Pandering

Let's reopen and renegotiate NAFTA? Pop quiz - Who is the primary supplier of oil to the United States? If you answered Canada - congratulations. And NAFTA provides the US with a very sweet deal when it comes to that oil too. Will renegotiating NAFTA bring back all those "jobs that were shipped overseas by greedy multinationals"? Not now, not ever; that ship has sailed. To suggest otherwise is pandering of the lowest kind.

This level of demagoguery only proves that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will say anything at this point in the campaign for votes. It ought to be viewed with alarm by anyone that is paying even the slightest attention to the electoral process.

Kimberley Strassel at The Wall Street Journal has this to say:

"At an event Monday at George Washington University, a moderator asked four House Democrats if any thought it "practical" or a "good idea" to reopen and renegotiate Nafta. The crew, led by Democratic Caucus head Rahm Emanuel, stared uneasily into the middle distance before submitting "no."

"We'll see if word gets to Ohio," joked the moderator.

It didn't, and that's got some grown-ups in the party nervous. Democrats have been flirting with outright protectionism for some time now -- taking a dip with the "fair trade" movement, cozying up to labor and environmental standards, and shunning trade deals in Congress. It's been a tease, though careful not to let things go too far.

Now they're cornered with the heavy-breathing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and some are worried about their reputation. The two presidential nominees, grasping for votes in economically depressed Ohio, are setting new protectionist lows, with calls for trade "time outs" and threats to overthrow Nafta. It's come at a crucial moment for the Democratic Party, which after years of trade wandering now has a shot at defining the issue from the White House."

The Economics Of Fear

I am republishing this great post from Ed Morrissey in it's entirety (emphasis added):

The Economics Of Fear

The Economist takes a look at Obamanomics, and it sees William Jennings Bryan and class warfare. Instead of offering hope, Barack Obama offers the same fear- and envy-based tactics on which populism has always thrived. While Democrats have often used these tactics in primaries, the Economist worries that Obama might try to govern based on these promises:

FOR a man who has placed “hope” at the centre of his campaign, Barack Obama can sound pretty darned depressing. As the battle for the Democratic nomination reaches a climax in Texas and Ohio, the front-runner's speeches have begun to paint a world in which laid-off parents compete with their children for minimum-wage jobs while corporate fat-cats mis-sell dodgy mortgages and ship jobs off to Mexico. The man who claims to be a “post-partisan” centrist seems to be channelling the spirit of William Jennings Bryan, the original American populist, who thunderously demanded to know “Upon which side shall the Democratic Party fight—upon the side of ‘the idle holders of idle capital’ or upon the side of ‘the struggling masses’?”

There is no denying that for some middle-class Americans, the past few years have indeed been a struggle. What is missing from Mr Obama's speeches is any hint that this is not the whole story: that globalisation brings down prices and increases consumer choice; that unemployment is low by historical standards; that American companies are still the world's most dynamic and creative; and that Americans still, on the whole, live lives of astonishing affluence. ...

If he were elected president, backed by a Democratic Congress with enhanced majorities, Mr Obama might well feel obliged to deliver on some of his promises. At the very least, the prospects for freer trade would then be dim.

The sad thing is that one might reasonably have expected better from Mr Obama. He wants to improve America's international reputation yet campaigns against NAFTA. He trumpets “the audacity of hope” yet proposes more government intervention. He might have chosen to use his silver tongue to address America's problems in imaginative ways—for example, by making the case for reforming the distorting tax code. Instead, he wants to throw money at social problems and slap more taxes on the rich, and he is using his oratorical powers to prey on people's fears.

Many people have compared Obama to Ronald Reagan in his ability to promise "morning in America," but they have focused only on the most superficial part of the Reagan revolution. Reagan didn't cast himself as the agent of hope, but appealed to the hope within Americans that they could lift up the country, and not the other way around. He focused on the hope of the individual as the true agent of change, and not the despair of the collective that required government intervention.

The rhetoric has given us nothing really new. It has the same populist ring to it that we have heard since before collectivism got entirely discredited in the latter 20th century. It's simplistic calls to soak the rich and redistribute the wealth, to impose economic isolationism, and to prey on the fears of the working class by casting globalization as an unmitigated evil.

The Economist acknowledges that Democrats usually drop the populism when it comes to general elections. That was certainly true of Bill Clinton, who made the NAFTA deal that his wife routinely disparages on the stump now. It would most likely be true with Hillary, but Obama has no track record on which to gauge this. Given that the only basis for analysis is Obama's rhetoric, it's hard to judge him as anything other than the fear-mongering populist he has become on the campaign trail.

Wrong Number

You have got to be joking!!! This commercial is beyond rich.

Who do I want answering the phone in the White House at 3:00 A.M.? It sure isn't Clinton or Obama.

Talk about an area where John McCain is vastly superior to any Democrat. I kept waiting for for him to poke his head in at the end of the ad like Porky Pig and say "Ah jus, ah jus, ah just kidding folks! I'm John McCain and I'm gonna answer that phone!"

Quote Of The Day

"And once when Bill (Buckley) was asked what job he wanted in the Administration of his friend the President, he replied in his typically retiring and deferential way: "Ventriloquist."
- President Ronald Reagan at National Review's 30th anniversary dinner on December 5, 1985

Quote Of The Day

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
- Thomas Jefferson

WFB

This is a sad day. A great man has passed from the scene. We will not see his like again in this life.

William F. Buckley Jr. needs no introduction regardless of your political persuasion and his passing is a loss to all Americans. Many will pay tribute to the founder of modern American conservatism over the next few days and weeks but I thought this sentiment, posted this morning on NRO, to be just about right:

"I am saddened by the passing of William F. Buckley, but our loss is Heaven's gain, and I'm sure the Good Lord told his angels to "Bring me a dictionary, Buckley's coming."

May he rest in peace.

Spot On!

My brother-in-law sent me this and you absolutely must spend the next six minutes watching it. The man crams more common sense into this video than I thought possible.

Can you argue with anything he says?

Quote Of The Day

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."
- George Carlin

Debate Round-Up

Here are a few of my favorite comments about the Democratic candidate debate last night.

From Andy McCarthy at NRO:
Best Sign that Hil Is at the End
"After 16 years, Tim Russert has finally decided it's ok to cross-examine a Clinton as if she were, well, a Republican. She's toast."

And from Tigerhawk:
"Here's what drives me nuts about Obama and other lefties: "It is not going to be easy to have a sensible energy policy in this country. ExxonMobil made $11 billion last quarter. They are not going to give up those profits easily." So, a sensible energy policy requires the producers of energy to give up profits? Does this guy not understand capitalism, or is he just trying to abolish it?"

Quote Of The Day

In honor of the Democratic candidates debate in Cleveland tonight:
"Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles."
- Ambrose Bierce from The Devil's Dictionary

Oscar Ratings Crater

John Hinderaker at Powerline has this take on the Academy Awards. It sounds about right to me:

"This year's Oscar ceremony had the lowest television ratings on record, with only 32 million tuning in in the U.S. That's a smaller audience than watched the first American Idol show this year.

Part of the explanation is that most of this year's nominated films were not popular. They were not popular because they were bleak and violent. Hollywood has been losing customers with what I would consider mainstream tastes for a long time.

I think, too, that the politicization of the awards in recent years has hurt the audience. Hardly anyone wants to listen to hosts making partisan jokes, actors lecturing us on politics, or Michael Moore doing anything at all. (Yes, Moore was nominated again this year.) I watched a good part of the show with my wife and two of my daughters. We turned it off when some goofball started talking about Abu Ghraib. There's a pretty simple lesson here: if you don't care about your audience, at some point the audience will stop caring about you."

A Classic

I plead alignment to the flakes
of the untitled snakes of a merry cow.
And to the Republicans, for which they scam,
one nacho, underpants, with licorice
and jugs of wine for owls.
- Matt Groening from "Life In Hell"

Quote Of The Day

"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come."
- Matt Groening from "Life In Hell"

You Want To Know About My Day? Let Me Tell You About My Day....

Offered Without Comment

CWCID: American Digest

Affirmations For Bloggers

1. When I post under an assumed name, I can get in closer touch with my Inner Sociopath.
2. Through block-quotes and fisking I have the power to transform even the most harmless statements of my enemies into concrete evidence of their evil plans to enslave mankind and rule the world.
3. In all humility I do not seek to rule the world. I seek only complete agreement and total capitulation.
4. I assume full responsibility for my posts, especially the good ones that are just links to someone else's.

Quote Of The Day

"America has never been an empire. We may be the only great power in history that had the chance, and refused – preferring greatness to power and justice to glory."
- President George W. Bush

Women In Film

In honor of the Academy Awards tonight....

Star Charts

Now when you're out cruising the universe and you get lost you won't need to stop for directions.

CWCID: Jonah Goldberg

Quote Of The Day

"Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love."
- Charlie Brown

Where's Bugs Bunny When You Need Him?

This is one of those "You just gotta see it to believe it" YouTube videos.

But He Sure Sounds Good Saying It

I listen to very little radio nowadays thanks to my iPod which is loaded with music and podcasts. The other day I needed to check on local weather/road conditions so I turned on an AM station and was immediately hit with:

"I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message."
"This administration has further divided Wall Street from Main Street. You've got CEOs who are making more in 10 minutes than ordinary workers are making in a year."

WHAT??????????

OK. This must be some kind of test to see if you're smarter than a 5th grader or something. So, here we go folks - it's fairly simple math.

Let's use the worst case scenario:
The minimum wage in Ohio is $7.00 per hour X 2080 hours per year = $14,560.00 annually.

Now take $14,560.00 X 6 (10 minute segments in an hour) X 2080 hours per year (though it is doubtful that any CEO works a 40 hour week - most are in the 60 plus range) = $181,708,800.00 annually.

According to Forbes magazine there are indeed CEO's who made in excess of $181,000,000.00 a year. In the entire country there are exactly - three. Not exactly the hoard of money grubbing Wall Street types you were expecting? The average US CEO makes around $15,000,000.00 per year acording to the AFL-CIO. Not a bad payday but certainly not what Mr. Obama would have us believe.

Now, if we use the average hourly wage instead of the minimum wage as shown above the figures look like this:

$17.50 US average hourly wage X 2080 = $36,400.00 annually
$36,400.00 X 6 X 2080 = $454,272,000.00 annually

According to Forbes there is exactly ONE CEO that makes this kind of money - Steve Jobs of Apple.

Hey, wait a minute - isn't Jobs the one that's responsible for keeping me from listening to the radio in the first place - perhaps so I wouldn't hear Mr. Obama's message? And what about all those campaign contributions Jobs' wife has made to Obama? Shouldn't Mr. Obama return the contributions since Jobs made over $646,000,000.00 in just one year? Or $51,762.00 every ten minutes.

Let's just call this what it really is - class warfare - pure and simple - down and dirty. Set up a wealthy straw man and knock him down without even the benefit of facts or figures to back up your claims. But he sure sounds good saying it.

That's The Way I See It

McCain & the Times -- Thus hath the candle singd the moath [Andy McCarthy]

Senator McCain appears to have been smeared by the Times. I'm sorry that happened, but if indignation is the order of the day, count me out. You see, I also feel sorry — really sorry — for the intelligence officers who've been maligned as torturers, for those who want the immigration laws enforced and are libeled as racists, for those who doubt the wisdom of campaign finance reform and are glibly scandalized as promoters of public corruption, and so on. Each of these Gray Lady smears has a common thread: John McCain has been only too happy to help, and to bask in the resulting glow: the Times' very own favorite Republican.

The Senator's reaction says it all: he's "disappointed in the New York Times." Of course, we can only be disappointed by those from whom we expect better. McCain expects better from the Times because he's accustomed to getting it, and he's accustomed to getting it because he's been very good about holding up his end of the bargain — especially when it comes to demagoguing the Right. The Times is a politicized rag and no one should take satisfaction in seeing McCain subjected to its journalistic version of waterboarding. I only wish I were convinced the Senator would learn the right lesson from this experience. I'm not.

Notice Of Revocation Of Independence

A chestnut from the 2000 election and a possible 2008 harbinger:

To the citizens of the United States of America,
In the light of your failure to elect a President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchial duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime minister (The Right Honourable Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.

A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium". Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour', skipping the letter 'U' is nothing more than laziness on your part. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters. You will end your love affair with the letter 'Z' (pronounced 'zed' not 'zee') and the suffix "ize" will be replaced by the suffix "ise". You will learn that the suffix 'burgh is pronounced 'burra' e.g. Edinburgh. You are welcome to respell Pittsburgh as 'Pittsberg' if you can't cope with correct pronunciation. Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up "vocabulary". Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up "interspersed". There will be no more 'bleeps' in the Jerry Springer show. If you're not old enough to cope with bad language then you shouldn't have chat shows. When you learn to develop your vocabulary then you won't have to use bad language as often.

2. There is no such thing as "US English". We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of "-ize".

3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard. English accents are not limited to Cockney, upper-class twit or Mancunian (Daphne in Frasier). You will also have to learn how to understand regional accents - Scottish dramas such as "Taggart" will no longer be broadcast with subtitles. While we're talking about regions, you must learn that there is no such place as Devonshire in England. The name of the county is "Devon". If you persist in calling it Devonshire, all American States will become "shires" e.g. Texasshire, Floridashire, Louisianashire.

4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys. Hollywood will be required to cast English actors to play English characters. British sit-coms such as "Men Behaving Badly" or "Red Dwarf" will not be re-cast and watered down for a wishy-washy American audience who can't cope with the humour of occasional political incorrectness.

5. You should relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.

6. You should stop playing American "football". There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American "football" is not a very good game. The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays "American" football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football. Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies). We are hoping to get together at least a US rugby sevens side by 2005. You should stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the 'World Series' for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.15% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. Instead of baseball, you will be allowed to play a girls' game called "rounders" which is baseball without fancy team strip, oversized gloves, collector cards or hotdogs.

7. You should declare war on Quebec and France, using nuclear weapons if they give you any merde. The 97.85% of you who were not aware that there is a world outside your borders should count yourselves lucky. The Russians have never been the bad guys. "Merde" is French for "5hit". You will no longer be allowed to own or carry guns. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous in public than a vegetable peeler. Because we don't believe you are sensible enough to handle potentially dangerous items, you will require a permit if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 8th will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called "Indecisive Day".

9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean. All road intersections will be replaced with roundabouts. You will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips. Fries aren't even French, they are Belgian though 97.85% of you (including the guy who discovered fries while in Europe) are not aware of a country called Belgium. Those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called "crisps". Real chips are thick cut and fried in animal fat. The traditional accompaniment to chips is beer which should be served warm and flat. Waitresses will be trained to be more aggressive with customers.

11. As a sign of penance 5 grams of sea salt per cup will be added to all tea made within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this quantity to be doubled for tea made within the city of Boston itself.

12. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all, it is lager. From November 1st only proper British Bitter will be referred to as "beer", and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as "Lager". The substances formerly known as "American Beer" will henceforth be refered to as "Near-Frozen Knat's Urine", with the exception of the product of the American Budweiser company whose product will be referred to as "Weak Near-Frozen Knat's Urine". This will allow true Budweiser (as manufactured for the last 1000 years in Pilsen, Czech Republic) to be sold without risk of confusion.

13. From November 1st the UK will harmonise petrol (or "Gasoline" as you will be permitted to keep calling it until April 1st 2001) prices with the former USA. The UK will harmonise its prices to those of the former USA and the Former USA will, in return, adopt UK petrol prices (roughly $6/US gallon - get used to it).

14. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

15. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy.

Tax collectors from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all revenues due (backdated to 1776).

Thank you for your cooperation.

Ridicule - The Highest Form Of Patriotism

I've been pretty hard on Barry so far this week and I don't see why I shouldn't continue.

CWCID: Cassandra

Paradise

This is a must read for every American voter; BARACK OBAMA’S ECONOMIC AGENDA.
To summarize:

• You are not intelligent enough to buy a house - I WILL PROTECT YOU
• You are not intelligent enough to know how much house you can afford as well as how you are going to pay for it - I WILL FUND YOU
• You are not intelligent/wealthy enough to take advantage of the current home mortgage deduction on your taxes - I WILL CORRECT THIS INJUSTICE FOR YOU
• You are a middle class victim of "the regressive payroll tax system" (still looking for that all important definition of "middle class") - I WILL GIVE A TAX REBATE TO YOU
• You are retired, making less than $50,000 and still paying taxes? - NOT YOU
• You are not intelligent enough to enroll in your employer-based retirement plan - I WILL DO IT AUTOMATICALLY FOR YOU
• You are not intelligent enough to save for retirement - I WILL PROVIDE AN INCENTIVE TO YOU
• You are not intelligent enough to understand that credit cards are the work of the devil - I WILL GIVE A BILL OF RIGHTS TO YOU
• I WILL FIX THE HEALTH CARE "CRISIS" BY PROVIDING UNIVERSAL COVERAGE AND I WILL STIMULATE THE ECONOMY BY PROMOTING "GREEN" TECHNOLOGIES TO FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING FOR YOU

Feel free to correct me but it seems that half of this economic plan is missing. Anyone one that is willing to do this much FOR YOU is also willing to do a great deal TO YOU - all in the name of the common good, of course. As President Gerald Ford once said “A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”

Theocracy Alert

I liked this Ed Morrissey post so much I decided to reproduce it in its entirety:

"People mocked Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney for their religious backgrounds often during the presidential campaigns, but at least they never claimed to be on a mission to save the souls of Americans through government action. Oh, people accused them of wanting to do so -- to impose Southern Baptist or Mormon theology on an America that wants relentless secularism, but in point of fact both men gave stirring speeches on how their faith informs them personally but not their governance.

One campaign really has explicitly claimed to be on such a mission, however. Michelle Obama gave a speech at UCLA earlier this month in which she told supporters that her husband was the only man who could fix American souls -- if we elect him President first. Here's the transcript:

In 2008, we are still a nation that is too divided. We live in isolation, and because of that isolation, we fear one another. We don't know our neighbors, we don't talk, we believe our pain is our own. We don't realize that the struggles and challenges of all of us are the same. We are too isolated. And we are still a nation that is still too cynical. We look at it as "them" and "they" as opposed to "us". We don't engage because we are still too cynical. ...

Americans are not in debt because they live frivolously but because someone got sick. Even with insurance, the deductibles and the premiums are so high that people are still putting medications and treatments on credit cards. And they can't get out from under. I could go on and on, but this is how we're living, people, in 2008.

And things have gotten progressively worse throughout my lifetime, through Democratic and Republican administrations, it hasn't gotten better for regular folks. ....

We have lost the understanding that in a democracy, we have a mutual obligation to one another -- that we cannot measure the greatness of our society by the strongest and richest of us, but we have to measure our greatness by the least of these. That we have to compromise and sacrifice for one another in order to get things done. That is why I am here, because Barack Obama is the only person in this who understands that. That before we can work on the problems, we have to fix our souls. Our souls are broken in this nation.

It's hard to know where to start in with this speech. First, what evidence does Mrs. Obama have that the largest part of credit card debt goes to health care? Second, if she has seen the standard of living get progressively worse during her lifetime, she needs new glasses. The living standard of even those classified as poor now have per-person expenditures of the American middle-class of the early 1970s, according to the Census Bureau. Eighty percent of the poor live in air-conditioned housing, 43% of them own their own homes, and the average poor American has as much living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, and Athens. Only 3% don't own a color TV.

But it's the notion that only Barack Obama can save our souls that is the most offensive part of the speech, by far. Government doesn't exist to save souls; it exists to ensure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense. If I feel my soul needs saving, the very last place I'd look (in the US) for a savior would be Washington DC or Capitol Hill. I'll trust God and Jesus Christ with my soul, and I'm not going to mistake Barack Obama for either one.

This, though, is the religion of statism distilled to its essence. Only a government can rescue people from the consequences of their own decisions. Only government programs can provide for your every need, and only government can use your money wisely enough to ensure that your needs get covered. Individuals cannot possibly manage to help their neighbors through their churches or community organizations, let alone encourage people to do for themselves.

And all you need to enter the statist Utopia is to sell your soul. So that it can be fixed.

No, thank you."

Spring Training

Clemens: You want answers?

Congressman: I think I'm entitled to them.

Clemens: You want answers?

Congressman: I want the truth!

Clemens: You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has baseballs. And those balls have to be hit by men with bats. Who's gonna do it? You? You,Congressman? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for steroids and you curse HGH. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that HGH, while illegal, probably sells tickets. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, sells tickets...You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that mound. You need me on that mound. We use words like fastall, slider, splitfinger...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent playing a sport. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and falls asleep to the Sportscenter clips I provide,! then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a bat and dig in. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!

Congressman: Did you order the HGH?

Clemens: (quietly) I did the job you sent me to do.

Congressman: Did you order the HGH?

Clemens: You're goddamn right I did!!

Couldn't It Have Been Old Age?

From NRO:

Global Warming: New Horror Andrew Stuttaford
Via the Daily Record:
Legendary Nessie hunter Robert Rines is giving up his search for the monster after 37 years...He started in 1971. The following year, he watched a 25ft-long hump with the texture of elephant skin gliding through the water...Despite having hundreds of sonar contacts over the years, the trail has since gone cold and Rines believes that Nessie may be dead, a victim of global warming.

You couldn't make these things up (well, Al Gore could, and would, but you know what I mean...)

Quote Of The Day

"Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles"
- "Visions of Johanna" by Bob Dylan

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Live

I recently had the pleasure of watching Robert Plant and Alison Krauss perform live on CMT's Crossroads thanks to a "heads-up" e-mail from our young miss. They played a number of songs from "Raising Sand", most notably "Gone, Gone, Gone" which sounded more fleshed out and robust than the studio version. However, the highlight of the concert for me was their amazing deconstruction of the Led Zeppelin classic "When The Levee Breaks". I laughed out loud when the banjo player plucked the bridge while in the back of my mind I heard Jimmy Page soloing at 150 decibels.

Fantastic!

T.J. Rodgers

Peter Robinson linked to an article on NRO yesterday about the free market approach to global warming. The article discusses solar power company SunPower which is majority owned by Cypress Semiconductor. And, of course, Cypress Semiconductor is run by T.J. Rodgers.

Rodgers became famous in business circles for his 1996 response to “Sister Doris Gormley, OSF of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. At the time the Sisters owned Cypress Stock. In the Sister's letter she expressed disappointment that Cypress' Board of Directors had no female or minority members and thus would vote accordingly during the annual shareholder's meeting coming up.”

“Sister Gormley, the Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for the Sisters, stated in her form letter that a corporation "is best represented by a Board of qualified Directors reflecting the equality of the sexes, races, and ethnic groups." She also stated, "We urge you to enrich the Board by seeking qualified women and members of racial minorities as nominees."

Rodgers response is a free enterprise classic which should be taught in every B-school nationwide. I have excerpted the letter below (emphasis added) or you can read it in its entirety here:

Dear Sister Gormley:

Thank you for your letter criticizing the lack of racial and gender diversity of Cypress's Board of Directors. I received the same letter from you last year. I will reiterate the management arguments opposing your position. Then I will provide the philosophical basis behind our rejection of the operating principles espoused in your letter, which we believe to be not only unsound, but even immoral, by a definition of that term I will present.

We would quickly embrace the opportunity to include any woman or minority person who could help us as a director, because we pursue talent -- and we don't care in what package that talent comes.

I believe that placing arbitrary racial or gender quotas on corporate boards is fundamentally wrong. Therefore, not only does Cypress not meet your requirements for boardroom diversification, but we are unlikely to, because it is very difficult to find qualified directors, let alone directors that also meet investors' racial and gender preferences.

I infer that your concept of corporate "morality" contains in it the requirement to appoint a Board of Directors with, in your words, "equality of sexes, races, and ethnic groups." I am unaware of any Christian requirements for corporate boards; your views seem more accurately described as "politically correct," than "Christian."

My views aside, your requirements are -- in effect -- immoral. By "immoral," I mean "causing harm to people," a fundamental wrong. Here's why:

I presume you believe your organization does good work and that the people who spend their careers in its service deserve to retire with the necessities of life assured. If your investment in Cypress is intended for that purpose, I can tell you that each of the retired Sisters of St. Francis would suffer if I were forced to run Cypress on anything but a profit-making basis. The retirement plans of thousands of other people also depend on Cypress stock -- $1.2 billion worth of stock -- owned directly by investors or through mutual funds, pension funds, 401k programs, and insurance companies. Any choice I would make to jeopardize retirees and other investors from achieving their lifetime goals would be fundamentally wrong.

So, that's my reply. Choosing a Board of Directors based on race and gender is a lousy way to run a company. Cypress will never do it. Furthermore, we will never be pressured into it, because bowing to well-meaning, special-interest groups is an immoral way to run a company, given all the people it would hurt. We simply cannot allow arbitrary rules to be forced on us by organizations that lack business expertise. I would rather be labeled as a person who is unkind to religious groups than as a coward who harms his employees and investors by mindlessly following high-sounding, but false, standards of right and wrong.

You may think this letter is too tough a response to a shareholder organization voting its conscience. But the political pressure to be what is euphemistically called a "responsible corporation" today is so great that it literally threatens the well being of every American. Let me explain why.

In addition to your focus on the racial and gender equality of board representation, other investors have their pet issues; for example, whether or not a company:

is "green," or environmentally conscious.
does or does not do business with certain countries or groups of people.
supplies the U.S. Armed Forces.
is "involved in the community" in appropriate ways.
pays its CEO too much compared with its lowest-paid employee.
pays its CEO too much as declared by self-appointed "industry watchdogs."
gives to certain charities.
is willing to consider layoffs when the company is losing money.
is willing to consider layoffs to streamline its organization (so-called downsizing).
has a retirement plan.
pays for all or part of a health-care plan.
budgets a certain minimum percentage of payroll costs for employee training.
places employees on its Board of Directors (you forgot this one).
shares its profits with employees.

Despite our disagreement on the issues, The Sisters of St. Francis, the ethical funds, and their investors are merely making free choices on how to invest. What really worries me is the current election-year frenzy in Washington to institutionalize "good ethics" by making them law -- a move that would mandate widespread corporate mismanagement.

But the following analysis of this proposal underscores the fact that the simplistic solutions fashioned by politicians to provoke fear and anger against America's businesses often sound reasonable -- while being fundamentally wrong.

In conclusion, please consider these two points: First, Cypress is run under a set of carefully considered moral principles, which rightly include making a profit as a primary objective. Second, there is a fundamental difference between your organization's right to vote its conscience and the use of coercion by the federal government to force arbitrary "corporate responsibilities" on America's businesses and shareholders.

Cypress stands for personal and economic freedom, for free minds and free markets, a position irrevocably in opposition to the immoral attempt by coercive utopians to mandate even more government control over America's economy. With regard to our shareholders who exercise their right to vote according to a social agenda, we suggest that they reconsider whether or not their strategy will do net good -- after all of the real costs are considered.

Sincerely,

T.J. Rodgers
President CEO

We'll All Be Home By Christmas

I grew up reading Peanuts and am convinced that this is one of the darkest strips Charles Schulz ever drew - I love it.

"Are You Experienced?"

In jest, I often tell M'Lady and our young miss that the biggest mistakes men ever made were letting women drive and vote. I often receive a begrudging acknowledgement that I might just have a point. I would like to offer the following excerpt from a News24.com story as additional proof of my theory:

“College Park, Maryland - You can see it in their flushed-face smiles and hear it in their screams. They say the phenomenon is difficult to describe, but once they experience it they tell their friends, sisters, mothers and daughters, and they come back for more if they can.

"He's very charismatic. It was a 'you-had-to-be-there' kind of experience," said Lolita Breckenridge, 37, after hearing Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama address a packed rally at the University of Maryland on Monday.

A dedicated supporter, she brought two of her friends to hear the Illinois senator deliver one of his much-talked-about speeches.

"Not too much of the speech was new to me," she admitted. "But hearing him live..." she trailed off, shaking her head and grinning.”

Excuse me for sounding like a grumpy, old, misogynistic, conservative SOB – but what do you think the odds are that these women are actually listening to, much less thinking through, what Obama is saying?

Or are they just "experiencing" him?

Who Said Republicans Don't Have A Sense Of Humor?

From the Ohio GOP blog:

Barack Obama's empty suit

Well, if this doesn't just sum it up...

In Phoenix, Cynthia and Stuart Preston said that as they were driving to Obama's rally with their children, they quizzed each other to come up with three of the candidate's major platform planks. To their surprise, they couldn't think of them. Despite that, Cynthia Preston said she is supporting Obama. She was drawn, she said, by the "popular movement" behind him. (Washington Post)

Popular movement? Let's just make Hannah Montana the leader of the free world and call it a day.

Liberal(s) Of The Month

Here we are, only nine days into the shortest month of the year, and I already have three very promising candidates for Liberal Of The Month.

The first and perhaps most serious candidate is Rowan Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury, who recently made some comments about Sharia Law in Great Britain.

Then there is Leon Fleisher who was honored at The Kennedy Center but had a real problem with attending the White House reception for the honorees -oh, the horror of the Bush Years!

And last, but not least, we have comic relief supplied by Code Pink and their Berkeley Tet Offensive against The Marine Corps.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, such are the Liberals of the early 21st Century.

"These Really Are Different Parties"

Jonah Goldberg's recent article about the differences between the Republicans and Democrats contains this interesting insight:

"The Republican party is a mess, absolutely. Conservatives are sorting out what they believe, what heresies they can tolerate and on which principles they will not bend. At times this argument is loud, ugly and unfortunate. But you know what? At least it’s an argument about something. On the Democratic side, if you strip away the crass appeals to identity politics, the emotional pandering and the helium-infused rhetoric, you’re pretty much left with a campaign about nothing."

Now It's Officially Over

Hoist the white flag a little bit higher - Fred Thompson has endorsed John McCain.

I know this kind of thing is to be expected for the "sake of party unity" but it doesn't make it any more palatable.

The White Flag

With Fred and Mitt gone from the race it is time to raise the white flag. Conservatives no longer have a standard bearer in this race and will now have to settle for "influence". McCain's speech at CPAC yesterday made all of the appropriate gestures to conservative voters, so now it's time to move on. Confederate Yankee makes the case for supporting McCain which mirrors my own thinking on the subject though he doesn't to mention another critical element - Supreme Court nominees:

"I don't like John McCain, but I will vote for him. I won't stay home in protest. I won't write in another candidate, either. This election is too important for that.

The eventual Democratic nominee, whether it is inexperienced committed socialist Barack Obama, the most liberal voter in the Senate, or the woman of a thousand scandals, Hillary Clinton, who preemptively declared that any report of good news coming out of Iraq would be a lie, is unacceptable as President. Both promise higher taxes, a far more intrusive and meddling federal government, and defeat in the war against Islamic extremism. This is the actuality of the "change" they refuse to clarify in their vacuous campaign speeches.

Love him or hate him, McCain has something both Democratic candidates lack: meaningful experience. Obama has served less than one full term as a U.S. Senator, following just two full and one half-completed term as a state Senator. Clinton has completed one term in the U.S. Senate, and only a third of her second term. She has no prior national experience as an elected politician... unless you think being an acquiescent First Lady to the Philanderer-in-Chief counts. Frankly, that she lacks the self-respect to ditch a serial sex abuser such as William Jefferson Clinton says all about her character (or lack of it) that I need to know.

By comparison, McCain served two terms in the House of Representatives, and has been a U.S. Senator since 1986, and while I've often disagreed with his positions, he cannot be accused of being a weathervane politician.

So while I do not like John McCain, he is what we have left among the candidates that will attempt to work with both parties, who hasn't adopted a fringe ideology (or tried to hide it), and who has meaningful experience on the federal level, who did not take his seat in the Senate merely as a stepping stone to higher office. As purely a pragmatic calculation, he's the only candidate still running in either party that won't screw this country up too bad during his term.

During some elections, that may have to be enough.

This is hardly a ringing endorsement. It isn't supposed to be.

McCain for President. Or we're really screwed."

During the next four years conservatives will need to do some serious soul searching about how we ended up on the outside looking in. We will also need to do some grassroots re-building of the Republican Party if we intend to use it as a vehicle to further conservative principles and goals. One thing is certain - this state of affairs calls for a greater degree of commitment and organization. No matter what John McCain said at CPAC, continue to bear this in mind; the man is not a conservative and we shouldn't be surprised when he fails to act like one. We need to be ready to ride herd on Maverick because wandering is what he does best.

Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss ....

Happy Birthday!

Today would have been Ronaldus Magnus' 97th birthday. Celebrate with this wonderful bit of video history.



CWCID: Captain's Quarters

I Give Up

Not knowing your own history just makes you ........... stupid. I do not have the words to describe my disgust with this story:

"Britons are losing their grip on reality, according to a poll which shows nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth, while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real.

The survey found that 47 per cent thought the 12th Century English King Richard the Lionheart was a myth.

And 23 per cent thought World War II prime minister Winston Churchill was made up.
The same percentage thought Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale did not actually exist.
Three per cent thought Charles Dickens, one of Britain's most famous writers, is a work of fiction himself.

Indian political leader Mahatma Gandhi and Battle of Waterloo victor the Duke of Wellington were also in the top 10 of people thought to be myths.

Meanwhile, 58 per cent thought Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes actually existed, and 33 per cent thought the same of WE Johns' fictional pilot and adventurer Biggles.

UKTV Gold television surveyed 3,000 people."

I think Sir Winston Churchill was, without question, the greatest statesman of the 20th century. It is insulting to the man and everything he represented that 23 percent of his own countrymen don't believe he ever existed. As if further evidence of the decline of Great Britain was needed.

Living Large

Is the middle class getting screwed or is the MSM just stirring the pot? Would Drew Carey lie to you?

That's Gonna Leave A Mark

Green Porno

"Green Porno is a series of very short films conceived, written, co-directed by and featuring Isabella Rossellini about the sex life of bugs, insects and various creatures. The films are a comical but insightful study of the curious ways certain bugs “make love”. “Green” echoes the ecological movement of today and our interest in nature, and “Porno” alludes to the racy ways bugs, insects and other creatures have sex, if human, these acts would not be allowed to be screened or air on television, considered instead as most filthy and obscene.

Each film is executed in a very simple childlike manner. They are a playful mixture of real world and cartoon. Each episode begins with Isabella speaking to the camera “ If I were a…(firefly, spider, dragonfly etc.). She then transforms into the male of the species explaining in a simple yet direct dialogue the actual act of species-specific fornication. The costumes, colorful sets and backdrops as well as the female insects contribute to the playfulness of the films. The contrast of this “naïf” expression and filthy sex practices adds to the comicality of Green Porno."

I wonder how things would have turned out if these two crazy kids had gotten together? Now that's a short film of mating bees I would liked to have seen.


CWCID: Twitch

"Words Are Flowing Out Like Endless Rain Into A Paper Cup ..."

The AP reports:

"The Beatles are about to become radio stars in a whole new way. NASA on Monday will broadcast the Beatles' song "Across the Universe" across the galaxy to Polaris, the North Star.
This first-ever beaming of a radio song by the space agency directly into deep space is nostalgia-driven. It celebrates the 40th anniversary of the song, the 45th anniversary of NASA's Deep Space Network, which communicates with its distant probes, and the 50th anniversary of NASA.

"Send my love to the aliens," Paul McCartney told NASA through a Beatles historian. "All the best, Paul."

The song, written by McCartney and John Lennon, may have a ticket to ride and will be flying at the speed of light. But it will take 431 years along a long and winding road to reach its final destination. That's because Polaris is 2.5 quadrillion miles away.

The idea came from Martin Lewis, a Los Angeles-based Beatles historian, who then got permission from McCartney, Yoko Ono and the two companies that own the rights to Beatles' music. One of those companies, Apple, was happy to approve the idea because is "always looking for new markets," Lewis said."