One thing I’ve always believed to a degree; that war is an effective means of rousing national patriotism, which rarely is accompanied by rational, intelligent, consideration…

One reason war is always associated with especially rapid growth of the government’s size, scope, and power is that it focuses people’s attention on what is seen as the most pressing item on the agenda, so they simply don’t notice what the government is doing in other regards. Another reason is that during wartime many people increase their broad support for the government, and hence they are less inclined to challenge its actions even when those actions have little or nothing to do with the war.

Hardly anyone was surprised that real defense spending (as measured in accordance with the government’s own narrow concept) increased by almost 60 percent between 2000 and 2007, while real GDP rose by only 18 percent. Note, however, that the government’s real nondefense outlays increased concurrently by more than 24 percent?an increase one-third greater than that of GDP. When people let down their guard because they “support the troops,” they permit the government to make greater headway in its ceaseless quest to enlarge its spending in a wide range of areas, many of them strictly civilian in nature. (at The Beacon Blog – Independent.org)

Corporation dominance? Military-industrial complex? Thank the liberal cripple whose head is on Mt. Rushmore (Oops. Thanks, Chip.)…

Indeed, the New Deal did not even work in rescuing capitalism, which was Roosevelt’s stated goal; it took the total militarization of the U.S. economy to accomplish that. However, even before entering the war, nearly every New Deal economic recovery and development program enriched already existing corporations, such as Bechtel and Brown and Root, as well as creating new ones. The ground was set for rapid militarization through contracts with these new corporate giants and massive employment through the military draft and wartime production. The military-industrial complex is the essential result of New Deal policies. (at Counterpunch.org)

Barack Obama clearly underlines the impact of his father in his book, Dreams For My Father, and more importantly, the impact of his dad’s socio-political ideals. But what were the ideals the Presidential candidate looked up to?

If there is a mystery at the heart of Barack Obama’s Dreams For My Father, one thing is not left a mystery, the fact that Barack Obama organized his life on the ideals given to him by his Kenyan father. Obama tells us, “All of my life, I carried a single image of my father, one that I .. tried to take as my own.” (p. 220) And what was that image? It was “the father of my dreams, the man in my mother’s stories, full of high-blown ideals ..” (p. 278) What is more, Obama tells us that, “It was into my father’s image .. that I’d packed all the attributes I sought in myself.” And also that, “I did feel that there was something to prove .. to my father” in his efforts at political organizing. (p. 230)

So we know that his father’s ideals were a driving force in his life, but the one thing that Obama does not give us are the contents of those ideals…*snip*

A bit of research at the library reveals the answers about Barack Obama’s father and his father’s convictions which Obama withholds from his readers. *snip*

1. Obama (here and below, the elder – DA) advocated the communal ownership of land and the forced confiscation of privately controlled land, as part of a forced “development plan”, an important element of his attack on the government’s advocacy of private ownership, land titles, and property registration. (p. 29)

2. Obama advocated the nationalization of “European” and “Asian” owned enterprises, including hotels, with the control of these operations handed over to the “indigenous” black population. (pp. 32 -33)

3. Obama advocated dramatically increasing taxation on “the rich” even up to the 100% level, arguing that, “there is no limit to taxation if the benefits derived from public services by society measure up to the cost in taxation which they have to pay” (p. 30) and that, “Theoretically, there is nothing that can stop the government from taxing 100% of income so long as the people get benefits from the government commensurate with their income which is taxed.” (p. 31)

4. Obama contrasts the ill-defined and weak-tea notion of “African Socialism” negatively with the well-defined ideology of “scientific socialism”, i.e. communism. Obama views “African Socialism” pioneers like Nkrumah, Nyerere, and Toure as having diverted only “a little” from the capitalist system. (p. 26)

5. Obama advocates an “active” rather than a “passive” program to achieve a classless society through the removal of economic disparities between black Africans and Asian and Europeans. (p. 28) “While we welcome the idea of a prevention [of class problems], we should try to cure what has slipped in .. we .. need to eliminate power structures that have been built through excessive accumulation so that not only a few individuals shall control a vast magnitude of resources as is the case now .. so long as we maintain free enterprise one cannot deny that some will accumulate more than others .. ” (pp. 29-30)

6. Obama advocates price controls on hotels and the tourist industry, so that the middle class and not only the rich can afford to come to Kenya as tourists. (p. 33)

7. Obama advocates government owned and operated “model farms” as a means of teaching modern farming techniques to farmers. (p. 33)

8. Obama strongly supports the governments assertion of a “non-aligned” status in the contest between Western nations and communist nations aligned with the Soviet Union and China. (p. 26) (at Mises Economics Blog)

• The reality is that housing is not an investment. It’s shelter. That is all housing has ever been. Self-serving organizations like the National Association of Realtors like to tell people that buying a home is a good way to build long-term wealth, but this statement couldn’t be further from the truth. (Rent Vs. Buy Myths That Ruined the Housing Market – via Kottke.org)

  As a renter, it’s nice to hear this considering we’re all continuously led to believe that home ownership is a primary determinant in whether you’re a first-class citizen or not. (Full disclosure – the money I’m saving by renting isn’t exactly going towards true investments, so I’m hardly perfect.)

• Basically, the small plastic ball is called a widget. The purpose of the widget is to release CO2 from some of the beer in the can to create the head. It is meant to mimic the texture and head of Guinness on tap.

  I kinda thought everyone knew this. But the scientific explanation is pretty cool, if you’re into that kind of thing.

• Dr. Congressman Ron Paul’s supporters took “grass roots politics” to its ultimate, ridiculous extreme. They brought fun to politics — even if they didn’t see the humor — and the nation’s “Mainstream Media” will always be thankful for the Paul fanatics.

  Dismiss the fanatics (of which every candidate has) at your leisure, but dismiss the message at your peril. Make sure to read the comments from “June Melton” (4:55, March 8th) and “punkpunkbaby” (6:44, March 9th).

• Here’s one for all my buddies who use iTunes: Download Music from Your Friends’ iTunes Libraries Over the Internet with Mojo.
• Now we’re getting into personal territory when it comes to the dollar’s falling value (here’s a hint, guys: STOP BORROWING FROM THE FED AND STOP PRINTING MORE MONEY): This better not screw up my next visit to Amsterdam, because I’m going back to Amsterdam. They have beautiful canals.

I leave you with The Long Johns and a perfect, hilarious explanation of the subprime mortgage crisis…

He’s not perfect, but at least he’s neither a Giant Douche nor a Turd Sandwich*.

* Nor is he Hillary Clinton, who’s a Giant Turdy Douche Sandwich.

Paul 36
Embryonic Stem Cells, Kyoto, Guns – Background Checks

Gravel 25
Abortion Rights, Border Fence, Universal Healthcare

Kucinich 20
Abortion Rights, No Child Left Behind, ANWR Drilling, Assault Weapons Ban, Border Fence, Net Neutrality, Minimum Wage Increase, Universal Healthcare

Obama 11
Abortion Rights, ANWR Drilling, Assault Weapons Ban, Patriot Act, Net Neutrality, Iran Sanctions, Minimum Wage Increase, Universal Healthcare

Biden 9
Abortion Rights, Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, ANWR Drilling, Assault Weapons Ban, Patriot Act, Net Neutrality, Iran Sanctions, Minimum Wage Increase

Dodd 9
Abortion Rights, Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, ANWR Drilling, Assault Weapons Ban, Patriot Act, Net Neutrality, Iran Sanctions, Iran – Military Action, Minimum Wage Increase

Clinton 8
Abortion Rights, Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, ANWR Drilling, Assault Weapons Ban, Patriot Act, Net Neutrality, Iran Sanctions, Iran – Military Action, Minimum Wage Increase, Universal Healthcare

Brownback 5
No Child Left Behind, Embryonic Stem Cells, Kyoto, Guns – Background Checks, Patriot Act, Guantanamo, Iraq War

Edwards 5
Abortion Rights, Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, ANWR Drilling, Assault Weapons Ban, Patriot Act, Net Neutrality, Iran Sanctions, Iran – Military Action, Minimum Wage Increase, Universal Healthcare

Richardson 4
Abortion Rights, Death Penalty, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Net Neutrality, Iran Sanctions, Iran – Military Action, Minimum Wage Increase, Universal Healthcare

Thompson -1
Cox -4
Tancredo -10
McCain -12
Huckabee -22
Giuliani -24
Hunter -25
Romney -27

Many liberals have taken near-orgasmic joy over watching the President’s approval rating fall. And fall. And fall. That joy has been proportionately measured and corrolates with the ridiculous, over-the-top preening and crowing heard by the Left since the Democrats took control of Congress. Those preening and crowing must, by simple mathematics, reside in a very small minority of liberals, considering this:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Most U.S. voters think the country is on the wrong track and remain deeply unhappy with President George W. Bush and Congress, but still feel good about their finances and optimistic about the future, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

Eighteen months before Bush leaves the White House, nearly two-thirds of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction and give the president negative marks for his job performance.

An even bigger majority, 83 percent, say the Democratic-controlled Congress is doing only a fair or poor job — the worst mark for Congress in a Zogby poll. - Emphasis mine.

My question, then, is this: Where is all the condemnation, indignation, name-calling, etc. for the members of Congress from the outspoken Left?

My only guess is a feeling akin to getting stood up at prom. Liberals voted in droves to turn Congressional control back to the Democrats, and now feel embarrassed or maybe shameful for having done so. I just wish they’d be as vocal about it as they are about the President.

Somehow I doubt it.

In all honesty I usually just post when I 1) find something on the web of interest, 2) go somewhere, do something, and take pictures of the place and the doing, or 3) the rare occasion arises whereby something happens in my life that for one reason or another I think is a good idea to share with everyone. And little of any of those things have taken place lately.

I’m also spending an inordinate amount of time either at the driving range or watching The Golf Channel, so much so that my dreams of scantilly clad Brazilian models and Eastern European tennis players are being replaced with slow-motion shots of Dave Pelz hitting a lob wedge off a downhill, hardpan lie over water onto a severely sloping green and then criticizing me for not being able to grasp the utter simplicity of the execution.

Anyway, I did actually run into an interesting review on Michael Moore’s new film “Sicko” and while the criticisms are unsurprising for a film that undoubtedly will prove divisive…

Unfortunately, Moore is also a con man of a very brazen sort, and never more so than in this film. His cherry-picked facts, manipulative interviews (with lingering close-ups of distraught people breaking down in tears) and blithe assertions (how does he know 18,000* people will die this year because they have no health insurance?) are so stacked that you can feel his whole argument sliding sideways as the picture unspools. The American health-care system is in urgent need of reform, no question. Some 47 million people are uninsured (although many are only temporarily so, being either in-between jobs or young enough not to feel a pressing need to buy health insurance). There are a number of proposals as to what might be done to correct this situation. Moore has no use for any of them, save one.

As a proud socialist, the director appears to feel that there are few problems in life that can’t be solved by government regulation (that would be the same government that’s already given us the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of Motor Vehicles). In the case of health care, though, Americans have never been keen on socialized medicine. In 1993, when one of Moore’s heroes, Hillary Clinton (he actually blurts out the word “sexy!” in describing her in the movie), tried to create a government-controlled health care system, her failed attempt to do so helped deliver the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives into Republican control for the next dozen years. Moore still looks upon Clinton’s plan as a grand idea, one that Americans, being not very bright, unwisely rejected. (He may be having second thoughts about Hillary herself, though: In the movie he heavily emphasizes the fact that, among politicians, she accepts the second-largest amount of political money from the health care industry.)

… I will admit to being more than a little surprised at the author of this one.

Football season starts soon. I am excited. More on that soon.

Unless of course Paula Creamer kidnaps me and makes me her caddie.

Of the eighteen presidential candidates now in the field from both parties, only Mr. Paul has had the courage to square with the average American voter. We are indeed hated and being warred against because we are “over there,” and not for what we are and how we live. Our failure to recognize the truth spoken by Mr. Paul – and spelled out for us in hundreds of pages of statements by Osama bin Laden since 1996 – is leading America toward military and economic disaster.

Excerpt from an audio interview with Antiwar Radio. I think it’s worth a listen considering the interviewee is a former CIA counter-terrorism officer.

I think anybody who knows anything about what’s been going on for the last 10 years would realize that cause and effect are operating here – that, essentially, al Qaeda has an agenda which very specifically says what its grievances are. And its grievances are basically that ‘we’re over there.’

So all Ron Paul was basically saying was that – even as the 9/11 commission report indicated – there were consequences for our presence in the Middle East and if we seriously want to address the terrorism problem we have to be serious about that issue.

Giuliani indicated that he was not only not serious about that issue, but seemed to be ignorant of both the 9/11 [Commission] report and political realities in the Middle East.

UPDATE: Just a couple of hours ago, Ron Paul showed up at an event at the National Press Club with another former CIA employee in his corner, and promptly suggested some light summer reading for Rudy. (- via Reason Online)

*I bet when bin Laden and his buddies are all sitting around, pounding double-deuces of goat’s milk, getting high on incense, and grooving to some old-school chanting, one guy will be like “I helped orchestrate the attack on the Kohl” and then some other guy will be like “Big deal. I helped get the 9/11 hijackers into the country and then got them their flight training.” And all the while, bin Laden’s just sitting there, big grin on his face, and finally says, “Hey who here has an entire CIA division named and devoted solely to him?” and then all the other guys just shut up and are all like “You win.”

Today is a date that will forever be remembered in history. A date that inspires overcoming disaster and rising above adversity.

Never forget, my friends. Never forget the day when the news came through and America changed forever.

God bless America.