tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74056202391639125372023-11-15T08:56:21.705-08:00The Thinking NationalistThe Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-48329452517248841652012-10-24T21:53:00.000-07:002012-10-25T17:36:36.376-07:00Endorsement: For Mitt Romney<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It has been a long two years since I last posted.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the past two years, I have watched the progress of this years' political </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">campaign with a mixture of bemusement and dismay.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Who can forget the "clown show" that was the "Parade of Candidates" </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">of the Republican primary season?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Michelle Bachmann? No Way. Herman Cain? You've got to be</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">kidding. I think his comments about farmer-devouring </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">chickens did him in. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let's hear it for those carnivorous Rhode Island Reds!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And Rick Perry? Right experience - Texas Governor, C-130 Hercules </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">pilot - but Rick, if you're going to cut government departments if elected, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">it helps to remember just which departments you intend to cut.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And Newt? You are an American Winston Churchill - a hundred ideas </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">at once, of which any two or three are good. Add in also </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Churchillian rhetorical skills. But, your habit of marrying serial </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">mistresses isn't exactly a Presidential skill; we're looking for a </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">President here, not an American Dominique Strauss-Khan.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And a colony on the moon? That's where some folks would like to </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">send you - permanently.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But then, one man emerged out of all this, a man with the right </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">experience and the right program to put the country back on course.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">That man is Mitt Romney.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now, Mitt is not perfect. A "Tribune Of The People" he is not - he is , </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">in fact, an unapologetic believer in "The One Percent", of which he is a </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">splendid example. From his wife's tax-deductible Dancing Olympic Horse</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">to his vast and extensive offshore holdings in tax-favored jurisdictions, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">he is a modern global plutocrat - using very advantage, edge, dodge </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and shelter possible to preserve and expand his privileged position.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But does this disqualify him? Not at all. Because if "plutocratic </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">wealth" were a disqualifier for office, President Kennedy, both </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Presidents Roosevelt, both Presidents Bush, as well as </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would all have </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">been ineligible.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And you can't tell me (especially in the case of Kennedy and </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the Roosevelts), that they didn't use every available trick in </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the book back in their day to preserve and expand their wealth.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When looking for a President, wealth shouldn't be the issue;</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">it should be Character, Culture, Substance, Experience, and the </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DETAILS of what he plans to do in office.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But on Character, Culture and Substance, Mitt's handicapped. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The incumbent President is hip and cool. He hosts Beyonce and </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Kanye West in the White House. He plays basketball on the </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">White House court with NBA stars. He appears on Letterman, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Leno, and Saturday Night Live. He Texts. He Tweets.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Between his Blackberry and his iPad, he's cool, contemporary, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and utterly up-to-date. He's <i>In Touch</i>. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In our digital, iPhoned and iPadded world, that equates to </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Character, Culture, and Substance.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And Mitt? Doesn't have a cell phone. Doesn't use a laptop or PC. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Doesn't need to.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">He has subordinates and assistants who do all that "tech stuff" </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">for him. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">An entire platoon of scribes writes his speeches, position papers, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and memos for him. Another group tweaks the spreadsheets</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> and comes up with "The Numbers".</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A dedicated assistant does all his texting and tweeting. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And the sole task of yet another assistant is to carry all the </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">cell phones, screen the incoming calls, and dial the outgoing </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">calls for him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But while Mitt's stilted, somewhat jarring </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Gordon Gekko-meets-Ward Cleaver persona doesn't exactly </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">translate to the digital age, it does reflect exactly who he is;</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">an early-sixtyish major-enterprise CEO who is running his </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">campaign like a CEO - not a politician.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Trust me - there isn't a Global Fortune 500 CEO anywhere </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">that doesn't identify with Mitt's style and the way he has organized </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">his campaign..</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And while a man who thinks Perry Como, The Andrews Sisters</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and Lou Rawls are current cultural icons might need some cultural</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">help, Mitt's uber-square persona DOES resonate with the folks who </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">will decide this election. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And here I'm not talking about the Bible thumpers, snake handlers, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">economic cranks and early-onset-dementia patients who make </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">up much of the Republican base.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">No - I'm talking about the entrepreneurs, proprietors, and </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">small-business people who are the bulk of the nations' <i>Productive</i> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">sector and who provide over 80% of the nations <i>JOBS. </i> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm talking about the serious corporate and academic leaders </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">who understand that if we don't get a handle on the nation's debt and </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">deficit problems, we won't go the way of Japan or Greece - </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">it will most likely be something worse.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And four more years of Barack Obama, with a tidal wave of </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Regulation-For-Regulation's-Sake" coming up with Obamacare, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dodd-Frank, and a host of other liberal-left "priorities" is going </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">to make an economic recovery not just difficult but impossible. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And like James Carville said twenty years ago, the ONLY issue</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">today is "It's The Economy, Stupid".</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And the ONLY WAY to restore a healthy, full-employment economy is </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">to enact the Energy, Entitlement,Regulatory, Spending and Budgetary </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">reforms that will make this economy competitive again.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And the global economy IS competitive - too many people forget </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">that while Investment Capital and the investors and CEO's </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">who control it are mobile, governments and peoples are not. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And attracting and retaining Investment Capital takes a visionary </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">CEO - not a politician.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And while "Trickle-Down Economics" might be discredited today, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">serious peopleagree that the only thing worse is "Trickle-Down </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Government".</span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The choice is stark; we can have the Government-Centered Economy </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">of Barack Obama, or we can return to a competitive economy of Free Markets </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">run by a free people.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vote Romney/Ryan on November 6.</span></span></div>
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The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-55690615856041809692010-10-31T23:47:00.000-07:002010-10-31T23:50:20.457-07:00Predictions On The Coming GOP Wave: House Yes, Senate No.<span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><b></b></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>On Tuesday, November 2nd, to the surprise of no one, </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>the Great GOP Wave will wash over Washington D.C.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Frightened Democrats and liberals are making headlines</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>with scare stories of a 60 to 70 seat Democratic rout in the </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>House, and loss of control of the Senate as well. </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>To the mainstream media , an epic repeat of the </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Disaster Of 1994 is in the works, when the </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Democrats lost 53 seats in the House </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and eleven in the Senate to hand total </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>control of Congress to an angry and motivated </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> GOP.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Is this going to happen again? I think not.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>I am, however, predicting that the GOP will </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>take control of the House, picking up a total of </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>47 seats, with most of the Democratic</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>losses coming from freshman and sophomore</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Representatives in districts that went for McCain</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>in 2008. A silver lining in all this for the Democrats</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>is that most of their key leadership is predicted to</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>return to Congress, which will give them some </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>necessary "time in opposition" to impose discipline</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and develop an ideologically coherent message.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Senate, however, is a different story. To win the </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>majority, the GOP would have to add ten seats to the</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>41 they currently control. This looks to be out of reach now.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>As of this writing, the GOP will pick up three contested </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>seats (Arkansas, Indiana, and North Dakota) and possibly</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>add another in Wisconsin, where Democratic incumbent</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Russ Feingold is running behind newcomer Ron Johnson</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>(former CEO of S.C. Johnson Co.). That leaves six to go.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And these six states - Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nevada,</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Illinois, Delaware, and Washington - have been closely </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>watched ever since the primaries. My prediction: The</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Republicans will pick up three, the Democrats will</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>retain three. Here's the breakdown:</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>1) Pennsylvania. Pat Toomey (R) and Joe Sestak (D)</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>have been battling neck-and-neck all summer for the</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>seat being vacated by defeated Sen. Arlen Specter (D,</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>formerly (R) ). It all depends on turnout in heavily</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Democratic Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>as the rest of the State leans heavily Republican. </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>If Sestak's margin in the Philadelphia area is less</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>than 400,000, Toomey wins. My prediction: Pat Toomey</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>will be the new Republican Senator.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>2) Colorado. Appointed Senator Michael Bennett (D)</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and former Weld County D.A. Ken Buck (R) are battling</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>for the seat vacated by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>This race has attracted perhaps the most out-of-state</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and 3rd-party money of any save the race in Nevada.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>At this moment, the race is rated a toss-up by the media.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>My take: Obama won Colorado narrowly in 2008 on the </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>strength of Denver and Colorado Springs suburban liberals.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>These folks have since been hammered by huge </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>white-collar layoffs, and Colorado leads the nation </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>in unemployment among educated, white-collar </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>professionals. Outside of the Denver and Colorado </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Springs areas, the state is Red and getting redder.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Prediction: Ken Buck takes this seat for the GOP.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>3) Nevada. Probably the most watched Senate race in the </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>nation, this one pits Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>against exciting and outspoken newcomer Sharron Angle.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Early on, Reid was expected to "vaporize" the "extreme"</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Ms. Angle and cruise to re-election. It hasn't turned out</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>that way.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Ms. Angle seized the initiative in their only debate, coming</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>across as both reasonable and energetic while Reid looked</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and sounded every bit the tired, entrenched Washington </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>insider. When Reid mumbled on and on about "markups"</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and "Senate procedure", Ms. Angle told him to "man up"</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and "take responsibility" for the disastrous condition</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>of both the local and national economy.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>At that moment, the momentum switched to Ms. Angle. </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Unenviably, Nevada leads the nation in unemployment,</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>foreclosures, and bankruptcies, and Reid and the </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Democrats have done precious little to turn things </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>around.Even the endorsements of the large gaming</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and mining interests (which came before Ms. Angle</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>even won the primary), have probably hurt Sen. Reid</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>more than they have helped. Ms. Angle has very</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>effectively painted Harry Reid as the candidate of </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>big money interests, while she fights for the little guy.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>My prediction: Reid fights Angle to a draw in Clark</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>County (Las Vegas), and loses resoundingly everywhere</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>else. Sharron Angle goes to Washington, in what the</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>national media will term a huge upset.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>4) Illinois. The race between State Treasurer Alex </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Giannoulias (D) and former Rep. Mark Kirk (R) for</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>President Obama's old seat has been watched for over </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>a year. And this one is turning out to be a classic, with</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Chicago Democratic Machine pitted against </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>conservative, downstate Republicans. Early scandals</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>involving Giannoulias with his family's failed bank</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and disgraced ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich and convicted</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>"fixer" Tony Rezko haven't been reflected in the polls,</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>which show the Democrat with a slight lead. </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>My take: Kirk wins downstate, but the Chicago machine,</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>now strengthened with the help of former White House</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, does its usual "fixing".</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Alex Giannoulias becomes the new Democratic Senator</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>from Illinois.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>5) Delaware. This is the one state where the Tea Party</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>over-reached, nominating the unelectable Christine</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>O'Donnell over the pragmatic GOP moderate Mike</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Castle in a very low-turnout primary. </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>All the national Democrats had to do was replay </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>endless bits from Bill Maher's <i>Politically Incorrect,</i></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>where Ms. O'Donnell was a frequent guest talking </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>about witchcraft and Satanism. Result? Game Over.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Chris Coons (D), the Yale-educated lawyer and former</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>New Castle County Executive, goes to the Senate.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>6) Washington State. Sen. Patty Murray (D) has been</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>locked in a tight battle against newcomer Dino Rossi.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>While Murray has not been exactly the most effective </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>of Senators, she has been instrumental in keeping</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Boeing (Washington's largest employer) from </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>outsourcing more jobs either overseas or to lower-cost</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Kansas or South Carolina, saving thousands of</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>high-skill, high-wage jobs.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Add to this the fact that Washington (like </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Oregon and California) has a large edge in </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Democratic voter registration and this race </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>will go as predicted, with Murray winning re-election </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>by a 53% -47% margin.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Bottom Line: The GOP will make significant gains,</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>but the gains in my opinion could have been</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>larger had the GOP campaigned more on <i>policy </i> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and less on blanket opposition to all things Obama.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The reason they didn't campaign on policy </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>is that the mainstream GOP is hugely beholden </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>to Wall Street and Corporate America, and </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>mainstream GOP policy calls for more outsourcing, </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>more job exportation to the Third World, shredding</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>what remains of the the social safety net, and vast</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>reductions in the standards of living for everyone</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>except the very richest 1%.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And the Democrats? Rather than preach Class Warfare</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and the interests of ordinary Americans, they became </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>the Party of Government and Business As Usual,</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>becoming the party of favor-granting, ear-marking,</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>bailouts, spending and pork.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>With the economy in tatters and poverty and desperation</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>increasing everywhere, The Tea Party, unruly and </b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>disorganized though it may be, has become the last best</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>hope for millions of disfranchised Americans abandoned</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>by both their government and their financial elites.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And this may be the last chance the "system" gets. Two</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>more years like the last two and there won't be "elections"</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>in 2012.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>There will be a Revolution - led by a Nationalist</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Strongman, probably from the military.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Move over, Argentina - here comes the U.S.A. !</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-69136199587012346372010-10-10T20:14:00.000-07:002010-10-10T20:23:10.452-07:00Endorsement: Sharron Angle For U.S. Senate<b></b><b><br />
</b><br />
<b>November 2nd i</b><b>s shaping up to be perhaps the most </b><br />
<b>crucial Mid -Term election in modern American history.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Facing what is unarguably the darkest economic climate </b><br />
<b>since the Great Depression, the choices facing Americans </b><br />
<b>could not be more clear.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Either we continue on the same path we are on now - </b><br />
<b>more debt, more spending, more government regulation,</b><br />
<b>or we use this crisis as an opportunity to make a clean</b><br />
<b>break with the past and begin anew.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>And to begin anew, it is going to take more than just</b><br />
<b>new policies. It is going to take new people in the House</b><br />
<b>and Senate; new people untainted by the failed policies</b><br />
<b>and platitudes of BOTH parties which have placed us </b><br />
<b>in the predicament we are in now.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>And, here in Nevada, we have an opportunity to start</b><br />
<b>the national renewal process that is so badly needed.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>We can begin by sending Sharron Angle to represent us </b><br />
<b>in Washington.</b><br />
<br />
<b>And why are we opposed to Harry Reid? Because </b><br />
<b>in 24 years in the Senate, good ol' Harry has gone</b><br />
<b>from representing Nevada in Washington to representing</b><br />
<b>Washington to Nevada.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>We can begin with ObamaCare - the "healthcare reform"</b><br />
<b>that wasn't. The president had started with a good </b><br />
<b>premise - that health care in the United States was both </b><br />
<b>too expensive and inaccessible for the vast majority of </b><br />
<b>Americans. The Bush years had seen an explosion in </b><br />
<b>premium costs, vast reductions in coverage, and huge </b><br />
<b>oligopoly profits for the health insurance industry. </b><br />
<b>The system was irretrievably broken, and crying out </b><br />
<b>for drastic reform.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Yet, when the "public option" was on the table, </b><br />
<b>together with necessary cost controls on pharmaceuticals </b><br />
<b>and the insurance industry, it was Harry Reid, more </b><br />
<b>than anyone else, who bluntly told the president that </b><br />
<b>anything that restricted the profits of the health insurance </b><br />
<b>industry and Big Pharma was off the table.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Not only would true reform never pass the Senate, </b><br />
<b>Harry said, but also that he personally could not support </b><br />
<b>any bill that did not keep control of health care delivery</b><br />
<b> with the for-profit private sector. </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>And now we know where that has led us. Health care</b><br />
<b> premiums are rising at 25-30% rates, millions are facing</b><br />
<b>the loss of all of their health coverage through employer</b><br />
<b>plans, and costs are escalating through the roof.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>If your employer is dropping your health coverage or</b><br />
<b>doubling or tripling your premiums or deductibles, you </b><br />
<b>can thank Harry Reid for that.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>And, as the <i>Las Vegas Review-Journal</i> points out, in </b><br />
<b>its Oct. 3 endorsement of Ms. Angle:</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>" As he has climbed higher and higher in the Democratic</b><br />
<b>hierarchy, he has veered further and further to the left,</b><br />
<b>becoming politically disconnected from Nevada and its</b><br />
<b>residents "</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Truer word was never spoken. And on the other failed</b><br />
<b>policies of the past two years, on bailouts for Wall Street</b><br />
<b>and the auto companies, on the pork-laden "stimulus",</b><br />
<b>on "cap-and-trade" that threatens to sink the nation into </b><br />
<b>permanent uncompetitiveness, Harry Reid has led the </b><br />
<b>charge for it all.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Indeed, it can plausibly be argued that rather than"hitching</b><br />
<b>his wagon" to the Obama agenda, it was Harry Reid who</b><br />
<b>convinced the President that in order to succeed he needed </b><br />
<b>to conform<i> his</i> program to the Harry Reid-Nancy Pelosi </b><br />
<b>agenda of high taxes, intrusive regulation,and crony </b><br />
<b>capitalism for Wall Street and the Fortune 500.</b><br />
<br />
<b>Finally, there's the issue of who supports who in </b><br />
<b>this contest. Not only has Harry Reid obtained the </b><br />
<b>support of the usual Democrat suspects (including </b><br />
<b>the public employee unions), but he has also obtained </b><br />
<b>the support of almost every private interest needing a </b><br />
<b>government-granted "favor" in either </b><br />
<b>Washington or Carson City.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Both the U.S. and Nevada Chambers of Commerce </b><br />
<b>are supporting Reid. The gambling and mining </b><br />
<b>interests have loaded up his campaign coffers </b><br />
<b>with most of the $25 million Reid is banking for this </b><br />
<b>election. Even long-time Carson City GOP "fixers" </b><br />
<b>and "insiders" Sig Rogich and Bill Raggio</b><br />
<b>have signed on to the Reid bandwagon.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Against all this, Sharron Angle has only the people. </b><br />
<b>And in this state, the people are, to put it mildly, </b><br />
<b>fed up. Unenviably, Nevada leads the nation in </b><br />
<b>foreclosures, bankruptcies, and unemployment rate.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>And how has Harry Reid responded? If Harry Reid </b><br />
<b>were any kind of <i>Democrat</i> Majority Leader, say on </b><br />
<b>the order of the late Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, </b><br />
<b>Nevada should be awash in federal projects, federal </b><br />
<b>employment, and federal dollars, and riding out the </b><br />
<b>recession if not comfortably, at least satisfactorily.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Instead, Nevada ranks 49th out of 50 states in overall </b><br />
<b>federal dollars returned to the state. Fiftieth in federal aid </b><br />
<b>to highways. A dismal 49th in federal aid to K-12 and higher </b><br />
<b>education. Indeed, Harry has been so busy handing out </b><br />
<b>special favors to everyone else he has completely forgotten</b><br />
<b>the home folks. For a <i>Democrat</i>, that's inexcusable.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Against all this, Sharron Angle represents a </b><br />
<b>complete break from the failed policies of the past. </b><br />
<b>A principled and unwavering voice for low taxes, </b><br />
<b>less regulation, competition and free enterprise,</b><br />
<b>Sharron Angle will be a key player in making </b><br />
<b>sure that a more conservative and more Republican </b><br />
<b>House and Senate stay in line and on message.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>And that message is <u>NO</u> to more spending, more</b><br />
<b> regulation, more debt, and more special favors </b><br />
<b>and breaks to those corrupt private interests who </b><br />
<b>have done so much to bring this country to its </b><br />
<b>knees.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>And if that's a message you agree with, then the choice is clear.</b><br />
<br />
<b>Vote for Sharron Angle on November 2nd.</b> <br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b> </b>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-33890068467618197702010-09-12T16:03:00.000-07:002010-09-12T16:03:54.940-07:00The 9/11 Anniversary - Let's Be Thankful For What Didn't Happen<b></b><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">The 9/11 Anniversary has</span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">come</span> </b><b>and gone; thankfully, </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>without any further violence to anyone.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Despite the "threat" of a misguided Florida pastor to </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>burn copies of the Qu'ran, and the threat of total street</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>violence from the "Arab Street", the solemn day of </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>remembrance came and went in what was, for the </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>most part, a decent respect for the events and casualties of</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>that day nine tears ago.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>It's as if both sides peered over the edge into the abyss</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>and said, "No Thanks". And that's actually a tribute to</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>the good sense of people of good will on <i>both</i> sides.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>To be sure, there was a well-attended demonstration</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>at the site of the proposed Muslim "cultural center"</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>in Lower Manhattan, featuring anti-Islamic activist </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Pamela Geller and freedom-fighter and free speech </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>activist Geert Wilders from the Netherlands. And there was </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>also a small "counter-demonstration" by the usual coterie of</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>leftist nuts and peace activists. </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>But both groups managed to do something right, which </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>was to keep the <i>Elected Politicians </i>firmly at arm's length -</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>something which I am convinced helped keep both </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>demonstrations peaceful.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>And the Qu'ran-burning pastor in Florida? He called </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>off his event after fellow clergy from both Christianity</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>and Islam gently reminded him that in Islam,</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>burning of the Bible is <i>haram - </i>forbidden - because</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>the Old Testament tells the story of the many </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>prophets as revered in Islam as they are in Christianity.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>And what both sides need to do now is to step back</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>and explore ways in which both communities might</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>better coexist with one another. </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Here in America, that's not yet a large problem.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Muslim immigrants here tend to be either well-educated,</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>relatively secular professionals or hard-working taxi</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>drivers, shopkeepers, small business men of all kinds.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>On balance, they are a net plus to society, even allowing</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>for the occasionally deranged lunatic like Ft. Hood's</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Maj. Hassan.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>The same, however, cannot be said of Europe. There,</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>unlimited immigration of millions of poor, uneducated, </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>unassimilable Muslims has led to all sorts of problems -</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>problems which Europe's cowardly "politically </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>correct" leaders have been both unable and unwilling</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>to take seriously. And we have the same problem here,</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>only worse.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Just substitute "Mexicans" and "America's cowardly</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>"politically correct" leaders " and you'll know what I'm </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>talking about.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>And if Europe's and America's <i>leaders </i>won't handle </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>the problem, it will be handled <i>for</i> them - by Nationalistic </b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>peoples pushed beyond both anger and reason.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>And trust me, no one is going to like that outcome.</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-50926271320762103372010-08-28T23:49:00.000-07:002010-08-28T23:49:27.676-07:00Don't Underestimate the Power of Palin !<span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The last round of Republican primaries has established </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>one thing: </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Don't Underestimate the Power of Palin !</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Unlike any other Republican figure, Sarah Palin has proven </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>beyond doubt to have the "endorsement power" that excites</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>voters and gets them to the polls.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Great Corporatist Mitt Romney doesn't have this power. </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Neither do Mike Huckabee nor Tim Pawlenty.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>After this last round, the Palin endorsement scoreboard is 20 Wins, </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>10 losses - a 67% winning percentage. That's good ball in any game.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>But when we go behind the raw figures and dig down </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>into the details, it gets even more impressive. Most of the </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Palin-endorsed primary victories were won by Tea Party </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>backed candidates; most of the losses were candidates </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>backed by the Republican "Establishment". And this last fact </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>is something you will not find in the Mainstream media, with </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>the possible exception of Fox News.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Which leads one to ask the question: "Why did Sarah Palin </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>waste her endorsement power on Establishment candidates?" </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Answer: Sarah Palin is a serious politician, who will either </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>win the 2012 GOP Presidential nomination or decide who </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>does. To get that power, she needs to get political IOU's from </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>her party's mainstream, not just the "Tea Party". </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And, as the GOP's hottest commodity, she can literally </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>make or break a candidacy with her support.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Think that's a little extreme? Just ask soon-to-be-ousted Senator </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Lisa Murtkowski (R-AK), who lost to Palin and Tea Party</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>endorsed candidate Joe Miller.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Until two months ago, Sen. Murtkowski was the picture of </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>an untouchable Establishment Republican. The daughter of</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>former Governor Frank Murtkowski (whom Palin defeated </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>for Governor in 2006), Sen. Murtkowski had $10 million</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>in the bank, was 20 points ahead in the polls, and was </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>cruising toward re-election. Then Palin and the Tea Party</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>stepped in. </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>While Palin endorsed candidate Miller and recorded </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>messages for him, Husband Todd and the Tea Party</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>sprang into action. Going door-to-door and village-to-</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>village in Alaska's remoteness, The Tea Party and Todd</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Palin won the day for Joe Miller - and the reverberations </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>were felt all around the country, most especially in Washington</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>D.C.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Message delivered: If you are an Establishment GOP incumbent,</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and Sarah Palin opposes you, you are not safe. And if you are</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>too closely identified with the GOP "Establishment", a Sarah</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Palin endorsement may not save you.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And the details bear this out. Of the fifteen House Candidates</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>endorsed by Sarah Palin, 9 won and 6 lost. Of the winners,</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>seven were Tea Party Candidates, and only two were from</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>the "Establishment". Of the losers, two were Tea Party and </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>four were "establishment" - including three incumbents.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>On the Senate side, the results were a little more evenly</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>divided. Two "establishment" Palin-endorsed candidates</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>won (Carly Fiorina in California and John McCain in Arizona),</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>two Tea Party candidates lost (in Washington and Kansas),</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>and Tea Party bright lights Sharron Angle(Nevada) and Rand Paul</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>(Kentucky) won (and are expected to win in the general election), </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>with the help of Sarah Palin's endorsement.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And with the always important Governor's races, Sarah made the </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>difference in at least four of the nine contests she endorsed, saving</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>establishment candidates Susanna Martinez in New Mexico and</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Mary Fallin in Oklahoma, as well as engineering the dramatic </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>come-from-behind win of Nikki Haley in South Carolina.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Yes, that Nikki Haley - the daughter of Indian immigrants whom</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>a GOP Establishment figure called a "raghead" in public.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Bottom line - when Sarah Palin makes her run for the White House</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>in 2012, she'll have an awful lot of folks in the GOP, both in the</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>"establishment" and out, who will owe her big time.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And in getting her "IOU's" in early, on both sides of the GOP,</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>she's following in the proven footsteps of the Greatest </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Conservative of our Age, the 40th President, Ronald Reagan.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And she's looking and sounding more and more like The Gipper </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>every day.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-56583626903846885152010-08-15T22:11:00.000-07:002010-08-15T22:14:52.776-07:00Obama, Pelosi and Reid: Putting Government First<span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">By Patrick J. Buchanan (Creators Syndicate) - <i>Las Vegas Review-Journal</i></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Where a man's purse is, there his heart will be also.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you wish to know where the heart of the Obama party </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">is today, consider: In the dog says of August, with temperatures </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">in D.C. rising above 100, Nancy Pelosi called the House back to </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Washington to enact legislation that could not wait until September.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Purpose: Vote $ 26 billion to prevent layoffs of state, county </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">and municipal employees whose own governments had decided </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">they had to be let go if they were to meet their constitutional duty </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">to balance their books.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Workers their own governments thought expendable, Congress </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">decided were so essential it borrowed another 26 thousand </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">million dollars from China to keep them on state and local </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">payrolls.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A nation whose national debt is approaching its gross national </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">product, that goes abroad to borrow to keep non-essential </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">workers on the government payroll, is a nation on the way </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">down and out. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And anyone who thinks the party of Obama, Reid and Pelosi</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">is ever going to cull the armies of tens of millions of government</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">workers or scores of millions of government beneficiaries to put</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">America's house in order is deluding himself.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As long as this Congress and White House remain in power, a</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">U.S. default on its national debt is inevitable. The only question</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">is when.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nor is this the first time the Obama Administration has rushed to </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">save workers whose own state, city and county governments </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">were prepared to let go. Among the reasons the $800 billion</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">stimulus failed is that so little of it was directed to firing up </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">the locomotive of the economy, the private sector, and so much</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">of it was spent to ensure that government workers did not have to </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">share in the national sacrifice.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Why Pelosi and Co. felt compelled to return to D.C., to ensure</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">that state and local government payrolls were not pared, is </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">not hard to understand.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Which party does the American Federation of Teachers, </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The National Education Association, and the American </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">usually contribute to, work for, vote for?</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">At which of the two party conventions are teachers </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">and government employees hugely over-represented?</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Consider too, the states deepest in debt and facing</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">the largest cuts in employee ranks, pay and benefits:</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">California, Illinois, New York.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In these states, public employees earn an average of </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">$10,000 more a year in pay and benefits than the</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">average American worker who is bailing them out.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hence, we have a situation where private-sector workers</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">in Middle America are being taxed, their children driven</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">deeper into debt so government employees who have </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">greater job security than they do, and earn more in pay</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> and benefits than they will ever earn, can stay in Fat City.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And folks wonder why so many Americans detest </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">government.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the same week that Congress came back to </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">prevent AFSCME from taking a haircut, the</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wall Street Journal reported that in 2009,</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">only three of 52 metro areas with populations</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">over 1 million saw "net earnings and the broader</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">measure of personal income both rise".</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Are you surprised to learn that Washington D.C.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">is #1 among the three?</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">That same day, USA Today had a startling report</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">on how, during the last decade, U.S. Government</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">workers, like Wall Street bankers, left their fellow </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Americans in the dust.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Federal workers have been awarded bigger average </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">pay and benefit increases than private employees</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">for nine years in a row, The compensation gap</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">between federal and private workers has doubled</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">in the past decade.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Federal civil servants earned average pay and </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">workers earned $61,051 in total compensation.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The federal compensation advantage has grown</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">from $30,415 in 2000 to $ 61,998 last year. "</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Remarkable. U.S. government workers, who</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">enjoy the greatest job security of any Americans,</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">now earn twice as much in pay and benefits as the </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">average American. This is not the D.C. some of</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">us grew up in.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nor is all of this Obama's doing. For most of the</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">fat years of the federal work force came while</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Washington was being run by Big Government </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Conservatives and a White House of Bush-Cheney</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Republicans.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">No wonder the Tea party is targeting both parties.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nevertheless, it is impossible to believe that the</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Obamaites, who intervened twice and massively</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">with bailouts to prevent minor layoffs of local</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">and state government employees, have the stomach </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">to do the major surgery needed to cut the federal</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">monolith down to size.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For the vast majority of government employees</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">vote Democratic, as do the vast majority of the</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">scores of millions of beneficiaries of federal, state,</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">and local programs.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What Pelosi and Co. were saying with the $26</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">billion bailout was "We are going to protect</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">our own".</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Which is why either Obama, Reid, Pelosi and </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Co. go, or we are Gone.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-47268058039039530482010-08-14T18:59:00.000-07:002010-08-15T07:13:57.906-07:00Islam Dominant: The Ground Zero Mosque<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The "Ground Zero Mosque" controversy isn't going away<br />
anytime soon, no matter what our social and political<br />
"leaders" say. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">But as is usually the case where there's a more heat <br />
than light on a subject, the issues are not always <br />
completely clear cut. To begin with, we should try to </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">understand a few things.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
First of all, religious freedom and tolerance are <br />
uniquely part of the American experience - in contrast<br />
to both Europe and the Muslim World. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Had there not been brave people with the courage </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">to flee religious persecution and discrimination, <br />
there probably wouldn't be a United States of America.<br />
<br />
And, unfortunately, the Muslims are only the latest<br />
"other" religious group to face religious persecution<br />
and discrimination here in the United States. <br />
<br />
A quick history lesson. One hundred and fifty years ago, <br />
waves of economic-based immigration brought tens <br />
of millions of Roman Catholic Irish, Italians, and Poles<br />
to our shores, to face immediate discrimination and <br />
prejudice at the hands of the American Protestant <br />
majority.<br />
<br />
An entire political movement - The "Know-Nothing" </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">party - was built around anti-Catholic sentiment. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">And like today's Muslims, the Catholics were </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">suspected of being a "fifth column" - part of a global </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Papist Plot", to bring the United States - and all of </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Western Civilization - under the domination of the </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pope in Rome.<br />
<br />
Sounds familiar, doesn't it? And the language used <br />
by the press of that time in describing the "Catholic<br />
Threat" would never be allowed today, even in the<br />
most fever-swamped screeds of the fringes.<br />
<br />
In this light, it should come as no surprise that President<br />
Obama took the time to remind the nation of its too-often<br />
forgotten commitment to religious freedom and toleration.<br />
And to a point, the President is right - Imam Feisal Abdul <br />
Rauf and his followers <span style="font-style: italic;">do</span> have a <span style="font-style: italic;">legal</span> right to erect a mosque<br />
in a location of their choosing, subject to local ordinances<br />
and the like. <br />
<br />
But all legal platitudes aside, the decision to build a<br />
Mosque at this particular location is hugely unwise.<br />
<br />
To begin with, it's a direct insult to the thousands <br />
of New Yorkers whose memories of the events of 9/11<br />
are indelible scars.<br />
<br />
Second, it sends exactly the wrong message of Islam<br />
Dominant and Triumphant - when the building is <br />
complete, it will directly overlook two holes in the <br />
ground where the World Trade Center used to be. <br />
That's not too terribly helpful for the "War On Terror" -<br />
in fact, it makes "terror" look like the winning side.<br />
Look for <span style="font-style: italic;">Al-Jazeera</span> and the rest of "violent Islam" -<br />
(and there's really no other kind) to treat this as <br />
a deservedly huge propaganda victory.<br />
<br />
So, what would be the <span style="font-style: italic;">right</span> decision? Go ahead<br />
and build a Mosque - but anywhere else, just not<br />
at this particular spot.<br />
<br />
To his credit, New York Governor David Paterson<br />
in suggesting this got it exactly right. To his<br />
everlasting shame, New York Mayor and Mosque<br />
supporter Michael Bloomberg got it exactly wrong.<br />
<br />
It would be as if the Church of the White Aryan<br />
Resistance decided to build a church next door<br />
to the Mt. Zion AME Church in Harlem - and then<br />
deck the place out in Confederate Flags and play<br />
"Dixie" on Martin Luther King Day.<br />
<br />
Or better yet, build it next to Temple Beth Israel<br />
and fly the swastika and play "The Horst Wessel Lied"<br />
every Friday at sundown.<br />
<br />
Nobody in their right mind, of course, would allow<br />
either such thing - but that's exactly what the mosque<br />
supporters among our elites are doing.<br />
<br />
And this whole affair just reeks of the contempt<br />
of the Secular Liberal Ruling Elites for any opinions<br />
but their own. Steeped in moral relativism, bound<br />
by situational ethics, and hopelessly debilitated <br />
by "political correctness" , the decision to permit<br />
this ill-advised project is just one more blot on <br />
a sorry and sordid record.<br />
<br />
Whether the issue is Immigration, Islam, endless<br />
war, trade, financial reform, or corporate greed, <br />
our "Ruling Elites" have managed to be consistently<br />
wrong every time, on every issue.<br />
<br />
Always ready to excuse and forgive every crime,<br />
every transgression, every bit of wrongdoing, our<br />
"Elites" are like the Bourbon kings of France -<br />
they learned nothing, and remembered nothing.<br />
<br />
And we the people, in no mood to either forgive<br />
or forget, may well decide to give them the same<br />
treatment the Bourbons got in 1789.<br />
</span></span></div>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-66488567262977526652010-08-01T22:06:00.000-07:002010-08-02T00:01:08.117-07:00Bell, California: Followup.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />The story on the public corruption in the impoverished<br />city of Bell, California just won't go away.<br /><br />Thanks to the angry outcry of the citizens, City Manager<br />Robert "Ratso" Rizzo, Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia,<br />and Police Chief Randy Adams have all resigned. Mayor<br />Oscar Hernandez, Vice Mayor Teresa Jacobo, and councilmen<br />Luis Artiga and Jorge Mirabal have followed suit by agreeing<br />to forgo their salaries for the rest of their terms.<br /><br />Only honest councilman Lorenzo Velez will remain on the<br />payroll.<br /><br />At this point, I also want to point out something that initially,<br />both the <span style="font-style: italic;">L.A. Times</span> and I got wrong . Both the <span style="font-style: italic;">Times</span> and I said<br />that there were seven councilmen, including the Mayor and Vice<br />Mayor (who are also voting members of the City Council).<br /><br />In reality, there are only five all told - it is Maywood, which<br />outsourced everything to save money, that has a head count<br />of seven.<br /><br />Be that as it may, the other facts speak for themselves. These<br />miscreants loaded themselves up with salaries and perks that<br />made them some of the highest paid public "servants" anywhere<br />in the United States, let alone California.<br /><br />But the big question everyone is asking is " How did they do it?"<br /><br />Here's How:<br /><br />Back in 1999, then-Gov. Gray Davis and the Democrat-dominated<br />legislature changed two things. First, the pension-calculating<br />formula for all State and general-law municipality employees<br />with pensions administered by CalPERS, (the state public<br />employee retirement system)m was made more generous.<br />Second, the guidelines for general-law municipality employee<br />compensation (as Bell was at that time), were changed to<br />bring managerial and exempt employee compensation in<br />line with that of employees covered by a collective bargaining<br />agreement.<br /><br />For the Bell boodlers, this meant substantial raises in<br />wages and retirement benefits. But the looting didn't stop<br />there.<br /><br />In 2005, following the examples of the neighboring cities<br />of Commerce and Vernon, Bell held a special election to<br />become a Charter or "Home Rule" city - meaning that<br />thereafter they could write their own rules with respect<br />to wages, benefits, and collective bargaining. It also meant<br />that they were exempt from state guidelines on property tax<br />assessments, subject only to those restrictions imposed by<br />Proposition 13.<br /><br />At the special election, only 336 of 14,000 registered<br />voters showed up at the polls - and as it was a special,<br />not a general election, notice only had to be posted in a<br />"newspaper of general circulation" - meaning, the Legal<br />Notices section of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Times</span>. Thus for all practical<br />purposes, only those with a direct financial<br />interest in the outcome voted.<br /><br />And once the Charter was granted, the pay feast<br />was on. The sixteen "one minute a month" city<br />commissions were set up, with pay scales<br />to match.<br /><br />And that's how "Ratso" Rizzo, the City manager,<br />managed to get most of his pay - taking his compensation<br />from a base of $186,000 to his final total wages of $601,000.<br />And the other $187,000? That's the cash value of unpaid<br />vacation and sick leave, housing allowance (Rizzo owns a<br />$2 million dollar home in Huntington Beach),<br />car allowance (he drives a Mercedes-Benz, as well as a<br />city-provided Cadillac Escalade), and a special bonus which<br />enables him to retire immediately at age 55 with 31 years of<br />credited service - which translates to a pension<br />of $600,000 a year for the rest of his life.<br /><br />And the most depressing news? Despite the ongoing<br />investigations, and the special audit of city finances<br />ordered by Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger, all of this<br />Wall-Street type looting is probably all <span style="font-style: italic;">legal</span>.<br /><br />The only hope for Bell at this point is that either Attorney<br />General Jerry Brown (yes, the former Governor running<br />again for his old job), the L. A. County District Attorney,<br />or The Public Integrity Division of the U.S. Attorney's<br />office can find some irregularity somewhere along the line.<br /><br />Otherwise, they will all ride off into the sunset with the<br />loot, leaving the Bell citizenry holding the bag.<br /><br />We're going to stay on top of this story, and we eagerly<br />await the outcomes of all three investigations.<br /><br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-78320226131881991732010-08-01T16:11:00.000-07:002010-08-01T17:26:29.534-07:00Adult Education: Passing The Seven<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />The "new economy" has everyone looking to re-invent<br />themselves - and your correspondent is no exception.<br /><br />The predicament has always been - re-invent yourself<br />to do what?<br /><br />And it's not as if opportunity is around every corner.<br /><br />"Retraining" the jobless for new careers is touted<br />everywhere as a cure for what has become endemic<br />and chronic unemployment. The only problem is<br />is that for the most part neither the old jobs the<br />unemployed left nor the "new" jobs they were<br />trained for exist any longer in this economy.<br /><br />And I found myself in a similar predicament, in that<br />the field in which I worked independently was about<br />to go the way of the dodo. After all, what I did was<br />predicated on the existence of a REAL economy,<br />where people made, sold and transported real goods<br />the real people had a demand for.<br /><br />Well, that's all so '80s and '90s. Has nothing to do<br />with today's "real economy" , which is trading contracts<br />and pieces of paper back and forth in the best bankster<br />fashion.<br /><br />So, I decided about a year ago, since I was reading and writing<br />so much about "traders" and "banksters", I decided to<br />become one.<br /><br />First thing to do was to teach myself How To Trade. That's<br />relatively easy. There are all kinds of courses, either online or<br />on DVD, that can teach you how to trade stocks, options, even<br />commodities and currencies. There are other courses that teach<br />you how to use the major trading platforms provided by the<br />"trading" brokers, such as Scotttrade, E-Trade, TD Ameritrade,<br />and the like. Courses that teach you both fundamental analysis<br />and Technical Analysis (reading charts).<br /><br />Being neither hugely rich nor loaded with plentiful free<br />time, I opted for the trading courses taught by College of<br />Southern Nevada and UNLV. I then bought some inexpensive<br />but thorough trading books and took up the least expensive<br />but most comprehensive stock charting program I could find.<br /><br />So far, so good. Next step was to find someplace where I could put<br />all this knowledge to use. And I found that if you can pass Federal<br />and State licensing, plus fund a large enough account to put you<br />out of the "retail day trader" category, you can actually find<br />employment as a trader.<br /><br />No Harvard MBA required. No elite old-school ties. And also<br />no magnificent salary. But licensing, some formal education,<br />and the ability to fund a trading account of $25,000 or larger<br />will get you in the door.<br /><br />So, before I go forth to get "backers" the first thing to<br />do is to Get Licensed. And the process is very much like getting<br />a Real Estate license - study for several months, take a formal<br />class or classes, and then sit for the tests. In the case of Trading<br />in Nevada, there are two tests you must pass - the FINRA Series 7,<br />on the working and regulations of the financial markets, and<br />the Series 63, which covers the "Blue Sky" laws that exist in<br />every state. And you must first pass the 7 before you take the<br />63.<br /><br />Well, I got Step 1 out of the way. Earlier this week, I Passed<br />The Seven. Not with the greatest scores, mind you, but a<br />Pass nonetheless. Now, having sent in the results, I am awaiting<br />my permission to take the 63 - and I have 60 days from<br />Passing The 7 to do so. So it's back to the books.<br /><br />The 63 is a much shorter test - two hours rather than all day -<br />but I am advised that what it lacks in length it makes up for in<br />difficulty - so no break there.<br /><br />But still and all, it's worthwhile. Even if I ultimately decide<br />not to trade for a living, just passing the tests gives me some<br />credibility when talking about banksters, traders and the<br />like. In the eyes of the law, I am knowledgeable in things<br />like equities, fixed-income, options, even "derivatives".<br /><br />With enough money, I could be a one-man Goldman Sachs.<br />Another Vampire Squid. Just what the economy needs.<br />How nice.<br /><br />But in reality, the goal is to make enough to pay the bills<br />and support the other activities (such as this blog) that<br />make life meaningful and worthwhile.<br /><br />And finally, I suppose that if you can't beat 'em, better find<br />a way to join 'em....<br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-43366019574597623502010-07-17T18:36:00.001-07:002010-07-20T19:48:10.431-07:00A Tale of Two Cities: Maywood CA and Bell CA<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />Here's a story I've held off on posting until I had all the facts.<br /><br />To my readers, I apologize for not posting sooner but I<br />wanted to be accurate above all else before I went to press.<br /><br />What you are about to read should shock the daylights<br />out of you. It puts the tales of New York's Tammany Hall<br />to shame and makes Chicago's Democratic machine<br />look like the rankest amateurs.<br /><br />And if that upsets you, it should - because this is a tale of<br />EPIC Public Corruption unlike any I am aware of in recent<br />history - a sad tale for the local residents involved, but a<br />cautionary one for the rest of us.<br /><br />It is a salient example of what happens when a community<br />ceases to be vigilant about its governance. And just because<br />this story involves local government, it makes no difference.<br />The same thing can happen at the state or national level, far<br />more easily than we might imagine.<br /><br />Here's the story:<br /><br />It begins in the city of Maywood, California last May, when,<br />in the preparation of its annual budget for the 2011 fiscal<br />year, the city received a notice from its liability insurers<br />that its premium for liability coverage of its employees<br />(including the Police Dept.) would triple, to approximately<br />$1.5 million per year.<br /><br />Now Maywood is a close-in suburb of Los Angeles, but let<br />me assure you, Beverly Hills it is not. It is a city of about<br />40,000 people, 90% Hispanic, 60% foreign born, with<br />a per capita income of about $36,000 per year - about<br />half that of Los Angeles County in general. Which means<br />that they're not exactly flush with cash.<br /><br />So after first considering merely doing away with their<br />police department, which was facing several lawsuits<br />over "police abuse", they came up with an even better idea -<br />to do away with the notion of city employees <span style="font-style: italic;">entirely -<br /></span>and outsource everything<span style="font-style: italic;">.<br /><br /></span>First, they outsourced law enforcement to the L.A. County<br />Sheriff's Department, saving approximately $ 4 million a<br />year in the process. Next came Public Works, Parks and<br />Recreation, even parking enforcement - all services for<br />which they found eager private sector bidders, saving<br />even more money.<br /><br />The last thing the Maywood City Council did was to<br />contract out the administration of the city itself to<br />the neighboring city of Bell, at a monthly payment<br />of $50,000 - about two-thirds of the previous expense.<br /><br />So far, so good - Happy citizens and taxpayers in Maywood.<br /><br />But here's where it gets interesting. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Los Angeles Times</span>,<br />no friend of outsourcing or the Private Sector in general,<br />decided to investigate and compare Bell and Maywood - two<br />adjoining cities with similar demographics, to see what<br />lessons could be learned.<br /><br />And what they found blew the roof off.<br /><br />The City Manager of Bell, one Robert Rizzo, was<br />being paid $ 787,000 annually - almost twice as much<br />as President Obama and three times the salary of<br />Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Police Chief<br />Randy Adams was paid $ $457,000 per year - or twice<br />the salary of L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck. And<br />assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia was paid<br />$ 376,000 per year - more than any other municipal<br />executive (except for Rizzo) in the State of California.<br />And it goes on from there.<br /><br />The seven Bell City council members, who are part time<br />and paid $700 per month, also are eligible to sit on up to<br />sixteen different city Boards and Commissions - the City<br />Recycling Authority, the City Planning Commission, and<br />so forth. In return, they can earn up to $1,000 per month<br />additional for each different board they sit on.<br /><br />But most of these boards are "ghost" authorities - in fact,<br />last year most of them met for only <span style="font-style: italic;">One Minute Per Month </span>-<br />this according to California Public Records Act disclosures<br />which the <span style="font-style: italic;">Times</span> uncovered. And six of the seven councilmen<br />occupied all these positions, making their total compensation<br />over $100,000 annually for part-time work.<br /><br />Even so, the <span style="font-style: italic;">Times</span> managed to uncover one honest man -<br />newly appointed Councilman Lorenzo Velez, who earned<br />only his $700 monthly for attending City Council meetings.<br /><br />The reason he wasn't also on the gravy train? He replaced a<br />councilman who resigned after unspecified accusations of<br />wrongdoing, but who after resigning was given a full-time<br />city job at Bell's food bank <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span> kept his membership on<br />six of the "ghost" commissions - this despite an ordinance<br />that specifies only <span style="font-style: italic;">sitting</span> council members can be on these<br />entities.<br /><br />The upshot? The Bell City Council meeting yesterday was<br />jammed with irate voters demanding the resignation of Mayor<br />Oscar Hernandez ( a part-timer making $150,000 per year), Rizzo,<br />Adams, Spaccia, and the entire council except for Velez. A group<br />has formed to circulate petitions for a recall election. Others<br />are preparing to file suit demanding an audit of city finances,<br />which hasn't been done for the last two years despite California<br />law to the contrary. And there's still more. It appears that three<br />of the part-time council members own businesses whose principal<br />function is contracting with the City for "unspecified services".<br /><br />Both the Los Angeles County Attorney and the State<br />Attorney General's office are investigating, and late yesterday<br />came word that the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of<br />California will open an investigation for violations of the<br />Federal Public Corruption Act.<br /><br />For the unfortunate residents of Bell, help can't come<br />soon enough. And it's even more galling that the<br />corrupt council members and city executives appeared<br />to be taking advantage of the "Patron" culture which<br />the mostly Hispanic and foreign-born residents grew up in.<br /><br />In the Hispanic culture, the "Patron" or political leader, is<br />expected to be corrupt, and to lavishly line his pockets in<br />return for shouldering the great responsibilities of governance.<br />In return, he is also expected to disburse cash, favors, and<br />considerations ("Las Mordidas") to deserving members of the<br />community.<br /><br />But there wasn't very much flowing downward to the ordinary<br />people, it seems - just to the regular employees and their<br />unions, who regularly turned out at election time to keep<br />the incumbents in office.<br /><br />Regardless of what ultimately happens, (and I expect that<br />some Bell city councilmen and managers will ultimately be<br />guests at the Crossbar Hotel or Club Fed), this should be a<br />warning. Where Government and Tax Dollars are concerned,<br />voters won't get what they expect - only what they <span style="font-style: italic;">inspect</span>.<br /><br />And the solution to problems like this? Not recall elections<br />and criminal investigations, but pitchforks and torches,<br />tar and feathers, and trees and boiled rope.</span></span></span><br /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Michael/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-7.png" alt="" /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Michael/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-8.png" alt="" />The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-28744314249865316372010-07-12T18:45:00.000-07:002010-07-15T16:48:57.991-07:00Tax Cuts for the Wealthy vs. Unemployment - No Change We Can Believe In<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Well, it's finally out in the open now.<br /><br />Sen Jon Kyl (R-AZ) finally detailed the reasons for his<br />(and the rest of his party's) unrelenting opposition<br />to the extension of emergency unemployment benefits.<br /><br />To him, they are a "necessary evil", and thus they need<br />to be fully offset by "spending reductions" elsewhere.<br /><br />Here's the story on <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://http//www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/12/jon-kyl-extend-bush-tax-c_n_642862.html">The Huffington Post</a><br /><br />At the same time, Sen. Kyl also went on to explain that<br />"tax cuts", unlike unemployment benefits, don't need to<br />be "offset" by spending cuts elsewhere, because<br />"they pay for themselves".<br /><br />And the economist he cites as proof? That eminent<br />economist and Senator from Kentucky,<br />Mitch McConnell.<br /><br />Now I don't blame Sen. Kyl. As a loyal, obedient member<br />of the Senate Republican caucus, he has to speak the lines<br />he's told to, even if they don't square with the facts.<br /><br />And the fact is, that of $787 Billion in stimulus spending,<br />$450 Billion was tax cuts skewed toward corporations<br />and the wealthy. This was supposed to "stimulate" new<br />investment and hiring. And we can all see how that turned out.<br /><a href="http://http//www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/12/jon-kyl-extend-bush-tax-c_n_642862.html"></a><br />And to The Thinking Nationalist, it's a very, very tired and<br />overplayed theme.<br /><br />It's nothing more than "trickle down" economics,<br />dressed up in fancy rhetoric to stimulate class envy<br />and resentment. And I can understand this.<br /><br />If you're a small businessman, or self-employed, and<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">You </span>aren't seeing any benefit from all of the "stimulating"<br />activity going on, and you aren't benefiting from this<br />miraculous economic recovery, why <span style="font-style: italic;">shouldn't</span> you<br />have a tax cut?<br /><br />After all, the unemployed are (or were) getting <span style="font-style: italic;">Theirs,<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span>the Too-Big-To-Fail banks got <span style="font-style: italic;">Theirs</span>, and as long as they<br />agreed to keep outsourcing and offshoring jobs, the Big<br />Corporations got <span style="font-style: italic;">Theirs</span>....<br /><br />Where's <span style="font-style: italic;">Yours</span>?<br /><br />I feel your pain.<br /><br />But, to the GOP and their fellow travelers among the<br />"Blue Dog" Democrats, you don't matter.<br /><br />You aren't lining up to stuff dollars in lobbyists' pockets<br />to hand to the GOP and the entrenched politicos of the<br />Democrat Party . You aren't working the corridors of<br />Capitol Hill, with lobbyists in tow, with pre-written bills<br />or amendments to bills, pressing your case directly, where<br />it matters.<br /><br />And if you're going to do that, don't forget the manila<br />envelopes stuffed with large amounts in small<br />denominations for your favorite Congresscritters.<br /><br />After all, in the Halls of Power, money talks and<br />you-know-what walks.<br /><br />And don't even think about mainstream Democrats.<br /><br />If you aren't an Ivy-educated, certified <span style="font-style: italic;">Intellectual</span>,<br />you just don't count. But don't blame yourself if you're<br />not at that exalted level.<br /><br />After all, mainstream "liberal" Democrats, including<br />the president, care more about winning the "intellectual"<br />battle more than anything else.<br /><br />Their idea of a "win" is a critically acclaimed Op-Ed in<br />the Times or the Washington Post. Or a blog post<br />on Huffington. Or a guest appearance on the PBS<br />News Hour.<br /><br />After all, those audiences understand all the "nuances"<br />and the "irony" involved in trying to represent the<br />"progressive" agenda. And they also understand that<br />this has absolutely nothing to do with representing<br />the voters back home.<br /><br />After all, <span style="font-style: italic;">Everyone </span>who is<span style="font-style: italic;"> Anyone </span>knows that <span style="font-style: italic;">they</span><br />(meaning you) just don't get it. That means you don't<br />count. And don't be thinking "Tea Party".<br />The "Tea Party" doesn't shock anyone anymore.<br />There's no scare there.<br /><br />Just a bunch of mindless rural rubes ready to vote<br />Republican, to their own detriment.<br /><br />So if you think your voice isn't being heard in<br />Washington (and you can be assured it isn't), <br />Mr. or Ms. Independent Voter, you need to do something<br />different. You need to think outside the box.<br /><br />And that means voting Third Party.<br /><br />Now, don't get me wrong. If you're dissatisfied with the<br />way things are going, and your incumbent isn't getting<br />the job done <span style="font-style: italic;">for you</span>, go ahead and Vote For The Other<br />Guy, no matter what, as long as there's a credible difference<br />between the two.<br /><br />But in some places that may not be enough. Some states<br />are so Blue or Red that winning the Primary means a<br />ceremonial walk-over in the General Election.<br /><br />Or, there's so little difference between the two candidates<br />that either could just as well be a member of the others'<br />party.<br /><br />And that's just not good enough.<br /><br />So if that applies to your state, vote Third Party.<br /><br />If you're Conservative, vote Libertarian instead of<br />Republican. If you are liberal or "progressive", vote<br />Green, Socialist or even Communist.<br /><br />And if enough of us do this, we're going to have a<br />great mixture in Congress and in the state legislatures<br />as well.<br /><br />I'd love to see some Republican leader bust his gut<br />trying to get a "compromise vote" out of some<br />died-in-the-wool Libertarian. And I think the<br />Democrats would go nuts if they had to "coalesce"<br />with Green, Socialist, or Communist legislators.<br /><br />Who knows - out of all that, you might get Change<br />that some of us might believe in ... for a change.<br /><br /><br /></span></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-50720677793623370002010-07-11T12:23:00.000-07:002010-07-11T12:52:20.176-07:00Guest Post: The 24 Types of Libertarian<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">(h/t <span style="font-style: italic;">Barry Deutsch</span>)</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The current economic malaise has brought all kinds of folks<br />out of the woodwork.<br /><br />From out-and-out Marxists ( a la David Harvey) to the Tea Party<br />types, the extremes on both sides seem to be dominating the<br />debate these days. What they have in common, I'm afraid,<br />is being long on volume and short on solutions.<br /><br />But nothing has been quite as remarkable as the steady march<br />of the GOP towards its "libertarian" roots.<br /><br />In this vein, then, here is a "graphic" description of the "24 Types"<br />of "GOP supporters and libertarians" - the better so that we<br />can identify them should they try to convert us to their<br />way of thinking.<br /><br />Here they are (follow the <a href="http://www.leftycartoons.com/the-24-types-of-libertarian/">link</a>):<br /><br /></span></span></span></span><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Michael/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-4.png" alt="" /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Michael/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-5.png" alt="" /><br /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Michael/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.png" alt="" /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Michael/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.png" alt="" /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Michael/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-2.png" alt="" /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Michael/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-3.png" alt="" /> <img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Michael/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-6.png" alt="" /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br /></span></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-158749975560744872010-07-04T21:43:00.000-07:002010-07-04T23:52:02.163-07:00Happy Fourth of July - A Salute To Bloggers And a Year Completed.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />It was almost a year ago that I set out to create<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Thinking Nationalist - </span>a small web journal of<br />political and economic opinion that focused on current<br />events from a "centrist" American perspective.<br /><br />Unlike many other "bloggers", I did not look in<br />the first year to go all-out with a firmly biased<br />outlook, either left or right, on every issue that<br />crossed my writing desk. Rather, I decided that<br />this first year would be given over to honing my<br />blogging craft, and that my original pieces would<br />try to be more explanatory than exhortatory,<br />preferring wherever possible to shed light on an issue<br />rather than unwarranted heat.<br /><br /><br />Further, when the occasion required, I decided to also<br />include several pieces cross-posted (with attribution)<br />from other blogs or sources. And in return, I have had<br />the distinct pleasure of being quoted by name in a few<br />other blogs, many of which are older than this one and<br />more widely read.<br /><br />I would also at this point like to take the time to thank<br />the other authors whose blogs are listed on the left-hand side of<br />the page, many of whom took the time to offer advice,<br />suggestions, topic ideas, or links to additional information.<br />And in the same spirit, I would also like to thank the readers who<br />circulated my posts like <span style="font-style: italic;">Samizdat </span>to others.<br /><br />To all of you, both readers and fellow bloggers. I thank you.<br /><br />In these trying times, I believe that bloggers are<br />providing necessary, important and free public services<br />of both information and persuasion - far more so than the<br />paid mainstream media, who are more comfortable<br />sucking up to the powerful and influential than standing<br />up to them in the name of the public.<br /><br />Time was when the intrepid journalist was focused on<br />getting "the story" - having checked the facts and<br />corroborated the evidence, he published - and let the<br />chips fall where they may. Naturally, such an approach<br />never sits well with "Powers That Be" wherever they are,<br />as these worthies have often more to lose from<br />embarrassment or ridicule than the actual discovery of<br />malfeasance.<br /><br />Thus journalists, under the pressure of a constant<br />news cycle to generate air time or column inches, often<br />morph into the lap dogs of their favorite sources.<br />Nothing so warms a mainstream media person's heart<br />but that to know that for him or her, the velvet rope<br />will always be lifted and access will always be granted<br />when deadlines or air time loom near.<br /><br />With rare exception, the blogger faces little such pressure.<br />Permanently on the outside, occasionally granted access<br />as part of the "Alternative Media" pool, he is free to write<br />and opinionate to his heart's content.<br /><br />And in so doing, he not only sheds light on important issues<br />but brings some necessary heat as well.<br /><br />It is fitting, therefore, that on the 234th Anniversary of<br />the Nation's founding, a Nation founded in no small part<br />by the exertions of free men armed with free speech and a<br />free press, that we take time to honor those who dare<br />call the powerful to account and the influential to<br />explanation. Let us always remember that our liberties<br />are more secure in the hands of the man with a<br />pen and a voice than in the hands of the man with a gun.<br /><br />If Thomas Paine, the author of "Common Sense" were alive<br />today. he would be a blogger - and his columns would still be<br />passed hand to hand and read as eagerly as in the days of old.<br /><br />And given the mess that is today "our body politic", he<br />would have plenty to write about and a lot to say - and<br />almost none of it would be complimentary to those<br />who style themselves "Our Leaders".<br /><br />In that vein, then, we are going to alter the approach of<br />The Thinking Nationalist over the coming year to take<br />a harder, more partisan stance on the issues than before -<br />and the principle that will under line our approach is<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Nationalism</span>.<br /><br />"Nationalism" in the current sense, has gotten an undeservedly<br />bad rap from authors of both the left and the right. "Liberals"<br />view "Nationalism" as a code word for racial and ethnic<br />prejudice, while "Conservatives" view "Nationalism" as a quaint<br />and backward obstacle in their abstract pursuit of "Free Markets".<br /><br />Both are wrong. "Liberals", while pretending solicitude<br />for the common man, fail completely to understand the<br />anger and distress felt by citizens about the unlawful<br />invasion of millions upon millions of alien foreigners into<br />our midst, who share not our language, culture, history or<br />traditions but, with the support of "liberals" demand not only<br />legal status but unquestioned acceptance. The "conservative"<br />on the other hand, would announce "open borders" the better<br />that wages and working conditions might fall to some abysmal<br />3rd world level, the better to profit the "Ownership Class".<br /><br />And "Immigration" is only one area where both mainstream<br />liberals and conservatives are just plain <span style="font-style: italic;">wrong</span>. "Nationalism"<br />gives us the reasons why.<br /><br />The same is true on any number of issues - economics,<br />trade, jobs, industrial policy, education, social welfare,<br />foreign policy and national defense. In their single-minded<br />pursuit of abstract "truth" as they see it, both left and right<br />have failed a nation desperately seeking answers and a way<br />forward in a pitiless and hostile world.<br /><br />"Nationalism" provides that way forward.<br /><br />Over the coming weeks, I will detail "A Modern Nationalist<br />Manifesto" that, hopefully, will provoke discussion and<br />debate. And, we will keep up our perspective on current<br />events and people as always.<br /><br />These are interesting, indeed historic times we are<br />living in. But whether they are tragedy or blessing is<br />now, more than ever, up to us.<br /><br />-<span style="font-style: italic;"> The Thinking Nationalist</span><br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-73432393505405575452010-07-04T15:12:00.000-07:002010-07-04T21:20:46.915-07:00Andy Grove: How to Make an American Job Before It's Too Late<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />(H/T: <span style="font-style: italic;">Naked Capitalism</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Bloomberg News</span>)<br /><br />When Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism suggests we read<br />something, I usually take notice.<br /><br />Yesterday, she directed her readers to an article by Andy Grove<br />(one of the founders of Intel), calling for drastic changes in<br />American industrial policy, specifically toward startups,<br />innovation, scaling, and manufacturing job creation.<br /><br />The piece is long, detailed, and worth reading in full, but<br />the central point is this: An economy that innovates<br />prolifically but consistently exports its jobs to lower<br />cost overseas locations will over time not only lose its<br />capacity for mass production but also its very ability<br />to innovate.<br /><br />So compelling and important is this piece that I am<br />going to present it here substantially in its entirety:<br /><br />Dr. Grove:<br /><br /><br />" Recently, an acquaintance at the next table at a<br />Palo Alto , California restaurant introduced me to<br />his companions: three young venture capitalists<br />from China. They explained, with visible excitement,<br />that they were touring promising companies in<br />Silicon Valley. I've lived in the Valley a long time,<br />and usually when I see that the region has become<br />such a draw for global investment, I feel a little proud.<br /><br />" Not this time. I left the restaurant unsettled. Something<br />didn't add up. Bay Area unemployment is even higher<br />than the 9.7 per cent national average. Clearly, the great<br />Silicon Valley innovation machine hasn't been creating<br />many jobs of late - unless you count Asia, where<br />American technology companies have been<br />creating jobs like mad for years.<br /><br />" The underlying problem isn't simply lower Asian costs.<br />It's our own misplaced faith in the power of American<br />startups to create U.S. jobs. Americans love the idea of<br />the guys in the garage inventing something that changes<br />the world. <span style="font-style: italic;">New York</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Times</span> columnist <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/opinion/04friedman.html?ref=thomaslfriedman">Thomas L. Friedman</a><br />recently encapsulated this view in a piece entitled<br />"Startups, Not Bailouts" . His argument: Let tired old<br />companies that do commodity manufacturing die if<br />they have to. If Washington really wants to create jobs,<br />he wrote, it should back startups.<br /><br />Mythical Moment<br /><br />" Friedman is wrong. Startups are a wonderful thing, but<br />they cannot by themselves increase tech employment.<br />Equally important is what comes after that mythical<br />moment of creation in the garage, as technology goes<br />from prototype to mass production. This is the phase<br />where companies scale up. They work out design details,<br />figure out how to make things affordably, and hire<br />people by the thousands. Scaling is hard work but<br />necessary to make innovation matter.<br /><br />" The scaling process is no longer happening in the U.S.<br />And as long as that's the case, plowing capital into young<br />companies that build their factories elsewhere will<br />continue to yield a bad return in terms of American jobs.<br /><br />" Scaling used to work well in Silicon Valley. Entrepreneurs<br />came up with an invention. Investors gave them money to<br />build their business. If the founders and their investors were<br />lucky, the company grew and had an initial public offering,<br />which brought in money that financed further growth.<br /><br />Intel Startup<br /><br />" I am fortunate to have lived through one such example.<br />In 1968 two well-known inventors and their investor<br />friends anted up $ 3 million to start Intel Corp., making<br />memory chips for the computer industry. From the<br />beginning, we had to figure out how to make our chips<br />in volume. We had to build factories, hire, train, and<br />retain employees; establish relationships with suppliers;<br />and sort out a million other things before Intel could<br />become a billion-dollar company. Three years later it went<br />public and grew to become one of the biggest technology<br />companies in the world. By 1980, which was about ten<br />years after our IPO, about 13,000 people worked for<br />Intel in the U.S.<br /><br />"Not far from Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara,<br />California, other companies developed. Tandem<br />Computers went through a similar process, then<br />Sun Microsystems, Inc., then Cisco Systems Inc.,<br />Netscape Communications Corp., and on and on.<br />Some companies died along the way or were absorbed<br />by others, but each survivor added to the complex<br />technological ecosystem that came to be<br />called Silicon Valley.<br /><br />" As time passed, wages and health care costs rose in the<br />U.S., and China opened up. American companies<br />discovered that they could have their manufacturing<br />and even their engineering done cheaper overseas.<br />When they did so, margins improved. Management<br />was happy, and so were stockholders. Growth<br />continued, even more profitably. But the job machine<br />sputtered.<br /><br />U.S. Versus China<br /><br />" Today, manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer<br />industry is about 166,000 - lower than it was before the first<br />personal computer, the MITS Altair 2800, was assembled in<br />1975. Meanwhile, a very effective computer manufacturing<br />industry has emerged in Asia, employing about 1.5 million<br />workers - factory workers, engineers, and managers.<br /><br />" The largest of these companies is Hon Hai Precision Industry<br />Co., also known as Foxconn. The company has grown at an<br />astounding rate, first in Taiwan and then in China. Its revenue<br />last year was $ 62 billion, larger than Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp.,<br />Dell Inc. or Intel. Foxconn employs more than 800,000 people,<br />more than the combined worldwide head count of Apple,<br />Dell, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Sony Corp.<br /><br />10 -to- 1 Ratio<br /><br />" Until a recent spate of suicides at Foxconn's complex<br />in Shenzhen, China, few people had ever heard of the<br />company. But most know the products it makes -<br />computers for Dell and H-P, Nokia cellphones,<br />Microsoft XBox 360 consoles, Intel motherboards,<br />and countless other familiar gadgets. Some 250,000<br />Foxconn employees in Southern China produce all<br />of Apple's products. Apple, meanwhile, has about 25,000<br />employees in the U.S. - that means for every Apple worker<br />in the U.S. there are 10 people in China working on iPods,<br />iMacs, and iPhones. The same roughly 10-to-1 relationship<br />holds for Dell, disk-drive maker Seagate Technology,<br />and other U.S. tech companies.<br /><br />" You could say, as many do, that shipping jobs overseas<br />is no big deal because the high-value work - and much<br />of the profits - remain in the U.S. That may well be so.<br />But what kind of a society are we going to have if it consists<br />of a few highly paid people doing high-value-added work -<br />and masses of unemployed?<br /><br />" Since the early days of Silicon Valley, the money invested<br />in companies has increased dramatically, only to produce<br />fewer jobs. Simply put, the U.S. has become wildly inefficient<br />at creating American tech jobs. We may be less aware of this<br />growing inefficiency, however, because our history of creating<br />jobs over the long term - the last fifty years - has been<br />spectacular, masking our greater and greater spending<br />to create each position.<br /><br />Tragic Mistake<br /><br />" Should we wait and not act on the basis of early indicators?<br />I think that would be a tragic mistake because the only<br />chance we have to reverse this deterioration is if we<br />act early and decisively.<br /><br />"Already the decline has been marked. It may be<br />measured by way of a simple calculation ; the employment<br />cost-effectiveness of a company. First, take the initial<br />investment plus the investment during a company's IPO.<br />Then, divide that by the number of employees working in<br />that company ten years later. For Intel, this worked out to<br />be about $650 per job - $3,600 adjusted for inflation.<br />National Semiconductor Corp., another chip company,<br />was even more efficient at about $2,000 per job.<br /><br />" Making the same calculations for a number of<br />Silicon Valley companies shows that the cost creating<br />U.S. jobs grew from a few thousand dollars per position in<br />the early years to $100,000 today. The obvious reason:<br />companies simply hire fewer people as more and more<br />work is done by outside companies, usually in Asia.<br /><br />Alternative Energy<br /><br />" The job-machine breakdown isn't just in computers. <br />Consider alternative energy, an industry where there<br />is plenty of innovation. Photovoltaics, for example, are a<br />U.S. invention. Their use in home-energy applications<br />was also pioneered by the U.S.<br /><br />" Last year, I decided to do my bit for energy conservation<br />and decided to equip my house with solar power. My wife<br />and I talked to four local solar firms. As part of our due<br />diligence, I checked where they get their photovoltaic panels<br /> - the key part of the system. All of the panels they use come<br />from China. A Silicon Valley company sells equipment used<br />to make photo-active films - and they ship close to ten times<br />more machines to China than the U.S. - and the gap is growing.<br />Not surprisingly, estimated U.S. employment in the making<br />of photovoltaic films, panels, and the equipment to produce<br />them is about 10,000 - a few per cent of total worldwide<br />employment.<br /><br />Advanced Batteries.<br /><br />" There's more at stake than just exported jobs. With<br />some technologies, both scaling and innovation take<br />place overseas. Such is the case with advanced batteries.<br />It has taken years and many false starts, but finally we<br />are about to witness mass-produced electric cars and trucks.<br />They all rely on lithium-ion batteries. What microprocessors<br />are to computing, batteries are to electric vehicles. <br />Unlike microprocessors, the U.S. share of lithium-ion<br />battery production is tiny.<br /><br />" That's a problem. A new industry needs an effective<br />ecosystem in which technology knowhow accumulates,<br />experience builds upon experience, and close relationships<br />develop between supplier, manufacturer, and customer. <br />The U.S. lost its lead in batteries 30 years ago when it<br />stopped making consumer electronic devices. <br />Whoever made batteries then gained the exposure and<br />relationships needed to learn to supply batteries for the<br />more demanding Laptop PC market, and after that for the<br />more demanding automotive market.<br /><br />"U.S. companies didn't participate in the first phase and<br />consequently weren't in the running for all that followed.<br />I doubt that they will ever catch up.<br /><br />Job Creation<br /><br />" Scaling isn't easy. The investments required are<br />much higher than in the invention phase. And funds<br />need to be committed early, when not much is known<br />about the potential market. Another example from Intel:<br />The investment to build a silicon plant in the 1970's was a<br />few million dollars. By the early 1990's, the costs of the<br />factories that would be able to produce the new Pentium<br />chips in volume rose to several billion dollars. The decision<br />to build these plants needed to be made years before we<br />knew whether the Pentium chip would work or whether<br />the market would be interested in it.<br /><br />"Lessons we learned from previous missteps helped us.<br />Years earlier, when Intel's business consisted of making<br />memory chips, we hesitated to add manufacturing capacity,<br />not sure of the market demand in years to come. <br />Our Japanese competitors didn't hesitate: they built the<br />plants. When the demand for memory chips exploded,<br />the Japanese roared into the U.S. market and Intel<br />began its decline as a memory-chip supplier.<br /><br />Intel Experience.<br /><br />" Though steeled by that experience, I remember how<br />afraid I was as I asked the Intel directors for authorization<br />to spend billions of dollars for factories to make a product<br />that didn't exist for a market we couldn't size. <br />Fortunately,they gave their OK even as they gulped.<br />The bet paid off.<br /><br />" My point isn't that Intel was brilliant. The company<br />was founded at a time when it was easier to scale domestically.<br />For one thing, China wasn't yet open for business. More<br />importantly, the U.S. hadn't yet forgotten that scaling<br />was crucial to its economic future.<br /><br />" How could the U.S. have forgotten? I believe that the<br />answer has to do with a general undervaluing of<br />manufacturing --- the idea that as long as "Knowledge Work"<br />stays in the U.S., it doesn't matter what happens to factory<br />jobs. It's not just newspaper columnists who spread this idea -<br />but politicians and academics as well.<br /><br />Off shore Production.<br /><br />" Consider this passage by Princeton economist Alan S. Blinder:<br /><br />"The TV manufacturing industry really started here,<br /> and at one point employed many workers. But as TV<br /> sets became 'just a commodity' the production moved<br /> offshore to locations with much lower wages. And<br /> nowadays the number of TV sets manufactured in<br /> the United States is zero. A Failure? No --- a success! "<br /><br />" I disagree. Not only did we lose an untold number of jobs,<br />we broke the chain of experience that is so important in<br />technological evolution. As happened with batteries,<br />abandoning today's "commodity" manufacturing<br />can lock you out of tomorrow's emerging industry.<br /><br /><br />" Our fundamental economic beliefs, which we have<br />elevated from an observation to an unquestioned truism,<br />is that the free market is the best economic system - the<br />freer, the better. Our generation has seen the decisive<br />victory of free-market principles over planned economies.<br />So we stick with this belief, largely oblivious to emerging<br />evidence that while free markets beat planned economies,<br /> there may be room for a modification that is even better.<br /><br />No. 1 Objective.<br /><br /><br />" Such evidence stares at us from the performance of<br />several Asian economies in the past decades. These<br />countries seem to understand that <span style="font-style: italic;">Job Creation </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>(italics mine - TTN) must be the number one objective<br />of state economic policy. The government plays a<br />strategic role in setting the priorities and arraying<br />the forces necessary to achieve that goal.<br /><br />" The rapid development of the Asian economies<br />provides numerous illustrations. In a thorough study<br />of the development of East Asia, Robert Wade of the<br />London School of Economics found that these<br />economies turned in precedent-shattering performances<br />in the 1970's and 1980's because of government involvement<br />in the targeting the growth of manufacturing industries.<br /><br />"Consider the "Golden Projects" - a series of digital<br />initiatives in the late 1980's and 1990's. Beijing was<br />convinced of the importance of electronic networks - used<br />for transactions, communications, and co-ordination - in<br />enabling job creation, especially in the less developed parts<br />of the country. Consequently, the Golden Projects<br />enjoyed priority funding. In time, they contributed to<br />the country's rapid development of China's information<br />infrastructure and the country's economic growth.<br /><br />Job-Centric Economy<br /><br />" How do we turn such Asian experience into intelligent<br />action here and now? Long-term, we need a job-centric<br />economic theory - and job-centric political leadership -<br />to guide our plans and actions. In the meantime,<br />consider some basic thoughts from a onetime factory guy.<br /><br />" Silicon Valley is a community with a strong tradition of<br />engineering, and engineers are a peculiar breed. They are<br />eager to solve whatever problems they encounter. If<br />profit margins are the problem, we go to work on margins,<br />with exquisite focus. Each company, ruggedly individualistic,<br />does its best to expand efficiently and improve its own<br />profitability. However, our pursuit of our individual<br />businesses, which often involves transferring a great<br />deal of manufacturing and engineering out of the country,<br />has hindered our ability bring innovations to scale here at home.<br /><br />" Without scaling, we don't just lose jobs - we lose our<br />hold on new technologies. Losing our ability to scale<br />means losing our ability to innovate.<br /><br />" A story goes around that an engineer was to be executed<br />by guillotine. The guillotine was stuck, and tradition<br />demanded that if the blade didn't drop, the condemned<br />man was set free. Before this could happen, the engineer<br />pointed with excitement to a rusty pulley, and told the<br />executioner to apply some oil there. Off went his head.<br /><br />"An example: Five years ago a friend of mine joined<br />a large VC firm as a partner. His responsibility was to<br />ensure that every startup they funded had a<br />"China Strategy" - meaning , a plan to ship as many jobs as<br />they possibly could to China. He was going around with<br />an oil can, applying drops to the guillotine in case it<br />was stuck. We should put away our oil cans. Every<br />VC firm should have a partner in charge of every startup's<br />"U.S. Strategy".<br /><br />Financial Incentives<br /><br />" The first task is to rebuild our industrial commons. <br />We should develop a system of financial incentives.<br />Levy an extra tax on the product of offshored labor.<br />If the result is a trade war, treat it like any other war -<br />fight to win. Keep that money separate. Deposit it in<br />the coffers of what we might call the Scaling Bank<br />of the U.S. and make these sums available to companies<br />that will scale their American operations. Such a system<br />would be a daily reminder that while pursuing our company<br /> goals, all of us in business have a responsibility to maintain<br />the industrial base on which we depend and the society<br />whose adaptability - and stability - we may have taken<br />for granted.<br /><br />" I fled Hungary as a young man to come to the U.S. in<br />1956. Growing up in the Soviet bloc, I witnessed firsthand<br />the perils of both government overreach and a stratified<br />population. Most Americans aren't aware that there was a<br />time when tanks and cavalry were massed on Pennsylvania<br />Avenue to chase away the unemployed. It was 1932; thousands<br />of jobless veterans were demonstrating outside the White House. <br />Soldiers with live ammunition and fixed bayonets moved in,<br />herding them away from the White House. In America!<br /><br />" Unemployment is corrosive. If what I'm suggesting is<br />protectionist, so be it. Yet the imperative for change is<br />real, and the choice is simple.<br /><br />"If we wish to remain a leading economy, we change on<br />our own, or change will continue to be forced upon us. "<br /><br />(Andy Grove is a senior adviser to Intel Corp. and was Intel<br />Chairman and CEO from 1987 to 2005)<br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-34717277763299213322010-07-04T14:05:00.000-07:002010-07-04T21:25:21.514-07:00David Harvey and The Crisis of Capitalism<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">(H/T <span style="font-style: italic;">Brad Delong's blog</span>)<br /><br /><br />Every so often, something comes along in the blogosphere<br />that reaches out and grabs you to such an extent that<br />you just can't put it down.<br /><br />And the short video lecture below by anthropologist and<br />"socioeconomist" David Harvey is one of those.<br /><br />For those of you who haven't heard of Professor Harvey before,<br />he is Distinguished Professor of Social Anthropology at the<br />Graduate College of the City University of New York.<br />He has further made news as a leading theorist in the<br />emerging discipline of "Socioeconomics" - that is, that<br />economic events can be explained as much as a consequence<br />of social and anthropological norms as by mathematical<br />descriptions of "rational" behavior.<br /><br />But, what makes his lecture fun to listen to is the unique<br />animation provided by the British Royal Society for<br />Animation that accompanies it.<br /><br />Oh, and by the way, I need to warn you - Dr. Harvey is<br />a committed Marxist.<br /><br />But if that doesn't bother you, I think you'll find that<br />his brief, 11- minute explanation of "The Crisis of Capitalism"<br />to be both cogent and comprehensive. And even though<br />The Thinking Nationalist is a firm believer in Capitalism<br />and Free Markets, I have yet to hear a better <span style="font-style: italic;">short</span> explanation<br />of "What Happened To Us And Why" than this short piece.<br /><br />Therefore, Dr. Harvey, the floor is yours:<br /><br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qOP2V_np2c0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_detailpage&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qOP2V_np2c0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_detailpage&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-75441059932437423182010-06-27T19:19:00.000-07:002010-06-27T22:29:06.763-07:00The Gen. Stanley McChrystal Affair: A Civilian-Military Disconnect?<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">The recent cashiering of General Stanley McChrystal,<br />Allied Forces commander in Afghanistan, was neither<br />unprecedented nor uncalled for.<br /><br />After a devastating cover piece in <span style="font-style: italic;">Rolling Stone </span>detailing<br />the deeply-felt contempt felt by Gen. McChrystal and his<br />staff for the civilian leadership of the Allied military and<br />diplomatic effort in Afghanistan, President Obama had<br />no choice but to fire him.<br /><br />You can read the original article <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/119236">here</a>.<br /><br />If I were President, and one of my military leaders was as<br />openly contemptuous of the civilian leadership as<br />McChrystal, that man would be immediately gone - and<br />immediately replaced. And I wouldn't have been as<br />considerate as Obama. Rather, Obama should have<br />ordered Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to replace him<br />with his second-in-command immediately, pending a<br />thorough housecleaning and further strategy review.<br /><br />This would have accomplished several things - first of all,<br />it would have reinforced the notion of Chain of Command -<br />from general in the field, through the Secretary of Defense,<br />to the President. Second, it would have taken a lot of the<br />heat off the White House and placed it on the Pentagon,<br />where it belonged. Third, it would have bought time for<br />a necessary review, the end result of which should be a<br />recognition that Afghanistan is a failed venture,<br />to be terminated as soon as practicable.<br /><br />But, as the Rolling Stone story makes clear, the Afghan<br />venture is rapidly becoming a Vietnam-style quagmire.<br />Incredibly, Stanley McChrystal appears to understand this,<br />but the civilians don't, including U.S. Ambassador Karl<br />Eichenberry, a retired three-star who at one time was<br />McChrystal's immediate superior. And according to<br />Michael Hastings, the author of the piece, the one<br />thing there's no shortage of in McChrystal's war is<br />bureaucratic infighting and one-upmanship.<br /><br />Not that there aren't always powerful rivalries when<br />leaders with large egos are given charge of a war effort.<br />Even in World War II, leaders like FDR, Churchill,<br />Marshall and Eisenhower were often having to<br />intervene in squabbles between different generals,<br />admirals, and field marshals on matters of strategy,<br />tactics, and logistic support.<br /><br />But the blame can't solely be placed on the generals<br />themselves. Anyone with "flag" or "star" rank knows<br />only too well that in wartime, he faces two enemies;<br />the enemy he's fighting, and the other generals or<br />commanders with whom he must compete for the<br />always-too-scarce resources provided to the forces<br />afield. It is sad but true that the most successful<br />commanders are almost always those who can<br />most successfully persuade their superiors that their<br />theater deserves the lion's share of the men and<br />materials available.<br /><br />An astute general knows that failure to win the<br />bureaucratic war now often means defeat in the<br />field later. And when one's bureaucratic rivals are<br />civilians or politicians with little or no military,<br />diplomatic, or national security experience, a general<br />must press his case very carefully - and that includes<br />keeping very tight control of the "message" one brings<br />to one's superiors.<br /><br />Which is why, for the life of me, I can't understand how<br />a leader as obviously intelligent and dedicated as McChrystal<br />could wind up as the object of a hatchet job, as the song<br />goes, " On the Cover of A-Rolling Stone".<br /><br />Just who did he think he was talking to? <span style="font-style: italic;">Army Times?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Stars and Stripes? </span>As almost anyone under the age of<br />50 knows, Rolling Stone is well- known for covering<br />the ins and outs of the music business, including irreverent<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">exposes </span>of artists such as Jay-Z, Miley Cyrus and Lady GaGa.<br /><br />But lately, Rolling Stone has taken a serious tone in reporting<br />matters that serious folks at the top would have preferred<br />be left uncovered. <span style="font-style: italic;">Rolling Stone's </span>Matt Taibbi blew the<br />whistle on the machinations of Goldman Sachs and the<br />government in his piece "The Great American Bubble<br />Machine" , which gave Goldman its everlasting moniker<br />of "The Great Vampire Squid". <span style="font-style: italic;">Rolling Stone</span> was among the<br />first to report the rampant prescription drug abuse behind<br />the untimely death of King of Pop Michael Jackson last year.<br /><br />And when handed the opportunity to affect the course of<br />an unpopular, poorly-justified foreign war by a journalist<br />reporting on events and conversations that were clearly<br />"off-the record", the elite, Ivy-educated 20-and 30-something<br />brass at Rolling Stone said "F@#k It. Publish and<br />let the chips fall where they may."<br /><br />In such journalistic company, both McChrystal and his<br />staff should have kept their mouths shut, and strictly<br />controlled reporter Hasting's access to sensitive information.<br /><br />That they apparently did neither, I feel, speaks less to their<br />judgment and more to their "apartness" from civilian society<br />than anything else. For if today's military is anything, it is<br />truly A Society Apart - one far less representative of America<br />than almost any other public institution.<br /><br />Drawing its recruits principally from the working and<br />middle classes, its commissioned and non-commissioned<br />career leadership is now almost exclusively 2nd, 3rd and 4th<br />generation military. While it is rare for the sons or daughters<br />of the "elite" to serve, it is not at all unusual to see a career<br />military man, enlisted or officer, with one or more children<br />serving. And this is especially reflected in the Service<br />Academies, where 80% of the class of 2012 (the last year<br />for which statistics are available), at Annapolis and West<br />Point comes from career military families.<br /><br />Given this self-selected isolation, and subject to a civilian<br />leadership to whom concepts such as Duty, Honor, and Country<br />seem both quaint and naive, it's not hard to understand some<br />friction and resentment on the part of those who serve. And<br />for the most part, the vast majority of serving men and women<br />honorably keep their resentments, if any, to themselves.<br /><br />But sooner or later, the "Civilian-Military Disconnect" is going<br />to blow up in the faces of a dissipated and self-absorbed civilian<br />leadership more interested in personal financial advancement<br />than the welfare of the country they serve.<br /><br />And if and when that should happen, the results will<br />not be pretty. We will have more to say on this issue in a<br />future piece.<br /><br /></span></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-77487297810759134232010-06-27T15:54:00.000-07:002010-06-27T22:31:29.394-07:00The GOP: The Triumph of "Just Saying No"<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />The Grand Old Party may have finally hit on a winning<br />strategy.<br /><br />By playing to growing concerns among voters of debt and<br />deficits, as well as Tea-Party-fueled resentment of expensive<br />and ineffective Government, the Republicans at one stroke<br />have managed to turn the tables on an embattled Obama<br />Administration and Democratic Congress.<br /><br />By "Just Saying No" to extensions of unemployment insurance,<br />aid to the states, a Medicare "Doc Fix", and a variety of tax cuts<br />for small business, the GOP may finally have found its partisan<br />voice - a voice it was in danger of losing to the decentralized and<br />un-coordinated Tea Party movement.<br /><br />And this was a very large win. For eight weeks, the Senate<br />Republicans forced the Democrats to negotiate with themselves<br />on the "price" of this aid package.<br /><br />First, it started at $ 80 Billion - all funded by additional debt.<br />Then, it was $50 Billion - funded partly by new debt and partly<br />by unspent "stimulus" funds. Finally, it was $33 Billion - mostly<br />unemployment insurance, funded by a grab bag of tax increases,<br />spending cuts, stimulus money, and additional borrowing.<br /><br />And very shrewdly, each time the Democrats made a concession,<br />the stronger the Republican opposition became. For, with this<br />"win" , the Republicans can sail into November pointing to two<br />signal accomplishments - they have drawn a line on additional<br />deficit spending, and they have highlighted the inability of<br />the Obama Administration and its Democratic majority in<br />Congress to deliver on relieving the genuine economic distress<br />of much of America.<br /><br />And this message is going mostly unchallenged by the think<br />tanks, the "Liberal Media", and left-of-center thinkers generally.<br /><br />Twenty or thirty years ago, this would have been unheard of.<br />Cut off the benefits of the unemployed? The "media" would have<br />been calling for demonstrations in the streets and widespread<br />civil disobedience. No aid to the states? The <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span><br />and the <span style="font-style: italic;">Washington Post </span>would have been up in arms about the<br />Nation's "Unmet Social Needs". And the "Doc Fix" and the other<br />programs? The beneficiaries of those programs <span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>are mostly in<br />Middle America - that great expanse between the coasts whose<br />inhabitants are viewed by both liberals and conservatives<br />with disdain and contempt.<br /><br />What happened in the intervening time period? Three things.<br /><br />First of all, the success of Bill Clinton and his embrace of<br />"Free Markets", "Trickle-Down Economics" and "Free Trade".<br />Compared with the utter failure of the last Democratic President<br />Jimmy Carter, the "New Realities" to Democrats became clear.<br />Market Economics had won the day. Deregulation of competition<br />and financial markets was the new watchword. A rising tide<br />would lift all boats - even the boats of the chronically<br />disadvantaged. Even the despised George Bush continued<br />in this same vein. While the Democrats rightly excoriated<br />him about plunging the nation into two unwinnable wars,<br />on economics the Democrats gave Bush a free pass;<br />the no-questions-asked bailouts of Wall Street, GM and<br />Chrysler passed with substantial Democratic support.<br /><br />Second , there was the unusual ascent of Barack Obama to the<br />Presidency. He successfully defeated the all-but -crowned<br />Democratic nominee Hilary Clinton by casting himself as a<br />center-right, non-ideological alternative,thus winning<br />both the nomination and the Presidency not so much by the<br />overwhelming support of Blacks and Hispanics but by<br />convincing the non-ideological "center" that he was a<br />pragmatic, practical choice for difficult times.<br /><br />Third, there was the increasing personal wealth of many<br />so-called liberals. Rising economic tides had brought many<br />obscure academics and writers to new levels of personal wealth.<br />Tenured left-of-center Economics professors began to earn<br />unheard-of sums for speaking engagements and consultancies<br />to Wall Street banks and hedge funds - in some cases, earning<br />more in one speech than their salaries from Academia. And then<br />there was the phenomenon of "liberal" lawmakers retiring from<br />politics to new careers as lobbyists for well-funded special interests.<br /><br />Combine the new wealth with the well-documented cultural<br />contempt of many liberals for "the ordinary people" of "flyover<br />America", and the new paradigm of "socially liberal but fiscally<br />conservative" becomes completely understandable.<br /><br />Put more bluntly, the sellout of liberalism by liberals for<br />personal gain was now complete.<br /><br />And the Republicans changed also. Ditching the social and<br />religious conservatives as both ignorant and unreliable,<br />the GOP became unapologetically the party of Big Capital:<br />The Party of Wall Street and the hedge funds, The Party of<br />Big Pharma and Big Oil, The Party of Transnational<br />Corporations busy outsourcing and offshoring American<br />jobs, all in the name of "Free Markets" and "Capitalism".<br />And to their utter delight, they found that they had more<br />in common with their liberal colleagues than with other<br />Americans; how to get their kids into the "right" elite<br />schools, how to get in on the right hedge fund deal, how<br />to extract this private benefit or that from a compliant<br />government, how to make sure that their kids got a<br />scarce career-launching job or internship.<br /><br />Bottom line: Their are only two classes of Americans<br />any more. The rich of both left and right, and the rest of us.<br /><br />And in my opinion, that's not a recipe for continuing<br />social peace or order. Up until now, the American People<br />have been remarkably patient. Ten percent unemployment<br />is not pleasant, but we've always grown out of it before.<br /><br />Not this time. In a year, unemployment will be 20% and rising,<br />the divide between rich and poor will be even greater, and the<br />first organized armed revolts since the Civil War may break out.<br /><br />Mark Twain said History doesn't often repeat itself but that it<br />does rhyme. And the rhyme we would be repeating<br />would not be Philadelphia 1776, but Paris 1789.<br /><br />These will be interesting times indeed.<br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-63814586587080709022010-06-20T12:40:00.001-07:002010-06-20T14:28:56.647-07:00Sharron Angle: An Uphill Fight Until November<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />Now comes the hard part for Sharron Angle.<br /><br />Having won the Republican nomination for the<br />Senate seat now held by Majority Leader Harry<br />Reid, Ms. Angle must now take on the mammoth<br />and well-funded Reid organization to prevail<br />in November.<br /><br />And judging from what we have seen so far, it<br />isn't going to be easy.<br /><br />First of all, the majority leader has only begun<br />to spend the $16 million he currently has in the<br />bank for the fall campaign. Another $9 million<br />is on the way (adding up to the predicted $25<br />million war chest), and already the effects are<br />very noticeable.<br /><br />Reid signs and billboards are everywhere<br />overnight. The radio and TV airwaves are full<br />of Reid commercials, extolling the many "things"<br />good ol' Harry has done for Nevada. And this is just the<br />opening salvo.<br /><br />The negative ads attacking Angle have yet to start.<br /><br />And on the surface, there's plenty of material for them<br />to pick from. Angle's stated positions include the abolition<br />of Social Security, Medicare, the Departments of Energy<br />and Education and the IRS. Her other positions include<br />the abolition of the Federal Reserve, a return to the gold<br />standard, and reinstituting Prohibition.<br /><br />Not exactly a "mainstream" conservative agenda - but<br />one calculated to appeal to the tin-hat and wingnut<br />crowd.<br /><br />And Ms. Angle shows few signs of "moderating" her<br />message. Despite a quick trip to Washington to meet<br />with top GOP operatives Dick Armey and Roger Ailes,<br />who advised her to downplay the "Tea Party" aspect of<br />her campaign, she promptly returned to Nevada to state<br />that we may need a "Second Amendment" solution to our<br />problems if things don't improve.<br /><br />While this may play well to the "God and Guns" segment<br />of the electorate, it doesn't exactly sit well with mainstream<br />voters, who are far more worried about jobs and the economy<br />than taking to the streets with rifles and shotguns.<br /><br />And this is starting to show up in some high-profile defections<br />from top GOP officeholders. The Republican mayor of Reno,<br />Bob Cashell, has come out for Reid, as has State Senate Majority<br />Leader Sig Rogich, who heads up the statewide "Republicans<br />For Reid" effort. Moreover, there are rumors that Sue Lowden,<br />of "cluckers for checkups" fame, may leave the GOP and endorse<br />Reid in the fall.<br /><br />Add to this the fact that the big casino operators and mining<br />interests are all firmly in the Reid camp and Ms. Angle may<br />be outgunned on all sides.<br /><br />But she has probably one one card to play - and that is to make<br />the election a referendum on Harry Reid himself - to make the<br />whole campaign one of Harry Reid vs. the little guy.<br /><br />If I were Sharron Angles' campaign manager, I would be asking<br />just how Harry Reid's ties to big casino and mining interests,<br />his coziness with Big Government and Big Public Employee<br />Unions, and his slavish devotion to a far-left Democratic agenda<br />are going to help Nevada with its current 14.7% unemployment<br />rate and nation-leading foreclosure rate.<br /><br />As a Senate Majority Leader he hasn't been particularly effective;<br />I can't imagine a Lyndon Johnson or even a Tom Daschle letting<br />himself get rolled on a badly-needed extension of unemployment<br />and Medicare benefits by members of his own party.<br /><br />But I don't think that Sharron Angle is the solution - she's so<br />extreme that even Sarah Palin has avoided her. And while the<br />"Tea Partiers" may have had their feel-good moment in getting<br />her nominated, I think they are going to come up way short<br />in the fall.<br /><br />And when Harry Reid exposes her "Club For Growth" backers<br />as apologists for multinational corporations (including BP),<br />the game will be all but over.<br /><br />Anyhow, we'll see. A lot will happen between now and<br />November.<br /><br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-73238577154276802422010-06-19T19:27:00.000-07:002010-06-19T22:09:44.479-07:00California's "Mama Grizzlies" - Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />When Sarah Palin said that 2010 would be the year of<br />the Republican "Mama Grizzlies" , she wasn't kidding.<br /><br />What she was referring to was the rise of conservative<br />Republican Women in this year's electoral contests.<br />And, there have been a number of very surprising<br />"Mama Grizzly" wins.<br /><br />First there was the upset win in the South Carolina<br />Republican gubernatorial primary by Palin-endorsed<br />Nikki Haley. In deep-red-state South Carolina, winning<br />the Republican primary makes the attractive daughter<br />of Indian immigrants the odds-on favorite in November.<br /><br />Next, there was the out-of-nowhere win by Tea Partier<br />Sharron Angle in the Nevada Primary to face Senate<br />Majority Leader Harry Reid in the fall. However, as Ms.<br />Angle's somewhat extreme views become better known,<br />she may face an uphill fight in November against the<br />well-financed Reid.<br /><br />But the biggest "Mama Grizzly" winners on Primary Day<br />were the California female multi-millionaire tech<br />CEO's - Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina.<br /><br />Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO now Republican<br />nominee for Governor, spent an unprecedented $71 Million<br />in the primary, and is prepared to spend up to $50 million<br />more in the general election contest against former Governor<br />Jerry Brown, making her campaign the most expensive<br />in California history. But, as a virtual unknown outside<br />corporate CEO circles, she contends that this was necessary<br />to succeed in the nation's most competitive and expensive<br />political media market.<br /><br />Touting her experience in the business world as someone<br />who will "Get Things Done" for California, Whitman<br />has brought a raft of top-flight GOP endorsements to her<br />side, including Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. Her<br />campaign manager is none other than former Republican<br />Governor and Senator Pete Wilson. And even though she<br />has been self-financed thus far, contributions from<br />GOP-affiliated PACS have been pouring in, as well as<br />money from the Republican National Committee and<br />the National Republican Governor's Conference.<br /><br />Should she accept and spend all this money, hers will be<br />the second-most expensive Republican campaign in history,<br />behind only John McCain's 2008 Presidential bid.<br /><br />And she will probably need to spend it all to win. Both parties<br />have identified the California gubernatorial race as one of<br />the most important in the nation, and former Governor<br />Brown will also be receiving major financial help from the<br />Democratic party. But, running in one of the most<br />liberal states in the union, with a built-in 60%-40%<br />disadvantage in voter registration, Whitman will<br />need to make a compelling case for change to go to<br />Sacramento. And I'm not sure that she can do it.<br /><br />To begin with, most of California's problems do<br />not come from the Governor's mansion - rather, they<br />originate in a dysfunctional legislature which grinds<br />itself to gridlocked impotence every session in battles<br />between an extremely liberal Democratic majority<br />and an extremely conservative, compromise-hating<br />Republican minority.<br /><br />In such an atmosphere, it's no surprise that California<br />has not produced a timely budget in the last seven years,<br />it's no surprise that the state is virtually broke, and it's no<br />surprise that the state has the nation's highest taxes, the<br />nation's worst business and regulatory climate, and a<br />bloated state bureaucracy almost third-world-like in<br />its incompetence and inefficiency.<br /><br />Given this background, it's hard to see how Meg can<br />make a difference; if elected, she'll find out very quickly<br />that she cannot push around legislators and bureaucrats<br />like she did her employees. And Jerry Brown, well known<br />as "Governor Moonbeam" during his previous eight years<br />as Governor, might not do much better. But he'll at least<br />have the advantage of a legislative majority and the full<br />support of the highly-partisan state bureaucracy.<br /><br />Given a "choice" of who is more likely to get necessary<br />change to stick in California, I would reluctantly have to<br />say Jerry Brown.<br /><br />And this brings us to the other "Mama Grizzly" on the<br />California ticket - former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly<br />Fiorina, the Republican nominee for The Senate against<br />incumbent Barbara Boxer.<br /><br />With Sen. Boxer's thin record of accomplishment in the<br />Senate, and her admittedly prickly and unpersonable<br />persona, she should be a vulnerable target. And, in<br />pre-primary matchups, she trailed all likely Republican<br />challengers - except Fiorina.<br /><br />However, given her huge personal war chest (she spent<br />$19 million in her campaign), and a timely endorsement<br />from Sarah Palin, she easily beat underfunded true<br />conservative former legislator and Congressman<br />Tom Campbell, whose pre-primary polls showed him<br />beating Boxer 53%-47% in a general election contest.<br /><br />However, unlike Meg Whitman, Fiorina's corporate<br />record of accomplishment is decidedly mixed. Her<br />stormy tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard was marked<br />by the botched acquisition of rival computer maker<br />Compaq, the layoff of 25,000 loyal, longtime H-P<br />employees, the subsequent outsourcing and offshoring<br />of another 20,000 H-P positions, a 50% decline in H-P's<br />stock price, and loss of market share in all of H-P's important<br />businesses. Ultimately, it took the intervention of the Hewlett<br />and Packard families with H-P's board to hand Fiorina her<br />walking papers and multimillion-dollar golden parachute.<br /><br />That Boxer's campaign people rated Fiorina the candidate<br />they would most prefer to face in the general election doesn't<br />help either.<br /><br />And this points up the biggest problem that both of California's<br />"Mama Grizzlies" face - they are both too corporate and too far<br />removed from the struggles of California's overtaxed and<br />overstressed electorate to be credible "tribunes of the people".<br />Neither is an authentic conservative - and in an era when the<br />legitimacy of Corporate America is very much in question,<br />"Corporate" experience is very much a coin of doubtful value.<br /><br />This is not to say that the Democrats are any better - Barbara<br />Boxer is well-known as the Senate's "Queen of Mean", with a<br />heartfelt and documented contempt for ordinary people<br />only an elitist could love. And Jerry Brown wasn't called<br />"Governor Moonbeam" for nothing - some his positions on<br />the issues went beyond the quixotic to the downright<br />bizarre. And this time around, he's referred to as<br />"Governor Moonbat" (as in "Bat@#*t Crazy").<br /><br />You have to feel sorry for Californians - with such a beautiful<br />state, perfect climate, and a unique culture the whole world<br />wants to emulate you would think that they would produce<br />political leaders to match. But they haven't. And in these<br />two important races, they won't be choosing between<br />"the lesser of two evils" - rather they'll be embracing<br />"The Evil of Two Lessers".<br /><br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-11899176456077527372010-06-18T11:51:00.000-07:002010-06-18T12:45:29.101-07:00Back On The Blog<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />It's been an interesting week.<br /><br />I've had about a week off, but now it's time to go<br />Back To The Blog.<br /><br />Last week, I took a much-needed few days off to attend a<br />family reunion in Monterey, CA. In that I had waited just<br />a bit too long to get a cheap airline ticket from Las Vegas<br />(I could have flown on a last minute Priceline deal, but it<br />would have entailed a four-hour wait in Salt Lake City in<br />each direction), I decided instead to drive.<br /><br />From Las Vegas to Monterey ( actually Salinas), is about<br />591 miles, so I was expecting a pleasant eight or nine<br />hour jaunt. Loading up my trusty Jeep with my overnight<br />bag and some bottled water, I set out across the Nevada<br />desert to Barstow - the first refueling point and the takeoff<br />for Central California.<br /><br />Heading west on California Highway 58, you transit<br />through miles of Joshua Tree scrubland, past the town<br />of Boron with its tribute to the "Twenty-Mule-Team" of<br />Death Valley Days fame, and skirt the town of Mojave,<br />with its airport a sea of mothballed retired airliners.<br />Then, you start to climb up out of the Antelope Valley<br />toward the town of Tehachapi and its world-famous<br />railroad grade of switchbacks and tunnels, which parallels<br />the highway and offers a spectacular view of mountains<br />and bristle pines, with air so cool you can turn off your<br />air conditioning, even in the middle of June.<br /><br />Crossing the Tehachapi summit, you descend into the<br />Bakersfield area, where despite the much-advertised<br />water restrictions, Big Agriculture appears to be <br />thriving. Motoring past miles and miles of orange and<br />almond groves, you arrive at the city of Bakersfield,<br />home of country music stars Buck Owens and Merle<br />Haggard.<br /><br />A running California joke is that if for some reason<br />you want to impress people that you are "country",<br />or "a redneck", or a "hick", you don't have to pretend<br />that you are from Arkansas, Tennessee or Oklahoma -<br />just say you're from Bakersfield or Fresno and they'll<br />get it. And judging from the number of pickup trucks<br />and farm vehicles I saw, it's probably accurate.<br /><br />Heading North on California 99 - the main artery of<br />the San Joaquin Valley, you leave Bakersfield looking<br />for Highway 41 and the Wasco exit. Turning onto 41,<br />you pass Wasco and more miles and miles of almond<br />orchards and alfalfa fields until finally you get to<br />open rangeland, with real cattle and cowboys on<br />horseback. Finally you come to the little hamlet<br />of Lost Hills where Interstate 5 cross the 41. This<br />is the next refueling stop and now it's time for lunch<br />and stretching the legs.<br /><br />Leaving Lost Hills and its surrounding oil fields (the<br />area resembles nothing so much as West Texas with<br />the oil derricks and bobbing pumps), you stay on<br />41 all the way to the picturesque town of Paso Robles,<br />with its surrounding wineries and green fields of<br />broccoli and asparagus. Leaving Paso Robles,<br />you head north on US Highway 101, and cover the<br />last ninety miles to the Salinas-Monterey area,<br />the Salad Capital of California.<br /><br />After a pleasant three days in Monterey, we retraced<br />the same route back to Vegas, the trusty ol' Jeep riding<br />the road as if on rails and putting out a respectable 22<br />mpg at 75 miles per hour without even breathing hard.<br />Upon arriving back in Vegas, I found a small assignment<br />waiting for me. Now that that is out of the way, it's Back<br />On The Blog - with lots to talk about.<br /><br />First topic up will be the rise of California's two Republican<br />Mama Grizzlies - Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, running<br />for Governor and The Senate respectively. Both are hugely<br />wealthy ex-tech CEO's, and both are intent on using their<br />accumulated fortunes to attain office.<br /><br />In my view, the record of wealthy ex-CEO's succeeding<br />in government is decidedly mixed, as the skill sets<br />required to be a CEO and a success in government are not<br />the same. But, that is a topic we'll examine in the next<br />post.<br /><br />All in all, it's good to be home - and good to be Back On The Blog.<br /><br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-56560307573417945662010-06-07T21:47:00.001-07:002010-06-07T23:30:57.061-07:00Eye on Nevada: Sharron Angle Surges Forward !<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />What is probably the most-watched political contest in the<br />Nation will be decided tomorrow.<br /><br />And, against all odds, it appears that Northern Nevada's<br />Sharron Angle will get the nod to go up against embattled<br />Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.<br /><br />When I first wrote in these pages three months ago about<br />Reid's travails, I predicted that the GOP would quickly coalesce<br />around either Sue Lowden, former State Senate Majority leader<br />and State GOP Chair, or behind businessman Danny Tarkanian,<br />the son of UNLV coaching legend Jerry Tarkanian.<br /><br />Both are attractive, articulate candidates and early polls<br />showed both leading Reid by statistically significant margins.<br />At that time, Sharron Angle was a minor candidate of the<br />Libertarian fringe, with virtually no name recognition in<br />Clark County or the Las Vegas metropolitan area.<br /><br />Therefore, I didn't even mention her as a factor in the<br />race. And, like all pundits both famous and obscure, I<br />do sometimes Get It Wrong.<br /><br />In the past three months, Sharron Angle has shot from<br />obscurity to leading the polls, not only in the Primary<br />contest but against Harry Reid in the general election.<br />The <span style="font-style: italic;">Reno Gazette</span> has her leading Reid 47% - 41%, while<br />the larger <span style="font-style: italic;">Las Vegas Review-Journal</span> poll has Angle leading<br />Reid 44%-41%, (Tarkanian also leads Reid 45% - 41%) . <br /><br />And in the primary, the polls break down this way:<br /><br />Angle - 32%<br /><br />Tarkanian - 24%<br /><br />Lowden - 23%<br /><br />Minor candidates and undecided - 21%<br /><br />Clearly an outstanding result for an outstanding and<br />unwavering conservative. But, she has had some<br />important help along the way.<br /><br />First, the Tea Party Express (the closest thing to a<br />national Tea Party organization), endorsed her at its<br />Washington conference in April. This brought the Angle<br />campaign national-level organizational talent and badly<br />needed funding. Next, the Club For Growth came aboard<br />with more money and organizational help.<br /><br />And then, Divine Providence struck.<br /><br />As we previously reported, Sue Lowden's campaign<br />almost totally self-destructed over "Cluckers For Checkups";<br />the wildly humorous soundbite that transformed Lowden<br />from political leader to an object of national ridicule overnight.<br />Incredibly, when given the opportunity to "walk back"<br />her comments in a friendly media forum, she instead<br />expanded on them and went on to opine as to how "barter"<br />could be acceptable health care reform.<br /><br />Exposed as an out-of-touch Establishment elitist, her<br />campaign never recovered - indeed, in both statewide polls,<br />she now <span style="font-style: italic;">trails</span> Reid 46%-41%.<br /><br />But, there's a lot of time between now and the General<br />Election. Harry Reid has amassed $9 million of the<br />estimated $25 million he will need for the general<br />election, and he has made it clear to Democratic<br />audiences that he will "vaporize" any opponent<br />with a tidal wave of attack ads. And Sharron Angle<br />has just enough "libertarian" baggage (abolish<br />Social Security, The Fed, The IRS), to provide some<br />grist for Reid's mill.<br /><br />But to many Nevadans, that may not matter. In<br />their eyes, Harry Reid has gone from Representing<br />Nevada in Washington to Representing Washington<br />in Nevada.<br /><br />And when it comes to things like the economy,<br />joblessness, and foreclosures, Reid isn't just useless -<br />he's rapidly becoming irrelevant, along with the vast<br />majority of incumbents of <span style="font-style: italic;">both parties</span>.<br /><br />It's not news that we badly need change in Washington;<br />and I am now convinced beyond a doubt that re-electing<br />incumbents is not the way to get it. With only a few<br />exceptions, I am recommending that whenever you<br />encounter an incumbent on a ballot for any national,<br />state or local office <span style="font-style: italic;">You Vote For The Other Guy</span>.<br /><br />When things get this bad, some new faces couldn't<br />possibly do any worse.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-71781994656166800702010-05-30T11:22:00.000-07:002010-05-30T13:24:44.118-07:00Chris Christie and Oscar Goodman: Holding the Line Against The Parasites<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />(h/t) <span style="font-style: italic;">Mish's Global Economic Analysis</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Las Vegas Review-Journal</span>)<br /><br />Just like my fellow blogger Mish, every time I see New<br />Jersey Gov. Chris Christie take on New Jersey's<br />parasitic teacher and public employee unions, I<br />want to stand up and salute.<br /><br />As "The Great Recession" drags on into its twentieth<br />month, with continuing private sector job losses,<br />it's time to tell the truth about Unionized Public Sector<br />Employees - the third group of villains of this piece, along<br />with the banksters and their corrupt enablers in the<br />Congress.<br /><br />In a time when private sector employees have been<br />battered by layoffs, outsourcing, job exportation, and<br />the "in-sourcing" of illegal immigrant labor, the unionized<br />public sector has only one answer - <span style="font-style: italic;">More</span>.<br /><br />More pay. More benefits. A more lavish retirement program.<br /><br />There's only one problem. An eviscerated and<br />impoverished private sector, which pays the taxes that<br />fund all this generosity, has literally no more to give.<br /><br />And unlike most elected leaders, Gov. Christie understands<br />this. That's why he's campaigning all across the state not<br />only for givebacks in wages and benefit contributions, but<br />also for caps on property and income taxes to prevent<br />further grabs by the greed-inspired public sector.<br /><br />Here's Gov. Christie laying it on the line for everyone:<br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aw0aBkt8CPA&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aw0aBkt8CPA&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />And in the question-and-answer session that followed a loutish,<br />overweight, overpaid parasite of a teacher has the gall to<br />complain:<br /><br />Here's a partial transcript:<br /><br />Overpaid, overweight loutish teacher: " You are not compensating<br />me for my education and experience". (Note: this parasitic lout<br />is paid $ 86,389 a year plus $20,000 a year in medical benefits<br />and $20,000 a year in retirement benefits).<br /><br />Gov. Christie: "Well, you know what, you don't have to do it."<br />(Huge Applause).<br /><br />Lout: " Teachers do it because they love it"<br /><br />Gov. Christie: " Teachers go into it knowing what the pay scale is"<br />(More Applause).<br /><br />And out west, here in Las Vegas, we are facing the same problem.<br /><br />Next to Michigan, Nevada is Ground Zero not only for foreclosures<br />but for skyrocketing unemployment as well.<br /><br />Nevada's overall unemployment rate is 13.7% - second highest<br />in the nation. And in Clark County (Las Vegas), the<br />unemployment rate is a Detroit-like 14.1%.<br /><br />And Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, normally<br />an ebullient salesman for all things Las Vegas with an<br />ever-present martini in hand and a showgirl on his<br />arm, has been turned stone-cold sober by the economic<br />facts of life.<br /><br />He has proposed the following to the Las Vegas<br />City Employees Association (the union representing<br />all non-uniformed city employees):<br /><br />1) An 8% pay cut in all classifications, through a<br />giveback of the last two cost-of-living increases;<br /><br />2) A freeze at this reduced pay level;<br /><br />3) Suspension of all step increases, longevity pay,<br /> and further cost-of-living increases;<br /><br />4) Furloughs and a four-day work week;<br /><br />5) A split between the city and the employee<br />of PERS (Public Employee Retirement System)<br />increases;<br /><br />6) Abolition of right-of-restoration from layoff<br />lists and an allocation method for placing re-hired<br />employees at lower wages and job classifications;<br /><br />7) An increase in the employee share of health<br />benefit costs and a reduction in the city contribution.<br /><br />When you consider that the average non-uniformed<br />city employee makes from 25-30% more than his<br />private-sector counterpart and the city is facing a<br />$40 million budget deficit in the fiscal year beginning<br />July 1, Mayor Goodman has no choice.<br /><br />Employee wages and benefits make up an astounding<br />80% of the city budget - it's the only place that can be cut.<br /><br />The alternative - drastic permanent layoffs. And if you're<br /> a laid-off city employee, I wouldn't want to be you trying<br />to get a private-sector job, trying to convince a skeptical<br />private employer how "efficient" you were in your last<br />position.<br /><br />The image of the fat, lazy, overpaid and inefficient<br />government employee isn't just a stereotype - it's<br />an altogether accurate portrayal as anyone who has<br />ever had to deal with government at any level<br />can attest.<br /><br />The private sector has already "restructured" by<br />wage cuts, firing its most highly paid and experienced<br />employees, placing its few new hires on drastically<br />lower wage and benefit scales, outsourcing and exporting<br />jobs to the Third World, and in certain industries hiring<br />illegal aliens "under the table" wherever possible.<br /><br />The government has no choice but to follow suit -<br />because the private sector 's changes have left<br />nothing more to tax to feed an over-entitled public<br />sector.<br /><br />There's nothing left to share but the poverty. And<br />the sooner public employees are subjected to the<br />same sort of wage and benefit competition that<br />happens every day in the private sector, the better<br />off we'll all be.<br /><br />So Governor Christie and Mayor Goodman, here's a toast<br />to you.<br /><br />I'd raise my martini glass, but as gin and vermouth<br />are "off-budget" for me for the foreseeable future,<br />a glass of ice water will have to do.<br /><br />Cheers.<br /><br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-11575075980573488432010-05-29T12:24:00.000-07:002010-05-29T14:45:30.163-07:00Deep Horizon, BP and The Gulf: The Oil Industry's Three Mile Island<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />It's been forty days now.<br /><br />That's how long it's taken BP (British Petroleum) to try<br />to cap the runaway oil spill at its Deepwater Horizon site<br />in the Gulf of Mexico.<br /><br />Ever since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded<br />and sank on April 16, the responses of BP to try to<br />contain the spill have ranged from the ludicrous to<br />the bizarre, reinforcing liberal belief in oil industry<br />venality and incompetence.<br /><br />In point of fact, however, when it comes to<br />"incompetence" in dealing with the situation, the response<br />of BP is nothing compared to that of the government.<br />Be that as it may, there's plenty of blame for this mess<br />for all concerned.<br /><br />To begin with, when it comes to deepwater drilling<br />competence, BP is not an industry leader. Rather, they<br />have a reputation in the Gulf and elsewhere for being<br />notorious cost-cutters and short-cut takers, especially<br />when it comes to environmental protection and safety<br />precautions.<br /><br />In fact, when current BP CEO Tony Hayward (a former<br />investment banker), took over last year, he said that<br />BP's principal problem was that it had "too many people<br />trying to save the world" and not enough people focused<br />on improving BP's depressed stock price.<br /><br />Given that sort of mindset at the top, it made a disaster<br />like Deepwater Horizon all but inevitable. Ironically,<br />the very depth and complexity of the Deepwater site<br />actually helped mitigate the disaster - had this event<br />happened in shallow water, the spill could have been<br />many times worse.<br /><br />As matters now stand, we're waiting for "Top Kill" -<br />the latest in a series of seriocomic "fixes" attempted<br />by BP to cap the leak. But, laughable as BP's attempts<br />to fix the problem may have been, they have managed<br />to be outdone in clownishness only by the government.<br /><br />Under the direction of renowned geologist and energy<br />expert Rahm Emanuel, the government did its usual best<br />not to let the crisis go to waste. In a speech to a Democratic<br />fund-raiser, President Obama announced an immediate halt<br />to all further offshore oil exploration, pending "stringent<br />environmental reviews" expected to last at least until 2014.<br />According to Emanuel, this to put the problem<br />"past the next two election cycles."<br /><br />And, then, when Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal wanted<br />to use his emergency powers to build dikes and sand berms<br />to protect endangered wetlands and marshes, Obama told<br />him no - no until a detailed "environmental review".<br />Results - the oil washed up on the marshes anyway,<br />destroying livelihoods along with an admittedly fragile<br />ecosystem, and the whole affair degenerated into that<br />favorite political sport- "the blame game" - with BP and<br />the Feds pointing fingers at each other with the people<br />of Louisiana caught in the middle, as usual.<br /><br />And Congress, busy as always in selling itself out to<br />special interests for election funds, ran for cover and has<br />been nowhere to be seen during this whole debacle.<br />Even Obama, once the obligatory anti-oil-industry<br />speeches had been made, tried to distance himself<br />from the whole matter, only venturing down to<br />Louisiana Friday for a carefully scripted two-hour<br />"photo op", with press and public access carefully<br />minimized.<br /><br />And how will this thing likely turn out? In my<br />opinion, four things will happen. First, I do<br />think BP and the rest of the industry will get the<br />leak stopped. The rest of the Gulf oil industry has<br />contributed men, materials and money to the effort,<br />in a not-so-surprising effort to defend their own self<br />interests. Second, this will wind up doing to the US<br />offshore drilling industry what Three Mile Island did<br />for US nuclear power. Only in this case, the industry will<br />just pick up and move to wherever Brazil, China, India<br />or Russia can use their expertise for difficult drilling<br />projects. Thus, while the BRIC countries move toward<br />energy independence, the U.S. will move to ever-greater<br />oil dependence on such friends as Venezuela,<br />Russia, and Saudi Arabia. Third, while "emerging<br />nations" move forward with "energy independence",<br />the U.S. will succeed in hamstringing all its energy<br />projects (not just oil) with ever-greater burdens of<br />bureaucracy and red tape. And finally, will BP<br />ever be made to pay for cleaning up the mess?<br />Don't count on it. Liability will be litigated forever;<br />and ultimately, the taxpayer will foot the bill<br />without recompense.<br /><br />And why not? The one area where the U.S. excels is<br />in creating ever-greater levels of government waste,<br />mismanagement, and bureaucracy as the preferred<br />solution for any problem. Does the "government"<br />solution for healthcare, financial reform, or chronic<br />unemployment give you confidence that they can solve<br />this one?<br /><br />I didn't think so.<br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-31307637650808747302010-05-24T10:34:00.001-07:002010-05-25T00:52:31.115-07:00The Class of 2010: Deep Trouble And No Way Out<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> (h/t <span style="font-style: italic;">Mish's Global Economic Analysis</span>)<br /><br />It's not easy being a new college graduate these days.<br /><br />Just as most graduates of the Class of 2009 are resigning<br />themselves to more-or-less permanent unemployment<br />or underemployment, along comes another cohort of<br />new graduates to add to the competition.<br /><br />According to the Wall Street Journal, these graduates:<br /><br />"Will enter a labor force that <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>neither wants nor needs them.<br />They will enter an economy where roughly 17% of people<br /> aged 20-24 do not have a job, and where two million college<br /> graduates are unemployed. They will enter a world where<br /> they will compete tooth and nail for jobs as waitresses,<br /> pizza delivery men, file clerks, bouncers, trainee busboys,<br /> assistant baristas, interns at bodegas."<br /><br />You can read the original article <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704250104575238692439240552.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_4">here. </a><br /><br />Oh well, you might say. It's just what you'd expect of<br />sheltered, middle-and upper-class kids who went to<br />an expensive private college or Ivy League school,<br />who graduate with a "useless" Liberal Arts degree.<br /><br />But, it's the kids with <span style="font-style: italic;">useful</span> degrees (Science, Technology,<br />Engineering, Mathematics, Business and Finance) who<br />may be having the toughest time of all.<br /><br />As my colleague Mish tells it:<br /><br />"Ten months after graduating from Ohio State University<br />with a degree in civil engineering and three internships,<br />Matt Grant finally has a job - as a banquet waiter at a<br />Clarion Inn near Akron, Ohio.<br /><br />" "It's discouraging right now" says, the 24-year-old,<br />who sent out nearly 100 applications for engineering<br />positions. "it's getting closer to the Class of 2010, their<br />graduation date. I'm starting to worry more".<br /><br />And worry he should. Colleges from Harvard University<br />to Ohio State and everywhere in between are sending<br />almost two million young men and women a year into an<br />economy with almost 9.9% unemployment, up from<br />9.7% a few months ago.<br /><br />And the problems don't end there. While the economy<br />is slowly "recovering", it has yet to create any meaningful<br />gains in employment. And, according to experts, this means<br />that those unfortunate enough to graduate in this recession<br />are likely blighted for life, as successive cohorts of graduates<br />compete with each other in an economy that is producing<br />progressively fewer and fewer entry-level jobs each year.<br /><br />And then there's another problem. And that has to do with<br />the clash of values and perceptions between the new graduates<br />and those who would employ them.<br /><br />For starters, let's take a look at the "typical" employing<br />manager at a company likely to have "professional<br />entry-level" openings. First of all, he's likely older - in<br />his 40's to his middle 50's. He doesn't "Facebook" or<br />"Twitter". If he "texts" at all, it's on one of those oversize<br />smartphones with a mini-keyboard. If he has a degree,<br />it probably took him more than four years to get it -<br />and his graduate degree (if he has one), is from night school.<br /><br />The one thing he doesn't have is a sense of entitlement -<br />because when he graduated, between 1977 and 1982, the<br />economy from an employment standpoint was even<br />worse than it is today.<br /><br />He bitterly remembers coming out of college in the<br />days of Jimmy Carter, with 10% unemployment,<br />18% inflation, and 21% interest rates. It probably<br />took him three to five years of trying before he<br />finally landed the professional-level career<br />position that gave him his start.<br /><br />And now he's sitting across the table from<br />Mr. or Ms. Entitled College Graduate, wondering<br />just how he could be wasting his time talking<br />to this inhabitant of another planet, who has<br />nothing but expectations and no relevant<br />skills or experience to offer his organization,<br />regardless of the degree.<br /><br />And, as he considers your application, he's<br />thinking of how his own college-graduate son's job<br />was outsourced to India and how his younger<br />kids can't find part-time jobs, having to compete<br />against adult illegal immigrants.<br /><br />And then he remembers how it was "the college kids"<br />as much as anyone else that brought us The<br />Great Kenyan as President and the plethora of<br />job-destroying laws and regulations spewing forth<br />from Congress. And he knows all too well that The<br />Kenyan and his Congressional minions, while destroying<br />the real economy of Main Street, have given a free pass<br />to Wall Street and the large multinational corporations<br />who caused the current economic mess.<br /><br />And, finally, he remembers the "informal" conversation<br />he had with his boss, hinting that the few positions they<br />might create this year should go to <span style="font-style: italic;">his</span> family friends and<br />relatives, provided they have the right skills and<br />experience.<br /><br />Translation: That means no job for you.<br /><br />But, here's what you can do in the meantime. Take any job<br />you can find. Move back home if you have to. Keep applying<br />for jobs, even if you don't expect a reply right away. Try to<br />develop a new skill unrelated to what you studied in college;<br />it just might land you that job. And get politically active.<br /><br />No, I don't mean join the Democrat or Republican parties.<br />The Democrats are socialists in sheep's clothing - and if<br />you'd like to see where their policies lead, just look at<br />Europe - street battles between the masses of private-sector<br />unemployed and "protected classes" of government employees,<br />and both of them fighting weak, feckless governments<br />that can deliver neither a social safety net nor social order.<br /><br />And the Republicans are just as bad - hiding behind the<br />mantra of "free enterprise" and "property rights", they<br />conspired with Wall Street and the great Corporations<br />to outsource our production base and destroy the<br />real economy. In its place, they created a Ponzi Scheme<br />of Debt and Entitlements that we cannot afford and will<br />never be able to repay.<br /><br />Outsourcing, job exportation, unchecked illegal<br />immigration, skyrocketing debt and a destroyed<br />real economy didn't just happen - they were deliberately<br />created by a Congress utterly and completely in hock<br />to the banksters, oligarchs and kleptocrats who profited<br />from them.<br /><br />So, when you come home at the end of the day, after<br />another fruitless day of job hunting or doing your<br />shift at Starbucks or McDonalds, consider your<br />political options. Don't be afraid to go extreme -<br />at this point, you have nothing to lose.<br /><br />If you are a "liberal" - that is, if you have "progressive"<br />views on the environment, race relations, class<br />and gender equity and so forth, you need to take<br />a good hard look at how those views impact you and<br />your future. If you look hard, you'll see that future<br />playing out in Europe right now - with street battles,<br />skyrocketing unemployment, and weak, indecisive<br />governments too bound up by "Political Correctness"<br />to take the bold, draconian, even undemocratic measures<br />necessary to restore order and a reasonable prosperity.<br /><br />I'm not talking Hitler here - but a De Gaulle, a Franco, an<br />Adenauer or a Churchill would not shrink in an instant<br />from imposing whatever drastic measures might be needed.<br /><br />And if you don't know who those gentlemen were, then<br />your education was seriously deficient.<br /><br />And if you are by some chance a conservative, then you<br />need to abandon the Republican Party right now, as it<br />has become nothing more than a club of craven apologists<br />for Wall Street, the outsourcers, the unfree and unfair<br />traders, and large-corporation America, none of whom have<br />a place for you in their scheme of things.<br /><br />And if the Tea Party isn't exactly your cup of tea (although<br />Tea is gaining more and more fans with each passing day),<br />you still have the ultimate weapon in your hands -The Vote.<br /><br />And all you need to remember is one thing - the fate an<br />incumbent fears most is being turned out of office at<br />the next election. So just remember - this November,<br />if your Senator or Representative voted for the<br />bailouts, voted for the mess that is "healthcare reform",<br />voted against financial reform - indeed, if he voted for<br />anything that benefits the "big boys" rather than you,<br />your job is simple - regardless of party or ideology,<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">You Vote For The Other Guy</span>.<br /><br />It's that simple. Really. And if enough of us put enough<br />"other guys" (and gals) in office this fall, we just might<br />get change we can believe in - for a change.<br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7405620239163912537.post-14067364594655795722010-05-16T20:22:00.000-07:002010-05-17T09:06:41.650-07:00Immigration - We're All Arizonans Now<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Wow.<br /><br />The last post on Immigration brought me more<br />e-mails and comments than almost anything else<br />I've written.<br /><br />Obviously, the failure of the present Administration<br />to both secure the border and deal with the estimated<br />twelve to twenty million illegal immigrants presently<br />in the country has touched a raw nerve in this country.<br /><br />And what are we doing about it?<br /><br />With the brilliant exception of Arizona, we've decided<br />to do nothing, except turn a blind eye to the wholesale<br />violation of the border and murmur kind words about<br />the necessity of treating those already here illegally<br />"humanely".<br /><br />Translation: The elites have decided. It is best to maintain<br />"open borders" - so we have the "right" sort of labor force,<br />and of course, since we can't deport ten to twenty million<br />people who have broken our laws, the only thing we can do<br />rationally is forgive them ... declare amnesty.<br /><br />Here's <span style="font-style: italic;">faux-conservative</span> Charles Krauthammer on the<br />subject:<br /><br /><object style="height: 344px; width: 425px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cFmYT0zzLAM"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cFmYT0zzLAM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">And why Arizona? It's Ground Zero for the "Silent Invasion" ;<br />the uncontrolled flow of illegals into this country.<br /><br />See the video below:<br /><br /><object style="height: 344px; width: 425px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ODERBqMlMd4"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ODERBqMlMd4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Illegal immigration is no longer a minor "labor" problem.<br />Add in the drug-fueled all-out insurgency now happening<br />in Mexico and the steady stream of migrants could become<br />an unstoppable human wave.<br /><br />This isn't a "civil rights" issue, as some apologists<br />for illegal immigration want us to believe. Rather, this<br />is an <span style="font-style: italic;">existential threat </span>to the territorial integrity of<br />the United States, and needs to be treated as such.<br /><br />To cure the problem. we have to deal with two threats:<br />first, the migrant flow at the border, and second, the<br />"fifth column" of activists and apologists for illegals<br />in the media, in Congress, in academia, and yes,<br />in the business community.<br /><br />If illegal immigration is brought under control, there<br />will be both winners and losers. The losers will include<br />the Democrat party, who will lose the electoral<br />advantage of another bloc-voting minority group.<br />The losers will include those sectors of the business<br />community, most notably agriculture, residential<br />construction, and hospitality, who have become<br />immigrant-dependent. And the losers will also include<br />the proponents of "racial identity politics", who have<br />become extremely powerful in the media, in Congress,<br />and in academia.<br /><br />But the winners will include the Republican party<br />and the "Silent Majority" of Americans who pay the taxes<br />and foot the bill for the continuing failure at the border.<br />And if recent events are any indication, the "Silent Majority"<br />is remaining silent no longer.<br /><br />Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's support has increased since<br />she signed the immigration law. And former Rep. J.D.<br />Hayworth, challenging incumbent amnesty-supporter<br />Sen. John McCain in the Arizona Republican primary,<br />has seen his poll numbers jump since the bill was signed.<br />And Sarah Palin has found both her voice and her footing<br />with her calls for a secure border and no amnesty, drawing<br />huge crowds in a joint appearance with Gov. Brewer.<br /><br />On immigration, as on health care, financial reform, taxes,<br />and spending, institutional Washington and its apologists<br />in the media just don't seem to get it.<br /><br />But, in November, when it appears likely that many of<br />them will be swept from office, our governing classes<br />just might start paying attention.<br /><br /></span></span></span>The Thinking Nationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15501475482005858108noreply@blogger.com1