Which End is Up Now?

Yet another among the many reasons for El Jefe's relative silence of late is the rapid and increasingly disorienting change in the political and economic landscape. The ground is shifting in strange, unprecedented ways almost hourly.

Yesterday the Governor of Texas said that Texas could secede if it wanted -- and my sense is that a not insignificant percentage of Texans think they would be happy to see this happen. This came only a day after Governor Perry endorsed a State Sovereignty resolution pending in the Texas House of Representatives that proclaims that the 10th Amendment:

. . .assures that we, the people of the United States of America and each sovereign state in the Union of States, now have, and have always had, rights the federal government may not usurp. . .

The draft resolution, (citing the 10th Amendment) goes on to demand that:

. . .the federal government, as our agent. . .cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers. . .

Read the whole thing. The draft resolution appears toothless, but the fact that it is being considered at all tells us that we are now in a different world than only a year ago. How much stranger will things get, as the implications of US national bankruptcy begin to be understood? (I think yesterday's Tea Parties were less about our already high taxes than about the well-founded fear of our spending ourselves and our children into bankruptcy). Will we come together as in the 1930's? Or will the crowd head for any exit it can find, like a theater audience leaving a bad show?

"May you live in interesting times," the Chinese curse goes. Ours would certainly seem to fill that bill. Gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Kathy Ireland

Kathy Ireland, former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, has a weight problem?

The purveyors of such vicious and noxious propaganda should be locked up, in the deepest dungeons of the Kingdom, at once!

El Jefe still thinks Kathy Ireland is one of the most beautiful women God ever unbagged.

Obama Discovers a New Language

The President, during a NATO press-conference yesterday, referred to the language of Austria as "Austrian," a malapropism that would have left 19th and 20th Century European statesmen and historians absolutely speechless. (video here)

We skeptics are endless assured that our Columbia University and Harvard Law School educated President knows better about everything. No doubt he does, but possibly Obama was too busy studying community organizing to pay much attention to central European history, and all that boring Großdeutschland/Kleindeutschland, Otto von Bismarck, Anschluss Österreichs, World War I, World War II stuff. Possibly I'm nitpicking just a bit (Hell, I admit it), but the man who discovered the "Austrian" language is clearly just the fellow to get us on better terms with Europe, eh?

Maybe I should give the fellow a break. Certainly, the press is -- James Fallows writes in his blog at The Atlantic:

He [Obama] also appeared to refer to the language of Austria as "Austrian," thus: "I don't know how you say it in Austrian, but we call it wheeling-dealing." If this had been GW Bush, it would have been taken as an obvious gaffe, as in his calling the residents of Greece "Grecians." Here you can't be sure whether it's a plain error or a knowing casualism, as in saying that Australians speak "Australian" -- eg, in the ad that says, "Foster's: Australian for 'beer.' "

Now folks, that's true journalistic skill. Admit a double standard, and make it positively sound rational, and do it in a tres gentil way. Yes, you silly unwashed rubes, the Great One may have slipped, but he's the Man of Hope. Now if Bush had talked about some Austrian language, you can bet your last Euro that Fallows is right and the journos would have jumped all over Bush like the Gestapo did to Austrians who didn't vote Ja on the Anschluss. But times have changed, and the Eurolefties that run things across the pond, Obama's spiritual brothers, are likely to declare Austrian a language if it would make the Sainted One look good.

Still Here. . .

As is painfully obvious, El Jefe just hasn't felt much like posting lately, and is still sort of sulking on his estates., I rather think I'm still in mourning over the election.

I can barely stand to turn on the television or the radio, and when the Chosen One comes on, I usually opt to save my blood pressure and immediately turn the channel. I've been reading a lot, mostly history, hanging out in the country as often as I can get there, and working. Facebook's interesting too -- have recently gotten onto that and reconnected with lots of folks.

Anyway, I miss blogging, and hope to feel up to the work, soon.

AIG: Why is Anybody Surprised?

El Jefe confesses that he finds economics a dismal science, which is one of the reasons he has not had much to say about the apparently endless successions of bailouts, financial rescuses and assorted conniptions that form so much of our recent news.

The AIG business, however, is farcical. The politicians are shocked, SHOCKED that AIG, handed wads and wads of cash by the government, would do what ginormous corporations habitually do; and pay its senior management and its high-flying traders huge bonuses. AIG and the other corporate big wigs, for that part are shocked, SHOCKED that Federal money comes with some real strings, namely 535 gasbags who have to have their five minutes on television bloviating to show the home-folks that they are cracking-down on the fat-cats.

What's really going on here, of course, is unorganized bankruptcy, as compared to the more organized liquidation process provided by the Bankruptcy Code. Had AIG been pushed into bankruptcy, the offending salary contracts would have been out the window, and the company's assets sold to healthier entities. Instead, the government elected to go with bailouts, for arguably good reasons. Maybe AIG and the others really were Too Big To Fail, and bailouts were necessary. For the record, I supported the TARP (but not the recent "stimulus") because I bought the Too Big to Fail argument, and believed that not doing it risked a meltdown of the whole system.

But, today, quibbling over the side effects of bailouts is just absurd, particularly since the Feds forked-over the cash without making ANY rules beforehand. Now everyone affects surprise because the players have (of course) maneuvered for advantage. That's just farcical. All this crying over bonuses and other payments that the Obama administration knew about months ago is either gross stupidity, or political playacting. Probably, it's both.

Water on Mars

From the News that's No News Department:

Some scientists think that the NASA Phoenix Mars Lander found -- wait for it -- water on Mars! The scientists spotted droplets that seemed to change in size on photos of the spacecraft's legs. Some of said eggheads believe that this must be water.

Well, duh. What do they think Martians drink, anyway?

Grab Bag

El Jefe has been up to his ample posterior in work of late, and distracted anyway, and just generally hasn't felt like posting.

Okay it's a lame excuse. But as every fourth grader understands, better a bad excuse than none at all. A bad excuse, if nothing else, allows a little extra time to find somebody else to blame. . .In any case, I'm sure the present posting funk will pass. God knows, I'm not short of opinions.

I see that the Dow Jones is up like a rocket today, apparently because Citigroup actually reported a profit for the first of this year, and because Barney Frank thinks the SEC will re-impose the "uptick" rule against short-selling. But that hasn't happened yet. Wonder if the shorters will appear today, before closing time maybe? No matter: the markets appear to be fundamentally irrational at the moment, on the floor or the ceiling as the mood suits.

Oh bag that. For today anyway. Not for nothing is economics called the dismal science. El Jefe has been busy with other things -- playing with Facebook, and his impending birthday.

My dear friend T had SWMBO, the Heir and I to dinner last Friday evening. T is a good cook, and among other things, she had a super-wonderful chocolate cake and all kinds of other yummy food. All this food was exceptionally good for reasons not limited to taste -- we started on Cosmos at six-o'clock, and moved on to red wine at dinner, and wound up (sometime in the wee small hours) drinking champagne. As if that were not enough, T, knowing one of my many failings, gave me some uber cool books. Fortunately, T lives not far from the palatial residence of El Jefe, who, despite drink taken, managed to be-bop back to the Palace without any untoward incidents. Thanks to the food, and scads of water, even though I was pretty trashed, I was in good shape the next morning, although I didn't deserve to be.

This was a good thing, because on Saturday, El Jefe and family entertained the Great One's friend L, her hubby, and their two-year old son. SWMBO was such a really good sport, and, even though she had a really long week, she cooked all day, making super yummy steak pitas (very elaborate recipe) with Greek salad, interesting sauces for chips and the pita sandwiches, and key-lime pie (one of my fav things). L and family came all the way into town to see us, and it was lots of fun to have them around for the evening. Our guests also played to another El Jefe weakness -- bringing him a bottle of very good scotch.

On a less happy note: my home computer appears to have died. I've lost some pictures, a bunch of documents (most are backed up, but not all) and the whole business is just generally a mess. I can afford to replace the computer, but I don't want Vista, or the new post 2007 Microsoft Office.

In any case, I'm trying to figure out what to do. Any ideas? Is a second-hand machine practical? Available? Totally turned off by Vista -- but more especially by the re-design of Word. Probably too old a bunny to go to Apple, but I'm thinking about it because of the mad I've got on towards Microsoft. SWMBO's machine has the new version of Word, and every time I fool with it, the thing makes me mad enough to spit. Probably, I will have to give up and accept change at some point. . .but not quite yet.

Obama to Wall Street: "Drop Dead."

President Obama, following his meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, told reporters, Breitbart says, that he was not measuring policies against the ". . .day to day gyrations of the stock market" but by whether lending is flowing more freely, businesses are investing and the unemployed going back to work.

Quite aside from the fact that we're failing on all Obama's parameters, the president's utterances need translation for all us non-Kool-Aid drinkers. St. Barack (no doubt pumped by his meeting with Mr. "Global New Deal" Brown) is telling us: "Who cares about the banks? I've been to Harvard Law, I was a community organizer, a Senator, and both Soros and Michael Moore like me. I know what's best for you, peasants! Who do you believe, me or Wall Street?"

True, the President says stocks look like a "potentially" good deal if you have a long term perspective on it. Oh, swell. Does St. Barack not understand that a rather off-hand comment by the President that stocks are a good buy in the "long" term may have somewhat deleterious effects on Jello stock in the short term? Does he care? Probably immaterial anyway, since all of us, our children, and our kids' great-grandkids are going to be so mortgaged paying on the stimulus that we won't be buying stocks.

Every time this guy opens his mouth, the Dow drops like a stone. How much will it fall this time?

What's a Simon? What Does he Say?

I don't watch American Idol or much television period, save for House, Burn Notice, and whichever Law and Order whatever network it is happens to put on on a given night. Consequently, I miss a few things.

Along those lines, who and what is Simon? Does he matter? What does he say? Are these questions important? Why should we care?

These and many other issues are no doubt things I need to think on, possibly with a glass of wine or two. The popular-culturally-connected may want to enlighten me beforehand.

Hurray! Bernanke's Happy

Debt as far as the eye can see. Then, the new President wants to blithely throw troops into a war that's probably hopeless. North Korea can't feed its people, but the Dear Leader's slaves can build nukes, and some missiles; and the Land of the Kims is about to thumb its nose at Obama and everybody else by playing rocket games. Meanwhile, China has its own stimulus problems.

Still, Ben Bernanke's in a good mood, so stocks go up 230 points or so. This would seem to place an awesome responsibility on Bernanke's restauranters of choice, his wife, his family, his barber, masseur and others charged with keeping him happy. Hey, it's good that some people in this world know what they have to do.

The market's down 3oo or so on Monday. Up 230 today. Nothing whatever has changed, except Bernanke's in a good mood, and St. Barack's going to grace our televisions with a speech. Woo Woo! Life is good.

The secret, dear reader, is that the "leaders" - the movers and shakers who run our money and are charged with our security -- know less than NOTHING about whatever the Hell they think they're doing. They're a herd of leaderless cows ready to moo because Bernanke had a good wine with lunch and was happy today. The bears will just as easily stampede them tomorrow.

Is it any wonder that people think that the Harvard MBA types in charge of the money in this country are absolute total dolts and morons?

If you're not angry yet, you're not paying attention.

Blog Quietness

As longtime readers possibly notice, posting has slowed down lately. Since the election -- more accurately, since October, when it became apparent electoral disaster was approaching, I've just kind of been snoozing.

As a spiritual outsider, I've been watching the Obamaites enjoy their triumph. Sometimes, watching present goings-on makes me think a little of an English Civil War royalist, Baron Astley of Reading. When the wrong side prevailed, and Astley surrendered, he allegedly told his captors: "You have now done your work and may go play, unless you will fall out amongst yourselves."

For the moment, the loons run the asylum, and I've been interested in other things. Obama and crew are working on it, but the world hasn't ended quite yet. I've reconnected with people I used to know on Facebook. I have a place in the country I like to visit. The Heir and SWMBO need attention, and the Heir is growing up. There are mountains of books needing my attention; I've become interested in the care and feeding of various firearms; and, there are surely many tasty foods and bottles of wine in dire need of consumption. Working is good too: all these habits definitely need supporting.

But I'm going to do better with posting. Obama and his friends, unfortunately, are providing us with mountains of fodder for comment, and as time goes on, St. Barack of Obama is going to be an even greater recruiter for the conservative cause than Reagan.

We Go to Hell, Nancy Goes to Rome. . .

The House of Representatives has just passed the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" draft bill agreed upon in the Senate/House of Representatives conference. (Confederate Yankee more accurately calls the bill the "Multi-Generational Financial Rape Act").

The vote was 246-183. Seven Democrats voted against it. One Democrat voted present. Zero, zip, nada Republicans voted for it. Two Republicans did not vote.

As of 5 p.m. yesterday, the Republicans had not been shown the draft bill. At 1000 pages plus, it seems unlikely that few of the Representatives could have actually even begun to read the text of the legislation: which is going to expend $1 trillion plus of your dollars ($787 billion is the figure bandied about, but the rest is in the details). The Senate is supposed to vote today also, and they haven't read it either.

Why the hurry? Maybe so Nancy Pelosi could go to Rome today?

The government of this country is absolutely insane.

Lost Weapons in Afghanistan (gasp!)

Agence France-Presse reports that thousands of US weapons provided to the Afghan police and military (including assault rifles and grenade launchers), have turned up missing in a General Accounting Office audit.

Yawn.

Don't get me wrong, this is a matter of serious concern. But it is hardly news. Show me one war, anywhere on Earth, fought by anybody, anytime since man left the caves (and before) -- where supplies and weapons have not disappeared in big batches, walked off, been sold by their bearers, stolen, lost or otherwise gone unaccounted for.

Move millions of dollars of supplies and weapons all the way around the world, and give huge dollops of them to allies and auxiliaries in a place where the concept of money is itself rocket science, and stuff goes missing. Stuff goes missing anyway. If it's NOT going missing: you can only assume that the quartermasters are doctoring the books worse than usual.

Running empires is never cheap, easy, or safe, as much as the bean-counters might want it so.

A Bomb vs. Da Bomb

Yahoo! (Yahell?) says that Jennifer Aniston's first movie was "a bomb." Uh. . .since she's still Da Bomb, who cares about details?

About Us, Without Us. . .

By a vote of 61-37, Obama's so-called stimulus bill has passed the US Senate. By no stretch of the imagination can this very, very left-wing porkapalooza (Powerline's term) of a bill be described as bipartisan, unless "bipartisan" is understood to mean agreement with whatever Obama wants. Three northeastern Republicans (Snowe and Collins of Maine, and Spector of Pennsylvania -- Republicans in name only) joined all the Democrats in voting for this bill.

For those of us opposed to this bill, which will bring us ruin, and, probably, war; there is, for now, nothing that can be done but to watch. Our fate is no longer in our own hands. Obama has won his chance to drive the bus over the cliff, and we just have to watch him do it.

Republicans have the small consolation of having their votes against this disaster registered: and an epic disaster it will prove to be. Our President promised us catastrophe unless his bill was passed. He will soon have his bill, which cannot be paid for by taxes, and for which the money cannot be borrowed. There will be nothing left but to run the printing press. The President will have his stimulus, and get catastrophe, anyway.

Save the F-22 Raptor ? Yes, But for the Right Reasons

Two USAF F-22A Raptors of the 27th Fighter Squadron (Langley AFB, Virginia). form-up on a KC-10 Extender tanker aircraft while en route to Hill AFB, Utah. (USAF Photo: TSgt. Ben Bloker).

As per usual modus operandi, El Jefe spooled up the Drudge Report this morning and was greeted by a banner ad exhorting readers to help save the F-22 Raptor, because American jobs were depending on it.

The F-22A, presently entering USAF front-line service, is indubitably the finest fighter plane in the world, and is primarily intended to replace the several variants of the F-15 Eagle in the air superiority (fighter vs. fighter) role. The F-35, another new aircraft, is the projected replacement for the F-16. The original requirement was for 750 F-22's, but this has gradually been whittled-down to about 130.

I'm all for the F-22 and the F-35, and if I were El Jefe of America, rather than the Kingdom of Chaos, I'd be spending money on building 600 or so more F-22's and a fleet of F-35's them rather than on "community development block grants," university building projects and the various and sundry other Left-wing nostrums contained in the stimulus nightmare pending before Congress.

Actually I'd put the Navy destroyer, submarine and carrier building programs ahead of the F-22's. But that's beside the point. The banner-ad in Drudge irritated me a little because of the reasons it sought support for the aircraft program. We don't need to build F-22's as some sort of jobs program. We need them to maintain the combat power of the US Air Force and of the United States as opposed to other countries. End of story.

Prince Bismarck once said that people should never witness the making of sausages or legislation. I suppose such pandering for votes is all part of the usual course of business in a republic. Sort of like naming aircraft carriers for living politicians (a policy with which I've indicated some irritation in the past). If playing-up jobs will get the pro-F-22 vote of Congressperson Emptyhead from the State of Ultraleft, than I'm definitely for it. Repulsive to watch, however.

Hamas Stimulus Package

I guess Hamas got its bailout check. . .

Choose Your Catastrophe

President Obama tells us that the recession will turn into a "catastrophe" if his over $900 billion "stimulus" (including health-care "reform" and green energy) isn't passed quickly. Congress should stop being "recalcitrant" as the AP puts it.

Here's a thought: suppose it's not a "my plan or catastrophe" situation? Perhaps it's "my plan AND a catastrophe;" or, more likely, an "any plan, or no plan and STILL a catastrophe" situation? I'm not blaming Obama for this, but suppose circumstances mean that catastrophe is baked into the cake already? Maybe what we really ought to be thinking about is the degree of catastrophe.

The US has no money for Obama's porkulus stimulus. It is simply not credible that Europe and Asia are going to continue to buy US treasuries and bankroll bailing out the US economy, not to mention Obama's version of Hillary care. One survey says 40 percent of Japanese investors think that there is a risk of a US government default on its debt. As Megan McArdle puts it at Atlantic:

There are other reasons to worry about US debt, like the downturn, the dollar, and our entitlement problems. But when the citizens of a country with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 1 and more than a decade of economic stagnation behind them start complaining that you're not such a good credit risk, it's time to start worrying.

(Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit).

The stimulus packages cannot be paid for with taxes -- even if the rich are expropriated wholesale. That leaves the printing press. The Obamaites, who cannot even manage to adequately check out appointees for government office, are going to wind up trying to bail the overdrawn US economy out by debauching the currency. Pardon me, but I'm a little skeptical about rapid solutions favored by Obama and Ms. 500,000,000-jobs-lost-Pelosi.

The financial contagion is worldwide. Andrew Stuttaford this morning describes Britain as "Iceland without the fish" -- that is, flat broke. A lot of that going around. There are other pots boiling: Pakistan's imploding (which is a problem with an army in Afghanistan). Putin, Chavez and the Iranian mullahs: all dissatisfied with the present world system, are all, rhetorically at least, on the march. With Obama wanting a ten percent cut in the military budget, I wonder how long their trouble-making stays rhetorical?

I could go on, but my bet would be that catastrophe is already a done deal. Sorry, it's just how I see it. If trouble's coming, it would be prudent to be very careful on where we throw our last row of poker-chips. Why make it worse by dropping a trillion dollars we don't have because the former "community organizer" says we need to hurry about it? Maybe, but some care is called for here. Congress, in other words, shouldn't be panicked or railroaded into anything.

Ayatollahs Launch a Satellite. What's Next?

Well, the Iranians claim that they have put a satellite in orbit. The US says it's "gravely concerned."

Gee, ya think?

An anonymous security official says this launch is not a "game changer." Perhaps not, but it's getting pretty close. Rocket boosters powerful and reliable enough to orbit satellites can certainly carry other payloads. The United States and other powers (guess which) must consider that the mullahs can not only now determine for themselves which countries segregate swimming pools by sex as the Ayatollahs consider just and right; but that the Iranians may soon have the ability to fry those not in compliance with their particular version of shari'ah.

The US Intelligence Community, in November 2007, issued a National Intelligence Estimate stating that the Iranian nuclear program had effectively stopped in the fall of 2003. We must hope the spook-lords, who have such a great post World War II track record (Korean Conflict, fall of the Soviet Union, 9/11, invasion of Kuwait...etc) were correct: because in November 2007, their conclusion effectively (and probably deliberately) robbed the Bush administration of any military option, or any options period beyond listening to ourselves talking.

Now the Iranians have a real missile. And we have Obama. We'd better do some praying.

So Much for the New Diplomacy. . .

The EU doesn't like the "Buy American" provisions contained in President Obama's Socialism pack. . . er, excuse me, stimulus package pending in the Senate. The Stimulus Bill contains provisions mandating that only US made steel and goods be used in programs funded and established by the bill.

Okay, but I thought Obama was bringing the world a new era of good feeling, concord between America and Europe, all made possible by a new respect for treaties, unlike in the Bad Old Bush era. The problem is, the "Buy American" provisions in the Socialism Bill may be inconsistent with US membership in the World Trade Organization, not to mention the North American Free Trade Agreement. Nothing like a new era that begins with a good trade war with, say, Canada, eh?

Considering the attitude towards the recent US elections of foreign elites, particularly in Europe, it's hard to feel too sorry for some of the loudly complaining suspects -- this is the President they wanted, right? Well, congrats to the Euros, because they've sure got him. So do we. Shocking, isn't it, that the Euros' pet-American President would want to protect American union workers and not Euros?

Still, not for the first time, El Jefe wonders if this man and his party have even the smallest clue about what they're doing?

Puff Daschle Blows Away

Tom Daschle, President Obama's nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary has asked the President to withdraw his nomination. "Puff" Daschle, former Majority Leader of the Senate, who used to lead Senate filibusters preventing confirmation of President Bush's judicial nominees, has been hoist on his own confirmation petard. Senator Daschle was driven out of contention by, among other things, tax problems with a car and driver provided by a former business partner.

Quite amazing: to my recollection Daschle's the first Senator nominated for a position not to benefit from the old-boy network and be confirmed since John Tower failed confirmation for Secretary of Defense, in George H.W. Bush's administration.

Additionally, the President's proposed "Chief Performance Officer," Ms. Nancy Killefer, withdrew her name from consideration for this new position this morning. It seems Ms. Killefer has tax problems of her own. All this comes after Treasury Secretary Geithner fessed-up to nanny-tax issues prior to his own confirmation.

One wonders what the story is with Obama's vetting process. Can't anybody play this game?

Play the Bailout Game

Think you've got what it takes to be a Master of the Universe, save the economy and affect the world distribution of Jell-o? Play The Bailout Game and find out!

Let the introduction spool through, and have at it. The financial system depends on you! Glory and wealth as a respected pundit, presidential advisor, friend of Oprah, or ex-cabinet member awaits! Yes, it's the big time, or else an unpleasant exile in cheap hotels with your bored mistress and hangers-on, fliting from country to country fleeing subpoenas and journalists. Good luck!

Hat tip: Belmont Club.

Obama's Second Oath

Obama's second oath is going to get the conspiracy theorists working overtime.

The second-oath is not unprecedented (Chester Arthur took one) and it's debatable whether it was actually needed, despite the script-flub during the inauguration. But the manner in which this was handled was, at a minimum, tactless.

The fact that President Obama did not use a Bible for this second oath does not render it in any way deficient, but given the pre-existing rumors and questions about Obama's religious convictions, Obama's failure to use a Bible for the mulligan oath was monumentally stupid. The President has needlessly offended millions and provided gratuitous fodder for rumor and scandal mongers.

I have no emotional investment in Obama, so it's all machts nichts to me, but I wonder just how good this man's political instincts really are. Can he function without handlers and a script?

Blog Business

Readers may notice that the Kingdom needs some work.

In particular, the Blogroll has some issues: many of them occasioned by the apparent death of Blogrolling, provider of the widget that operates the Blogroll. Also, I want to use tags, but that necessitates actually tagging the posts, and since there are over 1100 posts on this blog, that process might take a while. Finally, the template needs a bit of updating, which I have so far been reluctant to do because a template update will affect some of the Blog's widgets and attachments.

In any case, El Jefe hopes to get to this soon, but the Kingdom -- with the exceptions of the happy peasants toiling in their fields, the workers slaving over their machines in the Kingdom's many arms factories, the devoted palace servants, the royal mistress, the ever-loyal regiments of Goomba guards, the prelates of the State church and Bingo parlors, the vigilant Organs of State Security, and the accountants in the Off Track Betting Ministry -- is a one-man band. In any case, the matter has been referred to the urgent attention of the Ministry of Procrastination.

Book Review: The 47th Samurai

El Jefe recently finished Stephen Hunter's The 47th Samurai.

47th Samurai is the latest addition to the Bob Lee Swagger/Earl Swagger saga (Bob Lee appearing as the main character in one set: Point of Impact, Black Light and Time to Hunt; and his father Earl in Hot Springs, Pale Horse Coming, and Havana). Point of Impact, an excellent book, was bowdlerized into the thoroughly boring film Shooter (2007) with Mark Wahlberg completely miscast as Bob Lee Swagger. (Of the bunch, I'd recommend Point of Impact, Hot Springs and Black Light most strongly). There are several other Hunter books, in which various Swaggers, Swagger relatives and assorted hangers-on common to the books sometimes make appearances

Bob Lee’s appearance in 47th Samurai is possibly the book’s great defect. You see, Bob Lee (a somewhat worse-for-wear super-sniper Vietnam Marine) -- has already wrecked a Russian spy ring in Time to Hunt; solved the mystery of his Dad’s murder while going up against the Southern mob and rogue CIA/DOD contractors in Black Light; and foiled a tricky assassination plot in Point of Impact while beating a bunch of other super-snipers. Bob Lee’s also an alcoholic who periodically falls off the wagon, gets more time away from his beautiful and very tolerant wife than anybody I’ve ever met, and during all this carrying-on somehow gets very rich, and owns a ginormous ranch in Idaho.

Bob Lee’s has clearly had a busy life, and you’d think that he’d want to stack arms and get on down the road. But no! Clearly, Stephen Hunter got a call from his literary agent with an Idea that He Couldn't Refuse – I’m visualizing this scene with a cigar-chomping agent screaming at Hunter through his cell phone: “Stephen! Let's send Bob Lee to Japan!”

Stephen does, and Bob Lee goes to Nippon to return a long lost samurai sword, captured by his Dad (Marine war hero Earl Swagger) during the Battle of Iwo Jima. The sword is returned, but a Yakuza crime lord has plans of his own, and makes the serious, serious mistake of chopping up some of Bob Lee’s Japanese friends, and the story’s off to the kendo ring.

As usual, Bob Lee takes things personally, and even though he speaks no Japanese, he manages to find a Sancho Panza or two (well, 46 rōnin maybe) to enlist in his crusade for justice. Almost overnight Bob Lee becomes the first redneck samurai super swordsman (you saw this episode of Pokémon right?) which is more than a little unbelievable. Say, doesn’t Bob Lee have any cousins?

We find out about the bad guys and their evil plans (truly bad, truly evil, but with a somewhat underwhelming strategic objective). We learn a little about the samurai culture, about Yakuza, and probably more than we wanted to know about sword play and cutting with a katana. Spies and gangsters with their own agendas and various interesting sinister and shadowy types make their appearances.

The story is well paced, lots of dramatic confrontation and swordplay, building towards the inevitable bloody showdown with the bad guys. As usual with a Hunter novel, much of the enjoyment is the reader’s understanding that, no matter how strong or many the bad guys might be -- against Bob Lee, (redneck polymath that he his) who figures out all the bad guy moves before they do -- the no-goodniks just don’t have a chance.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a fun, fun book, and if you like violent thrillers with bad guys you can really hate, or have liked previous Hunter books, buy it! I burned through it in two days. Enjoy it in the manner of one of those afternoon Samurai movies, where the hero faces impossible numbers and does amazing sword tricks, comes away victorious, gets the girl and there’s a big fiesta at the end. Fun, as long as you make the popcorn, have a spare afternoon, and suspend disbelief a little.

Hillary Clinton Confirmed

By a vote of 94-2, the Senate has confirmed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

Good.

As I have written, I think this appointment is extrordinarily ill-advised, and that Mrs. Clinton is in general a poor fit for this position. But that's water under the bridge now: Obama is President and a know-nothing on foreign affairs. But the choice, and the responsibilty, is his. Too much is going on in the world to have the State Department left rudderless (of all departments, this is the one least to be trusted on its own) while the Senate shilly-shallies over an appointment that was going to be confirmed anyway.

Similarly, I hope the Senate moves immediately to confirm Mr. Timothy Geithner over at the Treasury Department. I don't see why this man doesn't think he has to pay taxes, but he and his lawyers can square matters with the IRS and their lawyers on Mr. Geithner's own time. The banks are crumbling, the President is in dire need of professional advice on this subject too and Mr. Geithner, (the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank) fills this bill.

Senator Roberts of Kansas has told Mr. Geithner that he will be confirmed. This is obvious, so why fool around?

Someone Else's Party

The dread day is finally here, Obama becomes God-Emperor.

I opened the front page of my local newspaper, the Houston Chronicle this morning and immediately wanted to vomit. The paper version features a giant picture of the Supreme Leader, with the headline "A Day for Change," with the Presidential oath from the Constitution in script below -- the oath highlighted by tiny pictures of Obama's predecessors. The accompanying article by "Chronicle News Services" tells us that:

The inauguration of the youthful and popular new president -- and the departure of the incumbent, George W. Bush -- will set off a potentially dramatic shift in direction on policies, from the wars abroad to the role of the federal government at home, and a change in tone, with the rise of a new generation more prone to problem solving than to ideological conflict.

Gee. am I reading the Houston Chronicle published in Houston, Texas, USA, or is this from Pravda or Izvestia in Soviet times, or from the Völkischer Beobachter? The fawning, gushing, breathless tone of all the coverage; the pictures of the Leader everywhere, the kitschy souvenirs we are assured will be sentimental treasures in the future. Are we getting a new public official, or is Obama God? Do people know the difference?

We have no choice but to accept the people's verdict. Obama is going to get his chance, but that doesn't mean some of us have to like it. The Obamaites should enjoy their party: they earned it. But they can keep their change, and their Kool-Aid, thank you.

Pardons Anyone?

Josh Gerstein in Politico speculates today on possible Presidential pardons by President Bush in his last hours in office, before the Supreme Leader takes power. Most of these possible pardons are uninteresting, at least to El Jefe, but Mr. Gerstein says a mouthful when he notes:

. . .Bush could quickly leap back into the spotlight in the next two days if he issues a blanket pardon immunizing CIA and military interrogators, as well as their bosses, from criminal prosecution over harsh treatment of prisoners from the war on terror . . .

Mr. Gerstein is referring to possible prosecutions of military personnel and intelligence officers for interrogations of terror suspects (mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan) following 9/11. Mr. Gerstein notes that Eric Holder, the Attorney-General designate, seems "open to the idea" of prosecutions.

In a sane world, such prosecutions would not even be a remote possibility, avoiding the need for the dreadful precedent of a pardon. As blogger Tigerhawk notes, "the best result" would be "no pardon, and no prosecution."

Considering the stripe of those coming into power, and their hunger for investigations and "war crimes" prosecutions, action by Bush is called for. Doing nothing is not only unwise, but a real disservice to officers, soldiers and other public servants doing their duty, as they saw it, under extraordinary circumstances. So, I hope that President Bush finds a way, and unfolds the blanket pardon.

Besides, it would drive the Left absolutely bonkers. . .

President Bush Says Good-Bye

. . .But we must reject isolationism and its companion, protectionism. Retreating behind our borders would only invite danger. In the 21st century, security and prosperity at home depend on the expansion of liberty abroad. If America does not lead the cause of freedom, that cause will not be led. . .

George W. Bush, President of the United States (15 January 2009).

President Bush short farewell speech last night was a dignified ending to his White House tenure. The President made some mistakes, and at a more appropriate time, and after time for some perspective, these can be discussed.

President Bush was right on all the big things, and in the long term his presidency will receive better reviews from historians than it has from pundits and the bi-coastal media. With the possible exception of Governor Palin, no figure in modern American politics has been so maligned: the vitriol and relish with which his detractors have attacked his reputation and policies has actually obscured legitimate criticism and critique of his administration.

In any case, I expect that his administration is going to seem like a golden age compared to what is likely to follow. I was proud to support President Bush, I have no regrets, and I would vote for him again.

The Loser Gives the Winner Terms

The chairman of the Hamas Politburo, Mr. Khalid Mish'al -- away from his usual home in a Syrian bunker, but still (in Doha, Qatar) far, far away from any fighting -- says that, no, Hamas will not accept Israeli conditions for a cease-fire. Not only will Hamas not accept Israel's conditions, Mr. Mish'al demands that the Israelis quit pounding Gaza to rubble, let his terrorists off the hook, and open the Gaza Strip's borders.

What a lively sense of humor Mr. Mish'al has. Why doesn't he just ask the Israelis for a fresh supply of rockets and mortar bombs to shoot at them, or for Israel to provide a few thousand more civilians for Hamas gunmen to hide behind? Only in the never-never world of the modern media, international lawyers and the United Nations would piratical losers of conflicts -- which they themselves provoked -- actually think they could get away with dictating the terms on which the fighting might end. Here's hoping the Israelis, (via tanks and artillery in Gaza) deliver Hamas an appropriate response.

Palestina Irredenta (reprise)

I had another post on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in mind, but decided that I said what needed to be said, better, in 2006. The comments were very good. In lieu of a post, then, here's a link.

But I'm Okay With Waterboarding KSM

Obama's Attorney General nominee, Eric Holder, has done the expected at his auto-da-fé in the Senate and declared waterboarding is torture.

And mean people suck.

You know, we're not talking about sellers of Girl Scout Cookies here. I'm really okay with them waterboarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. I have no problem with Bush giving the order to waterboard KSM. Hell, if it were up to me, the interrogators could bleed KSM dry, give him some 9mm due process and toss his rotting carcass in a ditch someplace.

But the World Trade Center fell an awful long time ago, at least to some people. For the moment, Mr. Holder assures us that waterboarding is torture, and so it will remain. Until next time.

The Coming of Obama, the Going of the System

He's coming, he's coming. Presto! He's here!

The cult surrounding Obama just gets bigger and bigger. I was in the downtown mall in Cuidad El Jefe yesterday, looking for an ATM. The place was plastered with a new line of Pepsi advertising that looked suspiciously like Obama ads from the campaign. A few seconds with Google showed that I wasn't imagining the similarity. Walked into the bookstore, and everyplace I turned, I was greeted by an advertising display hawking a new gushy pro-Obama tome.

Shook myself, making sure I wasn't in Stalin's Russia, or Castro's Cuba. Still, if you want to see the future, watch the sales clerk give you dirty looks when you buy Corsi's Obama Nation or Freddoso's The Case Against Barack Obama. If you're smart, you'll perform those transactions in cash only. No, I'm really not kidding. The people who called Bush a dictator are now in the saddle, and they can dispense with pretence: perhaps we'll find all the ragging on Bush the Tyrant these several years past was just a projection of their own attitudes.

You can't get away from Obama: he's everyplace. Obama's bringing change and here to save us, as your kids will soon be telling you; and if you like your job, best just agree and say nothing more.

It's almost beside the point whether Obama as president succeeds or fails. Obama's not going to fail, by the way. Anything that goes wrong with Obama will be Bush's fault; and when that gets old Hillary's or his advisers, or the "right wing conspiracy" or (add name of despised group here). But nothing will be Obama's fault, ever. Like Citigroup, he's Too Big To Fail.

Speaking of Citigroup, the impending inaugural party is, perhaps fortunately, somewhat masking the continued implosion of the financial system. Obama wants Congress to give him the second $350 billion of the "Troubled Asset Relief Program" (TARP) -- or rather, he wants Congress not to block his using it. If that's not enough, the Democrats are preparing an $850 billion "stimulus package" ($300 billion in tax cuts, $500 billion in domestic spending) -- in addition to the TARP 2's $350 billion, and the $350 billion already advanced . . .

This is in addition to the government's already considerable spending on everything from the wars to snail-darter research. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the 2009 federal budget deficit will be $1.2 trillion.

We should be so lucky. Try doubling that. The $1.2 trillion figure is the deficit -- not the budget -- it's the part of the Federal budget that is not being covered by the government's income from taxes. Total spending is supposed to be about $3.5 trillion for Fiscal Year 2009, which seems to me to be an underestimate. For comparison, when President Bush took office in 2000, the entire spending of the US government totaled about $1.5 trillion -- or just a little more than the projected deficit for this year.

We're not going to service the deficits and the consequent growth of the debt with taxes -- Obama's promising tax cuts, and he'll have no problem finding bipartisan support for that. If the government will not tax to cover its bills, it can try borrowing: but one wonders how long the Chinese and everybody else are going to keep buying the Treasury's debt -- surely it's occurring to them that they haven't a prayer in hell of ever being paid.

The government's last alternative is to just print the money. Can you say "banana republic?" The dollar will collapse, and when you go shopping you can take your cash to Kroger in the grocery basket, and bring home your groceries in your wallet. Wonder how the Chinese will enjoy us settling our debts to them with toilet paper dollars?

Messiah-Elect Obama is evoking Lincoln themes with his inauguration, which is understandable, it's the bicentennial year of Lincoln's birth, and (quite aside from the first Black president thing) every President thinks he's Lincoln. On cue, the talking heads are all solemnly proclaiming that Obama faces Lincoln-style problems.

Maybe. Or maybe Lincoln had it easier. When Lincoln got to Washington, he was taking charge of a rich country that could really afford to fight a war to force the southern states to stay in the Union. Money, factories, people, even without the South -- you name it, the Union had it. Lincoln had some huge problems: he was facing a war, but he had a giant storehouse of real assets to face it with.

So what's Obama got, exactly, to face our problems with? Oh yeah, Hope, Change etc. Well, platitudes and $1.2 trillion dollars will buy you a vente Starbucks.

Gaza: Talks in Egypt

The Israelis are sending an official from their Defense Ministry to talk to the Egyptians about a cease fire in Gaza. Depending on the outcome of the talks, the Israelis, so goes the AP story, will decide whether to "move towards" a cease-fire, or intensify their offensive.

Meanwhile, there's street fighting in Gaza, within a mile and a half of the center of town, where the criminal Hamas leaders are believed to be holed-up (under a hospital). (Hamas bosses are clearly not cast in the George Patton mold of leadership, eh? Hitler, Stalin and Saddam are more their speed). Haaretz reports that Hamas rockets are still going into Israel from Gaza.

Jerusalem Post reports that the Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, says that the offensive will continue while Israel "monitors" diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. Commentary in the J Post by Yaakov Katz indicates that the Israelis don't think that they have engaged the major Hamas forces yet -- Hamas is apparently dug-in deeper into Gaza City.

Clearly the Israeli Defense Ministry official visiting Cairo has been instructed not to hurry too much. That's to the good, but the Israeli ground forces may want to pick up the pace. Bush will give the Israelis the diplomatic cover they need. However, his successor is going to be another story.

This Post Brought to You By the Letter C. . .

Momma over at The Kitchen (in common with some other blogs) is playing the Alphabet Super Game, where you list ten favorite things beginning with the assigned letter. This sounded interesting, I said, and lo and behold, she assigned me the letter C. So, here goes. . .

1. Cats. Of course! Where would life be without the Feline High Patronesses of this blog, FLNKY, MILO and SUNSHINE (“SHINY”) who would in any case shred me into little pieces if I didn’t mention them first.

2. Cheesecake. One of my favorite desserts (well, one of them anyway) particularly when you put cherries all over it.

3. Coffee. Lately I can’t start the morning without coffee -- LOTS of coffee. Preferred very black and very hot.

4. Camping. I really like to camp, for a couple of days anyway. . .as long as I can make camp when I can still see. But getting back to civilization is always welcome.

5. Crunching. Yes, I like it when food goes crunch, crunch, crunch! Crackers, Croutons, Chips (lots of “C” things too, I’m hoping I don’t have to promote them to separate list items.

6. Craziness. I do like to do wacko things from time to time, such as drive through my very conservative, very quiet neighborhood with the windows rolled down, the Mexican music radio station on (Hey, XM Radio: bring back 92 aguila!) and the volume cranked up. Hip Hop or German march music works too. Okay, there are other crazy things, but I'm busy today, and don't have time to research Statutes of Limitations.

7. Chaos. I must really love Chaos, since I named this blog for it, and since my desk and closets always look rather chaotic at the best of times. Go figure.

8. Cannons. Generally I like things that go boom: I have several firearms and love to shoot the things, to fool with and clean them and I enjoy learning about them. (In one of the Buzz Lightyear cartoons, Emperor Zurg, when his minions are scurrying around, gets exasperated and says: “can we just shoot the big gun?” That’s me). I’d have artillery if they’d let me, but possibly the neighbors would get alarmed.

9. Cars. I love mine, a black Lexus ES-350, very much. Generally I prefer overpowered and somewhat sporty, but with enough room to haul all my hangers-on and such around. If it irritates the Greenie Weenies, so much the better.

10. Cash. In God El Jefe trusts, all others pay cash. Cash is always a good thing, and you can never have enough of it. . .sometimes El Jefe forgets to carry any at all, which frustrates SWMBO no end. But wads of it falling out of the sky are always appreciated. (Well, duh).

Well, today's post has been brought to you by the letter C. Didn't Big Bird or somebody do that on Sesame Street?

Review of Gran Torino

Friday night, El Jefe and SWMBO went and saw Clint Eastwood's new film Gran Torino. This is a great film, but viewers looking for Dirty Harry Callahan will possibly be disappointed.

In Gran Torino, Eastwood stars as Walt Kowalski, a recently widowed, irascible Korean War veteran, still hanging on in a neighborhood of Detroit post-World War II houses being rapidly taken over by Hmong immigrants from Laos and Vietnam. Walt is unhappy about his new "slope," and "zipperhead" neighbors; can’t relate to his forty-something children; and resents the efforts of his children and his deceased wife’s very young Catholic priest (Father Janovich) to “look after” him in the manner they think appropriate. Besides his dog, his barber and some old cronies at the neighborhood bar, the only thing Walt (an ex-auto worker) really seems to care about is his green 1972 Gran Torino.

Walt unwillingly meets his Hmong neighbors when their teenage son Thao falls in with bad companions. The local gangsters find out that Walt and his ever-present Colt M1911 .45 pistol are not to be trifled with. Walt winds up befriending Thao and his family, and tries to keep Thao out of gang trouble, while dodging the efforts of Father Janovich to make Walt confess his sins and get right with God. Meanwhile Walt’s kids occasionally visit from another planet, making Walt realize he’s got more in common with some of his “different” Hmong neighbors than he thought.

The gang bangers aren't going to put up with Thao walking the straight and narrow. Walt isn’t going to express repentance for living his life as he thought necessary. Finally, Walt isn’t going to refrain from doing what’s necessary either. . .

See this movie! It’s not Dirty Harry; it’s more of an epistle on doing what you have to in life without regretting it, accepting where the cards come down, and standing up for yourself and for your friends. I’m good for the video when it comes out, and I’d go see it again.

Hiding Behind Children

The inimitable Lieut. Col. Ralph Peters has said everything about the Hamas/Israel fight in the Gaza Strip that needs to be said. Like Bookworm, who guided me to this piece, I wish I had said it.

The Hamas devils have deliberately and with malice aforethought put civilians in the middle of their war; hiding in the homes and under the skirts and beds of children. The Euros and the idiots at the UN talking shop on Turtle Bay are busily trying to cobble together one of their patented no-cease-fire cease-fires.

The talkers and their "peace-process" cannot be allowed to succeed: letting Hamas off the hook licenses the tactic of using human shields, ensuring that the same thing will be repeated again and again, possibly on a larger scale. As Col. Peters says:

It's time to smash the lies. The lies of Hamas. The UN lies. And the save-the-terrorists lies of the global media.

There is no moral equivalence between Hamas terrorists and Israeli soldiers. There is no gray area. There is no point in negotiations.

No cease-fires please, Israelis: just tell the UN to stuff it and that they can have their precious cease-fire when the last of the Hamas criminals are stone-cold dead.

Men Are Stupid. . .

Was wandering through the book store this evening, and noticed that Joan Rivers has a new book: Men Are Stupid . . . And They Like Big Boobs. But you knew that, right?

Ms. Rivers has a deeper understanding of the real world than armies of social scientists, teachers and historians. How much of the history of just about everything is summed-up in her rather vulgar title?

Obama and His BlackBerry

President-Elect Obama is resisting his handlers' determination that he will have to give up his BlackBerry and E-mail. "I'm still clinging to my BlackBerry. . .They're going to have to pry it out of my hands."

I find his position emotionally understandable, but in practical terms, extremely disturbing. I haven't joined the BlackBerry world, but I'd sure miss my e-mail and cellaphone. But just what world does Mr. Obama live in, that he thinks he can keep his private communications?

This is not a university faculty he's joining: Obama is becoming President of the United States. Every utterance, every scribbled note, everything the Man Who Can Begin Nuclear War says will be scrutinized; open to subpoenas; fodder for questions by reporters; to being misconstued and taken out of context by the public, by head-shrinks for foreign intelligence services and everybody but Santa Claus. The president's communications are (with very narrow exceptions) public property, destined to wind up in a library someplace with a catalogue number. For God's sake, the Secret Service spies on the man in his bathroom. The whole idea that a sitting president - or even an ex-president- could (if he's prudent and careful) have access to forms of communication beyond the reach of advisors is, today, ludicrous, and crazy for Obama to want.

Who IS this man? Does Obama not understand what he's gotten himself into? Just why does Obama think the presidents all age so much in their photographs? Does Obama have the mental discipline to be our president? We're all going to find out, aren't we?

Gaza: General Comments

Hoping to have time to comment further on Gaza, but pretty pinned-down at work catching up after over a week off between Christmas and New Years.

With the Gaza Strip bisected and Gaza City itself effectively surrounded by the better part of two Israeli mechanized divisions (and the Israeli Navy on the sea side) one wonders what the Israeli end-game is? They've only got certain cover in the UN until the 20th or so, when Obama takes over, so if the Israelis mean to wreck Hamas, they had better be about it. Yes, this will mean fighting in built-up areas, but that's inherent in dealing with Hamas on its own ground, and the Israelis knew this from the beginning.

The Israelis have done a generally splendid job with the media this time around: in contrast to their performance in the Hezbollah War of 2006. They're mostly keeping the reporters away from the battle zone, mounting their own information operations on the Web, and they appear to be acting against Hamas's ability to get its own story out electronically, also. It is simply not possible to make war in the modern era without an organized and planned effort to use information and media power as simply a different kind of artillery.

Speaking of communications: it's apparently very dangerous for persons on the Israelis' Hamas target list to use cell-phones, it seems that the Israeli Air Force, or Israeli artillery, has been reaching out and touching them.

The attitude of the Arab states is interesting: the usual criticism, the usual pictures of howling mobs of protesters, but overall much more muted than I expected. Predictable on the part of the governments: the Egyptian, Jordanian, and Saudi governments all no doubt want Hamas crushed, but probably wish the Israelis would hurry up about it.

Hamas's only truly reliable friend is Iran. Iran's why Hamas has the 122 mm Grad rockets, in addition to its homemade Qassams, to fire at Israeli cities. But Iran now has problems of its own: its leadership is probably preoccupied with finishing its bomb, trying to keep discontent over its failing economy under control, and is hurting now that oil prices are low. . .

Israel has a window to really hurt Hamas. . .and conditions for the moment are in its favor. But the Israelis need to hurry.

Ukraine's Gas Crisis

Watch the Ukraine, people. Vlad Putin and company are getting ready to cook-up quite a stew for St. Barack when he ascends to the rule of the world later this month.

The (latest) natural gas crisis between Gazprom (the Russian gas-export company -- that croaks "ribbet!" when Vlad shouts "frog!") and Ukraine could get pretty serious, pretty quickly.

Find your atlas. Look up the Crimea. South part of Ukraine, right on the Black Sea. A lovely place I'm told (well, the German Army didn't think so in the last war), that produces some interesting wines. The big cities are Simferopol (about 340,000, capital of the "Autonomous Republic of Crimea" within Ukraine) and Sevastopol (population 350,000 or so) -- which has a giant Russian/Ukranian joint naval base, and used to be the home port of the Soviet Red Banner Black Sea Fleet. The place is well known to military historians: besides the great battles of the Second World War at Kerch, Sevastopol and other places, long ago, Crimea was the venue of -- yes, the Crimean War (see Charge of Light Brigade, et al).

Among other things, the Crimea is full of ethnic Russians who don't much like being Ukrainians, and who (as the Sudeten Germans did once) want to return Home to the Motherland. As recently as last September, the Russians were giving out Russian passports to "Ukranian" citizens of the Crimea, over Ukranian protests.

Mr. Putin (and most Russians with an interest in foreign policy) wants to rebuild Russia's control in its near abroad, and possibly bring portions of the former Soviet Union back under effective Russian control. Georgia was a step in this direction, but there are going to be others.

With the world financial crisis, and a dovish US administration taking power, an opportunity is opening for Russia to assert itself again. Georgia was an unmitigated success for a more aggressive Russian policy: why should Putin not push in Ukraine, also? Watch the Ukraine -- and particularly the Crimea. If you start hearing reports of pro-Russian agitation in the Crimea, in addition to problems with Russia over natural gas, you'll know Putin's reading the tea-leaves the same way.

The Burris Appointment

It has been mildly entertaining watching the Democrats get all crosswise over Roland Burris, appointed by Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich to fill St. Barack's place in the US Senate. In the latest twist to this deliciously sordid mess: the Democrat controlled Senate is apparently going to slow-walk Burris, giving his credentials to the Senate Rules Committee (also Democrat controlled) to "review."

Probably the review will take as long as is required for the Illinois legislature to figure out how to rid the Illinois governor's mansion of the suddenly loathsome Blagojevich. Now, Blago was a perfectly okay guy with the Democrats until the US Attorney got all that vulgar audio, but that was then, and this is now. Anyway, once Blago is given the deep six, the Rules Committee (busily reviewing Burris's senatorial credentials) will, lo and behold, discover irregularities, and dear old "Senator" Burris will be on the next plane, train, or automobile back to Illinois.

The Democrats created the mess because they didn't want to give the Republicans a chance to pick up a seat in a special election. True, it would have taken legislation, but it was doable. What the Democrats want is for the seat to remain vacant until Lieutenant-Governor Pat Quinn can be popped into Blago's place, maybe next week.

Quite frankly, it's difficult to see what the Democrats are complaining about. Blago is still the Governor of Illinois, there is a vacancy in Illinois's representation to the US Senate, and the Governor, whatever we might think of him, appears to have legally appointed Mr. Burris. Mr. Burris certainly seems qualified: a former State attorney general, former State comptroller, former bank vice-president, and former candidate for Mayor of Chicago. He's certainly has as good a set of senatorial credentials as Caroline Kennedy, or for that matter, Barack Obama.

If they wanted to block Governor Blagojevich from appointing Mr. Burris, then the Democrats in Illinois should have gotten their act together and impeached him, or arranged via legislation for a special election. But they did not, and Blago did, and here we are. Mr. Burris has his appointment, and the option that involves the least violence to the Constitution would be to recognize it.

Nevertheless, it appears that Mr. Burris will not be permitted to take his seat. One wonders if the Democrats are going to take such a hard line, now, on Mr. Burris so that they might be permitted to take an easy line later on, say, Al Franken?

New Year's Day? Or Is That The 20th?

Yes, 2008 is fini-bye-bye, oh thank God.

Something called 2009 has started, but does it really matter? He who comes to save and rule over us begins His reign on the 20th. He will be crowned with many crowns, and a New Age then begins.

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.