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.