America's chickens have come home to roost???

God damn AmeriKKKa??? Barry's pastor. Any comments from the lefties?

Changing post date

Stephanie and I have experienced the tragedy of saving a draft of a brilliant post, then completing and posting it sometime later, only to have it buried because it carries the date and time of the draft.

The fix: At the bottom left of the composing window is a "Post Options" button. Click that and the date and time appear at the bottom right and can be adjusted.

Sccoter had an admirer some time ago who had several blogs, some of them in the future.

Zodiac

I read the book long ago and was intrigued by the codes and the fact that he hadn't been caught. I saw the video in Blockbuster and recalled that it had gotten some good reviews. The narrative is interesting but the reason I'm posting about it is the direction.

The long overhead shot in the hotel at the end of Taxi Driver is a one of my favorite scenes of all time. It was absolutely original*, riveting, and a cinematic slight of hand (how exactly do you pass over the hallway lights?).

David Fincher does something similar in Zodiac in a scene in which he follows a car in downtown San Francisco. It's mesmerizing and I have no idea how it was done.

There's also a wonderful CGI scene in which, to indicate the passage of time, the Transamerica building is shown be built in a time-lapse that would make Harryhausen proud.

After watching the movie, I looked up the book and the author, Robert Graysmith, on Amazon. Graysmith wrote a follow-up book in January 2007, Zodiac Unmasked, in which he identified Zodiac as Arthur Leigh Allen,** as does the movie. Graysmith had apparently suspected Allen when he wrote the original book but didn't name him.

Many comments on Amazon criticize Graysmith for sloppy detective work and even fabrication in concluding that Allen was Zodiac.

*Hitchcock did interior overheads in Dial M for Murder but they were not directly overhead.

**Played with goofy menace by my favorite duck stamp artist.


If you're not reading Nicholas Packwood, who invented footnotes in blog posts, you should.

Re: Free Market Understanding...Medicine

Two pretty good reads on the subject (but really still for wonks only):

The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care by Dr. David Gratzer

The Amazon Blurb:

Drawing on personal experience in both the Canadian and U.S. systems, Dr. Gratzer shows how paternalistic government involvement in the health care system has multiplied inefficiencies, discouraged innovation, and punished patients. The Cure offers a detailed and practical approach to putting individuals back in charge. With an introduction by Milton Friedman, The Cure will be required reading for anyone who wants to know what is really wrong with the modern health care system.

and

Crisis of Abundance: Rethinking How We Pay for Health Care by Arnold Kling

This second one is really short, maybe 100 pages or so.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Paul Greenberg on Apologies

Why genuine apologies are so important. From today's JWR:

"To let that statement stand would be an act of injustice," said the monsignor. "With apologies to Komen, to those fighting breast cancer and to the survivors, to the Catholic clergy and faithful who were embarrassed by the mistaken policy, I rescind the position statement in its entirety."
Now that's an apology. No excuses, no "explanations," no weasel words. Just a cleansing act. Result: Trust is restored.

Sherrye McBride of the Komen Foundation in Arkansas responded in kind, saying of the monsignor: "He realized he had made a mistake, and he was a big enough person and a fine enough man to say so." Which is how making a proper apology respects and reconciles all concerned. It's an old rule, mathematical in its elegance: Forgiveness is the reciprocal of repentance.

Re : A free-market understanding of the world

As a loony lefty, I was completely ignorant of economics. Scooter pointed me to Sowell, and National Review introduced me to Friedman. While I can't claim more than a very basic understanding of free market theory, I now see how modern liberalism is it's enemy.

Tom Coburn was on Medved's show yesterday proposing a simple free market solution to the health care "crisis." He posed this question: Why do Americans trust markets in almost everything except health care and education?

Re: Re: Mamet

I'll try to make this my last post but couldn't resist this last quote as an homage to my favorite economist/philosopher):

"Aha," you will say, and you are right. I began reading not only the economics of Thomas Sowell (our greatest contemporary philosopher) but Milton Friedman, Paul Johnson, and Shelby Steele, and a host of conservative writers, and found that I agreed with them: a free-market understanding of the world meshes more perfectly with my experience than that idealistic vision I called liberalism.

Re: David Mamet

I can’t tell if I published first or not but the Elkhart Review makes a similar point regarding David Mamet’s transformation.

Re: Roger Waters

In 1984, he produced one of the favorite songs (love the opening guitar and poetry to a 24 year old) of my misspent youth, album by the same name (Lyrics provided by Lyrics007)--The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking:

An angel on a Harley
Pulls across to greet a fellow rolling stone
Puts his bike up on it's stand
Leans back and then extends
A scarred and greasy hand...he said
He said, how ya doin bro?
Where ya been?
Where ya goin'?
Then he takes your hand
In some strange Californian handshake
And breaks the bone
[Whiny person:] "Have a nice day, hehe"

A housewife from Encino
Whose husband's on the golf course
With his book of rules
Breaks and makes a 'U' and idles back
To take a second look at you
You flex your rod
Fish takes the hook
Sweet vodka and tobacco in her breath
Another number in your little black book

These are the pros and cons of hitchhiking
These are the pros and cons of hitchhiking
Oh babe, I must be dreaming

I'm standing on the leading edge
The Eastern seaboard spread before my eyes
Jump, says Yoko Ono
I'm too scared and too good looking, I cried
Go on, she says
Why don't you give it a try?
Why prolong the agony all men must die
Do you remember Dick Tracy?
Do you remember Shane?
[Child:] "And mother wants you."
Could you see him selling tickets
Where the buzzard circles over
[Child:] "Shane."
The body on the plain
Did you understand the music Yoko
Or was it all in vain?
[Child:] "Shane..."
The bitch said something mystical
(Herro)
So I stepped back on the kerb again

These are the pros and cons of hitchhiking
These are the pros and cons of hitchhiking
Oh babe, I must be dreaming again
These are the pros and cons of hitchhiking
These are the pros and cons of hitchhiking
These are the pros and cons of hitchhiking
These are the pros and cons of hitchhiking

SSJ

This place is starting to look like something.

David Mamet turns right at Village Voice

My favorite playwright has seen the light. One of his thoughts from the Village Voice (h/t RCP):

The Constitution, written by men with some experience of actual government, assumes that the chief executive will work to be king, the Parliament will scheme to sell off the silverware, and the judiciary will consider itself Olympian and do everything it can to much improve (destroy) the work of the other two branches. So the Constitution pits them against each other, in the attempt not to achieve stasis, but rather to allow for the constant corrections necessary to prevent one branch from getting too much power for too long.

Rather brilliant. For, in the abstract, we may envision an Olympian perfection of perfect beings in Washington doing the business of their employers, the people, but any of us who has ever been at a zoning [or homeowners association] meeting with our property at stake is aware of the urge to cut through all the pernicious bullshit and go straight to firearms.

The trip with aloha

OK, I've finally gotten around to talking about our recent trip to the islands. Just some general impressions and then a few pictures:

* Aloha is a word you often in Hawaii. It means "hello", it means "goodbye" and it means "love". Everything was "... with aloha". You would see an ad for "the car dealership with aloha". You would eat at a place that had "food with aloha". A radio station that played "music with aloha". It became almost comical to see or hear all the things "...with aloha".

* It is beautiful and it is expensive. And each of the islands, we went to 3, were different. The Big Island (Hawai'i) was the strangest. You had torrential rains and flooding; you had winter storm warnings (2 peaks have snow on them year-round and you can ski there...in Hawaii!!), you had endless views of lava, you had rain-forests, you had desert. You have to get over the fact of how much everything is. And that the pace is slower, places close very early, and while Hawaii has a reputation of having friendly people, in Honolulu, not so much.

* Many of the radio stations play island music, but not necessarily Hawaiian island music. Jamaican reggae is very popular. I saw lots of rasta-men. Lots of rasta-women.

* The Hawaiian primaries (or perhaps they do caucuses, I don't remember) were just a few days away, so the newspapers had stories about Hillary, Obama, etc. But driving around, I never saw a sign or bumper-sticker for anyone other than for....Ron Paul. Not that there were tons around for him, but of the ones we saw, they were ALL for him. I should have checked when we got back to see how he did.

* Pearl Harbor is a sobering experience. The parks service does a great job getting folks in and out. Before you ride on a boat over to the Arizona Memorial, you watch a 20 minute films about the lead-up to WWII. I was wondering how the film was going to present Japan and their actions. Hawaii caters to the Japanese tourist. Signs, menus, radio and tv stations. You see them everywhere. I would say that 25% of the people on my boat were either Japanese or of Japanese decent. The film was factual, straight-forward and mentioned all the causalities at Pearl Harbor. Mentioned, but didn't go into detail, Japan's behaviour in China and Korea. No mention of the Bataan death march. Did mention the A-bombs and causalities, but just as facts, not justifications. Same for the attack on Pearl Harbor, the military reasons behind it. I thought it was well done and struck the right cords for what you were about to see. You don't get to spend much time on the Memorial - if I recall it's 17 minutes. It's smaller than I expected and weird looking down and seeing parts of the ship, with the oil leaking.

* We stayed at a B&B on the Big Island that was owned by a former Dallas Cowboy cheerleader. She was also a flight attendant for Warner Brothers on their private jet. Heard many interesting stories about P. Diddy, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Michael Jackson, etc.

* Getting around by car is hard work. Since the Hawaiian alphabet only has like 13 letter, all the street and highway names look alike. And forget trying to pronounce them. Trying to follow directions is tedious. And on the smaller islands, the traffic is awful. They might only have 2 or 3 roads on the island and with all the tourists, traffic can get like the Southwest Freeway around the Galleria on a Friday afternoon. Most roads are 2-laners and on Kauai, they have 1-lane bridges.

Ok, on to some pictures:

This is looking down from the Memorial. You can easily see parts of the Arizona and the white-ish reflection is oil coming up from the ship.

This is from our whale-watching trip. We were out for about 3 hours (and yes, I was making Gilligan's Island jokes with the folks sitting around me) and tails were about all we saw. No breaches, one fin, many tails. At one point we thought a whale was going to come under the boat, but no luck. We were close enough at times to hear them when they would blow. A definite thing we would do again.

A view of Honolulu from the top of Diamond Head crater. It was a 45 minute hike, parts of it very steep and very narrow, to the top. The structure in the foreground is a bunker built before WWII. You had to climb through one to get to the observation point. There are military bases and installations everywhere on all the islands, but especially O'ahu.

This is a black sand beach. It's not really sand, but lava. The people on the right are taking pictures of sea turtles that come to this beach. While there are a few black sand beaches on the islands, this was the easiest one to get to. There is also a green sand beach, but you can't actually get to it, you can just see it from a trail.

This is the Na Pali coast, which is on the north end of Kaua'i. We hiked about an hour on a trail (it was technically closed due to rain/mud, but we weren't the only ones hiking it) to this point. About another 2-3 hours is where the green sand beach is. This area is where parts of "Jurassic Park" were filmed. It was beautiful and lush, but with all the fog and low clouds, it was hard to get a decent picture. The trail went through a very dense rain-forest. We were staying at a B&B that was almost literally at the end of the road, perhaps 5 minutes from the trail head.

I've got my earplugs ready

In a couple of months, I am going to do something that I haven't done in many, many years. As Michael well knows, and as has been documented here on SSJ, I have been (and still am) on the cutting edge musically. Some might say that I don't follow trends, I START them. So I had to jump at the opportunity to catch Radiohead live when they roll into Dallas in May. This will be the first concert that I have attended in I don't know how long. I am not counting club shows (such as Alseep at the Wheel at Billy Bob's in Ft. Worth) or watching bands at SummerFest in Milwaukee or various spring/summer art festivals here in DFW.

The last concert I can recall was seeing R.E.M. at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion in The Woodlands (north of Houston). Interestingly, Radiohead opened for R.E.M. that night. They were unknowns and I saw, and predicted, their greatness that night. I have followed them since and have all their cd's. For those of you who don't know, they split from their record company and issued their latest cd, In Rainbows, over the internet through their website. It was a "pay what you want" deal. You could download the whole thing for nothing, if you wished. (FYI, I did pay, about $10). I'm very excited about seeing them and I'm hoping they play my favorite song of theirs, The National Anthem.

But that is not the only concert we're going to. Earlier in May, C and I are going to see Roger Waters (ex-bassist of Pink Floyd). He will be performing not only some of his solo stuff and PF songs, but the 2nd half of the show will be the entire "Dark Side of the Moon" album. I've seen PF once, in the Astrodome, but it was after Waters left the band. That night, the set was new PF in the first half (which was received warmly, yet not enthusiastically0. The 2nd half was old PF, with all the props (the flying pig, the lasers, etc). That is what the crowd, and myself, wanted to hear. I'm excited about this show as well, but for different reasons. A few hours to relive my past, to transport myself back to my 20's.....

Both concerts are at an outdoor venue. We have seats (pretty good ones) for Roger Waters; lawn tickets for Radiohead. THAT should be an experience....C and I surrounded by todays youth and all that that implies.

How can one explain the unexplainable?

The big news this morning in the Metroplex is the HUGE traffic problem in todays morning rush hour. The cause: a mother, who threw her 2 babies from an overpass onto I30. She then jumped over herself. The miracle, if one can call it that, is that all 3 survived (as of 8am they were still alive). And while the tv and radio pundits debate how a mother can try to kill her children, my question is: why choose that method to kill your yourself and/or your children? The miracle is that no drivers were killed in the chaos. IF she survives and IF she stands trial, how could one not come to the conclusion that she is/was insane?

I'm sure the details of her life will come out in the next 24/48 hours. Hopefully that can try to explain the events of today. But can they, really?

Investing in Superdelegates (Not that they can be bought)

Lots of the Superdelegates are elected officials who benefit from campaign contributions. Obama and Clinton each have donated, through their PACs, to many Supers. Capital Eye has compared PAC contribution lists with Super endorsements lists (and drawn conclusions 1 and 2 below). I'm shocked, shocked to learned there are significant correlations. But what's really interesting is how much more effectively Obama has been playing the game. I give him props.

1. Obama invested a lot more in Supers than Clinton did: $710,926 vs. $236,080 (2005-2008)

2. Obama is getting a higher return on investment than Clinton is: 85% vs. 75% amongst Supers. (More specifically, “[I]n cases where Obama had made a contribution since 2005 but Clinton had given the superdelegate nothing, Obama got the Supers' support 85 percent of the time. And Clinton got the support of 75 percent of Supers who got money from her but not from Obama.")

3. Hillary has liquidated her assets, but Obama still has more to cash in. Because Capital Eye was generous enough to publish a table of their underlying data, we can play with it. I notice that of those Supers who have not yet declared allegiance, there are 34 Supers who have received contributions from Obama while getting $0 from Clinton. There are only 3 Supers who received contributions from Clinton while getting $0 from Obama. In addition, there are 7 who have received more cash from Obama than Clinton, while there is only 1 who has received more cash from Clinton than from Obama. If we project where these Supers will go based on past ROI, Obama can expect to collect 29+ from these folks, while Clinton can expect 3 or 4.

We've heard how Clinton has picked the “low-hanging” fruit amongst Supers; the Capital Eye table is a crystal clear picture of the fruit tree. Of course, there are other fruit trees in the orchard. There's the you-pardoned-my-friend tree, the night-in-the-Lincoln-bedroom tree, the you-voted-for-earmark-for-my-state tree...

But I'm not actually that cynical about what's going to happen with the Supers. I do believe that Obama will win the pledged vote and the popular vote and the most states and the Supers will validate the will of the voters. Big/small states won't matter. There. I'm on record. I'll keep a sandwich at the ready.

Charles Lane

He played a doctor in Sybil. You've seen him in lots of things. How many movie/TV appearances do you think he made?

If you guessed less than 340, you'd be wrong.

You can see him Saturday in The Beverly Hillbillies and Sunday in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.

Interesting multi-personality film fact

The lovely and very talented Joanne Woodward was Eve, and the doctor in Sybil.

Plan 9

from Outer Space. "Unspeakable Horrors From Outer Space Paralyze The Living And Resurrect The Dead!"

Sex or gender?

It's not "begs the question" territory, but I've always subscribed to the notion that "sex" is a biological descriptor, and "gender" is a grammatical one. The traditional idea is set out here. Wikipedia takes a different, and in my mind, heretical view.

Of course when you start talking about someone having a different "gender" from their "sex," you're going to need two words.

Poll in the sidebar ---->

I just realized we can do polls and since Mary Anne is in the news I thought I'd throw up a classic.

Latitude and Longitude

Go to Mapquest and look for the button for "lat and long." Don't forget the minus sign in front of longitude (otherwise you'll end up in China). Looks like rural Wisconsin.

Defending the indefensible

I'm not suggesting anyone try to defend lib nonsense.

Re: Re: Hill's 3 am phone ad

Stephanie,

Please don't think you have to defend (or even comment on) everything an opposing blogger (whether posted by one of us or otherwise) might attack. I certainly don't feel obligated to defend everything that is said from the right or appears to be from the right, especially the more ridiculous ones.

Those billable hours will suffer otherwise.

Superdelegates

I’ve been hearing more and more complaints about the undemocratic nature of the "superdelegates" in the Democrat Primary. I think it was Gov. Rendell most recently. I had assumed that the whole process must have been a result of Chicago in 1968. Nope.

It was Kennedy/Carter in 1980. Granted that Geraldine A. Ferraro has a bias here as she admits but for the history of the superdelegates in brief, I haven’t seen anything better than this NYT piece.

LJ - real estate tycoon?

I bring this up because C and I have been discussing for the past year or so buying property. The ultimate goal would to build a 2nd(smaller) home and live there part-time in our rapidly approaching retirement years. Several locations have been bandied about and we've talked to a real estate guy in the area we're interested in a few times. Within the next month or so, there is a possibility that we'll be making a trip to look the land over. In case anyone is interested, it's a few miles due west of latitude 45.307 N, longitude 89.94 W.

My Reading List

Actually, I'm not reading anything at the moment. The ones listed are just the last 3 books I've read. You all had to know that I would be all over the new 9/11 book. It was a great read and it just reinforced my opinion (that I have held for many years now) that Condi, not GWB, is the person in the administration that is in WAY over their head. And while I've never seen "The 3 Faces of Eve" or any other movie about multiple personalities, I am fascinated by the subject. "Switching Time" is a true story and I don't know what part made me cringe more - that the women had so many or all the events/persons that "created" them.

Re: Hill's 3 am phone ad

Saw the piece and it made no sense to me, so I can't defend it.

Red Gold

Set in France in 1941-42, Red Gold is a story of the early resistance. Interestingly, French Communists, controlled by Moscow, were the vanguard of the resistance since they were well organized and had some experience at mayhem. The protagonist is a former film producer on the run from the Gestapo who is recruited by the De Gaulle government to make contact with and assist the Communists. The cover blurb (from a review in Time) says: "Nothing can be like watching Casablanca for the first time, but Furst comes closer than anyone has in years." That's a little much but it's a good read nonetheless.

Hill's 3 am phone ad

According to this genius, the ad is racist. Why? Because the children are white or "vaguely Latino" and Obama is black. You libs crack me up.

Revolution 9

"Client-9" put me in the mind of the Beatle's "Revolution 9" and I wondered if there might be something clever to quote from the lyrics. There's not.

LJ used to walk around intoning "number 9, number 9" under his breath to bother people.

Site stuff

1. Our "Contributors" list used to link to profiles but I couldn't get it to do so when I added Stephanie. If anybody wants to fix go ahead.

2. Our links disappeared last week. Scooter and I have recreated some that we want. LJ and Stephanie, have at it. We could do some sort of right/left or rational/irrational order but for now let's keep them alphabetical. That way ACE stays on top.

3. LJ, I know you're reading something.

Superdelegates

2008 Democratic Convention Watch has a cool graph that depicts the erosion since Feb. 10 in Clinton's lead amongst superdelegates who have publicly declared their allegiance. On Feb. 10, she led by 97 delegates. In amazingly linear fashion, she has steadily lost that lead and now has a lead of just 39. If this rate of loss continues (i.e. 58 per month), her lead will be gone before Pennsylvania votes.

Senator Franken

It's looking more likely that Al Franken will be the nominee of the Democratic party for Minnesota's U.S. Senate seat in the '08 race. The Democratic nominee will run against incumbent Norm Coleman who has held the seat since 2003. Coleman is a Republican now, but was a Democrat until 1996.

Franken had been competing with Mike Ciresi and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, but Ciresi pulled out yesterday, following district conventions that took place over the weekend. Until recently, Ciresi was polling in 2nd place, but recently dropped to third. Franken is apparently in the lead. I was a Ciresi fan, so I'm disappointed.

Ciresi is a lawyer with Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi and is locally famous for suing tobacco companies on behalf of Minnesota and Blue Cross Blue Shield resulting in a settlement of $6.1 billion settlement for the state and $469 million for Blue Cross. He didn't have sufficient grass roots party experience so he had trouble getting support of party activists.

In recent history, Minnesota has elected to high office a celebrity with no experience in government: we let pro wrestler Jesse The Body Ventura be our governor from 1999 to 2003. So we've got it in us to send Franken to Washington.

Re: Stephanie

LJ, I once was a Republican. I voted for Reagan and Bush I. I even had a job with the Republican Party in North Dakota for a brief spell in the early '80s. But sometime during law school the scales fell away and I walked into the light.

More on that VDH toadie

From the Corner.

Liberal Fascism

As I've mentioned earlier, I've always wondered why fascism was considered of the right. For reasons not related to the book, I'm only on page 145 of Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism.

The best, most concise thought (so far) why the term "fascism" should be associated with the left comes from no less than Benito himself, "Everything in the State, nothing outside the State (page 80)." There is no individual liberty under fascism which is not to say everybody on the left does not support individual liberty, but the hard left certainly favors the us over the I.

I've been out of the loop today...

but isn't Spitzer a committed super-delegate? Committed to the junior senator from New York?

Who will sit next to him at the convention?

On the other hand, if one has a wide enough stance, one can brass these things out.

Re: Stephanie

I'd be scared to go hunting with me, too. I fish occasionally with my brother but more to spend time with him than to enjoy fishing though when they are really biting I do enjoy it. Once I almost, almost nabbed a sailfish while deep sea fishing...between heaves over the side of the boat. I think I was fifteen that last time (and second) I hunted. Never got close to hitting anything. Dad left me a shotgun and a rifle but don't look for me on the "lease" or in the "blind" any time soon.

Likewise, the whole gun thing was to have something to talk about with Dad. Now I'm hooked. I'm just fascinated by the ballistics and the construction of pistols. Even more fun than actually shooting is being able to disassemble and clean them and put them back together. A mechanism that can do what this does and be so simply operated amazes me.

Scrabble. I hate scrabble. I love words but hate that game. I just am not wired for it and also being somewhat competitive, that failure makes me hate it even more. Great topic though, I'm sure I've loved something to death.

My insane client

First, welcome Stephanie. I’ve enjoyed our “correspondence” and look forward to your posts.

Next, I have a client ("Client") who is driving me nuts. It is 4:00 p.m. local time and I’ve received no less that 11 emails from Client today. When I tried to call Client (about 5 emails ago) to try to cut to the chase, I found Client's number to be disconnected. When I emailed Client about the phone number issue, Client wrote back that Client didn’t want Client's number to go through cyber-space. Uh, ok, then pick up the d—n phone and call me.

I have to think of a way to relate this story without divulging anything about Client. Or, I have I already gone too far?

Re: Stephanie

Welcome. I must say that I was surprised when I saw that Mike labeled you as a "lefty". For some reason, I had the idea that you leaned more towards the right. Regardless, glad to have you aboard.

I know I've not posted anything as of late. I can't use the excuse that I'm too busy, but I'll be honest and say I'm too lazy. I promise to recap my trip to Hawaii this week. I have some other ideas for topics and once I get them fleshed out, I'll try to be a bit more diligent.

Not So Scrabulous

Thanks so much for the invitation to join your blog. My feminine perspective for today is that I’d be scared to go hunting with Scooter.

Now, how about a story of love lost?

I loved playing Scrabble as a child with Michael’s and my grandmother. Last fall, Michael and I discovered that we could play Scrabble online against each other via Scrabulous and ISC's Wordbiz. We’re a tad competitive with tendencies toward obsessiveness, so in short order we got serious. We read Scrabble books and bought Scrabble dictionaries; watched Scrabble documentaries (Word Wars and Scrabylon) and joined the National Scrabble Association (NSA); bought study guides and started memorizing lists of words: the 101 two-letter words, the 1,015 three-letter words, short words with J, Q, X, or Z, and words laden with vowels. We found creative ways to memorize words, like tag-team-composing a limerick daily that ended in an acceptable Scrabble word, like this:

Michael:         There once was a blue fish named Dory
Me:               Who mistakenly ate something gory
Michael:         It made her quite ill
Me:               All green in the gill
Michael:         And suffered the most hideous AURAE.

and

Michael:         There once was a goddess name Luna
Me:               Who liked to eat nothing but tuna
Michael:         She had quite a fright
Me:               After dinner one night
Michael:         When she found herself next to a UNAI

I quit my favorite yoga class to attend Scrabble club meetings. I studied word lists instead of reading regular books. I bought a new faster computer and signed up for cable internet service to reduce technical difficulties with playing online. Michael and I committed to play in an NSA-sponsored tournament and got ready for it by playing every morning from 5:00-7:00 AM for several weeks.

The tournament was an interesting, humbling experience. We played in the bottom division and lost more than we won. We both lost to a 14 year old. Michael did manage to beat an elderly gentleman who declared that no computer had yet been built that was big enough to hold all the acceptable Scrabble words.

I intended to work hard to be do better in the next tournament, but when I faced the task of memorizing 4,030 four-letter words, I just couldn’t do it. Memorizing a 4,000-word list was more than four times as hard as memorizing a 1,000-word list. As I started the process, I began to forget the three-letter words I’d already learned. It stopped being fun; it wasn’t an adventure anymore; it was just another chore. Besides, I was missing yoga and reading. So I neglected my word studies and felt guilty about it for weeks that stretched into months. Michael eventually admitted that he’d given up Scrabble, citing too much work for too little reward. Relieved, though a bit disappointed, I admitted to myself that I’d already quit too.

So where did this flirtation with competitive Scrabble leave me? It left me in Scrabble purgatory. Now that I know words like QI, AALII, XYST, and CWM, I can’t play with the neighbors. And because I don’t know all 4,030 of the four-letter words, I can’t compete with serious Scrabble players. Now I’m condemned to live a Scrabble-less life.

Anyone else have a story of losing something you loved by taking it too seriously or through overindulgence?

By the way, Michael and I were on the cutting edge of a Scrabble fad, although we were unaware of it. In July 2007, Facebook made Scrabulous easily accessible to its members, and now online Scrabble is all the rage (NYTimes and Washington Post).

Stephanie

We welcome today a new contributor to SSJ, Stephanie from Minneapolis. Like Scooter and me, she's a lawyer. Unlike us, but like love johnson, she's a lefty. While she's posted some decent analytical stuff in the comments previously, we're really hoping she'll add a much-needed feminine perspective to the blog: cat stories, knitting pointers, that kind of thing.

And maybe having a fellow traveler on SSJ will get LJ off his butt and back to the keyboard.

Welcome Stephanie.

My new Laser Grip is here

Very exciting for the SSJ resident gun nut. I'll try my new Crimson Trace Laser Grip at the range this weekend.

I've noticed as I've, ahem, aged, that as my vision goes nuts (I've been nearsighted forever but am now nearsighted and farsighted), my ability to aim has deteriorated. That is a problem.

Wearing contacts, having to put on readers to be able to sight my pistol, putting on the safety glasses on top of that, having to nod my head to focus my readers to sight the pistol, and nodding again to use the contacts to focus on the target...well, one can see the difficulties.

Hopefully I will now just have to focus on the target and lose the readers.

Leningrad Cowboys

The "Joe's Bar" clip is apparently from this movie. I doubt the bar is real, at least really in Houston.

Sheople

I made the decision (or at least started thinking about it) to cross-over at least a few days before the radio folks started talking about it.

My mayor can beat up your mayor

From the Austin American Statesman:

Wynn said he values the therapy and that "anger can be one of the topics."

"It helps me," Wynn said.

The mayor made the comments in a news conference at his office this morning, two days after Travis County prosecutors charged him with assaulting a man at his condominium building during a party in March 2006. Wynn posted a $500 bond Tuesday and has been ordered by a justice of the peace to either perform 20 hours of community service or seek private counseling before May 2. A court order said the Class C misdemeanor charge would be dismissed if Wynn meets those conditions.

The funny part of this deal is I actually know him a little bit. We were inducted into a local service organization on the same day about 4 1/2 years ago. He's played in golf foursomes behind me and in front of me and ... he's a really nice guy.

Cross Over Voting

I had to shame C into not voting Democratic on Tuesday. When we got to the polling location, there was a big line for the Dems - no one in line for the other side. She had been talking crossing over for several days, so I quite loudly started voicing my opinions about do so. Perverting the primary process, destroying the democratic process, being a sheep for all the right-wing radio pundits, etc. It worked - she went to the right (was it coincidence that upon entering the room, the Dem line was to the left and the Republican line was to the right?

Later that evening, I made the mistake of watching election coverage on both Fox and CNN (to prove how fair and balanced I am). It was nauseating. Going on and on and on about the 1% precincts reporting and what message was being sent. Graphics and so much crap going horizontally and vertically across the screens it was making me dizzy. And on CNN, double digit "experts" talking about who-knows-what. And when the vote total changed by 10 votes, Wolf would almost have a stroke. I lasted about 20 minutes before I had to turn it off.

SSJ in Cyrillic

I notice we had a four minute visitor from St. Petersburg.

It takes couple of seconds to load.

Eating a Second Sandwich

Ok, I haven't fully consumed the first sandwich but Michael's MN Cousin (I note that she now has a Blogger ID) has quite properly chided me on my New Hampshire cross-over comment. I hereby retract and admit I was wrong, really wrong. Goes a long way in completely destroying my already microscopic credibility. I had to confess to the person at the office to whom I first put the point. I don't know how I got my fact so wrong. I suppose I had relied on something anecdotal I'd heard.

I also wasted the better part of the afternoon trying to find evidence to support my position to no avail.

I'll be more careful going forward.

In hindsight, there was way too much on the line so early in the process for the really to much in the way of Democrat cross-over anyway. It would have been much more likely in Michigan or Florida where, I assume, many Democrats probably would have felt that a vote in the Democrat primary would not mean a lot.

Having said all that, I still wouldn't characterize all such cross-over votes, including my own, as insincere. Is crossing over less pure? Sure, but I don't think it insincere.

Prison Population in US

From one of the centers of the Pew Charitable Trusts called the Pew Center on the States, a look at our prison population of more than one percent of our adult population is now incarcerated. It's a long pdf but at least take time to cruise the graphs.

Re: New Hampshire Votes

From the Union Leader and CNN:

But CNN's exit polls showed 37 percent of Republican primary voters were self-described independents, and 39 percent of them went for McCain, while 27 percent supported Romney. Romney had expected a big advantage among registered Republicans but the two broke even in that category, CNN said.

Maybe I should have just said Independent voters. Certainly there is much less reason for Democrats to be crossing over this year. I was probably being defensive after having my character impugned.

'fess up

Who lost the links?

I hope it wasn't me.

Political Hijinx

Voted for Hillary.

Update: am confused at the attacks I've taken today (not here but at the office, our reader is too sophisticated). I've committed some kind of ethical breach in spite of the fact that the rules established by the D Party allow my participation. If one wants only D voters to vote, make it a closed primary.

For every D attack I've suffered today, when confronted with the fact that McCain won New Hampshire (and other states) on the strength of Independent and D crossover votes, the claim is, "I didn't know that."

HH is uneasy about the strategy ("they did a bad, bad thing") but I have more reasons than most. I live in a county that is entirely Blue (in a state that will undoubtedly go Red) so I have no choice but to ignore or choose the lesser of two evils on the down-ticket. Further, between the two D senators, I prefer the one for whom I voted because they're trying to kill us (Michael, you convinced me of that in spite of today's moderate protest of my action..."I don't want an incompetent in times like these." ).

Imprimus Speaker on Nuclear Energy

Another reason why I love this publication. Thanks, Hillsdale College. William Tucker on NE:

Consider: At an average 1,000 megawatt coal plant, a train with 110 railroad cars, each loaded with 20 tons of coal, arrives every five days. Each carload will provide 20 minutes of electricity. When burned, one ton of coal will throw three tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. We now burn 1 billion tons of coal a year—up from 500 million tons in 1976. This coal produces 40 percent of our greenhouse gases and 20 percent of the world’s carbon emissions.

By contrast, consider a 1000 megawatt nuclear reactor. Every two years a fleet of flatbed trucks pulls up to the reactor to deliver a load of fuel rods. These rods are only mildly radio-active and can be handled with gloves. They will be loaded into the reactor, where they will remain for six years (only one-third of the rods are replaced at each refueling). The replaced rods will be removed and transferred to a storage pool inside the containment structure, where they can remain indefinitely (three feet of water blocks the radiation). There is no exhaust, no carbon emissions, no sulfur sludge to be carted away hourly and heaped into vast dumps. There is no release into the environment. The fuel rods come out looking exactly as they did going in, except that they are now more highly radioactive. There is no air pollution, no water pollution, and no ground pollution.

I've got to figure out who this guy is but I'll trust Hillsdale for now.

Distinguished?

As the hair from my head falls and the hairs on my face grow grey (I prefer silver, or grey over gray), I heard for the first time today from a colleague how distinguished I'm becoming.

Ugh.

The Derb on inflationary medical costs...

At NRO:

…

The other day I had the opportunity to ask an actual economist this question [why a technologically driven medical industry’s prices increase while similar industries’ prices decline] — a Nobel-Prize-winning economist, in fact. He gave me a brisk economist’s answer: “Because someone else is paying for it.” Well, … but for most Americans, this is true.

What’s to be done? All the proposals coming out of the presidential candidates’ campaigns amount to making the “someone else pays” principle more universal, which doesn’t seem to me a very promising approach. I mean, it might get me off the hook by turning everyone else into a “someone else”; but when choosing among political options, we should be mindful of what is good for the nation at large, not merely what is good for ourselves.

Is there a way out? Possibly. A friend tells me: “About a year ago my wife had an endoscopy done while we were in China on business. The cost was 150 yuan, less than twenty dollars. Recently in Arizona she had the same procedure. This time the bill came to $3,776.12. The only difference being in China they let her take the picture home with her.”

…

Seems to me there is a terrific arbitrage opportunity here for Chinese doctors, dentists, and hospitals. According to The Economist, they are hungry for patients anyway. The China trip wouldn’t be appropriate for all medical situations, of course. If you fall off a ladder and break your leg, hobbling to the airport for a China flight isn’t really your preferred option. It does seem surprising, though, that the Third World isn’t getting more of our medical business. I’m betting this will change.

Hey, what happened to our links?

Red Russian Army Choir & Leningrad Cowboys sing Sweet Home Alabama

John J. Miller at the Corner says this is why we had to win the Cold War.

Full-length song here.

Apparently the Leningrad Cowboys are Finns.

Coulda been worse, coulda been Free Bird.

Um, it is worse, there's these:

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

Delilah

Stairway to Heaven (almost Free Bird)

My personal fave...the Army guy is pretty darned good, Happy Together

and, for Michael, Those Were the Days

or, sans the Red Army Choir:

My Way

And from Joe's Place in Houston??????

Born to be Wild

Who but me actually owns Uriah Heep’s original? Easy Livin'

Tax Policy 101

I think I have this radio ad quote exactly transcribed, “We’ve got to stop giving tax breaks to companies that are moving overseas and give those tax breaks to companies that are investing in the United States of America. Enough is enough.”

Isn’t this exactly backward on its face? Aren’t those companies leaving to escape high taxes?

And why doesn’t anyone ever explain how corporate taxes are just national sales taxes anyway? We pay those taxes whenever we buy their (or the ultimately marketed) products or services.

Christopher Hitchens on Buckley...

A bit more on the man ... at the Weekly Standard:

William F. Buckley Jr. was never solemn except or unless on purpose, and seldom if ever flippant where witty would do, and in saying this I hope I pay him the just tribute that is due to a serious man.

VDH on The Forgotten American (Americanus oblitus)

From Works and Days (less depressing than usual):

The forgotten American day in and day out pays off his monthly mortgage—$1000, $1500, $2000 a month perhaps. That his house went up in value was no reason to take out a second for a new car or kitchen or to max out the charge cards or to trade up to a home he could not afford, power, or maintain.
…

The forgotten American may have empathy for those who took out no-down payment loans, balloon payments, and interest only plans, but would never do so herself.
…

The forgotten American has no grudge against Muslims, and wishes the Middle East well. But he doesn’t have much guilt over paying $100 a barrel oil, or the tens of billions in handouts to Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, and Jordan.
…

The forgotten American doesn’t know much about Harvard or Princeton, or private school for her kids, or prep schools she never went to, or jobs that pay over $300,000 a year, or million-dollar homes. But she is pretty happy to be an American and the chance to have a comfortable house, car, good food, security, and a clean, safe, and good community.
…

The forgotten American worries about health care and wishes everyone were covered somehow. But for now when her son turned 23 she helped him take out a catastrophic policy, and when he forgets to make the $200 a month payment, she ensures that it is paid.
…

I don’t know how many forgotten Americans there are out [there], but I have a feeling the answer may well determine the next election.

Re: Nukes

I can't believe I didn't look at the Manhattan Institute earlier. Here's a pretty balanced discussion of pros and cons.

Re: Nukes

I still don't know where I come out on this. Cato clearly wants the market to decide, as from this July 2005 Washington Times article:

The intellectual case for killing energy subsidies instead of adding more is fairly straightforward:

* First, if private investors are unenthusiastic about, say, investments in nuclear power plant construction, it's probably for a good reason. Do politicians [me: probably better to say the bureaucrats they appoint because we all know that civil servants aren't political] really know more about the wisdom of that investment than the individuals who stand to lose their shirts if they make the wrong economic bet?

* Subsidies distort useful and important price signals. If the unsubsidized cost of hydrogen cars, for instance, is more expensive than the unsubsidized cost of hybrid cars, that means the resources to produce hybrid cars are more abundant than those to produce hydrogen-powered cars.

* Subsidies often do as much harm as good for their intended beneficiaries. By providing some protection from market forces, they deaden incentives for economic and technological innovation. Recipients too often grow fat and lazy at the federal trough. Look at the ethanol industry, which, after decades of massive subsidies, still can't compete without them.

That's not to say government has no role in energy markets. Energy generation and consumption are two of the most significant sources of industrial pollution. At the same time, air and water sheds are shared by all who live within them. Those who believe government should protect property rights should demand their government fight pollution to protect the value of their property and their health. So, for instance, the federal government should not override state and local governments that want to block LNG terminals or transmission line construction, as proposed by the House and Senate bills.

For a full list of the Cato articles, look here. Cato certainly has a dog in this fight because of its focus on the purity of the market. I did not find similarly negative accounts at American Enterprise Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute or Tech Central Station though they, too, bemoaned the subsidies.

While I'm as much of a Milton Friedman fan as anyone, I'm still not convinced that it may not be worth subsidizing in the name of national defense or the environment if warming really is caused by our collective carbon footprint. On the other hand, if the US were to completely wean itself from foreign oil, aren't China and India just waiting in the wings...still enriching those who want to kill us and filling the atmosphere with icky stuff? And, on the gripping hand, I still hate subsidies.

An interesting aside that you'll just have to trust me on since I didn't keep the links, at least one or two leaders/founders of one or two of the more will known Green Groups who reluctantly embraced nuclear energy as a way to reduce the carbon output are now ex-members of those groups.

Baby baby don't get hooked on me???

I think I've written before that I rarely listen to pop/rock on the radio. Driving home from the store just now there was nothing on AM and that Latino news show on PBS, which I can't stand. I hit scan on FM and stopped when I finally heard something I recognized.

Whatda??: "Girl, you're a hot-blooded woman-child/And it's warm where you're touchin' me."

I'm sure I've listened to that song dozens of times and never heard that line before.

Nukes

Good work Scooter and SJJ on sussing out the subsidy issue. Makes me wonder if I need to start doing some serious homework re the standard positions of the Right that I've been spouting . . .

Nah.

Re: Nuclear Subsidies

A few quick paragraphs from the very fist Cato article that pops up on their site:

Pro-nuclear groups herald the coming flood of applications as proof that nuclear energy makes economic sense. Nonsense. The only reason investors are interested: government handouts. Absent those subsidies, investor interest would be zero.

A cold-blooded examination of the industry's numbers bears this out. Tufts economist Gilbert Metcalf concludes that the total cost of juice from a new nuclear plant today is 4.31 cents per kilowatt-hour. That's far more than electricity from a conventional coal-fired plant (3.53 cents) or "clean coal" plant (3.55 cents). When he takes away everyone's tax subsidies, however, Metcalf finds that nuclear power is even less competitive (5.94 cents per kwh versus 3.79 cents and 4.37 cents, respectively).

Nuclear energy investments are riskier than investments in coal- or gas-fired electricity. High upfront costs and long construction times mean investors have to wait years to get their money back. The problem here is not just the cost per watt, several times that of a gas plant, but the fact that nuclear plants are big. Result: The upfront capital investment can be 10 to 15 times as great as for a small gas-fired turbine.

Cato is not exactly your average treehugging anti-nuke protest bunch.

Kudlow's thoughts on Buckley...

I've grown to love Larry Kudlow and Michael pointed out to me his earlier "problem."

Apparently, Buckley had a hand in the recovery:

At Pat’s memorial service in New York I cried with Bill as we embraced each other. So I am crying again right now at Bill’s passing.

He encouraged me to become a Catholic. He encouraged me to stay sober. He encouraged me to keep writing columns. He encouraged me to stick with my new career in broadcasting. Sometimes he would call, out of the blue, and tell me I was making good progress and that he was proud.

As we approach Texas Independence Day...

VDH in the face of a hot question:

JF: The U.S. did steal Texas from the Mexicans in the 19th century. Isn’t there a certain justice in what is happening now, the land being gradually reclaimed by its original owners?

VDH: In the sense of the irony that Mexico stole its land from Spain, that stole it from the Indians. Though unlike Mexico, the U.S. legitimized its forced annexation through a treaty and payment. There surely is irony on all sides that long ago mobs of European Texans encroached on Mexican land and now their descendants face the same from Mexicans. That said, the greatest irony is the majority of Mexican citizens in Mexico who poll that (1) they think the southwestern U.S. really belongs to Mexico, and (2), the majority of such respondents still wish to leave Mexico and emigrate to the U.S.: the subtext being ‚we want the status and prestige of being Mexico, but don’t wish to live in what we subsequently create.’

Just to cross the 1000 post threshold

Jewish World Review has begun positing articles from Strategic Forecasting, Inc. or Stratfor.

The last two paragraphs from todays article on "The Good War":

As the situation in Iraq settles down — and it appears to be doing so — more focus will be drawn to Afghanistan, the war that even opponents of Iraq have acknowledged as appropriate and important. But it is important to understand what this war consists of: It is a holding action against an enemy that cannot be defeated (absent greater force than is available) with open lines of supply into a country allied with the United States. It is a holding action waiting for certain knowledge of the status of al Qaeda, knowledge that likely will not come. Afghanistan is a war without exit and a war without victory. The politics are impenetrable, and it is even difficult to figure out whether allies like Pakistan are intending to help or are capable of helping.

Thus, while it may be a better war than Iraq in some sense, it is not a war that can be won or even ended. It just goes on.

I've met one of their forecasters, and ex-CIA guy. Who'd of thought they'd be headquartered right here in Austin.

From their "about us" at the site:

Stratfor provides published intelligence and customized intelligence service for private individuals, global corporations, and divisions of the US and foreign governments around the world. Stratfor intelligence professionals routinely appear at conferences and as subject-matter experts in mainstream media. Stratfor was the subject of a cover-story article in Barron’s entitled The Shadow CIA.

Stratfor was founded by Dr. George Friedman in 1996. Stratfor is privately owned and has its headquarters in Austin, TX. Stratfor has a Washington, DC-area office and employees in geopolitically significant areas around the world.

William F. Buckley, Jr.

I really wish that I could say he had a profound effect on me but I cannot, at least in the way so many others are writing/saying today.

Sure, I subscribed to "National Review" in the 80s but was either too self-absorbed, lazy or intellectually challenged to receive much benefit beyond, "Hey, there's this smart guy out there who thinks like I do." I had no clue about his influence on the conservative movement beyond his damning of the John Birch Society (JBS) as anti-Semitic...and only know that because my folks eventually left JBS for those reasons. I was also somewhat aware of his libertarian views on the War on Drugs.

This is blasphemy but I disliked the weekly PBS show because of his, dare I say it, arrogance. I recall being particularly pleased when a Susan Estrich/Ann Richardson type challenged him to make his points on the show in words with less than five syllables.

It was Michael who turned me on to The Corner several years ago and therefore NRO and my re-subscription to "National Review."

Indirectly, of course, the effect was profound. As George Will wrote (as close as I recall), "Before Reagan, there was Goldwater, before Goldwater there was 'National Review' and before 'National Review,' there was Buckley."

An amazing man, a lover of life. I wish I shared that joie de vivre.

I did enjoy some of the spy novels, though. (Update: after reading Steyn's comments about the spy novels at NRO today, I just ordered Marco Polo if You Can, High Jinx, Stained Glass and Henri Tod Blackford Oakes in Berlin.)

Tonight's debate with Hillary and Barack

I'm guessing Hillary looses the dogs. We'll see. Just wish I wouldn't have to see Olberman tonight.

Obama ads in Austin

I'm hearing many of them on the radio. I've not heard a single Hillary ad. Granted, Austin is much more likely to go for him than Houston or the "Metroplex" (always hated that term), but shouldn't she be trying?

Re: Nuclear Subsidies

Ugh. Looks like I'm going to be eating that sandwich after all. The CATO Institute has what appears to be dozens of articles and publications that show nuclear energy would never get off the ground without huge subsidies. More later.

Frontpage Magazine on Liberal Fascism

From Jonah Goldberg's LF Blog, Frontpage Magazine on Liberal Fascism (I've got lots of problems with Horowitz but do support his cause on stifling free speech on campus):

Frontpage On LF

A very nice write-up, emphasizing a point I made a while ago here that one reason for the book's success is that it was a book whose time has come. Here's the opener:

That "thwack" you hear from coast to coast is conservative book-writing pundits smacking themselves on the forehead and exclaiming, "Why didn't I think of that?"

No, the "thwack" is from conservative would-be book-writing pundits who did think about it and did nothing. I'm reminded of my past failure to act on my idea that car radios should be able to play while rewinding or fast-forwarding a cassette tape. Or, my current failure to write the definitive book on nuclear subsidies.

Or, on my dad's decision not to go in on Ross Perot's crazy computer leasing scheme in the mid-60s. Thanks, Dad...I love you.

Re: Nuclear Subsidies

Michael's MN cousin was kind enough to send me many links on the subsidies issue and nuclear energy (NE) in general (many thanks) and I'm still lost. The most readable for the science challenged (me) was an article by Jon Gertner from the July, 06 NYT Magazine.

His general conclusion was that while NE is not a good source of energy, it may be a necessary one with the rising energy needs of countries like China and India, our own energy voraciousness and greenhouse gas emissions...one piece of the energy supply pie needed to replace fossil fuels.

While I was glad to read a NYT journalist was slouching toward NE, the article left me only more confused about the subsidies. Gertner mentions that many reactors bring in revenue in excess of $1M a day. That sounds really low to me. I'm not sure even a heavily subsidized reactor could ever generate a profit like that. Maybe he meant to say "profit" instead of "revenue." That could be because just a sentence or two later he refers the Entergy's 10 plants generating about $250M a year in profits. If these monsters were costing $6-9B to complete in 1985 and have a 40 year life expectancy, I don't know how the numbers could ever work.

On the other hand, if 103 US plants provide 20% of our electricity using the dinosaurs, maybe the next generation reactors will yield a better result. Or, and at the risk of sounding like FDR, electricity in this era may really be something that government should fund. I'm not there yet but could probably be convinced.

I'm not too concerned about the issues of waste or terrorist attacks. We'll figure something out for the former and while the Gertner article tried to strike a negative pose on the latter, it actually heartened me.

Much more work for me to do.

(Note: my most left-leaning bone is my green bone. Non-violent treehuggers don't bother me in the least so long as they are intellectually honest.)

Dammit Jim, Feed Your Head!

From Jack M. over at Ace Jefferson Airplane Meets Star Trek. Thought it worth the link.

I'm going to have to stop reading VDH

He's too depressing (of course I won’t but this is becoming too prevalent) :

One wonders how the United States has come to the brink of nominating and probably electing someone with almost no experience as either an executive or national legislator, replete with ratings and rankings that suggest he will be about the most liberal Presidential candidate since George McGovern.

Last night's Austin Debate...

was attended by the oldest person (our runner, retired guy, former nurse I think) and youngest person (our receptionist, former Edwards supporter) in my office. Amazingly, they both won their entrances in a contest. Both thought Sen. Clinton was stronger in the first half and Sen. Obama stronger in the second. Both entered and left as Sen. Obama supporters.

Neither spoke in tongues.

New Age glossolalia

Ms Parker on the Obama fervor:

And apparently, Barack Obama is the new messiah.

Here's how a 20-year-old woman in Seattle described that Obama feeling: "When he was talking about hope, it actually almost made me cry. Like it really made sense, like, for the first, like, whoa ... "

This New Age glossolalia may be more sonorous than the guttural emanations from the revival tent, but the emotion is the same. It's all religion by any other name.

Re: Plaintiff's Lending

I wonder what the effective interest rates are on these Plaintiff's Lending loans. I assume them to be contingent loans...contingent in that the loans don't have to be repaid if the lawsuit is lost. I have to assume the rates are steep since if the suit is lost the loan need not be repaid. Do usury statutes apply?

Decline and Fall by Bruce Thornton

I read it several months ago and while very good, if one could read only one of the two I would recommend Mark Steyn's America Alone. Having said that, both are really rather short and both very readable. Thornton obviously more focused on Europe than Steyn so able to dedicate more pages to other reasons, e.g., declining religious fervor, beyond the demographics issue with which Steyn is so good.

Nice summary of Decline and Fall today by way of KLo's interview with Thornton (aka "VDH's toadie" as I saw on some website the other day) at NRO.

Fun this August in Denver

From an allegedly pro-Sen. Clinton website:

FACT: Florida and Michigan should count, both in the interest of fundamental fairness and honoring the spirit of the Democrats' 50-state strategy.

An important part of the debate over delegates is the role of Florida and Michigan. Hillary Clinton believes that the voices of 600,000 Michigan primary voters and 1.75 million Florida primary voters should be heard at the Democratic convention.

In the 2004 presidential race, the turnout in Michigan was only a quarter of what it was this year - and the 2004 turnout in Florida was less than half of what it was this year. With such dramatically increased turnout, Hillary won those two states and she did it with all candidates on an equal footing. In Florida, all presidential candidates were on the primary ballot and all followed the rules (except for Sen. Obama who broke the rules by running television ads in violation of his pledge to the early states and to the other presidential candidates). In Michigan, Sen. Obama voluntarily withdrew his name from the primary ballot to curry favor with Iowa. He was under no obligation to do so. However, his supporters organized a substantial vote for 'uncommitted' on the ballot, thus he is represented in the delegation. Hillary Clinton obeyed all the rules in Florida and Michigan and came out ahead. She had no intrinsic advantage over her opponents other than the will of the voters. The voters of Florida and Michigan should be heard and the delegates from Florida and Michigan should count.

This could be getting really fun.

Lunar Eclipse Tonight

For those blessed with good weather, there should be a nice eclipse of the moon tonight.

Nuclear Subsidies?

I may have made a terrible mistake in my thoughts (read support) about nuclear energy. I was confronted by my brother-in-law (for whom I have the greatest respect) this weekend with the assertion that "Nuclear Energy" is no better than biofuels from a market/economic perspective. In other words, it can't make it without subsidies. Is this right? I haven't had time to research yet.

I would have assumed some early subsidies but would also have assumed that by now they were honestly profitable. Any thoughts? Any sources?

I'm going to hate to eat this sandwich.

Plaintiffs Lending

I've been inundated with ads lately of lenders willing to fund loans based upon a plaintiff's claim in a lawsuit that don't have to be repaid if the suit is lost. I know it's a market niche and that deserving plaintiffs need cash, but something smells very bad in these.

Example here though I know nothing of the company and they may be strictly above board.

I predict a scandal.

Jonah Goldberg on Hugh Hewitt this Thursday...

discussing Liberal Fascism (linked at right). My impression was that it would be for all three hours since HH will physically be on vacation.

Sen. Obama floored me on the way home tonight...

in a good way. I just heard a blip during a top of the hour radio news broadcast so there might be more but I suspect it came from this:

...Obama called Clinton’s proposal to freeze mortgage rates “disastrous”.

“She says we need to freeze the monthly rate on existing adjustable rate mortgages for at least five years,” Obama said.

“That will reward folks who made this problem worse [emph. mine] and it will also reward folks who are wealthy and don’t need it - but it won’t target the struggling homeowners who need help most.”

Ok, kudos for the first part but reward the "wealthy?" What wealthy "folks" are opting for these silly adjustable rates? At least arguably, those who need help most are those that made the problem worse but still, I want to give credit where it's due.

The radio blip only covered the the "disastrous" and "made this problem worse" comments. I actually exclaimed aloud (again, in a good way) on the way home.

Michelle Obama says her Husband will fix my soul...

These messianic comments are really unsettling. I heard these (takes about 10 minutes) and thought that they really seemed to represent what his supporters say he stands for. I recognize that she said "we" have to fix our souls but the message was undeniable.

Brother SSJ'rs, is it permissible for me to vote in the Democrat Primary on March 4, 2008?

I participated in the old caucus process to try to thwart Gary Hart (before the whole Monkey Business/Donna Rice thing brought him down) when it appeared he might have a real chance of taking down Reagan. I supported Jesse Jackson in the caucus.

Can I vote for Hillary on March 4? If I can, I will if the Huck stays safely behind McCain.

(Not to mention the improper use of "fix." Fix means "to prepare," not "to repair," at least as the language is spoken in the south.)

Aloha

C and I got back early this morning. Just a taste of the islands for you. More in a day or so.

OMG

I think this (also the "They're trying to kill us mantra") means I'll be voting for Hillary on March 4.

Update: forgot the link.

Obama's Economic Policies

I started to post today based upon Larry Kudlow's analysis without having actually read Obama's policy statement. Kudlow included this:

The Wall Street Journal’s Steve Moore has done the math on Obama’s tax plan. He says it will add up to a 39.6 percent personal income tax, a 52.2 percent combined income and payroll tax, a 28 percent capital-gains tax, a 39.6 percent dividends tax, and a 55 percent estate tax.

Before I posted, I went to Obama's website to read it. Heavens! It's much worse than I'd thought. I hope I have the stamina to post after having thoroughly read Obama's positions.

My longstanding political theory about to be sunk

I've believed since I started to think about these things (almost 30 years) that the first African-American and first woman POTUS would be from the right.

While I still think Powell would have won had he run as a Republican in 2000, he didn't.

I don't see any women on the right, or even just Republican women if not that much to the right, of a presidential mettle anything as strong as Clinton's. Likewise, although there are a lot more African-Americans moving right both politically--Steele, Swann, Blackwell and Watts (and to a much lesser extent Ford) and philosophically--Williams, Murdock, Connerly and Sowell (always dismissed as Toms), I don't yet see anybody with the experience needed.

My "only Nixon could go to China" theory may be shot down by half this November.

On Valentine's Day in 1928...

My mom was born. Wow. First birthday/Valentine's Day without dad since 1951.

A pretty big endorsement in Central Texas for Obama

From Sen. Kirk Watson's website:

I am proud to support Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States.

Senator Obama offers this nation a new beginning. His leadership will tap our potential and give us hope.

Watson is Austin's former mayor and current state senator. Watson carries a lot of weight here.

Posted hesitantly

As I left the office tonight many of the folks who clean the office (the folks who come in at night and mop the bathroom floors, the guy with the vacuum cleaner backpack, trash taker-outers, etc...) were coming into the garage. I counted a Suburban (maybe two years old), a smallish SUV (like a CRV, looked brand new) and a brand new mid-sized Toyota sedan. Each auto carried only one person. Two of them were talking on cell phones.

Last year, we had to complain to management because one of our attorneys logged onto his computer from home to find that someone at the office was already on his computer. Turned out it was one of the office cleaners who was updating her MySpace or Facebook site.

I was reminded that in Dinesh D'Souza's What's So Great about America, there is a quote about why another person of Indian origin wanted to immigrate to the USA....ok, I can't find the quote in the book but I did find this from a column of his that makes the same point with whom I assume is the same person:

... "They arrived at the same perception that I witnessed in an acquaintance of mine from Bombay who has been unsuccessfully trying to move to the United States. I asked him, "Why are you so eager to come to America?" He replied, "I really want to live in a country where the poor people are fat."

What a country! I know, I know, the poorer among us are overweight because of their terrible nutrition options. My point is that the guy from Bombay is amazed that they weren't starving like they do in his homeland. When those on the presumably "lower economic rungs" have these "necessities," we must be doing something right...economically. The cell phones, computers and these quality autos were not available to even the richest within my lifetime.

Mark Steyn's Speech at CPAC

Courtesy of Jonathan Garthwaite at Townhall. Worth a watch.

The European Spine

Victor Davis Hanson really depressing me today at NRO as he sounds some of the themes from Bruce Thornton’s Decline and Fall and Mark Steyn’s America Alone :

Abroad, the European public is more schizophrenic. It wants to make no sacrifices to stop the jihadists, but fears them terribly. It damns the U.S. as responsible for the tense, unpleasant global environment, but then — apparently in private — votes to ensure it has leaders favorable to us. Europeans offer moral lectures to Americans who are paying a great price in blood and treasure for constitutional alternatives in Iraq, even as their own elites in shameful timidity mortgage the Western Enlightenment to two-bit thuggish Islamists.

Afghanistan is not seen as a line in the sand to stop the spread of jihadism, but an embarrassing entanglement that can be blamed on George Bush’s inordinate anger following 9/11. The European attitude toward America seems to be “you must intervene in the Balkans to lead us in the fight against the twilight, but we won’t follow you into Afghanistan to battle against abject darkness.”

Ferrigno's Sins

First chapter of Robert Ferrigno’s Sins of the Assassin available at his website (not that I’m reading it at the office). Enjoyed the first one, Prayers for the Assassin, but readily admit it was not aspiring to be anything beyond a thriller.

Obama and Clinton come to Austin

Per the Chronicle. February 21. Motorcades everywhere. Can't wait.

No, I can't get you tickets.

Elizabeth the Golden Age

I wasn't all that crazy about the first one...probably too salty for my taste but I did like the one I watched today. Cate Blanchette in armor, well, speaks for itself. She's no Miranda Otto.