define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true); define('DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true); No Runny Eggs

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.

September 26, 2008

Politiczing the Bailout

by @ 10:05. Filed under Politics - National.

As more and more information becomes available about the meeting yesterday at the White House and the Republican revolt against the bailout plan, it is more and more obvious that political gamesmanship is what has occurred during his week and not any kind of “successful negotiations!”

It first appeared that John McCain’s announcement to come to Washington had caused the Democrats and Republicans to find a compromise.   I thought that’s what had happened when Chris Dodd announced about noon yesterday that an agreement in principle had been reached.

It appeared then, that the White House meeting would be nothing more than a bunch of handshaking and self congratulations amongst the Washington political leadership from both sides.

Instead, according to various articles, Republicans announced that they were not supportive of the amended proposal and argued for a different plan.

How do I know that the entire negotiation was just a political manuevering?   This quote from an article by the “News Agency Who Shall Not be Named:”

The Massachusetts Democrat said leading Democrats on Capitol Hill were shocked by the level of divisiveness that surfaced at Thursday’s extraordinary White House meeting, leaving six days of intensive efforts to agree on a bailout plan in tatters only hours after key congressional players of both parties had declared they were in accord on the outlines of a $700 billion bill.

(emphasis mine)
How do you negotiate one of the largest, market impacting deals ever, announce you have a “deal in principle” and then get “shocked by the level of divisiveness?”

Simple, the “negotiated” plan was never negotiated. As the Dems have done time after time, they decided what they wanted to do, found a couple of invertebrate Republicans to pick off to perform ventriloquist acts with and announced “an agreement in principle” that never, ever was agreed to.

The Dems are now grousing that without Republican support, they won’t pass the bailout bill! Why not? If they’re so sure that what they’re doing is the right thing, do it! They have the votes in both chambers and the support of the President. Nothing prevents them from passing their bill immediately!
Nothing that is except for a complete lack of leadership and spine. The Democrats are great at sniping and Monday morning quarterbacking but don’t have the courage of their own convictions when real leadership is required!

We haven’t dragged this out for a while but it seems appropriate. This is a video that describes what the Dems believe leadership to be:

It’s time for some leadership. The public has not been convinced that a bailout needs to occur. Someone needs to chart a course of action and convince both Congress and the American People that it is the right thing to do. If John McCain and Barack Obama want to be the next President, now is the time for them to show their ability to lead. I’m still convinced that this is the gunfight at the OK campaign.

Americans are hungry for leadership on this issue.  Will we find  any leaders, anywhere, in Washington?

September 25, 2008

Snapshot NRE poll – Do I drunkblog an Obama-only gabfest?

by @ 17:40. Filed under NRE Polls.

With the likelyhood that John McCain will bail on tomorrow’s debate, I have to ask the question of whether watching Barack Obama make hay of the situation is worth it.

Do I drunkblog an Obama-only gabfest Friday night?

Up to 1 answer(s) was/were allowed

  • Yes (100%, 8 Vote(s))
  • No (13%, 1 Vote(s))

Total Voters: 8

Loading ... Loading ...

This poll will close at 3:30 pm tomorrow because if I don’t drunkblog it, I want to be at the Brewers’ game tomorrow.

Talking to Four Year Olds – Sibling Relations Edition

by @ 16:30. Filed under Politics - National.

All parents of multiple children have to deal with sibling relationships from time to time.   When I was growing up, because I was the oldest, sibling relationship management for my Dad usually amounted to,

“You’re older and should know better so leave your sister alone!”

While you could technically use that solution with twins (Thing 1 is 10 minutes older than Thing 2) it really only works when you have a sibling who is/should be more physically, mentally or emotionally developed.  

When working with our twins, Mrs. Shoe and I use a different sibling management technique.   When Thing 1 and Thing 2 get into one of their bickering contests and we get to a point where an end doesn’t seem imminent, Mrs. Shoe or I will intercede with,

“Listen, you have a choice.   You can solve this issue yourselves or I can step in.   If I step in, I will guarantee you that neither of you will be happy with the solution.”

That is the threat that John McCain brought to Washington today!

As I surmised yesterday, McCain was in fact, asked to come and help with the bail out bill. According to an interview with Bob Schieffer, McCain was invited by Paulson to help wrangle a solution because Republicans were balking at the Democrat’s proposal.

As an aside, but to make sure  the nattering nabobs didn’t miss this; McCain went to Washington NOT as a POLTICAL STUNT but because he believed it was important for him to be there and that he could make a difference!

What’s this got to do with sibling relational management?   Well first, after McCain essentially said,

“Don’t make me come in there!”

The first thing that happened was that Harry Reid denied that  McCain needed to be involved! Then, about noon today, Chris Dodd dashed out and announced that they had an agreement in principle! Wow! that’s amazing when just yesterday morning only 4 Senate Republicans were willing to vote for the bill!

So what happened? It seems there’s only two choices. Either the Republicans caved or Democrats backed off of some of their more egregious demands. We’ll know which, more likely how much of both, happened later. My guess is that neither would have happened had John McCain not announced that he was suspending his campaign to work on the issue.

With McCain’s reputation for find bipartisan solutions coupled with the intense scrutiny that the negotiations were going to get because McCain had suspended his campaign to join, there was a message sent to both the Democrats and the Republicans. The message was:

“Listen, you have a choice. You can solve this issue yourselves or I can step in. If I step in, I will guarantee you that neither of you will be happy with the solution.”

Sometimes you need an adult to manage childlike petulance.

Gagne to give away 5,000 tickets to tonight’s game

by @ 15:26. Filed under Sports.

I just caught this on JSOnline’s DayWatch from Don Walker…

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Eric Gagne bought 5,000 tickets to tonight’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates and plans to give them away.

“Tonight we’ll be playing one of the most important games in franchise history, and I can think of no better way to thank the fans than giving families an opportunity to pack Miller Park,” Gagne said in a statement released by the team. “No matter what happens over these next four games, I want everyone to know that I think the world of Brewers fans. Three million times they have walked through the gates this year and none of us on the field takes their support for granted. We’re going to have some fun out here, and I know that the atmosphere will be electric.”

Beginning at 3:30 p.m., fans can go to Brewers.com to request up to four tickets. Click on the “Gagne Giveaway” graphic to go to the ticket request page and enter Gagne as the password when prompted.

Fans requesting the complimentary tickets will be subject to a one-time $2 fee for printing their ticket order at home, or a $4 per order fee for picking at Miller Park will call.

Tickets are first come, first served.

Hooray Gagne!

Eggs on the road, Hunting for October

by @ 15:20. Filed under Miscellaneous.

There’s plenty of trips the next couple weeks:

– I’ve got some Brewer supporting to do since the Crew is 5-1 in games I’ve been at. I’ll be at tonight’s, Saturday’s and Sunday’s games (I’ve got a debate drunkblog to run tomorrow).

– The September version of Blog ‘n Grog will be at the House of Guiness, 354 W. Main St. in Waukesha, at 8 pm.

– As noted earlier, I’ll help kick off Drinking Right-DC on Tuesday, October 7 over at Mr. Days Sports Rock Cafe, 3100 Clarendon Blvd. in Arlington, VA, at 6 pm (that would be Eastern).

– Finally, Drinking Right-Wisconsin happens at its usual 2nd Tuesday, October 14, at Papa’s Social Club, 7718 W Burleigh in Milwaukee, at 7 pm (back to Central).

Poll-a-copia

by @ 13:54. Filed under Elections, Politics - National.

Jim Geraghty has been wondering how John McCain could be gaining among independents and still be losing to Barack Obama overall in various national polls. The popular conventional wisdom is that the current crop of polls are oversampling Democrats. Because he specifically asked for the oddly-missing party-identity numbers from the most-recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, which has Obama up 46%-44% among registered voters now compared to him up 45%-43% among registered voters in August (conducted before either running mate was made known), despite a swing from a 46%-35% Obama lead among “independents” in August to a 49%-34% McCain lead among “independents” in September, I’ll focus on that. I will ignore the “likely voter” component, where Obama leads 49%-45%, for now partly because I need to compare apples to apples (the August poll did not include “likely voters”), and partly because there is not a partisan breakdown among “likely voters”.

Before I get to the party identification explanation, I must note that Obama’s support among Democrats jumped from 78% to 87%. While some of this came from “McCain-ocrats” (McCain’s support among Democrats dipped from 9% to 5%), most of the gain came from the undecideds, as that dropped from 11% to 5%. In any case, I guess the PUMAs are coming home to roost.

Similarily, McCain has also strengthened his support among Republicans, albeit slightly. That went from 90% to 91%, and appears to have come at the expense of Bob Barr. More-pointedly, the percentage of “Obama-cans” remained unchanged at 6%.

Now, to the math. In order to do a comparison between the August and September polls, one has to know the party-identity internals from the August poll. Fortunately, those numbers are part of the August release, and were 34% Democratic, 29% Republican, 29% Independent, 4% Other Party, and an unmentioned 4% “refused to answer”. Since the remainder of the internals grouped the Independents, Other Party’ers, and “refused to answer”‘s together under the “independent” label, that becomes 37%.

I must point out that the 5-point advantage the Democrats had in the August poll is greater than the biggest of recent election-day splits (4 points in favor of the Democrats in 1996 and 2000, which actually beat the 3-point advantage they had in their historic 2006 election).

This is borne out, within rounding errors, by putting the results of a given early-in-the-poll question with three (or more) distinct answers into equation form (specifically, 3 equations) and solving for the three variables of the Democratic, Republican, and “independent” portions of support for each answer.

Since there are several questions in the September poll that meet those requirements, one can average the rounding errors out. I specifically solved the equations for questions 2, 9 (and the composite “ticket splitter” table), 13, and 15, and came up with an average of 34% Democrats, 43% “independents” and 23% Republicans in the September poll.

While there isn’t a massive increase in the percentage of Democrats included, there are a couple of things of note:

– The split between Democrats and Republicans (+11 D) matches the inflated numbers in other recent polls.
– The 21% decrease in the percentage of Republicans belies the conventional conservative wisdom that the selection of Sarah Palin energized the Republican base, at least on a statistical level. I can cite piece of circumstantial evidence (an incredible number of conservative bloggers jumping on the Straight Talk Express) after piece of circumstantial evidence (60,000 for Palin in Florida) after piece of circumstantial evidence (McCain/Palin outdrawing Obama in Green Bay) why this decrease is a bunch of macaca, but regular readers of this place already know why the decrease is a bunch of macaca.

For grins, let’s apply the August partisan split to the September poll, and the September poll to the August split. Had the August partisan split been applied to the September poll, McCain would be up 46%-44%. Had the September partisan split been applied to August, Obama would have been up 48%-39%.

I’ll briefly discuss the other oddity from the Times poll; the 4-point Obama lead among “likely” voters. There is one question that is somewhat relevant; number 3, or the “are you sure?” question. Again, there is not a specific breakdown of “likely” voters, but neither the partisan split among registered voters (91% of Democrats are sure of their choice, 88% of Republicans are sure of theirs) nor the split between the tickets (85% of Obama/Biden supporters are sure, 84% of McCain/Palin supporters are sure) fully-explains why Obama has that increased difference among “likely” voters.

Weathermen Beware!

by @ 5:30. Filed under Sports.

After 7+ seasons, Matt Millen has finally been fired as General Manager of the Detroit Lions!

During his tenure, the Lions were probably the most inept team in professional football.   Their record was 53 games below 500 and they had lost at least 9 games in each of the seasons.

This season the Lions started the season 0-3, they’ve given up 113 points and have lost the three games by an average of 18 points.

If someone like Matt Millen, the butt of a innumerable jokes about ineptitude, can be fired what hope is there for your average Weatherman?

Who Ya Going To Call?

by @ 5:07. Filed under Miscellaneous.

First, a video to set the scene:

This article in the Washington Post  outlines McCain’s timeline and discussions that led him to decide to suspend his campaign and head to Washington to aid in the negotiation of the bailout plan.

The money quote of the article:

“We got a good sense last night, even more so this morning,” one top aide said. “Got in a position where Democrats were warily circling McCain — not going to commit to a deal unless McCain does. It was just a time for leadership. So he just stepped up.”

The aides said the concern mounted Wednesday morning, as McCain met with a panel of economic advisers and made phone calls with the Congressional leadership, including Sens. Hillary Clinton and Mitch McConnell, and Reps. Roy Blunt and John Boehner.

Yesterday, Harry Reid was reported as demanding that McCain must support the debated bill or he would not allow it to pass. Today, Harry reversed himself and said:

I understand that the candidates are putting together a joint statement at Senator Obama’s suggestion. But it would not be helpful at this time to have them come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation’s economy. If that changes, we will call upon them. We need leadership; not a campaign photo op.

Why is this important?

A few reasons:
First, Harry Reid is about to look like a really big fool. In his wildest imagination he didn’t believe McCain would actually get involved with this process. Reid thought he could use McCain to whip the Republicans into supporting a Democrat designed bill without McCain being anywhere near it. McCain called Reid’s bluff.

Second, McCain talked to Hillary Clinton about the ongoing debate. My bet is that McCain called Clinton. On the other hand, Obama has once again done nothing that was bipartisan except attempt to write a joint statement with McCain. That joint statement, by Obama’s own admission, was requested by Tom Coburn, it wasn’t Barack’s idea!

Finally, it’s apparent that the Republicans were ready to tube this endeavor. I believe McCain has come to the conclusion that something needs to be done. It may not be the plan as written but if “nothing” would have sufficed, he would not have left the campaign. McCain obviously believes something needs to be done and that he can help bring the Dems and the Republicans together to accomplish it.

I stand by my earlier post that calls McCain’s move an “OK Corral” moment. By the end of this weekend I believe one of the two candidates will be firmly etched in the public mind as the person best able to deal with economic issues.

I’m also increasingly optimistic that the person who will come out on top is McCain.

In his press conference explaining why he wouldn’t be suspending his campaign, Barack Obama said:

Given the fierce competition of this election and the enormous stakes involved, that, the fact that both parties agree that we need to focus on this problem on Capital hill and this is an issue that should transcend the typical day to day politics, I think that’s an important statement and one that I’m glad to be a party to.

Fancy word that “transcend.” Interesting that while John McCain takes action to transcend the day to day politics, Obama only talks about it

Later Obama said he told Congressional Democrat leadership:

If you need me, call me.

Who did Harry Reid call for to get bipartisan buy in for the bill? Nope, it wasn’t “The Transcendent One” himself, it was John McCain. Even Harry knows what a real leader looks like!

September 24, 2008

Roll bloat – Let there be drinks edition

by @ 23:22. Filed under The Blog.

The technical third of the Drinking Right trifecta, Nick Schweitzer, has set up an actual home for Drinking Right. It helps that we’re franchising out to the DC area with Sean Hackbarth and Kevin Binversie starting things up right on October 7 at 6 pm over at Mr. Days Sports Rock Cafe (3100 Clarendon Blvd. in Arlington, VA).

I will be there, as I weaseled my way into having a couple extra days in DC before AFP’s Defending the American Dream summit. As usual, I’ll also be at the Wisconsin version at Papa’s Social Club (7718 W. Burleigh in Milwaukee) at 7 pm on October 14.

Sorry about the lack of blogging lately

by @ 20:07. Filed under Miscellaneous.

I just haven’t had the steam to complete anything lately. Sorry about that. I have to thank Shoebox for picking up the slack.

BBBBBBBBULLSHIT!

by @ 15:22. Filed under Energy.

I’m pretty sure that’s how Jim Cramer would respond to this!

 

This headline from “The News Agency Who Shall Not Be Named:”
House votes to end offshore drilling ban

The article claims that because the Dems didn’t force the provision to extend the moratorium into a continuing resolution, they “voted to end” the ban!

What the hell?!?!?!?!

How can something that is not voted on be a vote not to do it?

“Nancy and the Dimmocrats” for all intents and purposes, voted to extend the ban with the ridiculous bill that they claimed was a “drilling bill.” Only when she did the math and found that she was going to lose House members if she tried to play chicken with the moratorium extension, did she cave on the issue.

Never forget; Nancy, Harry and the Democrat caucus’ in both the House and Senate have done absolutely nothing to increase even the possibility of energy supplies in this country.   What have they done?   They have ignored, obstructed, impeded, neglected and disregarded the will of 74% of the American People.

High Noon at the OK Campaign

by @ 14:55. Filed under Politics - National.

John McCain just announced that he will be suspending his campaign to return to Washington and participate in the bailout negotiations.   He has requested that Obama to the same and join him.

In his statement McCain said:

"America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen."

McCain has also requested that the debate, scheduled for Friday evening, be delayed until the negotiations are complete.

As of this writing, 2:55 PM, Obama has yet to officially respond.

If Obama chooses not follow McCain, this will be fodder for McCain ads during the remainder of the elections. Can you imagine the ads showing on Obama was more concerned about his campaign, election and himself than he was about the American people?

Whether Obama follows McCain or not this is a “High Noon” move. In the old Western movie genre, you almost didn’t need to watch the 2 hours of movie prior to the “High Noon” event as long as you just saw that part of the Western. After the “High Noon” event of the old Westerns, you knew who the winners, the losers, the living and the dying or dead were. I believe the same will be so of this “High Noon” event.

McCain’s suspension will be viewed either as a political stunt or an “America First” move. McCain will be viewed as either more partisan or a uniter. McCain will either further invigorate the Republican base or again, poke them in the eye. McCain’s choice to personally participate in the debate may well be the factor on which he either is or isn’t the winner of the November election.

We all know that Obama will pander his way through this event regardless of how he chooses to respond.

The problem for McCain is that I don’t know how, now that he has personally inserted himself in the debate, he can appear to be both a uniter and a holder of conservative values.

It’s High Noon at the campaign corral. We’ll have to wait until the smoke clears to see who wins and who looses.

Update 3:50 PM.   Barck Obama has declined to suspend his campaign and says “the debate is on.”   In one of the weirdest quotes of the campaign Obama says he told Reid and Pelosi “If you need me, call me.”   Perhaps the fact that Reid and Pelosi haven’t picked up the bat phone says more about what help they think Obama could provide than it does about the seriousness of the situation?

I hope McCain has been practicing his quick draw.   The bullets will be coming fast and furious until this thing is decided!

Look Out For That Tree!

by @ 9:43. Filed under Politics - National.

Joe Biden has finally regained some national media attention.   Yeah, but not for good reasons.

In the past week Biden has gained national media attention because he:

  • Crossed Obama saying he didn’t support the AIG bailout when Obama did.
  • Said the ad accusing McCain of not using a computer because he was “too old” when it fact it is because of his torture injuries should “never have been run.”
  • Claimed FDR went on television to provide leadership to the American people after the Great Stock Market Crash of 1929.
  • Said that Hillary Clinton probably was a better pick to be Obama’s VP than he was.

Poor Joe has become the comic relief in a campaign that has become more bitter and more personal each day.   I guess being the court jester is OK as long as your boss laughs along!

Not so much!

Tuesday, on the “Today” show regarding Biden’s AIG comment  Obama said:  

“I think that, in that situation, I think Joe should have waited as well.”

Ouch!   That’s going to leave a mark!

Remember waaaaay back in March in the middle of the primaries how Barack stood by Jeremiah Wright.   How he tried to explain his relationship by saying he didn’t need to agree with Wright on all issues.   That Wright had a unique perspective that validated his comments?

For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years," Obama said. "That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table.

Yeah, well that lasted about six weeks until Obama threw Wright under the bus saying:

If Reverend Wright thinks that’s political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well and based on his remarks yesterday, I may not know him as well as I thought either.

It took Obama six weeks to move his relationship with Wright from ardent supporter to speed bump. Six weeks during a time when events were moving much less slowly than they are now with slightly more than 40 days to the election and key debates just around the corner. How long before we hear Obama say:

If Joe Biden thinks that’s political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well and based on his remarks yesterday, I may not know him as well as I thought either.

Remember the cartoon made into a movie “George of the Jungle?” Every time George grabbed a vine to swing through the jungle, you knew we was going to slam smack into a tree. Biden’s become so regular at providing gaffes or taking a position opposite Obama’s that every time he makes a public appearance we now expect him to slam into a tree!

Joe, Joe
Joe of the campaign,
Smooth as he can be.
(Ahhhhhhhh)
Watch out for that tree.

Are the Poll Trends for Dems Worse Than Thought?

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

According to this article  by “The News Agency Who Shall Not Be Named,” Nancy and the Democrats have backtracked from their earlier commitment to shove a renewal of the offshore drilling ban into a continuing resolution bill.  

A continuing resolution bill is necessary because the “Do nothing Congress,” headed by Pelosi and Reid have, well, done nothing all session.   Included in their “nothing” is not passing spending bills that will allow the government to function next year.   So, like  college students who wait until the last day to do their assignments for the quarter, the Democrats are negotiating for a way to finish their work after the session is done.

You may remember that the House passed a bill last week that was touted as a “drilling bill.” In fact, the bill would have done next to nothing for drilling while putting onerous additional taxes on oil companies and redirecting billions of dollars to thus far, unproven and terribly inadequate “alternative energy” sources.

While the Senate hadn’t taken up the “drilling bill,” the House had promised that they were “going to the mats” and planned to insert a resurrection of the drilling ban into the continuing resolution. The thinking was that Bush wouldn’t have the political capital to veto a bill that keeps the government running. If he did, the thinking went, the Republicans wouldn’t dare sustain a veto when, in just a few weeks, they would have to face voters and explain why they had “shut down the government.”

As an aside, I for one am generally for a shut down of the government. Congress has been pretty much shut down for two years. As far as I can tell, many things, including the lapse of the oil drilling moratorium have improved, while issues like the current economic situation, surely wouldn’t have been changed.

So why did Pelosi change her mind? She seemed to have a good political position to at least give the Republicans a black eye. She obviously was against expanding drilling. She’s never done anything but what she found politically expedient so it couldn’t be that she is bowing to the will of the American people  who support drilling by overwhelming numbers!

I’ve thought about this all day and can only come up with one answer: The sudden and dramatic closing of gaps and, in some cases taking the lead, by McCain/Palin in numerous “swing” states, may well portend greater momentum towards McCain than current polls can capture.

Additionally, a dramatic surge in preference for Republicans shown in a recent Gallup poll, has the Republicans down only 3 points in the generic Democrat/Republican ballot. Just 30 days ago, the Republicans were down 11 in the same generic ballot.   This could portend fewer House losses and, dare I hope, maybe some surprise Republican pickups?

I think Nancy’s afraid for her job!

I don’t mean afraid in the sense that the Republicans retake the house, although that would be great!   I mean afraid in the political sense where she gets a significant mandate against her positions thus making her politically meaninglesser (can you be meaninglesser?   Can Nancy be any more meaningless? Let us count the ways that she has been meainingless just this year:   FISA, War funding, Surge, S-CHIP and, lest I forget, the drilling moratorium!)

I think Nancy did a calculation. Nancy added McCain’s gains in swing states with the point gain in the generic ballot.   She took that number and divided by 74% which is the ratio of Americans who want offshore drilling expanded.   She took that result and raised it to the 59th power which is the percentage of folks who support drilling in ANWR.   Nancy calculated that a certain way to galvanize support for Republicans was to “play chicken” with the drilling ban.

It turns out that Nancy did what Nancy always does, she made her decision not based on what is best for the American people.   She made her decision based on what is best for Nancy!

Welcome to Minnesota

by @ 5:13. Filed under Politics - National.

While this is a Wisconsin based blog, I know we have a number of regular readers who don’t believe the Green Bay Packers are the greatest football team only; yup, we’ve got Minnesotans!

I want to send out my finest Minnesota Nice welcome to our newest residents.

“How’s it goin’!”

I’d also like to give you a few pointers so that you’re able to fit in a bit easier.

  • Unless you’re talking to someone from “The Range” (no, that’s not a cook top), it’s not pronounced “Minn a sooo ta.”   It’s pronounced “Min ah sew ta.”
  • The “Twin Cities” are not:   Fargo/Morehead, Duluth/Superior or Whapeton/Breckenridge.   They are Minneapolis and St. Paul.
  • St. Paul, not Minneapolis, is the State Capital.   It is also where the RNC national convention was hosted.
  • While our baseball team is called the “Twins” they do not play in both Minneapolis and St. Paul.   Their stadium is in Minneapolis.
  • Speaking of which, the  stadium where the Twins and the Vikings play is not the “Hubert Humphrey Metrodome,” it’s “The Dome” or, if  you’ve been here long enough, “The Hump.”
  • Yes, we do have over 10,000 lakes.    Yes, they do freeze over in the winter and we do drive on them.
  • Our state bird is the Loon which will allow you at least one kindred spirit in Minnesota.
  • Hot dishes and Jello are two of the major food groups.   The other three are beer, anything grilled and anything deep fried and served on a stick.
  • We do have four seasons; Winter, still Winter, just past Winter and almost Winter.   None of them are defined by the direction that you can smell the odors from the river.

Who am I providing this help to?   Just some of the Obama folks who got to leave North Dakota before they got struck by the  first blizzard of the year!

Welcome to Minnesota!

P.S.   I forgot to tell you that we’re mostly Scandinavians and Germans.   So what?   Well, you’ll find that it means that we avoid confrontation and we have a high percentage of passive/aggressives.   Again, so what?   Well, we’ll tell you anything we think you want to hear….to your face, and grouse about you and your cause to no end when you leave.   If you think you can count on someone to vote for Obama just because they tell you on the phone or face to face that they will vote for Obama?   Well, all I can say is Uff Da!

September 23, 2008

Drill Here, Drill Now Tuesdays – 9/23/2008

by @ 18:23. Filed under Energy.

This idea was started by Jessi at Wake Up America. It will appear here every Tuesday (whether I’m here or not; the only difference is I won’t be able to update the current gas price while on vacation) until Congress wakes up and allows a lot more domestic drilling (I’m not talking about just ANWR, or just off the Florida coast where Cuba, Red China and Brazil are preparing to drink our milkshake, or just the shale fields in the Rockies).

My Gas Price (south suburban Milwaukee County, Wisconsin): $3.759/gallon

America needs to drill here drill now. America is having a energy crisis, and we need to do something now!

The United States has vast oil and gas resources onshore and offshore that are currently illegal to develop and therefore inaccessible.

U.S. law prohibits the development of approximately 38 billion barrels of undeveloped oil resources (19 billion barrels onshore and 18.92 billion offshore).

U.S. law prohibits the development of approximately 180 trillion cubic feet of undeveloped natural gas resources (94.5 trillion cubic feet onshore and 85.7 trillion cubic feet offshore).

Also…

CONGRESS RECENTLY VOTED TO MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO DEVELOP U.S. OIL SHALE RESOURCES

With oil prices at an all-time high, Americans are facing escalating gas, diesel, and aircraft fuel increases. Oil prices are projected to increase further.

Congress, however, has made it illegal to develop vast domestic oil resources in large parts of the United States.

The most startling Congressional prohibition on domestic oil production concerns the recently enacted ban on the development of oil shale resources in parts of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming in the Green River Formation. According to a Rand Study estimate, this reserve contains over one trillion barrels of oil, with 800 billion barrels fully recoverable, or three times the current oil reserves as Saudi Arabia.

There, however, is some good news. There is very-late word that the House Democrats will not attempt to attach their no-drill bill making the easiest-to-exploit portions of America’s energy resources permanently inaccessible to the continuing resolution. Thus, the ban on the offshore drilling portion of the various roadblocks toward energy independence will be lifted next week Wednesday. While I have no doubt the Democrats will try again next year to ensure a perpetual energy crunch if they are left in power, and while this doesn’t directly address the lock-ups on on-shore oil and natural gas, clean coal, and oil shale, I’ll take this victory.

This is Laughable!

by @ 11:46. Filed under Miscellaneous.

From “The News Agency Who Shall Not be Named,” this headline:

Iranian president blames US for market collapse

Oh yeah!

Foreign governments buying US debt like Chiclets because it was the “safest” bet going were not enablers!

All those countries taking in every dollar they could as oil moved above $140/barrel, no, they had nothing to do with the world economic issues either!

I’m beginning to think that Nancy Pelosi, Chris Dodd and Chuck Schumer are all Iranian. The only thing I hear coming out of any of their mouths has nothing to do with solving a problem or anticipating one. The only thing out of their mouths is a politicization of every issue with a one word explanation: “Buuuuuuuush!”

To all of you in DC, grow up or find another line of work. I don’t tolerate the constant blame game from Thing 1 and Thing 2, why is it acceptable from you?

Roman History and the Paulson Bailout Plan

by @ 5:43. Filed under Defending the American Dream, Politics - Minnesota.

After initial euphoria, the stock exchanges took back all of Friday’s gains as more details were released and Congressional wrangling began, regarding the Paulson bailout plan.

Paulson is proposing a $700B plan to take all of the “bad loans” off of banks books and manage the disposition of those loans over a 2 to 4 year period.  

Several articles have described the Paulson’s plan as “letting those responsible for this debacle, off the hook.”   In a sense that may be true, to the extent that companies holding these bad loans survive and avoid bankruptcy.   In another sense, it’s hard to say that companies who have written off up to 80% of assets that surely have greater value than that, have been “let off the hook.” (Don’t get me started on the mark to market requirements!)  

It’s hard to tell if Paulson’s plan, in any form, will make it through Congress.   While there was a large sigh of relief last week when the plan was rumored and initially announced, several factions have inserted themselves in the process or the lobbying and may ultimately kill any chance for a bill.

The Dems are trying to ensure that they get a piece of flesh by adding a provision that any institution who sells these loans to Paulson (I’ll use that term as generic for his plan because I don’t know what else to call it)  or buys them, has to provide stock warrants to Paulson that would allow Paulson to cash them in and benefit from any gain that the companies may later have.   As an aside, this ain’t going to fly.   Can you imagine anyone willing to buy distressed assets if they have to also give stock warrants?   They also want to control salaries and bonuses of senior executives of the impacted companies…Oh yeah, that will get a lot of folks lining up at Paulson’s door!   While Dems may possibly cause derailing from the inside of the process, some Republicans, especially those who would brand themselves “hard core conservatives” are trying to derail the bill from outside.

HotAir.com  has an article outlining opposition to Paulson’s plan by Rep. Mike Spence and William Kristol. Over at Redstate.com a conservative blog site, some readers are lining up their opposition to the bill.

I honestly don’t know whether the Paulson plan is the right one or not. You could say it’s above my pay grade. While I’m not big on bailouts, I do believe the Bear Stearns move was the right one. AIG, I’m just not familiar enough with the issues. Here’s what I do know. In the current discussion, the Dems are playing politics and some of the Conservatives, blasting this plan with as little information as the rest of us have, are ideologues.

I saw this article today in US News and World Report. In it, the author makes a swag at the possible implication if the Paulson plan is derailed. His numbers are staggering! According to his swag, the impact on the US economy could be north of $30 trillion. Remember, the US economy is about $12 Trillion. Can you imagine an impact that is 2.5X today’s economy.   Is he right?   Again, I don’t know.   But, even if you cut his numbers in half, the potential is beyond significant.   At the very least, those who are working hard to flush this plan without serious discussion, ought to spend some time considering the articles arguments.

What’s the tie to Roman History?

In 280 B.C. and again in 279 B.C. King Pyrrhus of Epirus took on the Roman army. The good news is that Pyrrhus won both battles against the larger Roman army and the Roman losses were more significant than those of Pyrrhus. The bad news is that Pyrrhus lost so many men relative to his army, that he was unable to maintain an army after the large number of casualties in the two battles, and he ultimately lost the war to the Romans who had a much larger reserve of men to back fill their losses. A victory accomplished at a huge loss has been known ever since as a Pyrrhic Victory.

As I said, I’m not sure what the right answer is but the same can be said for the Dems who are politicizing and some of the Conservatives who are ideologues. I do know that this issue needs to be given much more serious consideration and analysis than I’ve seen given it thus far. Should the Dems or the ideologues win, I trust that their success will not be remembered as a 21st century Pyrrhic victory.

September 22, 2008

The Scramble – 9/22/2008

by @ 14:03. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

I honestly don’t know how Glenn Reynolds does it; he has far more sources than I do and he’s able to keep them all straight and on time.

Of course, he doesn’t do music. Today’s is courtesy Stephen Green, who found that you can check out of the Religion of Pieces any time you want, but you can never leave (alive, at least) in Iran…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcwr1nbmWLI[/youtube]

Yes, I’m sooo glad that Joe Biden and Jimmy Carter thought it a good idea to allow the Mad Mullahs to take over Iran </sarcasm_biting>.

  • I originally wanted to put the Obamination Update a bit lower, but there is an item that deserves first-post coverage – Ace and Dr. Rusty Shackleford tag-team to expose some seriously-slimy Astroturfing from Team Obama smearing Sarah Palin.
  • CDR Salamander found some Russian blowback on their attempt to use secession movements to restore the Soviet empire. If only both sides in the Russian/Tartarstan battle could lose,….
  • Mary Katharine Ham caught Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell advocating war with Russia urging the integration of Georgia and Ukrane into NATO. Of course, had it been, say, Sarah Palin that urged the integration of Georgia and Ukrane into NATO, the presstitutes would’ve worked themselves into a lather over World War III…oh wait, they did as MKH proves.
  • Jim Hoft found the working relationship between Al Qaeda and Iran fracturing. I’ll ignore the fact the Italian press can’t remember that the Iranian leadership is anything but Arab and point out that both branches of Islam demand 110% fealty, with the Iranians and Al Qaeda representing different branches.
  • Michael Yon found the French and NATO acting like, well, the French and politicians and repeating the PR mistakes that we made in Iraq circa 2005.
  • Weasel Zippers Pakistani Front Update, Part I – Zip discovered Pakistan’s military flying resupply missions to the Taliban inside Afghanistan last year.
  • Weasel Zippers Pakistani Front Update, Part II – he reports that Pakistani troops recently opened fire on US helicopters targeting Taliban/Al Qaeda forces taking shelter in Pakistan.
  • Amy Geiger-Hemmer caught MSNBC doing a “creative edit” of McCain campaign spokeswoman Carly Firoina’s words to make it seem like Fiorina was saying Sarah Palin is unqualified. I’m shocked, SHOCKED that the Official Network of the Obama Campaign would cut a quote off mid-sentence to make it fit their agenda.
  • Patrick Hynes reports on the war in the Washington Post newsroom between the reporters and the columnists.
  • Slublog found the traditional “heart and soul” of The News Organization That Cannot Be Quoted™, newspapers, rebelling against said organization for taking their best material. Irony is a dish best served cold, and it does get pretty cold in northern Maine.
  • Kate has a very-disturbing pic of lipstick on a community organizer. Yep, still not Presidential material.
  • (H/T – doubleplusundead among others) The gang at The Nose On Your Face picture Barack Obama in Vietnam. To paraphrase from the original movie they used in the picture, he don’t mean nothin’, not a thing.
  • Jim Geraghty wonders why anybody takes Biden seriously.
  • Dave Casper reveals Biden’s Halloween costume. I knew there was a reason why I didn’t like “Robin Hood”.
  • Sister Toldjah reports an enterprising pilot flew a message over an Obama rally in Florida the other day regarding taxes.
  • Bill Quick discovered a bit of disconnect between the two halves of the ‘Rat ticket over the Second Amendment. If I were more enterprising, I’d probably find more than a bit of disconnect between Biden’s like of shotguns in his collection and his view of firearms in my possession.
  • Jim Geraghty has some bad news for those of us Cheddarheads and 1,000 Lakers suffering from Electionitis – Obama’s doubling down in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
  • Shoebox explains the difference between a manager and a leader. I may not necessarily like where John McCain leads, but I do know Obama is neither a leader nor a manager.
  • Fausta found another high-profile PUMA now supporting McCain.
  • Allahpundit stirs up some 2012 dreaming.
  • Jim Hoft reposts part of the speech Palin would have given to an anti-Ahmadinejad rally had she not been disinvited after Hillary Clinton decided she couldn’t be in the same place as Palin.
  • Doc explains why Palin was disinvited; the oh-so-tolerant Left threatened the tax-exempt status of the host groups after Clinton pulled her rug and Biden decided he couldn’t go after the Mad Mullahs’ puppet.
  • Michelle Malkin brings news of the step back in the perpetual one step forward/one step back dance of McCain – it’s back to full shamnesty. How in the <expletive deleted> do we have both parties supporting shamnesty a mere year after we rose up to shoot it down?
  • Patrick McIlheran explains why Olympia Snowe isn’t as qualified as Palin.

I had a heap on the bailout/socialization of America, but I’m out of time.

A Manager and a Leader

by @ 5:34. Filed under Politics - National.

It’s a common misunderstanding to believe that the terms “Manager” and “Leader” are interchangeable.   This is especially true in business settings where it is common to refer to the “Manager” of a group as the “Leader” of that group.

Of course to understand “Manager” one must understand “manage.”   A  dictionary definition of “Manage” is:

to handle, direct, govern, or control in action or use.

Which supports this common definition of “Manager”

a person who controls and manipulates resources and expenditures

And while that looks similar to the dictionary definition of “Leader”:

a guiding or directing head, as of an army, movement, or political group.

There are significant differences. To say it another way, Managers can be Leaders but not all Managers are Leaders. To take it one step further, some Leaders are not Managers at all. Peter Drucker, one of the foremost experts on organizational management and leadership describes them best as:

leadership is doing the right things; management is doing things right.

After the personalities, the policies and ideologies, this Presidential election comes down to a simple choice: Do we want a Manager or a Leader?

Let’s look at how the candidates have handled just 4 quick examples.
Read the rest of this entry…

September 21, 2008

2008 NFL Week 3

by @ 9:51. Filed under Sports.

Now that I reached the first goal of getting over .500 at 15-14-2 (I’ll ignore the 1-3 against the over/unders), it’s time to start actually making money.

Dallas (-3) @ Green Bay – Take this week for the week Aaron Rodgers goes out for the season. Unfortunately, there’s nobody that’s even semi-competent behind him.
Tampa Bay (+3) @ Chicago – The word of the day is “revenge”.
Carolina (+3.5) @ Minnesota – The Injury Discount is in full effect.
Detroit @ San Francisco (-5) – Can anybody tell me why this isn’t 15? Oh yeah; take the under-47; the Lions aren’t scoring.
Kansas City @ Atlanta (-6.5) – The irresistable force will run over the movable object.
Oakland @ Buffalo (-10) – It may not be snowing, but it’s not going to be fun for the Raiders.
Houston @ Tennessee (-5.5) – The Tennesseeans are glad they’re not in Houston anymore. The Texans only wish they weren’t.
Cincinnati @ NY Giants (-13) – Even though the BenGALs won’t score, take the over-42 as Jimmy Hoffa chants “Sieve!”
Arizona (+3) @ Washington – Give the dog a bone and send your man rolling home.
Miami @ New England (-13) – The Pats showed me something last week.
St. Louis (+10) @ Seattle – How bad is the Seahawks’ offense? Koren Fragging Robinson is back in the league.
New Orleans @ Denver (-6) – No blown calls required this week.
Pittsburgh (+3.5) @ Philadelphia – I like defenses.
Jacksonville (+4.5) @ Indianapolis – Before injuries, this would have been the Game of the Week.
Cleveland @ Baltimore (-3) – Neo is no more.
NY Jets (+8.5) @ San Diego – Given the nature of the Chargers’ losses, if I took them, I’d be giving too many points.

What a difference a week makes

by @ 9:21. Filed under Sports.

The Bar is no more, the Pub’s in flames after I took a day off, but let’s review the great week it was…

Green Bay 48 (-3) @ Detroit 25 – Had this been Turkey Day, this would’ve been a trap.
Indianapolis 18 (-2.5) @ Minnesota 15 – I might have to rethink my Viqueens as champs call; they’re looking more like the usual chumps.
Chicago 17 @ Carolina 20 (-3-TIE) – “Taketh the home team,” and loseth the vig.
Oakland 23 (+3.5) @ Kansas City 8 – Two picks and eight points is proof of the maxim.
Tennessee 24 @ Cincinnati 7 (pick’em) – More like jump off the bridge after this one; the BenGALS are done.
New Orleans 24 @ Washington 29 (+1) – All of a sudden, I can’t pick the over/unders.
NY Giants 41 (-8.5) @ St. Louis 13 – Baaaa, baaaa bwahahahahahaha!
Buffalo 20 (+4.5) @ Jacksonville 16 – You can’t win if you’re not healthy.
Atlanta 9 (+7) @ Tampa Bay 24 – Sometimes you’re the dog, sometimes you’re the milk bone.
San Francisco 33 (+7) @ Seattle 30 – Nice to see the overtime curse is broken.
Miami 10 @ Arizona 31 (-7) – Booked, and collected
New England 19 @ NY Jets 10 (-1) – And no streaks ended.
San Diego 38 @ Denver 39 (-1-TIE) – Why did you go for two, Mike? It screwed me out of my vig.
Pittsburgh 10 (-6-LOSS) @ Cleveland 6 – And the weather dominated.
Philadelphia 37 (+7-WIN) @ Dallas 41 – Lesson to the wise; do not celebrate on the one.

A nice 9-4-2 week pushes the season to 15-14-2. Unfortunately, the over/unders fell to 1-3.

September 19, 2008

Roll bloat – the rest of the old Bar edition

by @ 18:02. Filed under The Blog.

I just realized that I didn’t put in the place that the Noonan boys and ESK started up a bit before the Bar burned down to the ground – Brewed Sports. I blame my neck.

The Morni…er, Afternoon Scramble – 9/19/2008

by @ 17:52. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

Yes, I’m late again, and yes, I forgot Open Thread Thursday. Like Jib, I blame RSS feeds for the death of the blogging star…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWtHEmVjVw8[/youtube]

Seriously, my neck has put me in a house of pain all week, so if you mistakenly hit that video (and even if you didn’t), allow me to give you a palette-cleansing bootleg version of Van Halen’s “House of Pain”…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6cjeT1mDOI[/youtube]

  • Before we start, Vivian Lee reminds us today is National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Never forget.
  • James T. Harris explains what Barack Obama has changed. Notably missing from the list is any attempt to change the culture of corruption, either in Springfield or in Washington.
  • The focusing Brad V focuses on yet another unexplored friend of Obama. While I’ll leave the juiciest part for Brad to explain, it involves a member of the American Communist Party that Obama called by his first name up through his first autobiography.
  • Lao explores the plight of the West Paupans, being repressed by a country where Obama once held citizenship. I’m shocked, SHOCKED to find that “(i)n Indonesia Barack Obama is fast becoming the “Che Guevara” of Indonesia’s young wannabe Islamists.”
  • Vasko Kohlmayer explains why Obama is becoming that icon among Islamists. It’s all about the hatred of America.
  • Brendan sends Obama back to 1938. I can see the resemblance between Obama and Neville Chamberlain.
  • Patrick Ruffini explains why Obama was stupid to belatedly turn down public financing.
  • William Teach asks whether Obama will actually reduce taxes. If memory serves, he’s on record as supporting all of the Clinton-era tax rates, which means no more 10% rate.
  • Asian Badger calls out all the limousine liberals who buy into Joe Biden’s “patriotic taxes” line.
  • Ed Morrissey caught Biden doubling down on that line, deeming ever-higher taxes the “Catholic” thing to do.
  • Jim Geraghty found Biden calling being a US Senator easier than being a city common council member. Say, isn’t Biden of retirement age?
  • Jim Hoft found an event Biden simply refused to go to – a rally opposing Iranian President Mad Mullah Puppet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. No word on whether it was for the same reason that Hillary Clinton bailed (she couldn’t bear the thought of Sarah Palin in the same area) or because he supports the Mad Mullahs. Of note, the organizers eventually disinvited Palin.
  • JRoosh found the Biden Gaffe Machine doing overtime on AIG.
  • John McCormack wraps up the Biden Gaffe Machine.
  • John Hawkins does the same for the Obama Gaffe Machine. He could’ve did a top 100 and still not run out of material.
  • The Game mourns the death of civility called for by Obama.
  • Slublog pictures that death of civility with a classic SluShop.
  • David Paulin reports that some Austin ObamiNation Thugs took that death of civility to heart with extreme gusto. It IS a war.
  • Josh Schroeder pictures piracy we can believe in. Arrrgh, today is Talk Like A Pirate Day, and if you landlubbers are wondering why I put this in the middle of the Obamination Update, you’ll have to click over, me mateys.
  • Dad29 explores the links between Obama, Fannie, Freddie, ACORN, and NACA.
  • Cann0nba11 points the coming loss of Obama at Democratic racism. It’s more sexism.
  • An anonymous PJM poster sounds the alarm on the effort by the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department to throw the election to Obama.
  • Ed Morrissey notes that only one Presidential candidate was on top of the Freddie/Fannie mess 3 years ago – John McCain.
  • Bonus Freddie/Fannie coverage – Good Lt. points out that President Bush was on top of the mess back in 2003. Unfortunately, Congress got in the way of both efforts. Gee, I wonder why </sarcasm>.
  • Even more bonus Freddie/Fannie coverage – Mike follows the Fannie/Freddie money in multimedia form to answer why Congress got in the way.
  • One more Freddie/Fannie item before we go back to the Presidential race – S. Weasel pictures the Fannie ‘Rat ATM.
  • Soren Dayton explains why Minnesota, which last went for a Republican in 1972, is in play.
  • How much in play? Jim Geraghty has the details with the Big Ten poll.
  • Tom McMahon 4-blocks the Russian relationships with Palin and Georgia.
  • Dave Casper asks why Palin’s family is a presstitute target while Rep. Gwen Moore’s (D-WI) family isn’t, especially considering her son helped get her into Congress by slashing the tires on vans rented by the GOP for transport of voters to the polls in 2004. Silly goose; that’s just “community organizing” on the part of Supreme Solar Allah </sarcasm_dripping>.
  • Kathryn Jean Lopez asks why the News Organization That Cannot Be Quoted™ won’t cooperate in the probe into the hacking of Palin’s personal e-mail account.
  • Ken Shepherd found that News Organization That Cannot Be Quoted™ covering for Biden’s tax gaffe.
  • Jim Geraghty found that bias extends to quotations in the Washington Post.
  • Sister Toldjah tracked yesterday’s round of Presstitute Bias.
  • Mary Katharine Ham asks, “How low have we sunk?” Not as low as the presstitutes; while 55% say the tone of this campaign hasn’t changed, 79% say the presstitutes focus on the negative.
  • How low for the media? Jon Ham found the WaPo channeling “Animal House”. Who here thought the presstitutes wouldn’t turn on their former favorite “Pubbie”? Anyone? Bueller?
  • Even more bonus Geraghty – he found the LeftStreamMedia multiplying the false cries of racism from the ObamiNation.
  • Name That Party, Part I – Ace asks the party of F. Allen Boyd Jr (D-FL), whose son was busted for smuggling illegal aliens and amphetamines into the country.
  • Name That Party, Part II – Lawhawk asks the party of New York State Sen. Kevin Parker (D), who was busted for assaulting someone at his office.
  • Name That Appointer – Warner Todd Huston found a brand-new wire service fitting right in with the whitewashing of ‘Rat invovlement in embarrassing situations, ignoring the fact that federal Judge Thomas Porteous, who is in line to be the first federal judge to be impeached in 20 years, was a Clinton appointee whose history of wire fraud (the latest episodes are why he is under the current gun) was known to the Clinton administration prior to his appointment.
  • Austin Bay asks the trillion dollar question; how can investigative journalism be profitable in the age of the Internet.
  • The Unreal one has one way that it won’t be. Do note the focus of MSNBC.com on his screencap.
  • Okay; back to pure politics – Gary Gross found precious little difference between the Blue Dog ‘Rats and the envirowhackos of the bunch. Color me shocked, SHOCKED!
  • David St. Lawrence defines astroturfing.
  • Lawhawk caught the ‘Rats admitting they’re clueless on the economy. They’re not quite clueless, though their “fix” of socializing even more than what Bush is socializing is worse than doing nothing.
  • Jon Henke offers advice to the Pubbies on tax messaging. My advice – TAKE IT!
  • Brian Fraley states that we the people of Wisconsin got taken to the cleaners in the deal between the Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/PotawatomiHo-Chunk-For Sale) administration and the Ho-Chunk on gaming.
  • Rick Esenberg outlines how government regulation gave us the economic crisis.
  • John Hawkins just says “NO!” to more bailouts. Amen.
  • Jim Geraghty wonders how 61% of Americans think we are in either a recesion or a depression. Answer – presstitutes echoing the every-4-years line from the ‘Rats that we’re in the Worst Economy Since The Depression EVAH!!!11!!!eleventy!!1!™. I can’t wait until the annual growth is 1%, like Obama economic advisor Warren Buffet wants <sarcasm_extreme>.
  • Daniel caught Rep. Steve Kagen (D-WI) being in “favor” of drilling before he was against it. Well, he is a ‘Rat who is part of the 9% approval Congress.
  • Amanda Carpenter is ready to declare victory in Drill Here, Drill Now as the ‘Rats won’t renew the ban before they bail on September 26. Of course, if Obama wins, it will be a very-temporary victory as everything will likely get shut down next year.
  • Cuffy Meigs brings bad news from North Korea – they may well have a missile that can reach the West Coast.
  • Roger W. Gardner explores the ignored role Iran had in 9/11. It isn’t the first time Iran and Al Qaeda worked hand in hand; they jointly pulled off the bombing of the Khobar Towers.
  • John McAdams has the latest episode of liberal bias indoctrination in academia.
  • Lady Logician has the latest step toward “Soylent Green” – some nutbag in the UK saying those with dementia have a “duty to die” to end their burden on CubaCare-Britain. If we get either CubaCare-Wisconsin (aka “Healthy” and Depopulated Wisconsin) or CubaCare-US, look for that here.
  • I can’t end a massive catch-up Scramble without some lighter stuff – Dan Deibert likes the German word for “tramp stamp”. Since the translation won’t make it through Townhall’s filters, you’ll have to head over to Dan’s place for that.

Did I mention how glad I am I have Shoebox to bail me out lately?

Maybe, The Wizard Does Have Brains!

by @ 9:45. Filed under Energy.

For the reference point, read my post here.

This morning, TheHill.Com is reporting that the Senate “Gang of Invertebrates” will not offer their energy bill until after the elections!

A bipartisan group of senators who sought a compromise in the rancorous energy debate won’t introduce their bill before lawmakers adjourn for the elections, several Senate aides said Thursday.

Well, maybe not everyone got a brain:

No legislative language was drafted in early August. But the group agreed to a broad set of goals, including transitioning 85 percent of the country’s automobiles to non-petroleum-based fuels within 20 years, providing incentives to boost nuclear energy, repealing billions in subsidies for oil companies, opening the Eastern Gulf of Mexico off of Florida for oil exploration, and allowing Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia to decide whether to allow drilling off their shores.

Yet there is still hope, even for the slow ones:

But many Republicans criticized the plan, raising concerns that by offering a compromise to Democrats and their presidential candidate Barack Obama, it would blunt a potent election-year attack that has gained traction at the polls. GOP presidential candidate John McCain opposed the plan, and Democrats were preparing to attack the Arizona senator for standing in the way of a bipartisan compromise. And many Republicans, like Sen. McCain, said repealing subsidies from oil companies would amount to a tax hike.

I’m glad to see that the Republicans now understandthe political angle of their “Suicide Compact.” Had the Senate R’s pushed forward with their plan, they would have either forced McCain to move with them or spend a lot of time explaining how his “friends” were “well meaning” but “dumb as a box of rocks on this topic.”

The drilling moratorium ends on October 1st. Unless the Dems try to force a reup for the moratorium into one of the budget bills (unlikely at this point), the world changes on October 2nd. I’m not suggesting that there is an armada of drilling rigs sitting in docks, building steam, ready to break loose the moorings on October 2nd. I am saying that I don’t know how the toothpaste gets back in the tube after the election. The one possibility is if the Dems sweep the Presidency, the House and a filibuster proof Senate…that would be bad not just for oil but for the entire economy. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen!

In the meantime, there are 20 Senators who still don’t get the bigger picture. I’ve got 2 in my state. You can bet they’ll be hearing from me (only one will even listen) while they’re home on the recess. A candidate is most pliable on their positions when they think their job is at risk.

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