GOP Trouble Continued

Just to continue my thread about why the GOP shuould be concerned about holding onto power. The overtly liberal Foxnews.com ran this article about how the GOP has changed. The article does a very good job of illustrating the points I've fumbled to make. Granted, for Republican voters, where can they go? But they can allways stay home and, in the face of a motivated Dem base, that alone can spell disaster for the GOP. At some point voters will realize that the party that they sent to power is not at all like the party in power. While not a historical first, it is, none-the-less, reality.

Something about history repeating itslelf

CNN/Money has an article under a tab called "Power Packed Muscle Cars Come Roaring Back" which takes you to this article. What I love about this is somewhere some executive at Ford said, "SUV sales are declining, gas is pushing $3 a barrel, everyone's clamoring about the need to rely less on foreign oil, and people aren't buying cars. What should we do?" And some genius yelled, "MUSCLE CARS!!!"

Amazing. Didn't this happen in the 70's? Japan focused on mileage and utility, and Detroit kept producing bigger gas guzzlers. Does Detroit not study history? Do they ignore market trends? SUV sales are falling, and Detroit throws up even less useful gas hogs. At least SUV's hold lots of people and things. But muscle cars? Just what every family needs, a low-milage, low-utility vehicle. Normally, I would just note the raw stupidity of these execs, but I also remember the taxpayer funded bail-outs that came afterwards. Its one thing to let businesses make bad decisions and suffer the consequences, but its another when businesses make bad decisions and taxpayers have to suffer. And thats the other part of history that seems doomed to repeat itself.

Spamalicious

Hey we have spam! So we're not popular enough to get actual comments, but the spammers have found us. Eventhough any comment makes me feel special, I put an end to the spammers (I hope) by enabling a varification window for comments. I hope it doesn't hurt our popularity.

Robertson, "US should date Chavez"

Pat Roberton becomes the latest person who, despite actual video evidence, says I didn't say what I said on TV. At some point, people need to realize that TV is recorded. I just don't get how you can say something on TV and then think you can get away with saying "never said it, nope, not me." At least review the tape and formulate a good story. But to just out right lie, amazing.

So he says he didn't call for Chavez's assassination. "If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it," said Robertson Monday. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war."

What he says he meant was, "I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out.' And 'take him out' can be a number of things, including kidnapping; there are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him." "Or our special forces could "take him out," like on a date. Bring him some flowers and candy, you know, take him on a nice date. If the special forces are feeling the right vibe they could kiss him on the cheek, but not the lips, it is after all a first date. Sometimes just showing someone you care is all it takes to bring them around. And lets face it, no matter how much lobster he eats, its cheaper than the bill for a war."

The GOP Conundrum

Recent Polls show Bush's flagging approval ratings on most major issues. What's striking is that 80% of Dems dissaprove, while 90% of Republicans approve. The only thing worse than Bush's ratings are those of Congress, and that is the problem for the GOP. That core group of Republicans that approve of Bush do so out or personal loyalty. Key quote, "I may not approve of every single thing he does," McAllister said, "but he's a true leader because he's not leading by the polls." This quote, and other's like these, are rattling the rest of the GOP. Personal approval of Bush, even while disagreeing with his policies, does not translate to other candidates. I think this is why we're starting to see cracks in the GOP wall. Leading Republicans are aware that they are not Bush, and cannont rely on high personal approval. The concern must be that the blame for bad policy, because it is not sticking to Bush, will land on them. This will lead to more objections/defections, which could lead to lost opportunity for the GOP, and dissatisfaction of the base. Everyman for himself is a dangerous plan for the GOP, but this is the result of Bush's numbers. He must figure out a way to balance his numbers, and the rest of the GOP must figure out a way to garner some of his love with the base. GOP Presidential hopefuls (especially) must decide if they want to follow lock-step with a "war time" President who's numbers are below 50%, or do they want to risk the ire of a GOP base that is proping those numbers up?

Unless McCain gets the bid, the GOP may be in real trouble in 2008.

Once Bush is gone, however, the Dems would be wise to hit his policies while leaving him alone. But looking for wise strategy out of the Dems is in itself bad strategy.

Novakain

Bill Novak writes a long article bashing Frist. I'm not a huge fan of Frist, and he's done a host of laughable things, but Novak hits him, in part, because, "A month earlier, Frist missed the counting of Electoral College votes (including the Ohio challenge) to leave on a medical mission to the Indian Ocean following the tsunami. This was a decision by a doctor, not a politician."
How dare Frist do such a thing! Helping out in the tsunami relief instead of sitting there watching a foregone conclusioin in the EC? Why I never. This just shows why the beltway is its own twisted universe. Only in DC is this even an issue. Seeing the known conclusion to the Electoral Votes over helping in a disaster, where's the conundrum. It would be like a fireman saying, "hold on, I'll get there, I just want to catch the end of this Star Trek rerun, maybe Kirk dies this time?"
My favorite is the last part. I don't love Frist, but the more any politician thinks like anything other than a politician the better. I would love to see more Congressfolks making decisions like an accountant, banker, store clerk, mechanic, whatever than a politician. I mean, "thinking like a politician" isn't that an insult?

Gas Woes Just Got Worse

Since Congressfolks are not required to take Econ 101, we get this. Apparantly Congress is flummoxed by the concept of supply and demand. Next they's tackle such brain busters as "why do people need to eat?" And, "where do clouds come from." I think my favorite statement comes in the third paragraph, " Lawmakers admit there is no short-term fix to pain at the pump, but are nervous about political fall-out. " Just kind of says it all. I just hope, and this is a long-shot, that they don't put in some kind of cap, or some other useless command economy tool.

FANtastic

This Will Save Lives

Barbaro Rosseland, 5, of Norway, undergoes explosives detection screening at Palm Beach International Airport. Inside the "Puffer", a burst of air pushes dust particles from your clothing to be analyzed for bomb material.

"It was no trouble at all," Ingvild Mo--Barbaro's mother-- said with a shrug following her screening. "I like fresh air."

Yes, They Called It "The Streak"

August approaches, and unless the Bill Murray movie comes to town, I--for the first time in at least 25 years--likely will end the summer without having gone to the movies.

Sure, I'm cheap and a churl when it comes to me paying to go see slop I spent years watching on the clock ushering. But check out my Netflix queue and about all that's out this summer that I'm even mildly interested in seeing even at home other than Broken Flowers is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Bewitched, and The Brothers Grimm.

So, with the streak all but at an end, but a legacy left to tarnish, is it time to say, "Enough"?

The Race Is On...

Quick review of the "Profile Views" for Hydrablog reveals that Stalin Malone is the clear winner.
Stalin Malone: 90 views. Great Job Stalin, almost six times the nearest rival. Clearly in a class by himself. Legend of the blogosphere.
Mike3000: 16 views. Just added a fancy picture...looking to make a move.
McLieberman: 16 views. McLieberman better do something, Mike3000's picture could break this tie.
Unknown Blogger: 8 Views. Clearly the Cincinnati Bengals of this blog.

90 views, seriously...90? I mean people aren't even checking out the other bloggers just to see. How's that? The rest of us need to take a long look in the mirror and ask if we have what it takes to hang with the likes of Stalin Malone.

Subsidze Me!

Quick note to those that argue that renewable energy is overly subsidized against carbon fuels. Notice that Tom Delay, GOP budget minded, fiscally responsible House Majority leader is fighting hard for: “A Senate-passed requirement for an inventory of offshore oil and gas resources and a House-approved measure, pushed by Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, to provide $2 billion in subsidies for research into oil exploration in the deepest parts of the Gulf of Mexico.” Notice, this is $2 billion for RESEARCH into EXPLORATION. Its not even money to recover known quantities. Its taxpayer money to find out if we can look for something. Not to mention that at oil companies are doing great right now and are flush with cash to do this all by their lonesome. Here Bush has it right, “With oil at more than $50 a barrel, energy companies do not need taxpayer-funded incentives to explore for oil and gas." But the GOP controlled congress has other thoughts: The energy bill under consideration on the Senate floor would reduce royalty payments for oil and gas producers drilling in federal waters -- a break worth almost $100 million over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

I am not using this to justify "green" subsidies. This is to point out that everyone eats at the federal trough. I wonder who would survive if everyone had to fend for themselves? About the only given there is that the Nuclear boondoggle would be exposed.

Permanent Patriot.

Question: If war time measures become permanent, are we permanently at war?

Light-Wing Propaganda

Should Congress fail, Daylight-Savings activist Jim Ahmed vows to set this clock forward again and again until Washington gets it, and gets some sun!

"DON'T COME TO ME WITH A PROBLEM, COME TO ME WITH THE SUN!"

Granted, It's Art

Click on the link above and scroll down for The Big Local Story, "Total Eclipse of the Art." Here's how it ends. Here's how it began.

(And here's us.)

WE, oui?

Two weeks ago, the Underground was the world's busiest subway system, ferrying three million people each day through London.

"Madrid carried terror to the heart of Europe, but we never believed we would be a lonely, unique case," said Jorge Dezcallar, the head of Spain's foreign intelligence service during the Madrid attacks. "[Madrid] just had the bad luck of being chosen as the first target, but not the last. London, like Madrid, proves how vulnerable we are."

And this is who "we" are: Brits and Spaniards, yes, but also Pakistanis, Australians, Israelis, Americans--Christians, Jews, and Muslims--and, oui, the French.

Take Tony Blair, for all that's wrong with the war in Iraq, at his word: "[Islamic extremism] and the violence that is inherent in it did not start a few years ago in response to a particular policy."

Nor should Paris count on Islamofacism's end safely beyond the secularized borders of France, a nation that licenses its clerics, bans religious dress in its schools, and imports more than 400,000 barrels of oil per day from caliph-avorites like Saudi Arabia and Algeria.

Algeria, a Mediterranean neighbor to Spain and the North African Al Qaeda hotspots from which the Madrid bombers came--Morocco and Tunisia--knows terror, too: Between 1992 and 1998, more than 100,000 Algerians were killed during the army-led Algerian government's struggle with the Islamic Salvation Front and other Islamacists such as the Armed Islamic Group. France perhaps remembers the Armed Islamic Group as the terrorists responsible for the 1994 Air France murder-hijacking in which the fully-fueled plane was meant to be crashed into the Eiffel Tower, as well as Paris subway bombings that killed eight people the following year.

No, the Armed Islamic Group attacks against France were not, as those in Madrid and London, the work of Moroccans, or Tunisians, or Pakistanis, or British nationals of Pakistani descent, or Jamaican-born British residents like Germaine Lindsey, who murdered 27 people on the Piccadilly line train. And the Armed Islamic Group had no apparant hand in the Al Qaeda attacks since 2002 against French citizens in Morocco and Tunisia and Pakistan and Yemen.

Yet, somehow, it's all about Iraq?

Initiating Auto-Destruct Sequence "Hydrablog"

3000, Mike, Zero-Zero-Zero-Destruct-Zero.

CONCUR!

Broken Words

There is no federally recognized "reporter's privilege." When a journalist refuses to reveal a source's identity to a federal grand jury, that journalist stands on principle, not the law.

Time Inc. editor in chief Norman Pearlstine, by revealing the identity or identities of confidential sources in Time's reporting on Valerie Plame, abandoned principle and broke what little of my trust in confidentially sourced reporting remained.

"The journalist and the lawyer were fighting in my head," Pearlstine said. "But if presidents are not above the law, how is it that journalists are?"

They're not. Concealing sources is not a right or a privilege, it's a responsibility. A journalist who accepts this responsibility should accept the consequences.

A confidential source not worth fighting for 'til the source says the fight is over is a source whose side of the story isn't worth writing or reading.

A Gulag By Any Other Name...

How easy it is to get attention these days. Everywhere you look there is a camera streaming images to somewhere on the cable spectrum. And people watching...for hours on end...watching. (Marx could not have been less prescient about what makes for good opiate.) And all that information. Good clean information. Well-considered and minty fresh. Oh, I know, you can't trust it ALL. I mean there are always a few kooks out there, a few exceptions to the rule of intellectual honesty and fair play. But certainly they get discredited quickly once the media has a chance to debunk. I mean who would risk that priceless jewel of credibility? Well, Amnesty International for one. And the mainstream media for two.

The United States has been charged with running a gulag, with ghost detentions and torture. Charges that one would expect would have to be well-documented to be credible. Or not. Ghost detentions and disappearances refer to summary and secretive executions usually carried out in dictatorships...catch the implication? Amnesty levels this charge without a single victim's name. Torture? Is this a well-defined term in the report that warrants the strong language? No, but there are some examples - like holding one inmate "incommunicado". Loneliness is torture. Thanks Amnesty International for your courageous war on boredom. The charges are laughable, the fact that the media accepted it uncritically is scandalous.

It's a shame. There was a time when a respectable thinker could quote an Amnesty International report to bolster an argument. Unfortunately, now such a quote would only reveal the mistaken use of "respectable".

Zingered

For those of you fanatically following the Pyramid thread, Mr. Malone just proved why you never see two long-time friends run against each other in politics. They know each other too well. Mr. Malone just took my "having the Feds bail out the minority is just wrong" point and applied to homosexual marriage. He knows that I'm very much in favor of full CIVIL marriage rights for homosexuals, and he rightly points out that this is the minority position. To which I say "CURSE YOU MR. MALONE!" and "well done."

I moved this back to the front because I think this is worth its own space. Now pay attention as I attempt to maneuver out of this corner. Feel free to cry foul if I miss-step.

A point I made in the other post is that the free-market is often used in areas that it is not designed to handle. Law is just such a place. The free-market works in the FCC space because it is an economic issue. Pure and simple. Here are some of the reasons. Its not about emotion. It's real time. If the nation moves through a conservative period the market will immediately adapt. There is no lag. Also, those who don't want to buy the product don't have too. Furthermore, the market accounts for those that don't like what the majority have to offer. If you don't like what Spike TV is showing, you can watch PAX. So the minority shoppers also have an alternative. This is the free market at work. Its all about economics. This isn't the case for law, particularly homosexual CIVIL marriage.

The free-market accounts for the economic interests of the minority, and it does so in a real time fashion. Law tries to do the same, at least in the US, but it is not real time, and does not allow for entrepreneurial alternatives. So what is the place for law and minority interest? I think its an interesting question, and that's why I brought this forward as its own thread.

I think its incumbent on the strong (majority in this case) to protect the weak (the minority here). I have yet to be persuaded that allowing civil marriage is in any way harmful, so it seems easy that the strong allow the weak this privilege. I get that others feel that allowing homosexuals CIVIL marriage is extremely harmful, so this is the debate. But what I don't get are those that would also disallow civil unions or other legal contracts between homosexuals. This even takes away the attempt by the minority to fashion there own creative solution, it in effect outlaws PAX. This denial of any outlet strikes me as abusive. Unfortunately most laws, and the current proposed Constitutional Amendment do just that.

Put another way. If the 9th grade gym class decides that a particular kid is a nerd and that it is therefore ok to pick on that kid, that's the majority opinion, but its still wrong. I'm still not going to stand by and watch the kid get beat-up, or worse join in. I'm going to try to help the poor geeky kid. That way, maybe he'll help me with my math homework.