thing I can hang my very-Libertarian-but-extremely-realistic hat on is “Who is going to appoint SCOTUS candidates?”. That pretty much makes up my mind for me….

Think about it:

It all depends on how quickly you want your way of life and your freedom of choice to vanish.
It still will, but your choice of candidate will determine how quickly your life will change — for the worse.

The Drunk in the Balcony and the Greenwich Village Drum Machine....

The Drunk in the Balcony and the Greenwich Village Drum Machine....

Well, last night was the Steve Earle concert at Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville.

Four years ago I saw SE right there in Stuart’s, and it was one of their best concerts. Not The Everbodyfields, but... I should have taken set list notes. Forgive me.

For you ultra-serious SE fans, I suggest you just skip this review -- OR go and buy a Chris Knight CD. It’ll do you good. As for me, the best part of the night was the salad at Casa Nueva, an hour before the concert.

Opener: surprise, surprise, it was Allison Moorer, or MRS. Steve Earle. Since 2005 -- one year after I last saw an excellent SE concert. I wonder....

Start from the SE start: I’ve been playing SE songs for years. And years. And years. But I’ve always found him a little spotty compared to my favorite songwriters. For every gem, there are four or five duds.

Ta-da! Dud.

This is way low of me. Way low. But Mrs. SE stole the lower half of one of Hillary Clinton’s pant-suits. Not a fashion choice you would often see at a SE concert. There, that’s over. I’m not a fashionista, but heck, this was just the beginning of a bunch of bad choices.

Four songs into Mrs. SE’s brassy-voiced, just off-key-enough-to-be-annoying, and ultra-mediocre guitar-playing set, she launched into a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”. At that point I headed for the bar/entrance hall down below and got a second coffee – no easy feat for a newly-reformed drunk: it was better in the bar than staying to listen. My immediate thought was that it would take three plays of a double-live Fred Eaglesmith CD to excoriate this from what is left of my brain. Two minutes later, I was followed by my much-much better half, who just rolled her eyes and headed for the Marietta IPA. That’s it for Mrs. SE.

A little t-shirt, overpriced CD and DVD break and then, heeeeeeeeerrrrre’s STEVE!

He’s always a better guitar player than I expect him to be. When he plays with a band, he’s never THE guitar player -- so you forget that he is a better-than-average player -- despite the use of the same three turnarounds for each verse/chorus in every song. He has great timing, rhythm and beat. This is important, as the last two live acts I’ve seen as a paying customer were Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack, both of whom, and especially Kimbrough are really GOOD players. Both are also wonderful, concise, well-rounded songwriters who are not living on their laurels. (And who don't make up the majority of their songs while recording their latest efforts.)

The sound was fairly good. Vocals could have been better, but heck, the sound man can’t fix enunciation.

That said, SE’s first five or six tunes were good. Good playing and fairly good vocals. Heck, it’s Steve F’n Earle. Ya know what I mean? Sure ya do. Jericho road, Jerusalem, Someday, Ellis Unit One - more folks need to hear this stuff!

Next: The Drunk in the Balcony. Yep. There’s always a drunk in the balcony. And he’s always a major nuisance. This one was. But he was also something that both the Bush administration and Steve Earle need: a Truth-Teller.

Steve Earle is using a DJ operated drum-machine and loop technology! The last guy I saw using loops was Bruce Cockburn. SE ain’t BC.

The DJ looked like a fey version of John Goodman. He sported a little superior smile on his fat little fey face that smacked of arrogance. He had a “moog” t-shirt that just gave off that new Greenwich Village ultra-hipness that SE is now evidently a part of. He spun his little turntable squeakies. He thumped his finger-activated drum-pads. He had little maracas running in the background, interfering with some spare but nicely timed dobro from SE.

(Note: SE was from Texas. Then Tennessee. Now it’s Greenwich Village. Pardonne-moi, but AMERICANA is Texas and Tennessee -- not Greenwich Village. Sorry, it’s just not. Folk music, yes -- NOT Americana.)

Then came “The Drunk in the Balcony”. Usually I hate these guys. I want to pay bikers to kick his ass. Heck, I wanna join in on the ass-kicking. But in this case HE was the hero -- not SE.

After the first DJ aided massacre, we heard this slurred voice from the balcony: “Throw the drum machine in the dumpster.” (This is obviously a take-off of the lyrics to SE's "Week of Living Dangerously".)

After the second DJ mess: “Throw the drum machine in the dumpster and fade on into the sunset.” (A very poetic Drunk in the Balcony, now.)

After the third DJ abortion: “You ain’t all that! Throw the drum machine into the dumpster.” (By now I think I have a man-crush on this drunk.)

SE brings MRS. SE out for a duet. They CO-WROTE it! It’s turrible. Three-year-olds have throw-aways better than this. The drunk in the balcony is back and I want to buy him another but he’s still stuck on the drum machine.

The COVER of Copperhead Road. If you don’t want to do it right, don’t do it. I KNOW it’s your song. I’ve done it so many times, I don’t care if I ever hear it again, but if you feel like you have to do it, please do it right.

I did like the posing at the end. There's something pretty f'n funny about a guy in a plaid western shirt, baggy jeans, old cowboy boots and stringy hair doing a broadwayesque version of a guitar hero pose, complete with hip thrust and fist in air. I'm fairly certain it was sarcasm on SE's part. Either way, very funny. Maybe it's his way of dealing with the nine-thousandth repeat of Copperhead Road.

And one more last-last thang: if you are such a liberal, that big, black Silver-Eagle better be running on F’n vegetable oil. And remember, Steve Earle is a “union guy”, and thanks to him, there was a bass player and a better-than-average drummer signing up for unemployment tonight, replaced by a fey John Goodman DJ.

My take on the whole thing: God Bless Fred Eaglesmith. And Steve Earle ain’t Steve Earle anymore.

NPR - Bad Poster Children choice....

Well here's the link.... They are trying to make their points, but the poster children they have chosen are... uhhhhh... well... see for yourself. And here's my reply. Not that they are going to acknowledge it.

If you had picked a couple starving people, or at least left off the photos, your story would have had more bite.

I realize that they may not have “healthy” diets and probably eat too much starchy carbs (A lot of it while watching Springer, I’m a-guessin’.), but they sure don’t make good poster children for what you are trying to accomplish.

Now it is true that I do not know these particular people, but I’m bettin’ that if you picked them up and drove them to work or school they would still drop out of both. Time and again.

I don’t have the answer of how to do it, but you have to change this culture of dependency.

Times will get tougher before they get better, and those of us who now unwillingly pay the freight for these people will not be able to carry the extra weight much longer. Of course we have no choice right now; the government forces us to provide for them.

The upshot of this comment is that you need to provide better examples and that sooner or later circumstances will be such that even Almighty Big Brother will not be able to care for either the deserving needy or the undeserving freeloaders.

MIses Meets Poetry -- Xenomoney, by Rosmarie Waldrop

Xenomoney: From Promise to Tautology

One thirty-fifth of an ounce of gold for a dollar. The treasury was obliged. Till 1973, when the US Government canceled. Such obligation. Since then exact resemblance for exact resemblance, exact same bill for exact same bill. And nothing, neither gold nor silver, in back of the mirror. (If there had been would it reveal scenes of Vietnam? Reasons of the fourfold increase in the price of oil?)

Cut loose from any fixed equivalence, the dollar sets sail and floats off-shore on market forces. Into uncertain foreign waters and computer screens. Xenomoney.

No more physical reality of a country to guarantee it. Xenomoney belongs to international business that trumps princes and States. No history or traceable origin. Like zero outside 'natural' language. Anonymous. A bubble from no sinking ship.

Here creditor does not know debtor. Though they are joined together in one long chain. He cannot examine balance sheets of every link. He can only bite his fingernails. And remember a river in Poland or New Jersey.

Of course it's long since money went beyond being pure medium of exchange and infiltrated the category of "goods." Itself bought and sold. Both object and medium, thing and token, commodity and sign for a commodity, it signifies itself. As if a photograph could not only lose its reference to your dead wife but make you forget what is a face.

No more "grounding" of money signs in some prior, natural thing. Just as zero did for numbers—what "thing" could zero possibly refer to? Though Mesopotamia is split crosswise and dollarwise.

Money now creates its own significance. In the only terms available to it. Money is time. And can be bought as a financial future. According to qualities that are precisely not according. And are thought to burn open sexual parts.

Rosmarie Waldrop

Higher Powers and Mixed Martial Arts fighting....

Can you tell where the local newspaper notice leaves off and my imagination begins? I thinks you can.

Saturday’s Higher Power Mixed Martial Arts' event “Fight Night” has been canceled.

The event will be rescheduled, but no makeup date has been announced yet. For more information call 740-777-3670.

Cancellation was due to a Trademark infringement suit filed in Heavenly Municipal Court by Alcoholics Anonymous.

Saint Peter's representative, The Crabby Fat Guy, will be hearing the case during Happy Hour at Leo's Bier Haus on East Main Street in Lancaster.

Higher Power MMA has filed counter-suit against AA on basis of Religious Discrimination. They claim that their Higher Power can beat the snot out of AA's Higher Power.

Otis Campbell, spokesman for AA, referred to the counter-suit by claiming that it wouldn't be a fair fight, as "they have just one Higher Power, while we have many.", and offered to "meet them (Higher Power MMA) in a cage match at the nearest Pentecostal Church."

More forthcoming.