No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for October, 2008

October 27, 2008

Oh, What the Heck!

by @ 9:45. Filed under Politics - National.

OK, everyone else will have this up on their site and I’m sure it will spin through chain emails.   While I would normally pass on this due to it being “everywhere,” this one just can’t go without comment.   In fact, I’m even going to use my new flashy light thingy to draw more attention!

In case you’ve just returned from several years on a deserted island, next Tuesday is election day.   We can go back and forth between the policy differences between the two candidates but that is wasted time at this point.   If you are at all ambivalent on who to vote for or if you have decided to vote for Barack Obama yet believes that the United States is a light to the world, consider that the next President will get to decide the makeup of the Supreme Court for at least a generation.

Our choice comes down to a candidate who believes the Constitution of the US is the supreme law of the US and should be followed.   Our other choice is a candidate who in the attached piece, states that he believes the Supreme Court should not be bound by the Constitution.   He intimates that it is only the Court’s lack of desire, not their Constitutional ability, to fundamentally  interpret the Constitution to reflect one of any of a number of European countries.

Listen to the piece.

Another Poll At RightWingNews.com

by @ 8:55. Filed under Politics - National.

John Hawkins at Rightwingnews.com has put up another poll of Right-of-Center bloggers.   You’ll find the poll here and my responses below:

1) Who do you think is going to win the election?

A) John McCain
B) Barack Obama

2) Do you think Sarah Palin has been a plus or a minus to the ticket?

A) Minus
B) Plus

3) How do you feel about Sarah Palin as a candidate?

A) I really like her!
B) She’s so-so.
C) I’m not a big fan!

4) The Republican Party did poorly in the 2006 election and even if McCain wins is on track to do poorly again in this years Congressional races. If you had to choose between these two options, do you think that’s because they were

A) Too conservative
B) Not conservative enough

5) Do you believe the mainstream media’s coverage has been…
A) Relatively fair and even handed.
B) Slightly biased in favor of Barack Obama.
C) Slightly biased in favor of John McCain.
D) Heavily biased in favor of Barack Obama.
E) Heavily biased in favor of John McCain.

6) Do you think Barack Obama is…

A) Honest (Yes or no?)
B) Patriotic (Yes or no?)
C) Qualified be President (Yes or no?)

Probably no real big surprises in the poll’s answers.   Yes, I want McCain to win and while I think it can still happen, if I had to put money down today I’d have to say he won’t.   That’s not defeatism, just an assessment.

I had problems answering the honesty question.   There have certainly been things I would consider dishonest answers from Obama.   However, I don’t know that they were in his mind and if I were honest I’m sure I could find equally equivocated answers from McCain that if I was partisan left, I would find dishonest.

I do like Sarah Palin.   She strikes me as genuine.   I don’t get the smarmy meter running to extremes when I hear her talk, unlike nearly every other politician I’ve ever met, left or right.

What Am I Missing?

by @ 5:44. Filed under Economy.

Consider the following sequence of events:

  1. $700 Billion “bail out” package was passed because it was “urgent,” “essential,” “markets would fail without it!”
  2. Wells Fargo, one of the few banks who were smart enough to avoid getting entangled in the subprime messes was “forced” to accept the government’s infusion of capital, even though they didn’t believe they needed it, because if they didn’t accept it now,

    If the company found it needed capital later and Mr. Kovacevich couldn’t raise money privately, Mr. Paulson promised the government wouldn’t be so generous the second time around.

  3. When queried on Friday about the status of the $700 Billion “bail out”, White House spokesperson Dana Perino, said:

    Well, we’ve looked for an opportunity — ever since the bill passed said it was going to take a little bit of time for all of us to dot the I’s and cross the T’s to get all of the policies in place. And that’s taking place right now. We’ve had Neel Kashkari, who is the Assistant Acting Secretary for the rescue package implementation, was on Capitol Hill yesterday talking about the progress.

    What we tried to warn people about across the country is that it’s going to take a little bit of time. We weren’t talking weeks, we’re not talking months — we’re talking just a few weeks for us to be able to hire the contractors. There are so many people that have to be hired and they have to — we have to make sure that we’re getting the right people. And before money can go out the door we want to make sure that those contracts are rock solid and that we’re doing the best we possibly can to make sure the taxpayers are paid back.

    So we’re in that period right now where — we’re waiting for that implementation. We’re closer than we were yesterday. They work as hard as they possibly can. So what I would ask is that Americans be a little bit patient with this program. We do think it is big enough to solve this big problem; it’s just going to take us a little while to get through it.

In the mean time, we have the report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, I referenced it here, that questions whether there ever was a need for the “bail out.” We also have “invested” banks using their funds to buy competitors rather than increasing loans.

All this leads me to this article from the Financial Times:

Credit markets hit by bank debt guarantee

This article outlines how normal, private debt markets are having trouble functioning.   Why?   Well simply because the government has stepped in and made substantial debt guarantees here, there and everywhere.   As a lender, if you have the choice to lend into situations where the government is guaranteeing your loan or lending normally with assets as collateral, you will either only loan with the guarantee or demand such a premium for the asset backed variety that it becomes unworkable.

I’ll admit it’s anecdotal, so was the evidence supporting the cries of urgency, but as time goes on I’m less and less convinced that the “bail out” was/is a good thing.   Commercial lending doesn’t seem to have ever been interrupted; certainly not to the point that Paulson and company led us to believe.   Interbank lending appears to have restarted.   We were told that the “bail out” was essential to save both of those functions yet according to Dana Perino, Paulson was so convinced of its “need” that he didn’t bother to get major parts of the plan in place, let alone details, even 3 weeks after the plan was approved.   Geez, at least the Marx Brothers’ repetitive ineptness was just for movies!

Admittedly, I’ve never been a big government guy.   I’ve cheered on principle, when either the State or Federal government has had to “shut down” due to some budget issue.   But seriously, can someone explain what I’m missing in this and why we should have any confidence that any of these clowns (Democrat or Republican) have a clue that involves anything other than their own political survival?

October 24, 2008

ObamiNation In Your Face Violence Tour – pollster edition

by @ 15:41. Filed under Politics - National.

Jim Geraghty reports that Strategic Vision is getting death threats for daring to report that the McCain/Palin ticket has pulled ahead of the Obama/Biden ticket in Florida and Ohio (48%-46% and 48%-45% respectively).

Let’s take a look at the three messages that David Johnson, CEO of Strategic Vision, shared with National Review Online:

My goodness, your polls stinks. There are 3 polls that have Obama by double digits and only yours has Obama down. WOW!. How come your poll is the only one giving Palin high favor ratings? I think you nee dto be careful tonight when you get in your car and might want to check underneath your car. SCRAP YOUR IDIOTIC POLLS OR ELSE!

A poll that gave Sarah Palin and Barack Obama the same favorability rating is wrong off the bat. Be careful going outside tonight because you might not see tomorrow.

Why would your presidential election poll results be so drastically different from every other reputable poll taken over the same time period? Are they that dumb or are you guys that smart? Smart guys wind up dead.

Notes Johnson, “It’s probably just a bunch of nut cases, but this is first time we’ve ever experienced something like this. It’s highly, highly unusual. We get messages in the vein of ‘your numbers are wrong, the other guy’s numbers are right’ all the time. But this has never happened before.”

George Orwell was only 24 years off.

Hmmmmmmmmm

by @ 5:50. Filed under Politics - National.

Investors Business Daily is now putting out a daily tracking poll of the Presidential race.   They were the most accurate poll of the 2004 race.   As of today, IBD has McCain down just 1.1 points.   The poll has McCain having closed from a 7 point deficit just since last weekend.   As interesting as that gap close is, I’m more interested in another stat.

I thought the MSM has been telling us about all of the excited, first time to vote college students.   People  who were part of the millions that were newly registered Democrats.   People  that were already standing outside of polling places to make sure they would get a chance to vote for “The One.”   Isn’t that what the great wildcard is for Barack; whether the youth, who have never come out in droves before, will turn off their Wiis, put down their beers and vote?    

If the youth are the great hope for Barack, can someone explain how the IBD poll shows 18-24 year olds breaking for John McCain 74% to 22% for Barack Obama?

Watch the next 10 days folks.   The MSM story lines don’t seem to always be aligned with the poll internals.   There is something that just isn’t smelling right across most of these polls.   It could be a wild 10 days.

Hmmmmmmmm II

by @ 5:14. Filed under Economy.

Two members of the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis have looked at some of the key claims of a need for the big bail out bill.   You can read their full report here. The four claims were:

1. Bank lending to nonfinancial corporations and individuals has declined sharply.
2. Interbank lending is essentially nonexistent.
3. Commercial paper issuance by nonfinancial corporations has declined sharply, and
rates have risen to unprecedented levels.
4. Banks play a large role in channeling funds from savers to borrowers.

After reviewing numerous data points, the researchers concluded:

Our analysis has raised questions about the claims made for the mechanism whereby
the financial crisis is affecting the overall economy. We emphasize that we do not dispute that
the United States is undergoing a financial crisis and that the United States economy may
be in a recession or may experience one in the near future. Our analysis is based on publicly
available data. Policymakers have access to other sources of data as well. Policymakers could
well believe that bold action is necessary based on data that are di ¤erent from that considered
here. If so, responsible policymaking requires that they share both the data and the analysis
that underlies the need for bold policy with the public.

In layman’s language: The 4 claims don’t seem to be validated by the data generally available to the public.

There was a lot of debate at least amongst conservatives, about whether the bailout was necessary. To hear that the claims that were made for the bailout weren’t so doesn’t restore any confidence that the folks in Washington have a real handle on what’s going on and how to fix it. I suppose Paulson could have had access to information that painted a more convincing picture for him but given that they still haven’t really implemented much of their $700 Billion plan, it would seem hard to argue that their plan actually averted an anticipated.

On the final vote, I came to oppose the bailout. I thought something should be done but I concluded that with all the pork and other nonsense that had gotten attached, no one was really serious about their concern and I have no stomach for more debt.

I’m now thinking that as we look back, after the dust settles, we’ll find that aside from the dramatic increase in the money supply, most of the other extraordinary efforts may well prove to have been nothing more than attempts by various Washington cartels to make it look like they were doing something or taking advantage of the situation and attempting to gain or consolidate their own power.

Maybe, just maybe, at the end of this we find that good old Capitalism is a lot smarter and more resilient than any of us would ever have believed. We may find that doing nothing is the best thing we could do.

October 23, 2008

Open Thread Thursday – 10/23/2008

by @ 8:23. Filed under Open Thread Thursday.

No, I’m not doing a Scramble today (or at least I’m not planning on it). I’ve got the latest AP/GfK poll, which shows Obama/Biden up by one point over McCain/Palin 44%-43%, to plow through, then 300-some pages of the Oak Creek budget to absorb.

However, I can’t let this slip by without a song.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YIHvK5WN7I[/youtube]

Re: Hunting PUMAs

by @ 7:49. Filed under Elections, Politics - National.

First things first; if you haven’t read Shoebox’s post, go read it now, then come back for some expansion on that.

I briefly noted the disappearance of the PUMAs in a different poll (specifically, the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll) near the end of last month. Since we’re talking about the Gallup weekly aggregate of the daily tracking poll, I’ll use Gallup’s numbers to expand on that.

Gallup has been running the weekly aggregate since the week of June 9-15. That week, Barack Obama’s support was 78% of Democrats/43% of Independents/9% of Republicans, while John McCain’s support was 13%D/39%I/84%R. In terms of Democrats, 22% didn’t support Obama, with 13% specifically supporting McCain and the other 9% either supporting a third-party candidate or “undecided” (which includes not voting).

That held rather steady until the Democratic convention. Pre-convention Democratic support of Obama topped out at 82% the week of 7/7-7/13, and returned to 78% the week prior to the convention (8/18-8/24) when he announced Joe Biden as his running mate. Meanwhile, the Democratic support for McCain never dropped below 10% in that time frame (with the low point 7/7-7/13) and topped out at 14% just before the Democratic convention, while the “undecideds” remained between 8% and 9% (the lower just before the Democratic convention). That tracks rather well with Shoebox’s estimates that, had the PUMAs stuck to their guns instead of party, McCain could have had somewhere around 15% of support from Democrats, though I would have been happy with the 12% average that he did get between June and mid-August.

The Democratic convention week (8/25-8/31), which was immediately followed by McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin, provided a boost to the Obama/Biden ticket for Democrats, but not a decisive one. The Obama/Biden ticket saw support from 85% of Democrats that week, with a 9% support to McCain and 6% undecided. Democratic support for the Obama/Biden ticket actually dipped in the next couple weeks: the 9/1-9/7 aggregate saw it drop to 83%, with 11% supporting McCain/Palin, and the 9/8-9/14 aggregate saw McCain/Palin pick up another percent from the “undecideds” to bring that back to the average between June and mid-August.

However, there has been a steady march back to the roost for the PUMAs since then. The Obama/Biden-to-McCain/Palin splits among Democrats have been, in succession, 85%/10%, 86%/10%, 87%/8%, 87%/9% and now 89%/7%.

Shoebox’s reminder back in August that there wasn’t much of a difference between Obama and Hillary Clinton, and specifically his concerns that the PUMAs would remember that before the election, are coming true.

Hunting PUMAs

by @ 5:58. Filed under Politics - National.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Be wery wery qwiat! I’m hunting PUMAs!

Do you remember back to the end of the primary season? That wonderful, wistful time when we had coalesced behind our candidate and were watching Hillary and Barack clawing at each other?

Do you remember towards the end, before the conventions, after it was clear that Barack was going to be the Dem’s nominee? Do you remember how many of the Hillary supporters, after her shabby and sexist treatment by the DNC and Obama, vowed that they would never vote for Obama? Do you remember how they formed a little group and became known as PUMAs?

With apologies to Pete Seeger:

Where have all the PUMAs gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the PUMAS gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the PUMAS gone?
Became conforming everyone?
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have the PUMAs gone? In late August there were polls  showing that 21% of Hillary supporters were committed to vote for McCain, 52% would vote for Obama and 27% were still undecided. Hillary and Barack pretty much split the primary vote. If 21% of Hillary supporters were committed to McCain, that should translate to at least 10.5% of Democrat support for McCain. With 21% still uncommitted, it wouldn’t be too hard to imagine that if the PUMAs held together, the Democrat support for McCain could be around 15%. If those numbers make sense, why does the most recent Gallup poll only show 7% of Democrats support McCain?

I wrote at the end of August, during the height of Republican PUMA giddiness, that the PUMA’s disgust with Obama was entirely based on emotion with no substance; the policy differences between Hillary and Obama were “Change you could Xerox!” I was concerned then, that once some time elapsed, the emotion would wane and the PUMAs who had vowed fidelity to John McCain would regain their senses and return to feast at the table of “Hope and Change.”

It appears that while the PUMAs entered the final phase of the election season as lions, they will exit as lambs. Unless of course, they’ve managed to pull off a brilliant deception on all of the pollsters. In that case the adage “Revenge is a dish best served cold,” comes to mind. I can’t imagine anything colder than allowing Obama to believe he has the Democrat vote sown up, only to find that the “Bradley effect” will forever more be known as the “PUMA effect!”

At Least Cows Give Milk

by @ 5:04. Filed under Economy.

I’ve written a couple of previous times about the corrupt relationship that commercial rating agencies i.e. S&P and Moodys, have with bond issuers and bond purchasers. The rating agencies got paid by bond issuers who would have trouble placing their bonds if the agencies gave them a poor rating. In turn, if the agency provided a poor rating, they wouldn’t get future business from the issuer. It was a situation where both entities benefited from the rating agency providing a high rating regardless of what the real quality of the bonds were.

Today the rating agencies got their turn in the barrel at the Congressional hearings. As a part of the testimony, some text messages between executives of S&P were introduced. The exchange was:

Official #1: Btw (by the way) that deal is ridiculous.

Official #2: I know right…model def (definitely) does not capture half the risk.

Official #1: We should not be rating it.

Official #2: We rate every deal. It could be structured by cows and we would rate it.

Rating agencies were one of the few checks that were supposedly available for determine risk in bond issuance. It was thought that the rating agencies were “independent” and would provide an unbiased, integrity based assessment of the quality of the debt instrument being offered. Apparently the these two executives at S&P didn’t believe they had that responsibility.

There were clearly some people and organizations who were not “playing by the rules” and contributed to the current financial challenges. While I don’t really expect it to happen, I hope the Congress and others ferret these folks out and prosecute them with extreme prejudice. I also hope that changes are made to how rating agencies interact with debt issuers and purchasers. The relationship needs to be independent. Without independence, the rating agencies perform no service and the debt issuers may as well rate the bond themselves.

S&P may have given positive ratings to debt even if the deal was “structured by cows.” That’s understandable because both cows and S&P deliver shit, cows at least have the positive attribute of providing milk.

October 22, 2008

RNCC Punishing Conservatives

by @ 18:40. Filed under Miscellaneous.

I wish I had one of those flashy light thingys like Drudge has. Steve, can I get one for Christmas?

Revisions/extensions (8:47 pm 10/22/2008; steveegg) – You asked; you get…

Oh cool! Christmas comes early! Thanks Steve!
Tom Cole Representative from Oklahoma and head of the RNCC, has decided to pull all funding from Michele Bachmann, Representative Minnesota, for her comments about Barack Obama.

In the event you don’t know, Bachmann is in a close reelection. She has been a solid conservative and is one of the few that had the spine to vote against the bailout provisions.

I don’t normally steal stuff but there is no reason to improve on a perfect statement.   From Erick Erickson at Redstate.com:

Let’s just call Tom Cole (R-OK), the head of the NRCC, what he is: a douchebag.

Some of you will be upset by the language, but I think it is an accurate description.

We chronicled for you the need to ditch Tom Cole from the NRCC months ago. Sure, we knew it was going to be a bad year, but Cole seemed more interested in the perks of the office than actually trying to mitigate damages.

Cole defended Don Young.

He also defended Rick Renzi despite the criminal investigation that forced Renzi from office.

And while Rome was burning, Cole fiddled away demanding an apology to Indians.

Now, in the height of all douchebaggery, he has pulled all funding from Michelle Bachmann’s very winnable race in Minnesota, in which she is presently leading, though not by a great deal.

Why? Because Bachmann had the nerve to point out Obama pals around with anti-American domestic terrorists and other unsavory characters, i.e. she’s echoed Sarah Palin.

But that’s okay. Apparently we have Republicans to spare.

Help Michelle Bachmann. This race is absolutely winnable. Hell, she’s winning right now. But she needs our help.

And then call Tom Cole and give him a piece of your mind.

UPDATED: For perspective, Tom Cole has been sending money to Don Young in Alaska. So attacking the Democrats is unacceptable to Tom Cole, but taint and corruption is perfectly fine.

You still upset I called him a douchebag?

As Erick says, we need to help Michelle now! It’s clear that the RNCC would rather be politically correct than politically successful. Send Michelle what you can to help her out here! After sending Michele some love, send Tom Cole some of your thoughts here.

I am Joe the Plumber

by @ 13:41. Filed under Politics - National.

(H/T – Charlie Sykes)

The McCain campaign has unleashed an ad that ought to be somewhat familiar to those of us who are John Doe.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWSEcL9xFQk[/youtube]

Just because I can, and because the original is THAT GOOD, I’ll bring back the original.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfguzjUoCoI[/youtube]

The Morning Scramble (Part 2) – 10/22/2008

by @ 10:56. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

I’ll try to limit the Obamination in Part 2. Can’t say I’ll be entirely successful, so let’s have some blues as we dive in…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reuK2msTzec[/youtube]

  • Before we get to the heavy stuff; a news item that is a bit personal – the gang at Tuscarora Outfitters report that the idiot that started the Ham Lake fire 2 years ago has been indicted. I use Tuscarora for my yearly canoe trips, and that fire nearly burned them down (they did lose an outbuilding), so I want the book tossed at that idiot.
  • Ed Morrissey explores how few Americans will have a net tax liability in the next administration. As I have said off and on lately, we are rushing toward Europe; the only choice is Western or Eastern circa 1985.
  • Perri Nelson notes the socialist water is just about at a boil.
  • Owen notes a disturbing economic trend – a renewed interest in Karl Marx, the original Communist. One thing I remember Dad29 telling me at Drinking Right-Milwaukee (or was it Blog ‘N Grog?), Marx said that a revolution wasn’t exactly necessary in the US (or the UK).
  • Frank Lasee explains why socialism doesn’t work.
  • Fausta caught Argentina trying to socialize the pensions. She also warns that the same is in the works here.
  • Maj. Pain opens the NSN bureau to report that John McCain is leading Barack Obama 3-1 among military personnel.
  • Trail-Mix lists “just a few” reasons why he’s voting for McCain instead of Obama.
  • Moe Lane notes that the McCain campaign and the RNC are walking the walk by publicizing those who donate less than $200. Gee, I wonder why the Obama campaign isn’t following suit.
  • Slublog notes that no less than Obama supporter and Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell (D) isn’t buying the overcooked pro-Obama polls.
  • Doc explores the presstitutes’ role in the Dirtiest Campaign Evah™.
  • How far in the Obaminaton Express are the presstitutes? Lawhawk notes even Dan Rather admits the full tank job.
  • Stephan Tawney reports a second all-the-way-in-the-tank presstitute has been grounded from the Straight Talk Express flights. Gee, I wonder why an opinion columnist who has done nothing but bash McCain (Joe Klein) would get booted from the McCain campaign plane </sarcasm>. Actually, I wonder why they bother to still talk with him.
  • William Teach wonders why the New York Times Sedition Slimes would be bummed about having to photograph the success that is The Surge.
  • How successful? Uncle Jimbo reports on the success story that is Gryphon Airlines.
  • Of course, not all news is good – Wyatt Earp notes that asking questions of the local cult gets one 20 years in Afghanistan. Given all the ObamiNation In Your Face Violence tour news and casual tosses of “racism” highlighted in Part 1, I wonder when that will be codified here.
  • Lance Burri takes a dark look at the future under the ‘Rats.
  • Bill Quick explores what passes for a legal system in that frozen country of good walleye, long waits for health care, and hyper-political correctness to our north. Again, if you think it can’t happen here, just take a good look at what the ObamiNation Cult is offering.
  • Speaking of that long wait for health care, Walter E. Williams has a wake-up call on that. Whether it’s “Healthy” (and Depopulated) Wisconsin, or Obama’s health plan, or HillaryCare 2.0, socialized medicine does not work.
  • Brian Fraley pictures the Axis of Taxes.
  • He forgot one – Peter spotlights Barney Frank’s plan to tax the rich until there are no rich no more.
  • John McAdams caught the majority of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors rubbing right up against (and IMHO crossing) the line against electioneering in favor of an advisory referendum calling for a tripling of Milwaukee County’s sales tax (from 0.5% to 1.5%). For those not in the Milwaukee area, that would make Milwaukee’s sales tax anywhere between 9.5% and 16.7% higher than surrounding counties (depending on the county and item bought). I previously ran the math on that here.
  • William Amos explores why the GOP is failing in its campaign strategy.
  • Nick Schweitzer makes the non-partisan case against voter registration drives.
  • Soren Dayton explains how the Left “legitimizes” voter fraud. Remember, it’s all about winning by any means necessary every means available for them.
  • Mark Tapscott exposes Anthony Socci for the Algore Goracle shill he is.
  • Owen observed Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle (D) proving that even blind squirrels occassionally find a nut by asking the EPA to declare in compliance the 6 counties the EPA pre-emptively declared (by 6 years) out-of-compliance of fine particulate pollution because they will be in compliance by the time those standards are actually in effect.
  • Marshall Manson found the next target of those that have a visceral hatred of weapons – knives. I kid you not; (formerly) Great Britian has declared a war on knives after their “successful” war on guns simply changed the weaponry that thugs use in crimes.

And some people wonder why I don’t do these every day anymore. There’s too many good bloggers out there, both those I do manage to read (at last count, somewhere north of 270), and those I don’t. Not that I’m complaining about that situation :-)

The Morning Scramble (Part 1) – 10/22/2008

by @ 9:41. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

Yes, it’s back for a very-limited engagement (unless I can figure out how to keep this from taking all day).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_1RqyNdzbE[/youtube]

That doesn’t mean it’s a short-stack. I can’t do that to you.

  • The ObamiNation In Your Face Violence Has Begun, Part I – Jim Hoft reports a John McCain supporter had his car vandalized for the “crime” of having a McCain/Palin sticker on it.
  • The ObamiNation In Your Face Violence Has Begun, Part II – Jim Hoft also reports some ObamiNation zealots tried their damndest to get run over by Sarah Palin’s motorcade. Fortunately, the lead officers in the motorcade reversed their motorcycles and moved them out of the way before they could get steamrolled.
  • The ObamiNation In Your Face Violence Has Begun, Part III – Sean M. notes that Maryland’s ‘Rats are eating their own who dare to have an independent mind.
  • The ObamiNation In Your Face Violence Has Begun, Part IV – Sean M. also found the selective vandalism has reached Indiana.
  • The ObamiNation In Your Face Violence Has Begun, Part V – Warner Todd Huston found an advanced ObamiNation acolyte literally laying the wood to a McCain supporter. Bonus; the assaulter was a male, the assaultee was a woman. I’ll let you decide what the NAGs and the press organs are (not) saying.
  • Erick Erickson introduces us to Bill, a typical union thug leader. Long-time readers of NRE will know why I went out of my way to utter the “t-word.” I wonder if that acolyte from the above item got his lessons in getting into peoples’ faces as The Obamination has ordered from Bill or his union cohorts.
  • Sister Toldjah channels Jeff Foxworthy in introducing us to the latest card from the ObamiNation Race Deck – socialism.
  • Stephen Green has the definitive answer to that charge. He forgot Iosif Stalin, to whom Obama and especially his acolytes bear more than a passing resemblence.
  • Tom DeLay found that many Communists agree that Obama is the closest thing to a Communist out there today.
  • Laura Elizabeth found Obama’s true running mate, just in case The Human Gaffe Machine doesn’t quite make it. Yes, Karl Marx would be very comfortable with him.
  • Headess Blogger found that even the youth of America are not immune from the card if they dare oppose The Obamination.
  • Eric notes the next target of the Obamination Express is the Republican Jewish Coalition. At least they have the decency to merely ignore them rather than include them in the In Your Face Violence Tour (if only for now).
  • Bruce has the bumper sticker of the day week month year…

    Read it and weep, liberals. I’m going nowhere.

  • Tom McMahon introduces the Obama-Biden Gaffe-O-Matic. It’s only in alpha, so it’s missing a lot of gaffes.
  • No worries, Michelle Malkin makes a few additions to the Joe Biden half of that.
  • Zip tosses in one for the Obama half – changeable sports loyalties. What does one expect from a White Sox fan, after all?
  • Swint wonders if Biden is trying to sabotage the Obamination Express.
  • RightwingSparkle has an addition to the extensive case against Obama – his stance on guns.
  • Lance Burri pages the ‘Rats who thought that money in politics was bad only before the Obamination Express rolled up $150 million in September.
  • Victor Davis Hanson asks the $640 million question – why did Obama maintain his friendship with Bill Ayers for 4 years after 9/11?
  • Charles Henrickson mints a new parody classic on the Ayers/Obama connection.
  • On the first day of the Obama/ACORN Connection, Jessi gave to me deep roots in the ACORN tree. Yes, there is a reason why I don’t sing.
  • Jim Geraghty found a 13.45-percentage-point difference between Obama and McCain over President Bush.
  • Ed Morrissey caught the Obamination Express telling the presstitutes, “Show me the money!” I wonder how many press organs would be busting every campaign finance rule by showing them the money.

Part 2 will be up shortly. First, I have to find a second song.

How To Balance The Federal Budget

by @ 5:48. Filed under Politics - National, Taxes.

With the Barack Obama Spend-o-meter now near $1.3 trillion and Barney Frank doubling down  on Obama’s call for excessive taxing of the rich, it seems like it may be time to start looking at options for deficit reduction. A story out of Rochester, MN provides a viable solution.

As reported in this story, a Rochester woman was arrested after stealing $10K-$15K from a Casey’s General Store. According to the story, the woman was taking the money and wiring it to Nigeria. No, she wasn’t sending it to family, she was sending it because she had received an email from Morgan Smith of Nigeria saying that the woman was to receive $10 million from investments gains on oil and diamonds. All the woman had to do was send money to Nigeria for plane tickets and a transfer certificate.   The woman was just planning to “borrow” the money and had full intention of returning it after she received her $10 million.

So I’m thinking….I’ve received 10’s of dozens of letters from Morgan Smith and other envoys trying to deliver an inheritance, income I’ve made on some investment I’ve forgotten about or by helping them get their fortune moved, entirely legally, from some third world country to the US. In each case, I could receive $10 Million or better.

If Barack Obama just got 1,050,000 people to forward the emails they’ve received from Mr. Morgan Smith, to the Federal Treasury, they could collect on them and get enough to retire the $10.5 Trillion debt!

Seriously, did you ever think there was anyone so stupid that they would actually follow up on one of those emails? Yeah, you’re right, there do seem to be plenty of people who think that Obama’s plan can actually reduce taxes for 95% of taxpayers and increase taxes on only 5% and none of that will have any reprecussions.

Yeah, you’re right, there are a lot of stupid people!

October 21, 2008

FISHing for votes in Illinois

by @ 20:02. Filed under Politics - National.

(H/T – Jon Sanders)

Where, oh where do I go with this story about a dead goldfish named Princess registered to vote through a third-party voter-drive effort from Lake County, Illinois? I could go with the whole FISH angle, but that isn’t exactly family-friendly (FISH is one of the vulgar acronyms we on the good side of the toll booths apply to those on the far side of them).

I could go with the fact that the owner of the dead goldfish, Beth Nudelman, is a registered Democrat, but according to The News Organization That Cannot Be Quoted™, she’s the one that blew the whistle. Wait a minute – I will start there. From the article…

She said she wrote election officials a humorous note explaining why the fish was ineligible to vote.

I’ll bet the letter read something like this: “I really would like to register Princess to vote, but she’s worm food, and this isn’t Chicago where the dead are 110% ‘Rat voters.”

I could, and will, also point out that the tactics of the third-party group, Women’s Voices, Women Vote, are quite similar to sometimes-partner ACORN’s tactics. Indeed, Steve Strum, legal counsel for the Illinois State Board of Elections, notes that this particular effort, which used a mailing list purchased from a vendor, has generated numerous complaints. Also, this particular episode has attracted the attention of the Lake County sheriff’s and state’s attorney’s offices.

Now, how did Princess the dead fish end up on that list? The Nudelmans used her name on a second phone line for a computer modem. That in itself raises a question; why did they feel the need to do that? Ameritech and its follow-on companies SBC and AT&T, didn’t prohibit one from having 2 lines.

The more-observant may ask, “Why are they targeting Illinois when no Republican will likely ever win a statewide election again?” Lake County is, or at least was very-recently, a Republican area marked for takeover. Indeed, there was once a barn on the north end of the Tri-State that was essentially a GOP billboard.

The case against Obama

by @ 13:04. Filed under Politics - National.

Mary Katharine Ham and Guy Benson put together a very lengthy case against Barack Obama over at Hot Air, edited by Ed Morrissey. From abortion and especially the “punished by a baby” line (pursued by mostly Shoebox here), to taxes, to radical associations, to lack of foreign policy judgement (which was not at all cured by his running mate, specifically Biden’s inexplicable like of Iran’s Mad Mullahs), to a distain of American life, to the race card, to a lack of accomplishments, they make the case far better than I can.

Colin Powell

by @ 5:30. Filed under Politics - National.

I saw Colin Powell’s endorsement on “Meet the Press” as I waited for a flight home on Sunday. I had other focuses yesterday so didn’t get a chance to put my comments up on the endorsement.

After reading the transcript, I note that Powell did not address any policy issues that he liked of Obama’s. Rather, his entire endorsement appeared to come from a drinking of the “Hope and Change” kool-aid.

Powell tried to use his observations of how the two candidates addressed the last few weeks of economic debate as his deciding factor:

On the Obama side, I watched Mr. Obama and I watched him during this seven-week period. And he displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems like this and picking a vice president that, I think, is ready to be president on day one. And also, in not just jumping in and changing every day, but showing intellectual vigor. I think that he has a, a definitive way of doing business that would serve us well.

Now I know that Powell has always been at best, a moderate Republican. He firmly believes in abortion and affirmative action. However, what is Powell referring to when he says that Obama is “not just jumping in and changing every day?” Is Powell really that obtuse not to see the numerous position changes that Obama has taken in the past two years? For example, I’ll bet that Colin Powell would label the Iran Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization but Obama has been on both sides of the issue in June alone.

What is Powell thinking when he says that Obama “has a definitive way of doing business that would serve us well.” If he ever held Republican views, Powell would have aligned on fiscal values. Can Powell actually believe that Obama’s admitted redistribution of wealth aligns in anyway with what “would serve us well?” Can Powell believe that spending an additional $1 trillion each year “serve us well?”

I’m sorry. I had a great deal of respect for Colin Powell. I believe him to be an honorable man. However, is endorsement of Obama leads me to conclude that Powell never was a Republican and registered as such only for personal attention or gain or, he is now being intellectually dishonest about his reason for endorsing Barack.

I will continue to honor Colin Powell’s service. However, from this day forward, this blogger will view all of what Mr Powell says with an enormous amount of skepticism.

October 20, 2008

That Pesky Patriotism Thingy Again

by @ 5:46. Filed under Politics - National.

In case you missed it:

Obama Camp Scraps National Anthem

According to Newsmax.com, the Obama Campaign scratched the National Anthem at one of their rallies:

to make room for another speaker.

Let’s see, this is the guy who quit wearing the flag lapel pin because:

it has become a substitute for “true patriotism” since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Later he began wearing it when it made the political statement he felt was appropriate for the moment….like when he visited US car manufacturers or military bases.

Looks like just one more example of where Barack comes first, Country comes second. Maybe we should start getting used to it.

My Feet Are Cold. Could It Mean?????

by @ 5:28. Filed under Politics - Minnesota, Taxes.

The Vikings won’t be winning a Superbowl this year,

The Cubs aren’t winning the World Series,

Thing 1 and Thing 2 haven’t cleaned their rooms without being asked

Dang, I can’t figure out why my feet are cold!  

Wait, maybe this is it; both the Star and Tribune and the Pioneer Presshave taken positions against increasing Minnesota’s state sales tax via a Constitutional amendment.   They even have solid logic for their opposition!

As the Democrat dominated House and Senate worked to develop a budget last year, they groped to find ways to not only spend a $2 Billion dollar surplus but to add additional taxes to support their never ending greed.   In one of the most notable events of last session, they increased the gas tax by $.05 (and more to come) and created the largest single bill tax increase in Minnesota history.   They were abetted in this act by several RINOs in the House, all of which have either decided to “retire”, have been unendorsed or look like they will be beaten.  

One item that the Dems weren’t able to get through last year was an increase in the sales tax.   Unlike Pelosi, they were able to count heads and, knowing that Governor Pawlenty would veto an increase, knew they couldn’t get the override done in the House.   So, they took the back door.   In Minnesota, the Legislature can bring Constitutional issues directly to the voters without going through the Governor.   The Dems gathered darn near every constituentcy they could find, hunter, clean water, arts, parks, wetlands, fisherpersons and park enthusiasts, lumped them in a pot and said “let’s get an increase in the sales tax in the Constitution that you all can fight over how to spend.”

So here comes the two daily newspapers.   Editorial sections that haven’t met a tax that they didn’t like.   In fact, I can’t remember one that they have opined against, they like big government.   But on this issue they say nyet.   The reason both of them give is that while they support the desire to improve and fund all of the items included, they don’t believe doing it in the Constitution and tying leglislator’s hands, is the right way to do it.   They believe that Legislators should be accountable for the State’s budget.

While I can’t agree with their support of the various issues (Don’t the “Arts” have patrons anymore?), I do agree with their conclusion and the reason for it!   Congrats to the Star and Tribune and Pioneer Press for getting one right!

Excuse me while I  go and find my insolated socks!

Behind Every Cloud, a Silver Lining?

by @ 5:21. Filed under Economy, Taxes.

First, I’m back. Second, I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to politics while I was gone (funny how life in the Caribbean doesn’t revolve around US politics!) I did however, pay a bit of attention to the on going economic nonsense. A quick observation/comment on that front.

While I was gone the Dow was:
Down 700
Down 100
Up 940
Down 77
Down 730
Up 400
Down 120

Anybody got some Tums?

As I mentioned before I left, the stock markets have left any  semblence of “investing” and have become simply “betting.” That said, I’m betting that “investing” returns within the next few weeks. It looks like we’re watching the final swings of a pendulum that got released from a very overextended position and has to  redetermine center.

It doesn’t matter whether you are retired, self employed, unemployed, wealthy or just making ends meet, the current economic uneasiness is not fun for anyone. However, silver linings can be found even in these challenging times; you just need to know where to look.

As I was traveling home I saw this headline in the USATODAY:

Amid meltdown, cities slash services

Seems that states and local communities are finding that decreasing home values and purchasing along with softening incomes have decreased all of the main funding mechanisms these entities rely on. Unlike the Federal Government, local and state governments don’t have the luxury of printing more money to solve their budget problems. Instead, local and state governments are left with the options of either increasing taxes or cutting budgets GASP!

Yes, cities across the country are going to see drastic cutbacks:

Last fiscal year, Phoenix’s tax revenue fell $89 million short. So the city doubled the cost of swimming lessons at city pools to $12 per session

and

Even wealthy cities are feeling the pain. Aspen, Colo., will delay construction of a $360,000 foam pit for training snowboarders in the city gym.

The money quote from the article is this:

“There’s just no choice,” Fairbanks said. “With all the cuts we’ve made in the past, I don’t think there’s anything left that someone in the community doesn’t highly value.”

And that’s the problem. Cities and states have gotten fat, dumb and happy while they’ve seen their incomes rise in unprecedented fashion during the past decade. Rather than focusing on “needs” and essential services, states and cities have found things that the “community highly values” to justify increased taxes.

Have any of you lived through a government shut down because of budget issues?   Minnesota had one a few years back.    The State cut back only to essential services meaning  public safety, everything else was shut down.   I don’t know of anyone that was clamoring for the budget to be settled to get all of their lost services back!  

Especially at the city/county level, now is the time to stay engaged in the process. As your local officials work to adjust budgets to recognize their new economic environments stay close and focus them on needs versus wants. It’s far too easy for Mayors to start talking about “cutting police protection” when they should be talking about cutting administrative staff and programs that are outside of essential services.

If budgets are adjusted simply on a % basis, you may have a smaller budget but one that is still funding “highly valued” but nonessential services while underfunding the services, like police, that really are one of the key responsibilities of government.

If diligence is pursued during these difficult times you’ll have a much better base to work from when things improve. A little work now can surely make for a silver lining later on.

October 17, 2008

Open Thread Thursday – Friday edition

by @ 11:18. Filed under Open Thread Thursday.

Things are still too busy in and around the bunker, so I might pop back in later.

Today’s random lesson – do NOT buy D-Link routers; they tend to delink.

October 16, 2008

Just drained – consider this Open Thread Thursday

by @ 17:14. Filed under Open Thread Thursday.

I spent most of the afternoon over at the younger sister/brother-in-law’s place reworking their wireless network. Of course, he forgot to tell me that they switching providers (from TDS to Time Warner), and that the cable modem wouldn’t be wireless like his old DSL modem, so I had to make an emergency run to Best Buy to grab a wireless router.

Worse, the Ethernet port on their main computer is toast, and the computer downstairs (running WinME) just is too buggy, so I had to run back to the bunker to grab my laptop so I could program the new router. Then, the router was a bit balky once I disconnected the laptop, so I burned another hour getting things to the point where I could get their computers to connect from a cold restart without the laptop hooked in.

Oh well, all’s well that ends well, and they’re back on the ‘tubes. Even better, the allergies weren’t really affected by their dogs. Another successful Beernech Tech Support job.

October 15, 2008

The last debate – drunkblog

by @ 16:26. Filed under Politics - National.

I decided that with all the bad news today, I need a lot of stiff drinks. The fun will start about 7:45, and because Shoebox is still out of town, I invited Josh Schroeder to cohost. In fact, if this place goes down (again; I had a server outage around 5 pm), Josh does have the CiL window embedded on his site.

If I can remember to stick to the conventions; the questions will be in italics, the answers (you’ll know because I will stick either McCain or Obama in front of them) will be in plain text, and my comments inline with either a question or answer will be in italics.

I may be a bit later than 7:45; I have a meeting at my church at 7.

I see you guys started without me. The CiL is now open!

Paul Ryan Roadmap ad

This first came out in September, but the campaign had not previously made it available via YouTube.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgUVxz_4zAE[/youtube]

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