World's Ugliest Business Card

...is what I have in my wallet as of today.

The only good thing about it is that the accent color it has gone from aTm maroon to blue.

Print is too small.

Print is too light.

Worst aspect: the "notes" section on the back. As if I didn't know I could write notes on the back, but at least now I have half the space.

The only other only good thing is that they didn't make me put my picture on it.

Pardon my schadenfreude: Airbus a Disaster

From American Thinker via Real Clear Politics:

Yesterday, Airbus humiliated itself before the world civil aviation community. Already suffering a massive loss of credibility due to the repeated delivery delays for the A 380 super jumbo, the company was to have unveiled its recovery plan, dubbed Power8, consisting of restructuring and cost saving measures intended to save $2.8 billion per year by 2010.

Instead of triumphantly presenting Power8 to the world, the company admitted it could not come to an internal agreement on cost-saving measures, and word leaked out of heated arguments among the members of its board of directors. So much for boldly moving forward to solve its many problems. Airline customers cannot be comforted by the company's continued internal squabbling, the principal factor said to be at the root of the 380's repeated delivery delays. [emph. mine]

Victor Davis Hanson

I had the distinct pleasure of hearing one of my favorite authors speak tonight at a guest lecture sponsored by the University of Texas Liberal Arts College Western Civilization Program. Of course, that was Dr. Victor Davis Hanson.

The lecture and Q & A were taped for podcast and as soon as I find out where, I'll post a link.

The subject was "The Ancient Greeks & Western Civilization: Then and Now." Dr. Hanson was very engaging (much more so than on the radio). He certainly was unafraid of sticking his neck out in what he clearly believed could be a somewhat hostile environment. When asked about what could be done about the "clash of civilizations," he said, "I suppose I'm the only person in the room who believes the only solution is to bring transparent, representative government to the Middle East." I paraphrase but that was the gist...the Bush Doctrine or at least part of it.

I'm not sure I heard anything new in the lecture (except for his sense of humor) that I hadn't already read in his columns and books. He touched on Xerxes and Cortes and Alexander and Socrates and Phillip and Penelope. He discussed property rights and freedom of speech. Capitalism, Communism, Fascism, Democracies, Oligarchies, Theocracies all made the discussion. Heck, even female circumcision found its way in. Again, nothing he's not written about before.

In many ways the stereotypical professor. Balding and bespectacled, he was disheveled and his coat was missing a button. The tan (from his farming?) was a bit out of place.

I'm glad I didn't miss a minute.

My only Anna Nicole Smith post...ever.

I’ve been trying to figure out why I had any reaction at all the recent death of Anna Nicole Smith. Because she was originally from nearby Mexia? Maybe that had a tiny part in it. Because she married the rich, old guy in Houston with almost no perceptible phoniness...everyone involved knew what was going on and it seemed to make him happy? A bit.

But Larry Miller really seemed to capture it. As tragic and silly and sad as her life has been, there was something likable about her. Miller, from the Daily Standard (Weekly Standard’s site):

I DID the Tonight Show back in '93 or '94, and she was on it. Leno came in before and said, "She's a nice girl. See you out there." And she was. I've never had the slightest problem digging the different gifts people bring to show business and beauty is a gift as much as anything else. Anyway, it was a good show. And, frankly, sitting next to her wasn't exactly a chore.

But that's not the story. The story happened just a month or two later.

My wife and I were invited out to dinner with two friends of ours, other writers. We were newly married and they took us to one of the fanciest places in town. There were a couple of well-know folks there, but the place was so swank that no one even noticed. Then, very suddenly, the room got quiet. Hushed, in fact. My back was to the door, and my wife said, "Oh, wow . . ." and tapped me, and I turned, and, of course, you know who came in and stopped the presses.

Worth reading the whole thing. Great story about her date at the restaurant.

More on Recycling

Hat tip to Michael for a derivative hat tip to LGF further derivative hat tip to youtube for this Penn and Teller slam on recycling. The best point is that made about aluminum cans...profit makes the whole deal work.

Best point: aluminum recycling works. Why? Because you can make a buck doing it. No, that's not really right...better to say that the fact that you can actually make a buck doing it is evidence that it consumes less resources than it costs. Better Allocation of Resources than an $8B annual subsidy. If this were going to Exxon/Mobil, the screams would deafen us.

D--n Capitalists get it right again!

P.J. O'Rourke

You've seen her on Youtube! From Larry Kudlow on today's Corner:

It's worth noting that Hillary Clinton doesn't want corporations to pay any taxes at all-not a single penny. Hillary plans on confiscating their profits altogether! (In our CNBC interview Friday night, P.J. O'Rourke referred to Mrs. Clinton as "Hugo Chavez in a pantsuit.")

UT and Google Partner Up

From my Alma Mater's press release:

The University of Texas at Austin has become the newest partner in a broad book digitization project with Google.

The partnership between the University of Texas Libraries and Google is part of the Google Books Library Project, a project started in December 2004, initially to digitize books drawn from the libraries of the University of Michigan, Harvard University, Stanford University, Oxford University and the New York Public Library.

In the course of the multi-year project, Google will digitize at least one million volumes from the University of Texas Libraries’ collections....

Reagan's Free Speech Legacy

Was just listening to a podcast of Michael Medved on the effort to bring back the "fairness doctrine." I'm sure it's not an original thought, but Reagan's greatest legacy, after the ruination of Communism, may have been the removal of the "fairness doctrine." I loved the battering of the air traffic controller's union, but what a legacy that was.

Political speech has never been freer than today and in spite of the current state of the Right's political position, I would never want it to change. If we regulate the radio and FoxNews, which is what they are really after here, how long before venues like this or any of those listed on the right side of this webpage are similarly regulated?

Let the marketplace of ideas work itself out. Even Air America found additional funding, even if Mr. Franken is leaving to test the waters in Minnesota. What does Congressman Hinchey fear?

MORE BLACK HELICOPTERS...

Ok, I’m not sold on the whole North American Union thing (not even close) and cannot abide the New World Order nutters, but this does bug me a bit.

It does appear that an affiliate of Macquarie did acquire a bunch of those Texas and Oklahoma newspapers. It also appears that a Macquarie entity is involved with Cintra, the entity involved in the Trans-Texas toll road/corridor. It just smells bad. What if Wal-Mart were to buy all the entities owning publications spewing bile at them? I’d hate that, too. The fact that they are foreign entities makes it all the more uncomfortable.

In light of Kelo, I'm a bit concerned about where all this is going. 500,00 acres?

The only article I could find today is at WND. Read if you like but watch out for those helicopters.

More on the Unnamed Health Insurance Issue

Jeff Jacoby makes a good start on the teaching needed on the subject in today’s JWR. As in education, we need to let the market back in to the world of medicine. I know it sounds simplistic, but it works every where else. Jacoby mentions the WWII point I made last week but the more interesting discussion involve the common thought that because medicine has become so high tech that the costs must soar:

Why is health insurance so expensive? .... The revolution in cardiac care, the myriad new drugs, the invention of CAT scanners and MRIs, the ability to transplant organs — these and so many other lifesaving medical miracles didn't come cheap. It stands to reason that insurance covering the cost of such miracles doesn't come cheap either.

But wait — [why does] it stand to reason? Information technology has exploded in recent decades too, yet computers have never been as affordable as they are now. Agriculture is far more advanced, and the quality and variety of food available to consumers far greater, than they were 50 years ago, yet the real cost of food has plummeted. The price of a primitive color television in 1954 was equal to three months' wages for an average American worker; today that worker gets a sparkling picture on a 25-inch screen for just three days of work.

"Why is it," asks David Gratzer, a physician and scholar at the Manhattan Institute, "that in every other field where enormous technological strides have been made, total costs have fallen over time, but in health care they have increased?" The answer, he writes in The Cure, a lively and engrossing new book on the American health care mess, is simple: Health care costs so much because most of us pay so little for it. And we pay so little — out-of-pocket expenses amount to just 14 cents of every health dollar spent in this country — because a third party nearly always picks up the tab. For most working Americans, that third party is an insurance company paid by their employers.....

Why does it matter whether Americans pay for medical care directly or let insurers cover their bills? Because thrift and price awareness usually go out the window when we're spending other people's money. Under the present setup, most Americans have little incentive to be economical consumers of health care. As a result, health care expenditures — and insurance premiums — have been racing ahead at three and four times the rate of inflation.

Scooter starting to see black helicopters?

I'm starting to get a bad feeling about the toll roads. An Aussie company partners with the Spanish company (Citra [sp?] building the first of the toll roads) and then the Aussie company buys twenty Texas newspapers along the toll road corridor. Of course, these were papers editorializing against the the toll roads.

I've got to look for some independent articles/sources rather than the scary source from which I learned this; but if true, it's ugly.

Tried to move SSG to the new format....

but got a message that only my scooterblog could be moved. Said the original creator had to do the moving...

Moving scooterblog was easy...just had to set up a google account.

More on the Health Insurance Plan with No Name (can you hear the crickets chirping?)

GWB makes the proposal and it’s DOA. But per Mike Franc at HumanEvents:

To [Dick] Armey [(R.-Tex.)] and [Pete] Stark [(D.-Calif.)]-, the solution [in 1999] was obvious: Use the tax code to help increase [health insurance] coverage. "We think Congress should create a new refundable tax credit to enable all Americans to buy decent health coverage." Other liberals agreed. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.), and Reps. Barney Frank (D.-Mass.) and Jim McDermott (D.-Wash.) sponsored legislation creating tax credits or deductions for individuals to purchase health coverage.

...

Stark refused to even hold hearings on it in the health subcommittee he chairs, saying the plan was "designed for disaster." Rep. Charles Rangel (D.-N.Y.), dismissed it as "a dangerous policy that … shifts cost and risk from employers to employees."

This knee-jerk opposition prompted some journalists to scold Democrats. The Post’s Steve Pearlstein noted that the plan "actually involves raising taxes on the rich and lavishly insured and giving the money to the working poor and the uninsured...."

Simple Health Insurance Plan needs better explanation (Does it even have a Name yet?)

How many people know that employer funded health insurance was the market’s not so great response to FDR’s wage freeze (itself obviously grossly anti-market)? Amity Schlaes has a pretty good article today at bloomberg.com explaining how this would work but this project is going to take a LOT of selling. I mentioned it to a medical technician about to give me an MRI a year and a half ago and he was dumbfounded, having assumed that this was the way things HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DONE.

Ms. Schlaes:

Back in the 1930s, Congress and President Franklin Roosevelt created Social Security over corporate protests. A national system of payment for health care seemed next. (In 1945 Harry Truman would go around talking about "the right to adequate medical care.'')

Terrified employer raced to preempt FDR and Truman by proving they could handle health themselves. They contracted with Blue Cross and Blue Shield to provide benefits for employee pools. The tax treatment came last -- in fact no one knew for a while whether companies really could claim the insurance deduction.

But World War II made the new arrangement seem doubly logical. Congress imposed an "excess'' profits tax of as much as 90 percent and froze wages. Paying for health insurance was a way to reduce tax bills and keep workers, who were suddenly scarce. Unions were pleased. By 1945, 32 million Americans were in health-insurance programs, many sponsored by companies, up from 12 million to 13 million just five years before.

Bush has been awful at marketing his domestic agenda except for the early tax breaks, No Child Left Behind (and that was as much Kennedy’s doing as the POTU) and Medicare Part whatever.
I fear that she’s right and that these reforms will only begin to take root now while we most scratch our heads and try to think things through. For those of us who have decent employer provided coverage, we will be hard-pressed to allow any monkeying with it.

She concludes:

But if the Democratic leadership is already rejecting the Bush idea, is it still worth thinking about? The answer is yes. Parties come up with some of their best ideas when they are down -- ideas that tend to become law five or 10 years later.

Several other Bush proposals have been fakes -- programs that called themselves free market but actually extend the role of government, such as the Medicare Part D prescription-drug plan.
The standard-deduction plan, by contrast, truly is free market and anti-Washington. Though it may have come at the wrong time, this increase is one all can endorse -- even the tax warriors.

This is going to be a hard but necessary sell. First they need a great acronym.

Krauthammer Joins Scooter's Chorus on Ethanol

In today's JWR, Dr. K echoes my earlier post and Robert Samuelson's column from earlier this week:

This is nonsense. As my colleague Robert J. Samuelson demonstrated this week, biofuels will barely keep up with the increase in gasoline demand over time. They are a huge government bet with goals and mandates and subsidies that will not cure our oil dependence or even make a significant dent in it.

...

So much easier to say ethanol. That it will do farcically little is beside the point. Our debates about oil consumption, energy dependence and global warming are not meant to be serious. They are meant for show.

Mike Adams

I was a little surprised to hear Rush quote him today. Todd should be proud.

Re: Embracing the Suck

I have to assume you were protecting me.

Embracing the Suck

The best movie example I’ve ever seen of that concept is Tom Berenger’s character in Oliver Stone’s Platoon "encouraging" a wounded soldier to, "Shut up and Take the Pain!"

Obama’s conversion from Islam

If Obama converted to United Church Christ from Islam, isn’t that punishable by death in most of the Muslim world? Especially given that the UCC is way out in front of the Episcopal Church on most issues that would particularly upset a more radical Wahhabi type?

California Citrus Damage exacerbated by EPA

In today's TCSDaily's article by Dr. Henry I. Miller entitled "Feds Freeze Out Antidote, Costing Billions", we see once again why the scariest words in the US remain, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

A couple of paragraphs:

In the early 1980's scientists at the University of California and in industry devised a new approach to limiting frost damage. They knew that a harmless bacterium which normally lives on many plants contains an "ice nucleation" protein that promotes frost damage. Therefore, they sought to produce a variant of the bacterium that lacked the ice-nucleation protein, reasoning that spraying this variant bacterium (dubbed "ice-minus") on plants might prevent frost damage by displacing the common, ice-promoting kind. Using very precise biotechnology techniques called "gene splicing," the researchers removed the gene for the ice nucleation protein and planned field tests with ice-minus bacteria.

Then the government stepped in, and that was the beginning of the end.

What else do you need to know? (But read the whole thing if only for the science.)

The new F-35 from Lockheed lets the fighter pilot be more fighter than pilot

This is very cool. From today's NRO:

On Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after testing the F-35, Beesley explained why the new nine-G, Mach 1.6 (just over 1,200 miles per hour) fighter is unlike anything ever flown.

"I’ve never felt any airplane that had better performance coming off the ground," Beesley tells National Review Online. "I had a very good idea of how I would climb out, but [because the single Pratt and Whitney F135 engine generates more thrust than any fighter engine ever built] I had to keep pulling the nose up. I was thinking, ‘this is interesting.’"

MORE FIGHTING THAN FLYING
In September, I talked with with Marine Lt. Col. Arthur "Turbo" Tomassetti. Tomassetti, who had flown the X-35 (the stripped-down experimental version of what would evolve into the current F-35) explained that, "Mission stuff — killing things and blowing things up — should be what is most challenging. You don’t need to complicate a pilot’s life by making the hardest part of his combat mission getting back aboard ship."

Firetrucks disturb Scooter's sleep....

From News8Austin:

A million-dollar new home under construction in Tarrytown was destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.

LOUD SIRENS for an hour straight...dogs in the 'hood (in honor of our new subtitle) went crazy.

Paul Greenberg

One of the things about the Internet, generally, and Jewish World Review, specifically, for which I’ll always be grateful: they introduced me to Pulitzer Prize winner for editorial writing, the editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Paul Greenberg.

Excerpts from today’s column:

Dear Ozark Correspondent,

It was wholly a pleasure to hear the newest euphemism in your part of the state for the now politically incorrect term, hillbilly: Ozark-American.

...

So are hillbillies the same as rednecks? Those categories may overlap, but they're certainly not the same. You gotta hand it to rednecks; they don't care who calls 'em rednecks. Indeed, the true redneck takes pride in the name, and it does beat all heck out of the more scholastic classification, Southern Yeomanry.

....

The least appealing may be the professional Southerner, aka the More Southern Than Thou variety. The species can often be found up North or on the fringes of the Old Confederacy. It seems that those most removed from the center of any ethnic group may be most insecure in their identity and most bent on exaggerating it. [Me: the professional Texan is so annoying that Bud Light dedicated a "Real Men of Genius" commercial to Mr. Way Too Proud of Texas Guy.] The way Austrians make the most fanatic German nationalists. Or American Jews the most fervent Zionists.

One of the best, funniest and warmest columists in America.

My Morning Chill

From Mark Steyn at National Review:

There are ten million people in Moscow. Do you know how many of them are Muslim? Two and a half million. Or about a quarter of the population. The ethnic Russians are older; the Muslims are younger. The ethnic Russians are already in net population decline; the Muslim population in the country has increased by 40% in the last 15 years. Seven out of ten Russian pregnancies (according to some surveys) are aborted; in some Muslim communities, the fertility rate is ten babies per woman. Russian men have record rates of heart disease, liver disease, drug addiction and Aids; Muslims are the only guys in the country who aren’t face down in the vodka.

Faced with these trends, most experts extrapolate: thus, it’s generally accepted that by mid-century the Russian Federation will be majority Muslim. But you don’t really need to extrapolate when the future’s already checking in at reception. The Toronto Star (which is Canada’s biggest-selling newspaper and impeccably liberal) recently noted that by 2015 Muslims will make up a majority of Russia’s army.

More scary stuff....

Avian Flu or the commencement of the the 80th Texas Legislature???

KLBJ reports:

They've closed off most of Congress Avenue for the morning downtown -- along with all side streets between Colorado and Brazos streets. That's after dozens of birds were found dead in the area.

It’s not quite the same as the “recycling” scam, but it’s close...

This is just nuts and another example of (i) good intentions driving policy without examining the bad results and (ii) what happens when the market is influenced by subsidies rather than, well, the market.

From John Fund’s column at WSJ’s opinion website:

As for corn-based ethanol, Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute calls the current mania to subsidize it "the closest thing to a state religion America has." Corn farmers have done a good job of disguising the fact that it still takes more than a gallon of fossil fuel — 29% more is the best estimate — to make a gallon of ethanol. [emph added] In addition, various mandates requiring the use of ethanol significantly increased gasoline prices last summer and led to spot shortages because ethanol can't be carried through pipelines and requires special blending plants. James Glassman, an economist with J.P. Morgan Chase, notes that expensive ethanol was a big factor in the sticker shock consumers encountered at the pump this summer. "We'd probably have retail gasoline prices between $2.30 and $2.40 a gallon if not for ethanol," he told The Wall Street Journal last June, when pump prices were topping $3 a gallon.

So, it takes a almost 1.3 gallons of gasoline or oil or the equivalent of natural gas or coal to create a gallon of ethanol. And not only that, I paid an extra $0.50 per gallon of gasoline this summer because of it.

Terrific policy. Right up there with recycling.

Christmas

One really interesting thing (at least to me) about this Christmas: my mom kinda adopted her bridge partner who has little family around. The partner, probably in her 80s, was invited to spend Christmas with us.

My first thought was, "INTERLOPER!" Then as I got to know the woman, I really liked her. As things progressed, the whole affair came to remind me of any Christmas with my mom's mom, Sweet (that is what her grandkids called her). It was great.

To be so reminded of Sweet was melancholy, but nice.

The "interloper" even broke out her violin and performed Christmas Carol duets with my mom (on the piano). It sounds corny, I know, but it was great.

Thanks, Mom.

Bloodcurdlingly (Is that a word?)

I remember thinking my mom was all wet in the 60’s when she told me not to believe that nonsense about it hurting the eggs of bald eagles, but I was naïve. From Human Events, this sickening paragraph:


Bloodcurdlingly, Berlau cites several prominent environmentalist leaders who explained that their opposition to DDT was based on their desire for Third World people to die. For example, Sierra Club Director Michael McCloskey said in 1971 in order to explain his organization’s opposition to DDT, “By using DDT, we reduce mortality rates in underdeveloped countries without the consideration of how to support the increase in populations.” Alexander King, co-founder of the Club of Rome, wrote in 1990, “So my chief quarrel with DDT in hindsight is that it greatly added to the population problem.” That’s right—prominent and influential environmentalists oppose DDT because it saves human lives.

Beldar apparently blogging again...

I had given up on him after the SCOTUS discussions.

But Beldar is back.

B.C.E. ???

My favorite historian used this term. I don't really object but who decides these things?

The context was immediate:

This catchy sobriquet, however, is only a new name for something very old. In fact, radical transformations in military practice have marked Western history at least since Sparta and Athens squared off in the Peloponnesian war in the 5th century B.C.E.

Don't tell Mama...

I have to admit my knowledge of Harold Ford is primarily limited to what I've seen of him on the evil Fox News Network but that limited knowledge led me to agree with NRO's Larry Kudlow:

If the Democrats really want to embrace a rising star, they need look no further than Harold Ford, the young African American congressman from Tennessee who nearly captured a senate seat last month. Ford appreciates free markets and capitalism. He has boldly crossed party lines to vote to extend the investor tax cuts and expand tax-free savings accounts. He avoids class-warfare platitudes and embraces the Ownership Society. He’s optimistic — Reaganesque. And his pro-growth vision stands in stark contrast to Obama’s nanny-state predilection.

I know he lost (and I admit to Repub. dirty tricks) but I think Tenn. made a mistake.

Apocalypto

Hugh Hewitt is really right about the movie...at least as far as its "art" goes. It is beautiful. It is a step similar to the one Spielberg took with Saving Private Ryan. The plot and characters though....

Victor Davis Hanson disappoints and then sates...

Victor Davis (or David, as Laura Ingraham says) Hanson irked me then made up for it today:

From today's NRO:

This week Iran hosted an international conference on Holocaust denial. The gathering was as bizarre as a bar out of Star Wars [emph. added], a collection of every crackpot anti-Semite the world over, all there for a scripted, tightly controlled hatefest advertised as a “free” exchange of ideas unknown in Europe.

Jimmy Carter, silent about Iran’s latest promotion for its planned holocaust, is hawking his latest book — in typical fashion, sorta, kinda alleging that the Israelis are like the South Africans in perpetuating an apartheid state, that they are cruel to many Christians, and, as occupiers, are understandably the targets of suicide bombers and other terrorist killers. Sadly, all that shields this wrinkled-browed, lip-biting moralist from complete infamy is sympathy for a man bewildered in his dotage [emph. added].

Would LJ freak?

If we moved to Townhall?

Re: McConnell

Somehow someone "commented" with a unremovable link. At least there is no little trash can to click.

Star Wars Bar Scene

I read it once this morning and then heard it on the radio and I want it stopped. Edict: Thou shalt not invoke the "Star Wars Bar Scene" to describe a motley crew.

RE: Violent crime is up in Houston after Katrina (Part One*)

Aggravated assault up a mere 2%

Auto theft up 11%; I’d have thought that would be much higher with many of the evacuees going from N.O. to Houston (must have auto)

Burglary down 20%

Burglary of auto up 1%

As Michael mentioned, DWI down a staggering, slurring amount (75%?)

RAPE UP 120%! What is that?

Negligent manslaughter too small to take into account

Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter up 23% (how much of that will be old time Houston gang versus new New Orleans gang members and/or NO gang versus NO gang members?)

Drug violations up 16% and

Robbery up 6%

With the exception of the two biggies (rape and murder), I'm guessing there was not much of a per capita increase.

Violent crime is up in Houston after Katrina (Part One*)

I was asked recently if my concerns immediately after Katrina about the New Orleans evacuees coming to Houston had been realized. [Very soon after Katrina I was worried about reports that the crime rate in New Orleans was much higher than in Houston, and predicted that we were going to see increased crime in Houston as the result of our New Orleans neighbors coming to visit. I posted some anecdotal stuff along the same lines here, here, here, and here.]

After looking a bit I found a chart created by Pat Ramsey at Southwestern University that compares crime stats for the eight months before Katrina (Jan-Aug '05) to the same period in 2006. [I'm grateful I found Pat's work because it makes the point and saved me a lot of work, but it seems a better comparison would be the year before (Sept '04-Aug '05) to the year after.]

Look at Pat's chart and you'll see crime was up in most catagories tracked, and significantly up in some (interestingly, burglary and DWI were down).

But, my correspondent wanted to know, was there an increase in the per capita crime rate? In other words, was the increased crime due simply to the fact that there were more people or were the evacuees in fact committing crimes at a greater rate than Houstonians had before Katrina?

To answer that question one needs population numbers: Houston before Katrina and the number of New Orleans refugees. The Census Bureau, in a special project to assess the effects of Katrina, made estimates of the Houston population before and after Katrina. In Part Two, I'll look at those numbers and show that per capita crime rate increased in several catagories.

* I left my analysis of the per capita figures at the office and I'm too lazy to rerun it now. So there's a Part Two. While you wait, chew on this: My correspondent contends that everyone is one bad break away from destitution and criminality (in her case, crack whoring). "There but for the grace of God go I." Discuss.

Mitch McConnell

Straps it on: “And as odd as it sounds, some of the high points of my Senate career have been killing things”

Penn Voters

What were you thinking? OUR LIVES ARE AT STAKE!

Road Trip

Just got back from a trip to help my sister-in-law move. My route was Dallas-El Paso-Las Cruces-Tucson-Phoenix-Flagstaff-Gallup-Gunnison-Denver-Boulder-Dallas. Drove through dust storms, flash floods, temperatures ranging from 103 (Phoenix and in the Texas panhandle) to the 40's (Gunnison). Even had 20+ degree temperature changes within 5 minutes near El Paso and going over Lizard Head Pass in SW Colorado. Saw elk, deer, prairie dogs, antelope, a roadrunner. Was verbally accosted by a Navajo at a gas station in the middle of the Navajo reservation in NW New Mexico ("What are you doing in Navajo country? Why are you here?). Listened to "reservation radio" - they had 2 stations. Both spoke in Navajo, but one played songs in English, but the other played native Navajo music.

With the recent interest in illegal immigration, I was pleased to see a BIG increase (based on my last trip through El Paso - New Mexico - Arizona) in the border patrol presence. Lots of agents in vehicles, helicopters. But they were mostly sitting in cars talking to each other. Had to go through a border checkpoint outside Las Cruces, but the agent just waved everyone through. Not sure what he was looking for.

Kinda reminded me of trips many years ago to Big Bend National Park. Ahh...those were the days.

Minimum Wage

Saw an interesting letter to the editor in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on this subject during our trip up north at the beginning of July. This may not be a new idea, but it was new to me and I like it. A lot.

The writer said that the solution to this problem was to tie increases to the minimum wage to increases in pay that Congress votes to themselves. If they get a raise, the minimum wage goes up as well. The same percentage. God, I love that.

Of course, this will never happen because Congress would have to approve it and pass it. But it makes sense to me, which is another reason it won't happen.

Wisc

Only because I can't spell. Tell our friend to call me; we've switched home and cell phones and lost the number; I've spent hours trying to find her in WauwatosaMiiniTosagSag that she owes me a few (hours).

Re: LJ

C and I are heading up north to the land of brauts and beer tomorrow for the holiday - get back on the 4th, then on the 6th I'm driving out to Arizona to help my sister-in-law move from Flagstaff to Gunnison, CO. I should be back on the 11th or 12th.

I've never been to Disney World. Only suggestion I would have is hit the most popular rides early (like you haven't figured that out already). On second thought, I do have another...don't go. WAY too crowded, WAY too commercial, WAY too many kids. But then again, that's me and it's a bit late since you're already there.

Have fun :)

LJ

1) Where you going? 2) It's "couldn't." 3) In addition to the launch we're spending several days at Disney World. Have you been and if so any suggestions*? Looks like a big complex.

*Behold the power of the Blogger Spellchecker: I typed "suggetions." It gave me about ten possible alternatives, none of them "suggestions."

RE: Hey

Wow...I thought my eyes were deceiving me. I check the blog a couple of times a day and for what, 2 months, nothing. And this morning, lo-and-behold, MULTIPLE posts!

As for the subject of flag-burning, let me say this: I never know which is the gramatically correct term..."couldn't care less" or "could care less"? Whichever is, that is how I feel about it.

It's too bad that at least one of my SSJ brothers has deciced that now is the time to get back to blogging. For the next 2 weeks, I will be away from any computers or internet, so I will not be able to voice my opinions or even check the blog. Guess that means I'll have some catching up to do when I get back home.

FLASH BUMP

"Flash" I think is a radio term meaning something important is about to be said. "Bump," as I understand the blogsphere, connotes something you wrote recently that has been pushed down on your blog by later posts but which you now believe should be top and center.

I started to type that this is neither, but then I looked at my definitions.

If this small small part of the bsphere is to continue, there has to be a reason why. Did we run out of things to say? We never have before. Are we tired of the constant onslaught of partisanship? I think we'd all say yes. Do we just not care anymore? I say no.

Can we let this noble enterprise die a whimpering death? I say never:




To that end, and keeping with the Flash and not so much the Bump, let's revisit the birth of SSJ:




I'm getting a lot of email along these lines: "Love your site! You guys are great! Only place on the web where a couple of 'nuts and a 'bat can duke it out in a civilized fashion. But what's the deal with your name?"

Well. A considered question deserves a considered answer. Here it is:

One day last year, out of the the blue, I got this email from my good and close friend Scooter:

Scooter: Let's start a blog.

I was thrilled (in the old sense of "terrified" [look it up]) and terrified. What in the world would I be able to blog about? I had not had an original idea in twenty years.

Michael: What? I haven't had an original idea in twenty years.
Scooter: You're right, me neither. Forget it.
Michael: OK.
Scooter: OK.
Michael: OK then.
Scooter: But...
Michael: But what?
Scooter: What if we had a site devoted to esoteric economic theory with an occasional pop culture reference AND some hardcore conservative political commentary?
Michael: Gosh, when you put it that way, count me in!!
Michael: We're going to need a name. Punditguys?
Scooter: I don't think so. Overdone.
Michael: How about "Jacks of Spades," y'know like "Ace of Spades?"
Scooter: meh.
Michael: Ok fine.
Scooter: How about something with pajamas? [Ed. note: this was when jammies were hot.]
Michael: I dunno, seems like everyone's doing jammies.
Scooter:...
Michael:..
Scooter: I've got it. Not pajamas: smoking jackets. Like Astaire and Cary Grant.
Michael: Yeah I like that. But I dunno. It seems a little . . . gay?
Scooter: Yep.
Michael: Instaguys?
Scooter: Please.
Michael: ...
Scooter: OK. Let's go back to first principles. We've got nothing new to say, right?
Michael: Check.
Scooter: We haven't had an original idea in twenty years.
Michael: Check.
Scooter: Anything we say is going to be derivative of something someone else has already said.
Michael: Check.
Scooter: Dig this: Secondhand Smoking Jackets.
Michael: Ah, "secondhand smoke," secondhand = derivative. Not bad, not bad at all.
Scooter: Grazie.
Michael: AND if we go back to my earlier "Jacks of Spades," we could make it "Secondhand Smoking Jackets of Spades." No, that's just stupid. "Secondhand Smoking Jacks of Spades?" Too long. How about "Secondhand Smoking Jacks?" Which doesn't really make much sense.
Scooter: I kind of like it.
Michael: Eh. I guess we can think about.
Scooter: OK. I've got a site on Blogger for "Secondhand Smoking Jacks."
Michael: What?? I thought we we're going to talk about this some more.
Scooter: I guess not.
Michael: Fine.



My blog brothers: We've had our sabbatical. The times, they are a'changing, and we don't want not to be not on record, or at least I don't. E.g., I've waded in [weighed in?] on the flag thing, have you?

STS-121

For those of you not steeped in NASA doings that's the next Shuttle mission and it is currently scheduled to launch 3:49 pm EDT July 1. We're fortunate to have one of the astronauts as our friend and neighbor and have been invited to view the launch from the family/friends area. I don't know where that is but it has to be better than where I saw the first launch from*. I never saw an Apollo (i.e. Saturn V) launch (I think T did), which was the most powerful vehicle to ever leave the Earth, but I can say the Shuttle launch I saw was pretty damned impressive, even from the peanut gallery.

*The non-dangling, and correct, being "from which I saw . . ." Can't do it. Which begs the question: What's happened to Michael's stand against the degeneration of grammar and syntax? What, indeed.

Hey

How 'bout that flag amendment? I say no.

Eh

Getting back on the bicycle...maybe.

I was out-and-about this morning, running errands and decided that after a 2 to 3 week hiatus from any talk radio, it was time to tune in. I've been so apathic lately, regarding anything even remotely political. But, my thinking was, it's been long enough. Time to jump back on that bicycle and see what happens.

Turn on the radio and the Glenn Beck show is on. He is railing against the do-nothing politicians. Both sides. Talk and talk and talk, but never do or fix anything. Immigration...Iraq....fuel prices...scandals...he rants for 10 minutes or so. Listening to it was giving me a headache. so I swtiched over to Air America.

The Rachel Maddow show is on. Her topics? New CIA director....Iraq war...."The Decider's" fish story. Since I agree, at least to some extent, to her views on these subjects, I last about 15 minutes before I get bored and my head starts hurting again. Next stop, Laura Ingraham.

She seems all worked up over an interview Katie Couric had this morning with Joel Osteen, the pastor of the Lakewood mega-church in Houston. After listening for a few minutes, I wasn't quite sure what she was worked up about. Her focus seemed to be (1) that when Katie was quoting Bible verses to Mr. Osteen, she referred to them as "quotes" rather than "passages" and (2) her questions seemed hypocritical, as Katie was asking Mr. Osteen about he reconciled being a pastor while at the same time his church rakes in huge $$ and he just signed a big book deal (larger than Bill Clinton's, as Katie pointed out). Now, I just happened to see this interview while I was doing my 30 minutes on a treadmill at my gym. I'm not a big Katie fan, but her interview broached many more subjects than just money and she seemed informed and respectful of his position. And given the scandals that seem to follow many of these TV evangelists, I thought the line of questions on this subject was fair. Ms. Ingrahams' point appeared to be that Katie had no right to ask him about this, since she herself is quite wealthy. Well, I can think of one big difference...Katie isn't on TV asking people to send her money. Whether she earns what she is paid by NBC and now CBS could be a matter of debate, but if the networks are willing to pay her millions, then more power to her. Somehow I doubt that Ms. Ingraham is hurting financially herself.

I had to turn this off as well, not because I was at my destination, but because I just couldn't take it anymore. So off went the radio and on went the CD player....Roxy Music. My headache went away. And it was obvious that my talk radio hiatus wasn't long enough.

Old rivarly rekindled

This from today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

"Arkansas and Texas have agreed to a two-year, home-and-home football series
beginning in 2008. The Razorbacks visit their former Southwest Conference
rival on Sept. 13, 2008. In 2009, Texas plays in Fayetteville on Sept. 12."

I can't speak for the "tea-sippers", but I can say that ALL Razorback fans will be very excited about this. From another article in the ADG, it appears the game in 2008 will be the first in the expanded, renovated Royal-Memorial Stadium. Hopefully, the UT athletic department will give more tickets to the UA than they did when we played there in 2003. C and I will be there of course (as we were in 2003), and I can only hope the result is the same.

Shoes?

"Keen" (brand name, not adjective) hiking sandals on sale at REI from the 5th to the 14th. $69.00 as opposed to the usual $90.00.

I abhor the look of sandals but love the comfort. I acknowledge the bad feelings are at least in part due to the fact that I have the planet's ugliest toes. These give me the comfort without exposing the ugly toes.

Best story: some months after I bought my first pair a couple of years ago, I was walking thru the shoe department at a fru-fru department store here in Austin. The department manager came over to me and asked me about my shoes. I told him about them and where I got them. 60 days later this store was carrying them.

LJ, you once gave me a pair of shoes that I wore foe almost 10 years and still have...you'd love these.

True reality TV

So yesterday afternoon I turn on the TV to watch the local news a few minutes before 5 pm (just for the record, the local ABC affiliate). They have broken into the scheduled program for "breaking news" - a Continental Express plane has blown it's 2 tires on the left side on take-off and is circling Bush Intercontinental Airport burning off fuel before it attempts to land. I flipped over to NBC and they are covering it too. CBS as well. So I'm thinking, "wow, this must be a big deal if all three stations are covering it." So if it's a big deal, CNN must be all over this. I turn over and....nope, not CNN. OK, Fox....nope, not them either. So I go back to ABC and they cover this thing for at least 1 hour and 45 minutes (with a break for the national news at 5:30, even though they break in during the commercials to give updates). And of course, no mention of it on the national news. While watching this "drama" unfold, I have several thoughts:

1) Why are the local stations even covering this? It's not a flight that was coming to or leaving Dallas, nor is it American Airlines. So why do they think it's such a big news story for DFW?

2) If all 3 local stations are covering it, why isn't CNN, Fox, etc? I'd be willing to bet if this were happening in NYC, LA, Chicago, they would be all over it. But since it's Houston, it's not worth the air time.

3) News anchors are very good when reading their script - get them in a situation like this, and you see how pathetic they are. Asking stupid questions. Asking the same ones over and over and over again. Saying things that make no sense. At one point, the anchor from the ABC affiliate was introducing a local Houston reporter on scene from "our sister affiliate station in Houston, KHOU". Now, I know I've been gone for a few years, but isn't KHOU the CBS station? KTRK is the ABC one. Nice...

4) So the 2 anchors and the 2 "airline experts" are discussing how the plane will land, what should happen, what they don't want to happen, all the while showing all the emergency vehicles getting ready. And just before the plane begins to land, I think to myself..."I wonder if the news people are thinking what I am....I hope 'something' happens. Something dramatic. Because if it all works out OK, we just invested 2+ plus hours into this and for what"? And lo and behold, the plane lands perfectly, hardly any sparks or anything. And I swear you could hear the disappointment in the anchors voices. After a couple of minutes, they went back to regular programming - Wheel of Fortune.

I was trying to decide if I should feel bad or not because I felt a small level of disappointment that it worked out OK. No sparks. No fire. No passengers sliding down out of the plane. Basically a waste of 2 hours. Then again, it was better than most anything on network TV these days. A "true" reality show, without the edited "most dramatic and emontional"....whatever. And that is the true lesson here - that if "true" reality show were on TV, no one would watch them because they would be as boring as hell. At least most of the time. Directors, editors, producers have to create reality to get anyone interested. I'm barely interested these days in true reality - that is why I pass on the TV versions of it.

Re: Apathy

Dude, kind of a bummer. Sounds like Savage in one of his moods. Having said that, I'm kind of feeling the same, but for different reasons. I know the Dims are out to lunch, so I'm not troubled by that. It's disappointing to see the Rethugs misfire on the gas prices and spending. I am hopeful we have turned the corner in Iraq, but I wish there were more positive indicators that is the case.

I have an inkling, only, of your frustration re employment and know it's tough. Doors close and open, but sometimes not as fast as we would wish. And with that sappy and completely unhelpful aphorism, I'm done.

The disease that is apathy

The unemployed, when not looking for a job, have plenty of time to think and reflect. On life. On current events. On anything and everything. Perhaps that is why I have caught a disease - the disease of apathy. Day after day I enter the world of the internet and see what is going on in the world and what "people" are saying about said events. That is how one contracts the disease.

Politics - one party says ying, the other says yang. They agree to disagree. Unless the polls show that the public is overwhelmingly for or against something. Then they all say they will fix it. But first, they have to have hearings. Actually, pre-hearings before the hearings. Then they take one of their numerous "breaks" to go home to "hear from their constituents" (i.e. big donors). Then they go back to D.C., posture for the cameras and what happens - nothing. Never. Ever. I've often wondered why polls and stories always say that the voters have HUGE negative feelings about Congress, yet the voters always re-elect the same ones over and over again. I used to think that it was because the incumbents have fixed the election rules so much to their advantage that unless they are caught with an animal and/or a child in some seedy motel (and in some districts, that wouldn't even matter it seems), re-election is almost a given. Now I am convinced that when push comes to shove, by the time election day rolls around, the voters are like me - they don't care. Apathy has taken hold of them. It doesn't matter who gets elected, nothing will change because of it. Politics - right now I don't care anymore.

Bush - he is such a disaster, I'm rapidly getting bored reading and listening to all the haters, spinners, apologists, worshipers, etc. When he speaks, I turn it off. Doesn't make any diference what he says - nothing changes because of it. I see today that he has named a new Spin Master - er, Press Secretary. Yawn....do I care, not really.

Reviewing the headlines on Drudge....Brittany Spears pregnant again. Who cares about that? Did anyone care the first time? Tom Cruise / Katie Holmes...again, who cares about this? Why is this even news. Teri Hatcher suffers eye injury. Ohh, the stock market might crash because of this.
Geesh, I can't read anymore of this. I'm going to check out CNN...

Rumey and Condi make a surprise visit to Iraq. Of course it is a surprise, it's so damn dangerous (even though we are making real progress) that they can't announce it in advance or they might get killed. And of course they will stay in the "green zone". Won't venture out. But it's great over there...uh huh. Secrest not talking to Paula Abdul. So what. Who cares? I even read that now there is going to be a reality show about a realty show (American Idol). Is the best that TV execs can come up with? No wonder I only watch sports on the tube. Drivers running out of gas to save money. What? Gas prices...like anyone can do anything about them. It's the same every year. High around Easter, go down a little, high around Memorial Day, go down a little, high around July 4th, go down a little, high around Labor Day (is there a trend here?), then down a little. All it takes is some yahoo oil shiek in some god-forsaken desert country to say "oil", "terrorist", "nukes", "refining capacity" and the oils prices shoot up. Here is the problem in a nutshell - we like big cars. Big SUV's. Big hummers. And nobody is going to tell us what kind of car to drive. Today, as I was driving to the gym, I saw the American gas/oil problem in full view. Sitting at an intersection, there were 10 vehicles waiting for the light to change. All 10 were SUV's (mine included). Of the 10, 8 had only 1 person in them (mine included). There it is. That is the problem. I don't need CNN or Bush or some ExxonMobil executive or some Saudi oil shiek to rail on and on - just go to an intersection and look at the vehicles and how many people are in them.

So I guess the point of this rant is this. I don't care about too much right now. I don't want to watch TV, I don't want to listen to talk radio, I don't want to read papers or surf the web. I have no desire. I'm apathetic. These days, I spend my time 1) sorta looking for a job 2) playing free cell on the computer and 3) watching the NHL play-offs.

I need a life...and something, anything to care about. And quickly.

The Thin White Duke....in Portuguese

I saw this and thought of you Scooter. HERE is a link to a zip file of songs from the movie "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou", which I admit I liked. I love the Bill Murray understated style of comedy. Anyway...throughout the movie, one of the characters sang Portuguse versions of David Bowie songs. The zip file contains the 11 full version songs he sang snippets of in the film.
Pretty cool stuff.

William Shatner

I wanted to be on record somewhere that I love this guy whatever he does. Just saw a piece of a lawyer show: he was fabulous.

Begging the fargin question

This week's hall of shame: (1) "Author and conservative comedian Brad Stine;" (2) Mike McDaniel of the Chronic;

and (3), well I don't have one (or do I?). This travesty is so widespread I thought I could get a weekly feature out of it, you know, three (surely not more) violations I saw THIS WEEK. Either I've not been paying attention or ... something. Anyway, I only had two, so I thought I'd cheat and google some news stories for "begs the question."

The result was shocking. Aussies, at least at 9 CDT, 4/24/06, seem to be the worst offenders.

Begging the Question...

Begging the question.

Houston Praised in City Journal

City Journal, in this (warning, about 12 pages in length) article by Nicole Gelinas, compares and contrasts the culture and government of the City of Houston versus those of the City of New Orleans. No contest.

God Bless the People of Houston!

Re: Two-fer and other mundane thoughts

I haven't posted about Raymond and his compensation package because (1) it's beyond shocking (2) I'm not surprised (other than the paltry $1 million "consulting fee" for this year - I mean after all they other stuff, one would think that he would do it for free or they would pay him more than $1 million (3) I'm too pissed off to even try to respond.

On to other items:

* I suspect the blog will take a BIG turn to the right this week. I'll be out-of-touch the majority of the week, so I won't be here to offset the conservative ramblings of Michael and Scooter. Literally going fishing.

* Was curious about the trip to the Bijou - see something not rated G and/or animated?

* Temp here in Dallas is supposed to be in the high 90's tomorrow and Tuesday. A bit early for such high temps - no global warming huh?

* Will probably have to buy my first ever U.S.A. $3 a gallon gas this week. Do I hear $4?

That's all I have. Since it's Easter - peace be with you.

Easter eggs

Interesting story in the Chronic today in which it is claimed that eggs, and in particular red colored eggs, are an early Christian symbol of the crucifixion and resurrection.

Happy Easter

A poem

A night on the town
T says "Woo-hoo"
A bite to eat
Maybe the Bijou

Excuse the rhyme
I'll give it a rest
Have a good time
I wish you the best.

Good Friday and Passover Slackers

I know this is an extreme example of Pot/Kettle/Black but there is a dearth of commentary out there today.

More on my wordie-ness

Hanson echoing Sowell: words have meaning; why do we bastardize?

Re: Liberal vs. Conservative

It was Reagan who made "liberal" a dirty word. When he won, with the support of the Reagan Dems (Labor being a huge part of that), the liberals became "progressives."

My gripe is that the conservatives are really the liberals in the classic sense of the word.

I know I'm a wordie; I hate that words have become so, so malleable. This drives me nuts.

Now I have to go watch Ann on TV.

Two-fer

Lee R. Raymond retired last year after many years as chairman of Exxon. Like all ex-Exxon employees, he got a generous compensation package. In his case, $398 million.

Two-fer? Big fat "begs the question" in paragraph four.

The "1984" analogies

I knew it was only a matter of time before all the "1984", "newspeak", "Big Brother", etc. rhetoric would start making appearences. This from Thom Hartmann (he waits until the 2nd paragraph):

"In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the way a seemingly democratic president kept his nation in a continual state of repression was by keeping the nation in a constant state of war. Cynics suggest the lesson wasn’t lost on Lyndon Johnson or Richard Nixon, who both, they say, extended the Vietnam war so it coincidentally ran over election cycles, knowing that a wartime President’s party is more likely to be reelected and has more power than a President in peacetime..."

Now, what I love about this article isn't just the whole GWB = 1984 anlaogy or the mention of...drum roll please.....the "military-industrial complex". No, the joy for me is the introduction of a whole new CONSPIRACY THEORY. One that I haven't heard before. And here is the jist of it:

"Four years later, there can be no doubt that Bush/Cheney/Rove and the Republican cabal lied us into invading Iraq. Ginning it up just before the 2002 midterm elections was largely done so Republicans could take back the Senate in 2002 after losing it because of Jim Jeffords' defection. The 2003 attack was timed, we now can see, so Bush would improve his chances to win the White House in the election of 2004.

So, too, it appears that Bush is now ginning up a new war just in time for the 2006 midterm elections, and Karl Rove probably has a 2007 continuing war in mind to help swing the 2008 elections (or postpone them)."

Wow, this is just TOO good.

The linked article makes a reference to the ghost-writer for the Bush autobiography "A Charge to Keep", Mickey Herskowitz and some comments GWB made to him in interviews. For a more detailed look at some very interesting insights of our Dear Leader, read this from Russ Baker. Some juicy tidbits:

* In 2003, Bush's father indicated to him that he disagreed with his son's invasion of Iraq.

* Bush admitted that he failed to fulfill his Vietnam-era domestic National Guard service obligation, but claimed that he had been "excused."

* Bush revealed that after he left his Texas National Guard unit in 1972 under murky circumstances, he never piloted a plane again. That casts doubt on the carefully-choreographed moment of Bush emerging in pilot's garb from a jet on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in 2003 to celebrate "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq. The image, instantly telegraphed around the globe, and subsequent hazy White House statements about his capacity in the cockpit, created the impression that a heroic Bush had played a role in landing the craft.

* Bush described his own business ventures as "floundering" before campaign officials insisted on recasting them in a positive light.

Just more fodder for us on the left. But I'm sure that even if the MSM try to run with this, the neocon spin masters will be out in force.

Btw, LJ (useless Masters comment follows)

Congrats to your favorite golfer. I was rooting for the 46 y.o. Couples but Lefty played a splendid round Sunday.

Re: Loneliness and Yesterday's Economic News

Been trying to figure out how to respond to your Econ post. I honestly believe that economics is NOT difficult. The difficulty arises in all the convoluted ways it is addressed. I honestly think that some economists (and certainly some economics journalists) make it more difficult than need be to show off their smarts. Certainly my professors at UT did so. Some journalists simply may not have the wherewithal to address the issues simply.

I think my best approach will be to just address the issues raised rather than try to address them in the context of the DMN article. (I don't know who the author was and I generally love the DMN but that article was certainly all over the place without much in the way of explanations.)

It's really just about cause and effect. I need to figure out how to express it.

More begging the question

From writers who ought to know better: Cal Thomas, Robert Scheer, and (this one hurts) Peggy Noonan.

Is loneliness just a word?

Do you sometimes get the feeling that you're all alone out there? Wondering where everyone went, where everyone is?

Sometimes I do.....

Liberal vs. Conservative

Since I am on the cutting edge, I was all over this several months ago. Here is another perspective from Democractic Underground. A small sample:

"Liberalism" Then and Now

Consider, for example, what the word-meisters of The Right have done to the word "liberal."Webster's Dictionary gives us this traditional definition of "liberal:"

"From the latin, liberalis - of or pertaining to a freeman. Favoring reform
or progress, as in religion, education, etc.; specifically, favoring political
reforms tending toward democracy and personal freedom for the individual.
Progressive."

However, the right-wing screech merchants of AM radio and cable TV have turned the word "liberal" into an epithet, like a piece of rotten fruit to be hurled at the candidate or political commentator willing to be called a "liberal."

Remember the 2004 GOP ads? "Brie-eating, chardonnay-drinking, latte-sipping, French-speaking, Volvo-driving, New York Times reading, elite liberals." The word connotes "tax and spend," "welfare cheats," bureaucratic interference in "free enterprise," and a weak military. To Ann Coulter, it means nothing less than "treason."

Thus it is no surprise that when pollsters ask the ordinary citizens to describe their political orientation, "conservative" comes out ahead, followed by "moderate," with "liberal" a poor third.And yet, when the same citizens are asked their opinions on Social Security, Medicare, environmental protection, public education, economic justice, racial tolerance, and the separation of church and state, by substantial majorities they endorse the traditional liberal agenda. In short, the American public remains liberal, even though it has been persuaded to despise and reject the word "liberal." And that should be regarded as good news by The Left, for it is the ideology and the program that matter. "Liberal" is merely a word...."

Yesterdays economic news - good news or bad news?

I will admit, I don't understand economics. Especially when it concerns what is or isn't good for the average American. So an article in today's business section of the DMN has me even more confused. My comments are in red...

U.S. companies add 211,00 jobs (this sounds like good news)

Unemployment dips again, (more good news I think); strong report triggers worries on Wall Street (uh oh, that doesn't sound good - must be bad news)

"American employers added 211,00 workers in March, and the unemployment rate matched a four-year low, capping the best first quarter for hiring of any year since 2000 (this is obviously good news). The unemployment rate dipped to 4.7 percent, from 4.8 percent in February, the Labor Department reported Friday (confirmation of good news). 'Let's face it, 211,000 jobs at this stage of the employment cycle is pretty darn good,' said David Wyss, chief economist of Standard and Poor's (an expert agrees that this is good news). The strong employment data triggered a decline in the stock and bond markets (uh oh, I guess it was bad news) as investors fretted that businesses' growing appetite for workers might drive up wages (good news for workers) - and inflation (never good news) - and make it more likely the Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates (ok, I KNOW that high interest rates are not good for anyone, correct?)."

After reading just this part of the article, I have no idea if the news was good or bad. Maybe good for workers (more jobs, growing business, higher wages) but bad for investors (growing business, higher wages, higher inflation). The bottom line appears to be that what is good for investors isn't good for average American. Or, stated another way, low unemployment and more jobs created is bad for Wall Street but good for average Americans. My head is spinning.....I don't know what is good or bad, what economic news I should be happy about or sad about.

Maybe I should just skip the business section from now on and concentrate on easier subjects, such as immigration.

Re: Parque Nacional los Glaciares

Now I have to go. I've got to ski below the Equator.

Last of the Argentina memory road pictures

Damn, I want to go back.

This is looking down the street that the first hotel we stayed at was on. It was in the Palermo Hollywood neighborhood. The name of the hotel was Hotel Bobo. Had a great continental breakfast (all homemade pastries).

One of the many glaciers at the Parque Nacional los Glaciares. The little white speck in the lower middle is one of the tour boats. The park is on the Argentina - Chile border. The mountains with snow-covered peaks are in Chile - the ones without are in Argentina.



Looking down the Avenida 9 de Julio, the largest street in the world. 11 lanes each way (there is a median on each side which divides the lanes after the 3rd lane). When the lights changed to cross the street, the furthest we ever made it was to the median on the other side. Lanes, however, don't mean much to drivers in Buenos Aires. We were amazed that there didn't seem to be many traffic accidents, though every time you came to an intersection, you just waited to be hit.

Amen corner

One of the features (I think it is new this year) at the Masters website is "amen corner live". You get to see every shot of just these 3 holes. It's awesome. I've been watching it today. Lots of carnage at #12. Phil (my favorite golfer) is coming up.

Re: Más recordando el pasado acerca de Argentina

The more I look at those pics, especially the Casa Rosada, the more I want to go.

Otoh, if I'd been Juan, I'm not sure how I'd have felt living in The Pink House.

Re: Bush interaction [yesterday] at a Townhall Meeting

For those of you who can't see LJ's video, here is some of the dialogue between the president and Mr. Taylor, courtesy of the Seattle Times:


"While I listen to you talk about freedom, I see you assert your right to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water," real-estate broker Harry Taylor told Bush at a town-hall meeting.

"I have never felt more ashamed of nor more frightened by my leadership in Washington."

"I'm not your favorite guy," the president said. "What's your question?"

Taylor didn't have one, but he wasn't finished.

"I feel like, despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration," he told Bush. "And I would hope, from time to time, that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself [emph. mine]."

For all their differences, Bush and Taylor agreed on at least one thing.

"I really appreciate the courtesy of allowing me to speak what I'm saying to you right now," Taylor said near the conclusion of his reprimand. "That is part of what this country's about."

"It is," Bush agreed.

That exchange just astounds me. Now, I've never "hated" a president, especially a sitting president so maybe that is why I don't get this. If LJ or Michael were elected president and sought my advice over an issue I thought either had botched badly, I'd tell him so behind closed doors. To tell him he should be ashamed, though, and in public, that I could not do.

As Hugh Hewitt pointed out yesterday in his coversation with James Lileks (you can read it at Radioblogger), the lovely irony here is that he is so frightened by his leadership that he can say this face to face to der Fuhrer himself without fear:

HH: But there's a lot to say about that exchange. I'm just mulling it over, and isn't it wonderful that we live in a country where someone can get up and slag the President, and then pronounce himself fearful of the times in which we live?

JL: Well, you don't know whether or not he was taken out in the parking lot.

HH: We don't. He might never have gotten home.

JL: No, he's gone to that secret camp where Susan Sarandon's been for the last 18 months.

Finally, I would not take James' bet:

JL: ...I will bet you $1,000 dollars that that man has at least 16 bumper stickers on the back of his car.

This can't possibly be true, can it?

From Tony Snow in today's JWR:

Since the immigration "reforms" of 1986, the number of jobs in the United States has risen a net total of 44 million. The standard of living in the nation has grown to the point that the average welfare recipient has more creature comforts (homes, computers, televisions, cars, air conditioners, etc.) than the average citizen of France.

I wish he'd cited his source. I do think his overall point, if not all his arguments, is correct. Seems like every 20 years or so this blows up, we realize there is not much we can do, and then it goes away. The difference this time, of course, is 9/11.

Re: Bush interaction today at a Townhall Meeting

Courtesy of CNN, HERE is the video that Scooter references.

Bush interaction today at a Townhall Meeting

Just heard an amazing exchange between the president and an audience member in which the audience member lambasted (admittedly very politely seemingly sincerely) the administration in general and the president in particular. At one point he said something to the effect of never being more ashamed and more frightened by an administration.

Bush took it all in stride and with his usual good wit and grace. Jovial at first and then turning very serious in refusing to apologize for the phone tapping procedures and offering the best, most succinct, justification of the procedures I've heard to date.

I'll try to poke around and find the sound somewhere and post a link. I'm sure it can't be too hard to find...but for now I'm off to my favorite local music venue: The Cactus Cafe.

Re: SSJ number one and two...

Michael, when you do a post about "Steyn + Demographics" searches showing up No. 1, does that mean you search for the quote on google and then an SSJ link is the first to show in the search?

A pet peeve

So I'm driving around this morning (mother-in-law is still here) and was listening to Laura Ingram. She has a habit (one that I have heard on the radio before, but she takes it to a whole new level) of saying:

"Next on the show, Senator (any Republican Senator other than McCain) to talk about (whatever). We're a big fan of his/hers...."

"I watched the PBS special about Bob Dylan. We don't care for his politics, but we're a huge fan of his music..."

"Did you catch (use any Democratic politican) on (CNN/Today Show/msm news) yesterday. I mean, come on, it's just anti-Bush, anti-American, anit-troops and we aren't buying what they are selling. We just can't handle anymore sofball interviews with (Wolf, Matt, Katie, any White House correspondant) fawning all over (said Democrat)."

The we stuff drives me insane. Who is the "we"? Her and her lap-dog studio hacks? Her and her listeners (which makes the assumption that they are ALL in lock-step with her)?

I know this..if she continues, then we'll have to stop listening to her (the little that we do).

Más recordando el pasado acerca de Argentina

The Casa Rosada. The window on the 2nd floor, 2nd to the right of the arch, is the "Evita balcony".



The La Boca neighborhood. On the weekends, it is an arts/craft/tourist area. However, it is also one of the very few neighborhoods that is NOT recommended to be in at night. In fact, even during the day, it is advised to stay in the about 4 square block "tourist area".



A dog walker leaving a "dog park". Most of the parks (and Buenos Aires has TONS of them) have fenced areas for dogs. Argentine's love dogs, especially big dogs. So you see the dog walkers walking dogs everywhere. Most of the walkers have between 5-10 dogs. They walk them twice a day. Doesn't seem to be a difficult job. No poop cleaning and when you get to the park, you either let the dogs run around doing whatever or you tie their leashes to the fence. Then you visit with your fellow walkers or go somewhere for 30 minutes or so. Seems like EASY money to me.

Ann on DeLay, Earle and Austin

"To finally get some grand jury to hand up an indictment, Earle had to empanel six grand juries in Austin, Texas, which is like the Upper West Side with more attractive people."

Re: DeLay

Byron York has an interesting column up today. In it, DeLay claims that his polling showed he had a only a 50-50 chance of winning. I thought for sure that he had gotten wind that he was in trouble over Abramoff, but DeLay is emphatic that he is not. He also claims he turned over everything he had on Abramoff to Justice even though they hadn't asked for it. I think most conclude that the Earle indictment will fail. So it may well be that this was simply a case of a seasoned pol reading the tea leaves and getting out while the getting is good. No doubt it's a plus for the Repubs not having him as a whipping boy for the Dems and their "culture of corruption" nonsense.

DeLay...What can you say?

Found this today on DU, regarding the reasons for DeLays' resignation. Here is a portion:

"DeLay was determined to hang on to his seat at least through the primary, said Carl Forti, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. That was because he considered his three Republican challengers gadflies and traitors and he was determined to try to block them from succeeding him. ...An additional impetus for putting off the resignation until now was suggested by John Feehery, a former aide to DeLay and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). "He needed to raise money for the defense fund. That was the bottom line," Feehery said. "He wanted to make sure he could take care of himself in the court of law." Under federal campaign rules, any reelection money a lawmaker raises can be used to pay legal fees stemming from official duties".

Gee, what a class act Tom is!

And so I don't get accused of "strained or deliberate misreading of the source material about Republican leaders or well-known conservative commentators...", HERE is a link to the entire article from the Washington Post.

Good riddance Tom...

Dennis Prager...

nicely points out the how we are different. I can cite this with authority because I was once a lib.

The most popular search that lands hits SSJ...

Is something Scooter wrote about Judas and Mary and Damon. I also get some Bart Whitakers. Scooter gets the remainder because he blogs on esoteric and, apparently to some, interesting things. Scooter, I'll note that its not economics that is attracting your audience, its the " offbeat" (and I guess by that I mean your other interests) or local things. The Whitaker hits tend to confirm local may "sell," but I'm not going to do it unless its really worthy. I thought my Whitaker story was important because of the message I found (that apparently no one else had) that he had left for the brother he killed (link here, just kidding, look it up) and the Katrina stuff, which I could have owned (from the very first day of this blog in the Astrodome), but lost interest in.

So what? Local and different makes traffic; Maybe, slightly. Never big blog-money traffic. I'm happy to send smoke signals to my blog-Injuns in the outposts. If you think differently, I'm ready to completely abandon my previously strongly-held beliefs for whatever you think.

UDPDATE: Having given this a moments thought, and without any input from my brothers, I realized that a lot of what I said in the final paragraph is just wrong. I've been thinking about LJ's Argentinian stuff and Scooter's "other" stuff and I realize that what they are doing is exactly what we ought to do; that's our "good stuff."*


* The fact that I have no "good stuff" has absolutely no bearing on what I wrote previously and is quite beside the point.

UPDATE 2: Send me a smoke signal occasionally.

.

Wal-mart meteorologist

Number five on Google.

SSJ number one and two...

on Google for "steyn+demographics." You'd think Steyn himself would beat us, since he knows a bit more that we on the topic. Well, you'd be wrong.

Richard B. Cheney

I've noticed, LJ, that you've studiously avoided criticizing our vice-president. Could THIS be the reason?

Re: DU morning bile

I started to do a full-on fisking of this thing, but I'm not up to it, so just a couple of observations. It appears to me that the criticisms here fall into three groups: (A) lambasting, and appropriately so, unknown/unelected persons and/or fringe characters who identify themselves as Republicans; (B) strained or deliberate misreading of the source material about Republican leaders or well-known conservative commentators (with a sub-category of anything that can remotely be put into the Bush-lied-people-died meme); and (C) gratuitous mocking of unflattering photos.

Now for your scorecard: A: 1, 6 (in part: Freepers, Imus producer), and 10. B: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9. C: 3* and 9. Couldn't get through 7 so I'm not sure what that's all about.

I would note that my criticism of DU falls squarely in Category A (Democrat version). Thus it is meaningless and a waste of time. Note that this differs, in so many ways, from a criticism I might have about Kennedy, Pelosi, Reid, Kerry, Hillary, Jackson and others (SJL and McKinney I consider fringe so I won't insult you with that) based on what they actually said.

* I like that DU thinks this a bad thing. I loved the video. Somebody put together a piece that mixed the Bush video with the Little Pony video with HIGHlarious results. Oh, here it is. Watch it if you dare, LJ, and then tell me you're sad that JK/LP lost.

Great Monday morning reading

Grab your morning coffee and enjoy this from the Democratic Underground. Just try not to have said coffee blow through your nose when you start laughing. I just love Republican idiots.

One year anniversary

A year ago this Friday C and I left for our trip to Argentina. We still talk about the trip and how much we want to go back. Ah, the memories:



This is the Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the largest in the world. One of our Argentine friends recently told us that the glacier had a major break not too long ago. I can only imagine what that would be like to witness.




This is a view of the "supporters" area at Estadio El Monumental, home to River Plate football (soccer) club. This is also the national stadium. Notice the people sitting on the top of the stadium - a very common occurrence. Most of the banners are either (1) names of neighborhoods or (2) bands (notice the U2 banner in the lower middle). The stories one hears about the passion and fervor of South American football fans and matches is very true.

I also attended a match at the home of Boca Juniors (the most popular team in Argentina and the VERY bitter rivals of River). They play at Estadio Alberto J. Armando (know affectionately as "La Bombonera", the chocolate box). A much rowdier crowd and a much larger police presence. A trip to see "los xeneises" playing at La Bombonera is a MUST for any soccer fan.

I would recommend Argentina to anyone wanting a fantastic vacation or experience. With the exchange rate, it is a SUPER bargain for Americans. You don't have to know Spanish to get around (though they appreciate the effort), they have a wonderful subway system, the people are very nice and friendly, they have the best ice cream I have ever eaten and if you like beef, you will be in heaven.

Re: Ugh

I have been having just a wonderful time with my mother-in-law, thus why I haven't been able to pull myself away from the good times and post. Don't know what Scooter's excuse is - perhaps Condi made a "surprise" trip to Austin this weekend.

Ugh

Seems a bit moribund here.
I'll go. I've read some interesting historical fiction recently, and I recommend them: Pillars of the Earth, and The Alienist.