Race and the 2008 Election: What the Exit Polls Showed

This is interesting, and I doubt if it's surprising to a lot of people. But I don't necessarily think it's quite as ominous as some might portray it. I think that during the campaign Barack Obama did a good job of portraying himself as a centrist interested in bipartisan efforts - much like John McCain. Given the choice between two essentially (seemingly at least) similar candidates, I imagine a lot of people would have picked Obama on the basis of race in an effort to move beyond discussions of race and - ironically - to demonstrate the nations evolution away from race-based politics. (via Instapundit)

Kindle v. tOuch 2

Josh Marshall follows up with his impressions on the battle as well as the future of books.

Efficiency in government

There's a place for efficiency in government. That place is at the DMV or the building inspection office or police headquarters. Making law and enacting policy and especially raising taxes, however, are government activities where I don't mind considerable inefficiency. 

Sarcasm from USA Today?

Headline: Obama heads overseas to tackle world economy

Guess they didn't have room for the first half of the statement: "Now that he's got the US economy all fixed up, ... "

kindle v. tOuch

Glenn Reynolds http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/75036/reviews his Kindle2. I got one for Christmas and while waiting for it to show up - three months later - I decided that an iPod tOuch would be a better choice. There's an ebook reading app that's available (free) and it's quite a bit more versatile than the Kindle. I also decided I wasn't crazy about the size of the Kindle - too big for my pockets and I'm not a Murse guy (though I've given it some thought).

It also seemed like the Kindle was more aimed at getting me to spend money at Amazon than enabling me to read whatever I wanted - like all the free ebooks that are available. I've been reading For Whom the Bell Tolls lately and enjoying it quite a bit. 

I suspect the Kindle might have a better - more paper-like - screen for reading, but I do fine with the tOuch. I haven't tried it outside much, but I've mostly been able to read it fine. Currently I've got it set to a black background with light grey text.

Having just gotten back from vacation I did decide that neither device is necessarily the best if you're vacationing at a hotel or other crowded location like the beach. It's not like you'd be well advised to leave your Kindle or tOuch unattended on your chair when you decide to take a dip in the pool or freshen your cocktail at the bar. A paper book is less likely to go for a walk than either high-tech alternative.

I'm not really a Duke fan

but it's hard not to agree with this from Coach Krzyzewski:

as much as I respect what [the president]'s doing, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets

Hamas for genocide everywhere, not just Israel

At least we didn't elect them to lead our government.

Stranger Danger?

Here 's an interesting commentary on Amber Alerts. 

There are only about 115 stranger abductions per year. The vast, vast majority of cases where a child is abducted involve either family members (200,000 - most custody related) or other people who the child knows (80% of 58000 according to the article). 

Definitely suggests we don't need to worry so much about our kids 'talking to strangers'. 

I know I'm a little overprotective as a parent, but I try to let kids be kids without being too paranoid.

Wisdom of crowds

And what it says  about the President's economic policies.

The president plans to raise taxes

on the wealthy - except, I guess for his administration many of whom haven't been paying all their taxes, anyway. Can anyone say 'appearance of impropriety'?

Big earners better start earning a lot more

if they're going to have to pay for the president's plans . 'Cuz right now they don't make enough to do the trick.

Exactly

How long can a system that punishes virtue and rewards greed and profligacy flourish?

Minnesota considers lowering the drinking age to 18

I can't imagine this passing, but I'm in favor.

When I grew up in Tennessee the drinking age was 21. Nevertheless we really didn't have much trouble getting our hands on alcohol. Now I have 4 kids. Our oldest is nineteen and as far as I can tell he never had much trouble getting his hands on alcohol, either. They were actually - at least most of the time - more responsible than we were in high school. They usually had designated drivers.

Of course, that's beside the point. The fact is that I think the drinking age should be lower - lower even than 18, for that matter, and the bill has a provision for 16 year-old's accompanied by their parents (curious about enforcement of parents bit). This makes sense to me.

While they're at it maybe they can raise the legal limit back to 1.0 and quit pandering to the neo-prohibitionists.

Preach it, brother

Victor David Hanson channels the Battered American.

Republicans want to invade privacy

I don't like the sound of this .

Second City politics goes to Washington

Stimulus bill provides built in protection from inspection . (via Instapundit )

Good news

for a change . :-)

Some interesting and positive notes on recent tech discoveries and achievements.

CATO institute disects government spending as economic stimulus

Those who fail to learn from history  ...

It is finished ...

Favre  retires.

Milton Friedman v. Phil Donahue

No contest .

"The only cases in which the masses have escaped from the kind of grinding poverty you're talking about ... are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade. "

Don't bother me with the law, we're trying to get stuff done

I get the idea that the new president has an elastic idea of legality .

Jerry Pournelle on the 'stimulous' and inevitable nature of government

(sorry for the long excerpt - it's from here )

 

The bad news is that the "stimulus" bill, which is the largest appropriations bill in the history of the world, is still on track for passage. It nationalizes a lot of the economy, and once those steps are taken, the Iron Law of Bureaucracy will see to it that the institutions created by it will remain. Forever. I have a few more words on that over in mail.

The tax cut provision of the "stimulus bill" seem aimed at solidifying party control: most of it is transfer payments to people who don't now pay taxes. In the US 40% don't pay federal taxes. If any large number of those are given money as transfer payments they will learn to rely on them. At which point they will be motivated to vote. And community organizers will see that they do vote. Now understand: many of those who get negative income taxes do necessary work and they aren't very well paid. The question becomes, is that a federal problem, and should it be dealt with by transfer payments? Because once this is instituted, it's going to be pretty permanent. Those affected by it will be mobilized to defend it, and it will mean more to them than it does to those opposed. So it goes.

It does look as if we are going to have a sea change, a fundamental change in the relationship between the United States and its people. There was such a change during Roosevelt's time, when Washington went from being a small town in Maryland to the Capital of a Federalized United States. There sill be another, I think, now.

The President and the media

Is the honeymoon over ?

Are markets up

in reaction to the presidents appointments. Maybe investors are interpreting the appointments as an indication that payment of taxes will be optional going forward.

I like my congressman ...

KLINE: A TRILLION-DOLLAR BORROW-AND-SPEND BILL WILL NOT BRING US BACK TO PROSPERITY 

 

Double post

Two articles from NYT health writer Lisa Belkin:

Breastfeeding octuplets .

Germ-phobic mommies.  (via Instapundit)

Shocking failure of British gun control

"40 percent increase in gun crime since guns were banned."

from this report  (on youtube)

As it's turned out criminals didn't actually turn in their guns. So now only criminals have guns.

Huh. Who could have predicted THAT.

Opacity in the 'transparent' whitehouse.gov

The decision to withhold transcripts is not a departure from the Obama Team's online posture during the campaign, and signals that's exactly the posture they intend to take for the next four years. Team Obama got a lot of credit for being an active online presence, which indeed it was, but that presence was built for message control, not openness.

Shocking. 

"holistic and integrated approach toward dealing with the issue of terrorism and extremism"

I wish I knew what that meant ...

Snafus ...

This piece  makes an interesting argument about how the press is treating the new administration versus how the previous administration was treated for similar issues.

My only comment is that it amuses me to see snafu used in mainstream articles since whenever I see the word I internally break it down into it's original acronym components.

It doesn't take much to amuse me, I guess.

It actually crossed my mind

as I listened to the music  that it must be really hard to keep the instruments in tune in that weather.Guess they didn't want to take a chance on a sour note. Still seems like they could have found another way to handle it....

Aljazeera advertising on Slashdot

Not really sure how to interpret this, but it makes me a little uncomfortable.

--

We'll see I guess.

As Obama begins to govern and as the public sees that he simply borrowed Bush's foreign policy rhetoric, jazzed it up with his cadences and pauses, and then took either Bushites or Democratic centrists and called them hope and change, and as he glued new rhetorical veneers on the Patriot Act and FISA, and as he alienates many by making decisions other than voting present, and as the gaffes begin (Biden and Michelle can't be put under wraps forever), and the Chicago fumes linger (Blago ain't through yet), the fawning media will begin to look embarrassed, then ridiculous, and finally completely bankrupt. They offered no audit of Obama, no tough treatment, no honest examination of his flips, no balance in their treatment of Bush, and they will soon pay a terrible price for that derelection and worse, as the public sees them as the state megaphones that they have so sadly become.  

from Victor Davis Hanson vial Instapundit . (again)

I don't imagine the media or the left in general ever admitting to any embarrassment or wrong-thinking. They'll find a way to become victims.

Where's the outrage and anger

from the GOP ? (via Instapundit )

This had crossed my mind, but I hadn't really checked into it. Talk radio has certainly been fairly bombastic, but that's what they do. In particular I haven't heard of any Republican politicians or activists bemoaning the election results or our new president. Arguably, conservatives are less activist and more likely to support their candidates quietly when it's appropriate - during elections - but to accept and respect the results of the election. Maybe, maybe not. Either way, there hasn't seemed to be the same reaction from conservatives this year as there was from liberals after the last two elections.

An inauspicious start?

Obama and Roberts, take two.
And seriously, chief Whitehouse counsel is named Greg Craig? I think his parents didn't like him much.

The new president

He also imposed a pay freeze on senior staff earning more than $100,000, saying that given the economic crisis, "It's what's required of you at this moment." 

Sounds promising.

Men's Health names Worst Foods

Good stuff - and so far amusing to me since I haven't seen anything I've ever eaten. This likely has more to do with my cheap side rather than any healthful inclinations I have.

irony to come

This  seems to me destined to become ironical - 

With masterful insight, Bunch exposes this dangerous effort to reshape America's future by rewriting its past. As the Obama administration charts its course, he argues, it should do so unencumbered by the dead weight of misplaced and unearned reverence.

From: Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future

 

nanotech treatment of cancer

Cool stuff. 

Still about 3 to 5 years away from clinical trials, but very cool.

Anti-semitism

The elephant in the room .... This saddens and frankly amazes me. Somehow Americans are painted as intolerant, while Europe gets a pass for it's anti-semitism. How does that work?

Senator Franken

One of my co-workers observed that the only logical explanation for the incredible swing of votes - assuming there was no dirty dealing - is that there were more Franken voters who had trouble figuring out how to fill out the paper ballots. Hmmm.

Free the Sudafed!!

Instapundit mentions that he'd like to sue the people who make it so hard to buy sudafed. I'm on board with that one, though I didn't know this was such a widespread phenomenon. I assumed it was a Minnesota 'solution' and didn't think it would reach to more conservative Tennessee. 

Guess I shouldn't be too surprised since I remember stopping at a gas station in Tennessee a few years ago and seeing that power/energy drinks were controlled substances like cigarettes and alcohol. Not the case in Minnesota - which I agree with.

So what happens

when the Fed gets into the 0% financing game? I'm just curious.

Good point

on the shoe chucker ...

Illinois governor arrested

over corruption charges  related to choosing the President-elect's senate replacement. Wow. Corruption in Illinois politics. Who'd have guessed?

RNC chair candidate

vows "to restore [Republicans] confidence by re-emphasizing the party's stance on issues like abortion and gay marriage."

I don't think that's the way do it. I'd rather see them move away from the religious issues to the smaller government, lower taxes planks of the platform. I don't expect that to happen, though.

Dave Barry is

fuh-knee.

Literally sitting at my keyboard with tears of laughter welling up - but not actually running down my face. Not quite.

"Blow 'em outta the water, Dad!"

I'm glad the cruise ship got away, but I'd rather hear they shot back. Seems like we ought to be able to put some guns on some of these ships that are getting hijacked and kill the pirates. There seems to be a reluctance to do that which I don't understand. Six guys in two speedboats shouldn't expect to be able to hijack a ship with 700 people on it. Seriously.

Dubai beach no place for funny business

Two drunken westerners were arrested for having sex on a beach in Dubai. They were subsequently convicted "for having sex outside of marriage, public indecency and drunkenness" and sentenced to three months in prison. The jail time was eventually dropped on appeal. 

I'm just going to go ahead and cross Dubai off my list of places to visit.

Palin: What he said...

5. McCain made a huge mistake in picking Sarah Palin.

No subject is more likely to break up a dinner party early than the Alaska governor McCain chose as his running mate. Everyone not only has an opinion about her qualifications (or lack thereof) but also feels it necessary to share those opinions with anyone within shouting range.

Love her or loathe her, the data appear somewhere close to conclusive that Palin did little to help -- and, in fact, did some to hurt -- McCain's attempts to reach out to independents and Democrats. But just because Palin doesn't appear to have helped McCain move to the middle doesn't mean that picking her was the wrong move.

Remember where McCain found himself this past summer. He had won the Republican nomination, but the GOP base clearly felt little buy-in into his campaign. A slew of national polls reflected that energy gap, with Democrats revved up about the election and their candidate and Republicans somewhere between tepid and glum.

Enter Palin, who was embraced with a bear hug by the party's conservative base. All of a sudden, cultural conservatives were thrilled at the chance to put "one of their own" in the White House. In fact, of the 60 percent of voters who told exit pollsters that McCain's choice of Palin was a "factor" in their final decision, the Arizona senator won 56 percent to 43 percent.

For skittish conservatives looking for more evidence that McCain understood their needs and concerns, Palin did the trick. It's hard to imagine conservatives rallying to McCain -- even to the relatively limited extent that they did -- without Palin on the ticket. And without the base, McCain's loss could have been far worse.

From this.

How Palin nearly saved McCain

Hey - not my words ... see for yourself .

Minnesota election fun

Big write up in the WSJ about the recount shenanigans surrounding the Minnesota Senate race. 

I will admit with a little embarrassment that I supported our wrestler-turned-governor Jesse Ventura. I would have voted for him, but we had just moved to the cities and I didn't realize how easy it is to register at the polls. I liked his anti-status quo attitude and his desire to shrink government. In the end I think he was an experiment that didn't do a whole lot, but where government's concerned I'd typically rather see them do nothing than do something that costs more money.

As for the current race, I really hope we don't wind up with a comedian for a Senator. 

About time

McCain comes out and says Palin didn't hurt campaign. Duh. He should have issues a statement earlier.

So I was watching the news

last night before bed, and I was amazed to learn that the president doesn't actually have the power to affect the economy single-handedly. It was almost as if the news people were resetting expectations for the new president. I can't imagine why that should be. It's too bad they didn't stumble upon this epiphany sometime in the last year when they were content to blame every bad thing in the world on the 'Bush Administration'. 

I keep saying I'm going to quit talking about politics, and I keep not doing that. Oh well.

Interesting thoughts on what the Republican party could do to attract youth

So what does the Republican Party need to do to get the youth vote back? If these Harvard students are typical (and perhaps they are not, as Harvard students are hardly a random sample), the party needs to scale back its social conservatism. Put simply, it needs to become a party for moderate and mainstream libertarians. The actual Libertarian Party is far too extreme in its views to attract these students. And it is too much of a strange fringe group. These students are, after all, part of the establishment. But a reformed Republican Party could, I think, win them back.

From here . 

Actually this would work to attract me back, too. Unless something like this changes, I'll just go ahead and vote libertarian or some other third-plus party going forward. 

I've been voting Republican for the past X years because defense and smaller government are key issues for me. And while I stand by their record on defense, the smaller government thing hasn't so much worked out.

I've voted GOP in spite of their social conservatism, certainly not because of it. I'm pro-choice. I'm fine with gay marriage. I'm a Christian, but it's not important to me that my representatives is or that they go to church. 

This seems

about right . I haven't agreed with everything President Bush has done, but I've never understood the bile and rage that he has inspired. I have always felt that he was straightforward and about as honest as a politician can be. I wish he had worked to shrink government instead of grow it. I'm not entirely comfortable with his evangelical tendencies, but I think he's done what he thought was right, and I give him a great deal of credit for his execution of the war on terror. He did not wreck the economy, that honor goes to the democrats who were in charge of Fannie and Freddie. It will be interesting to see how history treats him a few years down the road.

No doubt both from our "allies" and our enemies:

"Obama victory sparks cheers around the globe" 

Nothing but

den Beste. And now I'm ready for a break from election-related shite. 

Seriously ...

This  really sounds like something out of a cartoon .... What's scary is realizing I'm actually not cynical ENOUGH.

A good person

Somehow I can't picture Senator Obama visiting anyone in the hospital without a full press contingent.

Obama

was on CNN when I went into the cafe for lunch. The pull quote they were showing under his talking head was "We will respond swiftly and strongly to any attacks" - at least that's what I saw, so I thought he was trying to reassure people in light of Biden's gaffe of a couple of weeks ago regarding an Obama administration being tested early on. 

Then I looked at it again and saw that it actually said "...to any GOP attacks" and that made a lot more sense. 

so gas prices

are down. Shouldn't the price of everything that went up because of increased transportation costs be coming down, too?

Why would anyone want this guy to be president?

He's just pathetic .

the multi-tasking myth

Interesting piece that definitely sounds familiar.

turn the scenario around and take another look

terrific discussion with a stinger at the end .

This is just chilling

I think it matters who your friends are.

Orson Scott Card points out

the obvious: newspapers are part and parcel of the Democratic party. And they're perpetuating lies - which seems to be the opposite of what one would expect them to do with their vaunted Freedom of the Press - to help Obama and all the rest.

Yawn. Tell me something I didn't know.

(Incidentally, I'm a big fan of Card's. It doesn't even bother me that he's a Democrat.)

Bachman backpedals under pressure

I would say that Obama's pastor of 20 years certainly has anti-American views. Why is it so wrong to wonder the same about Obama ? He worked with Bill Ayers for years. Bill Ayers seems to have some anti-American views. Even Michelle Obama has had some unkind things to say about this country. 

Why aren't more people saying the same thing that Rep. Bachman said?

"I agree with Biden"

From the Captain :

I agree with Biden.  Obama is exactly like Kennedy in this regard, and our enemies will test us by threatening our interests around the globe if we elect Obama.  I'd rather avoid the problem altogether and elect a man who puts enough fear into the minds of our enemies to keep them from testing us at all.

Absolutely. 

Poor Joe.

Be careful what you say when Obama  shows up uninvited in your neighborhood.

Change can mean many things ...

not necessarily good.

Colin Powell called Obama a "transformational" figure. Roger Kimball doesn't deny it.

Favre

was obviously acting as a double agent ... giving the Lions disinformation to help his old team. 

Back home

We were on Fall break last week and took the opportunity to tool around Wisconsin a bit. We visited Number One Son at UW-Oshkosh then headed to Green Bay for a few days. We visited the Packer Hall of Fame which was terrific. We had the place mostly to ourselves since it was a random Thursday afternoon.
We spent Saturday at the Northeast Wisconsin (aka N.E.W) Zoo. It was a beautiful fall day - perfect for walking around looking at mostly bored animals. There were a couple of lion cubs who were fun to watch, and the otters put on a show for the crowd. Daddy lion panthered back and forth by the fence seeming eager for an opening to cull the young and weak from among the crowd.
Saturday night I 'got' to watch Saw 4. I'm not a horror movie fan, but this one was more interesting than I expected. The plot was interesting if you could sit through the gore.
Sunday we headed for home back via Oshkosh to drop off the student. We listened to a Patterson book on the way back - Beach Road (?) I think. It was okay, if occasionally annoying and often predictable. Anyway it passed the time quite well.

Czar's were dictators

Why do we keep making new ones ?

"Moratorium on mortgage foreclosures"

Really? This doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

Obama's friend

From Hugh Hewitt's interview with Stanley Kurtz :

HH: All right, one last time for one last question, Stanley Kurtz, Rashid Khalidi again. Would most Americans be, I don't know much about his work other than that he's at Columbia, would most Americans who support Israel be upset that Obama is close to Rashid Khalidi, so close that they share many, many… 

SK: Rashid Khalidi. They would be horrified, Hugh. They would be horrified. It would be like saying that the strongest advocate for the Palestinians and the greatest critic of Israel in the United States was close to Obama. And you know something? He is, and he was and he is. And so friends of Israel are rightly horrified by this.  

"Change" can mean anything.  Maybe this is what Obama means - sitting down with Bill Ayers , Rashid Khalidi and Ahmadinejad and just figuring out how to fix the Middle East. 

Not that John McCain is any better - after all, he spent several years living with Communists during the 60's. 

What he

said. The keywords the dems keep repeating: "Bush", 

"Right-wing", "Deregulation". 

Reality is actually the opposite of those words, but where 

will we hear that?

Please, please, please

don't elect Al Franken. 

Making it in America

A college kid graduated, moved to South Carolina and set out to see if it was still possible to make it from having nothing to having a good life. He succeeded and then he wrote a book about it. Glenn and Helen interviewed him and a person who immigrated and also started with nothing wrote some interesting comments about their interview.

Gotta love Mark Steyn

quoting Boy George on the economic crisis. 

I'm conflicted on the bailout. I'm generally suspicious - like big red flags and fireworks going off suspicious - of big government intervention, but a lot of people I respect are saying it needs to happen. And selfishly I'd be happy with a little quicker recovery in the housing markets. I guess on the other hand my variable rate is pretty low right now. :-)

Obama up to his hold tricks

Don't bring a knife to gun fight in Chicago.

"... but not THIS day ..."

Via Instapundit , Bill Whittle's essay  on the war hero and the hockey mom in a Tolkien world.

Maureen Dowd braves 'Sarahville'; Finds regular folks amusing

Is anyone surprised at the disdain Ms. Dowd has for icky products available at Wasilla's Wal-Mart:

Wal-Mart has all the doodads that Sarah must need in her career as a sportsman — Remingtons and "torture tested" riflescopes, game bags for caribou, machines that imitate rabbits and young deer and coyotes to draw your quarry in so you can shoot it, and machines to squish cows into beef jerky.

 

And the people were amusing, too:

I talked to a Wal-Mart mom, Betty Necas, 39, wearing sweatpants and tattoos on her wrists.

Sweatpants and tattoos. Wow. No top? You'd think Alaska would be the last place you'd find that sort of thing. 

I think the liberal elite should definitely keep making fun of people who hunt and shop at Wal-Mart. That's a great idea.

Medical Errors

Looking forward to those robot doctors and nurses.

edumacation

Like many college students, she wishes she'd been worked a little harder in high school. 

She's a victim. it's not her fault she got away with being lazy in high school. It's the system.

Actually, I do think education is in a bit of a downward spiral and there's plenty of blame to go around - parents, politicians, teachers, administrators, and students alike.

But, the fact that she seems to take no responsibility at all seems like a separate issue. 

Fun with Earmarking

This seems to indicate that Governor Palin may have requested some earmarks. She's also been accused of being for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it. These are supposed to be marks against her and maybe they are, but I think there's another way to look at it.

As Governor it's her job to do what's best for her state. So if she can get somebody else to pay for projects that help the citizens of Alaska then that seems like a good thing from her perspective and that of her constituents. 

If the system allows earmarks, then it's hard to fault people who try to take advantage of that. It's not necessarily good - you might prefer someone who refuses to take advantage of a loophole for any reason - but that's not to say it's bad, and certainly it's not uncommon.

I think earmarks are a problem. But we can't rely on people not to take advantage of them, we need to fix the system so that they can't happen. 

Never forget

A couple of things to look at if you're in the mood to remember ...

• a piece by Lileks  from this date in 2003
• a memorial 

It's easy to not think about 9/11/2001. But I think it's good to remember. The war is not over.

Spore

I'm not a gamer. But I've actually been looking forward to Spore ever since I saw a demo video on the interweb a couple of years ago. I probably still won't bother to get it. 

I have kids. 

They play games. 

I drive them places. 

That's how we roll.

I did read this pretty thorough review here .

The Palinator

Maybe in retrospect it seems obvious that John McCain would select a woman running mate - hindsight and all that. But I don't remember seeing her name on any of the 'short lists' that were passed around the 'net and the airwaves. So I was surprised when Sarah Palin's name was announced and I quickly read all I could about her.
It makes me think, now, of the movie When Harry Met Sally. It's one of my wife's favorites, and I like it, too. Sprinkled throughout the movie are scenes of couples telling the story of how they came to be together. The scene I'm reminded of is of the Asian couple where the husband who talks about sneaking to the nearby village to see the girl who has been proposed as his bride. He says if he didn't like the way she looked then he would not agree. "But she look very good to me," he decides.
That's what I thought about Gov. Palin - "She looks very good to me" - and I'm not talking about her appearance. I'm talking about her character and who she is. She beat an incumbent Republican who was ethically challenged. Her approval rating among those she governs is stratospheric. She has five kids. Neither she nor her husband attended Yale or Harvard. She's never lived in Washington or New York or LA or Chicago. Those are all plusses to me.
She's pro-life. That, to me, is the only negative, but it's not the main issue to me in the election. I believe abortion needs to be legal, but I'd be fine if nobody had one.
She talks about lowering taxes and cutting expenses - and she did it as governor. She supports the second amendment. And she understands how people like me in the flyover states live their daily lives. She understands that we love the United States. It's not perfect, but it's the best country there is - the most generous country on the planet; the land of opportunity where the American dream is still possible. Certainly we have our problems but we're always trying to do better.
I would have voted for McCain-Whoever because I think a vote for Obama is a vote for higher taxes, higher gas prices, and a weaker approach to the war on terror. I would have voted for McCain, but I wouldn't have been especially excited about it.
I'm excited about McCain-Palin.
I know the vice-president doesn't do much, but that's not the point. The point is that possibl.y the GOP is thinking about getting back to its conservative roots. Smaller government; lower taxes; protecting individual liberty.
When McCain won the nomination, I was concerned that the party was moving even more to the center than we've seen the last few years. If my governor - Tim Pawlenty - had been selected for VP, that would have confirmed my fears. But the selection of Sarah Palin gives me a little hope for the future of the party.
We'll see how that turns out.

Holy cop cameras, Batman

The only way I'd consider it is if they reduced my property taxes. But that would never happen ....

health care

Reading through this story (via Instapundit) I remembered a short story I read a while back about a person who invented a robotic doctor. The AMA insisted that they could only be used under a Doctor's supervision and the protagonist refused, but his partner somehow did an end-run and worked out a deal with the AMA. Fast-forward a few years and the disillusioned inventor visits a Doctor's office where the MD is basically an alcoholic figurehead while the robot flawlessly manages all the medicine. Seeing the Minute-Clinics and Wal-Mart's clinics reminds me a little bit of that story.

You're kidding ...

So you can't make smog disappear in two months by ruthlessly oppressing your people and promising like Capt. Picard to "make it so"? I'm shocked. Shocked!

Higher intelligence wetware

This is an interesting read. Of course my favorite part fits with what I've been saying for years:

Studies show that practice and perseverance contribute more to accomplishment than being smart does. 

 (another tip of the hat to Instapundit)

This is a bad idea

An international law banning 'defamation of (Islam) religion'. How about an international law protecting free speech, instead.

Advanced searching on Craigslist

UPDATE: Looks like Craigslist has documented this info here.  The info below is no longer accurate.

There are several tricks for creating more powerful, focused searches on Craigslist.

• The NOT search - placing a dash "-" in front of a search term will exclude items that include that word. So if you're shopping for a car and you want to look at Hondas but you don't like Civics you can search for "honda -civic".
• The OR search - placing a single quote in front of multiple terms will search for items that include any of the terms. Craigslist searches are by default AND searches - that is an ad has to include all of the entered terms to turn up in a search. So if you want to search for Civics or Accords you can search "'civic 'accord".
  
• Combined AND/OR searching. Parentheses can be used to combine two OR searches. So if you want either a Honda or a Toyota, but you only want to see newer models you can search "('honda 'toyota) ('2005 '2006)"

Thanks to the crew at Lifehacker for the first two tips.

Don't quit drinking ...

I don't want to say that people who quit drinking get stupider, so I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Speak it, brother!

America doesn't have a system for air security, it has a system for bothering people.

Amen.

Really?

If this is true:

there "is no official policy" at NASA regarding sex on space missions. "There really has been no research conducted on the area to know whether it [sex in space] would be a good thing or a bad thing," he said, "but it probably is inevitable."

then that seems like a foolish and obvious oversight.

I think they're lying. At least I certainly HOPE they are.

depressing but not surprising

Cop arrests a designated driver for DWI, writes in report that her breath smelled strongly of alcohol, then drops charges when her blood test comes back 0.0 for alcohol content. Luckily the police department stands behind the officer.

Hmm. Orwell might have a thought about

this.