That's Burris, Not Burress!

Wow, for a minute I thought Blago had appointed Plaxico Burress to the Senate ?!?!

Vacation

Obviously I haven't been posting much, but this will soon change. Have been preoccupied with real life: Christmas, and now a little vacation at the country palace. Sort of hard to get exorcised about Israelis in Gaza (finally!) Blago's antics, the departure of Bush etc., when there's Christmas. The world isn't going anywhere, and there's plenty of time to comment. Moreover, the un-assing of un-lamented 2008 is approaching, which promises to make me a much happier camper.

On vacation (of sorts) but I have a cold. Possibly this is why SWMBO elected to stay in Cuidad El Jefe. Have all kinds of interesting medications to take: I have a cough syrup with dosages written in medico-speak. I'm supposed to take "5 CC's before bed." Well, that's clever. I gave up the intravenous drug habit, so no syringes are around. Wonder how much that is in non-doctor-speak? Possibly this is the pharmacist's revenge for my walking up to the Kroger pharmacy counter and asking her to fill my prescriptions and telling her that, oh yeah, I'd like to buy 1,477 boxes of Oxy-Contin for my runny nose. They seem to take a dim view of that. Probably like bad jokes in airports.

In any case, I will be back to regular posting soon. God knows, there's enough to talk about.

Pistols, Football

El Jefe, unusually, has spent the weekend in Ciudad El Jefe. Off to the Titans/Texans game in a minute with the Heir and his friend B. SWMBO is a bit under the weather, so it's just us.

Went to the pistol range yesterday, and spent an hour or so with my latest purchase, a Beretta 92FS, (Wikipedia entry here: the military calls it the M9). Have wanted this pistol for years, and, recently, finally broke down and bought one. I first tried one years ago, and was very impressed, and have coveted one since. I am very pleased with it: the weapon is not heavy, loads reasonably easily, has a smooth action, and I can hit the target. Easy to field-strip and to clean also. Being a double-action/single action pistol, the first trigger pull is a very long one, which takes a tad getting used to, and I think makes my first shot less accurate. But it's a fine weapon and the Beretta people (in the firearms business since 1526), are justly proud of it.

Off to the game. Hopefully the Texans do better than predicted.

Blog Business

El Jefe has been blogging less of late, but hopefully this slump will not be a permanent condition. After the turn of the year, things should pick up a spell. No doubt the incoming Supreme Leader will supply plenty of fodder for comment.

Also, the blogroll badly needs to be updated. Blogrolling has apparently died: El Jefe has hoped for its resurrection, but patience is fading. There are other possibilities, as well as template modifications, labels, etc., that I do want to get to eventually.

Missing Ballots? Uh huh...

The US Senate race in Minnesota remains undecided. Incumbent Senator Norm Coleman (a Republican), won on election day, but the margin was close enough to legally require a recount. With the re-tabulation process about 99 percent complete, Senator Coleman still maintains a lead of about 300 votes over the Democratic (more correctly Democratic-Farmer-Labor) challenger, the very liberal and very repulsive Al Franken.

But now (gasp!) CNN is reporting that there are apparently missing ballots in Minneapolis. Simply shocking, isn't it? Completion of the recount is on hold until the "missing" votes are found. The "missing" envelope supposedly contains about 130 ballots. "Simply put," thunders the Franken campaign, "these ballots must be found."

You saw this one coming, right? What do you bet those "missing" ballots are found? What do you bet more ballots turn up "missing?" What do you bet they finally find, oh, say, 300 votes for Al Franken?

UPDATE: (8 Dec. 2008). Sure enough, the Franken people today say more ballots have been found in some warehouse in Minneapolis. Imagine that!

So Who Is Obama Anyway?

I've got a secret, I've been hiding, under my skin.
My heart is human, my blood is boiling, my brain IBM.
So if you see me acting strangely, don't be surprised,
I'm just a man who needed someone, and somewhere to hide
To keep me alive-just keep me alive.
. . .
The time has come at last
To throw away this mask
So everyone can see.
My true identity...
I'm Kilroy! Kilroy! Kilroy! Kilroy!

Styx, "Mr. Roboto" (written by Dennis DeYoung, from album Kilroy was Here, A&M Records, 1983).

I agree with a friend of mine that President-Elect Obama is much more likable (at least so far) than candidate Obama. On the whole, Obama's announced appointments have been more judicious than I have expected. I'm dubious about the Attorney-General designate; and putting Senator Clinton at the State Department has the drawbacks I've previously mentioned. But on the whole, Obama has proceeded to assemble a reasonably sane-looking team. In particular, I am pleased that Robert Gates is staying at the Pentagon for now.

Not everybody is happy, of course. Robert Scheer, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, seems worried about Obama's going to "Wall Street insiders" bearing "comforting" messages for the financial community, and deplores that Obama is sticking with the "absurd 'war on terror" language he inherited from Bush" in discussing the Bombay terrorist attacks. Mr. Scheer fears that "superstar" Obama "on which it all hangs," he of the "big" brain, the "fresh" style -- ". . .may stop being Obama, the agent of change who electrified a nation."

We should be so lucky! No fear liberals, no fear. You don't need to remind Obama to be Obama, any more than Reagan's True Believers needed to beg the world to "Let Reagan Be Reagan." St. Barack's got a bagful of presents for you and trouble for the rest of us, and he's buying quiet and cover to get them unwrapped with encouragingly sound appointments. Why quibble about appointments the markets and circumstances are going to force him into anyway?

Still, you wonder just who this man Obama is, that so many of our fellow citizens decided to fetch into the President's House. In large part, Obama won because he's not a Republican, and because he said absolutely nothing of any consequence, and did it in such a polished, uplifting way. In his book The Audacity of Hope, the Hoped for Sainted One told us that "I serve as a blank screen, on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views."

And there you have it from the Great One himself -- we just don't know who Obama is, and he's not telling, yet. Mr. Scheer, like so many others, has his own ideas about what Hope and Change might look like; but, like the rest of us, he has no clue what's on the screen next, or who will get to project their views there. Mr. Scheer, and all of us, have no choice now but to stay tuned.

Blogging Lull, Reading

Blogging productivity has been down of late. So sorry, but what with disappointment over the admittedly not unexpected outcome of the election; the financial conniption; real life; and a generalized desire for 2008 to just be done with, I haven't wanted to write much. But I'm sure this will change.

Meanwhile, I am presently trying to finish reading Shelby Foote's The Civil War. These are beautifully written books -- so well done and worth the attention of anybody really interested in this subject. Probably the best general work out there. I am in the middle of the last of three volumes. Volume III has been slower than normal sledding for me, because the subject is the fall of the Confederacy, and my own sympathies are very Southern. Despite the somewhat dampening nature, for me, of Mr. Foote's subject matter in Volume III, I confess to paying closer attention, with maps and order of battle close by, when the story gets back to Sherman's campaigns in Georgia and the Carolinas, which was what won the war for the North.

Sherman figures a good deal in Volume III of Foote -- as well he should -- he won the war for the Union. Much as the thought makes my ancestors propeller in their graves someplace, I think William T. Sherman was an exceptionally good general, certainly the best that his side produced. Sherman properly used the superior resources his side gave him; did not shrink from making war on the Confederate home front -- the only strategy which would work; did not complain overmuch to his superiors about political and resource constraints above his pay-grade; paid close attention to the political implications of strategy; learned from his mistakes, and did not repeat them.

I'm also re-reading Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series of books, about the fall of the Roman Republic. I've worked through the earlier books and am presently finishing up The October Horse, which I previously reviewed, here. I love these books: they are among my favorite works of historical fiction, and unusual because, although fiction, they stick fairly closely to what we think happened, and fill in gaps in our knowledge with reasonable inferences. It probably helps that Ms. McCullough's perspectives as to heroes and villains are pretty close to my own.

In 2007, Ms. McCullough finally heeded the demands of fans and published Antony and Cleopatra, a badly needed sequel to October Horse. October Horse left off with the destruction of Caesar's assassins and their faction at the Battle of Philippi. A and C takes up the story after Philippi: when the winners of that war, Caesar's adoptive son Octavian (better known to us as Augustus) and Mark Antony, have their prolonged estrangement and falling-out. The ending is well known -- Augustus becomes undisputed master of the Roman world after Actium, and Queen Cleopatra gets the asp -- but it didn't have to necessarily be that way. The smart money might well have gone with Cleopatra's boyfriend Antony.

I haven't read this book yet, and (being curious what Ms. McCullough would do with the subject) I've have been very much looking forward to it. I thought I would re-read the others first, and that objective is almost accomplished, and perhaps I can start A and C this week.

Beyond that, El Jefe has a few other books on the reading list waiting for some attention: Adrian Goldsworthy's Caesar: Life of a Colossus; Adam Tooze's The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy; and either Philip Dwyer's Napoleon: The Path to Power, or General Sir David Fraser's Frederick the Great ; and, for something lighter, Jonathan Kellerman's Compulsion (the latest of his Alex Delaware mysteries in paperback).

Secretary of State Clinton?

I have been most underwhelmed by Obama's rumored choice of Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State.

There's no doubt Senator Clinton is in many ways qualified for the position, and has more backbone than the average Democrat. However, the selection betrays Obama's lack of serious interest in foreign policy (which is really a primary concern for a President) and makes sense only in narrowly domestic political calculations.

Putting Senator Clinton in the State Department would go far towards neutering her as a political threat in 2012, in the event Obama (as I think likely) proves as successful a President as Jimmy Carter. Offering the job also temporarily quiets upset supporters of the former First Lady who might still be wondering what the Hell happened from Iowa forward. The State Department also keeps her away from more interesting Democratic domestic priorities, such as health care. and the Democrat Holy of Holies -- the Justice Department. This is the only circumstance in which her selection makes sense.

Clinton as Secretary of State has too many downsides. A confident President wants a strong Secretary of State -- but does Obama want one THIS strong? Mrs. Clinton is already an independent power center in a Democratic Party that Obama is still in the process of taking over. It is difficult enough for the most determined of Presidents to acquire a measure of control over the formulation and administration of foreign policy -- how much more so is it going to be with Mrs. Clinton at Foggy Bottom? Meetings between the President and Secretary Clinton would (more even than is usual) look like mini-summits, and Secretary Clinton would no doubt demand, and get, a whole lot of autonomy. Obama is smart enough to understand this, which tells me that he is either not serious about really making this appointment (perhaps floating the trial balloon just to have it shot down) or not seriously interested in foreign policy.

More importantly, Senator Clinton comes with difficult and loud baggage. Besides Bill Clinton's blinding certainty that his navel is still the center of the universe, his post-Presidential activities, including a foundation with donors he's reluctant to disclose; fees from big investors; absurd fees for speeches (the New York Times noted yesterday, in a story on increased scrutiny being given to Mr. Clinton's dealings, that Mr. Clinton was paid $425,000 for a one hour speech) Mr. Clinton's lucrative and interesting activities will, at the least, have scandal-mongers sniffing around even more than they do already. Even without scandal (and this is Bill Clinton the walking scandal we're talking about) and with the best will in the world, it's hard to imagine that interested players will not try to use former-President Clinton as a good route by which to influence the new administration.

On the subject of Bill Clinton, one wonders if he is really trying to destroy his wife? The Times story reported that Mr. Clinton, in a speech to "an international economic symposium" in Kuwait City" opined that Hillary Clinton would be "great" as a secretary of state" if Obama "decided to ask her and they did it together." (emphasis supplied). Mrs. Clinton has no appointment in hand yet, but Bill assures us she'd be "great" and seems to think she should function as a co-President for foreign policy? President Clinton does want her to be offered the appointment, right?

In general, I think this is a poor appointment, and I bet it doesn't happen. I wonder if there are any alternatives beyond Madeleine Albright?

Still Sulking on the Estates

Today quite literally sulking on my estates: have the day off work and am at the country hacienda. Just sort of . . .oh not quite in a funk, but with a case of the blahs. Trying to trap a mouse (non-lethally at the moment but escalation and cruelty a certainty if niceness doesn't work). The Feline High Patroness, FLINKY, who is with El Jefe, is definitely no mouser.

Also reading some books, and somewhat inefficiently doing yard-work. El Jefe will return to his capitol tomorrow.

Zzzzzz. . .

Plenty going on all around us, but El Jefe is sulking on his estates, and not feeling much like writing this week. So sorry, maybe next week.

He Is Known By Many Names, Praised in Many Tongues

The two-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, in the Caribbean, may name its highest mountain, now called Boggy Peak, "Mount Obama."

This seems only fitting: the New Messiah really should have mountains named for him. But is it enough? If they name it, maybe He will come, but is a mere mountain (in what the small-minded might consider a molehill country) really enough to be assured of His beneficence and high regard always? Maybe not. Perhaps it would be better if Antigua and Barbuda were simply known as "Obamanation Too."

Come to think of it, when is Washington D.C. going to be renamed Obama City? I mean, just who was George Washington anyway? Founder of some reactionary country that no longer exists. This is the New Era of the New Messiah, so the New Progressive Jerusalem of Obamanation, er, the Obama States, needs an appropriate new name.

Obama Market, the Cabinet, Dinnertime for Sharks

Gee, as I did yesterday, I wonder if the Sawdust Messiah's new job might possibly have anything to do with the stock market's falling like a stone the past couple of days? The Instapundit (Glenn Reynolds) thinks so, and he has some really cool materials for your perusal.

President-Elect Obama (makes me retch to say that) is beginning to pick a cabinet. Not all fun for Obama, who will soon learn that every time he fills a post he makes 99 malcontents and one ingrate. Good news for the appointees of course, since upon confirmation (which won't be any problem) they've reached the serious big time. Cabinet members who avoid jail ride the gravy train forever: because about the greatest thing it's possible to be in America is an ex-member of the cabinet. The road ahead is lit with parties, interesting travel and appearances on political talking-heads shows; and paved with lucrative corporate directorships, slots as pundits and prestigious professorships.

While Obama's going to his own parties and having fun, he'd do well to keep an eye on the most practical statesman in the world today: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Mr. Putin, soon to be President again, or Tsar, or whatever he wants, fresh off humiliating Bush over Georgia, no-doubt views the Sawdust Messiah's promotion much in the manner of a shark spying swimmers with nosebleeds. Wonder if Vlad's going to eat Ukraine next year?

Reality, Dose 1

Yeah, clearly the Great One's coming means an era of Nirvana. . .

Sowing and Reaping

I have never before doubted the fundamental good sense of the American people, but last nights results give me cause for pause.

The credulous middle, which decides elections in this country, has taken a chance on the Left. In choosing to trust Obama and his minions, those who supported him have gambled for hope and peace. They will reap ruin and war.

What now? Well, for the moment the Left is going to have everything it's own way. Those with money, but not enough money, will be looted to support those without. Tax and tax, spend and spend. The United States is half way to national bankruptcy already, but folks, you ain't seen nothing yet. Money which can escape, will, to more profitable havens in Asia. The rest of us are stuck.

Meanwhile, the international crisis forecast by our new Vice President is certainly coming. Where and what will it be? The Persians with nukes? North Korea with same? Taiwan? Perhaps Obama will bomb Pakistan like he said he would, or get us deeper in to Afghanistan, as promised. Whatever it is, the ex-state senator, community-organizer, "global president" beloved of foreigners, half-term senator-Messiah is now on the case.

It's Obama's show. That's what the voters have said. The voters will regret their choices soon enough. So who is Obama anyway? Who have his voters given the country to? Most of his supporters have no more clue than the rest of us, but we are all, like it or not, about to find out. For the moment, I'm going to sit in the stands, make popcorn and watch. From 20 January next, forward, everything is his fault.

Hail Mighty Sawdust Messiah!

Congrats to the new Supreme Leader. He won. Whoopie. Here's a song for him, with lots of the Leftie unwashed singing a song he'd like.



I'm sure Hugo will come to visit his new Leftist pal soon. Why the Hell did McCain concede before the votes were all counted? It's bothered me he was too nice to really fight Obama.

This is so tragically sad. Like watching your father die of a disease you cannot cure. . . or watching him slit his own wrists. I dread the future, fear for my family, my state and the country.

The Supreme Leader Wins.

Ohio goes for the Sawdust Messiah, and after losing Pennsylvania that would appear to be all she wrote.

Hopefully we can keep enough of the Senate to obstruct him.

EXIT POLL RESULTS !

This just in. . .the whole household of El Jefe Maximo has unanimously re-elected El Jefe Maximo Supreme Grand Poobah of the Kingdom of Chaos, unconfirmed maybe, sorta exit polling reveals. High Patroness FLINKY did refuse to talk to our reporter, but tea-leaves dropped from the pockets of fleeing voters delivered sufficient evidence for our analysts to call this election before anybody even voted.

You heard it here first.

Greet the Friends and Neighbors

Turns out Supreme Leader Obama's south side of Chicago home voting precinct is the same precinct of. . .

YES, of course you guessed it! Just like in the movies. Bill Ayers and Louis Farrakhan.

No, I'm really not making this up. Nobody'd believe it anyway.

I'm really not believing it either. This guy's going to be President? Hello? What time's the next teleporter back to Earth from Bizarro World?

Ignore the Exit Polls and the Projections

It's important today that everyone ignore the media exit polls. They are virtually guaranteed to heavily favor Obama, and publicizing them is to depress and dispirit you. Good, bad, indifferent -- whatever they say, just ignore. Tune them out.

It gets worse. It's almost guaranteed that the networks (some of them anyway) and other media outlets are going to call the election for the Sawdust Messiah before some of you have even voted. Do not listen. Do not fail to do your duty. The major media outlets are not disinterested observers: they are not reporting, they are participating in producing the outcome. Do not let them take your vote.

Wherever you are, turn off the TV, shut down the computer, get to the polls and vote.

Obama Flips-Off McCain

Did the Sawdust Messiah really flip-off John McCain?




Wow, did I see that? I don't like the guy, but am I being too hard on him? I can't believe even Obama, who think's he's God, would do that. Trouble is, it looks to me like he did the same thing to Senator Clinton awhile back. . .

And people really want to vote for this? A President has to govern his temper, his feelings and and even the signals given by his voluntary and involuntary body language. And Obama goes and does this? Besides being classless and beyond bizarre it's just stupid. Hopefully he doesn't flip-off Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong Il and get us nuked.

(Hat tip: Daisy Cutter).

Predictions? No, Not Many Anyway

Predictions? I don't have one, really don't, not specific ones anyway. I haven't a clue as to why anyone would even think of voting for Obama to begin with, and I find the concept disgusting.

In general, my sense is that Obama wins, the popular vote at least, although I'm still holding out a little hope for a re-run of 2000 and McCain squeaking out an upset in the Electoral College.

In an utterly bleak humor today. I don't feel like writing. This is all too much like watching a family member slit his wrists.

POSTSCRIPT: I agree with Andrew Breitbart's excellent piece today. I still like President Bush.

"Twas the Night Before Elections

Here's some pre-election verse to concentrate the mind. (From Bookworm)

‘Twas the night before elections
And all through the town
Tempers were flaring
Emotions all up and down!

I, in my bathrobe
With a cat in my lap
Had cut off the TV
Tired of political crap.

When all of a sudden
There arose such a noise
I peered out of my window
Saw Obama and his boys!

They had come for my wallet
They wanted my pay
To give to the others
Who had not worked a day!

He snatched up my money
And quick as a wink
Jumped back on his bandwagon
As I gagged from the stink

He then rallied his henchmen
Who were pulling his cart
I could tell they were out
To tear my country apart!

” On Fannie, on Freddie,
On Biden and Ayers!
On ACORN, On Pelosi”
He screamed at the pairs!

They took off for his cause
And as he flew out of sight
I heard him laugh at the nation
Who wouldn’t stand up and fight!

So I leave you to think
On this one final note-
IF YOU DONT WANT SOCIALISM
GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!

Iranian Nuclear Test?

Have the Iranians just tested a nuclear device? Maybe. Check out In From the Cold's post on Thursday. Spook is relying on some reports from the Israeli press that haven't been picked up on much here. There are probably half-a-dozen intelligence agencies who could make educated guesses as to whether the Iranians just had an earthquake, or whether something more sinister was going on.

The Iranians are going to test a device sooner rather than later, but I find the idea of a test just now to be rather unlikely, and without more, I'm not buying it. Still, the tale is interesting.

Of more immediate concern are Iranian naval activities along their Persian Gulf coast, in particular the constuction of new naval bases; and their sabre-rattling in the general direction of US aircraft carriers. It's hard to know what to make of the talk about the ships; the Iranians aren't stupid, and the ability to destroy an aircraft carrier would be positively counterproductive from their point of view. Surely the Iranians know that a good way for them to learn much too much about nuclear weapons would be by causing harm to a US aircraft carrier.

Some Inspiration

If you need a little inspiration. . .




Pass it on today. Trash the Socialists Tuesday.

Ignore the Press and Vote

As Bookworm reminds us. . .just ignore the press on Tuesday, and vote, if you haven't already:

To voters living west of the Mississippi (or, as Mark Steyn says, west of Florida):

Please, please, please remember that the media will try to depress voting west of the Mississippi by announcing at about mid-day that Obama is leading overwhelmingly — with the implication that people in the later time zones should just give up and not bother to go to the polls.

No matter what the media is saying, and no matter the time of day, if you live West of the Mississippi VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE.

Worst case scenario: Even if Obama is truly in the lead (as opposed to being placed there as part of the media’s psy-ops), there are always local elections that matter and, when it comes to Congress and the Senate, EVERY VOTE COUNTS.

Absolutely correct, and those of us against Socialism and a left-wing takeover of the nation must come out all over the country. Ignore the propaganda from the prestige press: it's been in Obama's camp right along and the Messiah-worshipers are hoping we'll all just roll over and give up. Wherever you are, east of Florida, west of the Mississippi, on the Moon -- just ignore the press. Don't take the poison. Throw the paper away, turn off the television, forget the computer and just go vote. We may well lose, but let it not be from defeatism, idleness and laziness.

McCain has not run the best of campaigns, and the conditions, to put it mildly, are lousy. This means the rest of us will have to do the work for the professionals, and win it, to the extent we can, ourselves. Everyone must turn out and vote. Work on your friends, acquaintances, family, frenemies, enemies, and everybody of the right opinions and just get them in that polling booth. Talk to those who have been misled. Pay attention to the electoral map. If you know people in battleground States, particularly Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania, reach out to them now and get them to the polls Tuesday. Anything you can do really matters. The Left is at the gates. Ignore their propaganda, reject Obama's Kool-Aid, tell him to keep his change and stick it to the socialists.

Obama Wants to Bankrupt Coal Users

Obama says his cap-and-trade environmental policies will be weighted against the coal industry and, under the New Regime, builders of coal fired plants will go bankrupt. The cap-and-trade scheme is ludicrous anyway, since it will adversely affect production costs in the United States as opposed to China or India (the labor cost differential is terrible as is), and it puts caps on and results in a net reduction in US industrial power in favor of foreign competition.

That's lunacy, inasmuch as America has tons of coal, and every erg used represents energy we don't have to find from oil or elsewhere. Personally, I'd be for mining all the US coal possible.

2008 Can't End Soon Enough

The political news looks pretty bad. Gallup seems to think we face a Messiah landslide of Reaganesque proportions. Some good news: I think the Democrats will just miss the filibuster-proof Senate they want, but we have two more days of this, so who knows.

Nothing but horrible political news since fall 2006, and 2008, in general, has been a disaster on virtually all fronts. I will be glad to at last see the end of this year.

Keep the Change

The Sawdust Messiah says he'll "change the world" once we obey and become his slaves next Tuesday.

At bottom, I guess that's the thing. I don't want the world changed, at least in any way he'd find congenial.

Obama Crash Revisited

John Tamny and Rob Arnott, in their piece "Obama Fear" in the Financial Times yesterday:

Mr Obama’s agenda is anathema to entrepreneurial capitalism. Protectionism and isolationism are central tenets of the Obama agenda. Neither is consonant with success in a global economy.

That says it all, doesn't it? But a feckless majority seems determined to take a chance on this loon.

Obama's Illegal Alien Aunt

The Supreme Leader has a Kenyan aunt living in the USA illegally? Still, Obama says he didn't know.

In any case, this aunt, a Zeituni Onyango, is living in public housing too. No wonder those of us against raising taxes are "selfish."

I guess with Obama there's no hope for border control or anything short of a mass amnesty.

Socialism or Else!

Even with the Supreme Leader's persistent lead in the polls, the elite are afraid that we sheep are going to wriggle out of slavery. Erica Jong (a has-been who wrote a book about 100 years ago) has told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that she, Jane Fonda and a mob of other Lefty glitterati are terrified, and that if Americans don't obediently line up and worship Obama next Tuesday that there will be a "second civil war" and blood will run in the streets.

Meanwhile, pour encourager les autres: that is, any waverers who may, in the privacy of the polling booth be thinking that they can dodge their fate, Susan Estrich deploys the ultimate rhetorical weapon: telling us that only racism could explain a loss next Tuesday by the Supreme Leader:

There is only one reason the polls could be this wrong. There is only one reason a contest that is not even close, that is somewhere between clobbered and landslide, could wind up with the other guy on top. Every pollster in America is not incompetent. Every pollster in America is not failing in precisely the same way when it comes to pulling a sample, screening for voters and assigning weights to the various groups.

The only way all these polls could be that far off is if people are lying in numbers never before seen in American politics.

Why would they do that?

You tell me it has nothing to do with race. I'll laugh.

What else could it possibly be?

Uh, maybe not wanting Socialism, maybe getting tired of being threatened with war by has-beens, or being called closet racists, or being ruled by Supreme Leaders who consort with Lefties?

Lie to the pollsters, lie to Erica Jong and to Susan Estrich if you want to. What fun! Absolutely the best part about next Tuesday producing something unexpected would be listening to all these loons cry about it. Still, if things work out as predicted, I'm sure Ms. Jong and Ms. Estrich and all the other Lefties, once given power, will remind us all why the Left is a pestilence, soon enough.

Obama Says: Socialism or Selfishness

The Sawdust Messiah calls opposition to Socialism by people who don't want to pay higher taxes "selfish:"

The reason that we want to do this, change our tax code, is not because I have anything against the rich," Obama said in Sarasota, Fla., yesterday. "I love rich people! I want all of you to be rich. Go for it. That’s the American dream, that’s the American way, that’s terrific.

"The point is, though, that -- and it’s not just charity, it’s not just that I want to help the middle class and working people who are trying to get in the middle class -- it’s that when we actually make sure that everybody’s got a shot – when young people can all go to college, when everybody’s got decent health care, when everybody’s got a little more money at the end of the month – then guess what? Everybody starts spending that money, they decide maybe I can afford a new car, maybe I can afford a computer for my child. They can buy the products and services that businesses are selling and everybody is better off. All boats rise. That’s what happened in the 1990s, that’s what we need to restore. And that’s what I’m gonna do as President of the United States of America.

"John McCain and Sarah Palin they call this socialistic," Obama continued. "You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness."

I guess the Supreme Leader thinks he's far enough ahead to at last be honest with the sheep and stand up for Socialism. He wants to steal your money and give it to other people. He thinks he and his rich friends know better than commoners what to do with their money. It's not the business of the government to make sure "everybody's got a shot" and that everybody has health care and can go to college. That's socialism or at the least social democracy: the privileging of equality over liberty. That's European, and un-American.

Higher taxes are one thing, but the issue is what money for? No taxes for creating clients for the welfare state. No redistribution. No increase in the size of government. Government is the power to steal -- and redistribution is robbery. Millions if we must for national defense and security, or to restore the credit of the state. But not a penny for socialism or redistribution.

And This is a Good Thing?

From Thomas L. Friedman's excellent piece "Sleepless in Tehran" in Thursday's New York Times:

Barack Hussein Obama would present another challenge for Iran’s mullahs. Their whole rationale for being is that they are resisting a hegemonic American power that wants to keep everyone down. Suddenly, next week, Iranians may look up and see that the country their leaders call “The Great Satan” has just elected “a guy whose middle name is the central figure in Shiite Islam — Hussein — and whose last name — Obama — when transliterated into Farsi, means ‘He is with us,’ ” . . .

Wow. Too "international" and too post-nationalist a worldview for me. I suppose one of the chief differences between Mr. Friedman and myself is how we view the logical implications of the world we both perceive. Mr. Friedman can view a set of facts and think their implications are something wonderful to be embraced; I see identical facts and want to throw up.

So This is Bill Ayers. . .

The satirist Iowahawk tells us who Bill Ayers really is. . .heh, heh.

Predictions

I pretty much don't need to make one: Evans and Novak might as well be channeling me. In a nutshell: an Obama victory, but not a landslide; Democratic gains in the Senate, but just shy of being filibuster-proof, oh thank God; and a Democratic slaughter in the House of Reprsentatives.

This is my prediction. But it need not be this way. McCain is not out, not by a long shot. There is still time for Americans to decide not to drink the Kool-Aid; not to take the chance; to opt against Socialism. Hopefully, over the weekend, good sense begins to prevail.

Sex for Obama Tix?

Sure looks that way, judging from this summary of Craigslist ads in NBC Chicago's website for tickets to an Obama rally in Chicago's Grant Park.

But how do you get to the rally? Drudge says that reporters for the Washington Times, New York Post and Dallas Morning News may have to make other travel arrangements if they want to attend the worship service, uh sorry, rally -- next Tuesday. Seems that they've been kicked off the Obama campaign plane. Honest folks, this has nothing to do with the fact these papers endorsed Senator McCain.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Al Qaeda wants the Republicans humiliated. "O God, humiliate Bush and his party, O Lord of the Worlds, degrade and defy him," an Al Qaeda big wig called Abu Yahya al-Libi said in a video sermon posted on the Internet. Hmmm, "Lord of the Worlds," eh? Does Mr. Abu Yahya mean God, or Obama?

Sure looks like the stars are aligning to give Mr. Abu Yahya and his friends what they want. Here's hoping that President Bush and the military can arrange for the Al Qaeda crew to eat some 5.56 mm humiliation and degradation prior to 20 January, since it is unlikely we will be in as good as position to deliver same thereafter.

Gaza for Obama!

Good to see everybody's pulling together: the whole world wants Obama!

Meanwhile, Fighting Gaza's carrying on: resisting the Occupier, fighting the Infidels, and now getting the vote out for Obama!

Venceremos comrades!

"White People Shouldn't Be Allowed to Vote"

No fooling, somebody is saying this in print.

From the website of the Philadelphia Inquirer, a supposedly respectable newspaper, someone named Jonathan Valania says that "I am beginning to think the time has finally come to take the vote away from white people."

Exhibit A for this case is "the last eight years." According to Mr. Valania's interesting view of the world:

In 2000, Bush-Cheney stole the election, got us attacked, and then got us into two no-exit wars. Is not the repetition of the same behavior over and over again with the expectation of a different outcome the very definition of insanity? (It is, I looked it up.)

What a relief to know Mr. Valania looks things up.

Where to begin? Stealing the election ? What a crock. The Left gave stealing the 2000 election for Al Gore its best shot, honest, and has never been sane since -- as evidenced by the absurd and demented claim that the Bush administration "[g]ot us attacked" in 2001. No the administration never got us attacked, but it's sure ensured that plenty of the foreign enemies of this country have wound up stone-cold dead. Here's hoping they double the score before 20 January next.

But Mr. Valania's case is bigger. Exhibit B for Mr. Valania's Bill of Particulars justifying a purge of the voting rolls is "any given Sarah Palin rally." Nothing specific is adduced -- all Right Thinking People are just supposed to take it on faith in the New God Obama that Sarah Palin is beyond the pale. No wrong-thinking people should vote, and we have to suffer a Leftie elite telling us what to think and who to like.

But a few brave souls like John Murtha recognize our evil nature: according to Mr. Valania, "plenty of people in Pennsylvania" (Murtha and others have said) "just cannot bring themselves to pull the lever for a black man -- no matter what they tell pollsters." The problem is, as Mr. Valania so clearly sees, "[t]hese people are ruining things for the rest of us white people who are ready to move on."

Why is it racism not to want to pull the lever (or dimple the chad, or touch the screen) for Obama? Maybe the people in Pennsylvania that Representative Murtha and Mr. Valania are so upset with simply don't want taxes to go up, federal regulation of the economy to expand, free speech to be curtailed, and the wars to be lost? Nah, that's not the real truth, Mr. Valania discerns. White people (at least, those people who are "ruining things") are just racists, and places like Scranton, Allentown and Carlisle are going back "to being the long dark chicken dance of the national soul" before the media showed up. Whatever the Hell that means.

Anyway, Mr. Valania's solution for what ails us is to take the franchise away from white people. "And I'm sorry to say" Mr. Valania regretfully informs us ". . .it's going to have to include all white people, even those who would vote for Obama., because you can't just let some white people vote. That would be unfair." Good to know Mr. Valania is concerned with fairness. . .but he is, after all, a leftie. When the lefties throw us righties into camps, it will be done with the most rigorous fairness.

Back on that theme of insanity again, Mr. Valania tells us that we probably "either think I am joking or are calling me an elitist. I assure you I am neither." Not so fast though -- Mr. Valania covers himself in the very next sentence, assuring his readers that "OK, maybe a little of both."

See, if people take too much offense at what Mr. Valania really thinks of those of rubes in flyover land who don't believe that Bush-Cheney stole the 2000 election; don't think that the administration "got us attacked;" or, don't think Sarah Palin rallies are ipso facto Nazi gatherings -- Mr. Valania can quickly proclaim to all interested, with plenty of righteous indignation, that he was just joking.

Anyway, lets give Mr. Valania the benefit of the doubt and assume he's just joking. Now, I don't really believe that Mr. Valania really thinks he and his friends can take the franchise away from white people, and neither should you. Oh, the left these next few years may well do some things to make the choices of conservative voters increasingly meaningless: gerrymander incorrigible districts of voters out of existence; pin down conservatives with lawyers and fairness doctrines; hate speech legislation; a campaign of regulatory harassment of both small business and hostile taxpayers; targeted environmental regulation; and organized social and employment shunning. Conservatives and persons opposed to the New Regime are going to be increasingly marginalized. Nobody's votes are going to actually be taken away (not many anyway). But a whole lot of votes are not going to matter much either.

The loons are coming, people. I'm willing to accept Mr. Valania's limp assurance that he's joking, a little. But the total contempt of the Elect, Right-Thinking people for the rest of us should be obvious, and should give you pause before you drink the Kool-Aid they're offering you. Give these people half a chance and you won't recognize your country. What are you doing about it?

(Hat tip: National Review Online's "Campaign Spot.")

The Obama Crash

The Dow Jones and stocks worldwide are off a cliff this morning, and it's not hard to see why. The politically correct explanation is that there are worldwide fears of a recession.

Uh, sorry, but the arrival of hard times was apparent weeks ago. I think the real explanation is somewhat different. Yes, folks, it's the Obama Crash. McCain's imploded, and it's clear Obama's the next president, or rather, the first Supreme Leader. The advent of Obama means the abandonment of the growth-oriented economic policies of the past twenty years, and a tax-hiking, regulatory friendly, union-oriented administration that thinks wealth redistribution by government fiat's a good idea. Dumping stocks and other paper is understandable, even if the dumpers have left it late. Chaos, wars and trouble, if they were stocks, would be good buys about now. Unfortunately, the US is not going to be a wise or safe place to park money for a long, long time.

The Polls Look Very Strange

The rolling average of polls maintained by Real Clear Politics has Supreme Leader Obama ahead by 7.2 points as of 0842 Central Time this morning. Since the collapse of the markets, the Supreme Leader has pretty steadily maintained a lead here of between five and seven points. The average appeared to tighten a little last week, moving back to five points and under. . .but now the gap is widening again in St. Barack's favor.

My own sense of things, for the record, is that Obama is ahead by an amount slightly exceeding the margin of error, perhaps four or five points. But seven points? A new Zogby/Reuters/C-SPAN survey of 1,200 or so "likely voters" from 20-22 October has Obama leading by twelve points. Fox News, hardly a hotbed of loyalty to the Leader, has Obama, (in a poll taken by Opinion Dynamics) during roughly the same period, up by nine points among 936 likely voters. Meanwhile, there are the outliers: a George Washington University Battleground Poll of 1,000 likely voters, taken between the 15th and the 21st, has Obama up by only two points. Finally, there's an AP/GfK Roper poll of 800 likely voters, taken from the 16th to the 20th, showing Obama leading by one point.

Moving to the battleground states, the polling there is weird too. For example, in Virginia, a state that went Republican in the last two elections -- the Real Clear Politics rolling average has the Supreme Leader up by 7.0 points -- but an NBC/Mason-Dixon poll of 625 likely voters from the 20th to the 25th has Obama on top by only two points. On the other extreme, a CNN/Time poll of likely voters from the 19th to the 21st has Obama up by ten points. If you don't believe a poll compiled under the auspices of two of the most objective outlets in journalism, try a Rasmussen survey taken on the 16th of 700 likely voters showing an Obama lead of ten points, also.

What on Earth is going on here? I think it is indisputable that demographic and other trends in Virginia favor the Democrats, the areas around Alexandria and Richmond have been driving Virginia in a more Blue State direction for some time. But I just can't credit that Virginia has made this dramatic a swing since the last election.

The same strangeness is showing up in other places. Polling is showing Obama leading by an average of 2.7 points in Missouri, of all places. In 2000, Bush carried this state by 3.3 percentage points -- even giving Gore all of Nader's 1.6 percentage points of the vote would not have helped the Democrats. In 2004, the doubtfully popular President Bush defeated Kerry in Missouri by 7.2 percent of the vote. I'm sorry, I simply do not give much credence to polling showing that Obama is really ahead in Missouri.

I am not saying that the polling is inaccurate. . .I think. But I wonder about the methodology of some of these pollsters, I wonder about the degree to which the media, and the Obama campaign (through the agency of its massive cash advantage) are hyping trends that favor the Supreme Leader. Finally, I wonder about the degree to which the Obama advertising blitz and the trendiness of his candidacy are driving respondents to flat-out lie to pollsters.

My sense is that Obama is ahead, but that he has not closed the sale. I don't know if McCain can still win: time is short, and he has monstrous structural handicaps to overcome. But if he can't win, he should still (if his campaign is even half-competent) be able to come close enough to make Mr. Cool do some sweating.

Trafalgar - 1805

Horatio Nelson (1st Viscount Nelson, Duke of Bronté), K.B., as a Vice-Admiral, by Lemuel Francis Abbott, oil on canvas, painted probably about 1800. (1760-1802). Painting is in the Terracotta Room, No. 10 Downing Street, London. The diamond encrusted decoration seen on the Admiral's hat, presented by Ottoman Sultan Selim III, was called a "Plume of Triumph," and contained a rotating clockwork centerpiece. The medals at the Admiral's neck are for the Battles of St. Vincent (1797) and the Nile (1798). Among other decorations, Nelson is wearing the red riband (just visible at the bottom of the picture) and the star (lower right) of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, of which Admiral Nelson was a Knight Companion (K.B.).

Today is the anniversary of the naval battle of Trafalgar, fought in 1805 off of the Atlantic coast of Spain, near Cape Trafalgar. In this greatest naval battle of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, a British fleet of 27 ships of the line, commanded by Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, destroyed a Franco-Spanish fleet of 33 ships of the line, commanded by Admiral Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve.

Nelson died winning the splendid victory that he never, ever doubted his fleet would win. The French and Spanish possessed some splendid ships -- overall, they probably had better ships than the British. But the earlier purge of the very royalist French Navy officer corps by the republican revolutionaries and the enforced confining of the French Navy to port by the British blockade ensured that French crews and admirals, with some exceptions, were just not the equal of the experienced and well-trained British. The then-allied Spanish Navy suffered from similar troubles. Moreover, and fatally, the Franco-Spanish crews knew their limitations and were all too aware that they lacked the British tradition of victory at sea.

All through his reign, Napoleon tried hard to build a strong navy and invested vast sums and much personal attention in this effort; and to some extent, he succeeded in overcoming the years of naval neglect that characterized the last years of the Bourbon monarchy and the chaos on top of neglect brought by the revolutionary First Republic. From the moment Napoleon took power, he oversaw a vast material reconstruction and expansion of the French Navy, seeing to the construction of building yards, harbors and bases, and hundreds of ships.

But the French Navy's problems were not as much material as moral. Napoleon really tried to improve the conditions, training and doctrine of his naval personnel; but, in general, the landlubber Emperor never understood the morale and training limitations of his sea service (let alone the constraints at sea imposed by weather, tides and geography) and never found an admiral who could transcend them. Consequently, the French and their Spanish allies entered any sea battle half-beaten before a shot was fired.

Although Trafalgar was decisive, its effects were more transient than usually recognized. The British victory temporarily abated the threat of a French invasion of Britain, to the extent this peril was then a real one. (It is even possible that Admiral Sir Robert Calder's earlier, tactically indecisive encounter the previous July with the French off Cape Finisterre was more strategically decisive in terms of blocking an invasion). But the French fleet Nelson destroyed was only one of Napoleon's fleets, and the French Navy in fact ended the Napoleonic Wars stronger in terms of ships than it had been at the time of Trafalgar. Had Napoleon really cared to, he could have resurrected the invasion threat, with possibly greater chances of success, at any time from about 1808 through the time he invaded Russia in 1812.

The moral and economic effects of the British victory were possibly greater: it enabled the British to temporarily make their continental blockade tighter, and in the near term possibly decided waverers in various European courts in favor of supporting British measures against France and her allies. But the decisive battles of 1805 were on land, and were French victories (Ulm and Austerlitz). The outcome of the Napoleonic wars was decided in 1812-13, by events in Russia and Germany, and was only secondarily (but strongly) affected by British sea power.

Still, the British won a great victory at Trafalgar, and the memory of the battle, and of Admiral Nelson -- who deserves his place as Britain's greatest naval hero -- set the pattern that navies of all powers sought to emulate for almost 200 years.

The Leader Orders His Horse

The Leader is already picking his cabinet, including apparently, some soon-to-be former Republicans. I wonder if the Weapon of Mass Defection gets to be Secretary of State again?

Polls Tightening

Away for the weekend (Boy Scout camping trip) and in my absence, the polls appear to have tightened a bit. I'm not sure it matters much: we will have to see if there is movement in the battleground states, or if anything happens which might make the Supreme Leader have to defend his own turf.

The Powell endorsement; the blatant bias of the media; and the defections of some eager to jump on the Leader's bandwagon all help make the outlook for McCain, and for the country, rather bleak. Legally speaking, the odds of denying Obama the prize the whole world wants to give him are slim -- if he doesn't win, he's going to simply litigate until he does. Finally, once Obama wins, the great and good are going to fix it so that he can really rule, and the Right can be locked out, forever.

Still, here's hoping for some overreaching; that the backlash comes before the election, rather than after.

Era of Suckage

By Imperial and Royal decree, all of time from the advent at Galveston of Ike (of damnable memory) through the indefinite future (certainly including the balance of 2008) is to henceforth be known as the "Era of Suckage." Yes, there will be good days, bad days, sort of half-____ days. But all covered in the mire of suckage.

At least it seems that way. Don't know just what it is, but things have just not been normal since the lights went out. Hopefully the groove comes back, and we see normal around here again, someday.

Who IS This Guy?

They're pushing back the start of Game 6 of the World Series. . .so St. Barack can buy air time?

Why don't they just have done with it and call the game "Game 6 of the God-Emperor of America Barack Obama World Series?" Maybe he'll magically teleport himself to the stadium to throw out the game ball and heal the sick.

Who the hell IS this guy? Why is he so special? How does he rate that? How did he go about asking for that? Are they going to offer the same to McCain?

It's like he's not running for President, not at all. That's so over. He's not just the President, he's our Führer.

Marcia Brady. . .

. . .that is Maureen McCormick, has a new book. Cool, but I'm going to wait until it's in the pulp-rack.

The Return of Nation-States

Stratfor.com's free offering this week is an interesting little article by George Friedman ("States, Economies and Markets: Redefining the Rules") on the subject of the US/European efforts to rescue the banking system. It's worth your attention, and available on Stratfor's site.

Meanwhile, here's a little tidbit for thought, taken from the piece. Wish I had written it: Professor Friedman could almost be channeling me:

What is most interesting in the long run is the fact the Europeans, even in the eurozone, have not attempted a European solution. Nationalism is very much alive in Europe and has emerged, as one would expect, in a time of crisis. . .

However, it has always been our view that the state ultimately trumps the economy and the nation trumps multinational institutions. We are strong believers in the durability of the nation-state. It seems to us that we are seeing here the failure of multinational institutions and the re-emergence of national power. The IMF, the World Bank, the Bank for International Settlements, the European Union and the rest have all failed to function either to prevent the crisis or to contain it. The reason is not their inadequacy. Rather it is that, when push comes to shove, nation-states are not prepared to surrender their sovereignty to multinational entities or to other countries if they don't have to. What we saw this weekend was the devolution of power to the state. All the summits notwithstanding, Berlin, Rome, Paris and London are looking out for the Germans, Italians, French and British. Globalism and the idea of "Europe" became a lot less applicable to the real world this weekend.

Whatever the international lawyers and bankers think, history is not yet finished with the nation-state. Moreover, economic and financial considerations, although important, will be impacted by the new geopolitical reality that began to emerge late last year, when it became apparent that the Europeans were unwilling, and the US unable, to stop the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran. Events quickened this summer with the Russian humiliation of the US in Georgia. Now the apparent collapse of the world financial system (don't kid yourselves, the the government maneuvers of the past three weeks are band-aids, only) and the impending take-over of the US by a left-wing regime have created a geopolitical outlook profoundly unfriendly to US power and US interests.

Pity our children. We grew up in a world where the Main Enemy was operating considerably under its potential; hobbled by a ridiculous ideology and a worse economic system. Now America confronts state actor rivals (not to mention a raft of non-state actors) not held back by ideology, which are economically and militarily hungry, who want to change the world system (which currently suits America and the West), in ways that we will not like, but that we are going to find ourselves powerless to prevent. We're bankrupt, and on the point of installing a regime that will keep us bankrupt and wants us (militarily at least) powerless. Americans want peace, but are heading into wars and scary times. I don't know about you, but I want gold, not the dollar, and to get out of the city.

Pro-McCain Incursion Into Hostile Territory

What brave people! I hope they were wearing flak jackets. I hope they march every day. (From The People's Cube).

Columbus Day, 2008

Today is when we celebrate Columbus Day in the USA, although much of the world celebrated it yesterday; it is part of the National Day commemoration in Spain, and is celebrated in many Hispanic countries as Día de la Raza.

Columbus Day, of course, commemorates the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean Sea (1451-1506). Americans are still allowed to remember Columbus, if they choose, but fear not, Columbus Day will no doubt disappear into the liberal memory-hole, or go the way of Washington's Birthday (folded into generic, anonymous, obnoxious "President's Day"), soon enough.

The great sailor's role in the American story was perhaps small, but certainly decisive. Legions of the politically correct despise the memory of Columbus, his voyages and his culture, never mind that many of them walk the streets spouting their nonsense only because the Admiral found San Salvador on 12 October 1492 (although it was clear he was near land on the 11th). The value of a man may often be gauged by the political enemies he has made; and the fact that so many of the Politically Correct dislike Columbus so much is quite enough reason to think that he must have been quite a splendid fellow.

Some say he was born in Genoa, others that he was born in Calvi, Corsica. If the latter, he was probably the most distinguished native of that island save Napoléon I. Son of a weaver, and already a distinguished sailor when he began his American voyage, Columbus hoped to find a practicable route to India, but he did better, and found a new world instead – and his discovery changed everything.

The European discovery of America was the biggest event in western civilization since the fall of Rome, and changed the whole world forever. The future existence of the United States was only one consequence of his voyages; made in barely seaworthy, leaky vessels, with abominable food and mutinous crews.

In recent years, Columbus has suffered from the slanders, slings and arrows of the stupid, the ignorant, and the outright malicious, and all of the other enemies of civilisation who gather under the soiled banners of leftism and “political correctness.” The memory and record of the Admiral are themselves ample defense from the insults of this mob, and Columbus' reputation will survive long after today's philistine lefties have crawled back under their rocks, and back into their midden-pits, to die.

Columbus’ nautical achievements, and the whole colonial experiment, were indubitably worth it. Columbus, and the other heroes of the colonization of the Americas need no special commemoration. If you seek their monuments, look around you. The riches of the Americas, in the short run, enabled Europe to prosper, maintain itself and expand in the face of challenges from Asia and the Islamic world. In the long run, the successful implantation of European colonies in the New World, particularly in North America, ensured that civilization came to these shores, and Europe’s American children, would, in due course, be a credit to all that was good in their parents.

Finally, thanks in some part to Columbus and his sailors, in the Old World’s darkest hour, Europe’s children of the New World were there to step forward to redeem the Old World from bondage and tyranny. No doubt Columbus, who sought a new route to Asia so that Europeans could carry on lawful commerce despite the Muslim blockade and harassment of Europe, would understand and sympathize with the struggles of the American soldiers of today, carrying the banners of America and civilization in Baghdad and Kabul in the struggle against the Islamo-fascist peril.

After Columbus’s initial voyage to America, he made three further trips to these shores, dying two years after the return from his fourth voyage. The authorities still argue whether he is buried in Seville (Spain), or in Santo Domingo. Here's to you Admiral, and to all your officers and sailors, for all you did.

What Gives With the Polls?

The polls seem to show a big movement towards St. Barack towards the latter part of the week. . .or do they? Blogging Caesar (an excellent observer) is skeptical, although like me, he gives the Sainted One all the advantages.

I'll be the first to admit to being completely out of touch: what would drive one to pull the lever for Obama over McCain is just beyond me.

Blogrolling Down

Blogrolling.com, which runs the blog roll for the Kingdom, has evidently been hacked, and their server is down. Since this has truly been a bad week, in a bad couple months, in a year that appears to be from Hell, one more thing won't make any difference. In any case, the blogroll is down for the moment.

UPDATE: 11 Oct. Blogrolling appears to be fixed.

Prisoners

Read this sitting down. A US District Court wants to release 17 detainees at Guantanano, who are not Americans, into the United States, because of some supposed right they enjoy under the US Constitution against indefinite detention. The decision is momentarily stayed while the Government appeals.

Given the coming change in administrations, and the views of the incoming President, jihadist prisoners in US hands, who are not actually and currently covered by court orders, should be distributed abroad, to places outside US jurisdiction willing and able to hold them, immediately.

Hat tip: Tigerhawk.

Slough of Despond

Going to brood for awhile I think, so I don't know if I will be posting, much. I don't believe much of what I hear or read, but all the news, economic, political, personal, is just dark beyond belief. I can barely force myself to read the papers anymore, or look around much on here. Since 2006, there has been little to read but disaster and rumors of disaster.

Enough. I suppose if people want to be fools and drink the Kool-Aid, there's nothing for it but to let them.

Crash und Storm und Drang, Oh My

The Dow falling like a stone, a demoralized people, a paralyzed government. This all sounds very familiar. Now we have stormtroopers too -- yes, it's back to the 1930's!

Waiting for President Obama

The media has declared the Presidential Race over, and the reign of the Messiah almost a reality. St. Barack is coming! Given how hard the media establishment has worked for this result, the tone of self-congratulation is understandable.

It's not just the media. The bad guys are happy the US banking system is in the soup; and the rest of the great and good think it fitting that the economic and geopolitical humiliation of America is about to be crowned with an electoral act of American acceptance of all the country's transgressions. "Obama or else" -- the world wide chattering class has commanded, because "America's got to change." The foreigners are going to get their wish, it seems. Whether American voters will wind up enjoying it I beg leave to doubt.

No doubt once the Bringer of Hope's been crowned with many crowns next 20 January, he will bring forth the chicken in every pot and sub-prime loans for whoever needs them. Then St. Barack will sally forth into the world bringing salvation; and Putin, Chavez, Ahmadinejad et al will (after laughing themselves sick) cease their contumaciousness when the Great Community Organizer asks them to.

I'm looking for the upside of the advent of President Messiah, but finding it damn hard to see. I suppose it's some consolation that all the glory and credit for the Nirvana that's coming will accrue totally to St. Barack and his friends. Meanwhile, there's nothing to do but open some good Euro champagne, and welcome the new era in a true and cooperative spirit of bipartisanship. St. Barack's supporters have so nobly shown us the way here during the Bush years. Drink up ! Champagne is wonderful, but sparkling wine goes flat so quickly.

"Tomorrow Belongs to Me"

Your kids will be singing for change soon. . .just like these.

Where are the Adults?

Our crazy Congress has put its collective feet in it, and the rest of us we are left to pray we don't find out too much about what this might mean. Here's some food for thought, from the Daily Telegraph online (London):

In one fell swoop, the House of Representatives has applied a sledgehammer to the American economy. The staggering plunge in the value of publicly quoted stocks in the US last night - a $1.2 trillion fall - shows more clearly than anything else just how much it had been holding out for a financial bail-out.

Even so, the longer you stare at a screen of the Dow Jones or FTSE 100, the more abstract it seems. So this is what it means:

It means millions more Americans, and hundreds of thousands more Britons, will lose their jobs; it means the recession will be deeper and more protracted than previously feared; it means borrowing costs will increase on both sides of the Atlantic. Companies will cut back on investment. Pension funds will be depleted.

The Western world, in short, will become significantly less wealthy.

It is well-established that nobody likes this bill. It looks as if Americans have designed and built themselves an unsustainable system that allows capitalism for profits, and socialism for losses. There will be time enough later to figure out how we got here. That said, what do we do today?

Much of our problem has to do with timing. Our political system is almost incapable of digesting something this immense, this complicated -- only five weeks from a Presidential election. Far better to have had this crisis three months previously, or three months hence. The House of Representatives is getting ready to face voters, and the solons don't want to come before us just after having bailed out a bunch of bankers. In fact, whoever got the media to call this bill a "bailout" and not a "rescue" or something else pretty much decided the political battle right there.

The polls show that the public hates this bill. People have their reasons, but the failure to approve the $700 billion package before the House yesterday resulted in a stock-market decline -- just yesterday -- that wiped out $1.2 trillion in value (the size of the whole Indian economy). That drop's going to sink lots more than Wall Street.

Depend on it, no matter how angry many of us might be, the investment bankers and speculators are going to survive. If the American economy won't float, the world party will move on -- just as it did from London to New York in the early 20th Century. Where next? Maybe Hong Kong. If Wall Street becomes a financial backwater, it will be Main Street that does the paying in terms of tighter credit, fewer jobs and opportunities, and harder times.

We can talk about free markets and principles, moral hazard and enabling till the cows come home, but those opposed to Tresury Secretary Paulson's plan -- which a whole lot of very smart people are telling us we need -- need to have an alternative in mind. More fundamentally, we all need to be sure whether we are really up for the high road of letting Wall Street eat it. There are going to be consequences, mostly to us.

Some of the most interesting consequences are going to be political. In all probability, the past two and a half weeks have ensured the election of Barack Obama, the most liberal, left wing person ever nominated by a major party ever. America is apt to "come home," in a way that would have pleased supporters of George McGovern in 1972. The geopolitical and financial world our children will inherit will be less in America's favor; much more regulated and redistributionist, and probably poorer. Bet, in other words, on things to get worse.

It's the Demos Move

If the Democrats have any brains whatever, they'll immediately pass the next most left-wing alternative bail-out bill they have, without Republican help. They'll likely own Washington for the next 10 years if they do so.

House of Representatives Rejects the Bailout

Well, the House Republican Caucus has, mostly, taken a stand, and decided that principles are more important than the financial industry, the stock market or the availability of credit.

Loons! The proposed bailout was a rotten idea, the only things worse were any of the remotely possible alternatives. Just what is the alternative, guys? Other than a depression, is there anything there but praying for a miracle?

St. Barack as President appears to be unavoidable now. And that's the least of it.