Grand Canyon Lookout Critique

After looking at this; a few quick ideas. With a open-air platform first, so the visitor would first see the horizon 360-degr., then step-out into the canyon itself.

Aesthetically, it would be greatly improved by slight-arching of the cantilever at the cliff-face.

...As Important Now as Then

... At this time of year, let us remember both our tradition of Religious Freedom and our Liberality in it's Expression. While the Funding Fathers disagreed on the nature and means, they all had a place for Faith in it's manifest forms. And let Us remember those who died to defend that Liberality, and those damaged in body or soul in it's defense.

Will there always be an England?

London Transit has retired the classic Routemaster double-decker bus that has served throughout the British Empire since it was still an empire.





From a time when Sir Winston's voice still echoed in the Commons, the people of London and millions of foreign friends use the Routemaster and the Underground to "get about". While the newer busses are better riding and warmer, it just will not be the same.

64 Year Ago...

Sixty-four years ago today, the internecine wars raging in Europe and Asia paid a house-call and awakened the "sleeping giant". Inspite of our innate isolationism, bumbling mistakes and gross oversimplifications we prevailed. "Our" system may have manifest flaws, but it works.

Gay Rights or Republican Politics?

Surely there are more pressing things in Missouri for LCR - St. Louis to complain about;

"The gay political organization Log Cabin Republicans is asking for an investigation of a drag show at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Greater St. Louis, Charles Stadtlander, said he attended the October 14 drag show. He raised concerns that the show mocked heterosexual audience members and that performers wore revealing outfits, used inappropriate language, and simulated sex acts. "...

The LCR is a partisan "political" organization, not a chapter of GLAAD....nor is it a local committee of the ACLU. This is exactly the sorts of disputes that LCR should not be getting itself involved with. And where an officer of the Chapter should not be using the LCR reputation and credentials to pursue an obviously-personal agenda.

How does this further the political agenda of gay Republicans?


Update: Right Side of the Raindow asks, ..."If you rebuff the Republican presidential nominee, support abortion on demand and call for same-sex marriage by judicial fiat, can you really draw the line at a drag show? With what constituency does that posture win traction? "....

Sir Winston Churchill

"I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government, 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."

- Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS
(Nov. 30, 1874 - Jan. 24, 1965) Hansard, May 13, 1940

Charging Rhino supports the Reynolds Doctrine on Hostages;

InstaPundit strongly supports the use of violent force to save lives of its workers (er, that's me), readers, advertisers, or unrelated onlookers should they be kidnapped, held hostage, or caught in the middle of a conflict situation. The use of grossly excessive or gratuitous violence, while not exactly encouraged, isn't exactly deplored, either.


As for turning the other cheek, I offer the Rhino Corollary;

He who raises his hand against me loses that hand,
He who raises his remaining hand against me loses his head.

"Ihre ausweis, bitte!"

(AP)MIAMI - Miami police announced Monday they will stage random shows of force at hotels, banks and other public places to keep terrorists guessing and remind people to be vigilant.

Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said officers might, for example, surround a bank building, check the IDs of everyone going in and out and hand out leaflets about terror threats. ... "People are definitely going to notice it," Fernandez said. "We want that shock. We want that awe. But at the same time, we don't want people to feel their rights are being threatened. We need them to be our eyes and ears." ...

..." Police Chief John Timoney said there was no specific, credible threat of an imminent terror attack in Miami. ..."


Amendment IV, The Bill of Rights - Constitution of the USA
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.


-- I don't feel any safer.

How to Atone for a Loss of Honor

Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham pleaded guilty Monday morning to conspiring to take bribes in exchange for using his influence to help a defense contractor get business. "I can't undo what I have done but I can atone," Cunningham says in an emotional press conference.

And how is the Duke going to atone? Write a tell-all book that his supporters and flunkie-friends will buy up by the thousands to inflate it's sales and refill his bank account? Or as a feudal samurai of Imperial Japan atoned for failing his Daimyo lord?

The man's admitting selling his Honor for filthy silver, my expectations are low.

Cricket, Anyone?

Over at Albion's Seedling, the issue of non-cricketing in America has come-up. Maybe the gay community could demonstrate it's solidarity and start playing cricket on Sundays, leaving softball to the ladies.



I doubt any gay man would complain about the uniforms.

-- Norman Rockwell


Mine's thawing quietly in the fridge, and tomorrow evening I'm deboning the beast, brining the flesh in apple-juice and oranges, and back into the fridge. The carass gets a roasting, then an overnight stay in the stockpot with the milpote. Then Thursday all I have to do is prep the stuffing and shove-both into the oven for a slow roast.

Once you learn the secret of deboning a turkey, you'll never roast a whole one again. Though your children may go screaming from the Kitchen if they catch you in mid-debone-mode. It's like a home-reenactment of the lunchroom-scene in Alien where the critter busts-out of John Hurt's chest...

On Rep. Murtha's comments

I watched Rep. Murtha on Meet the Press last night, and read his piece reprinted in the paper. While I don't agree 100% with him, I do feel he's sincere and acting in good-faith and with great personal-honesty. Which is more than I can say for the leaders of EITHER PARTY at the moment.

And if the Iraqi elections go well and their army has another 6-months of training is it so unreasonable to say that in 12-months we could seriously reduce the troop-levels in Iraq? I think overall we should assume that the bulk of the troops will becoming-home in the next 12-24 months anyway. But also recognizing that perhaps 15,000 might be stationed there permanently atleast for the next 10-20 years as part of a regional strategy. On bases and airfields providing "regional security", not patrolling the streets or engaging in counter-terrorism or border interdiction on a day-to-day basis.

To assume that we would withdraw ALL our troops is naive. We still have troops in Germany and Japan, and in Cuba. The truth lies somewhere in-between Rep. Mutha's position and Mr. Rumsfeld's. It is an unfortunate fact that partisan politics and gingoism have replaced the possibility of calm discussion on foreign policy and military goals in the Washington, DC of today both within the White House and the Halls of Congress. And the performance of the Pentagon, Foggy Bottom and Langley haven't been free of these tensions either.


Updated: "Politics must end at the water's edge" is how Sen. Arthur Vandenberg (Mi) is usually quoted. But the full-text is much more illuminating, and much thanks to Sen. Lieberman (Ct) for recently reminding the Senate of this...

..."To me 'bipartisan foreign policy' means a mutual effort, under our indispensable two-party system, to unite our official voice at the water's edge so that America speaks with maximum authority against those who would divide and conquer us and the free world."

A Last Salute

(AP) "Alfred Anderson, the last known survivor of the 1914 "Christmas Truce" that saw British and German soldiers exchanging gifts and handshakes in no-man's land, died early Monday"...

It is estimated that maybe 10 WW1 veterns remain in Britain, and a small handful scattered throughout the Commonwealth and America.

It's important that we remember. It's one of the debts we owe to those who have served on our behalf, even though separated by generations.

As Revolutionary as the Model-T?

The MIT Media Lab unveiled the $100 childrens' laptop at the World Summit in Tunisia. Wireless, hand-cranked and able to function as both laptop and book-viewer that could be as great a cultural thunder-clap as moveable type or the rotary printing-press.

"Let a Billion Children's Laptops Bloom."


Update: Welcome Instapundit readers.

The two most dangerous words a child can utter, "..but why??"

Uncle Andrew's Sold-out?

Has Andrew Sullivan sold-out? It sure appears that he's climbing in bed with Time, Inc. Certainly this is a blow to the independent blogsphere. Can you truly be independent and critical of the MSM when they host your 'blog?

Towards a New Nationalism?

Count me as one of those who, unfortunately for the Republic, believes that St. Hillarybeast will be elected in 2008 by default. So far, NONE of the floated Republican names...other than maybe Giuliani...can appeal to the moderate-Center and pull enough votes from both Parties. At present I dismiss McCain as a spent-force who will be too-old, and more importantly too-compromised, to be an effective candidate for 2008.

The GOP needs to be out-of-power in order to reflect on their over-reaching mistakes of playing to the "convenient" extreme-Right of the Party; and to regroup with new ideas for a new century. I've been re-reading T. Roosevelt's The New Nationalism speech where he outlined his Square Deal-philosophy, and Douthat & Salam's The Party of Sam's Club essay that Andrew Sullivan was touting a few days ago on his site. Print them both out and read them at the same-tim, the problems haven't changed. We need to step-back, regroup, and look in the GOP farm club for another Theodore Roosevelt. I'm becoming increasingly convinced through reading Theodore Rex and Kissinger's Diplomacy that it's already time to start looking past just the War on Terror to the fundementals of our National Self-Interests...be they immigration, health-care in an aging population, or living with China.

The GOP leadership has become so intent over the last 30-years in getting into power, that they have forgotten what and why they were "Republicans". They have sold the Party in market-square to the anti-abortionists, religious fundementalists and the narrow self-serving agendas of the corporate, NGO and societal Special Interests. They gained power and are so desperate to keep it that they have compromised their principles for pork, illusory power, and five anti-abotion seats on the SCOTUS.

Time to regroup and return to the party of Teddy Roosevelt and Barry Goldwater. Reagan, while a great man, did great long-term damage to the Party's principles by his alliance-of-convenience with the Religious Right. And the unintended consequence is the fiscal and governance log-jam we have inherited.

And sometimes the only way to clear a log-jam is with high-explosives, a sure balance, and sharp nerves.

On the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month

“These men were crusaders. They were not going forth to prove the might of the United States. They were going forth to prove the might of justice and right, and all the world accepted them as crusaders, and their transcendent achievement has made all the world believe in America…”

- Woodrow Wilson

We remember those who did not return,

and those who did but damaged in body or soul.

We mourn with those who left camrades behind.

Dedicated to men like my grandfather,

who manned a "French 75" on the Line, their toast;

"To Lost Friends..."

We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.

--- Abigal Adams, letter to John Adams, 1774

Immigration "Reform"?

So far, I have not seen any demonstrated connection to identifying “immigrants” and stopping “potential terrorists”. As a purely-pragmatic security issue, I’d rather focus on knowing who EVERYONE is on U.S. soil, their true name and origin…and worry less about how they got here in the first place. No more false ID’s, fake SS#’s and phony “papers”. We’re about 10-million-and-counting too-late worrying about “border security”. And we should be encouraging US citizenship for all here, and get rid of the various visa-programs and such that prevent Canadians, Mexicans and others here for years and even decades from becoming “productive” tax-paying citizens.

Hell, I’d even go for saying to the “criminal classes” that if you pay every-penny according to the tax-laws, we’ll not prosecute you for tax-evasion; though we will for the illegal activity that generated the money in the first place, and expend “priviledge” to tax-preparers so long as the tax were paid. Since tax-evasion the favorite way to bust-’em, tax compliance would sky-rocket.This done, we can then effectively deny the borders to the smugglers and narco-businesses that are doing far more damage to the U.S. than the “threat” of International Terrorism. Stream-line the legal border-crossings and Customs-stations at our airports and seaports to the regulated entry of all, and close the borders to irregular trade in both drugs, material and potential WMDs in trucks, planes and containerships.

Bright light scares off the cockroaches. Get the “people” out of the shade at the border, then you can concentrate on the real national interests of “controlling a frontier”. What we are doing now on “immigration” is about as effective and cost-efficient as the TSA operations at the airports….meaningless, inconvenient, expensive, and ultimately useless.

A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.

--- Baltasar Gracian

Corzine?

As a lifelong "progressive" Republican, even I could not bring myself to vote for Doug Forrester; even though I’ve supported so real-stinkers in the Republican-ticket over the years. Forrester was just too-much a inexperienced naif, and a rotten campaigner with zero-charisma. The campaign was Corzine’s to lose, and he might have IF the NJ State GOP could have pulled itself together a select a meaningful candidate.

While I’m not happy about Corzine’s sleazy-ways, I expect the “mistakes” he makes in office will be political ideological-ones, and not just stupid or naive like McGreevey did…or Forrester would have. At least Corzine’s not an incompetent, just a liberal Democrat….and THAT can be remedied in four years when he makes his run at the White House in 2010.

St. Hillarybeast has the Democratic nomination locked-up with Corzine sidelined for 4-years…

We have the coolest military...

A heavier-than-air military transport Coded-named Walrus. Now if that doesn't look like "Thunderbird Two". And at 500-tons of payload, a squadron of these would be ideal for civil disaster-relief like NOLA, the Aceh Tsumani, or the earthquake in Kashmir.


And Transparent Aluminum? Who knew....

..."A new type of transparent armor made of aluminum could one day replace glass in military vehicles. The product is callrd aluminum oxynitride. It is being tested by the Army and the University of Dayton Research Institute in Ohio. The material is a ceramic compound with a high compressive strength and durability, according to an Army statement issued this week. It performs better than the multilayered glass products currently in use, and its about half the weight. It is virtually scratch-resistant. "The substance itself is light-years ahead of glass," said 1st Lt. Joseph La Monica, who heads the research. "

"Light years"? Montgomery Scott walks among us indeed.
And Scotty, set phasers to "Stun" ....

..." Bitar heads Indiana-based Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems Ltd., which makes small blinding lasers used in Iraq. But his real project is a nonlethal energy device called the StunStrike. Basically, it fires a bolt of lightning. It can be tuned to blow up explosives, possibly to stop vehicles and certainly to buzz people. The strike can be made to feel as gentle as "broom bristles'' or cranked up to deliver a paralyzing jolt that "takes a few minutes to wear off.''

But penance need not be paid in suffering...It can be paid in forward motion. Correcting the mistake is a positive move, a nurturing move.

- Barbara Hall, A Summons to New Orleans, 2000

Huzzah!

October 17, 2005 (AP)

HYANNIS, Mass. --U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy attempted to rescue six men who had become trapped by high tide on a jetty off Hyannisport on Sunday. The Massachusetts Democrat eventually left the rescue to Hyannis firefighters, The Cape Cod Times reported Monday. Kennedy was walking his two dogs on the shore at 11:15 a.m. when he spotted the men cut off from shore by the rising waters. They had been fishing on a jetty that begins at the tip of the Kennedy compound. Tides had risen over the patchy rocks, which made it difficult to walk back to shore. Kennedy and a friend tried to rescue the men using a 13-foot boat but rough waters forced them back. A crew from the Hyannis Fire Department picked them up. The men, in their 20s, were not identified. They were brought to Cape Cod Hospital with mild hypothermia

Perhaps we should consider this a Karmic re-balancing? And at least a partial-redemption? Going out in a 13-ft boat in rough seas requires a certain amount of balls….and grit at his age.

Bravo, Senator Kennedy!! (…And I don’t even like the old bastard.)

The name is Bond, James Bond.

< >
< >


Daniel Craig. ". . . Right this way, Sir."


I hope they keep the glasses.


And keep losing the shirts....

If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.

- Robert Fritz

Libertarians? Or just the Silly-Hat Party?

Bill Condon and Jeff Soyer at Alphecca both launched into the Libertarian Party over their failure to follow-through with the Free State Project.

My complaint with the "Libertarians" is that there is such a ideological and operational-gap between those who consider themselves to "be libertarian", and those who are members and leaders of the Libertarian Party. In my experience, most libertarians are progressive or conservative Republicans; while the Libertarian Party-ites are left-wing whack-jobs with no real-world credentials and pathetic, questionable backgrounds whom I would not trust over a long weekend with a cat....No less a government.

As with the Holy Roman Empire, which was neither "holy" nor "Roman"; the Libertarian Party uses the word, but not it's scope of meaning. They might as well be the Silly-Hat Party, it would coincide with their use of aluminum-foil linings.

Iraq in the Furnace

While I agree with Andrew Sullivan, I'm divided over his conclusions;

"In retrospect, I made three basic miscalculations in favoring the war to depose Saddam three years ago. I thought Saddam had stockpiles of WMDs the discovery of which would bolster support for the war after liberation; I believed we would have enough troops to keep the peace; and I thought the massive reconstruction funds would buy popular support for the occupation. Wrong on all three counts. Here's a story from the NYT today on the reconstruction of Najaf. Najaf is remarkably free from major violence, and yet the reconstruction is still a shambles, hobbled by poor oversight, corruption, delays, translation problems and general incompetence. Anyone who knows contractors of any kind knows some of this is part of the process. But you just have to read this story to see how widespread this mess is. Again: issue one for the Bush administration is government competence. They don't seem to have much. And in the end, with even the best policy in the world, competence matters. Iraq is particularly apposite here, because if there was ever a case in which we knew we had to get it right, this was it. And yet, they seem never at a loss for excuses for failure. Discouraging doesn't quite capture the essence of this. Maddening is more like it.

I think that a more historical perspecive will be required to adequately judge the liberation and reconstruction of Iraq. The total disconnect between the efficient planning for combat operations, and the bungled planning for post-war occupationa nd reconstrcution is glaring. For a while I attributed this to a institutional mind-set that feared being "too ready" to administer Iraq; hence feeding the meme that America planned all-along to annex Iraq and it's oil-fields. Now the results point-out that the war-plan did not include an after-action plan, a potentially fatal error in the post-Cold War era.

Somewhere between the White House, Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon they compromised on a very "light" occupation...and "light" on planning as-well. Out of fear of the "Arab Street", or of the international criticism, they opted for two weak-handed transitional phases; where they shoud have installed an American satrapy with a fixed mandate of 2-3 years, then a handover to sovereign civilian-rule. The three glaring planning errors, based on "policy", were; the disbandment of the Saddam-military apparatus; the failure to occupy and secure the ministries, museums, libraries and hospitals; and the subsequent failure to crush the looting rampages.

Moving Day...

(AP)Updated: 8:06 a.m. ET Sept. 9, 2005

"WASHINGTON - More than half the Americans surveyed in a national poll say the flooded areas of New Orleans lying below sea level should be abandoned and rebuilt on higher ground. An AP-Ipsos poll found that 54 percent of Americans want the four-fifths of New Orleans that was flooded by Hurricane Katrina moved to a safer location.
Their skepticism about restoring New Orleans below sea level comes as the public mood has darkened after one of the nation’s worst natural disasters. "....

A New Legacy...

For better or worse, George W. Bush's historical legacy will be built on the Federal and National response to the New Orleans Diaspora, not the War on Terror as the neocons wanted.

How this changes the dynamics of the Administration remains to be seen. Unlike NYC, were the developers are still hangling over the whole in the ground, but the people have homes and jobs; the effects of the NOLA Submergence has families distrupted, homes and businesses lost, and massive infastructural damage that has a ripple-effect throughout the Mississippi Basin and the East Coast. This is a diaspora on a national-scale not seen since the Dust Bowl, and will have long-term social and economic dislocations.

While we are fillling in names for supoenas...

Instapundit had a damning link to James Lee Witt, who Gov. Blanco STILLS wants to have coordinate Louisiana' relief operations...rather than cede it to Federal control and Gen. Honore'...

"IEM Inc., a Baton Rouge, La.-based emergency management and homeland security consultant, announced it will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). ... In making the announcement today on behalf of teaming partners Dewberry, URS Corporation and James Lee Witt Associates, IEM Director of Homeland Security Wayne Thomas explained that the development of a base catastrophic hurricane disaster plan has urgency due to the recent start of the annual hurricane season which runs through November. "...

... "Given this area's vulnerability, unique geographic location and elevation, and troubled escape routes, a plan that facilitates a rapid and effective hurricane response and recovery is critical," he said. "The IEM team's approach to catastrophic planning meets the challenges associated with integrating multi-jurisdictional needs and capabilities into an effective plan for addressing catastrophic hurricane strikes, as well as man-made catastrophic events.
IEM President and CEO Madhu Beriwal is the recipient of a special merit award from the Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Association ( LEPA ) for her work in New Orleans hurricane emergency preparedness"....


Now I know who gets the fourth and fifth Congressional hearing supeona after Blanco, Nagin and Brown...Witt and Beriwal.

Northern Command was Ready

It's becoming apparent that not EVERYONE was caught unawares. The recent performance of Northern Command and Gen Russell Honere' demonstrates that. But does that matter if they couldn't legally act?.....

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/5167.html
"... When the BBC noted the criticism of the government's slow response, Lt. Commander Kelly explained that NorthCom was ready to go well in advance of Katrina making landfall, but suggested the president didn't make the right call at the right time.
"Northcom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready when it hit Florida, because, as you remember, it hit the bottom part of Florida, and then we were planning once it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast.
"So, what we did, we activated what we call 'defense coordinating officers' to work with the states to say, 'OK, what do you think you will need?' And we set up staging bases that could be started.
"We had the USS Bataan sailing almost behind the hurricane so once the hurricane made landfall, its search and rescue helicopters could be available almost immediately So, we had things ready.
"The only caveat is: we have to wait until the president authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can't just act in this fashion; we have to wait for the president to give us permission."
Apparently, that permission could have been given right away, but it wasn't. ...."


A question that someone might be able to clarify…I don't know the anwer;

Federal statute and long-standing tradition is that Federal troops and resources can not be deployed without the permission or aquiescence of the State Governor where the troops will be deployed. Considering how Gov. Blanco had been dragging here feet over authorizing HER OWN National Guard troops; could the President release his "authorization" over her objections? It's been well documented that Gov. Blanco…as of this morning…was still stalling over authorizing Federal oversight and authority in Louisiana.

BUT, IF Pres. Bush could not legally "authorize" Northern Command without prior State acquiescence, can he be "blamed" for not doing so?? Especially when the governor of the state affected was all-over the airwaves patting herself on the back for NOLA's again "dodging the bullet"? The flooding of NOLA didn't become obvious until AFTER the storm passed. And it was well-known in the emergency-preparedness planning that Federal resources would not be able to arrive in-quantity until Day-Four.


I'll wait for the Congressinal Hearings to watch Blanco and Nagin squirm, before they plead the Fifth.

UPDATE: Kelly has clarified that it was FEMA that NorComm was waiting-on for authorization. That would be Mr. Brown.


.... "USNORTHCOM was prepositioned for response to the hurricane, but as per the National Response Plan, we support the lead federal agency in disaster relief — in this case, FEMA. The simple description of the process is the state requests federal assistance from FEMA which in turn may request assistance from the military upon approval by the president or Secretary of Defense. Having worked the hurricanes from last year as well as Dennis this year, we knew that FEMA would make requests of the military — primarily in the areas of transportation, communications, logistics, and medicine. Thus we began staging such assets and waited for the storm to hit.
"The biggest hurdles to responding to the storm were the storm itself — couldn't begin really helping until it passed — and damage assessment — figuring out which roads were passable, where communications and power were out, etc. Military helos began damage assessment and SAR on Tuesday. Thus we had permission to operate as soon as it was possible. We even brought in night SAR helos to continue the mission on Tuesday night.
The President and Secretary of Defense did authorize us to act right away and are not to blame on this end. Yes, we have to wait for authorization, but it was given in a timely manner." ....

"A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic."

---Joseph Stalin (1879 - 1953)

The Goat?

History will point the well-deserved finger of Blame squarely at the Mayor of New Orleans, C. Ray Nagin;

a. He failed in implement his own city's emergency preparedness plan.
b. He left hundreds of city-owned busses to drown, rather than use them to evacuate low-lying neighborhoods to either safe-shelter or out the storm's path. And those same busses were not safe-guarded to be used for subsequent evacuations after the storm passed.
c. He failed to stock and prepare the very storm-shelters that he then directed his people to use...creating a death-trap situation.
d. He failed to issue shoot-on-sight orders for any looters on non-essential survival items.

And Gov. Blanco also failed to follow the state's own emergency-preparedness plan, and failed to mobilize the hundreds of school busses that she had control over through the La. Dept. of Education.

This was not a failure to plan, nor was this a "surprise, unforseeable event". A direct hit on NOLA has been discussed almost every time a hurricane enters the Gulf of Mexico...for years.

I have no doubt that there will be many instances revealed in the subsequent Congressional Hearings on how the Corps, FEMA and Homeland Security should have spotted the short-comings of local preparedness; and their own lack of imagination to war-game this through fully and act on the conclusions. But Civil Defense and Emergency Preparedness are "local issues" that should be dealt with at the local-level, with back-up provided by the resources of the Federal government and the Military. The Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana had...and have still...the principal responsibility for the bungled preparations and the inept follow-through.

I knew the people of NOLA were in trouble the minute I saw them standing the streets waiting to get into the Superdome. Competent planning would have gotten everyone inside as fast as possible through every door the place had....and stocks of food, water, bedding; and provisions for powering the lights and AC for days. Every power company has portable generators on flat-bed trucks, powered by the same jet-turbines that that power airliners and USN ships. A couple of them parked in a protected part of the elevated parking garage with a tanker-trailer of diesel fuel is beyond their imagination?

The New Orleans Diaspora

There can be no other word.
The city and populace are shattered and while some may return, many will not.


While it makes financial and logistical sense to repair and rebuild Downtown, the waterfront and French Quarter (which are on higher ground). It may make sense to simply (hah!) level whole swathes of the low-lying suburban residential districts and resettle the inhabitants elsewhere and return those area's to the wetlands they were. The debris and rubble can be used to raise the ground-level around those parts of the city that house community assets like the hospitals and the universities. Just as low-lying communities where replanted on higher-ground along the Mississippi River after the floods of the 90's, it may be time to consider similar options. Is it practical to rebuild 1-in-3 homes and have open lots of rubble between as many families take their settlements are move elsewhere?

There will be another hurricane cat-4 or cat-5, it's inevitable. To merely replicate the existing bad situation and hope that "higher, stronger" levees will hold is the same whistling-in-the-dark that the Mayor and Governor's offices did this time. Here is the opportunity to re-fashion the problem, not just paper-over it.

Everyone quotes the axiom, "... violence is the last resort of the incompetent", forgetting that those wise and mindful of History utilize violence long before it's "too late".

A sharp, immediate smack across the snout was one of first steps in converting the ancient wolf into a well-trained dog.

When in the Course of Human Events...

--And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.






"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. "

--- attributed to Benjamin Franklin at the signing

of the Declaration of Independence, July 1776

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

--- Theodore Roosevelt, (1858 - 1919)

Ghosts and the Living City

The buildings to replace the WTC-complex are not important for memorial purposes. The iconic power of commemorations like the Tribute in Light are. The Germans have a word that translates as "places to throw wreaths" for memorials with no soul. Rebuild lower Manhatten as a living city, concentrate on that. But bid every year in September the Ghosts of the WTC return, as the Tribute in Light or in other forms of cutting edge technolgy or brute-force engineering. Let them revisit the City and Nation annually and yet fade away into memory til next year until the pain fades too.... Let the Ghosts come but once a year in reproche' for all that we still have to do, and a time will come when we'll say as a Nation "it's time to let go." As we have other wounds and traumas, as we have either forgiven or at-least accepted, old aversaries when we gather.




The Ghosts don't live in a hole in the ground, they live high over our heads in the clouds.

Time to start recruiting for the Farm Club.

In a race where both candidates had similar finacial resources and name recognition; an appeal to the center might get the GOP candidate elected. But against Corzine’s money neither GOP frontrunners will prevail, in part due to their street-cred as ‘losers’ state-wide, and the internecine battle-scars between the various County coimmittees that will inhibit fundraising.

Tha GOP faithful will vote tomorrow. But there aren’t enough of them, nor is either possible GOP candidate charasmatic enough a ‘winner’ to energize the center to come out and vote GOP in the Fall; so the Democrat’s faithful hard-core in the cities and the North suburbs will swamp the GOP.

I’ve decided to vote for Murphy to encourage him to seek state-office in the future. NJ needs some fresh, young blood on the GOP-side, not just recycling the same old names; Forrester, Schundler and Keane.

When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.

----Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

Sanctuary

One of Andrew Sullivan contributors makes an interesting point. While the first-part is true;

"We already have a perfect historical analog for your support of non-reciprocal Geneva adherence - the fact that the the US stuck to the Geneva rules in its treatment of Japanese POWs, despite the fact that Imperial Japan not only refused to reciprocate but treated our POWs in the vilest ways imaginable. There would, no doubt, have been widespread public support among the American people for reciprocal mistreatment of Japanese POWs - but the Roosevelt Administration refused to do so for one simple reason: we wanted Japan afterwards to be a peaceful, non-occupied nation, and mistreating their POWs was not the way to accomplish this."....

I'm not sure that the Japanese-analogy is valid, nor am I convinced by the second part of the posted e-mail. The Empire of Japan was a sovereign nation with a recognizable military operating under authority and control;

This factor is even more important in the War Against Megaterrorism -- we can hardly occupy the entire Moslem world, even briefly -- but the self-indulgent dimwits currently running the government refuse to see this, and we will all end up paying for it."...

I'm more convinced by Bill Whittle's observations on Unlawful Combatants;

They violate the Sanctuary of the Uniform. They violate the Sanctuary of Surrender. And the most reprehensible of all is the violation of the Sanctuary of Mercy." ...

..."I used to wonder why civilizations fell. No longer. I see it now before my eyes, every day. Civilizations do not fall because the Barbarians storm the walls. The forces of civilization are far too powerful, and those of barbarism far too weak, for that to happen. Civilizations fall because the people inside the Sanctuary throw open the Gates".

The old usage "outlaw" meant outside the law and outside it's protections. Perhaps it's time for the International Community to recognize that it's time to review the Geneva Conventions and even the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to address those who voluntarily and deliberately place themselves outside the Covenants of Civilization.

Rememberance

Memorial Day, 2005

The French Vote "No"

Can any "nation" survive if it's fundamental, unifying principles can not be enumerated in a constitution less-than-twice the length of the US federal constitution? Does such a "nation" even deserve to exist? The proposed EU constitution runs 575-pages...The US Constitution is about 12 in the same type-face. The British survive without any written constitution forcing tradition and necessity to ride-tandem adjusting to the needs of the people and the nation.

"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood." ---James Madison.

The EU structure is reminiscent of the ancient Holy Roman Empire of the Hapsburg; that was neither "Holy" nor "Roman". It bound a varying alliance of duchies, principality, city-states and annexed territories together; but lacked a central raison e'tat to fall-back on in times of crisis. It's smaller successor-state, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also failed in crisis during the First World War. The creation of a European "super-state" may well have to wait until the moment of crisis that will weld the various interests together. Afterall, it took the America two wars with Britain on North American-soil, followed by the internecine Civil War to get from "The United States are..." To the "The United States is...."

The EU is and will continue to be an effective trading-block and economic alliance. It is not ready to be a "State" for it has not won the heart's of it's Peoples. And it's that plurality that is a major stumbling block, even moreso than it's resentments and fears of the unaccountable nomenklatura of Brussels-based Euro-technocrats that govern over them.

There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity.

---Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

The Gitmo Archipelago?

Hmmm, guess we'll have to add "gulag" to the ever-increasing list of political terms abused by those ignorant or subbornly-blind to the origins and meanings of such emotinally-loaded words. To be filed after "fascist", "holocaust" and "genocide"; and before "rights, human", "torture" and "victors' justice".

...I do not fear free spech, I'm merely annoyed by those who make free with their speech.


UPDATE: 2 June 2005
For those who have forgotten History;
Gulag.
Mistreatment.
Kolyma.

A Dark Horse?

“Thompson and Rice,
Two-thousand and Eight”
…has a nice rhythm to it.

Conservative, but not “scary".

Joe Gets "It"

Joe Solmonese was interviewed by Metro Weekly on his settling in at HRC. One passage struck me as electorally-pertinent to the LRC's agenda;

"... Over the course of a few years, when we were not as successful as we would like to have been, we realized that the work of electing a woman to the United States Senate has to begin long before the 24-month election cycle. So we went about electing women to the state senate or house, or the mayor's office, or the county commission. We strengthened them by building their political operation so that when a U.S. Senate seat opened up the powers that be in that state said "She's the one who should go.' So when people asked, "Is that a policy shift? Are you helping women get elected to the state legislature instead of the U.S. Senate?" No. It's just another way of getting women elected to the U.S. Senate.
"We have to go out to the states and change the hearts and minds of people and we have to change the seats when the people on the Hill won't listen to us. I don't see one as being mutually exclusive of the other. It's just an added dimension to the federal work that we're doing. One of the things that I've been saying to other groups and to people in these states is that our priorities sometimes will intersect and sometimes won't, but we'll always be very clear with you what our particular goals are. ...."

Substitute "gay Republicans" for "women" in his comment. He's right, getting into the game is important, not just cheering from the sidelines. Getting gay Republicans elected should be a key component of upcoming LCR strategies, not just lobbying and good works....and doing-so at local, county and state-levels.

This ties-back to what I have said in a number of places, the G/L Repubican community should concentrate on local and state elections for 2008 and maybe 2012 as-well to counter-balance the Social Right. Attacking them at the National-level is out of our weight-class, and the 2008 Presidential election will be both devisive within the Party and probably counter-productive. There are no good, electable, gay-friendly GOP contenders that I see; and the likely GOP contenders are both gay-toxic and not up to defeating Sen. Hillarybeast on the General Election of 2008 nor in 2012. Let's both encourage the GOP's farm-team...and develop a few farm-team players ourselves...that have a potential National-office in their future.

Come Clean Joe....

Steve Koval at the Washington Blade has an insightful article on the "inflated" numbers the HRC's been claiming for it's membership. To count anyone who gave money or bought something at the gift-shop or web-store as a perpetual member is totally bogus and misleading. Joe Solmonese needs to clean house and come-clean with the real number of "paid" members of HRC for 2005.

As I said last Fall...frequently...the numbers the HRC released as part of their financial disclosure never jived with their membership-claims. I'll bet that less than 50,000 HRC "members" have actually paid their $35-minimum dues contribution for 2004-2005.

Update:
The HRC website Mission Statement claims of representing "...almost 600,000"? What is the real number? Surely they know how many members they have....

Their 2002 Annual Report page-18, the most-recent year they have posted) shows $7-million in Member contributions; at $35 a head, that's only 200,000-members. And it's unrealistic to assume that no-one contributed more, so the real number of "contributors" must be lower. Even at an average of $50 a head, that's only-140,000. Certainly many HRC members are "Partners" at $120-minimum-a-year each, and there are many Federal Club members who contribute well-over $1200-minimum a year to HRC in-order to get invited to the best parties. That further reduces the number of active dues-contributing members significantly. So what the real number, Joe?

This is the same report where they report that out of $17,399,678 in expenditures, only 24.6%($4,274,468) went to Federal and Field Advocacy; while 42.4% went to Management, General and Fundraising. ($7,379,845 aggr.) The Fundraising line-item ($4,580,243) alone is actually more than Federal and Field Advocacy's.

Would you give to a charity that comsumed 42.4% of it's budget internally?

At Least Someone at CIA Knows What Needs to be Done

I'm glad to see that someone in-charge at the CIA has his head screwed-on right.

".... But in the days that followed the worst terror attack on U.S. soil, Schroen said his boss at the CIA also told him and his deputy in no uncertain terms to kill the al Qaeda leadership.

"What he said [was], 'I would like to see the head of bin Laden delivered back to me in a heavy cardboard box filled with dry ice, and I will take that down and show the president. And the rest of the lieutenants, you can put their heads on pikes'," Schroen told Reuters in an interview.

He was quoting Cofer Black, then the director of the CIA's counterterrorist center. "....

We should have an informal rule-of-engagement that when the United States is provoked to the point where we send in the Military, there's no cushy exile in Paris for the loser; that there is a personal price to be paid, in-full-measure. The same applies to Saddam, and it should have been enforced in Gulf War-1 as the price of Peace.

The skulls of our enemies should be used as head-table candy-dishes at White House State Dinners as a warning and reminder "...no better friend, no worse enemy". Barbaric? Well, it might help keep the barbarians in-line.

"...Jelly bean, Mr. Prime Minister?"

It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!

Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (1844 - 1900)

? for President, 2008

McCain is a spent force.
Frist is unelectable.
Jeb Bush is too unfriendly, the Schiavo case left a bad taste in many moderate Republicans’ mouths’.
Guiliani carries too much baggage for the Red-Staters to support him.
Pawlenty is a nationally-unknown.
Allen is nationally unknown, and the various Virginia “gay controversies” isn’t helping his cause at present.

Condi's not ready...
And, Arnold can’t run.

I fear that we’ll have Hillary for 2008, and maybe 2012 too. The GOP needs to be looking at it’s various farm teams, and encourage and groom some real talent for 20012 and 2016. And maybe they need to really start thinking “outside the box” this time…not just gaming who the Social Right will follow blindly. You still need the center to get the popular and electoral majorities.

2008 is a Republican write-off..…no guts and no glory.

As Ye Write, So Shall Ye Think...

Ann Althouse has a posting on the survival of languages, and speculates if the final battle will be Mandarin vs. English. My own feelings are that American-English will survive due to it's direct linkage to the alphanumerics of PC and the Internet, aligned with it's informal ability to co-opt words and phrases from almost any language without compromising it's internal structure. Mandarin (or the other variants) lack a link to an alphanumeric system with clarity.

The Pinyin-system of "Romanizing" Mandarin is not yet concise, and is an approximation. Plus there's the broader issue of a language (and it's structure) affecting the actual ways of thinking of concepts and relationships. Traditional Mandarin is non-hierarchical. You can not index and cross-index in the many ways that English allows one to alphabetize, and to numerically sequence. To categorize, to sort and to classify are methodolgies that traditional Mandarin and it's pictographic structure made quite cumbersome. This may change as Mandarin migrates to a "Romanized" written-form, but will the hierarchical conceptual organization follow...without having the Mandarin-speakers first having to "think" in English"?

Stupidity is eternal

Mandatory HIV/AIDS testing, haven't the Left...or the Right...learned anything???

First comes the "mandatory testing".
Next comes the databases.
Followed by armed raids, and "...rounding up the usual suspects".
From there it's tattoos and "legal" sanctions.
Then the "camps".

...From my cold, dead hands.

No-strikes and Your...Out!

Christian Grantham has been running several postings on drug-use within the G/L community.

It may be judgmental, but I've always had a "no-tolerance policy" in combining friends or "playmates" with drugs. I might be paranoid; but I've never even allowed someone I knew or suspected used anything stronger than poppers ride in my car, or enter my place. Smoking and smoker's breath/mouth may be a personal turn-off, but drug-use just plain scares me. I've walked away from more than a few real hotties once they suggested he (or I) might need a hit.

The rampant tobacco and recreational drug-use in the G/L is appalling, and it doesn't surprise me that Meth-use weakens the immune-system to HIV. After AIDS, I think there's going to be a wave of mid-life lung cancer due to all the smoking in the gay community. I'd like to see anti-smoking added to the HIV/AIDS and anti-coke/meth/E messages to our community.

"A democracy is two wolves and a small lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Freedom under a constitutional republic is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."
--- Benjamin Franklin, Printer

Wholesale vs. Retail Homophobia

I have a long-seated theory that contrasts how Democrats and Republicans interface with the G/L community. I use the analogy of "wholesale" vs. "retail".

A Democrat supports the G/L Community as a group/class (wholesale) for political and ethical ends, yet has problems with the actual individual (retail) they meet. For many, their G/L support is an abstraction or the casual "...Some of my best friends are...", yet they really don't have G/L friends. They support gay marriage in some far-away state, yet they worry that their son's teacher is a "fag".

Republicans will be supportive of the G/L individuals (retail) that they actually know or meet. They support the individual and won't see them as "other" Yet the react negatively towards the G/L community (wholesale) as an abstraction...Especially ones outside of their community or state. They'll be opposed to gay marriage in their state; and at the same time are unthinkingly polite to the "two guys in the church choir", and think nothing of inviting them over for a picnic without a qualm.

(I never claimed it's a perfect explanation...Just a broad brush.)

Who is speaking here...?

"... Our second great responsibility to our children and grandchildren is to honor and to pass along the values that sustain a free society. So many of my generation, after a long journey, have come home to family and faith, and are determined to bring up responsible, moral children. Government is not the source of these values, but government should never undermine them.

Because marriage is a sacred institution and the foundation of society, it should not be re-defined by activist judges. For the good of families, children, and society, I support a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage."
--- Pres. G.W. Bush, 2005 State of the Union..


Attempting to parse Bush's remarks about families vs. his one line on FMA is giving me a headache. In the one camp are those who read the tea-leaves as he's willing to draw the line at civil gay marriage...and support (gay) families otherwise. In the other camp are those who read the tea-leaves that this means he's against gay marriage, civil unions, gay adoption, child custody and even the very dignity of G/L Americans. How much of his "comments" are genuine and how much is pandering to the salivating bigots out busily gathering kindling and stringing barbed-wire? Since August 2004, the two of them have been tacking back and forth like Kerry on a wind-surfer. What is the dignity of the individual that Bush has frequently spoken of? What are the boundries of that "dignity"?

My personal suspicion is that FMA can not get the Constitutionally-mandated super-majority trifecta of the US House, Senate and the State's legislatures. If the G/L community wants gay marriage...or civil unions...they'll have to fight for it at the Statehouses, not the Courthouses. And while it may be bitter medicine, I'd counsel fighting for civil unions as a openly-recognised trade-off for gay marriage with the social-conservatives.Is his return to "compassionate conservativism" inclusive?, or is supporting FMA and attacking the advances that the G/L community the price of getting the rest of Bush's political program? I think that instead of concentrating on the actions of the Administration, that the real story will be played-out on the Hill. If the openly-bigotted members of the Senate and House are in the lead on the Administration's political agenda, then we'll know that we've been sold-out. If it's the Moderates, then we have a chance getting everything short of gay marriage by concentrating at the state-level.

Barring "activist judges", there are really two major G/L issues that can not be resolved at the state level; DADT and federal recognition of gay marriages or civil unions for federal-purposes. The actual regulation of marriage, family relations, adoption and custody, and employment/housing are state-regulated and adjudicated. If enough states openly support these issues, then the federal courts will be forced to deal with the full-faith-and-credit clause to create new case-law.I have the firm suspicion that this arguement is NOT being driven by the White House, but instead is being driven by those on the Hill. In the absence of a clear, concise statement from Bush it's difficult to tell the conviction-statements from the red-meat tossed to the beasts to placate them.

"When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber."

--- Sir Winston S. Churchill (1874 - 1965)

Wither LCR-NJ?

For the last 10-months or more, there has been discussion of forming a New Jersey chapter of the LCR, all with little result. Due to the calendar constraints of last year's campaign, it was not possible to have an impact on the 2004 Election. The one meeting that has held was in late-October, just weeks before the Election. As a follow-up to that meeting, I wrote hopefully on the prospects of the 2005 Election-season to one of the local organizers;

"... We do have a gubernatorial race in 12-months to select McGreevey's "elected" successor and a number of statehouse positions, as well as deal with any backlash against NJ's newly-instituted domestic partners registration. Perhaps once the mad-scramble of the 2004 campaign-season is finally over once the Electoral College or the House of Representatives name the winner of this year's contest, Jeff and the LCR will be able to assist in organizing a northern New Jersey chapter. From what I saw and heard last night, with such a same group of potential active-members, I think that a state-wide chapter is both too ambitious; and too unwieldy given the geographic and political distances involved. A North Jersey Metropolitan chapter centered on the northeastern counties; plus Morris, Middlesex, Monmouth and possibly Ocean (Asbury, Ocean Grove and Belmar) might be feasible. Even that might be too decentralized, and just concentrate on the counties on or with the I-287 beltway; Hudson, Bergan, Passaic, Essex, Morris and maybe Middlesex."

In December, I e-mailed the LCR-NJ organizers my concerns about the pending Corzine entry into the Governor's race. At this point, there was still discussion of having a follow-up meeting to form the LCR-NJ.

".... With Sen. Corzine in active pursuit of the Governor's office, does it make more sense to concentrate at the County-level and State House-levels?

From the stand-point of the South Jersey TV/radio/MSM-markets, both Shundler and Forrester are ciphers as far as their positions on issues of interest to our community. Since we already have relatively broad discrimination protection and the new domestic partners legislation in-place, what will be the issues from our perspective at the State-level? Gay marriage is dead-on-arrival. And I'm not sure there's the support for for a major, bruising civil unions-push right on the heels of the DP here in NJ, and the debacle at the national-level over gay marriage."

Earlier today, I wrote a political friend;

" ...Just thought that I'd vent a bit on my feelings about LCR-New Jersey in-light of Sen. Corzine's apparent coronation as our next Democratic Governor.

It's now been 10-months (I just checked my e-mail logs) and we still do not have a New Jersey or North Jersey chapter started...and the Governor's race is apparently already over. If you remember, we did have that abortive meeting Oct 20th with Jeff Cook from LCR-Natl., and that was muddled and had absolutely no impact on the Presidential or Federal races as we had already lost the 2004 campaign-season.

I have since have several e-mail exchanges on the subject of a follow-up meeting for LCR-NJ, the last of which has gone unanswered. At this point I have to wonder if "they" (the North Jersey group, or LCR-Natl) have abandoned the idea of New Jersey being able to have an effective LCR chapter, ...(deleted by author)... My current thought is that LCR just doesn't have the outreach resources for NJ, or just doesn't care.

At one level, I can see there being a political calculus to not waste resources and time in New Jersey, and devote them instead to states where LCR might make a difference. I note the lavish attention and press spent on the effort in California by LCR-Natl and LCR-California to establish an dedicated outpost in Sacramento, Ca. California is a electorally-massive state, and is home to millions of gays and to many gay-enclaves and gay-centric cities and towns. It's also the base of several gay-friendly Republicans and Republican organizations outside the LCR. By comparison, the bulk G/L community here is a reflection of the urban, radicalized Liberal-Democratic G/L communities of New York City and Philadelphia. Also, here in NJ our Republican elected-officials are predominately of the Social-Right and the county Republican organizations are fairly homophobic in outlook considering their Evangelical support. I certainly would place my own Congressman in that category, "pro-life" is his main campaign stump-speech and claim to fame. I can see where LCR-Natl might well just write us off as not worth the effort.

At the moment, I feel isolated and politically-abandoned."

A Wonderful Quote

The perfect putdown to the Islamofascist bombers.

"... I would have been happy to have died voting at the time of this explosion, because this is terrorism mixed with rudeness," said Saif Aldin Jarah, 61, a balding man with white hair who leaned on his daughter, Shyamaa, as he shuffled into the afternoon sunlight after casting his ballot.
"When terrorism becomes aimless and without a goal, it becomes rudeness," Jarah said, holding aloft a finger stained purple with indelible ink. "How could they force people not to vote?"

washington post, Jan30-2006

In harm's way....

"A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user."

--- Pres. Theodore Roosevelt

A moving pictorial tribute to our troops on this weekend of the Iraqi election. God speed....

Hat-tip to Andrew Sullivan.

When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.

---Japanese Proverb

Dignity of the Individual

In light of Bush's back-track on aggressively supporting FMA and the pre-Stonewall tale from Bush's college days at BoifromTroy relates, I have to wonder where the man really stands vs. Mr. Rove-in-the-machine's homophobia. Particularly considering the several senior officials at the RNC are openly-gay, CFO Banning and deputy Political Dir. Gurley, that GOP Party Chrmn. Ken Mehlman is "very gay-friendly". The new GOP Party Co-chair Jo Ann Davidson of Ohio is both gay-friendly and pro-choice. And Bush and Cheney have openly-supported civil unions for states that want them.

Now that the 2004 Election-season is over, I'm cautiously optimistic...

Inaugural Thoughts

From the Fox-TV Transcript.... (20 Jan 2005)

"... Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. "
---A nice parallel to Lincoln's "...as I would not be a slave, I would not be a master".

"... In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and the G.I. Bill of Rights. And now we will extend this vision by reforming great institutions to serve the needs of our time. "
---An interesting choice of programs to cite.

"... To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools, and build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance - preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society. By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear, and make our society more prosperous and just and equal. "
---"The Ownership Society" may be the biggest idea to change the political language in DC, in the manner of the Square Deal, the New Deal and the Great Society.

".... And our country must abandon all the habits of racism, because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time. "
---I wonder if this applies to the G/L Community as-well? He's often spoken of the dignity of the Individual.

I thought it interesting that he cited the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Quran. And tyranny seems to be the new "word", echoing Secy-designate Rice's Six Pillars of Tyranny comments during her Senate confirmation. The choice of language is interesting in-light of the Islamic Six Pillars of Faith...incorporating Islamic religious-language into the predominantly Biblical-language of American politics.

I believe and I say it is true Democratic feeling, that all the measures of the government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

---William Henry Harrison, Speech, October 1, 1840
US general and politician (1773 - 1841)

Shades of William Henry Harrison

Nick Gillespie at Reason has this charming quote about Bush...till you read it the second-time.

"...George W. Bush, arguably the savviest politician—and certainly the most underrated—to occupy the White House since Bill Clinton, won't fall victim to pneumonia. But for his sake—and ours—here's hoping he doesn't fall victim to longwindedness."

To have doubted one's own first principles is the mark of a civilized man

--- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841 - 1935)

Out of Sync?

The "Bush White House" is singing a different tune that Mr. Bush himself it seems; which makes me wonder how long some of his "advisors" are going to be around. The elections are over with only some "electoral" issues in 2006 to consider when it comes to triangulation on the issues that Bush wants to be remembered for, he's already been re-elected. And there's no-one in the close-administration / family-circle who are already manuevering for 2008...so there's little electoral baggage. Brother Jeb has his own record and it's too-soon for George-P. Dick Cheney's not interested in the Presidency at this point, and none of the Cabinet Secys are leading contenders.

So I ask the question that I don't have the answer to---what does GW Bush NEED the Evangelicals for? The Rove-in-the-machines within the White House has sold their souls to the Evangelicals for favors-promised, but what does Bush need the Evangelicals for now? Social-secrity reform and the flat-tax?? I suspect not.

Are the mixed messages from Bush vs. those of"his" staff a sign that there is a missed-'half step' between Bush and Rove after all these years ? Several times now Bush has personally made statements out-of-sync withe his own "staff" and the "party-elites" on the subject of civil unions...and the man's famous for NOT going off-topic. And the leadership-circle at the top of the RNC-apparatus is not controlled by Rove and his Evangelicals; and is at-least "gay-friendly" on a personal-level.

The "old" George W. Bush was the hatchet-man in his mother's footsteps during Bush-41. I wonder if we might see some of Barbara-Sr's steel-like spine and long memory against those who crossed the family once Bush-43's 2nd term gets underway? There's George-P's legacy to keep in mind 12-to-16 years out for the family to consider.Not a conclusion, but something to chew-on....

Update:
Allow me to be clearer...I do NOT expect GW Bush to flip-flop in "gay marriage". That's a non-starter issue that not only the Evangelicals oppose on religious-grounds, but that many fair-minded people think is "too-far" outside religious-tradition and society. But, I do think it's conceivable that he will stand aside for "civil unions" in those states that want it...and might even go alone with Federally-recognising those civil unions just as the government recognises civil marriage and civil divorce for Federal-purposes. I do not see Bush supporting forcing states to recognize civil unions judicially or through Federal legislation.

I do think that Bush might sign an G/L-version of ENDA on the basis of fairness and the dignity of the individual; and would support ending DADT on the same basis....plus, we need the manpower

Crossing Over

David Von Drehle has a great column of the Red Sea of America.

".... This Red Sea does not appear on any map but one. Or let's say, it appears most clearly on one particular map. This map is marked with the boundaries of the 3,141 counties or county equivalents in the 50 United States. Counties where Kerry won more votes than President Bush are colored blue. The rest, the counties carried by Bush, are red. See?

Blue islands and blue archipelagos, a blue isthmus here, a blue peninsula there, rise in a Red Sea that stretches from coast to coast. Rise quite literally, in many cases, because blue country is often marked by skyscrapers and high-rise condos and state capitol domes and university clock towers. Red country, as we shall see, is often quite flat. In some parts of the country, red and blue are as closely intermingled as water and land in the Louisiana bayou.

Where we went, it was wide open sea. ..."

It is nobler to declare oneself wrong than to insist on being right - especially when one is right.

--- Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

A Matter of Perspective?

GayPatriotWest and GayPatriot have commented ....

".... The real question isn't where the GP site is the "new" Andrew Sullivan. The question is was Andrew Sullivan ever anything more than a blow with the wind conservative? The other term for that is -- a Clinton Democrat. If the polls supported the war in Iraq by over 66%, Sully was for it. If they start to head down below 50%, Sully bolts. He reminds me of a Philadelphia Eagles fan, circa 2004. . . . . Andrew's main problem is that he, along with his fellow Clinton Democrats, do not understand Red State (and the majority of) America. He admits he doesn't like or "get" country music, for example. ...."

As someone who checks Andrew's 'blog first-thing logging-on, I thought I share what I posted on Polipundit today on this same topic;

"I support Andrew, even at those times when I don't agree with him, for his candor. Though I do think that he's a "Blue State"-conservative. By this I mean, he lives in the predominantly gay-safe, predominately-Democratic urban enclaves of Dupont Circle and Provincetown, he doesn't own or drive a car, and he's deeply immersed in the urban/gay-culture on a daily basis. He's a stranger-in-a-strange-land that's to his political- and personal-Left.

AIDS and gay marriage are in his own home, but many of the other issues that non-Blue State members of the gay/lesbian community deal with are not common to his daily-life. At times this allows him the freedom to pick and choose his affronts and travails. I don't think he understands the gay community or it's experiences outside of the Beltway and the Cape here in Red America. He doesn't have the life-experiences of dealing with Red American-parents, oblivious employers, and a level of outsider-ness that many other conservative gay Republicans experience both with straight-America, and from the predominantly-Left gay communities...either where we live, or those of the gay, urban "Blue enclaves".

While I respect his opinions, I really would encourage him to spend two or three months traveling through the Heartland and the Midwest by car or motorhome. Like many in the HRC and the LCR, he talks about Red America from Blue America; but I'm not so sure he has a sense of the volkgeist of Red America...both straight and gay. "

"...and the Republic for which It Stands"

Republic or Democracy? Walter E. Williams has a concise commentary.

".... In recognition that it's Congress that poses the greatest threat to our liberties, the framers used negative phrases against Congress throughout the Constitution such as: shall not abridge, infringe, deny, disparage, and shall not be violated, nor be denied. In a republican form of government, there is rule of law. All citizens, including government officials, are accountable to the same laws. Government power is limited and decentralized through a system of checks and balances. Government intervenes in civil society to protect its citizens against force and fraud but does not intervene in the cases of peaceable, voluntary exchange. "

I support the Republic and it's Electoral College.

Simple Rules to Live by...

I would suggest the following protocol that my farmer brothers observe;

1. Animals that you customarily give names to are not eaten; dogs, cats, horses, family pets.

2. Animals without names or identified by numbers are delicious; cows, goats, sheep, rabbits, any sort of fowl, etc...

3. If you give a name to any animal usually in category-2, then you can't eat it. Though you might sell it to someone else who will. This means if you plan to eat that cow or turkey, don't give it a "name".

4. Never lie to children about Rule-3, they'll never forgive you.


For Hunting the rules are simplier;

1. If it's "game" or fowl, then your obligated to eat it or give it to someone who will. The dogs and cats are family, so they can enjoy it for you. Some food-banks accept butchered game, check you state's game-laws first.

2. If it's varments (woodchucks typically), vermin or pests.... or game that you can hold within one-hand (ie. small game birds and fowl)....then it's best to re-cycle back into nature respectfully.

Time to Run for Local-Office?

Chuck Wolfe at the Victory Fund makes a very pointed observation that applies to G/L activists with both political parties. There's more to political action than just signing a check, or waving placards and chanting. And we need to desperately spread our base beyond just the major Blue Cities and the Beltway; we need participation on local boards, municipal councils and county committees, not as G/L activists alone, but as good citizens of both parties conference and active within our communities.

" .... Achieving our equality is our responsibility. We cannot outsource this to any political party, national candidate or lobby. The strategies should be ours and we should own the outcome. Our election partnerships need to be built around specific issues in each state and jurisdiction; there is no 'one size fits all' in politics. By addressing local community concerns and cultivating long-term relationships with leaders and electorates we almost always dissolve prejudice and overcome obstacles that have formerly hindered our electoral success. And, though progress may seem stalled at the federal level at this moment, our community ensures its own success and accomplishment every single year with every qualified gay and lesbian candidate we elect. "