Yow. That IS remarkable, innit? (Y)Ezhov is a relatively obscure Rooshian, but here's what The Wiki sez about him, in part:
Yezhov was known as a determined loyalist of Joseph Stalin, and in 1935 he wrote a paper in which he argued that political opposition must eventually lead to violence and terrorism; this became in part the ideological basis of the purges. He became People's Commissar for Internal Affairs (head of the NKVD) and a member of the Presidium Central Executive Committee on September 26, 1936, following the dismissal of Genrikh Yagoda. Under Yezhov, the purges reached their height, with roughly half of the Soviet political and military establishment being imprisoned or shot, along with hundreds of thousands of others, suspected of disloyalty or "wrecking". Yezhov also conducted a thorough purge of the security organs, both NKVD and GRU, removing and shooting many officials who had been appointed by his predecessors Yagoda and Menzhinsky, but even his own appointees as well. He maintained that it was worth having ten innocent people suffer rather than letting one spy get away. (Miscellaneous links removed)
Well, Dang! The similarity doesn't end with appearances, does it?
I've not had any comment on the "Birther" (or lately: Nirther, whatever the Hell THAT means) phenomenon here at EIP... but I've dropped comments on the subject at the few political blogs I still read... and they (political blogs) are indeed few and far between these days. That said... I agree with folks who say Birthers ain't doin' nuthin' but making Republicans/conservatives look like a bunch of mouth-breathers without the sense God gave a pissant. Just frickin' stop it, already... there are other, bigger fish to fry.
And about political blogs, in general: at some point in time I might post a rant on this subject, but it would be hard to top... or equal... what some of my daily reads (most especially Andy, Daphne, and Alison) have said on this subject in recent days. This "same ol', same ol'" boring crap from both the left AND the right just ain't good for your health, yanno? But it seems to be worse on the right, who appear much more adept at... and prone to... flogging dead horses than I would have believed possible. I never thought I'd say that...
And that was much more than I intended to say, come to think on it. I need a beer. (insert smiley-face thingie here)
Update, 2100 hrs: Just in from an extended after-dinner whiskey session on the verandah... and I read this in comments:
Oh, Buck, please let us not fall into the trap of applying adjectives to other people's concerns. We live in America (some of it even a free state) and have the right to voice our views on anything. As for myself, were I in the unenviable position BO is, I'd haul out that real birth certificate and end the hue and cry. Only reasons I can think of that he doesn't? 1. It is not real. 2. Creating enmity instead of friendship is a goal of some. But I'm going for a lager. The only I don't like is an unopened one.
Well. We can agree on the beer. But as for the other? I can think of at least two other plausible reasons The One doesn't want his birth certificate made public.
(a) Suppose Mr. Obama is a legal bastard? Which is to say his mother and father weren't married when he was born... wouldn't YOU want to preserve your dead mother's dignity? Especially in America, where one can easily imagine the hue and cry about a "love child" occupying the White House. This is NOT beyond the pale.
(b) To continue to give the Lunatic Fringe enough rope to hang themselves, as if they haven't done so already. But this approach, if it is indeed the case, is simply clever politics. And it seems to be working.
Those are just two plausible reasons. But, yes, this is indeed America... where one is free to believe whatever stupid shit one chooses to believe. Cases in point: there are hundreds of thousands of Americans alive today who fervently believe the CIA was behind JFK's assassination. There are tens of thousands of Americans who believe Dubya was behind 9/11. ALL of these people are asshats, but they are asshats who are free to exercise their right under the First Amendment to believe what they want to believe and shout it from the rooftops (or their blogs) if the spirit so moves them. As are the Birthers.
And I'm free to call it as I see it, too. IMHO ALL conspiracy theorists are... in general... asshats, the Birthers included. But I repeat myself to an extraordinary degree (it's the Glenfiddich, more than anything). YMMV.
That aside... it was a most beautiful evening under the stars here on The High Plains of New Mexico. Tonight's sunset was moderately spectacular, in that there was enough dust aloft after a day of exceedingly brisk winds to cast the most remarkable pink glow across the entire visible sky. The winds subsided enough around dusk to make an extended stay outdoors (which is to say: two whiskeys rather than the usual, customary, and reasonable one) not only desirable but almost mandatory. So we listened to our Inner Drunk and complied. And we're glad we did.
July 29 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will have Bud Light tomorrow when he hosts an old friend and the police officer who arrested him.
Obama, 47, has picked the top-selling beer in the U.S. for his get-together at the White House with Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge, Massachusetts, police Sergeant James Crowley, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs said today. Crowley will probably drink Blue Moon and Gates is likely to opt for Red Stripe, Gibbs said, citing news reports about their preferences.
Bud Light? So much for The One's urbane sophistication. (With apologies to my daughter-in-law Erma, who drinks that stuff. It's still swill.)
..."it" being commenting on L'Affaire Gates. It's already much ado about not much... waaay too much ado, actually. But... seeing as how we've all read and heard too much about this stupidity already I don't think I'll hurt things by adding a couple of "don't miss" articles/posts on the subject.
First... David Burge has a guest posting at his place of bid'niz. The lede and link:
Guest Opinion by Professor John Evans Evans-John Harvard School of Harvard Faculty Asshole Studies Harvard University When I first learned of the arrest of my colleague Professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates after he stood up to the fascist jackboots of a declasse, ill-educated Cambridge police officer, I was of course angered -- but scarcely shocked. L'Affaire Gates simply aired, in public, the dirty 100-thread-count table linen of an American culture where Harvard faculty assholes still face a daily struggle against profiling, abuse, and insolence. It will come as no surprise that Skip's arrest was the talk of the Douchebag Room at the Harvard Faculty Club last Friday. I and a group of colleagues had assembled for our weekly lunch; I opted for their competently-prepared Ahi Tuna Tartare and an amusing glass of '05 Hospices de Beaune Premier Cru Cuvee Cyrot-Chaudron. I had noticed that the Franz Fanon Memorial Booth -- Skip's long-reserved lunch spot -- was uncharacteristically empty, and asked our waiter Sergio for an explanation. "Professor Skeep, he no is come today," said Sergio. "I tink he is in the jail."
Heh. RTWT*, as we bloggers acronymize.
And Lex, he speaks for me: "they both suck." All three of 'em suck, if ya wanna include The Most Powerful Man In The World, who started the whole brouhaha with a statement to the effect of "... I don't know the facts, but..." Frickin' ROOKIE.
And now we'll complain about the weather... for which I apologize, coz apologies are ALL the rage.
Yesterday was not a particularly nice day here on The High Plains of New Mexico, what with the evil combination of mid-90 degree temps and the gawd-awful wind. I don’t mind one or the other, but I DO mind both. The primary reason I take exception to the combination of wind and heat is I cannot put my awning down when the wind is high; otherwise I wouldn’t have an awning. For long. And that means El Casa Móvil De Pennington sits in full-sun for the entire afternoon, which in turn stresses my air conditioning. Think of a car sitting in a parking lot on a hot summer’s day and you’ve grasped the problem.
We’ll have more of the same today, unfortunately. Here’s what we look like right now…
And here’s what the kind folks at the NWS in Albuquerque tell us:
Issued by The National Weather Service Albuquerque, NM 9:43 am MDT, Sun., Jun. 7, 2009
... wind advisory remains in effect until 7 pm MDT this evening...
A wind advisory remains in effect until 7 pm MDT this evening.
West to southwest winds will increase by early afternoon over much of eastern New Mexico. Wind speeds of 25 to 35 mph with occasional gusts up to 50 and 55 mph will be possible. These strong winds will create areas of blowing dust which may briefly reduce visibility at times. Winds are expected to decrease in speed by sunset.
(sigh)Every region has its weather-crosses to bear… wind and heat are ours.There are redeeming qualities, given the wind dies down after sunset and that’s a Good Thing.We delayed Happy Hour yesterday until after the game was over… and then we went out into the cool of the evening and enjoyed four fingers of single-malt and a cigar. Our hair was only slightly mussed when we returned indoors.
So far, the Obama administration has yet to lay out its magical thinking on how the homegrown auto makers are to become "viable" when required to subordinate every auto attribute that consumers find desirable (ed: emphasis mine) in favor of achieving a passenger-car average of 39 miles per gallon by 2016. Nonetheless the answer has quietly seeped out: Taxpayers will write $5,000 or $7,000 rebate checks to other taxpayers to bribe them to buy hybrids and plug-ins at a price that lets Detroit claim it's earning a "profit" on its Obamamobiles.
Mr. Obama was supposed to be smart. His administration was supposed to be a smart administration. But the policy coming out has not been smart. It has been a brute shifting of power to the president's political allies, justified by the shibboleths of copybook liberalism (though Mr. Obama is clever enough to know that nothing he's done will have a meaningful effect on atmospheric carbon or climate change or the country's need for oil imports).
As for attributes I find desirable... horsepower is right up there along with agility. It pains me, severely, to think that those rompin', stompin' V8s of my youth... improved as they are (and 304 hp V6s that get 29 mpg, fer gawd's sake)... will go the way of the dodo. I just don't see how they fit in with The One's hybridized bastardized vision of the American auto industry.
I may never own another fire-breathing V8 and it's quite likely I wouldn't choose one the next time I'm in the market for a new car, anyway. But I ain't happy about having the goddamned government take that choice away from me. What have we come to?
Well… about the above… there’s the literal and the metaphorical aspects to consider, eh?The literal:
Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel have managed to remove a refrigerator-sized, mirror-packed instrument called COSTAR. It was installed in 1993 to correct Hubble's blurry vision, but is no longer needed because new instruments have the same corrections built in. They'll replace it with an instrument called the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), which is designed to detect the existence of filaments of dark matter that bind the galaxies and all visible matter together in a kind of invisible cosmic foam.
Then Grunsfeld will have to perform the most daunting task of the entire mission: He must repair the non-functioning Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), which was never designed to be repaired -- not on Earth and certainly not in space.
The spacewalker must extract 30 screws, remove a protective plate, and reach into the ACS with a specially designed tool that will clamp onto four sharp electrical circuit cards. He'll remove the cards -- being careful to keep his gloved hands away from any sharp edges -- and then install a new power source to the instrument.
Grunsfeld's task will be made all the more difficult by the awkward position of the instrument. He will not be able to face the screws head on, but rather from a 45-degree angle. A strut will partially block his vision.
Are you not amazed and mystified, Gentle Reader?I most certainly am.What an incredible age we live in!
Amazement of quite another sort, getting to the metaphorical aspect of the ‘toon:
Apparently President Obama models himself after "Star Trek" Capt. Jean Luc Piccard. They both want to travel through the universe with a personal empath to guide them.
[…]
Mr. Obama recently gave America a hint as to what he is looking for in a Supreme Court nominee. "I will seek somebody with a sharp and independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity. I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book. It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives - whether they can make a living and care for their families; whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome in their own nation. I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles, as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes."
[…]
Down this road of empathy lies a staircase of increasing evils: selective justice, favor seeking, outright prejudice and the meltdown of judicial impartiality and the respect for law.
If Mr. Obama succeeds, "We would have entered a strange new world, where everybody is equal but some are more equal than others," writes Thomas Sowell. "The very idea of the rule of law becomes meaningless when it is replaced by the empathies of judges."
There’s more… in a week-old op-ed from the Washington Times. I’m getting tired of saying it, but: elections have consequences. These sorts of consequences last two or more generations, though.(sigh)
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More strange weather.We’re on some sort of celestial yo-yo here on The High Plains of New Mexico when it comes to the weather of late.Here’s yesterday:
And now today:
It’s just NOT nice outside at the moment but I suppose things are better here than other places, where folks might be seriously considering ark construction.It’s been threatening rain all day here but nothing’s been delivered.I’m quite sure we could arrange a trade with any number of concerned farmers.
It was so close to perfect that it would have been greedy to ask for more.
How much better could the second round of the NHL playoffs have been? Not much, particularly with the overall quality of play so outstanding and with most games played at a blistering pace and ferocious level of competition.
To anyone who believes this league was better 10 years ago, or 30 years ago, well, go watch one of the games from those days, then compare it to what we saw between the Chicago Blackhawks and Vancouver Canucks, or between Anaheim and Detroit in what, at least in the short term, has replaced the Detroit-Colorado matchup as the best rivalry in the Western Conference.
Perfect, though? Not quite.
If you really want to be picky, you'd have to note that although the NHL came very, very close to having all four second-round series go the seven-game limit, it didn't quite happen. Chicago ended Vancouver's season in six contests, a game that felt in many ways like a do-or-die, seventh-game scenario, but wasn't.
The other three series did go to Game 7, which meant it was the first time in 23 years three of the conference semifinals went to seven games and the other lasted six.
[…]
The 27 second-round games, in general, showcased an excellent brand of the sport, albeit with some controversy and some borderline physicality, such as Walker's unnecessary fist to Ward's face and an ugly hit by Anaheim's Mike Brown early in that series that left Detroit's Jiri Hudler lying on the ice in a pool of blood.
But it's a high-speed sport that sometimes seems akin to watching a science project featuring electrons colliding in a high-speed chamber, and you can only get so much artistry in a sport moving that fast. Moreover, the heavy physical toll of the playoffs seems to be mounting, with every team that's eliminated reporting significant players who were competing with injuries that would have kept them out of regular-season play.
Mr. Cox is right.This year’s playoffs are among the VERY best in my hockey memory, which goes back nearly 25 years. What’s better is I’ve evolved from being a Red Wings fan to becoming a genuine hockey fan since I retired, which is mainly a function of my somewhat excessive “free” time.It takes a great deal of commitment… or borderline mental illness, depending on your POV… to watch every available game, every night.But that’s been me over the course of the last few weeks.And I’ve been handsomely rewarded with some of the best hockey I’ve ever seen.
The best is yet to come, of course.I love this time of year.
President Obama met with White House counsel Greg Craig and other members of the White House counsel team last week and told them that he had second thoughts about the decision to hand over photographs of detainee abuse to the ACLU, per a judge's order, and had changed his mind.
The president "believes their release would endanger our troops," a White House official says, adding that the president "believes that the national security implications of such a release have not been fully presented to the court."
I'll refrain from using the "stopped clock, twice a day" analogy. I'm simply glad the man made the correct decision. One would expect no less from the CinC.
Just in case you missed the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner this past Saturday, C-SPAN has video of the speeches delivered by the headliner, Wanda Sykes, and The One hisownself.I thought Sykes was over the frickin’ top with her routine and I’m not the only one.Even some liberal Dems said as much, to their everlasting credit.While Sykes didn’t begin to approach the hatchet-job delivered by Stephen Colbert at the Correspondents’ Dinner a few years ago… she came close.I watched her whole speech and I was not amused.In fact I'm sufficiently incensed that I won’t even link her “performance.”It’s out there and it ain’t too hard to find if you feel you just have to watch.My opinion?Don’t bother.
I will, however, link the President’s speech.Regular readers know I don’t care for The One’s politics or his policies.Obama delivers a good speech… if nothing else… and his performance on Saturday night was pretty danged good, what with its partisan shots and some mildly self-deprecating humor.The one-liner I liked best concerned his accomplishments during his first 100 days, which included “being named the top auto executive of the year by Car and Driver.”Ouch.
The linked video of the speech is about 16 and a half minutes long and is worth your time... whether you like The One or not.
(Update 1245 hrs with full disclosure: I edited a few awkward constructions out of the previous paragraph after a re-read. Stream o' consciousness writing doesn't always work.)
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Detroit's Darren Helm goes for the loose puck against Chris Pronger during their 4-1 win over Anaheim in game 5 of the Stanley Cup playoffs between the Detroit Red Wings and the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, May 10, 2009 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. (KIRTHMON F. DOZIER/DFP)
DETROIT -- No, the Ducks really were paying attention. They proved it after Game 5. If not during.
Todd Marchant: "At times it looked like we didn't want the puck."
Teemu Selanne: "We had no business being in that game. We weren't mentally prepared."
James Wisniewski: "We can't play like it's Game 38 of the regular season."
Instead, it might well have been Game Next-To-Last of the whole season, this 4-1 loss to the Red Wings that shoved the Ducks into a 2-3 hole in the NHL Western Conference semifinals, with Game 6 in Anaheim on Tuesday.
Just as a historical note, Detroit hasn't lost a Game 7 in Joe Louis Arena since the San Jose series in 1994. Not that the Red Wings have really needed many Game 7s, with their assembly line of puck-carrying talent. Mikael Samuelsson, for example, had 19 regular-season goals. On Sunday he was on Mike Babcock's fourth line.
But the Ducks have gotten past Detroit's skill masters before, by doing everything they said they didn't do Sunday. The shots-on-goal column can deceive, but this one was eloquent and accurate: Detroit, 38-17, including 20 of the first 24 and 15 of the final 20.
The Wings have won the past two games by a combined 10-4, or since Marian Hossa's apparent tying goal Tuesday was blown dead because the referee lost the puck.
The shots-on-goal avalanche in this series now favors Detroit, 223-138.
And it goes on like that elsewhere.Mr. Whicker ain’t the only one who thinks the Ducks might be out come this Tuesday.He has company in ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun who calls the Ducks “worn down” and the Toronto Globe and Mail’sTim Wharnsby, who says, in part:
The Ducks certainly appear to be a worn-down bunch. Forward Ryan Getzlaf, who was battling the flu earlier last week, and his linemate Cory Perry get the bulk of the ice time up front, while the Wings roll four lines.
Only the Wings' lack of finish (they hit two goals posts and a crossbar) prevented the score from being more lopsided. The Ducks were sluggish early on and even after coach Randy Carlyle shuffled his lines, they could not build on a Ryan Whitney power-play goal late in the second period to make the score 2-1.
So… is it over?Not yet.It’s a hockey truism that the last win is the toughest one.We’ll see on Tuesday night.
In other hockey news… the Bruins won convincingly on home ice last night over the Hurricanes by a score of 4-0 to remain alive in their series.What was that Churchill said about the prospect of imminent death focusing the mind like nothing else?Let’s hope the Ducks ain’t reading the same play-book as the B’s.We know they ain’t drinking the same water.I think.
And the Pens took the lead in their series over Washington this past Saturday, in a match-up that just might be the most interesting contest in these playoffs.Hell, even the Wall Street Journal took notice of this one (in what is essentially a love letter to Ovechkin)… which just might be the first article about hockey ever printed in that august rag.It’s the first one I remember, anyway.Worth a read, that one.My favorite bit:
In Washington, where the Capitals have long been the poor stepchild to football's Redskins, Mike Kardash, an attorney in Gainesville, Va., dumped his Redskins tickets two seasons ago and began attending more Capitals games. "It's just more fun to watch," he says, comparing Mr. Ovechkin to longtime Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington, for his bruising hits and speed. Mr. Ovechkin, he says, "he's why people go."
Heh.I LOVE stuff like that... the bit about dumping football, that is. But when it comes to Ovechkin... I'm a big AO fan, too. You can't watch that guy play without being impressed with both his skill and exuberance, particularly the latter.
Just so we cover ALL the bases (to mix our sports metaphors), I need to mention the Hawks won… in Vancouver… on Saturday, as well.They play at home tonight and might be the first of the remaining teams to advance to a conference final.They sure looked impressive in Vancouver.
A friend sent this along last evening, and I HAVE to share...
While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher whose hand was caught in the gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his bid to be our president.
The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Obama is a 'Post Turtle''.
Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post turtle' was.
The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle'.
The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. 'You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, and he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with'.
Yup. That's about as accurate a description as I've yet to hear or see. I'm thinking this one will spread like wildfire. Or already has... seeing as how it's about Candidate Obama. New to me, tho.
Big doings this past weekend, most of which occurred Saturday night and very early Sunday morning.First of all, the Norks defied the entire world (except perhaps for Iran and a few other rogue regimes) and launched their prototype ICBM (which failed, according to the NYT), just hours before President Obama invited the world to join hands with him and sing a few choruses of Kumbaya.The president, speaking in Prague yesterday (transcript here):
So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. (Applause.) I'm not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly -- perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence. But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, "Yes, we can." (Applause.)
Now, let me describe to you the trajectory we need to be on. First, the United States will take concrete steps towards a world without nuclear weapons. To put an end to Cold War thinking, we will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and urge others to do the same. Make no mistake: As long as these weapons exist, the United States will maintain a safe, secure and effective arsenal to deter any adversary, and guarantee that defense to our allies -- including the CzechRepublic. But we will begin the work of reducing our arsenal.
To reduce our warheads and stockpiles, we will negotiate a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Russians this year. (Applause.) President Medvedev and I began this process in London, and will seek a new agreement by the end of this year that is legally binding and sufficiently bold. And this will set the stage for further cuts, and we will seek to include all nuclear weapons states in this endeavor.
To achieve a global ban on nuclear testing, my administration will immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. (Applause.) After more than five decades of talks, it is time for the testing of nuclear weapons to finally be banned.
And to cut off the building blocks needed for a bomb, the United States will seek a new treaty that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials intended for use in state nuclear weapons. If we are serious about stopping the spread of these weapons, then we should put an end to the dedicated production of weapons-grade materials that create them. That's the first step.
Sweet Mother of God.While this may not be unilateral disarmament it’s most definitely its first cousin.The president says he’s “not naïve,” but I beg to differ.And I’m not alone, either.Here’s former Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaking on Fox News Sunday:
Just in case you didn’t watch the video all the way to the end… here’s what I think is the most important bit… Newt on Obama’s “no nukes” speech (complete FNStranscript here):
WALLACE: Mr. Gingrich, what do you make of the president's speech today in which he called for new limits and, in fact, the elimination, eventually, as a goal, of all nuclear weapons at the same time, as I discussed with David Axelrod, that he wants a cut in missile defense?
GINGRICH: There's a fascinating analysis of Jimmy Carter's Notre Dame speech when he spoke at the commencement in 1977. And that was the moment in which Carter's fantasy view of the world became clear, and the beginning, I think, of the end of his -- of his administration. The president's in a world where Hamas is firing missiles every day into Israel, Iran is building nuclear weapons, and the North Koreans today during -- basically during his speech fired a missile, and he has some wonderful fantasy idea that we're going to have a great meeting next year.
With who? I mean, who's coming to this meeting? The Pakistanis? The Indians? The Chinese? The Russians? And what are they going to promise? And why would you believe them?
I just think that it's very dangerous to have a fantasy foreign policy, and it can get you in enormous trouble, just like giving -- you know, we don't have a war on terror anymore. We don't have terrorist attacks anymore. So now homeland security has manmade disasters.
I'm somehow not comforted with the thought that 9/11 was a manmade disaster but not a terrorist attack, and I'm not comforted with words instead of serious systematic policies.
It’s worse than it looks, actually.The president’s announced policy very likely means our current nuclear arsenal, which is in serious need of upgrading due to reliability issues, will NOT be upgraded.From Saturday’s WSJ (“To Russia With Love; Degrading the U.S. nuclear arsenal.”):
What Mr. Obama wants to kill specifically is the Reliable Replacement Warhead, which the Bush Administration supported over Congressional opposition, and which Mr. Obama now opposes despite the support of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the military. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told us this week that "we do need a new warhead." When we asked about Mr. Obama's views on the warhead, the Admiral said, "You would have to ask him."
The RRW is not, in fact, a new weapon; it has been in development for several years and is based on the W89 design tested in the 1980s. It is said to be a remarkably safe and long-lasting warhead, a significant consideration given the gradual physical deterioration of the current U.S. arsenal, particularly the mainstay W76.
The irony is that Mr. Obama's opposition is making substantial reductions in the total U.S. arsenal that much riskier. In the absence of actual testing, which hasn't happened in the U.S. since 1992, the only real hedge against potentially defective weapons is a larger arsenal. Naturally, arms-control theologians are instead urging the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and ban the production of weapons grade uranium and plutonium.
The thinking here is that somehow the American example will get Russia, as well as North Korea, Pakistan and perhaps Iran, to reject nuclear weapons. In fact, a U.S. nuclear arsenal that is diminished in both quantity and quality would be an incentive for these countries to increase their nuclear inventories, since the door would suddenly be opened to reach strategic parity with the last superpower. Mr. Medvedev, for one, recently announced Russia would pursue "large-scale rearmament" of its army and navy, including nuclear arsenals.
France also plans to deploy new sea-based nuclear missiles next year, even as it reduces the overall size of its arsenal. The French understand that a credible nuclear deterrent requires modern and reliable weapons. The Obama Administration should understand that the best security for both the U.S. and the allies that rely on our nuclear umbrella lies in an unchallengeable arsenal, and not an invitation to the world's Mahmoud Ahmadinejads to compete on equal terms.
While Mr. Obama may not be naïve, he apparently believes in fairy tales... or their foreign policy/defense policy equivalents. I wouldn’t have a problem with that if he were only a private citizen and not the president of the United States.We live in a dangerous world… a world where power is respected and weakness is exploited.The policy Mr. Obama announced in Prague will be interpreted as a sign of American weakness in the world’s dark corners, at the very best.I hesitate to speculate what the worst case scenario might entail, but I’m sure it’s NOT something Americans would welcome.And while it’s true the president went to some (small) length to assure the world the US is not unilaterally disarming, he’s coming perilously close to doing just that.I’m afraid the Prague speech was just the first step in what will be an irreversible slide down a slippery slope.
I dunno about you, Gentle Reader, but I feel a whole helluva lot less safe today than I did before I went to bed Saturday night.The other shoe will drop sometime today when Secretary Gates announces the administration’s proposed cuts in major defense programs. I can hardly wait.
Yep… elections have consequences.I only hope the change doesn’t kill us.
A president of the United States orders the chief executive officer of General Motors to resign. The same president is further ordering Chrysler to merge with Fiat, the Italian firm specializing in flimsy cardboard boxes on wheels.
This new reality should send a chill down the spines of all Americans. The federal government has begun to run U.S. companies.
President Obama said Monday, "my team will be working closely with GM to produce a better business plan."
To that confident assertion he added these stern sentiments:
"They must ask themselves: Have they consolidated enough unprofitable brands? Have they cleaned up their balance sheets, or are they still saddled with so much debt that they can't make future investments? Above all, have they created a credible model for how not only to survive, but to succeed in this competitive global market?"
Who is in a better position to know the answers to these questions? Rick Wagoner, the GM CEO for nine years and former GM chief financial officer who has been with the automaker since the late 1970s, even running one of its foreign affiliates in Brazil, and who holds a Harvard Business School MBA?
Or President Obama, a former community activist from the south side of Chicago with a great rhetorical gift?
The president answered that question this week by ordering Wagoner's firing.
Who'd a thunk it? I knew things weren't going to be good under an Obama administration but I really didn't think it would be this bad. And to add insult to injury... The One has the incredible chutzpah to chide GM about their balance sheet and debt... after submitting a budget to Congress that guarantees the largest deficits in our history. Just how we... the United States... are going to finance this debt remains to be seen, but let's not go down that road. Let's think about other things, such as going to the DMV (or some other to-be-announced Fed agency) to file a warranty claim on your GM car. Yeah. THAT will be fun, dontcha think?
―:☺:―
In other news... You know how I'm always going on about the wind here on The High Plains of New Mexico? Aside from being a real pain in the a$$ as far as comfort goes, the high winds can have real negative effects. Case in point (from the Portales News-Tribune.):
After wind knocked down a transmission line serving parts of Portales on Monday, 3,136 customers were without power for as long as almost 2 1/2 hours, Xcel Energy spokesmen said.
Spokesman Troy Foos said the power went off in stages, but the longest time before it was restored was two hours and 20 minutes. Spokesman Wes Reeves said power was back by about 5 p.m.
“We’ve had some wind issues across the whole system today,” Reeves said.
The wind caused several outages at once in the Portales and the Texas Panhandle, he said.
I was without power for about an hour and a half yesterday afternoon. It could have been worse, as it's said.
From "Bad Paintings of Barack Obama.com." The only downside of this website is you MUST click through on all the images... there are no thumbnails or "back" function on the site. But... take my word for it... it's worth the visit. Assuming you (a) aren't seeing enough tacky Obama images in the check-out line at Wally-World and (b) have some minor masochistic tendencies.Some of these images are just flat frickin' FUNNY.
Juan Williams, speaking about Michelle Obama on Bill O'Reilly's show, January 26th...
The money shot begins around 1:39 into the video... and it's a great one! For those of you who may be bandwidth-challenged... here it is in print:
“Michelle Obama, you know, she's got this Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress thing going," said Juan Williams on Fox News. "If she starts talking, as Mary Katharine [Ham, a conservative blogger] is suggesting, her instinct is to start with this blame America, you know, I'm the victim. If that stuff starts coming out, people will go bananas and she'll go from being the new Jackie O to being something of an albatross”
Obama's turn as Vogue cover girl establishes her as modern-day style icon
[…]
Michelle Obama will soon grace the cover of America's style bible, Vogue magazine, amid her stated intention to focus on raising her young girls and to implement a three-pronged policy agenda: supporting military families, helping working women balance career and family and encouraging public service.
Not surprisingly, in a celebrity-obsessed nation that has long adored its cover girls, it's Obama's role as a fashionista rather than her work ethic that's fuelling the most excitement.
The 45-year-old Obama is only the second first lady to appear on the cover of Vogue. Surprisingly, it wasn't Kennedy who beat her to the punch - it was Hillary Clinton in 1998, donning a black Oscar de Renta evening gown. Both first ladies posed for famed photographer Annie Leibovitz.
I'd LOVE to be able to say something like “Wake me when it’s over.”But I remain awake and crap like the above is simply unavoidable as it's seemingly EVERYWHERE.
And about that cover… “The First Lady the World's Been Waiting For?”Really?You mean the world wasn’t satisfied with previous First Ladies?Or just that part of the world that happens to view itself like this?(on the right, obviously) I, for one, thought the previous First Lady was stylish, graceful, and more importantly... eminently sensible and composed. The current First Lady has BIG shoes to fill, IMHO, Vogue cover or no.
Can we just frickin’ STOP THE MADNESS?It’s already beyond old… it’s pathetic.
I've been on about Obama's negative language concerning the economy for a while now, and we're beginning to see pieces on this subject in the dead-tree media and elsewhere. Case in point:
From crisis to catastrophe. Off a cliff. Dark, darker, darkest. Mortal danger of absolute collapse. Armageddon.
President Obama and top Democrats on Capitol Hill are deploying these and other stark predictions of doom and gloom to push through their economic-stimulus package. In terms not heard in Washington since the late 1970s under President Jimmy Carter's watch, the new president has sought to terrify Americans into supporting the $800 billion-plus bailout bill.
[...]
"Mr. Hope has to be careful not to become Dr. Doom," said Frank Luntz, a political consultant and author of the book "Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear."
"The danger for him is using the Jimmy Carter malaise rhetoric, particularly for Mr. Obama, who was elected because people thought he was the solution. There's only so much negativity they will tolerate from him before they will feel betrayed," Mr. Luntz said.
Brad Blakeman, a senior aide to Mr. Bush from 2001 to 2004, said the new president's language is immature.
"It's not presidential. An American leader needs to be hopeful and optimistic - and truthful. Everything he says is parsed; everything he says is searched for deep meaning. When he goes to 'DefCon 5' on the economy and says that we're on the brink of catastrophe, it's absolutely insane."
Well, yeah. Even if the last guy quoted is a lil bit unclear on the DEFCON concept. Which is quite another story, to wit... civilians using military metaphors that they don't quite get. Inexcusable, from my point of view, but we digress.
One of the reasons Jimmuh went down to defeat at the hands of The Gipper was his pessimistic rhetoric... who among us old enough to remember can forget "malaise?"... which was the icing on the cake of his dismal performance. The One had better be careful in this space. But that's just speaking about The One. My biggest concern is for the economy... and the nation as a whole. I don't think it's mere coincidence the market seems to tank on the days Obama utters his latest doom-and-gloom predictions.
That would be Commander Kurt Lippold, USN (ret). For this:
The former commander of the USS Cole, the American war ship that was struck by a suicide boat in Yemeni waters more than eight years ago, on Thursday slammed President Barack Obama's orders to close the Guantanamo detention center and reassess the prisoners being held there.
''We shouldn't make policy decisions based on human rights and legal advocacy groups,'' retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kurt Lippold said in a telephone interview. "We should consider what is best for the American people, which is not to jeopardize those who are fighting the war on terror — or even more adversely impact the families who have already suffered loses as a result of the war."
The Commander is absolutely, positively correct. But the lunatics appear to be in charge of the asylum these days. I don't doubt for a frickin' nanosecond there's more such madness from the Obama administration in the works. Hell, I know there is. It's spelled S-T-I-M-U-L-U-S. Among other things. But we digress.
(re: the title. I'm posting this coz there just ain't a whole helluva lot that interests me on teevee tonight. At least one of you Gentle Readers may take what follows personally. Please don't. OTOH... you MIGHT wanna examine your attitude if you think the shoe fits.)
So… I encountered a WHOLE lot of comment on Tuesday’s Main Event whilst cruising around these here inter-tubes over the past 24 hours or so.Doubtless you had the same experience, Gentle Reader.But grant me some forbearance here, please, while I cut ‘n’ paste excerpts from three such missives.First… Mr. Lileks:
Picked up daughter from the bus stop. What did you do in school? They watched the inauguration all day, in every class, including music. I wish I knew whether they watched it in 2000 or 2004; I’m reasonably certain no one set up projectors in the coffee shop last time. Of course, this was different, to state the screamingly obvious, and setting aside a few differences of opinion on policy matters, the inauguration and the address was a great moment. A great and good thing.
I never thought America wouldn’t elect a Black president. The fact that it finally did happen, however, brought a remarkably satisfying array of emotions. This wasn’t the placement of the cornerstone; the building is never finished. This was a stone in the wall that will be built as high as we want it to go. This stone fit. This stone belonged with the others. A hundred years from now, the stone will take strength from the one laid today, just as this stone relies on the ones laid before. And upward we build, until the metaphor collapses from overwriting -
Sorry. Anyway. I’m glad my daughter saw it in school. Some days history is made, and she got to see it. I wish I could find a way to say more without a parade of banalities and ecumenical cliches, but it’s been a long day, and any attempt to embellish the simple dignity of the event seems misguided, and hanging caveats off the bones of the day seems churlish. Just this, then: What a remarkable nation. We were remarkable the day before, too. But we’ve one more reason now.
Anyway, the man didn’t get my vote, but he’s my president nonetheless. I’ll pray for his success, and I hope you all do as well. Our fates are conjoined.
I made this video about a month ago and repost it now as President Obama takes the reins of government. Unlike the left, I will not claim he is not my President, or his actions are taken not in my name. He was fairly elected, just like W, and as such he is the American President...period. I hope he does well because we all have a stake in this game. That does not mean I have to support policies that I disagree with. I consider myself part of the loyal opposition and if he puts forth bad ideas I will do just that and fight against them. But again without the bitter hate that has made the left such an embarrassment to themselves for most of the past 8 years.
Lex and Uncle Jimbo both served, Lileks did not.I only mention this fact because there was a recurrent theme in the posts the milbloggers I read put up yesterday, and that thought is… “Mr. Obama is MY president, regardless of whether I voted for him or not.”The attitude is both recognizable and understandable to anyone who’s ever served, mainly because the president is also the Big Boss when you wear the uniform.As such, respect for the Commander-in-Chief isn’t just desirable… it’s mandatory… and that respect is something that is instilled in every person who wears the uniform from Day One.
I’m beginning to think Universal Service isn’t such a bad idea, after all.But then again, some people just can’t be taught manners… which includes respect… no matter how hard you try.And don’t feed me any ifs, ands, or buts about someone, anyone, who serves in a position of authority not deserving your respect.I’ve worked for a whole helluva lot of people in my life I didn’t like, including a couple of CinCs, but I damned sure respected their position and authority.It’s all part of being an adult, yanno?
Further on the subject, sorta… One thing you may have missed during yesterday’s festivities, if you watched 'em.The President’s military aide escorted him and Mrs. Obama to the limousine as the inaugural parade began yesterday.Mr. Obama stuck out his hand towards the colonel (or general, the shot was too long for me to see the officer’s epaulets) and the officer refused it, raising his hand in salute instead.The president, to his ever-lasting credit, quickly withdrew his hand and returned a credible salute.The man is learning…
Congratulations, President Obama. Best of luck to you.
Now that that's out of the way... I really wanted to hit the White House web site precisely at the stroke of noon, or as soon as 44 said "So help me God." Not to be. My internet connection went down at 0900, I called my ISP at 0930 and was told the entire city was out due to a cable cut between Clovis and Lubbock. Service was restored around 1415... so I missed ALL the 'net possibilities during the ceremonies. {sigh}
It's always something. But Thank God for the Fox News Channel -- they were great.
You may or may not have heard something about the dinner The One had with conservative columnists last week in the home of George Will.The event was “off the record,” and precious little mention of it… or, more importantly, the things said at that dinner… have trickled out into the media.But there has been some mention.Here’s David Brooks, conservative columnist for the NYT, giving a tantalizing peek at the goings on:
JIM LEHRER: Now, David...Moving right along. You were at a special dinner with -- you and a few other right-wing fanatics... went to this off-the-record dinner at George Will's house.
I'm not going to ask you what was said. But what was the feeling that came out of that, from you? How did you feel?
DAVID BROOKS: Well, he was carried in by cherubs with Oprah Winfrey spreading rose petals at his feet.
DAVID BROOKS: And he said, David, which sort of wine would you like me to turn your water into? That was...
JIM LEHRER: I see.
DAVID BROOKS: No, I -- we can't talk about what happened. But I will say a couple of things.
The one thing that comes across -- first of all, the one thing I will say is, it's a bunch of conservatives, mostly, and him. There was no sense that there were ideological sides. It was just a bunch of people sitting around talking about policy.
And there was no sides. And then I think the things that comes out of the whole series of interviews he did -- he did one with conservatives and the next day with liberals, and then The Washington Post editorial board, and I think...
JIM LEHRER: USA Today.
DAVID BROOKS: USA Today. And I think CNN.
JIM LEHRER: Yes.
DAVID BROOKS: But the thing that comes out, a couple things. One is the intense pragmatism of the guy.
I really think he's a Democrat. And Mark will be fine with him. But he really is empirical. And I think he sees himself as a very empirical person, data-driven, no grand philosophy of what the role of government should be, just what works.
And, second, I think a real sense of stability and order, which will be of comfort to conservatives. And he's emphasized this quite a lot this week, that we are going to be spending a lot of money over the next couple of years on the stimulus package.
But, over the long term, he's aware of the deficit, the possibility of fiscal imbalances. And he's very serious about Social Security and Medicare reform, entitlement reform, to get the long-term budget in line. And, so, if he's really going to be serious about entitlements, if he's going to get a commission that will help us solve it, then he can spend a lot of money in the next year or two -- I don't care -- because that's the real fiscal issue.
And -- and he stressed that this week in his public interviews, that he really wants to take care of that issue.
Quoted from The News Hour’s web site.And then there’s this from Bill Kristol, writing in yesterday’s NYT:
Barack Obama will assume that just and rightful authority at noon on Tuesday. After a dinner with him that I attended last week, as we said our goodbyes, I overheard one of my fellow conservatives say softly to the president-elect, “Sir, I’ll be praying for you.” Obama seemed to pause as they shook hands, and to thank him more earnestly than he did those of us who simply — and sincerely — wished him well.
The incoming president is the man of the moment. He deserves good wishes and sincere prayers. But I’ve found myself thinking these last few days more about the man who has shouldered the burdens of office for the past eight years, George W. Bush.
Kristol’s op-ed is worth the read, btw, focusing as it does on 43 and NOT 44.But we digress... my point is Kristol was at Will's house for the dinner and seems impressed.More, from today’s Financial Times(UK):
On his last night of freedom – so to speak – Barack Obama on Monday chose to host a dinner for John McCain, the man he defeated last November after a rancorous campaign. Monday night’s forgive-and-forget banquet followed an equally eyebrow-raising dinner last week at the home of George Will, the conservative columnist, whose guests included Bill Kristol, the viscerally anti-Obama neo- conservative.
In the build-up to probably the most feverishly awaited inauguration in history, the president-elect has been assiduously courting conservative enemies. Most supporters of Mr Obama accept the logic of winning over as many Republicans as possible in order to get maximum support behind the emergency bank bail-out and fiscal stimulus that he needs to push through Capitol Hill in his first few weeks.
In contrast to George W. Bush, whose political “boy wonder”, Karl Rove, said the support of 51 per cent of Americans was all they needed to accomplish their agenda, Mr Obama wants to build a bigger tent that enables Americans to transcend partisan differences.
The only people left scratching their heads are the liberals, who thought the incoming president was one of their own. Instead of appealing to the “better angels of our nature”, as Abraham Lincoln did in his inauguration speech in 1865, many want Mr Obama to take the fight to the conservatives, whom they believe got America into a mess.
Which, of course, is precisely the WRONG thing to do, assuming we… the American people… want our gub’mint to actually DO something, rather than continue the political posturing that’s gotten us exactly nowhere over the last few years.There’s a reason Congress’ favorable public opinion ratings are the lowest in history, and it ain’t due to the wonderfulness of our culture-warriors carrying their flags into battle.Yet some on both sides of the aisle want to perpetuate the madness.
I’m NOT saying conservatives should roll over and buy everything The One is selling… far from it.We should remain the “loyal opposition” and oppose policies and legislation that are in contravention to our core values, e.g., fiscal responsibility, small government, a strong military.What I AM saying is similar to what Maggie Thatcher told President Reagan all those years ago about Mikhail Gorbachev:“This is a man we can work with.”Put another way: becoming “the party of NO” like the Democrats did during Dubya’s first six years in office ain’t exactly smart, yanno?
The initial indications about The One being a politician Republicans can work with are good.After all, one would be hard pressed to find someone who was more anti-Obama than Mr. Kristol.In the mainstream, that is, we both know there are nuts on either side of the wire, Gentle Reader.I’m cautiously hopeful about The One… and I think he’s gonna be a whole helluva lot easier to work with than those old culture warriors on the left… like Algore or John Frickin’ Kerry.The trick will be convincing the old culture warriors on the RIGHT this is so, tho.
Never forget: politics is ALL about compromise.T’was ever so.
Yow. That IS remarkable, innit? (Y)Ezhov is a relatively obscure Rooshian, but here's what The Wiki sez about him, in part:
Yow. That IS remarkable, innit? (Y)Ezhov is a relatively obscure Rooshian, but here's what The Wiki sez about him, in part:
