Lincoln? Really?

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better -- Abraham Lincoln, January, 1948

You will take possession by military force of the printing establishments of the New York World and Journal of Commerce ... and prohibit any further publication thereof.... You are therefore commanded forthwith to arrest and imprison ... the editors, proprietors and publishers of the aforementioned newspapers. -- Abraham Lincoln, May 18, 1864

It was interesting to see Barry invoke the name of Abraham Lincoln, what with the Lincoln trail train ride, the other comparisons to the Great Centralizer; and the press eagerly connects the two as if it were a good thing for Obama. If indeed Barry Obama is going to remind us of Abraham Lincoln, it might be instructive to consider what particular aspects of Lincoln we are supposed to invoke in comparison:

Would it be the Abraham Lincoln who, apparently changing his mind on the concept of secession, arrested the Mayor of Baltimore for his secessionist beliefs?

Would it be the Abraham Lincoln who started an illegal deadly war, one that still can not be easily named?

How about the one who suspends habeus corpus and dismisses enumerated powers in favor of his own idea of a Constitution?

Would it be The Real Abraham Lincoln, the one who established the first American military draft? And confiscated firearms.

The one who nationalized the transportation industry and the money supply?

Sadly, I can picture Barry doing all these things, and can almost guarantee he wouldn't even feel the shame of it, just as Lincoln surely did not. I have my image of the parallels drawn between Obama and Lincoln, but to be sure it casts no favorable light on the 44th president.

Jimmy = Barry

So disaffected was bicentennial America that it sought leaders unconnected to the establishment. In Jimmy Carter, voters found a candidate whose main qualifications were his lack of experience and connections within the Beltway or corporate worlds. Like Barack Obama, Carter claimed to rise above failed partisanship, while his New South background allowed him to symbolize racial healing. Carter, like Obama, sold himself mainly on the virtues of his character. He presented himself as a man of simple honesty, faith, and decency, and his lack of a track record allowed voters to see in him what they wanted, however far-fetched those hopes might be. If they hadn’t believed it, they wouldn’t have seen it with their own eyes. Above all, Carter promised change, a message that carried weight as long as its details remained nonspecific. The problem with messiahs from nowhere is that when they do exercise power, people discover to their horror what their leader’s actual views and talents are. The disillusion can be dreadful. -- Philip Jenkins, The American Conservative

I believe that people see the person they want to see when they are sizing someone up for the first time. A lot of people see Barry Obama as a sort of a fair-minded, even-handed, reasonable sort of a guy, who can convince a nation to do the right thing. Many people never get beyond the first look before pulling the lever. They want to believe that Barry is the guy they hope he is.

The last person your Wizer ever voted for for president who actually won was (believe it or not) Jimmy Carter. I spent the next 32 years regretting that vote. Like many Americans, I saw a certain simplicity and innocence there; only to find too late that his vision was not at all the same as mine. Not even close. It wasn't until after the election that I realized that I had been had. The best candidate in 1976 was not Gerald Ford, of course. It was Robert Ringer.

Forget Blagojevich. Yes, Barry and Rod were brought to you by the same Illinois political machine, but Barry will have all the teflon he needs to get through the next four years, courtesy of what's left of the mainstream media. Besides, Barry is the person people voted for, and they will defend him until he is irretrievably broken. What's really unfortunate is what's going to happen in government in the meantime. When that mess is made, we will all wish we never voted for Carter all over again.

Wizer One-Liner #20

So, with hurricanes and other natural disasters, the government (i.e., FEMA) is supposed to fix it; but with government created disasters (like the credit crisis), well, no, that's different.

Witch!

A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the world--no longer a government of free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men. --President Woodrow Wilson


From now on, depressions will be scientifically created. -- Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh Sr. , 1913

It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. -- Henry Ford

It is probably because Rick Wagoner understands. Rick Wagoner is chairman and CEO of General Motors. Chris Dodd is pointing at Wagoner and screaming "Witch!"

I believe that the longer Wagoner stays in the public eye, the sooner the truth of the origin of the financial crisis becomes clear. It's the last thing Dodd wants to see. If he can waste Wagoner, a convenient scapegoat is created., and maybe the heat comes off.

For those unclear on the link between the current crisis and Senator Dodd, here's sauce for the gander.

A Silver Lining

A rigid economy of the public contributions and absolute interdiction of all useless expenses will go far towards keeping the government honest and unoppressive. -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Lafayette, 1823

A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. -- James Madison, letter to W.T. Barry, August 4, 1822

It's hard for us average folks to follow the workings of the US Senate. Even the founding fathers struggled with keeping their new government on task and in focus. A full reading of the Senate's proceedings is such a daunting task, that it's output is unknown to much of America. Thus, as Madison warns, government is clearly now a Prologue to Farce, if not already past the prologue phase.

Occasionally, however, a resource like the National Taxpayer's Union is able to Capture and condense the sum and total of accomplishments for all to see. And the information at NTU.org is quite revealing:

We analyzed every roll call vote taken during 2007 (1st Session of the 110th Congress) and selected all votes that could significantly affect the amounts of federal taxes, spending, debt, or regulatory impact. -- NTU 2007 ratings

Selected results:

Senate Average: 37% (C-)

Hillary Clinton 3% (F)
Barry Obama 5% (F)
Joe Biden 4% (F)

The Silver Lining is this: With these 3 leaving the senate, the average score is almost guaranteed to go up.

Misunderestimating Intervention

Under our proposal, the federal government would put up to $700 billion taxpayer dollars on the line to purchase troubled assets that are clogging the financial system. -- George Bush (September 24th)

Government intervention is not a cure-all. The crisis was not a failure of the free market system. And the answer is not to try to reinvent that system. History has shown that the greater threat to economic prosperity is not too little government involvement in the market but too much. It would a terrible mistake to allow a few months of crisis to undermine 60 years of success. -- George Bush (November 13)

Does anyone else find this amazing? What a very fascinating dichotomy this is. First, B43 gives away 700 Gigaclams to the wizards of wall street, and then puts the clamps down on a mere 4% of that to aid the automakers. So, which is it George, Intervention Good? or Intervention Bad? I'm in no mood to let you have it both ways.

It may be that Bush wants to punish Michigan (and gets a lot of automaking-state senators to back him up). And it's true that regardless of what George does today, Barry will extend the lifeline to Motown. But really. If 700 bills is needed to fix the economy how can you carve out 25 bill and keep it from one of the bigger victims of intervention to begin with?

I'm no fan of intervention, of course, but it's a problem the government created through the Fannie Mae malfeasance, and it's therefore a problem the government should clean up on its way out the door.

Prepping for Socialism

Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude. -- Alexis de Tocqueville

To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it. -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816

The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. -- Benjamin Franklin

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston Churchill

But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, uh, and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in the society. -- Barack Obama

A friend recently sent me on a nostalgic tour of things John Galt. In a separate exchange, another friend challenged my opposition to Obama. The latter exchange ended predictably. After three email swaps on the issues of economics, liberty, and personal responsibility, I was summarily dismissed as a racist. Three rounds is about all it takes, because the arguments themselves are irrefutable. I gave him a pass, since as a Canadian, he does not have the proper grounding of what it is to be an American. He is not alone. Many Americans do not nhave the proper grounding in American History as well. The former discussion, on the other hand, still has me thinking.

Since we are unbelievably near a serious fall into socialism, a John Galt scenario is frighteningly close today. Clearly anyone with money and brains is not going to risk investing in this country. By pulling out the capital they are essentially going the way of John Galt. I can see industrialists the world over joining the strike, and this speech will be what everybody hears.

The unfortunate thing is that both of my friends and their families will be equally hurt by this. The ones who know better, and the ones who should but don't. The misery will be shared (if not the blame).

I understand the movie Atlas Shrugged will be out next year. Not a moment too soon, by my reckoning.

Did you get what you voted for?

It will be interesting to see if anybody did.

John Galt 2012

McCain in a squeaker

I have just received the following wire from my generous Daddy. It says, ''Dear Jack: Don't buy a single vote more than is necessary. I'll be damned if I am going to pay for a landslide.'' --John F. Kennedy

An election cannot give a country a firm sense of direction if it has two or more national parties which merely have different names, but are as alike in their principals and aims as two peas in the same pod. --

Franklin D. Roosevelt

If elected I shall be thankful; if not, it will be all the same. -- Abraham Lincoln

Not having a horse in this particular race, your Wizer considers himself the closest thing to an impartial reporter of the news there is. The most important outcome of this particular race is not who wins (and I wonder if it matters at all), but how the country moves out of the current blue funk. Obviously, both candidates are seriously flawed (in the sense that both Gore and Kerry were), and since both parties represent big government, there is no appreciable difference between them. Yet, there's one particular reason to look forward to an Obama win. An event like that will at least cause all the news outlets to start reporting things optimistically (if their guy gets elected, everything is rosy, isn't it?) Right now we could use a couple of years of optimism. Even the blind kind.

McCain will probably win. I know he's eager to earn the Wizer's endorsement, but I don't think he needs it. Basically, he wins because the stakes that elected Bush twice have not changed, and Bush's failings with the economy are not the fault of the government, the party, or of the free market system. They are the failings of individuals. We see the same threats and challenges from 8 and 4 years ago; but now know these will have to be attended to by someone else. Any republicrat is likely to be an improvement. So we'll probably pick one who at least knows he has to live by the constitution and appoint judges instead of czars.

Am I discounting the poll results? Absolutely. Here's why: The pollsters are modifying their polling techniques based on party registrations. If they believe that 55% of the electorate are democrats, and 45% are republicans, then Obama should be ahead 55-45. Right? I don't believe that's how people will vote. How did they come up with 55% democrats? Finger in the wind and some registration mismatches caused by the Hillary - Barry dustup. Also, with polling 55% dems, why is Obama barely cracking 50?

McCain could still lose, but hey, it's been his to lose since March.

Mr. Peterson's 7th Hour Econ Class

Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do. -- Old Joke # 1219

It's no wonder that the people are confused about government and economics. There's an obfuscation of the cause and effect connecting government and economics. It's clear to me that virtually all economic problems are traceable to one government program or another.

Government and Econ were the classes taught in high school, often by the same guy, that were skipped regularly by my classmates. Why did Mr. Peterson always seem to have 7th hour? Why were his classes so dry and uninteresting? Yes, there is a constitution, and it says something about our rights, and yes there's the economics of check writing and maybe some other stuff about money.

I wonder if Mr. Peterson didn't believe in the value of history. Maybe he himself did not understand the significance of economics, and why Americans need to understand it. Today, if he was looking at what I'm looking at, he would have grabbed us by our collars and screamed about this crucial stuff. Many of us thought calculus was some kind of mysterious orb of truth that we had to spend time in contemplating. Truth is, we'd all have been better off reading another economics book; because lo and behold, that's where the problems lie today that will consume our country.

I realize that 30 some years after high school; virtually nobody understands economics. Few of us know that taxes reduce disposable income, destroy incentives, and kill job growth. Fewer still realize that every spending bill from congress has myriad unintended consequences including the growth of government infrastructure to support it. Forget bridges to nowhere. Those are a very small drop in the bucket compared to the long term neutron economic bomb contained in the typical bill itself. Pick any new government program. It came with a couple of tchotchkies for the congressman, but it cost a lot more than that.

Now the government is printing up 700 billion to rescue Wall Street. When exactly did Wall Street become a ward of the court? Probably the least productive of all persons are those who merely carry someone else's money. Wouldn't society have been much better off letting these guys become policemen, golf caddies, or (dare I say it), plumbers?

Here's the thing: every bill that grows government hurts us all. "No child left behind" has conditioned teachers to teach test taking 101, when what the teachers should be doing is teaching Econ 302.

So, in our long term detentions, we travel along an economic path electing one big government champion (Bush 41) to another (Bill Clinton) to another (Bush 43) to another (your choice), and we expect that one of these left turns will eventually turn out "right". It reads like an old joke, and it is, one most certainly on all of us.

What's the big hurry?

"You can start voting today, so I want everybody after this rally to go vote," the Democratic presidential nominee exhorted a crowd at the New York Yankees' spring-training park here. Referring to past voting debacles in the state, he said: "You don't know what's going to happen Nov. 4." -- Barry Obama

Translation: "Hurry up and vote, otherwise you might accidentally learn more about me".

I wouldn't worry about that, Barry. The networks are doing their best to keep the truth about you under wraps. It shouldn't matter that much. Besides, Florida doesn't count the absentee ballots the same way. Remember all the military ballots that were intentionally shelved in 2000 to make it look like the race was close?

Only seven points?

Obama 49.9 McCain 42.3

While (Obama) has moved ahead in Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, one senses America is not so much rallying to him as running away from a Republican brand that is now on the same shelf with Chinese baby formula. -- Pat Buchanan

Why can't Barry close the deal? Even the stock market is betting on him. Can there be any better explanation for the stock market collapse than the expectation that a socialist president is about to take control? In spite of where the smart money lies, this match still does not appear to be over.

We are now hearing that Obama has peaked too soon, or that there are legions of racists mobilized against him , or that McCain's "lies" are hurting him. Feh. It boils down to this: If Obama wasn't a flawed candidate, in the same mold as Kerry, Gore, and McGovern, this one would already be in the bag. Ohio may not be the slam dunk the Obama people thought it was, and many other volatile measurements must be made before this game is called. A lot of people are convinced this is a republican-caused meltdown, and yet not enough people believe it to put the game out of reach.

Truth is, Bush 43 was always clueless on the economy, but not the main perpetrator here. Pelosi was supposed to be minding the store back home during war time. McCain is equally clueless and can't fix it, and Obama has not one hope of getting it right. Nothing left for the market to do but tank. Obama is the biggest cheerleader of the recession, and stands to gain if he can continue to advance the illusion that he is an antidote for the recession.

Election fraud

I suppose we should go ahead and report that the big news this election season will be conducted November 5, 6, and 7. With voter fraud the big story going into the election (here's the latest sample), and the media's failure to even report it (no doubt they feel any fraud will benefit their candidate). How is it going to look when Obama loses the election in spite of all the extra voting.

Then we are going to hear for another 8 years how the republicans 'stole' the election. Please. A Chicago politician should be much better at cheating than an Arizona senator, and if he does lose despite all the triple voting that will take place, let's just agree to chalk it up to too little, too late for Obama.

I just hope we don't have to have the national guard out there protecting the poll workers from Bill Ayers.

Barack's "Facebook"

Look who Barack Obama is connected to.

Vote for Kaczinski

Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter -- Isaiah 5:20

I'm not sure how much it matters that Obama is one step away from Ted Kaczinski. The majority of people who would vote for Obama with full knowledge of the facts, would vote for him anyway. They fully believe that the end justifies the means. If blowing up a few public buildings advances their cause no matter what, they'll do it.

It also clearly means these people identify more with our enemies than with us, because our enemies have no problem blowing up a train or a building to amplify their message, either.

Add to this small number, the number of people who are blind to the facts who will vote for Obama. It's testimony to the art of lying and deception that together they can even come close to being a combined majority.

In my youth, I was a tolerant person allowing all other ideas to coexist, even the big lie that is socialism, trusting that the truth will always carry the day. It was only when the lies got noisier and more obnoxious that it became obvious that you really can fool most of the people most of the time.

All I can do is point out these things in my little corner of the internet. Maybe enough people will get wise to this. At some point, a number of people who are reasonably well-informed have tuned out of the election because the choices are between two shades of bad. It's becoming increasingly clear that one of those options is shaded significantly darker, and must be avoided. Then we can start working for a better day.

Update: Chicago Election Goes West

Leaving Michigan

News item: John McCain's campaign is pulling up stakes in Michigan and moving on, effectively conceding the state and its 17 Electoral College votes to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama in order to fight on elsewhere.

"What? I just got here!" -- The Wizer (who moved to Michigan in September)

I admit to having a contrarian streak. It's something I'm proud of, even though it makes nearly all candidates unsuitable for office in my eyes. Candidates try to look like they can relate to the majority, and when they do that, I tend to dislike it. Obama, who represents the views of very few people tries to sound like he's the right guy to lead this country. The simple truth is, he represents true disaster to real Americans, and false promise to the quasi-Americans he intends to trick into voting for him.

John McCain, who tries to make everybody happy, instead makes most of us mad with his bipartisan horsehockey. Now comes the news that he intends to abandon Michigan. Well that's original. More residents are leaving Michigan than any other state. There's even a blog devoted to Leaving Michigan.

We can talk about all the reasons why Michigan is a blue state, or at least 3 points bluer than red, I would just say it is a target rich environment for someone wanting to make a difference. To give up on a state where answers are desparately sought strikes me as a dull, stupid move. It's also not the path of a Maverick. It follows the conventional wisdom. The press is telling McCain to get out, and he agrees with it.

Fortunately, Sarah Palin has caught wind of this insanity, and she wants to come here and give a try. Now there's a real original thought. Michigan does not want McCain... but Michigan would likely benefit from a strong dose of Sarah. I hope she comes.

Barry becomes 'Agreeable'

Byron York logs quotes from Obama in the first debate:

“I think Senator McCain’s absolutely right that we need more responsibility…”

“Senator McCain is absolutely right that the earmarks process has been abused…”

“He’s also right that oftentimes lobbyists and special interests are the ones that are introducing these…requests…”

“John mentioned the fact that business taxes on paper are high in this country, and he’s absolutely right…”

“John is right we have to make cuts…”

“Senator McCain is absolutely right that the violence has been reduced as a consequence of the extraordinary sacrifice of our troops and our military families…”

“John — you’re absolutely right that presidents have to be prudent in what they say…”

“Senator McCain is absolutely right, we cannot tolerate a nuclear Iran…”

Does this mean Obama is changing his vote?

Dr. Frankenstein's Wall Street

"Americans should remember that Frankenstein was not the name of the monster but of its creator" -- Victor Davis Hanson

Regarding Choices

If you come to a fork in the road, take it. -- Yogi Berra


Selwyn Duke wrote an article that stopped me in my tracks this week.

As many of you know, I have advocated the investigation of third party candidates as the eminently rational choice for your vote in November. After all, neither the republicans nor the democrats have much of a platform to offer, and there are dozens of people you or I would rather have as president than either of these choices. In fact, I can think of three that are actually running for president that are better qualified and preferable as choices, so why not pick one of those instead?

I have rejected many arguments against third party voting before now. I could hold each of them up to the light and see that they reflect only the self interests of the parties themselves. Then, Mr. Duke put an analogy in play that shows a few more facets.

Picture a bus traveling down the highway. At each exit ramp, you have exactly two choices. You can move right, or stay left. The third party candidates reside in an alternate place somewhere else that is not immediately accessible. To get to one of these better places, Duke advises that you would need Captain Kirk's help. So, as a practical matter, it is always about two choices.

His argument is that every choice presented in the past leads to the sequence of choices in the future. As much as we'd like to visualize the right guy in office, the best we can hope for is to take an exit that doesn't take us very far away from our desired destination.

In many ways, choices have been made all along, and the real leaders are either not involved in the race, or have already been eliminated. To belabor the analogy once, it's like we missed the best three exits, and now have a choice between one exit and another.

Perhaps choosing between them is a more rational choice to make than one of wishing for a warp in the space-time continuum precisely on November 4th. I recommend reading the article.

Cargo Cult Economics

If Reagan offered "voodoo economics", as his opponents charged, Obama is selling Cargo Cult economics. After World War II, New Guinea aborigines build model airfields to entice the gods to bring them "cargo". They watched American soldiers build airstrips and land cargo planes, and sought to accomplish the same through sympathetic magic. Given the culture of the aborigines and their observations, anthropologists aver, making radios and observation towers out of straw and coconuts was a rational response. Something similar might be said of the position of the American middle class. Spengler, Asia Times, Jan 29, 2008.

So, what is it, exactly, that this man proposes to do? Raise the minimum wage? Okay, more unemployment. Is that what you want? No? You want more jobs? Oh, okay, so we need to become competitive with China, Russia, Brazil, and India. But that means lowering the cost of production. That will at least require energy as cheap as it is in these other countries. We can't drill? No Nuclear power? Oh, okay, we'll invest in solar energy. and wind energy. That's all well and good. So, what do we do when the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow? Might as well stay at home.

Like it or not, we are competing with the rest of the world to supply the goods and services that enrich our lives, and those of the rest of the world. When we saddle ourselves with significant competitive disadvantages, we had better have competitive advantages that greatly outweigh them.

So is there any competitive advantage to be gained in any of Obama's policies?

Game changer, or checkmate?

Some of life's greatest opportunities come unexpectedly. And this is certainly the case today.

I never really set out to be involved in public affairs, much less to run for this office. My mom and dad both worked at the local elementary school. And my husband and I, we both grew up working with our hands. I was just your average hockey mom in Alaska, raising...

(APPLAUSE)

We're busy raising our kids. I was serving as the team mom and coaching some basketball on the side. I got involved in the PTA and then was elected to the city council, and then elected mayor of my hometown, where my agenda was to stop wasteful spending, and cut property taxes, and put the people first.

...

If our state wanted a bridge, I said we'd build it ourselves. Well, it's always, though, safer in politics to avoid risk, to just kind of go along with the status quo. But I didn't get into government to do the safe and easy things. A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not why the ship is built. -- Sarah Palin

While the democrats were at their self-absorbed best acting like sourpusses, whiners, and victims, Hurrican Sarah was bearing down on the dems version of New Orleans, 2008-style.

How does one attempt to equate John McCain to George Bush when it also means equating Sarah Palin to Dick Cheney? Heh. I know, I know, they both think drilling is a pretty good idea, and shooting is good fun, but I don't think a lot of people are going to see this election as being about Bush III any more.

The "party of change", incidentally, picked Biden. Talk about business as usual. People who want change are going to have a hard time seeing Obama as anything but a Chicago machine cog wedded to a lifetime east coast leftie.

One of the interesting themes at play will be that this Sarah Palin, who lives life to the fullest, truly does love America. I think people want a leader who loves America. Not would be leaders who are only proud of it when they get the nomination.

Help George Obama

A plea for help. Please do your part.

Update: More Help for George

Hitchhikers

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Forget Big Oil

At 7% profit it's a piker. Try Big Corn.

Ted's Next Bridge

Ted Stevens, senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations committee, and architect of the famous "Bridge to Nowhere" is finally put on the short bridge to oblivion. Let's all wish him a fast journey.

(Hah, you thought this was a Chappaquiddick story, didn't you?)

Al's Weather Report

And by the way, our weather sure is getting strange, isn't it? There seem to be more tornadoes than in living memory, longer droughts, bigger downpours and record floods. Unprecedented fires are burning in California and elsewhere in the American West. Higher temperatures lead to drier vegetation that makes kindling for mega-fires of the kind that have been raging in Canada, Greece, Russia, China, South America, Australia and Africa. Scientists in the Department of Geophysics and Planetary Science at Tel Aviv University tell us that for every one degree increase in temperature, lightning strikes will go up another 10 percent. And it is lightning, after all, that is principally responsible for igniting the conflagration in California today. -- Al Gore, July 17, 2008

Like the old-timer on the front porch, he sits there in the rocking chair and nods knowingly like he's seen it all before. It's easy to dismiss his rantings as another in a long line of retired people who can't hear enough of his own opinions. Old people like to talk about the weather. But this is a twist, because now the old timer is saying the weather is worse than it was in the good old days.

He's right as far as that goes. We probably are having more weather than when he was a boy. I can attest to the 95 year flood in central Indiana. I can note that we are under a severe storm watch today, while having dealt with a drought a year ago. And just like the other old-timers sitting on the porch, Al Gore has exactly no chance of ever changing the weather. Zip. Regardless of how many trillions of our dollars he persuades our government to spend.

Yet, here he is, getting all sorts of added attention, movie and book deals, awards, and such just for giving his opinion on the weather (where do I sign up for that gig?). But here's the thing. Weather is a verifiable fact, and Al has no monopoly on that. We can all see the statistics if that sort of thing interests you. What's different is a matter of opinion. Al's opinion -- if you look at it in the context of the old-timer in the rocking chair -- is that (get this) ...the rest of the neighborhood caused the bad weather. Instead of nodding back, pouring him some iced tea, and changing the subject, we literally beg him to go on blathering.

Al will be gone before the damage he creates here will be attributed to him. He is getting a lot of attention for an old-timer, he can say whatever he wants and watch the fun go by. When the US finally figures out that his cause was an enormous ineffective rat-hole that will suck up enough resources to make The Great Society look like a trip to the Safeway, it will be too late to catch up to the rest of the world.

Pass the iced tea.

McCain buys Gore-baloney

"If the vice president says it's doable, I believe it's doable" -- John McCain

Rangel-ing with the Housing Crisis

Charles Rangel has his own solution to the housing crisis.

"Post-Industrial"?

"But just as importantly, what Americans need now is leadership to get moving again -- rather than more platitudes about hope, squabbling about race and gender, and endless rhetoric about who is really a maverick or a true conservative or the most liberal. What we need to know from our two presidential candidates are specifics about how to jumpstart America." -- Victor Davis Hanson

Jon Stewart covers The New Yorker

Daily show clip.

McCain Hammers on Republicans, Throws Gramm Under the Bus

There shouldn't be any further question that there still and again two democrats on the campaign trail. John McCain is finding new things every day to hammer fellow republicans over. He has consistently voiced his disapproval of current administration policies.

I'm as anti-Bush as anybody this side of the Daily Kos, but fortunately for us, Bush is different from McCain when it comes to Campaign Finance, Immigration, and pesky matters like Stem Cells. McCain is closer to Obama on most of the issues that really count.

The latest Republican to be cut off at the knees is Phil Gramm.

Phil Gramm is one of the best economic thinkers of our time. And McCain has publicly admitted he doesn't understand the economy. So, McCain needs guys like Gramm. and needs them desperately and thoroughly. Still, he tosses the good ones aside. Phil Gramm is as republican as they come, and McCain (maverick that he is) can't wait to attack republicans, especially those that are on the correct side of any issue.

I voted for Phil Gramm (even though he's a republican, and even though votes don't count much in a May primary). I still think he would make a great president. I'd vote for him today over anybody else out there running.

So, I think it is a disservice to all of us that McCain pushes away yet another person who would have saved his candidacy. Instead of Bush III (which would be about the best we could expect this time around) , we are going to get Carter II, and we'll all be glad when that's over.

Maybe Phil Gramm could be elected president of Belarus, and show us how an economy is supposed to work.

Economy Stupid

We still have nightmares about 2000 and what happened in that election — it was wrong. Many of us believe that the candidate who got fewer votes was inaugurated president. -- Hillary Clinton, Florida, May 22, 2008

So I want to say to my supporters, when you hear people saying – or think to yourself – “if only” or “what if,” I say, “please don’t go there.” Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward. Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too high to dwell on what might have been. -- Hillary Clinton, June 7, 2008

What a difference two weeks makes, huh? Let's hope it is Hillary's last hypocrisy for a while.

So we are down to McCain and Obama. One is a Democrat, always thumbing his nose at our traditions and what we hold as important. Wishing to out-do Bush in the compassionate part without being conservative. And the other guy is Obama. The worst voting record in each of his three years in the Senate.

I'm thinking that it won't take much of a third party effort to disrupt and impact this election. Consider that Ross Perot was chosen by over 19% of the electorate, running solely on economic issues.

Even though Bill was the lucky recipient of the welfare vote, he realized that ending welfare (as we know it) was necessary, because, after all, it was "the economy stupid". The best way to improve the economy was to get more productivity out of the people. Putting them to work did that.

George, on the other hand is putting a lot more people to work, but unfortunately he is doing it on foreign soil, to the benefit of someone else's country. It's not hard to see why the dollar continues to tumble. We're throwing dollars around in Iraq, instead of in ANWR, where they are really needed.

So, George doesn't understand all this. He grew government and shrank the economy. McCain by his own admission doesn't get it. Obama? I doubt it, because he voted for every liberal hobby horse trotted out in front of the senate. Unless he will all of a sudden be his own man, instead of being a Harry Reid puppet; chances are he will only make things worse.

So, the situation is very ripe for someone to come along and mount a reasonable third party campaign. It will fall short, of course, but we might, in the process, accidentally elect someone who learns the lesson like Bill did.

Managing our resources does not mean retiring our military, which was the other part of Clinton's legacy. Our enemies would love us to take our eye off the ball the same way Clinton did. Certainly if we train effective fighting units, we ought to preserve their use for fighting. The rest of us should be doing things that benefit us and our own economy, and not that of a country we are trying to prop up.

Wizer One-Liner #19

As if taking pot-shots at GWB was even necessary, let alone sporting; we have to hear it from a press secretary bad enough to be fired by Bush.

Another Unexpected Choice

Bob Barr announces bid for Libertarian Party nomination.

An Unexpected Choice to Make

Capitalism should not be condemned, since we haven’t had capitalism. A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntary contracts and interest rates that are determined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank. It’s not capitalism when the system is plagued with incomprehensible rules regarding mergers, acquisitions, and stock sales, along with wage controls, price controls, protectionism, corporate subsidies, international management of trade, complex and punishing corporate taxes, privileged government contracts to the military-industrial complex, and a foreign policy controlled by corporate interests and overseas investments. Add to this centralized federal mismanagement of farming, education, medicine, insurance, banking and welfare. This is not capitalism!
-- Ron Paul, "Has Capitalism Failed?", July 9, 2002

John McCain demonizes Big Pharma — i.e., the private pharmaceutical companies that create, develop and manufacture the drugs that all these socialized health care systems in every corner of the planet are utterly dependent on. He voted for Sarbanes-Oxley, a quintessential Congressional overreaction (to Enron) that buries American companies in wasteful paperwork and hands huge advantages to stock exchanges in London, Hong Kong and elsewhere. But why stop there? McCain is also gung ho for all the most economically disruptive Big Government solutions to "climate change." Apparently, that's the only change these candidates aren't in favor of. When it comes to the climate, McCain and Hillary are agents of non-change. John McCain has an almost Edwardsian contempt for capitalism, for the people whose wit and innovation generate the revenues that pay for your average small-state Senator's Gulf Emir-sized retinue of staffers. -- Mark Steyn

The Wizer was planning on sitting this one out. By reading the newspapers here in Indiana and watching the news, you would think that an important decision was about to be made, and that it involved one of only two candidates. Yet, the simple truth is there's no practical difference between the two that they are talking about. Yet Hoosiers (at least, Hoosier media) seem enthralled with the fact that we are cause célèbre this week.

In fact, there is a more important race, and one which the choices are far more meaningful and dramatic. The media has not mentioned this one (I found out myself by perusing the ballot sample), but hey, Ron Paul is on the Indiana ballot!

I guess there is a choice after all, if only a symbolic one, but at least it means my vote won't be wasted. And yes, you can call this a wizersblog endorsement of Congressman Paul in this election. Can't wait to see how the media will report on the election results of the Republican primary in Indiana.

Charlton Heston, RIP

Political correctness is simply tyranny with manners. -- Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston was always known to me as one of the good guys. So I was taken aback when the news media (and I heard it at least three times) recounted his days as a civil rights messenger. And then they all said something very curious. They said Heston had turned conservative as he got older. I darn near dropped my rifle cleaning kit when I heard that.

You see, civil rights is nothing if not a conservative issue. Conservatives have been trying since day one to preserve a land where all men are created equal.

Like Reagan, Heston knew he would be unpopular with a lot of folks, but conservatives as a whole are a very principled group, and when they say that people ought to have equal rights, they mean it. And so it is with Heston. He continued as a principled conservative, and won the admiration of many because of it.

Meanwhile, the media just doesn't get it. They try to paint conservatives as racists, when it is those of the liberal bent that show their racist stripes. People like Jeremiah Wright; Geraldine Ferraro; Al Sharpton. People who think that religion causes people to live in small towns, and cling to guns.

If I wasn't an anarcho-libertarian, I would want to be a steady conservative in the mold of Charlton Heston. At least I could sleep at night.

Wizer One-Liner #18

Memo to Hillary: It's Bill's party. You knew he was going to put a lampshade on his head sooner or later.

Wizer One-Liner #17

Memo to Barry: It was about race only because your pastor is a racist. Throwing everybody else (including Grandma) under the bus doesn't explain why this man was your pastor for over 20 years.

Measurable differences

"In their yearlong race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama and Clinton have had strikingly similar voting records. Of the 267 measures on which both senators cast votes in 2007, the two differed on only 10," the authors write before going on to quote Richard Lau, a Rutgers University political scientist, as saying, "The policy differences between Clinton and Obama are so slight they are almost nonexistent to the average voter." -- National Journal, quoted in Salon.com


Clinton 17%
Obama 16%
McCain 88% -- 2006 NTU ratings

Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton talked each other to a stalemate last night in what the Clinton campaign had hoped would offer a decisive breakthrough for her ailing campaign.

On issues ranging from the economy to the war to immigration the two demonstrated the closeness of their positions rather than any grand differences of policy. -- Guardian.co.uk

Recently, The Wizer has spent some time looking for measurements and methods that rank school systems. One of the things I've come to learn is that the folks who have to publish test data do their best to downplay the meaning of it. I guess they don't want the people to develop a low opinion of their own school systems, lest there be "unrest", perhaps. The numbers do tend to tell a story though. If the kids do well, the numbers go up. If they don't, the numbers go down. As a parent, I would want to see the indicators that the kids have a shot at doing well. And will accept a direct measurement method, as flawed as it may be.

Accordingly, the scoring system devised by the National Taxpayer's Union might be a reasonable, acceptable comparison of how elected officials perform in their management of the nation's affairs.

SO, we have a means to compare their voting record against a standard, and it's instructive to look at the differences between Obama and Clinton. Believe me, I'm as perceptive as the next guy, and I can't see a difference between them. Turns out, there isn't much difference in how they would lead, who they would appoint, what kinds of things they would talk about if elected.

I had thought there would be a lot of talking, and therefore a lot of scoring in The Wizer's horserace point system; but there's no scoring going on, and nothing remarkable being said by the democrats. Democrat politics used to be about important, even crucial stuff: Now its about where one gets their material for speeches, and whose spouse can keep their mouth shut best.

So we need another system. One that will start to show the true differences among the candidates. I believe the NTU ratings say enough about how they would lead. They are both in favor of spending your money.

McCain isn't differentiating himself much from either of them on the campaign trail; and maybe he is saving that for the general election. It surprised me that he somehow worked up an 88% NTU rating; all the while making backroom deals with all flavors of the enemy. Maybe the rating belies the possibility ...that McCain will stand up at the crucial moments and be counted among the believers.

Last of the Mohicans

“Because I love America, in this time of war, I feel I have to stand aside for our party and our country” -- Mitt Romney at CPAC

Toward the end of his speech, after promising to prevent Iran from possessing, “…the weapons to advance their malevolent ambitions,” McCain promised to remain the maverick he has always been. He said:

“We have had a few disagreements, and none of us will pretend that we won't continue to have a few. But even in disagreement, especially in disagreement, I will seek the counsel of my fellow conservatives. If I am convinced my judgment is in error, I will correct it. And if I stand by my position, even after benefit of your counsel, I hope you will not lose sight of the far more numerous occasions when we are in complete accord.”

This is vintage McCain. He promises to hear, not to listen. He promises to seek counsel, but not to respect it. -- Jed Babbin

"I don't think it's enough to say you were a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution. I think the question is 'what have you been doing for conservatism lately?'" -- Laura Ingraham, delivering a message to John McCain while introducing Romney at CPAC

News item: Washington, D.C. - Following a solid McCain victory in the Super Tuesday primaries, the Libertarian Party has sent Republican headquarters a funeral wreath marking the death of limited-government values within the Republican Party. -- Libertarian Press Release, Feb 6th


I wasn't too sure myself whether Romney was even a conservative; the fact that he looked that way when compared to the others in the race should not be lost on those watching. I'm quite certain he will be back in the race as a Republican in 2012. As for this year, it remains to be see which of the last four (-- maybe we should call two of them them RINOcrats just so the news media can continue to call it an election). The only choice left is for those who make their judgments based on appearances, and not policies.

Wizer One-Liner #16

There is nothing more useless than a big government Republican.

Republicans vs. Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh can do a whole three hours of radio every day just covering the silliness that pervades the Democrats and their liberal constituency. When he has to single out Republicans, it becomes clear that "big-tent Republicanism" has gone too far. Brett Bozell has a piece on it today.

And this news is portrayed as breaks in the ranks of conservatives. Certain news outlets still cling to the notion that McCain represents any form of conservatism. Not only do the McCain-Feingold, McCain-Lieberman, and McCain-Kennedy bills lay bare the clear liberal motives of this man, they also sound like plausible running mates for the 2008 election.

I've often said there is nothing more useless than a big government republican. (Now emblazoned in this intrepid blog as Wizer One-Liner #16). If that is where the Republican Party is headed, they go there without a large group of folks, including The Wizer.

I guess they don't need as big of a tent where they are going.

Fred's Instead

“Throughout this campaign, Fred Thompson brought a laudable focus to the challenges confronting our country and the solutions necessary to meet them. He stood for strong conservative ideas and believed strongly in the need to keep our conservative coalition together.” -- Mitt Romney, January 23, 2008

So now nobody is talking about true conservative issues. Even the one libertarian is way off message with his isolationist and conspiracy BS. Maddening. The thing is, there are still big differences among the Republican candidates, and the press ignores it. Yet on the Democrat side, there are no discernible differences in the candidates positions, and the candidates are portrayed as very different. I find that ironic. No differences, except for differences only racists and sexists can discern; and so now that's some sort of "defining issue" for this election.

It's amazing to watch. Clinton is more "Clinton" than she is woman. Obama is more Democrat than he is black. When all the superficial stuff blows over, this is why he has a good shot at winning the nomination. But, there isn't much to be gained with Obama in her place. He's still going to push for his brand of socialism, and as long as we are going to have a socialist running the country, as far as the electorate is concerned, it might as well be Obama.

Wizer One-Liner #15

With Huckabee emerging as the next Bill Clinton, and Obama echoing the Reagan Lovefest we hear from the Republican Candidates, I have to wonder if there are still two major parties.

Scoring Update

It's funny that no candidate has said much of anything remarkable in the last 30 days, what with there being a caucus and an election. I will have to deduct Hillary a point for promising to divvy up 110 billion of your money to her friends. Barry and John wish they'd said it first. Also, if Huckabee was a conservative, as he claims, he wouldn't be supporting national health care, higher taxes, and open borders. He should just start his own party (I like "The Populist Party").

Fred gets back to even with his Iranian Speed Boat comments.