Why am I even doing this? Well, Rammer asked me to. He already did.
I’m sure I’ll probably regret it.
October 4, 2004
A Practical Joke I’ve Fallen for
Best of… again
Tom has posted this week’s Best Of Homespun Bloggers.
Just a little taste of the writing and ideas that await you over there at The Commons
As a lifelong Boston “city” guy, hunting dove by sail is not something I had even known about, much less participated in. I even scoffed at the idea, to be honest, when my Editor first gave me the assignment. I was to learn soon enough of the long tradition of the sport on Nantucket, in the Hamptons, and elsewhere where better jockstraps are sold.
and Little Red Blog
The debate showed us that Kerry is capable of an articulate performance on a grand stage. More importantly it showed his lack of appropriate respect for American sovereignty, a reliance on discourse and mutual agreements with men who should in no way be trusted and a view of American might as a threat rather than the single force available to defeat threats.
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Kevin Sites
I want to brag on Kevin Sites for just a bit. MSNBC just aired his report from Baghdad regarding all the activity in Fallujah, Baghdad, and Samarra. Kevin explained just what had happened in the finest of journalistic tradition. He explained Who, What, When, Where, and How. He made no judgements, and gave complete factual report, good and bad.
Kevin also does well in relating personal interest stories on his blog. I’ve had him linked since almost the beginning. His posts there are hit and miss, as he has to work for a living, often far from internet access. But I believe he has what it takes to be another Ernie Pyle in reporting life in a combat zone for the troops and civilians.
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SpaceShipOne
A really exciting thing happened today. And it will be celebrated as a leap forward for space travel. It is really something else. It is a reminder that in this country, someone with an idea and the right combination of skill, talent, and knowledge, along with financing necessary for production, can do anything. And they can do it better than the Government.
I won’t dwell on the specifics of the flight, but rather the memory of two brothers who changed the world 100 years ago in the same way. No government funding. No prize money to be awarded. Just the desire to do something that hadn’t been done before, and the dream of possible financial success realized from that accomplishment drove them to perform. This flight shares that vision.
This country’s economy was built on just such vision. No other country has been able to compete. None. Yet we have many people who feel the Government has all the answers. University researchers have lived for decades on the largesse of our politicians. You remember the grants given to study how a frisbee flies, or how much flatulence is produced by cows? Federal money donated to professors for research.
This comes up as the stem cell research issue comes to the front of the Presidential debate. Just whose ox is getting gored? Listen to who is doing all the screaming. And they’ve managed to get average citizens outraged as well with rhetoric. Federal research money has never done much except generate promises of breakthroughs if only more money is made available for research. Private research has always outdone federal research. It does it because a private entity wants to see results as quickly as possible. Research money is an investment, not an expenditure. Payoff is the expectation. The prize won by SpaceShipOne isn’t the payoff, but simply the demonstration of a capability which will bring payoff.
The less government is involved in your life, the better your life will be.
***UPDATE***
John has another data point in this series regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Real Options
My consideration of the issues in this Presidential race takes a bit of a different turn from that of most people. I do share the concern about the continuation of our war on jihadists worldwide. But as big as that issue is, I think there is a fundamental tenet at work that most people are ignoring.
As little regard as I have for Senator Kerry, I don’t think he would be any worse as President than Jimmy Carter. My greatest fear is that his administration would simply be a Ted Kennedy Administration. Kennedy couldn’t get elected on his own. And, like Jesse Jackson, neither Kerry nor Kennedy really have any clue why they want to be President. They just do. Kerry will return to the philosophy of fighting jihadists through the courts, and the International Court as the mainstay. Wrong in all regards. Richard Holbrooke, his most likely Secretary of State, is a full-fledged internationalist. The UN will be our vehicle for foreign policy.
The real issue in this election isn’t the two personalities in the contest except as they mirror our internal conflict. Dubya is as centrist as you will ever see. He holds some very strong conservative views, yet appeals to some in the give-away culture we’ve built. Fortunately, he makes those give-away concessions with a conservative touch–ownership of yourself, choices for education, and a push for moving research back into the commercial arena. Jobs are created by entrepreneurs, not government. Kerry is the anti-candidate. Which is precisely what makes him appealing to a segment of our culture. He finds victims everywhere, and claims we are all victims of Dubya’s policies–both good and bad.
And this is the conflict this election represents. Are we to continue a path of personal ownership, or abandon ourselves to the decisions made for our “benefit” by our “betters”? A Bush win with a small margin will mean a continuation of the political sniping we’ve had for four years. And no, it was nowhere near this disingenuous suring the Clinton years. Dubya will continue to be plagued by the real ankle-biters in this country, people too small to work their way through a system they feel is stacked against them. MSM come to mind.
A Kerry win, on the other hand, will be vindication for the far left groups that have taken over the Democratic Party. This is my greatest concern. Legislation through judicial fiat and the drive to socialize every aspect of our society will appear to be within reach. And reach they will. As far as possible. There are very few people in this country who believe this would be a good thing. But that matters little. The extremists currently own the party. And they will expect payment after inauguration.
Actually, it may resonably be expected to be the end of their reign. There will be such a rush of activity to try and legislate their various agendas there will invariably be some internecine fighting which destroys some of the groups. Perhaps there is an up side to it all.
Really, then, this election comes down to whether we want to continue attempting to follow the Constitution, or Marxist social thought.
No War for Nukes!
Interesting friends Mr. Kerry has.
In just six years since coming to the United States on a tourist visa from Iran, Akbarpour has started a newspaper, a magazine and, most recently, a trade association whose goal is to get sanctions lifted and promote U.S. business and investment in Iran.
Most odd about the support from Akbarpour, writes Kenneth Timmerman in this month’s issue of the American Spectator, is that she claimed political asylum from the Iranian regime when she came to this country.
And Kerry is apparently right in the fray with the goals of these folks.
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Draft
Joseph Farah believes that if Kerry is elected, there will be a draft. Of course, that’s not how the Democrats are playing it. They have introduced bills in Congress to reinstitute a draft, yet accuse Bush of planning to do it regardless.
Farah’s thesis is that the folks in the military will depart in droves, as they did when Clinton took over. The difference is that in 1992, the military was in a drawn-down cycle as part of the “Peace Dividend” that came with the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
We don’t have that luxury right now, unless President Kerry determines we don’t need to prosecute the current war.
Maybe he has already decided that.