Conservative Donnybrook

Looking back, I note that I pretty much took March off from posting (five posts all month). I would resolve to do better, but unless I find that I have something to say in April, I’m making no promises. Sometimes it just seems like you have nothing to add. However, as a result of my relative inactivity, I have accumulated a number of miscellaneous thoughts, none of which warrant an entire post.

Dusty Baker

If you are Edison Volquez or Johnny Cueto, are you watching the calendar for the first day you are eligible to demand a trade? With Dusty’s reputation for destroying young guns’ arms, I have to think these guys are counting the days until free agency.

On the same topic, a friend recently sent the following question: “do you think Dusty favors black players?” I had to think about this for a minute. I know that Dusty has a tendency to favor players, usually for inexplicable reasons. (Can anyone give me a justification for the amount of PT Neifi Perez had under Baker?) The list of players that come to mind does nothing to dispell the question: Neifi Perez, Jose Macias, Corey Patterson, etc. Now he is all gigged about the prospect of bringing Sheffield to Cincinnati. Is there anything to this?

The Federal Reserve

The seed for a post has been floating around my head for a few days, but doesn’t seem to be developing into anything worthwhile. The seed is this: Conservatives tend to look askance at the Fed as an unaccountable (sometimes sinister) organization with an inordinate amount of power. Any number of conspiracy theories center on the Fed’s dealings and potential to make mischief. But, what is the alternative? Giving the power to regulate money to Congress? Thinking about that prospect makes my knees weak and causes me to break out in a cold sweat. Can anyone think of any organization that Congress runs well? Hell, it can’t even manage its own cafeterias profitably. Or maybe we should just kill it altogether.

Last weekend Timothy Geithner appeared on Meet the Press and George Stephanopoulos’ shows. Steph asked him if he was worried about inflation. Geithner quickly answered, “That will never happen.” He went on to add that the Federal Reserve would never allow it. That seems to me to be too glib by half. Paul Craig Roberts has a piece (not all of which I agree with) that spells out the peril that we face due to all of Obama’s (and Bush’s before him) spending. I recently finished rereading Milton and Rose Friedman’s Free to Choose, and I have to agree with Roberts that inflation is a looming spectre (although I do not share his prescription for raising tariffs) that is going to be painful to combat. Of course, that pain will occur after Obama is a mere footnote.

On a similar note, I thought George’s interview was much better than David Gregory’s. Boy, do I miss Russert.

Barack Obama and Foreign Policy

Is he really as bad or worse than Bill Clinton was? The Obama administration is now calling for “global oversight” or corporate regulation, so as to end corporate regulatory arbitrage. Does he mean that Brussels bureaucrats should have control (or even just a say) over how “American” corporations are run or how the U.S. government intends to regulate them? Yikes.

And, did Barack Obama really just supplicate to the Saudi king?

Answering my own question

It looks like the answer is that we have not yet hit the bottom. Today, the unemployment numbers jumped again to 8.5%. Do we start printing the “Obama Lied” bumper stickers yet?

Iowa? Really, Iowa?

It appears that the justices in Iowa have legislated gay marriage for Iowans, making them the third state to do so. So much for separation of powers in the Heartland. Coming to a state near you…

North Korea is set to launch what appears to be a ballistic missile.  The launch could happen as early as Saturday.  What is really shocking is not that the DPRK is saber rattling, but that the U.S. is acting like such a weenie on the world stage.

Initially, Admiral Anthony Keating suggested that the U.S. Navy was in a position to shoot down the rogue state’s threat.  “We’ll be prepared to respond,” he said, adding that “the United States has the capability” to destroy any missile.  Then the Obama administration, Via Secretary Gates, said “...we’re not prepared to do anything about it. If we had an aberrant missile, one that looked like it was headed for Hawaii, we might consider it, but I don’t think we have any plans to do anything like that at this point.”

Let me get this straight, if the missile looks like it will hit Hawaii we may do something about it?  This is ludicrous and dangerous.  The DPRK is calling this a communications satellite launch and if it is, we should not shoot it down.  But the very second it looks as if it will land on Earth, we ought to shoot it out of the heavens.  We have pandered to this totalitarian menace for too long.  Its time we used our defenses to demonstrate to Kim Jong-Il that his missile program and his nuclear development are useless.

Instead of ending the threat, Obama will allow the DPRK to advance their technological know-how.  Hell, maybe we should just send them a series of Titans.  Show some backbone Mr. President.