The New Dictator

It is official. Hugo Chavez is now dictator of Venezuela. There are a lot of people at JAS and on the left who constantly refer to GWB as a dictator. Well, its time to learn what a true dictator is.

"Long live the sovereign people! Long live President Hugo Chavez! Long live socialism!" said National Assembly President Cilia Flores as she proclaimed the "enabling law" approved by a show of hands. "Fatherland, socialism or death! We will prevail!"

In addition to nationalizing the oil and telecom industries, Chavez can dictate all parts of national life:

The law also allows Chavez to dictate unspecified measures to transform state institutions; reform banking, tax, insurance and financial regulations; decide on security and defense matters such as gun regulations and military organization; and "adapt" legislation to ensure "the equal distribution of wealth" as part of a new "social and economic model."

Anyone who knows history remembers that Hitler gained his dictatorship through a similar measure. Although in Hitlers case, the first vote was tallied and Hitler won 441-84. Chavez was able to get it done with merely a voice vote. How quaint.

The next step for Hitler was to get the army to swear personal loyalty to him. Once Hitler had the army, he had it all. I assume that Chavez has a similar goal. I am not sure if oaths in Latin America mean anything, therefore an oath of personal loyalty may not be the Chavez method. Instead, look for something more third worldish, such as the consolidation of the payroll for the army and all police forces into Chavez executive office, and the abolishment of local police forces. If money equals loyalty in Latin America, then Chavez will get his loyalty eventually.

Once Chavez achieves this the mass exodus will end and Venezuela will be shut. And things will suck.

Health Care for Minnesota Families

As I was walking to Jimmi Johns in the Skyway today, my path was slightly delayed by a hoard of people wearing purple shirts which read "Healthcare for Minnesota Families." They were chanting various slogans (I did not see any free Mumia signs) and putting a damper on everyones day.

Then I thought.... why would they be protesting -there is plenty of healthcare in Minnesota for Minnesota families if they are citizens and willing to at least try and pay for it. Then it struck me. What the shirts really said was "FREE healthcare for Minnesota Families."

Now I get it.

I did it

I finally did it. Comcast recently raised my rates and I finally took the step of getting Satellite. Better late than never. Besides, I hear that Cable will be left in the dust for HD programming.

I just thought people at JAS would want to know....

Cable sucks. Long live DISH!

Happy Milton Friedman Day

Today, January 29, is Milton Friedman Day. (Hat tip to the Taxpayer's League for bringing this to my attention.) Surely Dr. Friedman was at least as important to the American well-being as was MLK. But people don't stop working on Friedman Day. Au contraire: we celebrate by working harder and producing more.

Tonight PBS will be airing The Power of Choice: The Life and Ideas of Milton Friedman, a production of Free To Choose Media. I suggest we all watch it together (in spirit, of course). If you cannot watch at 9 p.m. CST, or have some deep-rooted aversion to television as I do, Free To Choose is streaming the documentary today at www.freetochoosemedia.org.

For additional reflection, the Economist is hosting comments from economists and others on Friedman, his life, and his work.

I trust you all will celebrate as I will, with sincerity and reverence.

Bush idealism

As Bush has often stated and as Lincoln and others before him has stated as well is that freedom is a gift and a right granted from God and that every person should have it.

There are some in the JAS who have criticized this notion... I am confused. Are they criticizing it for the ideal itself or in that the United States should not play a part in removing the shackles that prevents such freedom for other peoples. I believe it's the latter, but I wanted to be sure.

Webb's Response

Read Jim Webb's response. It is one lie after another. I thought it was interesting that he chose the Korean war and the Berlin Airlift as a contrast to the war in Iraq. He said that Eisenhower is a great example because he stopped the Korean war. Except he failed to point out that the war may have stopped, but it did not stop because we retreated. Both of those events were far more risky endeavors at the time than Iraq and have paid substantial dividends. They are also examples of when we stood up to the enemy rather than retreating.

Regarding domestic issues, Webb is like Lou Dobbs. (Maybe some conservatives support Lou Dobbs, I don't know....) Webb thinks CEOs make too much money and opposes free trade. He argued that the middle class is worse off today economically than when he graduated from college in the 1960s. I am not sure where he gets this (I guess thinks like the internet and cell phones, widely owned by the middle class do not count). Maybe the middle class is worse off today relative to CEOs, but relative equality is not always a rational means to judge the success of a society.

He argued that his concerns compare to those of Andrew Jackson. However, he fails to note that many of Jackson's public policy views, which were Jeffersonian in nature (such as not having a national bank), have been repudiated by events and history.

I am not sure what Webb thinks we should do to resolve the issues he sees as problems. He points out that raising the minimum wage is a start. However, I do not believe that anyone in the middle class earns the minimum wage (except for the high school aged children of the middle class).

Read it and comment as you like.

Let's start with cutting off the money

No, not for the troops. For the RNC, the NRSC, the NRCC, the MNGOP and any other co called 'Republican' organization that claim to represent 'our Republican values' on one hand, but whose actions show that they have absolutely no interest in holding our elected officials to those principles. Andy Aplikowski over at Residual Forces references Hugh Hewitt talking about this regarding the war in Iraq.

BUT, there are so many other reasons to cut off the money, since they just can't seem to act like Republicans. I got a call yesterday from the RNC looking for me to renew my membership. The guy was nice. Could speak well, knew his issues and wasn't 100% talking points. Grew up in Brainerd, which makes me wonder if they are purposefully having Minnesotans target Minnesota. Smart if so.

He was persistent, but I stood my ground. I told him that under no circumstances would I be contributing to any organization that spreads the money around. I'm now 100% candidate oriented giving. Here are the talking points if you're interested:

• "We're the only thing standing between the country and President Hillary Clinton"
• "Blah Blah Blah NANCY PELOSI blah blah blah SAN FRANCISCO LIBERAL blah blah blah"
• "Blah blah blah GEORGE SOROS blah blah blah HUGE CONTRIBUTIONS TO DEMOCRATS blah blah blah"
• "Blah blah blah HARRY REID blah blah blah"

I got the "Hillary" comment maybe 5 times in the course of the conversation. My response was "What about a good solid Conservative Candidate? Don't you think that a good candidate might be more likely to prevent President Hillary from becoming reality?" Of course, I got more "blah, blah, blah LIBERALS". I'm sure I'm not the only one giving them the "Not one more dime" speech, but how many people have to do that before they get the message?

I leave you with a bright spot here in Minnesota, although it doesn't speak well for our Governor/Vice-Presidential Candidate. http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/gop/welcome.asp

Why are people so sour?

People in general, including fellow JAS members, have been outwardly sour about anything and everything since before the 2006 elections. The sourness has translated to approval ratings for Bush in the low 30s. Everyone is taking their shots at Bush - he is a lame duck afterall. In the future Bush will be appreciated for his toughness, and yes for his conservatism as well. Any action that a future president takes will be compared to Bush...you will hear stuff like "Bush would have bombed them; If Bush were in office he would have attackd.. etc.. etc.. Bush will be seen in history as the Jack Bauer of presidents. Just wait and see. Today few can see through the distorted fog they are in, instead they are running with the easy flow of the liberal media - to oppose everything that Bush proposes.

In my opinion, the sourness is mostly connected to the media victory in opposition to the Iraq war. People have fallen into the trap, they are tired of the dribble of casualties and criticism despite the wealth in their own lives. This is Bush's greatest failure, he failed to see the enemy at home as well as abroad.

Bush is now forced to play nice with the Congress to keep them from cutting off his war funds. He will propose a bunch of domestic legislation that will never pass. Yeah, people will complain about Bush not being conservative enough... but, you have done it to yourself for being not conservative enough yourself.

Heres to hoping that Newt runs for president... at least he might be one we can all agree upon.

The Tenth Commandment

My son is in first grade at a Lutheran school, and they are to memorize a verse each week. They've been going through the Ten Commandments and are on the last this week: "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey . . ." I keep wanting to add "poolboy." Would my son's teacher get the wrong impression?

I suppose the Sixth and Tenth Commandments constitute the Lutheran version of Sex Ed; at least they're not teaching him to put condoms on cucumbers.

For or against the troop surge

I read and heard it discussed over and over... those "for and against the troop surge." The people who oppose the surge run the gambit from the anti-Iraq war types who oppose every thing about Iraq; to the democrats who just hate Bush; and on to the war supporters and more thoughtful critics such as Paul from Powerline who are just not sure about the surge... The problem with these critics is that they seem to ignore that the surge is part of a new plan that Bush has accepted from the new General he appointed in Iraq. Everyone wanted a change in direction and Bush has done that with a new general and a new plan that requires an additional 20,000 troops. So when people say they oppose the surge, do they mean they oppose the new plan? Because you never hear any thing about the new plan, you only hear about the surge part of it.

It's funny that a new talking point from Democrats and other critics is that Bush is not listening to his generals, George Casey and John Abazaid, both whom have stated in more or less words that they oppose the new plan. This is ironic because Casey and Abazaid are responsible for the current plan in Iraq, which according to the Democrats is a total failure. Why would they want Bush to listen to failed generals? .... (it is so aggrevating at times...).

No one seems to blame the top brass for military failures anymore, yet it is mostly the top brass' fault. In fact John McCain annouced today that he would oppose General Casey as Army Chief of Staff because of Iraq failures, which is a good start. It seems to me that if the current plan is not working you need to ask the generals to come up with a new plan. If they do not or act too slowly, you need to sack them and find a new general, which is essentially what Bush is finally doing now. Sometimes it is politically difficult to sack generals, who tend to be primadonnas, so you need to work around the system to get rid of them. Lincoln's plan for a "new direction" in 1863 was to appoint Grant as commander of all the various armies. It was Grant, in turn, that devised the plan which ultimately led to the South's defeat (and also required a troop surge).

Next time that people annouce they are against the "surge" it would be more truthful for them to announce that they are against the new commander, Lt. General David Patraeus taking command because he is the one who has come up with the new plan, which requires 20,000 more troops.

Man made global warming is a farce...

So says this ABC News Weatherman:

I have been in operational meteorology since 1978, and I know dozens and dozens of broadcast meteorologists all over the country. Our big job: look at a large volume of raw data and come up with a public weather forecast for the next seven days. I do not know of a single TV meteorologist who buys into the man-made global warming hype. I know there must be a few out there, but I can’t find them...Billions of dollars of grant money is flowing into the pockets of those on the man-made global warming bandwagon. No man-made global warming, the money dries up.

If you don’t like to listen to me, find another meteorologist with no tie to grant money for research on the subject. I would not listen to anyone that is a politician, a journalist, or someone in science who is generating revenue from this issue.

I heard a rumor that in europe they are considering passing carbon limitation laws, mean each person is limited to a certain expenditure of carbon. And if you want to expend more, you need to pay someone else for theirs... It sounds like socialism to me.

UPDATE: I saw this article about a man who has barricaded himself up with some "supporters" armed and ready to fight the federal government who is coming to collect taxes that he owes.

Taxes is one thing, but if the federal government was coming to keep people from running their lawn mowers or driving their cars, such a scene would be repeated by the tens of thousands across America.

European Fertility and Muslims

Mark Steyn posted this at the corner. I thought it was pretty funny and pathetic and alarming at the same time.

Take France and its neighbors and rank them in order of healthiest fertility rates (2005 official Eurostat figures):

1) France 2) Netherlands 3) Belgium 4) Switzerland 5) Austria 6) Germany 7) Italy 8) Spain

Now rank them in order of highest proportion of Muslims (no central source, but compiled from national data, European Muslim groups, UN and State Dept figures):

1) France 2) Netherlands 3) Belgium 4) Switzerland 5) Austria 6) Germany 7) Italy 8) Spain

Hmm...

Oil Games

The Saudis who have made no secret their fear of a rising Persian power in the middle east today rejected calls to cut output amid sinking oil prices.

Crude for February delivery was down 40 cents at $50.83 a barrel in electronic trade. On Tuesday, the contract tumbled 3.4% after Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said there is no need for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut production further, rejecting calls from membersVenezuela and Iran.

It is interesting that such calls came from Venezuala and Iran who have both been the subject of recent stories on their declining infrastructure in being able to produce Oil.

They (Iran) need to invest $2.5bn (£1.28bn) a year just to stand still and they're not doing it because it's politically easier to spend the money on social welfare and the army than to wait four to six years for a return on investment... They've been running down the industry like this for 20 years.

The Saudis have a distinct advantage over Iran and Venezuala in being able to massively ramp up their production. Thus, from the Saudi point of view, $20 per barrel of oil is much better than $60 oil in the short term because the Saudis can more than make up for the profit loss in extra production. In contrast, Iran and Venezuala cannot increase their production and their production capacity will continue to decline even further without future investment. Moreover, the less money Iran has, the less they will be able to invest in future production - accelerating the decline in future production. Similarly, the less money Iran and Venezuala have in the future, the less impact they will have on the world stage in terms of military influence - that is good for Saudi Arabia and for us as well. Look for the price of oil to continue to decline over the next year.

Energy Conservation

Does this blog have any physics/engineering types?

I have the following question: We are always being lectured to buy low energy appliances - fluorescent lights vs. incandescent lights and so forth. But what ever happened to conservation of energy, as a rule of physics rather than a pseudo-religious obligation? That is, suppose I use a "wasteful" incandescent bulb. Doesn't this "wasted" energy that isn't turned into light instead turned into heat. Assuming that it's winter, isn't that not waste at all since now I don't need as much energy to heat my house directly? I'm coming to the conclusion that as long as it's winter, it's impossible to "waste" energy by using the wrong appliances or light bulbs. Is there an error in this reasoning?

The New Cold War in the Middle East

The first mildly convincing argument for being in Iraq I heard tonight. This gentleman argued that, were we not in Iraq, China would swoop in and wrestle for control. If this were the case, would not the Administration have used this as a talking point?

I have seen the argument that we are able to keep Beijing under our thumb by controlling the energy supply, and I suppose we could extrapolate that China may attempt to fill a vacuum in Iraq for the same purpose were we not there, but I see no overt statements online to that effect (quickie google).

Could it be that this police action is little more than a forceful, preemptive signal to Russia and China, a more dramatic statement than the game we played with the USSR in Afghanistan? I thought that was why we have nukes.

Seseme Street It Is...

Reminiscing about the "good ole' days"...

In the Filibuster Household, from the start of the legislative session, Seseme Street and other daytime kids programming (that is benign as opposed to certain shows we just can't stomach) has been preempted by the legislature. At the early age of several months old, little Prose smiled to Sen. LeClair and just as quick as she had once smiled, she screamed her lungs out whenever "Tommy The Commy" spoke. It must have been in-utero learning because from the very first time she saw him, and every time since, this has been her response.

From the start of the legislative session this year, little Prose has frequently had a tear to her eye. Some would call it being 2, but this year, because of the nature of the legislature we determined it was unfit for our little Prose to watch. In passing when we turn it on to find out how much they're spending from our paychecks and hiking taxes this session, at least we can be assured that we have no "Little Albert" in our household, but "Tommy The Commy" still brings on the puckering cry face. I guess the "good ole' days" aren't completely gone..

I had a dream...

....this morning that I was standing in a line to get food shivering in the cold air. Everywere around me it looked like Orwell's 1984 - people milling about in grey clothes with sunken faces. I saw a sudden sparkle; a glint on a faded purple hat worn by the woman in front of me. It didn't take long to realize that the sparkle was my own creation; a longing for yesteryear. Behind me the collapse of a man dead brought no commotion from the crowd used to such events. It was odd because the man appeared to be healthy at least healthy relative to the times. Perhaps he collapased under the weight of his own unhappiness. The dead man along with everyone else looked the same except for the gigantic face smiling on the poster above me. The caption below the face read "Equality and Justice in Obama's America." And so we waited....

Feel free to share your stories of Obama's America....

The Burden of Proof should be on the Critics

Soon after 9/11, the conventional wisdom was that we would be attacked again and soon and often. After our invasion of Iraq, the critics said that we were only angering the islamic world and that the war in Iraq would not prevent attacks - it would increase them. Bush argued that it was better to fight the terrorists with our tanks and guns in Iraq rather than here in our streets. The critics said that there was no proof that Iraq was linked to the war on terror and there was no proof that a war in Iraq would reduce terrorist atacks.

The media has diverted the attention of the American people regarding the war in Iraq from the larger picture. They are focused on the success of the democracy project there and not the war on terror and the safety of the American people.

So lets step back......Time has marched on and the critics should be called to account. It has been FIVE years since we have been attacked on American soil. Despite warnings and threats.... still no attack. Not even a bus bomb. What about the millions who hate us, what about the millions of more terrorists waiting to strike. Even if they were to strike tomorrow.

The question needs to be asked again. Has the Iraq war made us safer? I say it has. It has because we have liquidated thousands of terrorists in Iraq, many of them trained in Bin Ladin's training camps. These terrorists would be here but for our war in Iraq. Bush was right. It is better to fight the terrorists over there than over here.

The critics argue otherwise, but now the burden of proof is on them. The results are in, and the results are FIVE years without an attack. I ask the critics to prove that the war in Iraq has not added to this FIVE years of peace.

And if they still remain critics, ask them if it is worth it to withdraw from Iraq and take the risk of another 9/11. Something among Bush's terror policies are working... it could be the patriot act, the aggressive profiling, the war in afghanistan and/or the war in Iraq. Should we take the chance of changing our tune when we have had so much success with the current tune?

"Thinkers" or "Joiners"

The answer, when asked of many of the lefty environmental kooks, is "Joiners" as this very interesting video from Penn and Teller shows. They have someone attend an environmental rally with a petition to ban "di-hydrogen oxide", and collect hundreds of signatures.

This reminds me of a stunt the old "Man Show" ran when they went to a women's rights rally/get-together and had the unsuspecting ladies sign a petition to bad "women's suffrage". Here's a copycat that illustrates the point almost as well.

What Ails Duke?

I went to Duke University and maintain some small affection for it. It is in for a rough patch of road these days. Applications for early admission to the undergraduate program are down 20% this year. (For those who don't know, undergraduates are the cash cow of a university. )

The question is why? Obviously the non-rape/lacrosse team incident, but what specifically about it? That is, is the problem

1. Parents were shocked, shocked to find out that there is a lot of drinking and strippers at Duke parties and don't want their children caught up in this.
2. Parents or students were upset at the way the administration and faculty gave such little support (or actually anti-support) to the falsely accused students.
3. The revelation of the extreme "town vs. gown" racial problems in Durham.

Opinions?

Pub Log

The highly anticipated Jake O'Connor's Public House opened in Excelsior a couple weeks ago, and I got my chance to try it out Sunday evening. A friend was meeting me there at 4, delayed due to a poorly timed New Year's Eve snowstorm, while I discovered that not only did the pub open at 5 o'clock, but that power was out. Following a few setbacks, we were eventually able to enter, sample the wares, and ogle the surroundings.

Amazing that this place was previously the Excelsior Hardware Store! The bars (upstairs and down) were constructed in Ireland, and the restrooms . . . the restrooms themselves were works of art. My lakeshore neighbors would have coveted these restrooms for their own homes. (We might assume the owners are trying to make up for these restroom ratings.)

While waiting for my friend, I chatted with the owner, also proprietor of O'Donovans in Minneapolis, both of us lamenting the power outage and peering out the window at SUVs and snowplows slip-sliding along snow-covered Water Street. Dermot was his name, and he came complete with authentic red hair and freckles.

To top off the package, we were told that live Irish music will be arriving sometime early this year, presumably imported from O'Donovans.

Consider this my personal invitation to Excelsior and our new, favorite pub (and its restrooms). Cheers, lass and laddies!