October 31, 2010

Fair Is Fair

I have come to view Palin as a right-wing version of Obama, and to view her supporters as irrational as Obama's. The blind faith of her supporters resembles the blind faith of Obama's.

Having elected a manifestly unqualified (in hindsight) candidate to the Presidency, are we really talking about replacing him with another, similarly unqualified candidate?

But since I'm trying to base my preferences on objective facts, it's fair to ask what would change my mind and make me give Palin serious consideration again. Otherwise I am open to the same charge of close-mindedness that I make against others.

If she became governor again and had a successful term, obviously I'd reconsider.

If she made a few appearances on political/economic talking-head panels and held her own, I'd reconsider. I don't mean hostile gotcha situations like the and Gibson and Couric interviews: I mean environments with flexibility and give-and-take.

The Chinese are Toast

Just when they had a path to world hegemony, they ruined the whole thing for themselves. Xi Jinping is apparently the country's next leader:
...After the Cultural Revolution, Xi was permitted to resume his education, studying chemical engineering at Beijing's prestigious Qinghua University. He later received a law degree. [boldface mine--gs]
A lawyer in charge? What are they thinking? Not that I'm necessarily[1] complaining.
**********************
[1] Not necessarily complaining? The Chinese are the best bet for keeping civilization going if the West disintegrates.

Shadow of a Hanging Chad

Ten years after the Y2K election, will control of the Senate hang in the balance for days or weeks while squabbles continue about the handwriting on thousands of AK votes?

The scenario is unlikely--but not impossible--because the Democrat is currently third in the polls and Intrade odds

Afterthoughts. Speaking of unlikely but not impossible, what if the Democrat drops out and endorses Murkowski? (There was something in the intertubes to the effect that she wouldn't necessarily caucus with the GOP if reelected.) They already tried that in FL, so they might try again. Otoh, caucusing with the Democrats might trigger a recall if a mechanism exists for that in AK. (A long shot is for Murkowski, presumably in exchange for a position in Washington, to drop out and endorse the Democrat.)

Murkowski narrowly lost the primary while a substantial sum of campaign funds sat in her account unused. Maybe she intended to keep it for her own use?

October 30, 2010

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

Obviously I withdraw my support for Joe Miller.

A RINO is better than a snake.

Addendum 20101031. Miller's actions were nixonian. At this point things are not so bad that electing Nixons is worth the risk.

October 28, 2010

Appropriate, Unfortunately

October, the last month of campaigning, is National Pork Month.

October 25, 2010

In Defense of Bigotry, Oppression, Cruelty, Treachery, Etc

These things exist because they have worked well enough for long enough to become embedded into our nature.

A valid system of ethics and politics will acknowledge these qualities and preempt them with better strategies. That criterion is easier said than done: observe the intolerance of activists for tolerance.

October 19, 2010

Demoralized Troops in Afghanistan

From the Washington Examiner:
"If we walk away, cut a deal with the Taliban, desert the people who needed us most, then this war was pointless," said Pvt. Jeffrey Ward, with 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, who is stationed at Forward Operating Base Bullard in southern Afghanistan.
I fear that the war would be far worse than pointless. I fear that letting the Taliban, who sheltered the 9/11 butchers, retake Afghanistan will open the door to attacks that will make 9/11 seem like a parking lot fender bender.

October 18, 2010

The Police at Columbine

I've been under the impression that the police at the Columbine massacre were unwilling to confront the gunman. That belief was incorrect: they were following their training for hostage situations.

Police doctrine has been revised.

October 14, 2010

A Remark by neo-neocon

Here:
I hope I never get so compromised that I decide to vote for something that furthers my personal interests even though I know it will be bad for the country.
This remark is not as open-and-shut as it seems at first reading.

According to the Declaration of independence, governments are created by individuals in order to to secure their divinely endowed rights. Therefore, only on rare occasions should (what I believe is) the collective interest be compelling enough for me to override my personal interests.

In fact one might argue that sovereign individuals should always vote their self-interest and leave it to their representatives to reconcile the inevitable and legitimate conflicts. I do not take this position, but IMHO it has consistency and merit.

October 11, 2010

Making Amends to Mexico, and Selling Leasing America to Pay Down Our Debt

I commented below on a proposal by 'Adakin Valorm':
On paying the national debt by leasing parts of the country, e.g. California, to e.g. China or Mexico. (Would the US be better off if Mexico ran California? At least the Mexican government wouldn't let the natural resources go unexploited.)
We owe Mexico favorable terms because of the carnage our idiotic Drug War has triggered there.

We have been ignoring the Mexican chaos for which we are responsible. If a Chavez clone takes power and allies with China--and Iran, if you get my drift--, we won't be able to ignore it. But suppose that Hispanics militate against intervention and are supported by the national death wish crowd.

Afterthought. I deny that the USA owes reparations to its blacks. I am cautious to skeptical about reparations to descendants of pre-European populations. Apologizing for use of the A-bomb? Fuhgeddaboudit.

But I wonder if we owe reparations to Mexico for the War on Drugs. Otoh, such an obligation is offset, or more than offset, by Mexico's cynical emigration practices.

A Blasphemous Whimsy

Assume that the Universe has a purpose to which the pain and suffering of living beings is indispensable.

The fact remains that such pain and suffering are often overwhelming to the afflicted being.

Is the Passion of Christ God's act of apology and solidarity?

Intellectual Property

Overreaching intellectual property legislation rips off future generations in a manner similar to excessive debt.

On Citizenship Requirements

Brainstorming suggestion: everybody applying for US citizenship or residency should be required to sign a commitment to human rights, including the right of adults to change their religion, to marry (or refuse to marry) a consenting counterparty of their choice, etc.

Among other things, such a requirement would support Muslim moderates who are currently intimidated by the Islamists--and it would provide grounds for revocation and deportation if naturalized extremists acted out.

Addendum. This proposal is timely given the Moslem Brotherhood's recent declaration against the USA (and Israel, of course).

October 6, 2010

Evading LGF Ads

As of this writing, Little Green Footballs' Charles Johnson has posted a banner stating that a $10/month subscriber can view an ad-free version of the site.

I have implemented an alternative method to not view those ads. It's working well.

The Civil Rights Movement Was No Scam

This dubious comment on this article regarding antiwhite racial bias in the Justice Department goes too far:
What’s going to happen, if White Americans determine that “Civil Rights” was just a scam to start race discrimination against Whites? Just a scam to tax Whites for the benefit of Blacks (better said their Black and White power brokers)? That Obama is the most racist President, since Woodrow Wilson, that other Progressive bookend?The charge of racism has already be neutered, it’s meaningless now. Which opens the way for true racists to be legitimized and come to the fore. Thank you “civil rights movement”, progressives, liberals and the criminal Democrat Party.
The commenter does not outright say that the civil rights movement was a scam, but he does not dismiss the proposition either.

The civil rights movement of the 1950s was not a scam! Americans were being lynched. Americans couldn't vote. Americans couldn't use public drinking fountains.

Afaic equal opportunity policies are not a scam, but today's grievance industry is a scam. Affirmative action is a scam. Political correctness is a scam. Multiculturalism is a scam.

October 2, 2010

Comments: October 2010

On one's political conversion.

On American stagnation: here and here.

On Mark Steyn's return: here and here.

On Valerie Jarrett.

On Joe Miller and reform campaigns.

On a mob mentality by some on the Right. See this too.

On the Reid-Angle debate.

On the Clinton Presidency and divided government.

On America's shortage of scientists.

On unready shovel-ready projects and the feminist lobby.

On a proposed boycott of illegal drugs.

On paying the national debt by leasing parts of the country, e.g. California, to e.g. China or Mexico. (Would the US be better off if Mexico ran California? At least the Mexican government wouldn't let the natural resources go unexploited.)

On leadership.

On midterm black turnout: here and here.

What Obama means by 'fixing education'.

On Arianna Huffington's recent pronouncements. Here too.

On a resignation from the American Physical Society: here and here.

On renaming Rhode Island, the smugness of progressives, and judicial overreaching.

On statist doubletalk.

On Leon Klinghoffer, the afterlife, and composer John Adams.

On politically mixed marriages, and arrogance therein: here, here, here, and here.

On Bush's rehabilitation via Obama's incompetence (with a digression on the McDonnell-Coons race): here, here, here, and here.

On a civil servant's disrespect for the law, and on the race card played against Lou Dobbs.

On use of the race card against Sharron Angle: here and here.

On a set of bumper stickers.

On the Blio EULA. (Scroll down to 'gs on October 1, 2010
at 10:38 pm').

Bio-Geo-Engineering

According to a preliminary study, apparently carbon sequestration with genetically modified trees merits investigation.

I completely agree with the proposition that we shouldn't impose 20th-century technological limitations on a 21st-century issue. (Iirc part of Freeman Dyson's climate skepticism is that he does not think that climate models adequately characterize biospheric response.) Nor should we preclude the economic growth that will underwrite such technological progress.

Humanity should not be reckless about manipulating the planetary climate, but it should not have a conniption fit if and when unintended consequences occur.

Religious Nuts and the Tea Party

I have no doubt that the people who brought the country into stagnation and decline under Bush would like to take over the Tea Party over. According to NPR:
For their part, religious conservatives have benefited hugely from the rise of the Tea Party...evangelicals and conservative Catholics were dispirited after the 2008 election. They were disillusioned by what they saw as President Bush's unfulfilled promises and a disappointing Republican presidential candidate. At the same time, once-powerful organizations such as the Christian Coalition have petered out. Enter the Tea Party movement.
My concern is that the Rove/Robertson/Dobson/Reed Religious Right would like to co-opt the Tea Party in the same way that the GOP establishment would. The NPR link has quotes consistent with that concern (of course, NPR cannot be trusted to be unbiased).

Otoh, I read a Christian's online comment that perhaps Caesar's sword was not the right tool for doing God's work. I can ally with people of faith like that.

October 1, 2010

More Intellectual "Property" Insanity

Tax strategy patents:
A tax patent is a patent that discloses and claims a system or method for reducing or deferring taxes.
So if someone sets up a trust, foundation, or other mechanism for tax purposes, they can be sued.

This is a real intrusion of intellectual "property" on people's actual property.

How about landscaping patents, to be enforced via aerial or space-based imaging? How about interior decorating patents, to be enforced via bounties to deliverymen and the like? (Until, in their never-ending quest to protect creative people and grow the economy, Congress can mandate home monitoring.)

Hair style patents, to be enforced by accosting people in the street and requiring documentation that they have paid a licensing fee?

I try to stay optimistic as a matter of moral principle, but it is increasingly hard to avoid creating a label titled Let It Burn.