Friday's Random Thoughts

Ready For The Weekend

Bikini Girl

1. Why does anybody care about the Olympic Torch? And why is it in San Francisco on a trip from Greece to China?
2. I really do think John McCain is going senile.
3. The more I see of Hillary the more I am convinced that she lives in the middle of her own mental Hillary-world.
4. So I guess Kansas won the April Madness basketball tournament in dramatic fashion. Too bad it happened after baseball's opening day so I didn't care anymore.
5. Mafia boss Silvio Berlusconi is about to take over Italy? Who knew? Is this good or bad for us?
6. Bad Obama trends: He's starting to stiffen up like John Kerry and she's starting to sound like Angela Davis.
7. From where I sit, the economy already seems to be bouncing back. Sunday's Hispanic Nights at Wal-Mart are as busy as ever.
8. The more I think about bailing out our over-mortgaged homeowners, the less I like the idea. If they get their mortgage reduced for being stupid, shouldn't I get the same discount for being responsible?
9. I've heard a few reporters and pundits start referring to the Iraq War as a "proxy war" between us and Iran. The problem with that theory is that we don't have a proxy. Yet another Viet Nam parallel! If we are going to have a proxy war, let's get a real proxy. (For you yungins, North Viet Nam and the Viet Cong were viewed as proxies of the USSR, which was a Russian Communist empire in the 20th century that we thought was going to nuke the US someday. But they didn't. We also thought that the commies would follow us home on a bunch of red dominoes if we gave up. But they didn't. Hmmm.)
10. I have to look up the spelling of "parallel" every time I use it.
11. I'm convinced that those New York Times columnists have a game of seeing who can insert the most esoteric word into the paper. Today's entry is "hippocampically" by David Brooks, which is an adverb that he apparently just made up from "hippocampus" that refers to two memory storing parts of our brains. Frankly, I think he has misspelled it. For good measure, Mr. Brooks also managed to squeeze in "aphasia," "langniappe," and "mnenomic"
12. NASCAR should jump on the Green Bandwagon (Hah!) and start running preliminary races of alternate fuel powered cars. Talk about an obvious win-win. Imagine all of those elitist, tree hugging intellectuals shoulder to shoulder with cap-wearing, chickenbone throwing rednecks, as they cheer on Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon in their solar panelled, battery powered go-karts. It could all be so . . . democratic.
13. Spring is in the air. Time to start thinking about getting down to swimsuit weight!

Swimsuits

Have a fun weekend!

Yet More Random Thoughts For Friday

What's up the the Pregnant Man? If he has female reproductive organs, isn't he a woman? I want more details, but I'm kind of afraid to ask. And I definitely don't want to see any photos.

You know, derivatives and swaps really aren't that complicated. They're just new. And they're not even that new. The problems should not be this big. Can't anyone model this?

Anyone who relies on the "genius of the market" is an idiot.

Hillary seems to be getting tired. Plus, I know everyone tells lies, but she tells bad ones. A lot.

Old Chris Rock example of a bad lie, "That's your baby."

The Rape T-Shirts just seem in bad taste to me.

Time shares really are the way to go on vacation if you have kids.

My wife thinks if I mention someone more that once here that I'm "infatuated." So, just to clear the air, I am not infatuated with David Shuster. But, I did notice that he was wearing a black and white pinstripe suit yesterday on Hardball, which, with his nearly black hair and pale complexion, gave a kind of retro black & white look to the whole news segment. Since existentially we know that nothing is a mistake, I can only assume that this b&w theme is meant to convey a subliminal pro-Obama image to viewers.

David Gregory's new show on the Presidential Election, coming out just when everything has gotten realllly boooooring, is OK, but follows the same old format as a dozen other shows. It's not going to turn into another "Nightline." But it's not bad. At least it's better than The McLaughlin Group.

Milton Friedman's philosophy is inherently evil, and should be discarded. Yeah, that's right. I said it.

People's homes should be considered more than a financial asset, and should be treated differently under the law. Why have we forgotten this?

If America is basically just a big, free market, then how does patriotism fit in?

I'm looking forward to seeing Tom Glavine pitch for the Braves again this season. Tom's a 42 year old lefty, who has made the transition from young fastballer to crafty old curveballer. He spent the last 4 years with the Mets, but he's back home now. He's also a native Bay Stater, like yours truly.

The economy seems to be getting better around here. I hope it spreads.

Interesting perspective from an old lady cashier at the Mercedes dealership. She's been there for many years. She says that election years are always slow for Mercedes sales. Grass roots insight! This would make a lot of sense especially for this year. Since we have no incumbent running for re-election, both parties are running on a theme that things are all screwed up and only they can fix them. Well, the base message being that things are all screwed up is bound to influence consumer confidence. Downward. And since we have a consumer driven economy, this has an impact. A negative impact, to be specific. Let's call this the "Old Lady Cashier Effect."

No more news from the Swingers in our neighborhood. Maybe I should start to work out.

So, who won the NCAA Tournament? Is it over yet?

Apparently the LPGA has finally figured out that if they market their hot, straight women, then men will watch them too. Duh. Pretty girls, golf, laying on my couch with a beer. Sounds like a perfect Sunday afternoon plan. I may have to delete The McLaughlin Group from my tivo schedule to make room in my tv schedule.

Speaking of The McLaughlin Group, what happened to Tony Blankley? He's disappeared. Did they figure out he was a Moonie and kick him off? Or did he and Eleanor finally just have a big slapfight and she won? The new blond conservative woman whose name I can't remember is really good. Plus she doesn't interrupt.

Lake Lanier is up 5 feet, but is still 15 feet below normal pool level. So Atlanta should make it through the weekend.

That's all for now.

Ralph's Election Perspective From the Right

Ralph's Glory Days

I met Ralph Reed this morning. He's the little evangelical who ran something called the Christian Coalition a few years back. He ran for the Georgia Lieutenant Governor seat during the last election cycle, but lost, after some negative ethics publicity came back to haunt him. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but I think it involved him with Indian (the American kind) gambling and the recently jailed Jack "The Ripper" Abramoff.
But there he was at a weekly breakfast meeting I attend. He's taller than he looks on tv. I always thought he was a tiny fellow, but he's really just thin. Better looking, too. In photos of Ralph, I was always vaguely reminded of Lee Harvey Oswald, but face to face Ralph is actually rather handsome. He's a good speaker, too, and shared his thoughts on the presidential elections. While he made no bones about his position as an evangelical conservative, his analysis was pretty insightful and largely free of advocacy. So, I'll share some of it, imperfectly remembered, here.

Ralph thinks that John McCain has got the red nomination all locked up, pointing out that Mike Huckabee would need to garner 93% of the remaining available Republican delegates to win. Sounds sensible. Unlike many conservatives these days, Ralph is not anti-McCain. He believes that McCain is the only Republican with a real chance to unite the Republicnas and to beat the Democrats. He obviously likes that prospect. Plus, President Bush has recently semi-endorsed him as a true conservative.

Republican Forever?

Looking across the aisle, Ralph thinks Hillary will probably win the blue nomination, and that she will be forced to ask Barack Obama to be her running mate or risk the outrage of black voters. Ralph says that the Democrats cannot win without at least 80% of the black vote. Interesting. He speaks like someone who has actually crunched the numbers. I'd like to see those numbers myself.

Dream Ticket?

Ralph sees the Republican Party as disspirited, due to the War not going well, the economy not going well, and the federal budget blowing up on their watch. That's a lot of bad news. And let's face it, it's all their fault.
But Ralph also thinks that John McCain, running against Hillary, who's name might as well be "Satan" to conservatives, could reignite some passion in the party. Maybe. Maybe indeed. Since the surge, we seem to be winning the war in Iraq. That could also be stimulus for Republican spirits.
A lot can change in the nine months between today and the election in November. The economy for instance. My own prediction is that the credit mess caused by MBS-CDO defaults will have largely flushed itself out of the economy by November, and the economy will be back on an upswing. (BTW, the credit mess can all be traced back to Traveler's Sandy Weil wanting to buy Citibank. I'll do a post on that separately.) So, with an improving economy and a winning war a distinct possibility, I think it's far too early to count the reds out of this election.
But counting on Hillary Hate is not a good path either. People get tired of hating. People are also get tired of Hillary, and I'm talking about Democrats now. Personally, I think that the reds are indulging in a little wishful thinking by counting on a fight against Hillary. They are not acknowledging that Obama has got some serious momentum working now. He's tied with Hillary for delegates, has 200,000 more popular votes than she does, and is on a 5 state winning streak. Hanging onto the idea that Hillary is the front runner has the whiff of beltway tunnel vision. While the DC pundits cling to her, the rest of the country is lining up behind the Yes We Can Man. Why? So that we can march fearlessly into the future and keep on being a great country.
And that's really what we want. What a welcome change from arguing about gay marriage and school vouchers.
But to finish up on Ralph's thoughts, he's assuming a Hillary-Obama ticket. He goes on to say that McCain will have to have a minority running mate to compete. Ralph suggests that Condi Rice as McCain's vp running mate would siphon some black voters away from the Democrats, or at least enough black voters to win. I don't think so. I think adding a pinch of Condi would be a recipe for electoral disaster. No pun intended, but Condoleeza is one weak sister.
Condi has a tendency to whine when things don't go her way, and she was a terrible National Security Adviser. Remember when she said that "no one could have possibly imagined" that terrorists would use airliners to fly into buildings? How dim must one be not to imagine that? It was her job to imagine such things. And to prevent them. Why this goes largely unremarked upon by our fourth estate, giving her a free pass on her ultimate responsibility, is unknown and unfathomable to me. Was she unaware of the Bojinka Plot, just five years earlier, showing our Arab friends' fascination with the idea of hijacking planes and flying them into buildings? How could she not be?
Another reason Condi would be a bad choice for a running mate is that she is no politico. She's never been in an election. She's a terribly boring public speaker. Aside from being secretly in love with the President, and having a penchant for go-go boots, there is little interesting about her. No sizzle. Condi is basically a misplaced college professor. I'm not trying to imply anything, but on the dirty tricks side of things, her spinsterism will also spark rumors.

These Boots Are Made For Diplomacy

So, I'm finding Ralph's insider perspective interesting, and being out of the loop Republican-wise, I naively ask what about Colin Powell as a vp candidate? Personally, I'd love a chance to vote for Colin Powell. I hate to pass on gossip, but Ralph had an interesting answer.
Apparently there has been a falling out between Colin Powell and the Republican establishment. It seems that many conservatives blame Colin for not standing up more firmly to Donald "Henny Penny" Rumsfeld, and preventing Rummy and the neocons from totally screwing up Iraq War II. Also, Colin has now publicly indicated that he has not decided whether he will support the Republican or Democratic candidate this election. Wow! The bottom line is that Colin has become something of a black sheep (oops!) in the Republican family.

A Man in Uniform

Curiously, I think that McCain may have stumbled right into the formula for the success of his candidacy through a seeming faux pas. The 100 years military occupation in Iraq. Nobody really liked the sound of that. But . . . let's stop and think about what just happened.

John McCain has voiced a vision for America's future. A stretch, I know. But I've been pondering what I'm really looking for in my next President. Why am I drawn to Obama (Troops home now) and McCain (Empire forever) when they are so far apart on the issues? I'm looking for a leader. A leader with a vision. A vision of where America should be going, and the will to drive us there. Not some poll driven, vote counting politico who wants to sit in the driver's seat but really just be along for the ride. Let's have a dream! See the future! Let's go there! We're going there anyway, so let's bend it to our national will!

100 years. Where do we want America to be in 100 years? What do we need to do now to get there? Build trains that can run on electicity generated by anything. Clean energy. Plenty of healthy food. Great medical care for all. Shared values. Nice homes. No pollution. Everyone is educated. Drug abuse is rare. Hatred is socially unacceptable. The whole world speaks English and America is admired as a pioneering example of human dignity, peace, and freedom.

Or we just go along from year to year and see what happens. We run out of gas. All high paid labor is exported, so we have 2 classes of people, capitalists and servants. China and India are the world's two superpowers. In high school, kids learn how much U.S. history imitated England's rise and fall.

I'm looking for a man with a plan. Or a woman with a plan. The vision thing. Remember that? Who has it? I'm still not sure. But whoever shows it to me will get my vote.

Bottom Line: Barack looks like the man as of today. But who is a good number 2 for the blues? We need someone with international and defense cred. Too bad John Glenn is a hundred years old. Wesley Clark maybe? On the red side, John McCain with Colin Powell is the key to Republican victory. My liberal distaste for the Bush years could be assuaged by the prospect of these two battle proven war heros leading our country in uncertain times. And the retch inducing stench of the Clintons will certainly make me look for an alternative if Hillary is the nominee, even with Barack on the ticket. If the conservative wing of the Republican party can get onboard, the reds have a real chance. I'll vote for Obama if I can, but not as Hillary's Veep.

Links of the day:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120277819085260827.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

Obama is The Man

Serious Thinker - Truth Teller

South Carolina brings out the worst in politicians. Perhaps it is the lasting residue of occasional confederate flags, and the locals' somewhat ironic references to "The War of Northern Agression" that cause otherwise semi-savvy pols to assume that this rebel trail blazer of a state will still respond to the "Southern Strategy" of none too subtle racist politics pioneed successfully by George Wallace and Richard Nixon. Well, yesterday is gone. South Carolina has earned kudos for it's recent performance of voting in force for John McCain and Barack Obama, and rejecting the racist taunts hurled their way.

South Carolina State Flag

Since 1776

(Surprise if you thought it was the Confederate Battle Flag)

Obama was repeatedly referred to by the Clintonites as African-American in the Palmetto State. You know, so us white folks would get "the message" that when push came to shove, this high toned black man would not really be on "our" team. The media seemed taken aback by how to characterize these remarks. The reporters clearly knew what was going on. Race was being injected into the race as an issue by the Clintons. If race did become an issue, well then a voter had to wonder what side he was really on, or if he even had a choice at that point.

Before the media could figure this out, the good people of South Carolina figured it out pretty speedy fast. And the majority slapped it down hard. Both Democrats and Republicans. They are sick and tired of being unfairly tagged as a racist state, and they showed it at the polls. After the fact, the media finally determined that the Clinton's plan was an attempt to "marginalize" Obama as a tolerated token candidate, but not a serious contender, much like Jesse Jackson of twenty some years ago. This has seriously stuck in the craw of many life-long Democrats, and has made us look with fresh eyes at the hypocrisy and nakedly selfish ambition of the Clintons. The Clinton after-taste is sour, and I suspect will be long lasting.

I for one am looking at Hillary, and Bill, with a newly critical eye. Hillary's self proclaimed 35 years of public service. Well, for 15 years she worked as a corporate lawyer at the Rose Law Firm. How does that constitute public service? She got herself on the board of Wal-Mart. How did that happen? It seems obvious that being a Governor's wife may been her biggest qualification.

And what has she accomplished in these 35 years? Beats me. Can you name anything? Supporters like to point out that she has visited 80 countries, and knows many world leaders. Who paid for that? And what did it get us? Any accomplishments?

But she promises to fight for us if she is President. She'll be ready Day One. Well, news flash: fighting is hard. What fights has she won? She rolled over like a good puppy for W in going to war in Iraq. But she says that she thought he would use more diplomacy first. That's like giving the car keys to a teenager and making him promise not to go too fast.

Now her Iraq rap is "if I had known then what I know now . . ." Well, she didn't even bother to read the 95 page National Intelligence Estimate that the CIA had prepared on the intelligence used as justification for going to war. Didn't bother to read it. Guess what, it was her job to read it. If she had done her job and read it, then she would have known then what she knows now.

Somehow, Obama did manage to know it then. Lot's of people knew it then. We were promised a "mountain of evidence" from Colin Powell at the UN. I watched that speech and I didn't see any real evidence. Just a series of hearsay and deep voiced, frowny faced pronouncements that this meant time was running out. Danger was imminent. This is called a "conclusory argument" because it has no factual or logical backup, just a stark and baseless conclusion. No critical thinker gives this type of nonsense any credibility. What is at least as shocking as hearing Powell make this type of empty argument with a straight face and without caveats (he knows better) is that the press ran with it uncritically. At least Powell has the decency to be ashamed of his role in this, this . . . whatever a fiasco of this scale is called. The press is mostly unrepentent.

The point of this now to the 2008 Presidential elelction is that Hillary got it wrong because she was derelict in her duty. She did not do her homework and followed the path of political expediency. Getting it right then is when it mattered. Knowing it now is too late.

Let's elect someone who can sniff out the truth before we step into the muck, not after.

Toasty Tuesday In Florida

WHO'S TOAST AND DOESN'T REALIZE IT YET?

Always the Bridesmaid

Flash in the Pan



SuperCreep! SuperCreep! He's Super Creeepeeee! Zow!

And Finally . . . with special thanks to Ted Kennedy:



Overrated and Overstated and Just Plain Over.

Dems Debate and Iraq Quiz

Just as I was ready to publicly declare for Obama, I watched the Democratic candidates debate. While that Alaska dude was a real hoot, I can't imagine anyone giving him any real money after that performance. So I won't be expecting to see him again, except maybe as a "policy expert" on Fox.

But he was just a distraction.

The O-Man. What happened? Obama, my Obama! Ouch. It was painful to watch. What happened to the deep baritone? The quick smile? The eloquent, confident answers to where the country should go? None of these were in evidence up there on the big kid's stage. Hesitant, worried, uncertain. Not what I'm looking for.

Hillary really kicked some ass up there. She was certain of her answers. Her answers were meaty, substantial, and specific. She looked and sounded completely confident. And she gave the best answer to the "what if we get attacked" question. That chick's got some balls. I could vote for her.

Richardson, Dodd, Biden. They all seemed like smart, competent candidates. We could do a lot worse. Edwards was as dull as a bar of soap. That restaurant story was goofy.

Kucinich is the "troops home now" candidate. Everyone else wants them home, too. Just not right away.

Sorry - oversight. Gravel (the Alaska guy) also wants the troops home now, but I'm not sure whether to count him. I'd like to be sure his address isn't an assisted living facility before I lend him too much credence. He seems a bit wacky.

But back to Kucinich's point, which I think is the main issue of the election. Why wait? Hasn't everyone read Oh, The Places You'll Go!?

Harry Reid (not at the debate) was quoted as saying that the war was already lost. I am dumbfounded by this whole perspective. I thought we already won. Saddam is dead. There is a new regime. And Iraq has no WMD's. Checklist complete! Victory! Let's send the troops to Hooters to celebrate.

So, here's the quiz. Just post your answers in the comments section. Cheating is, of course, allowed.

World View Iraq War Quiz Number 1

1. Who is the U.S. fighting in Iraq? (Must name actual people or groups. "Terrorists" is not acceptable.)
2. If the U.S. wins in Iraq, how will we know?
3. If the U.S. loses the war in Iraq, who wins?
4. If the U.S. wins in Iraq, what do we get?
5. If the U.S. loses in Iraq, what do we lose?
6. Is Iraq an ally or enemy of the U.S?
7. If the U.S. just stops fighting and goes home, is that the same as losing?

Thanks for participating.