April 28, 2008

Obama and Wright

Jeremiah Wright continues to make speeches that, by traditional standards, are inflammatory. This may be red meat for the extreme left and some (many?) black voters, but presumably the net effect on parishioner Obama's election prospects is negative[1]. What gives?

Conjecture. Mixed-race preppy Ivy Leaguer Barack Obama joined Wright's church to get street cred to kick-start his political career. Obama used Wright.

So why shouldn't Wright use Obama?

Conjecture. Wright doesn't give a hoot about Obama's election prospects. He is taking advantage of the Obama connection to shoot for the big leagues where Sharpton and Jackson operate.
**********
[1] However, give the educational establishment another generation...

April 27, 2008

Obama Interviewed on Fox

Obama:
...I’m absolutely confident that the American people, what they’re looking for is somebody who can solve their problems.
Had Obama used a term like 'promote the general welfare', that would be fine with me.

I can't speak for the American people, especially given what's been done to the education system after my time in it, but I'm not looking for somebody who can solve my problems.

I'm looking for somebody who will secure my unalienable rights endowed by the Creator, among these being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

April 20, 2008

Mother Gaia is Overrun by Humans and She is Getting Feverish. What to Do, What to Do?

If higher food costs--a euphemism for starvation or famine in the third world--are the price for subsidizing first-world agricultural special interests fighting global warming and the greedy energy companies, political elites in the USA and Europe seem entirely willing to pay it.

These philosopher-kings dare not publicly refer to the global population-control implications, but I wonder how many of their minds the thought crosses.

April 22, 2008 Follow-Up. Instapundit links to this report of shortages, hoarding and retailer-imposed purchase ceilings for rice, flour and oil in the USA.

Presumably this particular instance is not the beginning of full-blown shortages, but it's yet another indicator of how poorly the country is being run.

At some point people will start muttering that we'd be better off with the military running things.

Afterthought. Walter Williams is unimpressed:
...If Congress and President Bush say we need less reliance on oil and greater use of renewable fuels, then why would Congress impose a stiff tariff, 54 cents a gallon, on ethanol from Brazil? Brazilian ethanol, by the way, is produced from sugar cane and is far more energy efficient, cleaner and cheaper to produce.
...
The ethanol hoax is a good example of a problem economists refer to as narrow, well-defined benefits versus widely dispersed costs. It pays the ethanol lobby to organize and collect money to grease the palms of politicians willing to do their bidding because there's a large benefit for them -- higher wages and profits. The millions of gasoline consumers, who fund the benefits through higher fuel and food prices, as well as taxes, are relatively uninformed and have little clout. After all, who do you think a politician will invite into his congressional or White House office to have a heart-to-heart -- you or an Archer Daniels Midlands executive?
Here's an agricultural analysis of the ethanol subsidy's consequences.

Second afterthought. Here's a black-humorous way of expressing something that I couldn't articulate well:
No wonder the environmentalists are pushing ethanol so hard. It *can* save the planet. Ethanol = Starvation = Greener Planet
I wonder how many well-bred first-worlders who are not environmental extremists have the thought, "Distressing, but the planet is overpopulated..."

And never ever acknowledge their reaction or share it with anyone else.

April 10, 2008

Worth Knowing: Volcker Endorsed Obama

Here, for example.

Volcker recently gave a speech about the mess in the financial markets. Some reports I've seen have interpreted the speech in the most destabilizing way possible. BusinessWeek appears to strive for balance.

Addendum.
Volcker's speech is here. Note the dismissal-by-omission of Bush.

April 7, 2008

Condi for Veep? Gawdhelpus

Rumor has it that she's lobbying to be picked.

The more I learn about Obama & the more I see of Hillary, the more I'm willing to hold my nose and vote for McCain.

But not if he picks Condi--another self-satisfied Bush lightweight.

Mitt is qualified on the economy. Palin and Jindal are promising but may not be ready for prime time.

Could John Engler flip Michigan, attract some Catholic votes, and add economic expertise?

April 6, 2008

April 2, 2008

"Pierre Elliot Obama"

The analogy seems apt. I saw it online somewhere before this column appeared in Canada's National Post.

The Quayle Bush administration followed by a Trudeau one? shudder