For both of you who have been kind enough to have read my previously regular blather, I owe you an explanation. 

I have not lost interest in the topics of the day or blogging.  I couldn’t be more passionate about either.  No, the reason you haven’t seen much from me lately is that I’ve taken a new role in KY (go Wildcats!) and have been commuting between there and my family back in Minnesota.  With a new role that is all consuming and a family who would like to be all consuming, I just haven’t had the time to sit down and pen much.  I hope that in the future I can rebalance work and life and get the time to get back to my avocation.  OK, on to the meat….

Being involved in a loved one’s death can be an emotionally and physically trying experience.  Oh, I’m not referring to the occassional parental notion to eat their young, I’m referring to the actual physical death of a loved one’s earthly body.  While I haven’t experienced the death of a member of my immediate family despite several close calls, I have watched the impact as Mrs. Shoe has lost both her oldest brother and her father.

In the case of Mrs. Shoe’s oldest brother, he had a long, debilitating battle with mesothelioma.  I saw as this large, robust specimen of a man was reduced to something approaching a 98 pound weakling size as the cancer took its toll.  I also watched as his family, including Mrs. Shoe, dealt with the inevitable while hoping and praying for the miraculous.  I don’t remember exactly the time frame but, I believe it was about three years that the family dealt with the continuous deterioration and in many cases, the hopelessness of the disease, before he passed.

In the other case, of Mrs. Shoe’s father, while he too had a debilitating disease, emphysema, no one really considered the likelihood of his death much until we got the call.  Mrs. Shoe’s dad had contracted pneumonia while on vacation.  While in the hospital, his doctor put him on a ventilator to allow his lungs to heal.  Unfortunately, what was intended to heal, ultimately led to his death.  It turned out that Dad’s lungs, once relieved of the daily effort of providing for the body, never wanted to work on their own again.  After a few days, dad slipped into a coma and the family was left with the decision of waiting, hoping, praying or “pulling the plug.”

Of the two experiences, I’m hard pressed to determine which is preferable.  On the one hand, a long drawn out illness allows the family to adjust.  On the other hand, the adjustment is continual and you go through some real emotional roller coasters as you get a bit of hope only to be dashed by a new, negative prognosis.

When looking at an “end of life decision,” the good is you only have to make the decision once.  The bad is that you have to make the decision at all.

At this point you may ask, “Why the morose litany Shoebox?”

It is now clear that no matter how the Democrats ultimately vote on Placebocare they are watching the death of the Barack Obama Presidency and likely, the Democrat party as we know it.  All the polls are showing a solid majority of Americans against Placebocare.  Moreover, the anti Placebocare is not just a passing fancy.  The folks who are against it are against it vehemently.  When you look at the state by state and district by district polling, there is no way that the Democrats will maintain the House and it is becoming more likely that they could lose the Senate.

If the Democrats pass Placebocare they may placate their base.  By doing so they may be able to give Obama a “victory” which might allow him to at least appear like he is in charge until November or more appropriately, January of next year. 

If the Democrats don’t pass the Placebocare, President Obama immediately becomes a lame duck President.  The Senators up for election and the entire Democrat caucus of the House will immediately go into self preservation mode.  The result will be that no legislation proposed by Obama, other than supporting a proclamation for Mother’s Day, will get any support from either House and President Obama will be politically neutered.

In the final analysis, for President Obama and the Democrat party the end will be the same, they will die politically.  The only question in my mind is whether the Democrats will pass Placebocare and watch Obama and the party waste away to a 98 pound weakling before succumbing or whether the Democrats will have the courage to “pull the plug” and save us all the interim agony?

That’s right, kids. You lost an hour this morning. If you still haven’t moved your clocks ahead an hour (and most-likely, if you have a WordPress-based blog, you haven’t), move them ahead one hour.

If you have a WordPress blog (whether it is on WordPress.com, a WordPress stand-alone, or WordPress MU – this includes Blogivists and Conservablogs), and you aren’t using UTC, you need to change it to Daylight Saving Time (Central UTC -5, Mountain UTC -6, Eastern UTC -4, Pacific UTC -7, and check your clock for other locales). To do so, go into your wp-admin panel, select “Settings”, and under the “General Settings” page that pops up, select the right time zone. Don’t forget to hit “save” when you’re done.

This concludes this activation of the Emergency Blogging System.

In any case, I’m all over the place this weekend:

- Tonight and tomorrow – Defending the American Dream Summit, Chula Vista Resort and Wisconsin Dells Center, Wisconsin Dells.

- Sunday, 1 pm – Taxpayers’ Rally with Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch, Rosebud Cinema (6823 W. North Ave.), Wauwatosa.

The first salvo in the current numbers war came from Milwaukee County Executive, and candidate for the Republican nomination, Scott Walker, who wants to create the conditions to allow the private sector to create a minimum of 250,000 jobs by the end of his first term. That would roughly duplicate the feat achieved in former Governor Tommy Thompson’s first term.

The second salvo came from Barrett, who wants to, in his first three years, merely replace the 180,000 jobs lost since the “start” of the recession at the end of 2007, by spending somewhere north of $900 million up-front in taxes, both state and federal. At the same time, he scoffed at Walker’s notion that it is possible to do that and add an additional 70,000 jobs in a fourth year, much less without spending something in the neighborhood of $1 billion in taxes.

Salvo three came in from former Congressman, and Republican candidate for governor, Mark Neumann, who while refusing to play the numbers game, also says that it is the private sector that actually creates jobs.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of drinking songs…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Have at it.

The March 2010 Drinking Right will commence in 24 hours over at the usual place (Papa’s Social Club, 7718 W. Burleigh in Milwaukee). You are hereby instructed to be there. Failure is not an option.

Now, repeat after the EBS – “I will be at Drinking Right Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 7 pm.”

This has been the Emergency Blogging System.

“They’ve had plenty of opportunity to make their voices heard.” “Bipartisanship is a two-way street. A bill can be bipartisan without bipartisan votes. Republicans have left their imprint.”

Bipartisan huh?  You mean like the amendments to prevent Placebocare from paying for abortions that were shot down?  That bipartisan?

Or maybe Pelosi means the amendments to add tort reform that were shot down.  Maybe that’s the bipartisan she refers to?

Oh wait, I know.  I’ll bet Nancy is referring to the bipartisan nature in the way Congress agreed to have the Placebocare plans impact themselves just like any other American.  Maybe that’s Nancy’s view of the bipartisan impact there has been on the bill?

If Pelosi’s definition of “bipartisanship” is the one that should be used rather than Websters, we’ll need to rewrite a few sections of history.

From now on, it will be understood that Germany’s invasion of Poland during WWII was actually a bipartisan effort. From now on it will be understood that West Germany influenced the erection of the Berlin wall enough to make it a bipartisan effort. Of course, it will forever more go with out saying that the US and its allies were wrong for using military force in Kuwait as the Iraqi occupation was bipartisan.

Representative John Kline spoke at the Republican convention I attended on Saturday.  To paraphrase Kline, he said that there was only one good thing coming out of Congress and that was that Pelosi was not going to be Speaker after this term.  That’s the kind of bipartisanship I can get behind!

If Placebocare passes via the reconcilliation path, it will need to originate in the House.  There is a lot of speculation as to whether Pelosi can whip the required number of votes to pass Placebocare out of the House.  While whether she does or not is yet to be seen, two things are certain, there will be no Republican votes passing it out of the House and there will be Democrat votes voting against it.  I doubt this is what she had in mind but Ms. Pelosi, the only thing bipartisan about the vote on Placebocare will be in those who oppose it.  I hope the bipartisan vote prevails!

And where was Steve Egg when all this went down?

My guess is he arranged a group outing to a Liza concert that skewed the vote.

Then the presidential campaign started.  We quickly learned about Obama’s participation in the Chicago Democratic machine, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers.  There is a good chance your mommy told you, “You will be judged by the company you keep.”  And you know what?  Looking at the company someone keeps is usually a pretty good indicator of who that person is.

We have recently learned that the President intends to push the stalled health care legislation through Congress using the “reconciliation” process, thereby avoiding the need to get 60 votes in the Senate. There is now only one reason to continue down this path: an undying commitment to government control of the largest single sector of the U.S. economy.

The people do not want this.  Every credible poll shows a 15% to 20% disapproval gap.  It is a budget buster.  There is no chance to get Republican support and claim bipartisanship.  Members of the President’s own party inside Congress don’t want this.  It seems almost every Democratic analyst that isn’t on the White House payroll thinks this is a bad idea.  Americans understand that the economy in general, and the unemployment rate in particular, is a much bigger priority.  And you can’t even argue that Obama is looking at the pure politics of the situation.  Forcing passage of the health care legislation will take a dreadful November outlook for Democrats and make it worse.

Forcing this through under these circumstances will once and for all demonstrate what many of us have known all along.  This president is hell bent on a statist system in America. How on earth did “the land of the free and the home of the brave” come to this? It is beyond disturbing.

We didn’t change.

Some time passed, actually most of the ten year urgent zone, and something odd was noticed.  Hurricanes and tornadoes didn’t increase, their occurrence rates stayed flat or even reduced.  Polar bears didn’t disappear, they actually increased in numbers.  Worse of all, temperatures were no longer increasing, they were flat or (HORRORS!) in some cases, even decreasing.  How could any of this be?  None of this was supposed to happen with “Global Warming!”

The warming zealots condescendingly chided us for asking “what happened to the warming,” and explained that “Global warming was only part of the equation.”  As they fully understood the complexities climatic interactions, they told us that “warming was only a part of the equation.  Actually,” they continued, “cooling can also be part of the equation.  While our concern was originally focused on warming, the real issue is “Climate Change” which includes any variation in climate that we can use to fool you into believing our desire to control your actions!”

And so, the term “Climate Change” was born not as a definition of reality but as a result of sleight of hand where just like a magician, they didn’t want you to pay attention to the real issue and the real action of the trick.

For months there has been concern about what would/will happen if China, the largest holder and buyer of US treasuries, decided they were full and didn’t want to obtain any more.  This past week, the US held another treasury auction.  We found out at that auction that indeed, China is now full.  Not only did China not buy many treasury offerings, they became and net seller of treasuries in December of ‘09.

If indeed China is full of treasuries or worse, if China is net selling treasuries, the financing of President Obama’s massive deficits will become a big challenge.  If US debt is not absorbed in the open market and no change is made in the debt required due to the huge spending budgets, the solutions become ugly.  Dramatically higher interest rates and force inflation are just two of the prettier ways of dealing with the situation.  Other options are far less attractive.

One would think that the Obama administration would be paying attention to the change in China’s attitude.  One would think that if Obama were really serious about his newly announced appreciation for fiscal conservatism, he would be using this event as an indicator of our need for change.  He would point at it and say “we’re at the end of our borrowing limits, we need to change now!”

One would think.

When asked what if anything, the change in China’s treasury appetite meant, Top White House adviser Lawrence Summers said:

The truth is that these numbers fluctuate and that there’s a wide range of holders of Treasury debt.

Like “Global Warming” before it, President Obama’s concern for “budget deficits” appear to be transforming underthe  inconvenient and untimely facts that face it.  As “Global Warming” became “Climate Change”, a “debt crisis” is now just “portfolio diversity” according to Larry Summers.

Yeah, right.  Now, let me tell you the one about the three bears!

As many of you will have noticed, the past 355 days have not – repeat not – placed TrogloPundit in contention to join the fabled Million Hits in a Year club. That’s why I’m telling you about my anniversary a day short.

See, it’s not too late. All we need is…well…about six hundred and seventy-six thousand hits between now and 11:59 pm tomorrow. That’s it! Okay, a little more than that, I think. Make it six hundred and seventy-seven thousand hits, just to be safe. And that’ll make One Million Hits!

Go. Hit Trog again and again and again. Most of you haven’t seen him when he is REALLY desperate. I have. It’s not a pretty sight, completely unlike this shameless theft from Trog…

A recent Gallup poll had President Obama in a statistical dead heat with an unnamed Republican candidate.  The same poll showed that when a name was put in for the Republican candidate, the highest support was for Mitt Romney at 14%.  You might ask, “What does this mean?”  Well, what it means is that “nobody” is the favorite Republican candidate and, as of today, Nobody is in a dead heat against President Obama in the 2012 Presidential election.

I read the headline of the poll story today, thought about it for awhile and an idea hit me like broken clasp off of Dolly Parton’s bra…I’m a nobody!

Don’t mistake my comment.  I’m not lamenting or feeling sorry for myself.  Actually, I’m elated!  Based on all of the comments from Democrat leadership over the past couple of years I’m Nobody.  Gallup says that with a little effort, I could be the next president!

As I was contemplating whether it was conceivable to run for president (this is all rather sudden), Stephen Green aka Vodkapundit tweeted back:

Problem is, “Nobody” probably polls better against Obama than any of the likely GOP somebodies.

Upon hearing this, I first thought “Now I have trouble.”  But, after thinking about it a bit more it dawned me; I’m not a GOP somebody.  In fact, I’m a general Nobody and I’m also a GOP Nobody!

The way I see things there is no one who is a bigger general Nobody than me.  Even if there was, there is certainly no one who is a bigger GOP Nobody than me!  Based on Gallup, I can be President in 2012 with less effort than it takes me to write a post here a few days each week.

Therefore, after considering the “encouragement” from Vodkapundit, with no further ado, I, Shoebox, the biggest Nobody within the GOP, announce my candidacy for President of the United States! Please note that while Ralph Nader will also likely run as a nobody, he will not run as a GOP nobody!

While I would appreciate you telling other people about my candidacy, don’t bother, I’m Nobody so they won’t know me!

Here’s my first campaign poster.  What do you think?

This has been the Emergency Blogging System.

John Boehner or some other Republican spokesman needs to do an opening statement that goes something like this: “Mr. President, we are here tonight to discuss health care reform. We asked that the slate be wiped clean, and that we start over.  You have not agreed to that. But it is important the American people understand why Republicans are unwilling to work within the current framework.

Mr. President, you have a very different view of how medical services should be delivered. You believe that government should be allowed to compete with private business; that politicians and bureaucrats should make critical decisions about who gets what kind and quantity of health care services.  Republicans disagree.

People come to America from all over the world to obtain medical care.  That, sir, is not an accident.  It is the result of having the best health care delivery system in the world.  And that system was built by making the doctor patient / relationship paramount, and allowing free markets to foster unparalleled innovation and efficiently allocate resources.  And then there is our dedication to the sanctity of life, regardless of the age of the individual.  Republicans have offered plenty of ideas, all of which have been ignored by Democrats and special interest groups meeting in private.  Should you choose continue down the path that has destroyed the health care systems of many other nations, we will gladly be the party of “no.”  And rest assured, Mr. President, the public will reward us in November 2010 and beyond.”

Now, put yourself in Mr. Obama’s position.  What do you say next?

One theory that was not precisely a change management technique but has application there is call a BHAG. A BHAG is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal. The BHAG was popularized by James Collins in his book “Good to Great.” Collins used a BHAG as a goal that an organization could focus on. While they may have been so large that they weren’t always attained, they provided a focal point for everyone in the organization to measure against and see if the work they were doing or the plan they were looking to implement, moved them closer to or further away from the BHAG.

The translation of a BHAG for use in change management worked like this. Let’s say you had a company that typically saw sales growth of 5% annually. Let’s also say that you needed to improve on that and get to 10%. In many institutions, a change like that will be met by numerous people who tell you how and why that growth can’t be achieved. Knowing that that would occur, on a few occasions, instead of saying we wanted to grow by 10%, we’d say that we wanted to grow by 20%. Upon saying that, we would get the same group of folks telling us how and why we couldn’t achieve that growth. We’d then sit down and put a plan together with our teams for achieving 20% growth. At the end of the plan, the same people who were complaining at the start were typically still complaining. Once we completed the detailed plan we’d come back and tell folks that after taking the input, 10% is a more attainable goal. In nearly every instance, once we let them back to 10%, people would let out a collective “Whew,” and move forward executing on the 10% plan which is what we wanted all along.

By using the BHAG approach, we went through the same caterwauling and planning that we would have gone through had we originally set a 10% target. But, by using the BHAG, we allowed people to expand the belief in their own abilities beyond that what they otherwise thought they could do. If we had started at 10%, it would have been very likely that we ended up with a plan that had 6% or 7% growth.

What’s this got to do with anything?

President Obama has invited Senate and House leadership to a televised meeting to discuss Placebocare. Ostensibly, President Obama wants to find a way for the Republicans and Democrats to “come together” and pass a plan.

Folks, there is nothing about this plan to like. Short of starting all over, there should be no negotiation of any kind.

I’m afraid that the Republican leadership will not have the spine or knowledge of their own principles to stand up to this takeover of health care. I’m afraid that what could happen is that Obama views the current plan as a BHAG, that he might come back and offer a couple of Republican carrots; say something like, “we’ll look at tort reform,” or “we’ll look at more competition across state lines,” without any commitment to actual legislation. The problem with this is that if the Republicans allow this line of discussion, they will get caught in the BHAG trap and end up looking like the losers of this event.

I was discussing this concern with Birdman today and he had the perfect approach to avoiding the BHAG trap. Read the next post to see if you don’t agree with his approach.

The vast majority of Tea Party types are disaffected conservatives and libertarians.  I know the Sarah Palins of the world want us all to believe there are as many frustrated Democrats and independents in the Tea Party crowd as there are angry Republicans and libertarian leaners.  Nonsense.  The Tea Party folks are for limited, constitutionally constrained government, minimal regulation, low taxes, and a minimum of bureaucracy.  People who believe in that kind of stuff most likely have never met a Democrat.

But here is where it gets interesting.  I don’t believe these people are anti-establishment, or anti-Ivy League education, or anti-bank, or anti-business.  But they are against establishment types, Ivy League school graduates, bankers and businessmen who are able to stack the deck.  Big businesses, big banks, and well-educated people are all fine and even virtuous, so long as they have to play by the same rules as the rest of us.  Let the big bank, the big car company or the big brokerage house go down if it fails.  Don’t allow Goldman Sachs to be a feeder system for the executive branch.

The 21st Century populist is not a Kansas farmer protecting agrarian interests, or a union member trying to “get his” from a Pittsburgh steel company.  Today’s populist is simply saying that he/she wants a fair shot, and does not want to be taxed to pay off the moron who drove Bank of America into the ground.  Seems reasonable to me.

Don’t let the storm that’s supposed to dump 14 inches of snow on Milwaukee between tonight and Wednesday morning stop you from enjoying the February edition of Drinking Right. After all, it won’t be 14 inches by 7 pm tomorrow, when DR starts. As always, we will be gathered at Papa’s Social Club, 7718 W Burleigh in Milwaukee.

This has been the Emergency Blogging System.

If you have any phrases that you’re aware of and that I haven’t captured, drop them to me at Shoebox@norunnyeggs.com.  I’ll provide a proper translation and include them in future updates.

I don’t want to run – should always be followed by “but I will take over.”

As I have repeatedly said – the fact that you haven’t agreed with me in the past on this issue is not a reason that I should reconsider my position. Rather, it is a reflection of your lack of intelligence and reverence for my omnipotence.

Shovel Ready – any project that rational taxpayers would vote you out of office for if you had voted to fund it.

Stimulus – a spending bill that contains “Shovel Ready” projects that is passed only with Democrat support

Uniquely Qualified – an individual who is either a tax cheat or has other ethical issues such that they wouldn’t be hired for and can only get a role through appointment to a Democrat legislator or Democrat Administration role.

Czar – An unelected, unaccountable bureaucrat, whose purpose is to expand government programs, imposes regulation, hire more conscripts for SEIU and reduce freedom for ordinary Americans.

Let me be clear – A phrase preceding a statement that certainly won’t be clear and is probably a lie.

Unprecedented – Does not mean “unprecedented” in the context of American history. Rather, it is unprecedented in the experience of Obama. Thus, he has no reference point from which to view or address the specific issue.

Inherited from the previous administration – I know this has nothing to do with other administrations. If I couldn’t blame those guys, how else could I get you to agree to the suicidal proposal that now follows?

I will not rest – I really don’t care what you or anyone else says about this matter. I will push this issue no matter how unpopular or how damaging it is to America. In fact, the louder you complain, the more sure I am that I am right!

As hard as it is for liberals and progressives to accept, this country was founded on the notion that government action (especially action by the central government) should be viewed with suspicion.  Large scale changes dictated from Washington should not easily pass.  When one political party controls the presidency and both houses of Congress, the only protection against an over zealous government is the requirement that the controlling party must obtain at least some support from the minority party.

I hope some day we can actually turn this ship around and start moving back toward a constitutionally constrained government.  In the meantime, the only hope is to slow the ship down, which gives us a better chance to turn back before hitting the iceberg known as socialism.

President Obama has responded to fear of excessive government spending by discussing his desire to get our federal deficits under control. He then rolls out a $3.83 trillion budget proposal. The assertion that such a budget proposal indicates any concern whatsoever for deficit spending is beyond comprehension. Doublespeak.

But it gets worse. Obama then goes on to repeat is mantra that it is all Bush’s fault. Believe me, I am no defender of Bush’s domestic policy or spending habits. But Bush’s last budget was $3.1 trillion. Obama has increased that number by 25%. But get this. The largest deficit under Bush was $407 billion. The current fiscal year deficit (Obama’s first) is about $1.5 trillion (the actual final number has not yet been determined).  That is nearly four times Bush’s final deficit. And under Obama’s current proposal, next year’s deficit will be about $1.8 trillion. Using that standard, one could argue that Bush was down right frugal.

Obama’s next doublespeak comes in the form of a promise to fix our profligate spending habits by imposing a freeze on discretionary spending. Let me make it really simple. Let’s say I told my family that we really need to get our living expenses down, and here is my plan. This year we are going to increase overall household spending by about 25%. We’ll do the same in 2011. And during that time we are going to increase spending on shirts by 24%. Then, starting in 2012 we will freeze shirt spending for three years. Voila!! Birdman household budget fixed!!

I literally pray to God that people see through this nonsense and understand the peril we face if we continue down this path. This president literally frightens me.

According to Patterico, the affidavit filed said nothing about bugging, intercepting or wire tapping.  It did talk about an allegation that they attempted to access the phone equipment closet.

Patterico guesses:

I believe they pretended to try to access the telephone closet, to tape the reaction of officials: “Why? It’s not like there’s a problem with the phones in Sen. Landrieu’s office!”

I think Patterico is on to something. 

With Landrieu getting the “Louisiana Purchase” and the heat of the placebocare debate, there is no doubt that Landrieu’s office was being swamped with phone calls.  My personal experience with Senators that didn’t have the profile of Landrieu is that for the several weeks prior to Scott Brown’s election, your odds of getting someone to answer your call were slimmer than getting to talk to Rush Limbaugh. 

Thinking about O’Keefe’s warped sense of humor I think they had been working to see how many times they could get through to Landrieu’s office.  Finding that the number was only fractionally above zero, they set up the scenario in Landrieu’s office where they would feign working on the phone system under the guise of numerous reports from constituents that the phone system was broken.  I’m sure they would have gotten responses on tape denying any malfunction of the phone system and O’Keefe would have his “gotcha” moment.

Hey, I didn’t claimed it was great theatre but I think I’m on the right track.  I’m hoping for O’Keefe’s sake that it is that simple.  It would be good to have a quick end to this for O’Keefe.

Update:  I’m so damn smart!  From Hotair.com

The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false. …
I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu’s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn’t want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. When asked about this, Senator Landrieu’s explanation was that, “Our lines have been jammed for weeks.” I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for “weeks” because her phones were broken. In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu’s district office – the people’s office – to ask the staff if their phones were working.

The Democrats are in full blown implosion mode. I offer just a few bits of anecdotal evidence, some circumstantial and some brought on by the Party itself.

1. Unemployment still 10%, and unlikely to change much by November.

2. People are really upset about spending, and the next 7 months will be a parade of more and more red ink.

3. The people are really upset about the attempted government takeover of health care.

4. Democratic candidates are choosing not to run for re-election.

5. Joe Biden’s son decided not to run for his old man’s Senate seat.

6. Polling indicates people are running from the Democratic Party.

7. Obama is screwing up our fight against terrorists.

8. Nancy Pelosi’s approval rating is right in line with Charles Manson’s.

9.  The “Louisiana Purchase”, “Cornhusker Kickback,” and last minute sweetheart deal for unions demonstrated a level of corruption that would make Nixon blush.

10. History.  The first midterm election for a first term president is generally abysmal, even in the absence of the above factors.

The Democrats have thrown the Republicans a “hanging curve.” It will be interesting to see if the Republicans know how to swing a bat. History is not encouraging.

At day 22 of my captivity, the DHS now says that they have all the information they need to make a determination of whether I am who I say I am!

You’ll love this:

We are currently reviewing the submission to determine if the delays are caused by incorrect information or mistaken identity. We will also coordinate with other Federal Agencies as appropriate to make this determination and to correct any errors.

“If” the delays are caused by incorrect information or mistaken identity? Damn right they are!

Stay tuned. I suspect I’ll be getting a friendly check in from the IRS next!

That raises the question, why on earth is Palin spending time supporting the candidacy of John McCain against a real conservative like J.D. Hayworth, who is challenging McCain for the Republican nomination for Senate in Arizona.  For the record, Hayworth is a real conservative.

It might be as simple as loyalty.  McCain, after all, did make Sarah Palin a vice presidential candidate. But I think it goes beyond that.  You may recall that during the presidential campaign Palin pressed the “maverick” label to the point of absurdity.  Merriam-Webster defines a maverick as, “an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party.”  So when you think about it, being a maverick is not in and of itself a virtue.  People who engage in deviant behavior are “mavericks” to the extent they don’t go along with the group.

There are many times when going along with the group or party is the right thing to do.  I hope Ms. Palin understands that her popularity among her followers is the result of going along with the group when the group is right, and being a maverick when the group is wrong.  Her friend Senator McCain does not do a very good job of that.  If Sarah Palin wants to maintain her influence with the followers she currently has, she would do well to distance herself from the good Senator.

Then something interesting occurred to me. The only piece of legislation passed specifically to address the banking problem was the Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”).  (For the record, I opposed TARP).  So it is worth noting that TARP was signed into law on October 3, 2008, long before Barack Obama became President. So, Mr. President, if TARP actually saved us from a depression on your watch, you better thank Mr. Bush.  Fat chance.