Comment on The Belmont Club: » Ground Options

Belmont Club » Ground Options

Cowboy 42,
Thank you for the courtesy of remembering me. I did not leave the blog at our host's request. Whiskey was not my enemy, indeed I had at first urged forbearance but when he descended to personal abuse of our host I supported his removal. More problematic for those who remember the Flame Wars was the erratic behavior of Habu. While an often incisive and engaging commentator, he began bullying women and then intimated a threat of violence.

Why do intelligent productive people fall into the aridity of personal abuse and hate? Perhaps it is a response to a trauma or the aging process. When it happens it is frightening to see. The less talented trolls or hate mongers find cover and exploit such problems. Wretchard managed to hold the ship on course at a difficult time.

My reason for leaving was simply that I was being stalked through the threads by a lunatic that I had met in real life and invited here. My apologies to all. There is apparently no way to protect anyone from that. Know that I follow you and wish you, well almost all of you, well.

Comment on Daniel Hannan, Telegraph Blogs: "And after we've left the EU…"

And after we've left the EU… – Telegraph Blogs

Just who will be in the Anglosphere Union? You mention the UK US Canada Australia and Ireland. The old Dominions on the gates of Buck House are Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. Wouldn't India be a wise addition, and if them then what about Japan? Below you point out that Argentina has in the past been closer to the UK than parts of the old empire were. Would the Irish join? Would you want South Africa with their corrupt racist tribalist collectivist politics? If you don't keep out the RSA then how do you keep out Nigeria? If you don't keep out Nigeria then what's the point?

What is needed is an alliance of those who respect the rule of law and what were called the "Rights of Englishmen." If it were to be the  first 5 listed, and maybe New Zealand, despite their horrible fantasy insular politics that makes Little Englanders look savvy, and India then would we want some kind of currency union? Isn't that a slippery slope to where we all are now?

Could the new union imitate the US Federal Reserve? Instead of a top down monstrosity like the Euro just add a few regional banks controlled by the local banks and indirectly subject to multiple levels of inspection. The US dollar may look the same everywhere and be legal everywhere but it is really issued from 12 regional centers that are largely independent and responsible for keeping the local economies working.

Could the new union be open to Iceland and Denmark to reward them fro trying to tell the EU to get stuffed? The original US Articles of Confederation included an invitation to Canada to join any time they wanted. That never worked out. Perhaps though the new union could include or really be achieved by adding half a dozen more regions to the Federal Reserve system.

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Maybe a bottom up system starting with and built on a better currency scheme than the Euro is what is needed. The Euro was an intrusion from the top that destroyed a locally managed free trade system. Perhaps by replicating or even joining the American currency system, flawed as it is and needing inspection and reform, you could square the circle of local control and open trade. We all need to get back to our roots before the Centralizers took over.

Proposed: A Unified Campaign Theme, "Reality vs. Obama"

The 2012 GOP campaign against Obama must above all be focused. It must constantly remind the public that Obama at his core stands for beliefs and policies that are divorced from reality. This video should be the centerpiece of the campaign. It should be shown constantly until every American is familiar with the message. Obama destroyed good cars that would have had value to poor people to send taxpayer money to overpaid cronies and wealthy people. Obama destroyed wealth.

The car represents the power and industry and creativity and most importantly the desires of normal Americans and millions around the world who desire to be like us. The car is a living thing. You can see and hear it fight for its life. It has over 200 years of American history behind it. It has a hundred years of industrial development within it. Obama destroyed the creation of American labor and ingenuity and strength that fought to live.

Obama is "The Cash For Clunkers" Candidate.

Perfect Park Day

Puppeteer to small child, "Yes yes, my Psychiatrist has been attempting to convince me of that for years."

Heavy News Day

Five stories caught my eye at glance and they all should be bad news for Obama. Emphases added.

1. Dozens Of Republican Senators Press Obama On Missile Defense | Fox News - AP

WASHINGTON – Forty-three Republican senators have written to President Obama saying they will oppose any efforts by the Obama administration to limit missile defense or pursue further reductions in nuclear weapons.

Obama was caught on tape Monday telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he would have more flexibility to negotiate on missile defense after the November election. Seizing on those comments, Republicans said any concessions to the Russians would be counter to U.S. safety and security. They also said concessions would contradict the assurances Obama gave the Senate when he pressed for them to ratify the New START treaty in December 2010.

The senators, led by Jon Kyl, said any limits on missile defense would weaken the U.S. in dealing with potential nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran.

Comment: The GoP finally begins to wake up. Obama's gross incompetence on every foreign policy issue is now publicly combined with collusion with an unfriendly if not hostile power, and documented dishonesty before Congress for good measure.

2. Obama’s Solicitor General, Donald Verrilli, has rough start at health care oral arguments | The Lookout - Yahoo! News by Liz Goodwin

Supreme Court justices battered Obama's solicitor general, Donald Verrilli Jr., with questions today, prodding him to explain why the government could compel Americans to buy health care insurance and not, for example, force them to purchase broccoli or burial insurance.

Verrilli appeared to stumble over his words at the beginning of his hourlong questioning, and took a drink of water less than a minute after beginning his statement before composing himself. After the oral arguments were over, some court watchers weren't exactly kind when assessing his performance.

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said that the day's arguments were a "train wreck" for the Obama administration and that Verrilli seemed unprepared. "I don't know why he had a bad day," he said. "He is a good lawyer, he was a perfectly fine lawyer in the really sort of tangential argument yesterday. He was not ready for the answers for the conservative justices."

Time Magazine writer Kate Pickert wrote on Twitter that Verrilli "lost his footing a bit," relying on the liberal Justices to remind the other Justices of the key arguments for the law. Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein said Verrilli "lost big."

.....

At one point, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg interrupted Verrilli's response to Justice Antonin Scalia's hard-hitting questions about the limiting principle, appearing to try to help him out. "Mr. Verrilli, I thought that your main point is that, unlike food or any other market, when you made the choice not to buy insurance, even though you have every intent in the world to self-insure, to save for it, when disaster strikes, you may not have the money," Ginsburg said, articulating the government's argument that uninsured people are still part of the national health insurance market.

"That is definitely a difference that distinguishes this market and justifies this as a regulation," Verrilli responded. Later in the questioning, Ginsburg brought up that "a major, major point of your argument was that the people who don't participate in this market are making it much more expensive for the people who do." Verrilli again appeared grateful for the verbal cue, restating Ginsburg's argument.

.....

Comment: The implosion at the Department of Justice is now on display before the general public. Before this the people, except for a small number of enthusiasts and bloggers, only rarely heard about what Eric Holder has done, the botched effort to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City got more exposure than the suppression of the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panthers, and the generally extraordinary partisanship and incompetency that have mark the administration have been hidden by supportive media. The raw desperate partisanship of Ginsburg, who like Kagan and possibly Thomas on the other side should have recused themselves from the case indicates the desperation of a movement facing repudiation. Thomas' role may be questioned because of his wife's lobbying. Ginsburg and Kagan have been active partisans on this issue in their own interest.

It is possible but unlikely that the Court could in rejecting Obamacare revisit the logic that supported the imposition of Social Security in 1935. Doing so would prove a nuclear bomb on American governance given how deeply entrenched in all aspects of American life programs and policies arising from the SSA are. Five Justices could rewrite that at any time if they so choose. The government lied to the Court about the same issues before the Supreme Court today 77 years ago. Whether or not anyone believes that public support for such a system is a good thing, the current US Social Security system, and all its elaborations such as Medicare, rest upon no Constitutional authority beyond a reading of the Commerce clause that was novel at the time and relied upon representations to the Court that were probably known to be false at the time.

3. Democratic lawmakers blast police in U.S. teen killing - Yahoo! News By Donna Smith | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday blasted police handling of a racially charged case in which a neighborhood watch volunteer shot dead an unarmed black teenager in Florida, accusing local law enforcement officials of botching the investigation.

The lawmakers, speaking at a congressional forum attended by the parents of the slain teenager, called for the immediate arrest of 28-year-old George Zimmerman, the white Hispanic who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on February 26 in what he said was self-defense.

Florida law enforcement officials have faced intense criticism in recent weeks from civil rights activists and others for not arresting Zimmerman, who remains at large and in seclusion. Police say a state "stand your ground" law that allows people to use deadly force when they perceive danger in any public place has prevented them from making an arrest.

Congresswoman Corrine Brown, who represents Sanford, the town where the shooting took place, decried the police inaction, saying she did not know if it was due to incompetence, a cover-up or "all of the above."

.....

Accounts of exactly what happened the night of February 26 have been confused. Zimmerman told police that Martin punched him, knocked him down and slammed his head into the sidewalk repeatedly before he fired the fatal gunshot.

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Comment: Most Americans identify with their police and want law and order. The Obama administration "lead from behind" and followed the lowest race baiters in seeking to exploit this story. It was only after they poured gasoline on the fire that it was reported that the photo shown to the public of an angelic child was 4 or 5 years old, with the real Tryvon Martin being a 240 lb football player who was expelled from school for drugs possession and who had boasted online of committing assault. In addition they launched this by now familiar theatrical episode before discovering that Zimmerman was not some old white guy, possibly German or Jewish (did someone at the White House try to score points by wondering if he was related to Bob Dylan?) but in fact a Hispanic, and for those who like such narratives the Neighborhood Block Watch and older guy going to school achiever and community supporter the Left claims to favor. All that goes out the window in the rush to exploit the rituals of pity and grievance used by the likes of Al Sharpton whenever there is a TV camera available.

Note that for this article Reuters violated their usual copybook by identifying him as a "white Hispanic." They never make that distinction as a normal practice. This may seriously alienate members of the Hispanic community from the Democrats. There is already a virtual war between Blacks and Hispanics in places like Los Angelas, with districts being effectively cleansed in the Bosnian sense of people from the less powerful group. The Democrats offer the Hispanics unlimited immigration and subsidized jobs in Health Care. The large and complex Hispanic collection of communities in the US may not fall into place as the junior partners in such a simple and venal bargain.

4. Unruly JetBlue Pilot Locked Out of Cockpit, Flight Diverted - Yahoo! News By JOSH HASKELL and CHRISTINA NG | ABC News

A JetBlue pilot acting erratically was allegedly locked out of the cockpit by his co-pilot, causing an airplane traveling from New York to Las Vegas to be diverted to Texas.

A passenger sitting close to the front of the plane told ABC News that the co-pilot walked out of the cockpit and went to the bathroom before the incident happened.

"The guy was in the bathroom for a while and the pilot inside the cockpit locked the flight door," the passenger said. "Passengers noticed the guy acting weird when he came out of the bathroom."

The unruly pilot then went to the cockpit and started pounding on the door. The passenger heard someone yelling "bomb" and "we're going down." The passenger believes it was the pilot who had been locked out.

A co-pilot remained in the cockpit and was flying the plane, designated as Flight 191, which was carrying 135 passengers and six crew members.

The passenger said it was a "crazy scene" that ended when a group of male passengers restrained the disorderly pilot at the front of the plane until it was able to land.

A government source told ABC News that the pilot was subdued by an off-duty New York City police officer and an off-duty JetBlue pilot who were traveling on the flight.

The off-duty pilot flight helped land the plane in Texas.

"At roughly 10 a.m. CT/11 a.m. ET, the pilot in command elected to divert to Amarillo, Texas, for a medical situation involving the captain," JetBlue said in a statement.

"Another captain, traveling off duty, entered the flight deck prior to landing at Amarillo, and took over the duties of the ill crewmember once on the ground," the statement said. "The aircraft arrived Amarillo at 10:11 am CT, and the crewmember was removed from the aircraft and taken to a local medical facility."

The captain is now in FBI custody.

Comment: The world is not safe or rational and hopey changey juvenilia can't be indulged. Also the Democrats now own the burdens of transportation security, and the associated annoyances. They can't blame Bush. Anything that reminds the public of what they must endure under the now unionized workforce controlled by the Democrats, and how the world remins dangerous even if the incident here was simply one sick pilot, is bad for Obama.

An earlier version of the story reported the pilot as yelling about Iran and a bomb but that was apparently scrubbed. Anything that reminds the public about the real threats would only increase the pressure on an administration, and their allies in the media, now desperately sticking fingers in more holes than the little Dutch boy did.

5. Americans angry with Obama over gas prices - Yahoo! News By Patricia Zengerle | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling high gasoline prices, although most do not blame him for them, according to a Reuters/Ipsos online poll released on Tuesday.

Sixty-eight percent disapprove and 24 percent approve of how Obama is responding to price increases that have become one of the biggest issues in the 2012 presidential campaign.

In the past month, U.S. fuel prices have jumped about $0.30 per gallon to about $3.90 and the Republicans seeking to replace the Democrat in the November 6 election have seized upon the issue to attack his energy policies.

The disapproval reaches across party lines, potentially spelling trouble for Obama in the election, although the online survey showed voters hold oil companies or foreign countries more accountable than politicians for the price spike.

"Obama is getting heat for it but people aren't necessarily blaming him for it," said Chris Jackson, research director for Ipsos public affairs.

Majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents all disapprove of the president's handling of gas prices, according to the online poll of 606 Americans conducted March 26-27.

Eighty-nine percent of Republicans said they disapproved, as did 52 percent of Democrats and 73 percent of independents.

"People are unhappy that they are having to pay $3.90 a gallon. They want somebody to be able to lash out at and the president is as good a person as anybody," Jackson said.

BLAMING OIL COMPANIES

The most common reason cited by voters of all political stripes for the rising cost was oil company greed.

Overall, 36 percent of respondents said "oil companies that want to make too much profit" deserve the most blame for higher energy prices. Twenty-eight percent of Republicans said so, as did 44 percent of Democrats and 32 percent of independents.

Twenty-six percent of all respondents said a range of factors was equally to blame, including oil companies, politicians, foreign countries that dominate oil reserves and environmentalists who want to limit oil exploration.

There was little difference in that result across party lines. Twenty-seven percent of Republicans, 24 percent of Democrats and 32 percent of independents said all of those factors were equally to blame.

Republicans have hit Obama particularly hard for his decision to block TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL Canada-to-Texas pipeline as a sign that his energy priorities are hurting America.

Hoping to placate car-loving Americans, Obama toured U.S. oil country last week to tout his "all of the above" energy strategy that includes room for oil and gas development in addition to support for renewable fuels.

In Oklahoma, he pledged to accelerate approval of the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline. Republicans immediately dismissed the campaign-style stop as a stunt, saying Obama does not have the authority to really jump start the project.

Jackson said Obama has little to fear, at least according to historic trends, from gas prices alone if the U.S. economy continues to recover from deep recession.

Previous spikes in fuel prices have not affected U.S. presidential election results. But economists warn that higher gas prices could slow the overall economy, which would toughen Obama's chances of winning re-election.

The poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points for all respondents.

(Editing by Alistair Bell and Eric Beech)

Comment: Finally we come to the story that ties together the total failure of the Obama government on every level. Foreign and domestic policy, political professionalism, even simple optics, all are exposed as amateurish, even those elements that the Democrats supposedly excelled at such as messaging instead of actual achievement. Most important the public is now starting to understand. Obama has been consistent on one thing. He has opposed anything that would increase American energy production or make America a safer richer and more powerful place. Billions have been poured down ratholes like wind farms and electric cars. Real work that would increase the safe and clean energy available, and the number of real union jobs, building modern refineries and power plants and pipelines and mining, has been stonewalled.

Macy ⃰s Flower Show 2012

Macy's is putting $400 million into the old store so this year they had to move the annual flower show to a big tent outside in Herald Square.


They also used the store's display windows. The theme is "Brasil." Maybe because Obama tossed money at them to build the Brazilian oil industry while destroying America's but the city is awash with thousands of happy Brazilian tourists, and Macy's knows who their customers are.


The show mascot is the big Toucan.


They even have an indoor waterfall.


All concerned pulled out the stops to make this one of the best horticultural displays ever done. Anyone in the New York area should see this.

Desecration of Australian war graves

The original is on LivelLeak.com. The record of this must be preserved.
We are fighting evil. It really is that simple. Rejoice in the knowledge.
LiveLeak.com - Muslims attack Australian war graves

It Was So Warm and It Is So Cold

WTC 9-11 Memorial, South Pool

WTC 9-11 Memorial, North Pool

In Memoriam Rick Rescorla. From the Ia Drang to the WTC. America gets and deserves the best.

What cannot be forgotten or shared on the web was the smell of 9-11.

Comment on The PJ Tatler » Italian Cruise Ship “Runs Aground”

The PJ Tatler » Italian Cruise Ship “Runs Aground”

If computed draft exceeds charted depth then you are most assuredly aground.

The story of the merchant plowing through the CVBG I have heard of before. One story is that the COLREGS (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea) were changed to require a "proper" (trained human) lookout after one Ship's Master defended himself by claiming that his dog was the lookout but that a window (porthole) blew shut so he never heard the beast bark.

Just remember the last line of Monty Python's Life of Brian, "Worse things happen at sea."

Same as it ever was: The Jewish Museum New York | Art Exhibition | The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951

The Jewish Museum New York | Art Exhibition | The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951

The exhibit is very well curated and documents the story of those artists caught up by radical politics and the backlash after WW-II. The presentation is fair and, while sympathetic to the sincerity of the photographers and the reality of the conditions they believed they were struggling against, allowed an observer to note the changing sympathies of the Left towards the War depending on the interests of the USSR. The subsequent protests of the Photo League that they were never acting as a front organization come off as Clintonian. The slogans of the demonstrators in the 1930s, for wages without coerced labor or guaranteed government work to be payed for by "Capital", would have been right at home with Occupy Wall Street or many of the Congressional Democrats, or members of the Obama Administration.

Most notable to me was the New York Times front page from November 05, 1947. That was the day that the Democratic US Attorney General released a list of Communist Front organizations, including the Photo League. Except for that singular item, so unlike anything we would expect from any Democrat or Republican in the last 50 years, every headline displayed could have been in today's paper. The topics included Arab terror against the Jews, pressure to remove religion from the public schools, and financial or political stories that would not now seem out of place.

Comment on Facebook, Richard Miniter:"Vintage Hitchens, AFTERMATH"

Vintage Hitchens...

Any fool can be ostentatiously correct until the world flees their presence and chooses error. Hitchens was a rare creature, a man who could be eloquently wrong so that those who disagreed with him felt that they were better off for having him as part of the conversation.

Never Forget

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h50000/h50931.jpg

Out Of The Wreck

While cleaning up, a task of biblical proportions, I happened upon this.

New York Botanical Garden: Holiday Train Show - 2011

Today was Member's Day at the New York Botanical Garden to see one of the best bits about living in NY, the annual Holiday Train Show. The Garden was almost untouched by Hurricane Irene, as was most of the city, but it was badly damaged by the freak October snowstorm. The Magnolia trees were particularly hard hit. The Director I believe happened to be on hand when I visited and he noted that they had intended to redo that part of the Garden eventually so this just moved those plans up. Given the real financial hardship the Garden and all charitable institutions in NY face that was was putting a very brave face on things, so I congratulated him on earning the "Lemonade Award."

The loss of Lehman Brothers left a hole in the city's fabric that very few understand.

The NYBG Holiday Train Show - Old NY.


The Holiday Train Show - Never better.


A bright future with sleek technology awaits.


Pennsylvania Station - the lost glory of NY.


Toys for boys.


The urban urbane jungle.


Manhattan towers.


Yes with trains, passing the Guggenheim Museum.


Orson Welles on a movie set "the world's greatest set of electric trains."


A horrible derailment, #ohthetragedy.


Passing Grand Central Station.


I got the hat and the t-shirt.

Happy Halloween

Comment on Mike McNally, Pajamas Media » Blow to UK Conservatives: Liam Fox Resigns

Pajamas Media » Blow to UK Conservatives: Liam Fox Resigns

Close but no cigar. Edmund Burke was born in Dublin in Ireland, which strictly speaking was a separate kingdom under the Crown until 1801. However JeffP did not make the mistake of saying that Burke was born in the UK. He did not even really claim that Burke was born in Great Britain. So you are tilting at a straw dog. Burke was a very British politician and was born a British subject in the British Isles. Would you dismiss the comment if he had been born on the Island of Man or in the Channel Islands or in Scotland before the Act of Union? Certainly it is a sad day for the legacy of Edmund Burke. The wiki does note that Ptolemy referred to a "Little Britain" that meant the island of Hibernia or Ireland but the term Little Britain otherwise refers to the peninsula of Brittany in France.

Will Fox now abandon politics? Will he come out of the closet and become a darling of the Left? Will he become a pro-American version of Enoch Powell, an isolated curmudgeon beloved by his constituency?

The Real New York

Today I walked through Central Park and saw people from all backgrounds enjoying themselves in perfect freedom under an American flag.
Also watching was a friendly and most unintimidating police officer of South Asian origin on a motor-scooter. As I said to him more people should see this because this here in Central Park is the real New York, not the alien mob in Zuccotti Park.

A beautiful Autumn day on The Mall. Locals and tourists all at their best.

Comment on Defense Tech: "Early Retirement for a Nimitz Carrier?"

Early Retirement for a Nimitz Carrier? | Defense Tech

People who persist in claiming that we need fewer CVNs because the Cold War is over have no knowledge of what the US military does or the nature of the threats we face. The far messier world we live in now demands more US Navy presence and fast reactions in more places than we had to worry about 30 years ago. Under current conditions we need 12 to 15 Carrier Battle Groups (CVBGs) and 6 to 9 LHD/LHA based Amphibious Ready Groups (they keep changing the names). We also need guns, real guns bigger than 5", and the new amphibs have only a 30mm pop gun. The Marines deserve better. Remember that most people live within range of modern naval gunfire. Iraq and Afghanistan are aberrations in that regard.

We do need to strengthen our ties with Australia and India, as well as Japan Korea Taiwan Vietnam and The Philippines. Wonderful as the Nimitz class is it is the wrong ship for their needs. What they need are two things. First they need conventional submarines. We should build 3 dozen Air Independent Propulsion silent boats and sell half of them to those threatened by the rise of China. We should also help Israel to double her submarine fleet. The Dutch and Germans have good designs as do the Swedes.

Second we should help the Australians gain an Air Force that can patrol and control the vast ocean space that surrounds them and react to a possible thrust by China through the South China Sea. The best way to do that would be to give them the old B-52s that are being chopped up in conformance with the SALT Treaty, a treaty with a country that no longer exists. Those 50-55 year old planes if reengined would still be good for another 30 years. They are incredible aircraft and if teamed with AWACS and long range radars in lighter than air craft could dominate the region and prevent major conflicts for decades. Note, I know all but around a dozen of the B-52Gs are gone now but the principle applies.

The idea of transferring the old Nimitz class CVNs to the UK and/or France as the Fords come online is not completely without merit but is unlikely to happen. They are old, expensive to maintain, and European financial, labor and political interests would probably prefer spending almost the same money not building new ships of their own to buying ours.

Right now we are looking at a US Navy smaller than it has been since 1916. Even the best ships can only be in one place at a time, and the new LCS that ate the budget is nobody's idea of the best ship. The Royal Navy, like the other components of the UK MoD, is essentially out of business. They are now a Coast Guard. The Argentinians can have the Falklands any time they like. The combined firepower of the European Union proved unable to crush Libya.

Comment on Donald Douglas at Theo Spark: Topless Protesters at SlutWalk in New York City

Theo Spark: Topless Protesters at SlutWalk in New York City

The Socialists and "gender equality advocates" are issue parasites, but there is an issue. Unfortunately for the Left it is counter to their desires. The problem is the coarsening of society under the influence of the Left and the importation of 3rd World misogyny into Western cities. The growth of Islamic enclaves has accompanied the increase of rapes in many cities. No one is harmed by Theo's totty.

To bad for the SlutWalk protestors that they got knocked off the news by the mass convergence of the dimwitted at Occupy Wall Street.

Comment on Tom Blumer, Pajamas Media » Two Bad Presidential Election Ideas Require Rejection

Pajamas Media » Two Bad Presidential Election Ideas Require Rejection

While under the original Constitution the States could set property rules to vote and were only expected to offer a broad mandate for voters to the most numerous branch of their legislature the Courts have used the murky penumbras of the XIVth Amendment to enforce both universal sufferage under "one man, one vote" and to ensure the domination of urban politics by rendering state senates redundant and forbidding their apportionment on a geographical basis.

As part of a general plan of reform I support the repeal of the XVIIth Amendment. In addition voter ID verification is essential. Only citizens who do not derive the majority of their income from the federal public treasury, excepting enlisted members of the Armed Forces and officers called to extended active duty in time of conflict, should vote in any federal election. A similar bar should apply to any person who gets the majority of their income from the state treasury voting in any state or municipal election. Apportionment should be on the basis of the number of qualified and registered citizen voters as determined in each census.

The original Electoral College was a good idea. We should return to it. The idea was to have the leading citizens of each state meet and select their candidates. Either a national consensus would emerge or the business of politics would follow in Congress to select the winner. Right now the members of the EC are cyphers that no one would trust with a burnt out match. My suggestion is to empower and reinvigorate the Electoral College.

First make it a standing body with two classes of members. Ex officio members from each state would include the heads of each state's three branches of gov't, that is the Governor, the Chief Justice or senior judge of the highest Appeals Court, and the Speaker or equivalent of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature. For states granted more than 3 Electors others should be appointed for six year terms by the state legislature in staggering classes that mirror the method used by the US Senate. No appointed Elector could hold a position of profit or trust in the service of the United States or the state that appoints them, except for enlisted service in either the state or federal Armed Forces or service as an officer in the state militia.

The Electoral College as so constituted would convene quadrennially to select a candidate for POTUS, and would also serve to fill any vacancies that occur more than 120 days before the next scheduled regular election by meeting within 30 days of such a vacancy happening. The popular vote would be properly restored to its position as an opinion poll for the consideration of the state legislators. The focus of politics would return to the state level. The federal government would remain busy rooting out corruption in the states but the current system of ignoring state level venality and then transferring all politic and corruption to the federal level would end. The revived states would jealously investigate and expose corruption at the federal level.

Second I would use the EC as a national Court of Judicial Review to determine the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress. As a creature of the states the determination of the fidelity of the Congress to the Constitution should better be determined by the EC than the SCOTUS. I would propose that a law could be flagged for review by a petition of 20% or more of the states, or by the President or by the Supreme Court reviewing submissions from inferior courts that could hold disputed laws in abeyance for up to one year while under review.

Comments on: Stanley Kurtz, NRO - The Corner "Ill-Fated Solyndra Conference Call"

Ill-Fated Solyndra Conference Call - By Stanley Kurtz - The Corner - National Review Online

We'll Make It Up On Volume

It is an old fallacy of the economically illiterate and the Democrats are rich in that tainted fertilizer. They really believed that a bad idea becomes better if it becomes bigger. Solyndra might have found a niche if it stayed in it's smaller factory and only attempted to expand after proving itself in the market. But no the Donks had to throw money at it so they could build a big factory, believing that would attract private capital the same way the Field of Dreams attracted dead baseball players. They honestly thought that "We'll Make It Up On Volume" could work. They never asked how many solar arrays people wanted to buy or if anyone else was supplying the market cheaper. People need to go to jail.

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Now we hear that what was really going on was an unprecedented and illegal scheme to shunt taxpayer money to favored Democratic Party operatives, including the California Democratic Party, by making their investments in Solyndra take precedence over the government loan in the predictable event of bankruptcy. For these people there are no rules. Remember impeached judge and Democratic Congressman Alcee Hastings "We make them up as we go along"? There is a bright line running from the theft of GM, through Nancy Pelosi's ramming through of Obamacare, to this latest deconstruction of the law that sustains a capitalist economy.

On the Repeal of DADT

Donald Douglas said, "Well, we'll see how this works out."
H/T Theo Spark

The answer as to how it will work out is badly. Every homosexual already in the service has broken their oath and the law. Every officer, like the Navy LT who gleefully got married today, is known to his chain of command, including the enlisted members who are expected to follow orders even unto their own deaths, as being a liar.

This is not like the racial integration under President Truman. There was nothing in law preventing any citizen from serving because of their race and no one had to lie to get into uniform. When a black, back then they'd have said negro, officer gave an order there was no excuse that any southern white boy could use to justify disobedience. With these homosexuals who practiced subterfuge to get into their positions of authority it is very different.

Finally the people who shoved this thing onto the military have no idea as to the conditions that 18 and 19 year olds live under in the military. Placing an open homosexual in such a position will mean one of two things. First they can be the junior with no privacy displaying their sexuality as inappropriately as would a man placed in a woman's berthing area or a girl in the men's. Second they could be in a position of authority while displaying a sexual interest. For anyone already in the service that raises the credibility issues mentioned above.

Comment on Althouse: 18 seconds of raw class warfare.

Althouse: 18 seconds of raw class warfare.

They have clearly communicated a threat of violence and done so with both imagery of a weapon and in a group. A reasonable person can feel threatened, that is a reasonable person can feel that they have been assaulted, and if these people appear and behave in a threatening and confrontational manner then a reasonable person would be justified in defending his or herself. If I was on a jury and a defendant who was arrested after responding with force to a visit by these people articulated that defense then I would probably refuse to convict.

These self proclaimed revolutionaries believe that they can rely on the benefits of a peaceful law abiding society even as they act to destroy it. If they meet people who treat them with the public contempt that they display then they are shocked and feel aggrieved.

They think it would be a victory if they provoke violence because they think that any violence by their victims would result in the forces of civilization dissolving into incoherence when charged with hypocrisy and then losing the support of the people that confers legitimacy.

That theory is simply untrue. The people are sovereign and defend their liberty when attacked. The government reaffirms its bond to the people when it acts to protect them from threats and violence and supports them when they defend themselves.

The Communists have a right to protest. They do not have a right to threaten assault or commit violence. If there is a confrontation then the people acting through a jury, which is formally a subset of the Militia, determine which is the guilty party.

The Big Wind

In popular entertainment I'd be at an "End of The World Party" where, depending on the level of the effort, I'd engage in stimulating conversation or meet the love of my life, or find myself a bit player in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" In adolescent dreams I'd be holed up with a girl.

My expectation was that I'd spend the weekend helping with the Red Cross. To my shock they declined to use me. See why below.

So I am finding this disaster so far to be incredibly boring.

All organizations become corrupt. All bureaucracies become vehicles for increasing the security and authority of their staff at the expense of actual achievement. For example, for many years I have done Red Cross. Over the last few years though my participation has declined as the Chapter became focused on internal turbulence and adherence to increasingly complicated but in appearance sophisticated rituals. Yesterday evening I stopped by the Chapter to see what could be done to help for the impending hurricane. I was warned that once I reported I should expect to stay for 36 hours as the City was shutting down the subways starting at noon. The senior Area Director recognized me and called me a great guy and urged me to come in. So I told him that I would go home and change after buying some food just in case and return around midnight. When I got back with two days supplies in my bags there was nobody there who knew anything, they thought the senior officers were in the building when they were not, but in accordance with procedure cots were set up in empty rooms to shelter staff during an extended disaster. I was told to wait in the shelter area until the senior staff returned to begin preparation. So I undressed and lay down. Immediately after I passed out junior staff arrived and threw me out of the building. After trying to build a case to protect themselves, saying untrue things about what I had said or they had said or the Director had said (who they only began to call to cover themselves as I left the building) they adopted a psuedo-legal weaselly tone as to my “unauthorized presence” as I put on my shoes. I will not be back.

Implosion

Rasmussen is the most accurate poll. My expectation is that 19-20% Strong Approval is Obama's floor of support. They will stick with him no matter what and he has already sunk that low. His Strong Disapproval rating could increase as high as 50%, until he reaches the Index spread of -30%. That would put him in the same range as George Bush (43) was in 2008. There are two differences between the cases.
1. George Bush was not running for reelection.
2. The MSM spent 8 years trying to destroy Bush and they've spent 4 years creating and propping up Obama.

After Obama spends a week at -25% or worse I expect a delegation of senior Democrats to visit him and inquire after his health. If they can discover an ingrown hangnail they'll try to get rid of him. He probably does suffer from cardiac problems brought on by years of smoking and earlier cocaine use.

Let us see:
1. this morning Rasmussen had Obama at minus 26% in the Daily Presidential Tracking Poll,
2. the trend lines of the Presidential Approval Index would have a Wall St Tech Analyst screaming "Sell",
3. an earthquake struck DC this afternoon and gov't employees took a 2 hour lunch across 1/3 of the US,
4. a hurricane is bearing down, possibly again aimed at Washington DC.

You do not have to be a religious fanatic to check if locusts or frogs are to be looked for next.

The only thing that could hold the Democrats back is the realization that without Obama on the ticket blacks will stay home. That would doom the chances of candidates in local races. They really are damned if they do or don't.

Evergreen or Obamanomics, the Results

Today my Dry Cleaner went out of business after 23 years. The Chinese husband and wife were the nicest hardest working people you could ever meet. Their lovely recent college graduate daughter was there to tell customers the bad news the other day. In my Middle Class neighborhood there are shopping strips with multiple empty storefronts. Some have been that way for years.


This was a successful Mom and Pop business. This is the American Dream destroyed. The Democrats did this and they should pay. This is not evidence of a Recession. The Democrats have created a Depression and done so with malice of forethought.

How Israel Should Respond

Every time there is an attack Israel should occupy a 100 meter deep section of Gaza from the Sea in starting at the Northeast corner. Dump the current inhabitants into Sinai. Never ever return any land that was taken to punish the Arabs for aggression. Surround the Strip with 500 artillery pieces and counter-battery radar. Instantly return fire at any attack. Make clear that being within the CEP (circular error probability) of the return fire will be fatal. Know that the Paleostinians will launch attacks from schools to draw return fire. Announce that the responsibility is the local inhabitants and they must reject and expel Hamas to survive. Threaten a naval blockade of Iran. Launch cruise missile attacks on Iranian oil shipping storage and refining centers and seaports. Hunt down and destroy the leadership of the Syrian regime.

Comment on Ann Althouse: Attack on Althouse at the Wisconsin Capitol singalong.

Althouse: Attack on Althouse at the Wisconsin Capitol singalong.

It is my suspicion that lawyers are often reluctant to become participants or consumers, as opposed to practitioners, in the legal process. Aren't doctors exceptionally reluctant to become patients? It is unfortunate that Ms Althouse did not press charges but it need not be seen as a partisan decision.

It is best to engage as an observer as part of a team of three. Prior training on how to respond in various situations is needed. Left wing agitators and crowd Marshals often have such training. There are outreach efforts to minority groups and youth to provide similar training. We need organized efforts to teach all citizens what their Civil Rights are and how to act with hostile groups or authority. Ideally that training would be considered part of qualifying as a full citizen and would be part of a universal military training program.

It would have been nice if some friendly federal officer had been present and arrested the perps for violating Ms Althouse's Civil Rights.

On Kathryn Jean Lopez, NRO - The Corner: "What John Boehner Said to His Caucus Tonight"

What John Boehner Said to His Caucus Tonight - By Kathryn Jean Lopez - The Corner - National Review Online


We need a bill ordering the POTUS in the event of no rise in the Debt Limit to follow a list of priorities.
1. Debt interest
2. Military pay
3. Contracted military operating expenses
4. Social Security
5. Military pensions
6. Civilian pay from DOD DOS Treas DHS & Justice
7. Military procurement contracts
8. All other Fed civilian pay
9. Medicaid reimbursement
10. Federal civilian pensions
11. Medicare reimbursement
12. Other domestic contracted expenditures
13. Other overseas contracted expenditures
14. Foreign Aid.

Failure to adhere to this schedule would be grounds for Impeachment and/or the prosecution of any officer found in violation.

Comment on "The Deal Framework" By Kathryn Jean Lopez, NRO - The Corner

The Deal Framework - By Kathryn Jean Lopez - The Corner - National Review Online

A bad deal is a bad deal. A promised future vote means no BBA. If there is no BBA and no voted cuts then there will be a possible cosmetic cut to Medicare, not Medicaid though, and massive defense cut. Most Dems would vote for that today, knowing that the Medicare pork will get loaded back in anyway.

We need to double Defense spending over the next 4 years. We also need to cut Medicare and SSA by 5%/yr for 10 years, for all persons currently under 45 years old, followed by elimination of the programs at the end of 25 years for all persons not currently over 55.

We need it in the Constitution a 4% Rule.
1. Peacetime maintenance of the Armed Forces should not exceed 4% of GDP.
2. Debt Service should not exceed 4% of GDP.
3. Domestic spending, that is all expenditure other than National Defense and Debt Service should not exceed 4% of GDP.
4. No State should be allowed to disburse from the public treasury during peacetime more than 4% of that State's share of the GDP.
Combat expenditures above the 4% limit should need a 60% super majority, or a writ from the SCOTUS or other designated body in a Continuity of Operations chain if due to extraordinary circumstances Congress is unable to act.

We also need the following.
No person, except enlisted members of the Armed Forces and officers called to extended active duty in times of conflict, who derives over 50% of their income from funds disbursed from the Federal Treasury shall vote in any Federal election, that is for Congress. No person who derives over 50% of their income from any State or Local treasury shall vote in any election at the State or Local level in that jurisdiction. No person may contribute money to any campaign in an election for which they are not eligible to vote. No person however under this article shall be barred from voting or participating in any local board or body that does not have taxing or final contract approval power.

Note, due to the Electoral College no one would be prevented from voting for POTUS, since the Presidential Election is really just an opinion poll. This would however mean that school teachers would lose the right to vote in state and local races or to buy local politicians.

Comment on Mark Steyn, The Corner, National Review Online: "Tahrir Square Comes to Fleet Street"

Tahrir Square Comes to Fleet Street - By Mark Steyn - The Corner - National Review Online

Pinch Sulzberger of the NY Times has good reason to fear and hate Murdoch. By closing the News of the World Murdoch proved that every prejudicial fantasy that the Left harbors about him is not just untrue but a projection of how the Left behaves when given the chance. Newscorp just shut down a successful business with a circulation the NY Times can only dream of, and did so over an ethical issue. They acted decisively, no split the difference theatrics or subterfuge. Given that the NYT is bleeding money while losing readers and lacks the credibility of the Murdoch tabloids, imagine what a real Publisher and Executive like Murdoch would do if had control over the Times? Perhaps he would send Donald Trump or Conrad Black over to say "You're fired."

Comment on Donald Douglas on Theo Spark: Melanie Phillips Explains 'Why I left the Spectator'

Theo Spark: Melanie Phillips Explains 'Why I left the Spectator'

Years ago I had a subscription to the Specie and dropped it rather than support the pretentious and vile Taki Theodoracopulos. While I am now tempted to reorder just so that I could have the satisfaction of canceling, I think I will spare myself the time and energy. It surprises me that Ms Philips put up with them for as long as she has.

Comment Donald Douglas on Theo Spark: On Allison Benedikt's 'Life After Zionist Summer Camp'

Theo Spark: On Allison Benedikt's 'Life After Zionist Summer Camp'

Jews and Christians share a belief that God sees and renders Justice. Nevertheless that does not absolve us of the obligation to act responsibly within the sphere of our own competence and the law. That means that unlike Muslims we do not kill people who simply disagree with us. We do however act to condemn challenge confront and ridicule those who promote ignorance and hate. When we see people aiding and abetting the enemy and enabling violence, giving material support to all enemies foreign and domestic, then we may be obligated to act to stop them. There should be no hesitation or holding back in the name of courtesy when dealing with these monsters. They should be relentlessly publicly exposed and socially and professionally destroyed.

Sea and Sound

There is a new ferry service that is free until the end of June. So today I exercised my sea legs and boarded at 34th Street.
Headed South looking North on the East.
Home.

Later I went to the Metropolitan Museum and heard a concert by the Guitarist Carl Barry that was part of the Guitar Hero exhibition.


Later I went up to the Fairway Uptown, since the 74th Street one is not a reliable source of mini fruit tarts, and saw the new Columbia University Manhattanville campus under construction.

Comment on "Theo Spark: Censorship?"

Theo Spark: Censorship?

This should be huge. This needs massive publicity. If government did this then in America a lawyer would destroy this under the 1st Amendment, in the UK I am not sure what protections you'd have. Google is a private business. This means the political prejudices of some clerk in California, possibly hired under some Diversity or other political feel good criteria, can be imposed on everyone. The market should protect us and punish Google for this but their size makes that hard to see happening.

Is there a lawyer in the house who can see if Theo has any rights?

Comment on: Weiner | gym | The Daily Caller

Weiner | gym | The Daily Caller

Your tax dollars at work.

Misuse of government facilities and telecoms equipment should at least raise a flag for a criminal review. In addition there is that underage recipient issue.

Have the Press interviewed his present and most important former staffers to determine if there is any history of improper conduct? If not did he select his staff from those with their own aberrant behavioral issues in order to assure their sympathy and compliance in protecting him?

"The Path to 911" commercial

H/T Theo Spark

Return to Governors Island

While I missed the first weekend of the season I went this Saturday and Sunday to the best reason to be in Gotham over the Summer.


Governors Island


Saturday I arrived late but I had provided myself with a picnic from my favorite place, Chez l'Chef on Lex at 29th St. I asked Chef Fredric to put together a $20 basket for me and he excelled himself. I had an assortment of cakes and pastries, a great herb crusted ham and cheese wrap, eggs with sausage and more herbs and veggies and water. BTW, the sweater is by Calvin Klein.


Then I watched a cruise liner go through the Buttermilk Channel,

and head for the Verazzano Narrows.

Sunday the line to get to the Island stretched North from the old Municipal Ferry Building along the FDR Drive almost to the Brooklyn Bridge. It took almost an hour and frankly I felt the police did a poor job. Fortunately the decidedly middle class crowd was easy going but line jumping was rife and people were running in the street. There was a charity run of families with children with Autism who were also forced to use the street. It was lucky that no one was hurt.

I decided to find someone with horse sense.

In the shadows of the canyons of Manhattan.

The Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic.

At first I was sitting at the South end and had a poor view. A young woman nearby thought she was being cute when she opined "This doesn't seem very athletic. I'd rather see them play basketball." I informed her that not only was it one of the most athletically demanding sports but also one of the most dangerous. People die playing polo. Then I moved to the North end and got a better view. The action got rough and close.

The event was well managed, the play was exciting and well commented on by the announcers, the crowd were there to look good and feel good.

A visit by one Rider to the well dressed crowd was an unexpected high point.

Last year the big news was that Prince Harry played, which was not a repeatable event. This year was just fun.

Comment on Pejman Yousefzadeh's Facebook: A public service announcement

A public service...

Osama's Sea Burial Caught on Tape


Best bit from John Lehman's autobiography:
SECNAV: "What kind of fish are those Admiral?"
Sixth Fleet VADM: "What kind of fish are those Chief of Staff?"
Chief of Staff RADM: "What kind of fish are those Captain?"
Commanding Officer: "What kind of fish are those XO?"
Executive Officer: "What kind of fish are those?"
...
Seaman Apprentice: "I know what kind of fish they are. We call them Shiteaters Sir."