Fisking The Speech

The italicized parts are the released text of the Obama Acceptance Speech. The rest is me.

To Chairman Dean and my great friend Dick Durbin; and to all my fellow citizens of this great nation;

With profound gratitude and great humility,

The first part I believe, the second – not so much.

I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.

Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled the farthest - a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours — Hillary Rodham Clinton. To President Clinton, who last night made the case for change as only he can make it; to Ted Kennedy, who embodies the spirit of service; and to the next Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, I thank you. I am grateful to finish this journey with one of the finest statesmen of our time, a man at ease with everyone from world leaders to the conductors on the Amtrak train he still takes home every night.

To the love of my life, our next First Lady, Michelle Obama, and to Sasha and Malia - I love you so much, and I'm so proud of all of you.

Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story - of the brief union between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas who weren't well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.

Which is why his mother moved to Indonesia. Ahem.

It is that promise that has always set this country apart - that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.

One American family? The one where half the members pay 1% of the bill for the family expenses, and you want them to pay even less? I would like this unity thing if I got a free ride, too.

That's why I stand here tonight. Because for two hundred and thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women - students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors — found the courage to keep it alive.

We meet at one of those defining moments - a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more.

Yes, it is threatened. With some luck, we can defeat you in November and keep moving down the road.

Tonight, more Americans are out of work

than when?

and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet.

What part of ‘housing bubble’ does he not get? Makes you wonder if he would be bemoaning the fall of dot-com stocks if this was 2000, and blaming the President for that.

More of you have cars you can't afford to drive, credit card bills you can't afford to pay, and tuition that's beyond your reach.

I’m here to bail you out of your prior bad decisions!

These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.

Scapegoating the President is fun, but tell me, Senator – which of your legislative efforts to fix this situation has he veoted?

America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.

Phil Gramm used pithier language and said the same thing, only to be pilloried

This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work.

name and address? Is this like Al Gore’s “lady picking up cans” story?

This country is more generous than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment he's worked on for twenty years and watch it shipped off to China, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family the news.

Name and address? I know this is probably real, but to be honest the factory was either going to close or get shipped overseas. Did his union rep explain why the inability to get a contract meant the corporation made that decision, or just cuss management?

We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets

Always homelessness rears its ugly head when there is an election. Because the GOP is all about kicking people out of their homes.

and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes.

Um, who built it underwater? Did the federal government have responsibility for the levees or did the state? I know the answer to that question, Senator – do you? Do you care?

Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land - enough! This moment - this election - is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough."

Wow, a 70s family drama reference. It’s no wonder he’s considered a rhetorical master. I will repair to the lab to see if I can work in a Waltons reference while you keep reading.

Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect. And next week, we'll also hear about those occasions when he's broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.

But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.

Again, Senator – in your several months of aggregate national legislative experience before running for President, when did President Bush slap you down? Call you stupid? Veto legislation? See, the difference is that Bush voted with McCain – because McCain shaped legislation while he was a Senator, and you did not.

The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives - on health care and education and the economy - Senator McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made "great progress" under this President.

That’s because he knows about economics better than you, Senator. Bush inherited an economy in recession and pulled it out with tax cuts that the financial markets welcomed, tax cuts that made your constituents better able to afford the Kool-Aid you expect them to have drunk at this point. Where did your world-record fund-raising come from, Mr. Obama, if we’re living in a Dickensian dystopia?

He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong.

3.3% growth last quarter, and 4.7% unemployment. That’s pretty strong. It’s the kind of record you bragged about just a few minutes ago when talking about former President Clinton, you tool.

And when one of his chief advisors - the man who wrote his economic plan - was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."

Nothing that you have said to this point has disproven Dr. Gramm, Senator Obama.

A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud auto workers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made.

Been there done that. It’s called pride in your work, Senator. You would know that if you’d ever had anything approaching a real job, other than the few years you worked at that law firm.

Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. These are not whiners. They work hard and give back and keep going without complaint. These are the Americans that I know.

Um, do you think that maybe they’re not the whiners Phil Gramm was talking about? *points finger at you & your party*

Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year?

Maybe because he didn’t have a number ready, or maybe he was thinking of your supporters?

How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than one hundred million Americans?

Because those 100 million Americans don’t pay income taxes anyway? Because he was in the government during the last windfall profits tax and saw how useless it was? I’m just riffing here Senator, but they’re reasonable answers to stupid questions, which is a feat in and of itself

How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people's benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement?

Gamble? Like the Federal Benefit Plan you have right now, that is massively outperforming Social Security? Oh wait, that’s for you. I forgot.

It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.

For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.

How about “Take less from the productive people and they’ll continue to produce”? Does it escape your knowledge, Senator, that tax receipts are already at an all-time historic high and yet that’s still not enough for you? What about the last 28 years of economic and tax history do you need me to explain to you, Senator?

In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don't have boots. You're on your own.

Well it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America.

You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country.

More and more people dependent on the government. Got it.

We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma. We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President - when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush.

I’d be curious about those numbers, particularly the income ones. Nice to see them claiming credit for the personal computer/internet boom, a one-in-a-lifetime boost to productivity and corporate finance, and something entirely unrelated to any single Clinton policy or program. Or was it the Midnight Basketball that made the difference, Senator Obama?

We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job - an economy that honors the dignity of work.

Given the importance the Democrats placed on extending unemployment benefits, there is apparently great regard for the dignity of not working. And please, let me pause and wipe away tears while the Democrat regulation-hound lectures Republicans about the ease of starting a business.

The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great - a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight.

You lost me there. I couldn’t hear you over the roaring vagueness in your speech.

Because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton's Army, and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI Bill.

Still there. Next question?

In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships.

Been there done that with loans and scholarships. Your point?

When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed.

You know, that was just like 20 years ago, and why haven’t we seen ONE of those people in an advertisement on your behalf? Was it because your organizing efforts were as effective as the Chicago Annenberg Challenge? It’s neat that you tried to help people, but that’s like me claiming credit for trying to be a plumber. If the pipes don’t work, then how much of a plumber am I really? Oh, and we’re talking about Chicago – can we talk about Tony Rezko now?

And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman.

Can I get an ‘Amen’ from Hillary Clinton, who you passed on for VP?

She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life.

So basically, she did what any parent has done. I’m sorry, but this qualifies you to be President how? And isn’t she the racist one you used as a prop earlier this year?

She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she's watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well.

I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as President of the United States.

What is that promise?

It's a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation to treat each other with dignity and respect.

This means absolutely nothing.

It's a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.

What rules are those, Senator? One of the rules I can think of is that consumers generally prefer lower prices, and if companies don’t give them that they won’t be companies for long. American workers or not. Are you planning to repeal this one? Because if you are, I would look at repealing gravity and friction next. We could get much better gas mileage without so much friction, you know.

Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems,

Stop here and you could still get a job in the GOP

but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves

Gaaah! You blew it. If you go beyond defense you’ve blown it completely

- protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.

Don’t even get me started on the BS about spending more on education. We spend a FORTUNE and get crappy results overall. Talk to the teachers’ unions, not the government.

Our government should work for us, not against us.

Like investigating and filing criminal charges against the American Issues Project? That’s working for you, anyway

It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work.

But see, you say opportunity but you mean outcome. Do you know that these are different things?

That's the promise of America - the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper.

Is this in the Constitution? Because I don’t seem to remember it is. It sounds Biblical, more than Constitutional – but don’t your buddies believe that Biblical and Constitutional are two different things?

That's the promise we need to keep. That's the change we need right now. So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am President.

Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.

Sure. Flat tax, $50,000 automatic exemption. Or FAIR Tax. Why do I get the sense that you’re thinking uber-progressive here, Barack?

Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

And watch those companies go out of business. Awesome investment.

I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

Explain

I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.

No, let’s soak the people who would otherwise do the investing. Progressive tax policy just doesn’t work, no matter how much you think it should. The people with the money just move it, Obama. They’re not rich because they’re lucky, they’re rich because they’re smarter than you.

And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

Right. Pipe dream, so to speak. We’ll do it by paying $10 a gallon for gasoline and walking a lot more. Moron.

Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars,

marginal effect on oil consumption, people just drive more

no to investments in renewable energy

they’re a stupid investment when oil is $25 a barrel or less

, no to renewable fuels

Do you get it that ‘no to renewable fuels’ is, by and large, ‘yes to food’? Or did your buddies at Archer Daniels Midland tell you different?

And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office

And we can AFFORD IT, otherwise we wouldn’t do so. Maybe if we could drill on ANWR – but then again, McCain’s not for that either. He is for drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf and for oil shale – neither of which blow up your skirt.

Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.

Yes, so let’s stop that gap, Senator. Moron.

As President, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power.

Been doing it since 1956 or so, Barack. Where’s that legislation to help your buddies at the nuclear power corporation Exelon, or is running for President more important than doing something in the Senate?

I'll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I'll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars.

Finally, a car salesman. A much better calling for you in any event. ‘I Hope you’ll Change your mind and buy this Chevy!’

And I'll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy - wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels

Note: any time he says “Invest” what he means is “Borrow from the Chinese and invest”, that’s what happens when you’re running a deficit

; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced.

How many jobs will be lost in the conventional fuels industry, which will be taxed out of existence, is not mentioned here.

America, now is not the time for small plans.

Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education

Yes, but what about the stupid ones? I assure you, they’re out there.

, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance. I'll invest in early childhood education

Marginal results at best

. I'll recruit an army of new teachers

Probably from the coal workers and auto workers you’ll put out of a job

, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support.

For this to happen it has to happen in the home? Are you going to pay each kid $25 for an A and $10 for a B, Daddy?

And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability.

I believe this was called No Child Left Behind. Ask your Teacher buddies about it, they hate it. Good luck with that. Here’s an idea – how about vouchers? Wildly popular in the Black community, but apparently not in the DNC. Ah well

And we will keep our promise to every young American - if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.

Community or country – A GI Bill without the GI part. Impressive! What, now Habitat for Humanity has a GI Bill?

Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American.

When was this a promise?

If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums.

It also removes warts.

If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.

Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent.

FMLA ring any bells? Thought you praised Clinton for that. Hey buddy – I’m self-employed and I don’t have sick days or family leave. You gonna send me a check?

Now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses;

OK, this is reasonable. But it’s also likely way too late. Fewer people are getting defined-benefit pensions these days.

and the time to protect Social Security for future generations.

By stealing from current ones!

And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.

If they have the same jobs with the same amount of experience they do. Anything else is redistribution, pandering to feminists and, in essence, a tax on having testicles. I’m sorry, that’s the truth.

Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime - by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy.

Right. We’ll see how the public sector unions handle that, assuming you get the chance to do it. Right now you can promise anything you want because AFSCME knows you’ll never do it.

And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength." Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.

Nice to hear this, but one paragraph in a speech this long really isn’t emphasizing it, Senator. Maybe we’ll hear more from you on the stump about this. Probably not.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility - that's the essence of America's promise.

And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad. If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have.

For while Senator McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war

a meaningless gesture

, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats we face.

None of which have come to pass.

When John McCain said we could just "muddle through" in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights.

You argued to invade a sovereign, nuclear –armed nation, Mr. Diplomacy. You have also made arguments that show no understanding of or grasp of the tenuous logistical situation that a large American force in Afghanistan would enjoy. Please, be quiet.

John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell - but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.

Lame. Just how many wars are you willing to start? Do you think this is a good time to invade Pakistan, with a corrupt and borderline-crazy person taking over the Presidency from Musharraf? Oh, that’s right, you don’t need foreign policy help. My bad.

And today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops from Iraq has been echoed by the Iraqi government and even the Bush Administration

Although there are quotes that make you against that before you were for it. You don’t even grasp the difference between leaving when you’re losing and leaving after you’ve won, so your statements aren’t really that impressive, Barack.

, even after we learned that Iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we're wallowing in deficits, John McCain stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war.

And you stand alone in your desire to steal the Iraqis’ lunch money in return for protection. Is this what you learned on the playground at the Punahou School?

That's not the judgment we need. That won't keep America safe. We need a President who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.

After your New Deal economics spiel, I love this comment. Grasping at your rear end with both hands more properly describes your position with regard to foreign policy.

You don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries by occupying Iraq.

No. You just humiliate it and the Muslim world does the rest. Stop reading your own press and read about the major shakeup in Al Qaeda and its declining popularity

You don't protect Israel and deter Iran just by talking tough in Washington.

You might want to write this one down, because you’ll be hearing it pretty often from people like me when you win and then do nothing.

You can't truly stand up for Georgia when you've strained our oldest alliances.

Our oldest alliances are on our side, tool. And they’re only rhetorically on our side, because they won’t fight in any event.

If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice - but it is not the change we need.

We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country.

Well, you’re the party of McGovern and Carter, too, so don’t dislocate your shoulder patting yourself on the back.

Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe.

*cough* FirstWTCbombingin1993KhobarTowersNairobiMogadishuDarEsSaalamUSSCole*cough* Sorry. I thought he said something stupid there for a minute.

The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans — Democrats and Republicans - have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.

Pfft. Nobody ever liked us unless we were sending money.

As Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.

GWB said this, too. Circumstances happened to make it otherwise.

I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

By starting a war with Pakistan, got it.

I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts.

And with you cancelling the Future Combat Systems, they had better be really really small conflicts. We hope.

But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression.

Blue Sky! I got hot Blue Sky here, who wants to buy some! Cause everybody knows is was tough direct diplomacy that won the Cold War the first time…

I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease. And I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.

Rebuilding our moral standing means becoming cowards on par with the cowards whose opinion of our moral standing you consider important. Not worth it.

These are the policies I will pursue. And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain.

All three times, not the dozen or so he proposed.

But what I will not do is suggest that the Senator takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism.

If you had a record to run on, we could talk about something else. As it is…

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America - they have served the United States of America.

Is anyone else a little put off by Obama wrapping himself in the sacrifices made by others for things he opposes, sacrifices that have led to successes he does not acknowledge? I think I’m going to hurl, really. This is offensive.

So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.

Ooh. A crushing blow. Lame,

America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past.

So elect me king. That’s not too old, is it?

For part of what has been lost these past eight years can't just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose - our sense of higher purpose.

Bush Derangement Syndrome apparently has nothing to do with this. People call for the murder of the President all the time, really, it’s not that odd.

And that's what we have to restore.

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country.

Most of us agree on the evil of infanticide -- except for you. When you were a state Senator you opposed a law that was virtually identical to language that passed unopposed in the House and Senate that would protect children born alive during abortion attempts. Give me a break, Senator.

The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals.

False choice. We also know how you voted on gun control and your support for banning handguns, please just cut it out.

I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination.

Who is he trying to please here? The visit-gay-partners-in-the-hospital lobby? I'm sure they're on the roof with this one.

Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child

Take the anchor baby back home. Problem solved, false choice averted!

or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers.

They won't be illegal once you give them amnesty, will they? Again, problem solved! Knocking them out at a fast clip now.

This too is part of America's promise - the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.

Homily alert! Homily alert!

I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values.

Well, you haven't proven me wrong yet, so...

And that's to be expected. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters

This from a guy that was introduced by Mr. Scare, Al Gore? Puh-leeze.

. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.

You make a big election about small things.

And you know what - it's worked before.

Thank goodness. President Dukakis, anyone?

Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty.

This is because its promises are empty. It’s a huge, unwieldy bureaucracy that you are going to, if anything, expand over another 17% or so of the economy by taking over health care. Please stop pretending you believe this, unless you’re really that much of a statist. If so, I’m sure Canada or France or Belgium would be happy to have you, and I’d be happy to be rid of you.

If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.

My main hope is for less government intervention. I’m thinking if you win I should prepare for disappointment.

I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my career in the halls of Washington.

But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you.

Heh. Totally wrong. It’s more about you than it is about anything else, at this point. Which, if you’re a narcissist, is kind of the point.

For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. You have shown what history teaches us - that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington.

Good line, actually. It would be better had you not already gone to Washington, and changed nothing.

Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.

America, this is one of those moments.

I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming.

It got here in 2004. But it hasn’t done anything. I understand why he’s ignoring this point, but it’s still an important point.

Because I've seen it. Because I've lived it. I've seen it in Illinois, when we provided health care to more children and moved more families from welfare to work.

With federal money. Hmm. Where does that come from? You & me & a billion Chinese.

I've seen it in Washington, when we worked across party lines to open up government and hold lobbyists more accountable, to give better care for our veterans and keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands.

And I've seen it in this campaign. In the young people who voted for the first time, and in those who got involved again after a very long time. In the Republicans who never thought they'd pick up a Democratic ballot, but did.

Heh. I did! Voted for your opponent, too.

I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day than see their friends lose their jobs, in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb,

Again with the soldiers. Are those the ones you wouldn’t visit when you were in Germany, or other soldiers. It’s nice that you can pass on their good faith, but it’s unseemly to use it to in some way justify why you should be President when you don’t appreciate what they do or acknowledge the success of things like the Surge.

in the good neighbors who take a stranger in when a hurricane strikes and the floodwaters rise.

This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.

Instead, it is that American spirit - that American promise - that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours - a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.

And it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things. They could've heard words of anger and discord. They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred.

But what the people heard instead - people of every creed and color, from every walk of life - is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. That together, our dreams can be one.

"We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back."

America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise - that American promise - and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

I didn’t know that the Scripture spoke of the ‘hope we confess’ being your election as President. Wow. The things you learn. He is the Obamessiah!

Thank you, God Bless you, and and God Bless the United States of America.

Obama Speech Fisking

Ouch, another one

Another web video direct hit from the McCain folks:



The last spokesman is probably the most pertinent.

For all that McCain is allegedly out of the loop with the whole Internet thing, his campaign is remarkably efficient at getting out devastating YouTube (or in this case, Blip.tv) responses. The Obama camp is not responding well in this regard, despite their alleged tech savvy.

Though, in the case of the Bill Ayers/Chicago Annenberg Challenge controversy, they are responding with calls for the Justice Department to investigate the American Issues Project, a group running an ad pointing out who Obama associates with. They are also sending letters to TV station owners threatening their FCC licenses. Nice heavy-handed tactics for the lovers of the First Amendment. I find it amazing that the political left is called on their authoritarian roots by Jonah Goldberg in Liberal Fascism, and then goes out and attempts to use the apparatus of the state to suppress speech. Here's the ad, judge for yourself:



They are also calling on their legions of fans to attack WGN, a big radio station in Chicago, for even having Stanely Kurtz of the National Review on the show to discuss the Annenberg Challnege documents. Kurtz was invited to speak because of a controversy regarding the CAC records, records he was originally promised he could see (something like 70 linear feet of documentation), then told he could not. The collection was held at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) library, and it's worth noting that Bill Ayers is a professor in the education department at UIC. Those records will be released this Tuesday -- whether they've been sanitized in the interim is another question.

Just as a recap, the Annenberg Challenge was a large donation from the Annenberg family to improve schools across the United States. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge got a big pile of money ($49 million) in 1993 to improve Chicago schools, and Obama was first Chairman and then on the board of one arm (fiscal and fundraising for matching grants) of the CAC, with Bill Ayers on the board for the policy arm. The CAC spent its money, upwards of $100 million counting matching funds and Annenberg money, for what its own later study decided was no net effect. This is the sum of Obama's executive experience, and "abject failure" is pretty much on-target. For a longer exploration of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Global Labor and Politics has an extensive writeup.

It is likely that Barack Obama was somewhat less than truthful when referring to former domestic terrorist Bill Ayers as "a guy who lives in my neighborhood". The fact that an up-and-coming politician would choose to associate with an unrepentant terrorist is questionable in and of itself, and really with BHO all we have to go on in assessing him as a candidate is his words, his judgment, and the things he's done -- and there are very few things in the third category.

The push-back on the Ayers story is impressive, and it leads one to believe that where there is a fire crew, there is a fire. Bill Ayers tried to destroy public buildings, and yet it's Stanley Kurtz that get the "assassin" moniker. Others have observed that if Obama had denounced Ayers as strongly as his campaign has denounced Stanley Kurtz there would be no issue.

Going to be interesting to see what comes from those documents. If there is anything there, it will put the Obama campaign on the back foot at a time when they really need to regain momentum.
-----------------


Oh, and the other dude I didn't mention for the McCain veepstakes is Tim Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota. He's pretty high up in the conventional pick category.

Obama McCain Ayers Politics

In Honor of the DNC

Saw this at the economics blog Chicago Boyz and had to pass it along. Bob Hope for the win!

Man, was Biden a not-good choice. Obama was kind of betwixt and between with Hillary as a VP -- he's more likely to win in a couple of months with her, but the payback would be four years (at least) with her in the White House, with Bill, hanging out in the VP's office with a cup of coffee and telling "...well, when I was President" stories to anyone who would listen. If he wanted to win, and bolster his numbers with women, he should have picked Hillary.

As it is, he went with Joe Biden, from the Electoral College powerhouse Delaware, who has much to offer. A lot of what he has to offer is a legacy of misstatements that make George W. Bush look like Oscar Wilde, including a couple of lines about his new boss, interpreted as crypto-racist by some earlier in the Democratic Primary process:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

I seem to remember Trent Lott getting pilloried for making comments that some interpreted as racist, and here Joe gets a pass in part because of his known habit of talking until he says something stupid. Not only does he get a pass, he gets promoted to he head of the class, over guys like Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, either of whom could have probably taken Virginia into the blue-state column in November. Instead, we get Joe Biden, who allegedly is a master of "retail politics", converting people one-on-one to his point of view, as in this appeal for the subcontinental Indian vote:



In case you missed it, the punchline is this:

"I've had a great relationship. In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking,"

Why this is a bad choice is that Obama's selling point is Change -- he's not like the old-style politicians. This is true, at least as far as him not having much in the way of experience or accomplishments like all the other old-style politicians. Apparently the 'Change' thing has been wearing thin, so Obama hired himself one of the oldest of the old-style politicians, who's been in the Senate since Obama was in seventh grade, more or less. To my mind, this is changing horses in midstream, it will be interesting to see how this is spun in Obama's speech on the final night of the convention. He's dynamic! He's bold! He's new! But don't worry, he's hired an Old Guy in case you're nervous about the dynamic, bold or new parts. Like I said before -- specificity is like poison for Barack Obama's political career at this point.

There has not been much in the way of warm reaction to this from any quarter, other than the GOP. The daily Gallup McCain-Obama poll is a statistical dead heat, down from a +9 Obama lead. There is not even a convention bounce yet, much less a VP pick bounce. I would say this does not bode well, and it leads to another criticism of Obama by the Clinton supporters that does seem to have some legs -- can't close the deal.

If Obama walks away from the convention still in a dead heat, I would say that bodes very ill for him in the coming weeks. Typically the GOP closes the gap toward the end of the electoral season, if the Democrat isn't ahead by the end of their convention history suggests that they will not make it up in the last few weeks.

Now that Obama has flipped his hole card, there is some ability for McCain to make a choice that accentuates the differences. McCain already has gravitas, he doesn't need to bring an old hand on deck to reassure Middle America. He gets the liberty of a partial stunt pick, and the obvious choice would be Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska......were it not for an evolving maybe-scandal relating to a state trooper who was married to a Palin relative, the now-fired Commissioner of Public Safety, and whether or not the Governor's Office tried to get the ex-relative fired. I would say that puts her out of contention for this year.



The more converntional female pick might be Kay Bailey Hutcheson, the conservative Texas Senator. She's got more experience than the Democratic candidate, including several positions in Texas state government, and she's telegenic. The less-conventional female candidate would be Meg Whitman, who led the growth of eBay and who is one of McCain's economics advisors. Her resume is probably better than anyone else in the field of candidates from the standpoint of leadership and experience.

Meg Whitman

On the male side, the big three I hear discussed are Mitt Romney, Bobby Jindal (current first-term Louisiana governor) and Eric Cantor (a US Representative from Virginia). I kind of like Mitt, he's not a bad choice. He's probably conservative enough for most conservatives and has a good executive resume, again -- better than the Democratic Presidential candidate's resume.


Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal, if he doesn't get picked this year will be a definite choice in 2012 if he can do well at the state level. He's younger than Obama, a Rhodes Scholar who came back to Louisiana to help fix the adopted state he loves, plus he's Indian-American and I would love to see him make a Dunkin Donuts crack during the VP debate. Jindal is a conservative Catholic who's pro-life, pro-guns, articulate and can be counted on to make Joe Biden look stupid, which is a plus -- but he is young and relatively inexperienced, though I predict good things from him. Cantor I don't know so much about, but apparently if you want a conservative who is smart and can help you keep VA in the red-state category, he's your guy.


Eric Cantor

Lieberman -- well, not a horrible choice, but to a certain extent you're trading your conservative base (who will come out to vote if you treat them nice) for independents who may or may not get off the couch to acknowledge your 'Maverickness'. Lieberman is avowedly pro-choice, even if the does get the War on Terror right, and it's questionable how much he'd help you with conservative Democrats. Connecticut is a questionable Electoral College prize, as well.

Well, I'm sure Bill Clinton will give a great speech and Joe Biden has been fitted with the electrical shock device to prevent him getting off-topic. I won't be watching the convention, but enjoy if you do. My favorite new controversy is the "Temple of Gloom" built at Invesco Field as a backdrop for Obama's speech:



When told that Obama would emerge from a "temple", an unnamed McCain staffer gave my favorite one-liner so far: "Is this from The Onion?"

DNC Obama McCain Vice-President politcs

Shack! and The Wonder Twins

No, I'm not talking about the book, 'The Shack', though from what I hear the first four chapters are gut-wrenching but everybody should read it, even though I haven't.

'Shack' is a term that pilots use when they drop a bomb on a target and hit dead-center. It's a term one of my partners in my radiology group uses with some authenticity since he's a former Air Force Flight Surgeon. And it's also the term one former Navy Aviator who happens to be the GOP nominee for President would be familiar with, and might have used when he saw this ad his campaign put together:



It's only 74 seconds long, but it's 74 more seconds of truth than you'll get from any average 74 seconds of network news coverage this morning, or this evening.

I disagree with Barack Obama on a lot of things. More than that, it's the Obamessiah complex his devoted followers (the Obamatons) display that really sticks in my craw, and I'm glad McCain's campaign finally called him on it. If you look up the term "cypher" in the dictionary, Barack Obama's picture should be next to the political subdefinition, if there is one.

Shelby Steele has gone into this effect in detail, that Obama is a vessel for unfulfilled wants and needs in some segments of our national populace, and that as a vessel he cannot become too specific. Like Bruce Lee said about Jeet Kun Do, he is like water -- taking the form of whatever container he finds himself placed into. His policy positions meander like a stream, even doubling back on themselves to create oxbow lakes of forgetfulness that the media lovingly dries with the blazing fire of their devotion. NAFTA? I was for it before I was against it, when I was in Ohio. Capital punishment? Totally inappropriate when I was a state Senator and lecturer in constitutional law, but when I need to win in Louisiana it's fine and dandy to string up child rapists. The list goes on. And on.



While the concept of the Wonder Twins transformative abilities (the ability to Change, if you will) was interesting, what they could actually do was something else. The Wonder Twins had theoretical promise but in execution they became a running joke, even to children. Shape of...a cocker spaniel! Form of...a slurpee! They were among the more useful Superfriends if you needed a sheet of ice for a pratfall, or a mouse to retrieve a key for a prison cell but ultimately their special ability was borderline useless.

The problem with being like water, and with being a figure rather than a leader, is that at some point you're going to have to solidify around a position or two, like one of the Wonder Twins from the old Superfriends cartoon series becoming an ice sculpture. And since art is subjective, some people who like your concept will disagree with the execution, and be rather iffy on the particular form you take even if they bought into the concept to begin with. Having a super-power is great, but don't expect legions of fans if your super-power turns out to be lame. Obama's appeal cannot but diminish as the things people project upon his deliberately nebulous persona are found to not fit the specifics that the election process will require.

Besides promising change, you have to deliver. When someone comes along and asks me to believe them that they are a change agent, it would be helpful to see their portfolio of change. It would be similar to me telling you I am a superb painter and describing the beautiful painting I would create for you, full of vivid color, dynamic movement and inspirational fire, if only you'll pay me an astronomical sum up front.

This is the crux of my problem with Obama. He looks great on stage, he's telegenic, has a great voice. He speaks well, and runs a teleprompter the way Stevie Ray Vaughn ran a guitar. If elected he will likely not display the apparent eloquitionary ineptness that characterizes George W. Bush, of whose speeches Tucker Carlson famously was reminded of "a drunk crossing an icy street". But really, do we elect Presidents to give speeches? If so, Alec Baldwin would be President For Life.

I prefer to elect Presidents based on what they want to do and what they believe. When they're coy about those things, or show that they don't really have any guiding principles by changing policies like others change socks, I am not convinced. And when, as the McCain piece points out, the centerpiece of their campaign is their personality and presence, rather than their positions and beliefs, they're not going to sway me and in the longer run (i.e., the next few months) I believe the 'Elect me because I'm Me' ploy will weaken.

Meanwhile, I'm glad the McCain campaign has discovered the wonderful power of humor. Of the two candidates, it's pretty clear McCain takes himself less seriously, though in truth there is a bit of self-mocking sarcasm and grandiosity in some of Obama's statements. He should know, though, that McCain's best weapons are Obama's own words, and vice-versa. This ad is just one example of having them served back at the utterer. It remains to be seen whether Obama's campaign will let this lie. The worst possible response would be anger, as it would only further inflate the pomposity that the ad seeks to puncture.

I also find it interesting that the first post-racial candidate, who wants to open a dialogue about race, is supported by people who are extremely quick to pronounce any criticism as racism. Wouldn't you think that the supporters of a candidate who is ostensibly trying to put race behind him would quit crying 'RACISM!' every time there is an effective campaign ad? I wonder how well that method of stifling criticsm and deflecting observations will play internationally if Obama becomes President? Will Ahmedinejad be labeled a racist because Obama asked him stop the Iranian nuclear program and he doesn't? Even if Obama can leave racism behind personally, and I hope he can, it would be a tragedy if the synchophants who trail him into the White House in 2009 brought Political Correctness in as national and foreign policy.

We went to Europe last week for a cruise/continuing medical education thing. Some pictures and a trip report later.

Obama 2008 McCain The+One Wonder+Twins

Heller Fallout

Well, the seismic rumbles from the Heller ruling are spreading out, along with lawyers bearing papers. In addition to Chicago and Morton Grove, IL, the Chicago suburbs of Evanston and Oak Village have been named in lawsuits from the NRA and local citizens who are contesting the handgun bans in those cities.

According to this story from Chicago's WBBM, the village of Morton Grove isn't enforcing its ban on handgun ownership at the moment. The last time they did was in 2003, when a local man shot a burgler who had broken into his home for the second night in a row, an Army deserter who had been arrested by Morton Grove seven times already in calendar 2003. The homeowner received a $750 fine, but no jail time. One would hope that the burgler got some jail time, but if you can be arrested seven times without being in jail I'm thinking maybe not. You would figure that maybe by the fifth time the DA got this loser's name on a sheet, there would be a clue that this particular frequent flier was likely to be a continuing problem that could be shipped off to Joliet for some rest & rehabilitation, but apparently not. It's likely Morton Grove will roll over, I don't see the Village citizens demanding an increase in their property taxes to fund the losing end of a lawsuit.

Gun control people are all about the object being the cause, and nothing about the people involved. If someone in law enforcement in Morton Grove had taken the time to put the burgler in jail on even ONE of the SEVEN prior arrests, then no gun violence would have taken place in Morton Grove, the perp being behind bars would pretty much preclude the Morton Grove resident from having to shoot him. The Morton Grove police chief said that the homeowner should have called the police...well, yeah, but when it comes down to it, seven other people had called the police about the perp that year and still Mr. Dirtbag is on the street. Apparently, the police chief is saying that after eight arrests in a year the police and prosecution are going to get serious.

My favorite meme is that "more guns equals more crime!", when applied to Washington, DC and similar large urban environments. This is possibly true if you assume that everyone is exactly the same, and that everyone has an equal probability of committing a crime when armed with a firearm -- i.e., if you're a liberal so blinkered by Political Correctness that you don't take any factors into account about a population other than that everyone who's breathing is a potential criminal. In point of fact, shooting the correct people in a population will dramatically reduce crime for the remainder. Crime is a profession like any other, most people don't consider it to be so but recidivist criminals have chosen crime as their life's work. It takes more than a pistol to rob a store, there's a mindset and a willingness to threaten others with violence that has to be developed over time. Likely there is some degree of genetic predisposition, and a whole lot of social conditioning that goes into the decision to potentially kill others to get something you want. People who are actually capable of murdering strangers for fiscal gain are, thankfully, even rarer than those who will simply steal.

Getting those people out of circulation is a big part of reducing crime, and one of the ways to get those people out of circulation, sadly, is going to be their suffering a fatal error in the victim selection process. A catch-and-release legal system doesn't reduce crime, it simply breeds smarter criminals. Some of the people who attack others for profit are going to choose the wrong home in which to do so, and will suffer a fatal error in the victim selection process. The life of crime they would have otherwise led, with a string of robberies, rapes, burglaries and potentially murders will never happen. It's unfortunate, but when the police not only do not have a duty to protect individuals (Castle Rock v. Gonzales) but can't even effectively protect the community, people have to be responsible for their own safety. Liberals would have an argument that we should outsource our safety to the government, were it not for the fact that the government they enshrine has clearly stated that that's not their job. Their job is enforcing the law on a community, and when they can't even do that...well, it's Messers Smith, Wesson and you, Joe or Jane Public.

It's notable that the Supreme Court did not touch anything about self-defense outside the home, it's presumable that concealed or open carry will become the subject of a future lawsuit, and it should be. Shall-issue states that issue concealed-carry licenses have not seen an uptick in crime, in fact the opposite is true, which is yet another refutation of the "more guns equals more crime" meme. I believe Washington, DC would be a far, far safer place if there was a shall-issue CCW permit system there, but it's not up to me to decide that. It's up to the folks in DC, who will now be able to own a firearm, and, having it in their home over a period of years and not observing it getting together with the blender and the lawnmower to plan a heist or otherwise show independent action unexpected of an inanimate object, get the idea that maybe they'd be even safer if they could take that firearm with them in their daily business. There would have to be a lot of voting, for sure, and a lot of questioning of basic worldview assumptions that is highly unlikely to occur -- but it's possible.

San Francisco is also being sued to overturn their handgun ban, it will be interesting to see how the flaked-out Ninth Circuit deals with a blunt, straightforward Scalia opinion. I wouldn't be surprised to see them say, "Well, we disagree" and have the suit end up back at SCOTUS, they're that far out.

An interesting aside to the opinion Scalia wrote -- it's salted with Alice in Wonderland references. Apparently the theme of Alice in Wonderland is how language can be used to obfuscate meaning, rather than make it clearer. The fact that a subtle thread (and insult) can be woven into a clearly-stated opinion is indicative of the level of Scalia's genius. I hope he never retires, they should make him sleep in Tupperware to extend his term on the bench. But if he does retire, I hope he writes books. Of all the justices I find Scalia's opinions the easiest to read and understand.

Heller Supreme+Court Second+Amendment

Heller Ruling

Well, the Supreme Court has spoken and we again have a Second Amendment. The Washington, DC handgun ban is unconstitutional, and so is the trigger-lock requirement.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) are predictably incensed, and virtually everyone else from uber-liberal Russell Feingold (D-WI) to ur-conservative John Cornyn (R-TX) are generally quite pleased. Feinstein repeated the now-discounted meme that the prior case from 1939, US v. Miller, said the Second Amendment was a collective and not individual right, and stated that the SCOTUS had thrown out "70 years of precedent." Frank Lautenberg, if anybody cares, said this just made him more interested in not promoting "activist" judges like Samuel Alito and John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Is there a circus around here? Because we appear to have at least two clowns.

They can go pound sand. Last I heard, Anthony Kennedy wasn't considered a rock-ribbed conservative, and he was likely the swing vote on this issue. There isn't a whole lot of precedent on the Second Amendment, US v Miller is the most recent case. There is a 5th Circuit Court ruling, US v Emerson, that was among the first to "find" an individual right in the Second Amendment back in 2001, but that didn't apply outside of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The funny thing about all this windbagging is that this ruling is pretty limited in scope. It basically applies to Washington, DC and no farther, though the precedent of the Second Amendment being a right guaranteed to all Americans is still an important one. The ruling does not strike down all gun laws, Washington DC still has a licensing apparatus that has to be followed. Seeing as the ruling only addressed Washington, DC it has no applicability to the states, given that the Fourteenth Amendment was never brought into play. That issue, "incorporation", or to what extent states have to follow federal constitutional interpretations, will await another case. My bet is that the handgun ban in Chicago* and Morton Grove, IL will be the first case tested, and whatever comes of that will determine how far the newly-emancipated Second Amendment extends.

*In fact, the lawsuit has already been filed.

Scalia is 72 years old, though, and John Paul Stevens, who wrote the minority dissenting opinion, is 88 years old. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 75, and a 5-4 opinion is more likely to be overturned or soft-pedaled in the future. This case has bearing on the Presidential election only to emphasize the importance of being able to nominate Supreme Court Justices. I suspect that Stevens will stay on the Court until he is either deceased or a Democrat wins the White House, out of a commitment to ideological balance. He certainly could have retired with honors years ago, but I believe the perceived bent of Alito and Roberts encouraged him to stay on.

Why did Bush 41 nominate David Souter, again? You would have thought he was going to be conservative based on who put him up, but apparently that was not to be. He's only 68, I'm afraid we're stuck with him for a while. I always found it fascinating that SCOTUS found a right to privacy from snippets of several aspects of the Bill of Rights in Roe v. Wade, but could not find the obvious (to me) individual right in the Second Amendment.

I do plan to bust a cap or two in celebration of this endorsement of the Second Amendment. Because when it comes down to it, the rights of "the people" does not mean the "right people" get to determine our rights. I believe we fought a war over that point, long ago.

Heller Supreme+Court Second+Amendment

My Endorsement For the Texas Primary

Our Dear Leader

Yep, I'm voting for Hillary.

Now if you know me, you might think I've gotten into the DNC Kool-Aid stash, but there's some thinking behind this, so please bear with me.



The GOP nomination process is essentially done. Mike Huckabee would win the Presidency of the Confederate States of America hands down, but he is at best a regional candidate and in my opinion the GOP (and the country) would do better with a fiscal conservative over the next few years than a fiscal liberal and committed culture warrior.

Let's be honest, while I think Roe v Wade is a bad ruling and am against abortion, the American public is apparently comfortable with some degree of abortion availability and changing the mass mind is unlikely to happen. Same-sex marriage has been essentially blocked at the state level for the majority of states, and the current Supreme Court lineup would not seem to be the kind to generate a Roe v Wade decision overriding state constitutions to allow same-sex marriage, which is the only possible way that SSM will become an issue for most states. Gun control is the new "third-rail" of politics, which is amazing considering that 14 years ago the Assault Weapons Bill was passed with acclimation. It didn't change anything, and neither did its expiration. If anything the short life of the AWB underscored the pointlessness of restricting the rights of people who actually obey the law. Overall, I'm fairly pleased with the status quo, and a firebrand social conservative is more likely to pick losing fights.

Thus, we are left with the oldest Presidential nominee in history to carry the banner of the GOP, and if in a desultory fashion, conservatism. I don't agree with McCain on a variety of topics, it shouldn't be up to court determination whether my blog is an unfair imposition on the political process, the McCain-Feingold bill was a travesty of the First Amendment, and I blame GWB for signing it and the Supremes for upholding some of it. If you want business out of government, then get the government out of business. The best thing I can say for McCain is that, out of the current field on both sides of the aisle he is my pick for the question, "If Pakistan goes up in flames and their nukes are in possession of Islamists, who do you want in the White House?" That's the majority of my consideration in this election, and quite frankly anyone who was a former resident of the Hanoi Hilton has had the worst day of his life already. Nothing else that happens can shake you after that. Maybe I'm overemphasizing the positive, but McCain can do the job, and he's distanced himself enough from Bush on enough occasions to avoid the label of "GWB Acolyte".

As there is no real choice in the GOP election, and as Texas lets me meddle in Democratic politics if I so choose, this March 4th I will march forth to the Democratic polls and punch the touch-screen for Hillary Clinton.


Wow, really? Voting for ME? *cries*

Dick Morris, former Clinton confidante and able political operator (among other notorious avocations), says that Texas Republicans won't pass up a chance to give Hillary a black eye and turn out to vote against her in the Democratic polls. In my case, Dick is wrong. I can have a tiny part in giving a black eye to the entire Democratic Party, no matter who the nominee becomes, and I'll explain how.

Back in 2007, the Democratic National Committee decided to not seat the Michigan and Florida delegations at the 2008 convention because those state Democratic committees had their primaries "too early" to suit the DNC. If you want to talk about disenfranchisement, there's a good example. While the votes in MI and FL were tallied, they don't count at this point. The idea was that there would be a clear nominee by the time the convention rolled around in late 2008, and the nominee could graciously allow those delegates to be seated and pledge their fealty to the consensus nominee. Nobody loses, everybody wins.

Well, it's looking more and more like there will not be a clear winner by August. Obama is surging, but Hillary is still well in the race. Rather than being a backwater swamped by the massive delegate counts of Super Tuesday, the voting in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania are Ground Zero for the Democratic nomination. My hope is that my vote for Hillary, and the votes of any other nominally GOP-voting people I can influence, will keep the delegate count from Texas (or Ohio, or Pennsylvania, if you're reading from there) solidly in the Hillary column, strictly to generate a circular firing squad at the DNC.


Riot at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Back to the Future!

I do not believe that Hillary has it within her to quit when she still has a statistical possibility of winning, even for the good of the party or the country. I hold no positive feelings for her at all, I despised the Clinton Administration and have no desire for a second. That being the case, she's a more vulnerable candidate in the general election than Obama, in my mind. The key is to keep her close, and be sure the Democrat nominee emerges not from consensus but from a smoke-filled room, in the non-democratic (and non-Democratic) manner of the past. A tainted candidate would be a wonderful thing to face in the general election.

And this is where the Michigan and Florida delegations come in. See, nobody campaigned there but Hillary was on the ballot in both, and nominally won both. If the difference in delegates between Hillary and Obama is enough for the MI and FL delegations to put her in the lead, the DNC will have a very difficult, and public, decision to make. Do they disenfranchise MI and FL to allow Obama the nomination, or do they break their own rules and hand it to Hillary? It's Hobson's Choice, and it's something Democratic strategists, including Howard Dean are dreading. From the CNN Political Ticker:

As predictions of a convention floor fight from the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue to mount, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said the party would likely intervene to prevent that scenario.

Dean said Democrats would look to “get the candidates together to make some kind of an arrangement” before the party meets in Denver this August to officially select its nominee.

In an interview on NY1 on Tuesday, before the outcome of the day’s votes was known, Dean said he thought the Democratic Party would have a nominee by mid-March or April.

"The idea that we can afford to have a big fight at the convention and then win the race in the next eight weeks, I think, is not a good scenario,” he said.

If there is no nominee selected by his predicted mid-spring date, or by Puerto Rico's June vote – the last presidential primary on the Democratic calendar – Dean said the party would likely bring both sides together to work out a deal.

“Because I don't think we can afford to have a brokered convention,” he said. “That would not be good news for either party."

There it is. The Democratic convention is eight weeks before the general election in November. Even Howard Dean doesn't like the scenario of going into a general election after a bruising and divisive convention. My read of Obama and Clinton supporters is that the longer the primary season goes on, the less love they have for the other candidate, and each other.

I don't care for Hillary, a co-dependent opportunist with a wide collectivist political streak who clearly thinks she's smarter than everyone in the room. I admire Obama's charisma, likability and ability to generate enthusiasm for "change", but his generation of "momentum" while being soft on specifics bothers me. I've read his health care proposal, and there's some hidden verbiage in there that I don't care for, some particularly "progressive" code-words that promise substantial government intervention in places where the market would suffice, were nationalized health-care advocates willing to give up their vision of a NHS/Canadian-style system. Basically, it bothers me when candidates generate energy without specific discharge points, and he's certainly not forthcoming with the policy lightning rods.

And so, I plan to vote for Hillary Clinton in the Texas Democratic Primary, in hopes of causing a political train wreck at the DNC convention in Denver, and I encourage you to join me in this effort.

Texas Democratic Primary 2008 Election Hillary+Clinton

We Heart NY

Wow, it's been a long time since I've put anything up here. It's odd, with our new partner I have more time off, but the time off I have is so completely spoken-for in terms of pent-up travel plans that I find less and less time to blog during the workday.

Well, that and Call of Duty 4 for the Xbox 360. Pure videogame heroin, at least for me.

In any event, the Wife and I did take a trip to New York City the first weekend of October. We were looking for a reason to go and lo and behold, a superb reason presented itself in the form of Amy Blankenship (whom we did not previously know) answering the prayers of Scott Sewell (whom we do know, though this is an old resume) and agreeing to become his wife on October 6, 2007. Our trip to NYC to attend the ceremony was fortuitous shrapnel from that particular prayer hitting the target.


Tex(ans) And The City
On Wednesday October 3rd we loaded up the car and headed out to Gregg County Airport for the puddle-jumper to DFW, then flew into LaGuardia.

I'll be honest, I'd been to NYC three times, the last in 1990, and the NYC I remembered was noisy and vaguely dangerous. I'd been wanting to go since September 11, as that particular day will probably be the most important non-family day of my life. Let's be serious, anything more frame-of-reference disrupting than that may not be survivable. That, and New York does not have a reputation as the friendliest or nicest place to visit, "rude" is the common description.

This trip definitely dispelled every negative connotation NYC may have held for me in the past. The trip from the airport (LaGuardia is old, but decent and easy to navigate), the hotel staff at the Marriott Marquis, all the people we dealt with were universally pleasant and helpful. The only minor quibble was with the staff at a Europa Cafe at the south end of Times Square, but it was our fault for not understanding the system there. Order your food, then pay. You don't order at the cash register. It's like Jason's Deli for you Texans, only it's not laid out so that you have to order before you get to the cash register. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip around NYC.

Friends
The absolute best thing we did was to see Scott and meet Amy literally straight from the plane at Scott's apartment in Lower Manhattan. He's had a peripatetic career, from Kenya to Alaska to New York City, and is now on an extended deployment helping a company operating very exclusive health clubs implement a CRM (Customer Relations Management) system. Many Seinfeld memories floated up as we pulled up in a taxi in front of an apartment building and went to Scott's apartment, where we were met by Amy and headed off to dinner at Tribeca Grill.

Tribeca Grill was the site of one of Scott & Amy's first dates, and their experience was so good there that Scott wrote a letter to the manager. Apparently Scott can write a pretty complimentary letter, because they recognized his name, the manager came out after we were seated and thanked Scott personally and the service and food were excellent. The chef even sent out extra things for us to try -- an entree here, an extra dessert there. As good as the food was, it was better to be spending a pleasant evening outdoors in an unusually temperate New York City with people you like and admire, like Scott & Amy.

From the Tribeca we walked a few blocks down to the World Financial Center and Ground Zero. WTC 7 has already been rebuilt, and there's a lot of construction going on at the tower site. You can't really see much, the site has been cleared for years and the "bathtub" that WTC 1 and 2 were in is well below ground level. From there we walked to Wall Street, saw the outside of the trading floor and the sculpture of the Bull. Apparently there is a part of the Bull's anatomy that you're supposed to get your picture taken holding, we passed on that opportunity. That part is highly polished, though, so we appear to have been the exceptions.

We walked down to Battery Park and looked across the water to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, then took a subway back to the station closest to Scott's apartment. Marci saw one rat in Battery Park that she swears was the size of a small dog, but I missed it. I may have thought it was a small dog. The subway was interesting. It was so humid underground that the effects on Marci's hair were immediate, and not to be photographed.

When we finally made it back to the Marriott Marquis a little after midnight, we realized why blackout curtains in hotels are sometimes not an option. Our room fronted on Times Square at about the 30th floor, and it was daylight-bright from all the video billboards and lighted signs. Times Square really has to be seen in person, we've all "been there" in movies and TV but seeing it close up it's a monument the Egyptians would be proud of.

Lullaby of Broadway

We did a lot in our three days. With a homebase in Midtown, we saw Curtains Thursday night (excellent, excellent, excellent) and Spamalot on Friday. Curtains was the original cast, and we had third-row aisle seats, probably the best seats I've had to anything but one ACU Homecoming Musical. Spamalot has lost its entire original cast (the original Lady of the Lake is now Callie on Grey's Anatomy), and having heard the Original Cast Recording (as my iPod cryptically refers to it) numerous times, the singing was better by the original cast. Still great to see live-action Monty Python sketches, it was very entertaining but maybe a notch behind Curtains, if for no other reason than that I had very high expectations that probably could not be met.

We also saw Legally Blonde, on Saturday, in a fit of desperation. I'm sure Laura Bell Bundy, the pride of Lexington, Kentucky is a phenominally talented person, everyone in the show could sing and dance like nobody's business, but the show itself was a dreadful bore. I literally could not believe all the songs written about nothing, that seemed to go on forever. With intermission it was, IIRC, over three hours, which was about 150 minutes too long. I'm not sure what I should have expected in terms of a musical made from a marginal movie. The source material doesn't compare, at least alongside Les Miserables and the genius of Monty Python.

If you're in New York, skip Legally Blonde. Please. I wish I had.


I join my fictional French forbearers in taunting Legally Blonde.

A Day At The Museum(s)


We managed to pack in the Guggenheim and the American Museum of Natural History. We had to go to the Guggenheim because I'm a big Frank Lloyd Wright fan and our architect friend John Breidenbach explained how the museum is designed to work: you take the elevator to the top, and then walk down to the ground in a gently descending spiral.

Like most Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in non-desert environments the Guggenheim is getting oft-needed repair, they're gorgeous buildings that look great on paper, only to encounter functional issues in real life. I think he jumped the shark at the Prairie School, but that's just me. I'm an Arts & Crafts fan.

The AMNH was far, far to large to see in the short time we had available. There is more antiquity in that one place than I have seen in all the other museums I've been to, and it makes me wish I had a better background in art appreciation. The arms and armor section was interesting, most of the impressive collection of Samurai armor there would be snug on our son, who is nine years old. Even the European armor, sllegedly for the better-fed nobility, was tiny. Something tells me that a Middle Ages war would look like Battle of the Hobbits.

Me taunting the armor of my actual French forbearers.

Hudson Hawk
We took a "half-circle" boat ride around New York Harbor. I would have been happy to go to the Intrepid Air & Space Museum, but the USS Intrepid has been moved to New Jersey for delousing, or whatever they do to ships who don't move very often. The little ferry we rode went from the west side of the island to the east side as far as the UN, then turned around and went back. Our narrator was very helpful, and from the many descriptions of the now non-existant WTC towers in Lower Manhattan, still plenty bitter about 9/11. We didn't actually go to the Statue of Liberty, but we did a drive-by.

A beautiful symbol of freedom and the splendor that is our country, and a statue of some French chick behind her.

Breakfast Near Tiffany's
There is plenty of shopping in New York, and we managed to do quite a bit. The Wife saved the trip to Canal Street for purses until her girls' trip to NYC in November, because she's wonderful. We went to FAO Schwartz, where the first floor was given over to the stuffed animal version of the Museum of Natural History. All in all, it's an impressive place but the press of people was enough to validate online shopping all by itself. We also went to the Apple Store, which is underground. The only part aboveground is a giant acrylic or glass cube, to get to the actual store there is a staircase or a glass elevator. The Wife took the elevator.


Beam me down, Steve

While we were in the Apple Store, we bought The Wife her iPhone, which she has learned to use quite admirably, and a couple of those hard-to-find Belkin headphone adapters. I got the early-adopter $100 Apple Store Credit (see previous blog), which softened the bite a little. The only strange thing about her (Big) Apple iPhone is that the ringtone says in a Brooklyn accent, "How YOU doin'?"

We also saw Blackwolf the Dragonmaster, New York's Only and Unofficial Wizard at the Apple Store, updating his blog. If any of you are fans of "Triumph the Insult Comic Dog" from Late Night with Conan O'Brien, you will remember this guy from the Star Wars Premiere sketch. Hey, if you can make a living in as expensive a city as NYC being weird professionally, more power to you. The giveaway was the glasses, as well as the 'Blackwolf the Dragonmaster' website open in front of him.


He's a wizard, not a conjurer of cheap JavaScript tricks.

As far as the shopping went, most of that occurred (in fiscal damage terms) after the wedding when we walked over to SoHo and The Wife found first Oilily and then a succession of more expensive stores as we walked down the street. She was actually pretty moderate. I got a couple of pairs of shoes, I needed them for the rehearsal dinner.

The SoHo shopping was also interesting because The Wife and I were completely overdressed for the occasion, the wife in a beautiful dress and heels, and I in my blue suit and white shirt with tie. Considering the temperature was well into the 80s, we were pretty warm, and surrounded by a sea of T-shirt clad hipsters.

What's more, it was in SoHo that I got an idea of how tall I really am. You don't realize where you fall on the Bell Curve until you are in a true normal population, and I am a doggone giant compared to most people, who look me square in the chest. Being that she was all dolled up and I looked like a Secret Service agent, I spent the afternoon pretending I was a private security person. I so wished I had one of those little earbuds with the coiled wire sticking out of my collar. It was fun, standing behind her, carrying her packages and generally sending out physical and mental waves of "Don't be stupid, keep walking". Unsurprisingly, we were completely unmolested.

Nothing to see here. Move along


Broadcast News
After our Saturday morning adventure (the story of which you'll have to wait one more blog post for), we wandered down to 45th Street around 8:30 a.m. on Saturday and managed to get on Fox & Friends. We met Rick Reichmuth the weatherman, and were on national TV for long enough to make us heroes in the eyes of our children (who screamed so loud back at home their grandmother and great grandmother couldn't hear what we said) and give us a tiny sliver of notoriety among the small number of people that watched F&F at that weather report break. We've each had several people come up to us afterward and say, "Were you on Fox?"

The Wife, with the Fox cameras foolishly ignoring her for some other live bit.

Paige Hopkins and Adam Housley are just over The Wife's head in the picture. All these TV people are so SHORT. Paige Hopkins, who looks so willowy on TV, is maybe 5'6", in heels. When The Wife went on the girls' trip, she towered over Gretchen Carlson and the other newscasters. I guess I am too tall for TV news.

Scott & Amy's Non-Italian Wedding
The wedding was really wonderful, as was the rehearsal dinner. The dinner was in the rotating restaurant on top of the Marriott Marquis, so we didn't have far to go for that. The wedding was in Greenwich Village at an old carriage house called, appropriately, the Carriage House. Many of Scott & Amy's friends were there, and the wedding planner had people stand up and say nice things about each of them between courses, though the wedding planner didn't really have to coax anyone to be complimentary. Scott, I have known since college. He's a brother to me in many ways, and I admire and appreciate him. Amy made a tremendous impression in only a few meetings, she's delightful and as much as I love Scott, it seems like he's rather fortunate she agreed to marry him. Both of them have had long and varied careers, and people came from all over to be there for them. It was a wonderful occasion. We got to see Todd Freeman, a friend of mine from college (and the Wife's from high school). We almost saw Mike Moore, who was my roommate at ACU before he was Scott's in Kenya as a missionary, but weather complicated his travel plans. Bummer.



A cropped and blurry unflashed photo of Scott & Amy. They STILL look good!

We ain't heavy, he's my brother

The new Mr. & Mrs. Sewell are going to be heading off for their honeymoon after the first of the year, to Kenya. Strangely enough, that was where I wanted to go for my honeymoon, until I realized I was a poor medical student. There are some benefits to delayed gratification, taking a dream vacation to an exotic location with your new wife is one of them and The Wife and I wish them all the best.

A Mexican In New York
One of my personal rules is to not eat Tex-Mex outside of Texas. Nobody seems to be able to get it right. An exception is a place called Chevy's Fresh Mex at 259 W 42nd Street, a floor or two below the Lowes' movie theater across the street from Mary Poppins. We needed some hot sauce after seeing The Kingdom (nothing to do with the picture, which was pretty good, we were just hungry), and in a Philippian moment we decided, "See, here is a restaurant." Good fajitas at a reasonable price. If you need fajitas in NYC, Chevy's has our stamp of approval.

New York State Of Mind
We had a wonderful four days in NYC, and really only scratched the surface. We will be back, if nothing else to bring the kids when they get a little older and easier to manage in a crowd. New York is still New York, a day after we left a cabbie ran over a family in Times Square (the part about the cabbies driving like nuts -- that much is true) and an off-duty Transit Police officer shot and killed a schizophrenic that stole a bunch of knives from a restaurant and sank them multiple times into a random woman on the street. But none of that happened around us, it was a really great time and we plan to go back, to see the Sewells and generally see the sights. It's a much different feel than Chicago, in Chicago the city empties out at night when everyone leaves for the suburbs. New York is always open, and I finally understand why people want to live there.

If I had unlimited means, I'm pretty sure I would live there too, at least part of the time.

New+York+City vacation

Lost a Good One

You probably missed it, but a good man was killed outside of Ramadi on Thursday. He was a Sunni Arab tribal leader named Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha.

He's not the first in his family to be killed. His father and three brothers were killed, not by rampaging US troops, but by his erstwhile "brothers" in Al Qaeda. A year ago, a year less a day from the time of his death, he got together with like-minded tribal leaders and declared war on Al Qaeda. See, AQ has this marketing angle of "Hey, we're all brothers here. Let's go forth and kick enemy X!", and since they bring along cash and expendables like explosives and people to drive them to public places and explode them on enemy X (Shi'a, US forces, anybody they don't like), they can achieve a level of acceptance in the short term. It turns out that they are pretty caustic to have around, though. They shoot people for suspected sexual impropriety. They dictate the content of mullahs' sermons. They cut off fingers for smoking, and they feel that as "brothers" they should have equal access to the tribe's women for purposes of marriage. And when the tribe disagrees, they're as vicious to the tribes as they are to enemy X. The funerals of Abu Risha's father and three brothers must have convinced him of this, if nothing else did.

And so the tribes of Anbar sought out the most heavily-armed tribe they could find, the United States Army and Marines, and accords were reached, and the fortunes of Al Qaeda began to decline precipitously in Anbar. This of course moved Abu Risha way up the target list, and he accepted that risk, and ultimately paid the price as a victim of an IED. The stuff I read from Michael Yon, Bill Roggio, Michael Totten and other journalists who venture beyond the bar at the Baghdad Sheraton and go into the field told me that the reversal of fortune in Anbar, once thought lost to Iraq and the West, was in large part the doing of this man. He was brave to take the stand he did, and he'll be missed -- but it's entire possible that Iraq will be forever changed because of him. I hope the Army or Marines find some way to acknowledge him in a culturally-relevant way, to show the Iraqis that he had our respect. I am sure they will.

What's telling about this is that the Sunnis, at least, realized that while the Americans were invaders, foreigners and infidels, they were more reliable than AQ. The tribes of course knew all about Abu Ghraib, they knew all about Mahmudiyah, where a few 101st Airborne troops dishonored themselves with rape and murder, they knew about the Marines at Haditha, they even probably knew more lurid "facts" invented or passed along through the rumor mill. And yet, they came to the Americans for help.

For all the discussion of what went wrong in the post-invasion, what should have been done, etc., in my opinion the people of Iraq and the Sunnis in particular had to really live with and experience the sublime bliss of a Salafist dictatorship under AQ before they would ever come to us for help. We are outsiders in Iraq, we always will be. The fact that we're also heavily-armed outsiders who defend ourselves avidly, and that maybe 1 in 20 of us over there speaks Arabic, does not help. Despite all this, the Iraqi tribes in Anbar looked at AQ, looked at us, and decided that there would be no way to run their own affairs without our help. It took three-and-a-half years for the Sunni tribes to realize this, and it also took some time for our folks over there to accept the fact that the tribes were the key to pacification, but Anbar is now one of the safest parts of the country. Just like GWB said, they're standing up and we're standing down in Anbar. Rather than a top-down solution like the relatively inept and wrong-footed central government in Iraq, this is a bottom-up solution that began in Anbar to solve the problems of Anbar, with genuine popular support.

The reason AQI had to take out Sheikh Risha is that similar bottom-up solutions can be had in many places in Iraq, and a forthright rejection of their ideology by fellow Muslims is not good PR for them. The Sheikh of the Dulami tribe of Anbar is a much better ambassador than anyone from the US could ever be to other Sunni groups in the nation. If in the future he had reached out in peace to Shi'a leaders, it would make a stable and democratic Iraq that much more likely. He made himself a target by the fact of his success, and his willingness to share the secrets of his success with other parts of the country.

Now, it's possible that AQI did not assassinate him, there are plenty of Shi'a elements that would love to decapitate and continue decapitating Sunni leadership figures, simply because every other Sunni leadership figure since the British left in the 1920s has been mildly to severely hostile to Shi'a interests. Forensics may give some clue as to what kind of IED was used, and where the explosives came from. A device typical for Shi'a militias would be something that could cause problems politically in Iraq, because the Sunnis need to get used to the idea that their new Shi'a political overlords ARE going to have a say in the government. Were I running AQI's operations, I would do my best to get my hands on a MADE IN IRAN self-forging projectile IED for this hit just to make things politically worse, to re-drive the wedge between Sunni and Shi'a that was first placed when the Golden Mosque of Samarra was bombed. I mentioned in a prior post that things were relatively quiet in the immediate aftermath of that attack, but boy was I wrong.

The Sheikh will be missed. I hope the movement he inspired will continue, and that Iraq is better for his relatively short life. More Iraqis standing tall like he did against murderous 8th-century throwbacks like AQI is always a good thing.

Sattar Iraq Sheikh Abu Risha

Broken Windows and Speeding

Saw this story about two dudes pulled over for speeding in South Carolina.

Turns out they were both on student visas from Egypt, in a car with PVC pipe, model rocket fuse, model rocket launchers and potassium chlorate. They said they were interested in 'model rocketry' and the KClO4 (potassium chlorate, for you non-chemists) was to be combined with sugar to make 'solid rocket motors'.

I have a little experience with KClO4, I saw my high school chemistry professor put a little sugar and a little KClO4 into a crucible and with a VERY long pipette, drop in a little sulfuric acid. The net result was a huge jet of flame in the crucible and a lot of otherwise bored high school students suddenly paying attention. KClO4 is a major oxidizer, if you need to burn a fuel you need an oxidizer to provide the extra oxygen for combustion. Notably, oxidizers and fuel are the primary components of every explosive device made.

These dudes deserve their day in court, and they need some good representation or they're going to get a long Cuban vacation. To compound their stupidity, they were pulled over for speeding with a car full of explosive makings seven miles from the US Navy facility where people being held for investigation of terrorist activity are held. It's entirely possible that they were at the absolute wrong place at the wrong time going the wrong speed, and they are the future of Egypt's Manned Space Program, but they're going to have to prove that assertion that now.

And all because -- they were speeding.

What I found interesting was the number of people that get pulled for speeding while they're in the process of committing another crime. Just recently here, a woman was stopped for speeding with $280,000 cash in her 2005 Honda. She claimed she was going from Georgia to Arizona, and basically abandoned the cash. It was seized, but you can't be arrested for having a lot of cash, at least she was smart enough not to be carrying anything actually illegal -- although counting the seizure it's probably one of the most expensive speeding citations ever written. I can only imagine the disappointment of whoever's cash that actually was.

Keep an eye on the news for how many drug arrests or other arrests arise from people pulled over for speeding. It's just mind-boggling how people committing felonies on the interstate don't seem to be smart enough to avoid attracting attention to themselves in the process of doing so. More Darwinism in action, I guess.

From that standpoint, speeding is one of the 'broken window' crimes that law enforcement keeps up on, simply because it seems to net the blatantly stupid felons in society. It may be cold comfort if you get pulled over for speeding, but most of the people reading this blog probably aren't pursuing felonious activity.

Saving the planet, one dead moose at a time

From German news magazine Der Speigel:

Norway is concerned that its national animal, the moose, is harming the climate by emitting an estimated 2,100 kilos of carbon dioxide a year through its belching and farting.

Norwegian newspapers, citing research from Norway's technical university, said a motorist would have to drive 13,000 kilometers in a car to emit as much CO2 as a moose does in a year.

Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. According to the article, Norwegian hunters are expected to shoot 35,000 moose in the annual moose hunt this year, taking the equivalent of 35,000 cars off the road for a year. That's equivalent to installing 2.9 million compact fluorescent light bulbs in terms of CO2 emissions saved.

The bizarre interactions like this that are subparts of the larger climate issue give me pause when people say, "The science is settled". The "science" has yet to be settled in many areas of medicine, in part because we keep asking obvious questions and getting non-obvious or conflicting results. The science shouldn't ever be settled, because we should always be trying improve our results.















Alces alces, climate criminal

Lesson for the day: shooting a moose should count for carbon credits.

Go figure.

moose carbon+credits global+warming