Conservative Donnybrook

Why in Heaven’s name do politicians and military personnel give out information on the United States’ war strategies?  Hell, I knew when and where additional troops (the “surge”) would hit the ground in Iraq.  If I did, the enemy sure did and they used it to their advantage by moving locations, laying low and stashing weaponry. 

The President today refused to comment on troop reductions.  Nancy Pelosi did however comment saying ”The president’s Iraq policy will result in the same number of troops committed to an endless war in Iraq at the end of this year as were there at the end of 2006.”  This statement makes it seem as if all of the “surge” troops will be withdrawn by year’s end.  WHAT THE F#@K?!  Is Nancy trying to win this war and keep the enemy off balance or are is she more interested gaining political points from stalwart anti-war supporters regardless of tipping off the enemy to our strategies?  This constant running of the lips is not limited to democrats and republicans, generals and other  commanding officers have open their mouths too.  This is a lot like yelling to your friend with a bullhorn while hiding in a game of kick the can. 

Remember, loose lips sink ships.  So, shut up already!   

You want to know why Romney lost Florida? Because at a campaign stop at KFC, he pulled the skin off his chicken and ate it with a knife and fork. Unbelievable!

But seriously, the point of these stupid photo-ops is to show that you’re just a regular guy, right? If you’re going to KFC to act like the queen of England, why bother?

Say what you will about McCain, but he is a man who sticks to his principles, come what may. For example, the principle that 12 million illegals should be given amnesty and allowed to continue working in the United States.

But hasn’t he changed his stripes of late?  Mickey Kaus:

 … it’s obvious to anyone paying attention that McCain hasn’t altered his support for legalization of illegals (once he’s declared the border “secure”). One reason we know this is because he’s said it–he said it again on Meet the Press yesterday, when asked if he’d sign the McCain-Kennedy “comprehensive” immigration bill as president if it came to his desk. Answer: “Yeah.”  …

What about McCain’s statement that: “I will not allow anyone to receive Social Security or any other benefits because they have come here illegally and broken our laws”?–ed Obvious BS. If he offers legalization to the “12 million” who are here they will clearly get benefits from having come here illegally–the benefit of being here legally, for one. Medicaid, Medicare, and public schooling for another. People who came here illegally would also immediately qualify for Social Security benefits as soon as they got the quickie “probationary” Z-visa under McCain’s bill.

You wouldn’t know it judging from the crookedness of all his “straight talk” on immigration.  But for some real straight talk, see McCain’s hispanic outreach guy’s comments on the Mexican-American community (again, h/t Kaus):

Mr. HERNANDEZ: We are betting on that the Mexican-American population in the United States will … think ‘Mexico first,’ and they will invest in Mexico. They’ve already been doing it–in–in–in–to a great extent.

AMOS: But that’s family to family?

Mr. HERNANDEZ: Family to family. But now I want the third generation, the seventh generation, I want them all to think ‘Mexico first.’

Is this guy suggesting that millions of unassimilated foreigners staying largely within their own homogeneous ethnic group might have something less than total loyalty to the United States? What is he, some kind of racist?

I (personally, not Conservative Donnybrook, as I am only a cog in the wheel) have previously endorsed the Fair Tax. Unfortunately, in attempting to keep things simple, the examples I used were inaccurate. Therefore, I shall try again, but keep in mind that this will necessarily be more complicated than the previous attempt.

Let me begin by reintroducing the players. We have Bob. Bob is the sort of guy who always wants to be first on his block to get the latest toy. And then we have Margaret. Margaret has no such compulsion and buys used goods all the time. Bob and Margaret both earn $74,000 a year in wages. They each rent a nice apartment in the same complex in Las Vegas (Clark County sales tax = 7.25%). Bob and Margaret are both healthy, stingy (they make no charitable contributions), and neither runs a business – in short, they do not have any deductions other than the standard deduction. They are both single. (We are trying to keep this as simple as possible, while still maintaining some semblance of realism.) And, just for the ease of doing the math, let us suppose they each get paid annually (one pay check per year). Let us follow them down to the car lot where they will each be purchasing a car. Of course, in order to really do this right, we have to follow them down to the car lot twice. Once prior to any changes in the tax system, and once again after the Fair Tax is adopted. Continue Reading »

I sort of understand how this talk show host feels. Here is a classic phone call from what I have come to believe is the typical Ron Paul supporter. (h/t Fumare).

Patrick Deneen on the upcoming free money checks from Uncle Sam:

… Each working American will therefore receive a check ranging from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars that will be money that we borrow from our foreign creditors. The very reason that the economy is tanking is due to bad borrowing and lending practices. Accordingly, we propose to stimulate the economy with a big vibrator made out of more debt, in addition to cheaper money courtesy of the Fed. If the hole you dug seems to be getting darker, then the logical thing is to look for light by digging deeper. This is going to be one messy climax.

He continues:

I hope these past few days will be recalled the next time we hear our conservatives singing the mantra of “the free market.” The market should be free and unfettered, … unless that market is in danger of failing to produce growth. The moment the markets begin to teeter into “bear” territory, it’s our Wall Street gurus who gnash teeth and pull on hair demanding that the Fed lower rates and the politicians print money.  That we are now subsidizing profligacy and fraud, and allowing its practitioners to escape any unpleasantness associated with their bad behavior, is a sign that it’s not the free market that they defend, but growth at any price.

All right, Deneen. The United States is headed towards fiscal ruin and deep recession. But on the other hand, the more inflation, the easier it is to pay off my student loans. Silver linings, people!

ISI has an excellent new online journal out called First Principles. It’s long overdue! Hopefully this is a first step in the direction of their placing more content from their various printed journals online.

Disillusioned voters, you have found your candidate.

Apple just posted another quarter of stellar results and Macintosh sales continue to accelerate.

Macs, of course, lately enjoy a reputation (along with the iPod and iPhone) as the hot accessory of choice for young, self-satisfied urban hipsters–this is typified by Apple’s “I’m a PC”–”and I’m a Mac” ads, which are probably more honest advertising than Apple intends: the Mac guy is so smug you want to punch him in the mouth, just like in real life. (Counterexample: Me. I confess to owning a Mac, but am decidedly un-hip and, hopefully, un-smug.) The PC guy, meanwhile, is played by the likeable everyman-humorist John Hodgman, who is awesome.

Where was I? Oh yes, Macs selling like hotcakes. But it wasn’t long ago, you’ll remember, that everyone had given up on the Mac, Apple was posting massive losses, and application developers were abandoning the platform in droves. Continue Reading »

When I was a senior in college I attended a program in Washington, D.C. where I took courses in American government and worked on Capitol Hill. Classes were conducted as free flowing debates among the twenty or so students in the program. As can be expected of college students, I was part of the minority of five or six students who formed the conservative cadre. I took pride in being conservative and worked my best to further conservative causes. It was during this time that I started reading The Weekly Standard. At the time Fox News was relatively new and seeing Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes on national TV blew my mind. Compared to CNN and other network news they were William F. Buckley in my mind. They became the symbols conservatism that I could stick in the face of the liberals I went to school with and lived around me.

As time went on I continued to read The Weekly Standard and even tended to agree with many articles that they published. I read it through law school and even got into frequent spirited arguments with Karl, over a pint or two, regarding the merits of the magazine and it’s editors. Looking back I suppose that most of the articles I read and agreed with dealt with foreign policy. I still agree with most of the foreign policy that the magazine proposes but I have completely turned on the rest of the magazine and her publishers. Karl, you were right, I was wrong. I have lost my stomach for the publication, Fred Barnes and Bill Kristol after reading this article.

Continue Reading »

Fred Thompson withdrew from the presidential race today.  God help us all.

Inmates are suing the Missouri Department of Correction, seeking the disclosure of the members of execution teams. It seems that some prior executions were conducted with members of the execution team having been accused of stalking or, in another case, on probation.

Are death row inmates afraid that they will be stalked after their deaths? This seems to be a lot of hoo-ha over a non-issue. What possible difference could it make to death row inmates who is going to push the plunger?

The complaint raises the issue of “temperament and suitability.” All that really seems to matter is competence. It would be bad if a doctor were to measure out the wrong dose and botch an execution. However, the fact that a nurse in the room once stalked an ex after a bad breakup matters not at all as it has nothing to do with his competence to swab the incision site.

I’ve been reading a fantastic book by science writer Gary Taubes called Good Calories, Bad Calories. I intend to write up a review and have it posted here in the next week or two. But I have also just come across this NYMag article by Taubes from back in September entitled “The Scientist and the Stairmaster: Why most of us believe that exercise makes us thinner—and why we’re wrong.” The article covers a little bit of the ground he goes over in the book as well. Highly recommended!

Perhaps because of my distaste for John McCain and media storylines, this is what I like to see: someone throwing cold water on the McCain hype, bucking the emerging conventional wisdom of McCain-as-frontrunner. The Corner’s Michael Graham:

In 2000, running against George W. Bush and the entire Carroll Campbell machine in South Carolina, John McCain got 42% of the vote, and 240,000 votes out of 573,000 or so cast.

Tonight, he got 33% of the vote in a field where his top challengers—Romney and Giuliani—aren’t even running [aren't you forgetting someone?], and 135,000 actual votes. If just the same people who voted for McCain in 2000 had voted for him today, he would have won 50+% of the South Carolina vote. That would have been truly impressive.

Instead, John McCain LOST the support of 100,000 people—and he’s the winner?

Unfortunately, this analysis isn’t all that convincing. I mean, I don’t get it–SC 2000 was basically a two-way race, and this year he won in a field with a guy who does very well among evangelicals, and a strong establishment type in Romney. I don’t see the decline in absolute votes as a glaring sign of weakness. Graham continues: Continue Reading »

Walter Williams has an alarming story concerning a proposed energy amendment in California. Apparently there is a proposal whereby any newly installed thermostat will be required to have the capability of being remotely controlled by the government. Why in the world would anyone want that? Well, to control energy usage. Let’s get California greener.

The California Energy Commission has recently proposed amendments to its standards for energy efficiency (www.energy.ca.gov/2007publications/CEC-400-2007-017/CEC-400-2007-017-45DAY.PDF). These standards include a requirement that any new or modified heating or air conditioning system must include a programmable communicating thermostat (PCT) whose settings can be remotely controlled by government authorities. A thermostat czar, sitting in Sacramento, would be empowered to remotely reduce the heating or cooling of your house during what he deems as an “emergency event.”

Say you disagree with the czar’s temperature setting for your house, the California Energy Commission is one step ahead of you with the provision: “The PCT shall not allow customer changes to thermostat settings during emergency events.” In other words, the thermostat must be configured in a way that doesn’t allow the customer to override the czar’s decision.

The offending provision is on pages 63-64.

In a completely unrelated, but somehow pertinent, article. Michelle Malkin expresses her desire for a man. A man who rejects Big Nanny government. It would seem that Walter joins you in such a desire. Although, he would (as we would) probably find a different way to express it.

For all the Huck-haters out there, you might consider sending in a donation. To Fred Thompson.

In South Carolina, it would appear that Thompson competed well in exactly the counties where Huckabee needed to do well – the northern, heavily evangelical counties. While Huck won those counties, the margins were lowered by Thompson capturing around 20% of the vote there. As result, Huckabee won those counties by a lesser margin than McCain won the more moderate coastal counties. In the end, that spelled victory for McCain.

I would expect the same scenario to play out in Florida with the heavily evangelical, conservative panhandle region splitting its vote between Huck, Romney and Thompson. The wildcard, of course, is that McCain and Giuliani will likely be competing for the more moderate voters in southern Florida. Florida is a winner-take-all state, so a second-place finish does a candidate no good.

The dilution of the conservative vote is an alarming trend which will likely keep McCain’s and possibly Giuliani’s campaigns alive longer than would otherwise be the case. The best case for the more conservative candidates would be for Thompson to realize his effect and bow out of the race.

On the other hand, Huck’s second place finish in South Carolina could mean the end of his campaign as Florida voters migrate to Romney in hopes of fending off a McCain or Giuliani presidency.

With McCain’s big win last night, we should probably all pause for a moment and consider what we have done. Lawrence Auster from View From the Right had this excellent post about a week ago. In it, he links to an interview that Mark Levin conducted with McCain’s former Senate colleague, Rick Santorum.

The bottom line is McCain bleeds (and has bled) Red, White and Blue. But, mostly Blue.

Last night 55 delegates were up for grabs. The big winners? Romney and McCain. McCain picked up 23 and Romney 18 of them. Of the other 14 delegates, Huck secured 7, Paul 4, Thompson 2, and Giuliani 1.

Here’s how it stacks up:

Romney 72
McCain 38
Huckabee 29
Thompson 8
Paul 6
Giuliani 2
Hunter 1

Romney seems to be running a masterful campaign. The “small” states like Wyoming and Nevada have contributed 26 delegates to his otherwise sizable lead. To be sure, some of this is the result of having a war chest that is flush with cash. But, it is also a testament to a sound campaign strategy. Every delegate matters. In the end, it is all that matters. Win enough delegates and you will be the nominee. Period.

Last night, Thompson made a concession speech that sounded remarkably like he was withdrawing his candidacy. He stopped short of doing that. Listening to some of the coverage, I got the real impression that he was running for vice president. . . in McCain’s administration. Over and over in South Carolina, he would address crowds with a speech that sounded like: “My good friend John McCain is wrong about immigration, but that Huckabee guy, he’s Satan personified! Let me tell you how rotten that SOB is.” Of course, that’s highly paraphrased, but it was along those lines. Time will tell, but I can’t help but think that Thompson’s going to put one last effort into winning Florida and if the results are the same, that will be the end for him. And, so far, it looks like the results will be the same if the latest polls are correct. I also can’t help but think that Thompson would be better off saying nice things about Romney, if he wants a chance to veep.

Duncan Hunter has dropped out of the race. We all mourn the loss of the last conservative.

Early on, it looks as though Romney has won handily. Ron Paul appears to have placed second. As it turns out, they were the only two to have campaigned in Nevada. Everyone else focused on South Carolina, who will not complete their voting for a few more hours. Romney’s win means he will most certainly be a factor going forward no matter how he does in South Carolina. Giuliani’s hopes are fading as he was expecting a decent finish in Nevada. Rudy now MUST WIN Florida to keep his hopes alive.

South Carolina will not be resolved for another couple hours…although early on McCain and Huckabee were tied in the latest polls. We will keep you updated.