24/09: Go, Johnny, Go
Barack Obama on why he insists on maintaining the debate on Friday night as scheduled:
"This is exactly the time the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess."
"In my mind, [the debate] is more important than ever."
Three Quick Things:
1. No one new will be in charge of this mess until 20 January. We have an election in 40-odd days--but we wait more than two months after that for an actual changing of the guard. We cannot wait four months for a fix.
2. The debate in question is over foreign policy--not economics.
3. And the last thing we need is two donkeys (and I am not talking party symbols here) "demagoguing it up" on TV. We need two statesmen who are willing to forgo political advantage and put their country first. No solution is possible with the grandstanding Congressional leadership mugging for the cameras and dueling for the best plan to help the "little people." Our only hope is some selflessness.
Elections be damned. I salute John McCain for the sentiment and the paean to the founding heroes of the United States of America. Even if he is just being cynical (and I am not at all sure that he is), I appreciate the sop to an antiquated American tradition. John Quincy Adams would be proud.
"This is exactly the time the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess."
"In my mind, [the debate] is more important than ever."
Three Quick Things:
1. No one new will be in charge of this mess until 20 January. We have an election in 40-odd days--but we wait more than two months after that for an actual changing of the guard. We cannot wait four months for a fix.
2. The debate in question is over foreign policy--not economics.
3. And the last thing we need is two donkeys (and I am not talking party symbols here) "demagoguing it up" on TV. We need two statesmen who are willing to forgo political advantage and put their country first. No solution is possible with the grandstanding Congressional leadership mugging for the cameras and dueling for the best plan to help the "little people." Our only hope is some selflessness.
Elections be damned. I salute John McCain for the sentiment and the paean to the founding heroes of the United States of America. Even if he is just being cynical (and I am not at all sure that he is), I appreciate the sop to an antiquated American tradition. John Quincy Adams would be proud.
24/09: McCain's Latest Blunder
From The DrudgeReport:
David Letterman tells audience that McCain called him today to tell him he had to rush back to DC to deal with the economy.
Then in the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, "Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?"
Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, "You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves." And he joked: "I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."
"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?"
"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"
UPDATE Video available here.
David Letterman tells audience that McCain called him today to tell him he had to rush back to DC to deal with the economy.
Then in the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, "Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?"
Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, "You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves." And he joked: "I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."
"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?"
"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"
UPDATE Video available here.
"On Nov. 5, the presidential election winds up in a electoral-college tie, 269-269, the Democrat-controlled House picks Sen. Barack Obama as president, but the Senate, with former Democrat Joe Lieberman voting with Republicans, deadlocks at 50-50, so Vice President Dick Cheney steps in to break the tie to make Republican Sarah Palin his successor."
Here.
Here.
23/09: My Two Cents
Spengler asks: "Why should American taxpayers give US Treasury Secretary "Hank" Paulson a blank check to bail out the shareholders of busted banks? Why should the Treasury turn itself into a toxic waste dump for their bad loans?"
For what it's worth, I think the latest Democratic mantra, "Don't send a blank check to Washington" is absolutely brilliant and captures the sentiments of most Americans. Here was a real opportunity for McCain to go toe-to-toe with the Administration, in weeks just before the election, both tapping into populist sentiment while defending conservative economic principles. He blew it. McCain has simply allowed himself to be out maneuvered on this one. Instead, McCain's move has been to rail against bailouts both before and after they happen, but support them in the moment -- bizarre. He was against the AIG bailout the day before he approved it. Most Americans are freaked out by this bailout giving Paulson unfettered authority and allowing companies to give massive payouts of taxpayer money to their CEOs.
But maybe you disagree?
For what it's worth, I think the latest Democratic mantra, "Don't send a blank check to Washington" is absolutely brilliant and captures the sentiments of most Americans. Here was a real opportunity for McCain to go toe-to-toe with the Administration, in weeks just before the election, both tapping into populist sentiment while defending conservative economic principles. He blew it. McCain has simply allowed himself to be out maneuvered on this one. Instead, McCain's move has been to rail against bailouts both before and after they happen, but support them in the moment -- bizarre. He was against the AIG bailout the day before he approved it. Most Americans are freaked out by this bailout giving Paulson unfettered authority and allowing companies to give massive payouts of taxpayer money to their CEOs.
But maybe you disagree?
Category: General
Posted by: Tocqueville
Dennis Prager, one of my favorite Americans, nails it on the head. The real danger for Obama is that this quickly spreading "voters-are-racists" attitude is seen for what it is by uncommitted Democrats and independents. Obama is smart enough to know this, so he tries to avoid it, but he can't control his "well-meaning friends" in the media and academia.
Amazing, isn't it? Those intelligent, well-educated, and highly ambitious leftists have never figured out that if you insult the voters as racist, they just might vote against you! Their ignorance is bliss.
Amazing, isn't it? Those intelligent, well-educated, and highly ambitious leftists have never figured out that if you insult the voters as racist, they just might vote against you! Their ignorance is bliss.
George Will says it here. I have been thinking it for weeks:
John McCain's best argument for why we should elect him president in 2008 is divided government.
That is, if McCain does not win, prepare yourself for a tsunami of liberal legislation that will make the New Deal and the Great Society look like a day at the beach.
If you believe that government governs best when it governs least, you will want to vote for the contrarian McCain and hope for vetoes.
John McCain's best argument for why we should elect him president in 2008 is divided government.
That is, if McCain does not win, prepare yourself for a tsunami of liberal legislation that will make the New Deal and the Great Society look like a day at the beach.
If you believe that government governs best when it governs least, you will want to vote for the contrarian McCain and hope for vetoes.
I have been thinking about writing a bit on the financial crisis, but fortunately for you I found some analysis from people who actually know what they're talking about. A particularly relevant bit from the Freakonomics blog:
[Frequently Asked Question #] 4) I do not work at Lehman or A.I.G. and do not own much stock; why should I care?
The concern for the man on Main Street is not the bankruptcy of Lehman, per se. Rather, it is the collective inability of major financial institutions to find funding.
As their own funding dries up, the remaining financial firms will be much more cautious in extending credit to normal firms and individuals. So even for people whose own circumstances have not much changed, the cost of the credit is going to rise. For an individual or business that falls behind on payments or needs an increase in short-term credit because of the slowing economy, credit will be much harder to obtain than in recent years.
This is going to slow growth. We have not seen this much stress in the financial system since the Great Depression, so we do not have any recent history to rely upon in quantifying the magnitude of the slowdown. A recent educated guess by Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs suggests that G.D.P. growth will be just about 2 percentage points lower in 2008 and 2009. But as he explains, extrapolations of this sort are highly uncertain.
The full article is greatly worth reading for a straight-forward (well, they still use the insider terms, but to be fair, it's almost impossible not to) explanation of what exactly's been going on.
Also try looking here for a brief take on the crisis in the media, but mostly for a good selection of links.
I'll let gardener and Farmer tackle the normative side of the whole situation. I have a feeling they have something to say on the credit situation that got us here...
[Frequently Asked Question #] 4) I do not work at Lehman or A.I.G. and do not own much stock; why should I care?
The concern for the man on Main Street is not the bankruptcy of Lehman, per se. Rather, it is the collective inability of major financial institutions to find funding.
As their own funding dries up, the remaining financial firms will be much more cautious in extending credit to normal firms and individuals. So even for people whose own circumstances have not much changed, the cost of the credit is going to rise. For an individual or business that falls behind on payments or needs an increase in short-term credit because of the slowing economy, credit will be much harder to obtain than in recent years.
This is going to slow growth. We have not seen this much stress in the financial system since the Great Depression, so we do not have any recent history to rely upon in quantifying the magnitude of the slowdown. A recent educated guess by Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs suggests that G.D.P. growth will be just about 2 percentage points lower in 2008 and 2009. But as he explains, extrapolations of this sort are highly uncertain.
The full article is greatly worth reading for a straight-forward (well, they still use the insider terms, but to be fair, it's almost impossible not to) explanation of what exactly's been going on.
Also try looking here for a brief take on the crisis in the media, but mostly for a good selection of links.
I'll let gardener and Farmer tackle the normative side of the whole situation. I have a feeling they have something to say on the credit situation that got us here...
17/09: Made in China Strikes Again
Poison Toothpast. Baby Formula Causes Kidney Stones. These and many other headlines have this in common: they refer to Made in China goods.
Now, chairs and sofas that can cause eczema. Article here.
Would someone please explain to me again, why do we trade with these folks making dangerous products? Why do we help support their murderous, aggressive government by enriching their nation?
Now, chairs and sofas that can cause eczema. Article here.
Would someone please explain to me again, why do we trade with these folks making dangerous products? Why do we help support their murderous, aggressive government by enriching their nation?
17/09: Palin's Religion Attacked
Category: Politics
Posted by: an okie gardener
When I made this earlier post on Sarah Palin's religious beliefs, I did not know that some already were attacking her on this point. Steve Rempe over at The Institute on Religion & Democracy has this essay in which he quotes from the critics and then counterattacks.
I think that the religious beliefs of a candidate are fair game for questions and discussion. I do, however, prefer intelligent debate to partisan attacks.
I think that the religious beliefs of a candidate are fair game for questions and discussion. I do, however, prefer intelligent debate to partisan attacks.
16/09: Know Much About History?
On an oldies station this evening I heard Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire for the first time in quite a while. I actually had forgotten it.
History quiz: can you identify all the references in the song?
Live performance.
To make it easier, here are the lyrics:
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Maciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dancron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, taking place , travel in the Suez
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkwether, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo
[ Find more Lyrics at www.mp3lyrics.org/aEz ]
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Hemingway, Eichman, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh,
Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets,
AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores,
China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the
world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire...
I make this an extra-credit option in my history class.
History quiz: can you identify all the references in the song?
Live performance.
To make it easier, here are the lyrics:
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Maciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dancron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, taking place , travel in the Suez
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkwether, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo
[ Find more Lyrics at www.mp3lyrics.org/aEz ]
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Hemingway, Eichman, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh,
Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets,
AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores,
China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the
world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire...
I make this an extra-credit option in my history class.
