Judicious Asininity

This is the Archive Page. Click Here for Main Page

Sun Aug 31, 2008

Palin's foreign affairs experience trumps Obama's

Ask Canada

Early on in his campaign, Obama claimed he wanted to renegotiate NAFTA. Obviously, he didn't consult Canada. Here's how it played out:

On Sunday, the Associated Press reported about a memo written by Joseph DeMora, an official at the Canadian consulate in Chicago. The memo said on Feb. 8 "Goolsbee candidly acknowledged the protectionist sentiment that has emerged, particularly in the Midwest, during the primary campaign. ï¿½ He cautioned that this messaging should not be taken out of context and should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans," the AP reported.

Meanwhile, the Bimbo from Alaska negotiates a deal with a Canadian company to pipe huge quantities of natural gas from Alaska, through Canada, to the lower 48 states.

Let's see now: Obama insulting Canada and throwing an adviser under the bus, versus the Bimbo negotiating a deal that benefits her home state, Canada, and America?

Maybe we should poll our allies about our candidates' foreign affairs experience. It could surprise Obama, who seems only to hear our enemies. How else to explain his equating the rape of Georgia to our destruction of Saddam's fascist regime.

Oh, "Bimbo from Alaska"? That's how the Obama campaign sees her. I'm almost sorry for them. They have no idea how a woman of Sarah Palin's strength is going to appeal to Americans, especially Hillary supporters.

The Palins are an old-fashioned family

Coping with Sarah's new role comes naturally to them

I grew up in a country town, first of four children. We were dirt-poor by modern standards. No refrigerator. Wood/coal fired oven. One beat-up old car two decades old. But we didn't know we were poor. Rich was having your father survive World War II. Everyone pitched in to help. I was 12 when my only sister was born. I was soon carting her around on my hip as I did my household duties. Little sister is now a mother of four adults and head of her own consulting firm.

So I looked at this series of unpretentious photos from McCain's daughter's blog. She captures the Palin family in action, behind the scenes. Scroll down until you see the Palin family back-stage. You can see the way the mother and daughters share the care. That's the way it used to be done. If there were sons present, they'd be helping, too.

I sure hope she's setting an example to those millions of young married couples who want children but can't find the time to actually have them. If you can become a Governor of a State, a possible Vice President, and even President, while having five kids, then you can make time to build a family. In today's environment, both parents can work from home on a flexible schedule, and care for their family. The best part is you can recruit the older kids to look after the latest additions, if you have three or four kids.

But hey, aren't we contributing to over-population by having too many kids? Actually, no. We need more kids. A lot more kids. The baby boomers didn't have enough kids and the population is aging fast (i.e. the older cohorts are growing larger relative to the younger cohorts). That is very bad for the economy and even worse for Government funded Ponzi schemes, such as Social Security and Medicare.

The leftists who wonder how Sarah Palin can have five kids and still be effective don't understand how real families work.

A woman president is very probable

But only if Obama loses

Here's the scenario:

If Obama wins in 2008, he runs in 2012. By then, Hillary will be too old to head the ticket.

Suppose McCain wins in 2008. McCain turns 76 in 2012, so he decides to pass the torch to Palin. Obama is banished to the Senate for a Biden-like lifetime to replace Teddy Kennedy as the Democrat's most prominent loser. Hillary is redeemed and runs against Palin. Woman versus woman. A no-lose proposition for genuine feminists (including me).

If McCain hangs on to run in 2012, it means Palin failed to meet expectations, and he'd likely face Hillary

The only conclusion is that Hillary can win in 2012 only if Obama loses in 2008. Please explain this to your Hillary supporters and your feminist friends. They can't lose if they vote McCain.

Support Real Journalism

Cancel that NYT subscription and share the money between the two Michaels

I mean Michael Yon and Michael Totten.

What really happened in Georgia? Totten provides the reporting the MSM should be doing but can't. He deserves a Pullet Surprise. I suspect he'd treat it like Clarence Thomas treated his law degree from Harvard.

I just donated to both of them. I also donated to McCain for the first time. Palin just got me excited again (count the posts).

Why Palin became a beauty queen

Plus more links to send the doubters

First up, an article from the UK Daily Mail online edition. The article is titled "Why John McCain's beauty queen running mate has a grizzly bear on her office wall". That sets the flavor of the article.

I've seen a lot of leftist commentary slamming Palin because she entered a beauty contest. The Mail online article provides much needed context:

‘Sarah wanted to be a journalist. She wanted to go to university but knew the family budget was slim. So she went in for a beauty contest because it offered money.’

Sarah entered the Miss Wasilla pageant in 1984, which she won wearing a red Crimplene dress she made herself.

The following spring she came second in Miss Alaska, winning a £5,000 scholarship to Idaho University, where she studied journalism.

Sarah eloped with Todd, her childhood sweetheart, in 1988. Her mother said: ‘It was a shock but she did it because she knew we couldn’t afford a big white wedding. They have been together ever since. He is her rock.’

I suspect a lot of parents would wish their daughters would follow that example.

McCain is running against Congress

His Missouri Rally demonstrated that

I turned on C-Span to see Governor Mike Huckabee warming up the crowd for McCain. He was followed by Governor Mitt Romney, who was brief, but extremely supportive. McCain followed and spoke about the need to reform Washington. Palin followed and gave a strong showing, backing up McCain's anti-corruption, anti-Washington, anti-pork position, and described what she had done in Alaska to clean up that mess.

The crowd lapped it up. McCain has hit a home-run with the selection of Palin. That's what I was hoping for, but not expecting. But we can now see how his campaign strategy is falling into place. It's the mavericks taking on corruption in Washington and fighting for America. The Obama strategy of painting McCain as Bush III will not work.

What was that I said about McCain getting inside Obama's OODA loop?

Oh, how's McCain's campaign going? Like the Blue Angel Hercules taking off from Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport. I photographed it yesterday, as it roared into the sky. Note the JATO (Jet Assist TakeOff) units on each side of the plane? That's what Palin is doing for campaign McCain.

Blue Angel Hercules JATO

Memo for the McCain campaign

Check Biden's voting record on TAPS

Direct quote from a poster at a pro-Hillary web site:

Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s choice for vice president, has been a senator since 1972.

He is one of only five senators who were present in 1973 when Congress passed legislation authorizing construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline system (TAPS).

Biden, then 30, was the youngest member of the Senate and not a leader in the lengthy debate over the pipeline. But his voting record is striking - at least to an Alaskan interested in history.

Biden was a reliable “no” on TAPS. In July, when the Senate passed the Gravel-Stevens amendment allowing immediate construction of the line and precluding further judicial review, Biden voted no. The amendment passed after Vice President Spiro Agnew broke a 49-49 tie.

In November, Biden voted against final passage of the bill. The vote was 80-5, Biden one of the five.

SINCE BIDEN’S NO VOTE, THAT PIPELINE HAS SUPPLIED 15 BILLION BARRELS OF OIL INTO OUR DOMESTIC SUPPLIES HERE IN AMERICA.

It is amazing how much good information one finds at Hillary sites as they absorb the impact of McCain's bombshell announcement of Palin as VP candidate.

Sat Aug 30, 2008

Stephanie Tubbs Jones Funeral

Was it just a campaign stop for Obama?

Via Sweetness & Light, I visited a Hillary supporters site called Hillary is 44. I found this forum post:

I went to Stephanie Tubbs Jones funeral today. Hillary, Bill, Chelsea were there. All of Congress was there except Nancy Pelosi. She sent a representative. O [Obama] and Mo [his wife] was there also. If i had been the son of Stephanie i would have had a private funeral and a memorial service in Washington.

They were hollering out Obama, it was mostly a political rally. Just about every speaker was saying support Obama. This Kirpatrick women got on my nerves. Someone said this is not the time for this. This is Stephanie’s funeral not a Barack rally. I said amen.

As I recall, the Democrats did something like that at Paul Wellstone's funeral and it cost them.

I checked around and found this Video from the service. Seems to me that Obama made it a campaign stop, while Hillary showed a personal appreciation of Stephanie Tubbs Jones' family's loss.

A little more research turned up more information on the role of Kirpatrick [sic] on a Cleveland Plain Dealer forum:

The service and the speeches were a testimony to a great woamn. The only exception was the speech by the congresswoman from Michigan who said very little about Stephanie but took the liberty of using the platform for a political speech about why Obama must be elected. She prefaced her remarks by saying in attendance at the service were Republicans, Dems and i ndependents. Then she went on to chastize Republicans and deliver a extremely partisan speech. Poor Stephanie she got little attention from,this woman. After all this service was about S. Tubbs Jones not this woman or her political views She was out of place and did the Tubbs Jones family and Stephanie's memory a great diservice. Tubbs Jones deserved much better. Hillary's speech was excellent. She knows about grace, friendship and priorities.

Nothing can stop the One or his acolytes, not even common decency or respect. Funerals are no time for the dirty business of politicking, but that didn't stop the big O.

Update: What did I say? Check this Newsday article entitled "Dems rally for Obama at Ohio congresswoman's memorial". Tubbs Jones supported Hillary to the end. It is rather unseemly that his supporters should turn her memorial service into an Obama rally, especially with Hillary present.

Only McCain could have picked Palin

Not Romney, not Huckabee, not Giuliani, not Thompson

The GOP contenders were all good men (though I have my doubts about one of them), but they were all part of the establishment. They would have chosen one of themselves or a safe governor choice. McCain went for broke and chose the most attractive rising star in GOP ranks. I'm not referring to her looks, but rather her track record in rooting out corruption in her own party, in tackling the energy crisis that America faces, and in truly being a servant of the people. Her story is compelling and will resonate with the folks.

The Democrats now have a battle royal on their hands. This is going to be a great ride home.

Fri Aug 29, 2008

Palin is the runners choice

Marathons are tough events and Palin ran an impressive race in 2005

Marathon Pundit likes the pick:

I fully support the choice. And not just because she's a woman. Palin has strong conservative credentials and most importantly, she's the only governor among the four people leading the ticket for the major parties.

Oh, Palin is a marathon runner. She ran Humpy's Marathon in Anchorage in 2005, finishing with a time of 3:59.

It looks like that is the only marathon she has run, at least in this century. We have a number of women in our running group in their 30's; some have broken 4 hours and others are working hard to shave the last few minutes off their times to get there. So, at age 41, Palin runs her first marathon and breaks the 4 hour barrier. I'd love to see Obama try to equal that -- then we'd find out if he's really kicked his nicotine addiction.

Palin has a reputation for determination and achievement. In its own small way, her marathon record demonstrates that.

Don't estimate Palin on foreign policy

She is intensely interested in energy policy (which is critical to foreign policy)

This election is going to revolve around energy independence. Here's two paragraphs of the letter she wrote to Harry Reid advocating drilling in ANWR (I've blogged on this before):

In advocating for oil development in ANWR, I have never guaranteed that this new domestic production would immediately reduce the price of oil. However, incremental production from the coastal plain should help reduce price volatility in the U.S. Additionally, ANWR development would send a strong message to oil speculators and producing countries that the Unites states is serious about addressing its energy problem.

Yet, there is an even more important point. the location and quantities of oil and natural gas are changing world geopolitics. Countries that produce significant quantities of oil and natural gas are gaining in power and prestige. several of these countries have objectives and value systems that are antithetical to U.S. interests. we are becoming increasingly dependent on these insecure sources to our long-term detriment. Further, it has become clear that U.S. petrodollars are financing activities that are harmful to America and to our economic and military interests around the world.

Two short paragraphs and she has told the nation why we need to drill in ANWR. She has also linked energy policy to foreign policy in a way that average voters can understand.

The best the teleprompter kid could come up with was inflate your tires to save gas. It's going to be an interesting run up to election day.

Now I can support McCain 100%

Sarah Palin is the perfect pick for VP

The Obama camp must be sweating as McCain gets further inside their decision loop. This will close the gender gap, solve the age issue, and thrill the conservatives. The Hillary supporters are all up for grabs. Biden is now going to look like a very poor choice.

I was hoping that McCain would pick Palin. BeldarBlog sold her to me. Go read that post to learn why Palin is such a great pick. Tough. Determined. Honest. Straight. Smart. Someone who wasn't afraid to run against a corrupt GOP establishment and clean their clocks.

WOW, WOW, WOW!!!!

Update: This blog, Draft Sarah Palin for VP, worked hard for Sarah. Congratulations.

Thu Aug 28, 2008

McCain gets inside Obama's Decision Loop

The congratulations ad will cause Obama to wonder what's coming next

McCain, the old fighter pilot, has gotten inside the Obama campaign's decision loop. On Obama's big day, the second biggest story of the day was McCain's VP choice. Instead of announcing his choice, McCain had the leading contenders all head to Dayton. That generated buzz while deferring the announcement until the day after Obama's platitudinous plethora of leftist bromides that he thinks is an acceptance speech. Add in the congratulations ad and the Obama campaign has to be wondering where the next hit is coming from.

The Ayers brouhaha is making the Obama campaign go crazy. They don't like the TV ad linking him to Ayers. The harder they fight back, the worse they make the issue for themselves.

O'Reilly compared the advertisement to the General Betray Us ad that Moveon.Org published. It is hard to believe that the DOJ could take action against an ad that was truthful yet ignore another that was clearly a propaganda ploy. Asking the DOJ to prosecute free speech seems like the height of arrogance. And it surely reinforces the idea that the Obama camp is a bunch of whiners.

Predictably, the McCain ad drew a whiny response:

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe -- who did not know the content of the ad until we read him the script -- just told us that the McCain ad is "a very nice gesture. We appreciate that. I wish more of his ads had that tone. But for tonight, we appreciate it and will congratulate him next week on his nomination."[my bold]

McCain has another hard-hitting ad that does something special: it has his opponent disqualifying himself from the office he seeks. Can you swift-boat yourself? Obama can. That's what happens to you when your opponent gets inside your decision loop.

Wed Aug 27, 2008

Obama shows a Fascist streak

America doesn't do Fascism (except on the Left)

Obama doesn't like the ad connecting him to a domestic terrorism. So, what does he do? He threatens the stations running the ad. He asks the DOJ to prosecute the people behind the ad. He does a half-hearted ad to defend against the ad. But mostly, he goes into bullying mode.

When you step into the biggest ring in politics you should expect to take a few punches. Obama seems to have a glass jaw.

Neo-Neocon has more. She quotes Hillary on the very subject:

CLINTON: Well, I think that is a fair general statement, but I also believe that Senator Obama served on a board with Mr. Ayers for a period of time, the Woods Foundation, which was a paid directorship position.

And, if I’m not mistaken, that relationship with Mr. Ayers on this board continued after 9/11 and after his reported comments, which were deeply hurtful to people in New York and, I would hope, to every American, because they were published on 9/11, and he said that he was just sorry they hadn’t done more.

And what they did was set bombs. And in some instances, people died. So it is — I think it is, again, an issue that people will be asking about.

And I have no doubt — I know Senator Obama’s a good man and I respect him greatly, but I think that this is an issue that certainly the Republicans will be raising.

She got that right. Republicans do find Mr. Ayers offensive, and his friends equally offensive.

McCain picks Romney as VP

Or someone is going to lose a bundle on Intrade

Intrade trading on Romney as VP has suddenly jumped. He's gone from the low 20's to the mid 60's. As was suggested on Glenn Beck this evening, such spikes usually indicate inside knowledge.

I'm OK with Romney as the pick. In contrast to the Democrats, the GOP can settle its differences and put the 2nd finisher from their primaries on the ticket. Thank Christ it wasn't Huckabee that got the nod.

I would have loved to see Sarah Palin on the ticket, but she needed a full term as governor to bridge the experience gap. Romney will cover McCain on economic issues, despite Romneycare. Actually, McCain's approach on health care is probably superior to the system that Romney put in in Massachusetts.

I think McCain/Romney beats Obama/~~Kinnock~~Biden. I sure hope so, for the sake of the country.

Update:

My wish came true!!!

Tue Aug 26, 2008

Some great global warming debunking

Penn & Teller do some great debunking

This Aussie site has some great links to AGW debunking videos.

Penn & Teller star in many of them.

Oh, and checkout this Walmart defense.

I can see why Obama is unhappy about the Ayers connection ad

Tough

Vodka Pundit has a link to the You Tube video. It is a pretty devastating political ad. The cunning is in the way it links the Weather Underground bombing of the Capitol and the Pentagon to 9/11, and then links one of the most prominent Weathermen, the unrepentant William Ayers, to Barack Obama.

Whining about it simply confirms Obama's reputation as a whiner. Attacking the messenger with lawsuits just tells the blogosphere to push the story harder.

I'm happy Obama is facing some real heat. He dissed one my heroes, Justice Clarence Thomas.

Mon Aug 25, 2008

How stupid is Nancy Pelosi?

Extremely

She thinks natural gas is not a fossil fuel. Perhaps it is the word "natural" that led her astray. Jim Miller has a great post on her gaffe:

I thought that might just be the kind of slip that everyone makes from time to time, but she repeated the claim a bit later.
I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels.
And again after that.

Brilliant. Natural gas comes out of the ground, just like oil. It is often associated with oil production. It is mainly methane (CH₄), which produces less CO₂ than other fossil fuels, such as coal. It is cleaner, but it is still a fossil fuel and a finite resource.

Sat Aug 23, 2008

Biden? Blowhard Biden?

This old timer represents CHANGE???

Obama has virtually no accomplishments, except two books written by himself, about himself. That's about it. No credible executive experience. A pathetic legislative record. A stint as a community organizer in the cesspool of Chicago politics. To say Obama is under qualified for POTUS would be an over statement.

Biden has served most of his adult life, from age 29 to 65, in the Senate. That means he hasn't actually run any thing larger than his own Senate office. So he has virtually no executive experience, either.

I'm struggling to figure out why Obama went with Biden. Biden is in McCain's age group, so that makes it more difficult for the Democrats to attack McCain's age. Biden is part of the Washington establishment, so it is hard to figure out where he fits in a campaign that wants to change Washington. Biden has experience, but not executive experience, so that doesn't begin to cover Obama's most glaring weakness.

Obama is teleprompter eloquent. Biden is a blowhard. Peggy Noonan captured the essence of the man:

The great thing about Joe Biden during the Alito hearings, the reason he is, to me, actually endearing, is that as he speaks, as he goes on and on and spins his long statements, hypotheticals, and free associations--as he demonstrates yet again, as he did in the Roberts hearings and even the Thomas hearings, that he is incapable of staying on the river of a thought, and is constantly lured down tributaries from which he can never quite work his way back--you can see him batting the little paddles of his mind against the weeds, trying desperately to return to the river but not remembering where it is, or where it was going. I love him. He's human, like a garrulous uncle after a drink.

Clarence Thomas has less fond memories of Biden. Kathryn Lopez at NRO quotes Thomas on Biden:

I’ll let Clarence Thomas tell the story, via his powerful memoir, My Grandfather’s Son:
Senator Biden was the first questioner. Instead of the softball questions he’d promised to ask, he threw a beanball straight at my head, quoting from a speech that I’d given four years earlier at the Pacific Legal Foundation and challenging me to defend what I’d said: “ ‘I find attractive the arguments of scholars such as Stephen Macedo, who defend an activist Supreme Court that would . . . strike down laws restricting property right.’ ” That caught me off guard, and I had no recollection of making so atypical a statement, which shook me up even more. “Now, it would seem to me what you were talking about,” Senator Biden went on to say, “is you find attractive the fact that they are activists and they would like to strike down existing laws that impact on restricting the use of property rights, because you know, that is what they write about.”

Since I didn’t remember making the statement in the first place, I didn’t know how to respond to it. All I could say in reply was that “it has been quite some time since I have read Professor Macedo. . . . But I don’t believe that in my writings I have indicated that we should have an activist Supreme Court or that we should have any form of activism on the Supreme Court.” It was, I knew, a weak answer. Fortunately, though, the young lawyers who had helped prepare me for the hearings had loaded all of my speeches into a computer, and at the first break in the proceedings they looked this one up. The senator, they found, had wrenched my words out of context. I looked at the text of my speech and saw that the passage he’d read out loud had been immediately followed by two other sentences: “But the libertarian argument overlooks the place of the Supreme Court in a scheme of separation of powers. One does not strengthen self-government and the rule of law by having the non-democratic branch of the government make policy.” The point I’d been making was the opposite of the one that Senator Biden claimed I had made.

Throughout my life I’ve often found truth embedded in the lyrics of my favorite records. At Yale, for example, I’d listened often to “Smiling Faces Sometimes,” a song by the Undisputed Truth that warns of the dangers of trusting the hypocrites who “pretend to be your friend” while secretly planning to do you wrong. Now I knew I’d met one of them: Senator Biden’s smooth, insincere promises that he would treat me fairly were nothing but talk. Instead of relaxing, I’d have to keep my guard up.

Sounds like Biden is a slimeball. A perfect choice for Obama. That makes sense. Now I understand.

Wed Aug 20, 2008

The Democrats bind

Obama is fading but they can't switch horses

McCain has surged and Obama has seen his lead slip away. His continued opposition to the surge, his Berlin speech, his poor performance at the Saddleback forum, his weak response on Russia's invasion of Georgia, and the increased scrutiny of the man himself, have all contributed to his fall. It seems increasingly likely that Obama cannot win against McCain.

It would seem that the stage is set for the Clintons to stage a comeback at the Democratic convention. But the Democratic party cannot afford to let that happen. The African-American vote is going 90% for Obama. African-Americans will never forgive the Democrats if they steal the nomination from their man. Come election day, they'll simply stay home, and Democrats across the board, who depend on African-American votes for their majorities, will also lose.

Call it the OJ effect.

Tue Aug 19, 2008

More underage Gymnasts?

And not Chinese

Gateway Pundit has busted the Chinese for using underage gymnasts and altering the records to hide the fact. One of his screen shots from the Olympic broadcast shows a caption stating that YANG YILIN is "Age 15 ". Her birth date is given as Aug 26 1992 on the official Olympics site. That makes her 15 for a few more days.

While watching the uneven bars exercises last night we noticed that a couple of the gymnasts were captioned as "Age 15". One of them was probably Ukraine's Anastasiia Koval whose birth date is given as "Nov 6 1992". That makes her 15. The other was Russia's Ksenia Semenova whose birth date is given as "Oct 20 1992".

It turns out the age limit rule is interpreted as "turns 16 in the year of the Games".

Sun Aug 17, 2008

A great Olympic marathon by Constantina Tomescu

Rabbits usually get run down by the pack but not this time

I had hoped to watch the race but we had family coming over for dinner and my dear wife said the TV had to stay off so we could visit. But the first thing my brother-in-law said, when he walked in the door was, "Hey, why is the TV off?". So we turned it on and watched the women's marathon.

Deena Kastor dropped out early when something popped in her foot, so US hopes of a medal faded away. The second best American, Magdalena Lewy-Boulet also failed to finish. I saw both runners at the Olympic trials in Boston. Lewy-Boulet took off fast and built a two minute lead over the field. She played the rabbit but the only hound fast enough to catch her was Kastor, and it took her 25 miles to finally catch Lewy-Boulet.

In the Olympic's, Tomescu played the rabbit but she didn't make her move until the 20km mark. The lead pack ignored her. Maybe they figured that, given her history, she would fade. Or maybe the two Chinese and two Kenyans were too busy watching each other to pay much heed to the rabbbit. But Tomescu held onto a 2 minute lead until she was safely home. Great performance.

Tomescu's pace was a tad over over 5.5 minutes per miles. That's about 20 seconds per 100 meters, about half the speed of a world class sprinter. She maintained that pace for the equivalent of 422 consecutive hundred meter sprints. Brother-in-law claimed he could have kept up with her for a bit. About the only way that could be true is if he was on a bike.

Most marathoners have experienced the disaster known as "hitting the wall". That's when you suddenly run out of energy, your pace slows dramatically, and you feel like crawling into a hole and dying. It usually hits around mile 20. This time, Tomescu beat the wall and a lot of younger, faster athletes. Wow.

Fri Aug 15, 2008

Troopergate scandal imploding

Palin's hands are clean

Adam Brinkley at the blog "Draft sarah Palin for Vice President" sheds light on this pseudo scandal.

Meanwhile, in a completely useless online poll at Instapundit, Palin is the leading VP choice.

Mon Aug 11, 2008

Georgia and energy security

Why the US is powerless to help Georgia

Russia's power and wealth depend on its oil and gas exports. The oil and gas pipelines that skirt its border are currently outside of Russian control.

Inaugurated in 2006, the pipeline carries oil from Azerbaijan on the shores of the Caspian to Western markets via the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. It is capable of transporting 1.2 million barrels a day.

BP has a 30-percent stake in the pipeline, which cost $3 billion to build, along with some 10 other partners which include US oil groups Chevron and ConocoPhillips.

Transporting oil through the Caucasus is aimed to curb Western reliance on supplies from Russia, which in recent years has shown worrying willingness to close the taps in disputes with other ex-Soviet states.

It has been said that the West is addicted to oil. Think of Russia as one of the gangs that feeds that addiction. Then its actions make gangster sense. It wants to control all the energy flowing through its sphere of influence.

The West is addicted to oil and has few choices of suppliers. It must buy from OPEC and Russia to supplant its own meager supplies. This gives it very little leverage over Russia.

The US has a way out of this strategic impasse. It should develop its own energy resources to their full potential and become an exporter. That would make it a gang even the Russians would respect.

Reflections on the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony

Creative genius and control pulled off a spectacular show

Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and and People's Liberation Army choreographer Zhang Jigang created a dazzling show to open the 2008 Olympics.It communicated Chinese history and culture to the world on a grand scale.

This was not the work of submissive underlings kowtowing to the ruling elite's ideas on culture and artistic expression. It was utterly unlike anything that could have come out of Mao's China. We didn't see hordes of workers and peasants dressed in drab waving red flags and singing about the glories of Communism. Instead, we saw an utterly modern show that was also uniquely Chinese.

The two Zhangs must have had almost complete control over the project for it to come together with such clarity of artistic vision. And therein lies a lesson that China's rulers may be learning; free people can create far more than enslaved people.

The party may also have learned another lesson. If you want to present a new face to the world, then make it a clean one. The one element marring the games is the extraordinary levels of air pollution China today.

Fri Aug 08, 2008

The Olympics are here again

It's just about sport, isn't it?

Oh, come now. Where have you been?

Take a peek at this picture.

If you didn't click the link, go back and do it now.

The Olympic torch tradition has somewhat unsavory overtones, starting around 1936.

Perhaps 2008 will be seen by future generations as a reflection of the 1936 event. Back then

Hitler removed signs stating "Jews not wanted" and similar slogans from the main tourist attractions. Hitler desired to clean up Berlin, the German Ministry of Interior authorized the chief of Berlin Police to arrest all Romani people (gypsies) and keep them in a special camp .[2] Nazi officials ordered that foreign visitors should not be subjected to the criminal strictures of anti-homosexual laws.

Do you think the Fascists (née Communists) running China are much different? They will be watching everyone. Why? Because they want no trouble. Here's why:

As a Western security consultant told him, “There is tremendous 'face' at stake," he said. "The Chinese want everyone to say these were the greatest Olympics ever. Anything less would be a humiliation."

Hitler had similar ambitions. Jesse Owens made himself the greatest athlete ever. Hitler finished a poor second. Which is why I'll still take some interest in the Red Chinese Olympics. Especially the poor marathoners coping with that toxic soup the ex-Commies call air.

Thu Aug 07, 2008

Our greatest ally of wars past is two-timing us

In England and Iraq

Although the circumstances are quite different, I think the British actions in both cases come from a desire to appease or ignore the reality of Islamic aggression.

The first problematic case is Britain's kid-glove treatment of dangerous Muslim terrorists. Andrew McCarthy, who knows a thing or two about prosecuting terroists, writes:

Did England have to let Abu Hamza appeal to the ECHR? Smith’s office says the U.K. was simply honoring its European treaty obligations. But Spain, Germany, and the Czech Republic, which operate under the same obligations, have had no problem extraditing defendants to the United States without permitting them to seek a stay.

At his 2006 British trial, Abu Hamza matter-of-factly claimed his actions were compelled by Islamic scripture and — whaddya know — pointed the court to verses of the Koran that unambiguously command violence. In 2007, as Britons were horrified by the specter of yet more Muslim immigrants attempting yet more bombings, Jacqui Smith was quick to pronounce that “[a]ny attempt to identify a murderous ideology with a great faith such as Islam is wrong and needs to be denied.”

England has suffered at the hands of Muslim terrorists yet seems determined to give them safe harbor.

And then we turn our attention to Basra. According to the UK Times, a secret deal with the Mahdi Army stopped UK forces from aiding the Iraqi and US forces in their push to expel the Mahdi Army from Basra:

A secret deal between Britain and the notorious al-Mahdi militia prevented British Forces from coming to the aid of their US and Iraqi allies for nearly a week during the battle for Basra this year, The Times has learnt.

Four thousand British troops – including elements of the SAS and an entire mechanised brigade – watched from the sidelines for six days because of an “accommodation” with the Iranian-backed group, according to American and Iraqi officers who took part in the assault.

US Marines and soldiers had to be rushed in to fill the void, fighting bitter street battles and facing mortar fire, rockets and roadside bombs with their Iraqi counterparts.

Hundreds of militiamen were killed or arrested in the fighting. About 60 Iraqis were killed or injured. One US Marine died and seven were wounded. US advisers who accompanied the Iraqi forces into the fight were shocked to learn of the accommodation made last summer by British Intelligence and elements of al-Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia Muslim cleric.

The deal, which aimed to encourage the Shia movement back into the political process and marginalise extremist factions, has dealt a huge blow to Britain’s reputation in Iraq.

Under its terms, no British soldier could enter Basra without the permission of Des Browne, the Defence Secretary. By the time he gave his approval, most of the fighting was over and the damage to Britain’s reputation had already been done.

Senior British defence sources told The Times that Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, who ordered the assault, and high-ranking US military officers had become disillusioned with the British as a result of their failure to act. Another confirmed that the deal, negotiated by British Intelligence, had been a costly mistake.

The Ministry of Defence has never confirmed that there was a deal with al-Mahdi Army, but one official denied that the delay in sending in troops was because of the arrangement agreed with the Shia militia.

Remember way back when the British were claiming that their approach was superior to the American approach? Well, it turns out the Brits had simply ceded to the enemy; we'll camp here outside the city and you can do what you want as long as you don't bother us.

The British approach is nothing more than appeasement; at home and abroad. Where is Churchill? Where Thatcher? Their names will be erased from the public record in the inevitable Islamic Republic of the British Isles.

Tue Aug 05, 2008

Obama and affirmative action

Did he benefit and how did he feel about it?

From Just One Minute:

Obama has personal experience of the notion that affirmative action stigmatizes black achievement:

Mr. Obama was sympathetic to minority students who argued that affirmative action undermined them in the eyes of their white colleagues. But he said he never felt that way at Harvard.

“I have not personally felt stigmatized,” Mr. Obama wrote in his letter to the editor in 1990.

That changed after law school.

A federal judge once asked a friend of Mr. Obama’s whether he had been “elected on the merits” as law review president, Mr. Obama told The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education in 2001. He said the question came up again when he applied for a job as a professor at the University of Chicago Law School.

Mr. Obama has not described how he felt then. But as a state senator, he spoke with empathy about accomplished minority students at elite universities who sometimes lived “under a cloud they could not erase.”

We know what one prominent black lawyer thought about his Yale Law degree. Clarence Thomas slapped a 15^c sticker on his. Despite such a prestigious degree, he always had to fight the perception that it was awarded to him through affirmative action rather than his own efforts. His performance on the Supreme Court has proven that he is a great legal scholar and fully deserving of his position there.

Would that Obama's resume to date justify his claim to the highest office in the land.

Sun Aug 03, 2008

Keep your gas guzzler

Just swap your lead foot for a feather foot

Via Instapundit, I found a NYT piece discussing the trade offs between keeping a gas guzzler and buying a gas miser.

If you’re selling an S.U.V. or trading it in, you’re selling an asset at the low ebb in its value and trying to buy an asset that’s been bid up in value,” says Mr. Nerad of Kelley Blue Book. “In stock market terms, this wouldn’t be a propitious time to make that kind of trade.”

As for fuel costs, the way Mr. Nerad sees it, people tend to view the cost of a fill-up as their cost of owning the car. So if filling the tank has gone up to $75 from $50, it seems as if the cost of owning the vehicle is up 50 percent.

Do not fall into this trap. Your insurance bill has probably stayed the same. So has your car payment. Maintenance costs do not change when fuel prices do, either. Take a deep breath and consider staying put, no matter what your neighbors may think.

The article provides a link to a calculator to help people figure out the costs and benefits of switching.

I did the calculation. How could I justify getting out of my Accord V6 (rated at 22 mpg) to a Mini Clubman? Well, I would break even after 544 months.

Better to improve the mileage you are getting. I've tried doing that with a few simple driving techniques.

1. Ignore the fact that you have 240 HP at the command of your right foot. That is only for emergencies. Accelerate gently. Don't let the tachometer get over 2000 rpm.

2. Learn your lights. If you see red ahead, coast to the light. If you see green and you know that you can make it safely, go for it.

3. Pick up speed on the downhills; lose it on the up hills. Just be aware that people following you may not appreciate your technique!

4. Don't brake if you can coast. You're coming up to a light 200 yards ahead. There is traffic stopped already. Take your foot off the accelerator. With any luck. you'll still be moving forward as the traffic starts moving.

5. Make it your first instinct to ease off on the accelerator. Press it when you start losing your desired speed.

6. Park pull through. If you can park so you can leave without reversing, do it.

I've been very conscious of cutting my gas bills and I've been following these tips. It makes a difference. I'm seeing 25mpg without much effort. I expect to see more without resorting to extreme tricks, like drafting off of semis.

Manufacturers could help conventional engines by doing two things:

1. Implement regenerative braking, so that braking energy recharges the battery, instead of an engine draining alternator.

2. Implement auto-off, auto-on. Cut the engine when you stop. Start it when you hit the throttle or the start button.

Hey, maybe McCain was onto something when he offered a prize for better battery technology.

Update:

Nissan has announced the ECO pedal:

Nissan's new "ECO pedal" has been engineered to encourage good fuel economy with a servo-actuated gas pedal that will push back on the driver's lead foot when on-board computers detect wasteful acceleration. According to Nissan, vehicles equipped with the ECO pedal, and real-time fuel consumption gauges in the instrument panel, have returned a 5-10 percent increase in fuel efficiency.

If we don't cut CO₂ emissions we'll cook the planet

Overheard on PBS

That's what Al Gore's acolytes claim. We're going to cook the planet and make it uninhabitable. It is complete and utter balderdash, as the Brits used to say. Let's ask a few simple questions to see why this is poppycock.

1. Has the Earth cooked in the past?

Not since life emerged. We're living proof of that. In reality, the Earth has sustained CO₂ concentrations 10 to 15 times higher than the current 360 parts per million. It didn't cook then. Sometimes it was warmer, sometimes much colder than today.

2. Where did the CO₂ in fossil fuels come from?

The ancient atmosphere of the Earth. Much of that ancient CO₂ was absorbed by plant life through the miracle of photosynthesis, and converted to carbohydrates, releasing oxygen. Some of these ancient plants were buried and eventually became fossilized as coal and oil.

3. What will happen if we keep pumping carbon from fossil fuels back into the atmosphere as CO₂?

Nothing much. Plants will grow a little more rapidly. Crops will be a little more productive.

For a good overview on the origin of coal and the history of CO₂, check this link. Better yet, send it to your Greenie friends.

Go to Main Page

Judicious Search

Asinine Stats

Most Popular Entries

Archives

Syndicate RSS

News Links

Contact Form

Your Email

Subject

Message