The Day I met Ernie Harwell

I woke up this morning to the sad news that baseball broadcaster extraordinaire Ernie Harwell passed away last night from bile duct cancer, at age 92.

For those who didn't grow up or get to experience listening to Mr. Harwell on the radio, it would be hard to describe the bond that exists between him and us, even though most of us never met the man. He represents warm summer days, the smell of hot dogs and cigarette smoke in the air, and the greenest grass you ever saw as you walk into old Tiger Stadium. You sit with him in your back yard with a beer and good friends, or as you're doing yard work, or as you lay in bed after midnight listening to the late game on the west coast. Your mind's eye can see Tram and Lou turning that double play, Al Kaline hauling one in at the warning track, Lolich mowing down the Cards three times, or Gibby taking Goose Gossage deep. Or the man from Onstead catching the foul ball. Ernie is baseball - the joys, the trials, the hopes, the dreams, and the memories of summers past - for all of us who had the privilege of listening to him over the years. He is the connection to Cobb and Stengel and DiMaggio and Williams and Robinson and all the names large and small from the history of baseball, because he knew them all, and had stories for each of them.

A few years back, after he had retired from broadcasting, Ernie came to my building as part of his work with Blue Cross. He was signing autographs and posing for pictures and talking with his fans. I had brought a copy of his book "Tuned to Baseball" and I hoped to ask him to autograph it, but I began to get cold feet about going up there. What do you say to a legend? How do you strike up a conversation with a man like him, like it's nothing at all? I almost didn't go, but my friend down the hall, Eddie, kicked my butt about it, and told me how much I would regret it if I didn't go up there. So I did. I screwed up my courage and went up to the room he was in.

There were quite a few people there, and there was Ernie standing behind a table with Blue Cross "stuff" on it, signing baseballs and whatever else was handed to him. My first thought on seeing him in person was what a tiny man he was. He seemed to be about 5'-6", and might have weighed 100 pounds soaking wet. Not at all what I expected. But the big smile and the warmth you could feel even through the radio were there. When it was my turn I handed him my book, and he said "Wow - that's an old one" as he signed the inside flyleaf. I don't even remember what I said to him beyond telling him my name and thanking him for the autograph. I shook his hand and went back down to work. And that was it.

I told Eddie this morning how glad I was that he didn't let me off the hook when I was about to chicken out, because I got to meet Ernie instead of regretting for the rest of my life that I chickened out and didn't go.

So Godspeed, Mr. Harwell. I hope to meet you again when I get to heaven, and hopefully I won't be so tongue-tied then! Until that day, you have a place in the hearts and memories of a great multitude, who today are grateful for all that you gave us as we remember your life.

Thanks, Ernie.

Why Detroit will continue to FAIL

Once again The Paul W. Smith Show provides fodder for this blog. (I really need to meet Paul W. one of these days to thank him for all this stuff.)

Paul was interviewing Mayor Dave Bing this morning about the shooting death of a Detroit police officer, and Mayor Bing was doing a commendable job of talking about what happened with the class and dignity he is renowned for. If he would have stopped there I would have nothing but praise for him in performing this most difficult of mayoral duties. But then he veered off into the hackneyed liberal blame-speech that does nothing but make inanimate objects responsible for the problems Detroit faces. It was the old "we need to get handguns off the street" line.

Ladies and Gentlemen, if Mayor Bing feels the need to trot out these foolish old arguments, it merely reveals him as another in the line of "same old thing" politicians that have driven Detroit into the mess it's in over the last half-century or more. His worship of the usurper Barack Obama (also on display in this interview) merely adds more evidence that supports my contention.

To Mayor Bing (one more time): Inanimate objects do not cause crime. Inanimate objects do not commit crimes. People commit crimes. People use knives, fists, baseball bats, wood chippers, rocks, bricks, and tire irons to kill people - not just guns. They have been doing so for the six millenia of human history, and they will continue to do so as long as this world continues to exist.

To the People of Detroit: as long as you continue to elect clueless individuals to lead your city, you will never recover. Remember the common definition for insanity: doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results.

Finally, as the son of a Police officer, tragic events like this mornings shooting always hit home with me, and my heart and my prayers go out to the family of the slain officer. News reports indicate the officer leaves behind a wife and 10 year old son. I never thought about my dad going off to work one day and never coming home when I was a kid, but this young man gets to live with that reality for the rest of his life. If you are the praying sort, please remember this family before God today.

My Favorite Irish Song

Inspired by the offerings at Lagniappe's Lair today, I offer my own favorite Irish song, which I always thought was called "The Bricklayer's Song", but it also has the alternate title "Dear Boss":

A couple of Obama voters

Priceless

Asian Carp and Strange Bedfellows

That moving of the earth you folks in Chicago this week was not, as some have expressed, an earthquake. Actually, it was caused by me agreeing with environmentalist wackos, as expressed in this headline in today's Detroit News: "Environmental groups say plan to fight asian carp not enough". http://www.detnews.com/article/20100212/METRO/2120423/Environmental-groups-say-plan-to-fight-Asian-carp-not-enough

This invasive species is a huge threat to the economy of the Great Lakes, yet the fedgov (read Obama. Where is he from again? Oh yeah, CHICAGO) and the Governors of Illinois and Indiana oppose the only sure way to keep them out of Lake Michigan (and every other lake, river, and stream that connects to it), which is closing the locks of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship canal.

We are talking tens of billions of dollars in economic impact to Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Not to mention the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. And yet we can't shut the damned doors.

I'm happy to consider other solutions, but close the damned doors first. That will give us time to figure out what those other solutions are, without sacrificing the economies of the states and provinces already mentioned.

The Governess has a budget proposal?

It appears that Governess Granholm has a budget proposal out, and she has been making the rounds in the media to try to explain it and garner support.

I have to ask - after seven years of tax increases and fiscal ineptitude from the Granholm administration, why should any taxpayer in Michigan believe that she has any answers at all to the problems Michigan is facing?

This thing should be rejected posthaste.

Granholm: "Budget process broken"

I have been chewing on this statement from the Governess' "State of the State" speech this week, and I think in a sense she is right. But not the way she thinks she is. What really needs to happen, at all levels of government, is that politicians need to let go of the idea that government exists to solve every problem and meet every need (real or imagined).

For instance - do we really need a "Pure Michigan" campaign funded by the state government? If we didn't tax the life out of businesses, a private organization like the Chamber of Commerce could have done something like this very easily, out of the dues its members pay or out of a special fund that businesses could contribute to. Gee, that would create jobs for marketing people, publicity people, graphic artists, TV and radio production people, etc. All without spending one penny of tax dollars.

In this era of declining tax revenues, shrinking tax bases, and high unemployment, the conversation needs to be about what do we really need to have government do for us, not how we can preserve what we have and expand it at every turn, and squeeze more money out of our citizens to do it with. Let's see...Department of Commerce? Delete. Department of Education? Delete. Department of Labor and Economic Growth? Delete. Department of Natural Resources? Radically downsize (we do need to keep the Asian carp out, after all).

Wow - I'll bet that's a couple billion right there!

The Scott Heard 'Round the World

Yes, I have shamelessly ripped off my title for this post, because I thought it was a great line!

For the last day or so I have been enjoying the delicious irony of a Republican taking over Chappaquiddick Ted's recently vacated Senate seat, and I most heartily congratulate Senator-elect Brown on his victory. You are symbolic of the fight being waged to overthrow the facist-in-chief and his band socialist tyrants, and you are a message to all Congresscritters about just who they work for.

However, in listening to Senator-elect Brown in news reports yesterday, a note of dissonance began to form as he talked about health care. His campaign rhetoric was all about being the 41st vote against Obamacare, but his remarks yesterday went something like this: "I want everyone to have health care, just not this way."

This leaves a very big door wide open in my mind. Government intrusion into the health care system is what has made it so ponderous and expensive (that and the ambulance chasers), and Senator-elect Brown's remarks give the impression that he is OK with continued government intrusion, or even a government program, just not the Obamacare monstrosity.

Now, at this point I am willing to give him a slight benefit if the doubt. Perhaps his exuberance at his miraculous win has caused him to misspeak, or perhaps the press has edited out some disclaimers he might have made (Noooo. That would never happen. Would it?)

But it would behoove us all to keep a weather-eye on Senator Brown, and if he strays too far out of line, remind him of why he was sent there . It wasn't to give us Obamacare-lite, that's for darn sure.

For Legal Scholars out there...

...if you beat the crap out of some Jihadi while your plane is still in the air, when do you officially come under the jurisdiction of US law enforcement?

Just wondering.

The Foolishness of the "Rooney Rule"

I haven't done any sports commentary in a while, but I got a topic this week that really set me off. The National Football League has imposed the "Rooney Rule" (named for the late owner of the Pittsburg Steelers, Art Rooney) on its teams when they are searching for new head coaches (and perhaps other football positions as well). The Rooney Rule requires NFL teams to include minority candidates in the interview processes when they are looking to hire a new coach.

Now, I understand that the NFL is a private association and can impose whatever rules it wants to on its members. I don't have a problem with that. All I am saying is, as with all other "affirmative action", their hearts may (may!) have been in the right place, but the practical results are not at all what they wanted to achieve. I give you this week's hiring of Pete Carroll as head coach by the Seattle Seahawks as exhibit A.

Mr. Carroll has NFL head coaching experience, but only around a .500 winning percentage with the New York Jets and New England Patriots. Past record may or may not indicate future performance (see Joe Torre before he took over the Yankees), and he does have a nine-year track record of success at the University of Southern California, including a National Championship. So objectively you would expect some level of competence from him, and you wouldn't necessarily argue with the selection.

Ahh, but there's that Rooney Rule. News reports over the weekend indicated that Mr. Carroll's hiring was being held up because the Seahawks had to interview their token minority candidate. Everyone, including this minority candidate, knew what was going on, and that he had no chance of getting that job, that Pete Carroll was the guy the Seahawks wanted. But this poor guy had to schlep all the way to Seattle, and the Seahawks brass had to pretend like they were interviewing him, just to show that they were "diverse". And of course, so they didn't get a hefty fine from the NFL.

I feel sorry for the "minority" guy. How must he have felt after being used this way? If I were a minority with an ounce of self-respect, I would tell any team who wants to use me like this to kiss off. It might damage my career, but at least I have my self-respect. Which is more important?

Anyone who thinks that this kind of thing is good for either party, really, you need to pull your head out of the little imaginary world you live in. Perhaps you have had a recent head injury?

Now, before the race baiters swoop in and accuse me of being some kind of white supremacist, let me state that I in no way believe in any kind of segregated society whatsoever, nor do I believe in any kind of privilege for anyone based on what are described as racial characteristics. Indeed, the science of genetics tells us that the physical characteristics that we humans use to group people by "race" (skin color, eye shape, etc.) account for a difference of 0.012% between us. * Folks, that is twelve one-thousandths of one percent. And that is statistically insignificant. So we can say that there is really only one race - the human race. Yes, there are variations within humankind, just like there are variations between dog-kind or horse-kind or camel-kind. But they're still dogs, horses, and camels. And humans.

So, since we're in Obama's "post-racial" America, perhaps the NFL will scrap its ill-conceived "Rooney Rule" as being un-necessary, and get down to the business of evaluating coaching talent based on achievement and not the outmoded concept of race.

*S.C. Cameron and S.M. Wycoff, The destructive nature of the term race: growing beyond a false paradigm, Journal of Counseling & Development, 76:277–285, 1998 (via Answers in Genesis website)

Christians the new Negros?

A very thought provoking article by Dr. Kenneth Hucherson: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=118459

Here's the introduction:

I did not become a Christian so I would have to fight for my constitutional freedoms all over again.

Growing up in Alabama being black, knowing how that felt and the way I was treated in an all-white world of power and control, I had to fight for equal rights under the Constitution. How ironic now as a Christian to have those same thoughts and feelings again and to have to try and wrestle control of my constitutional rights from the secular community.

Foolish Pro-Lifers in US House

Full disclosure: I am an unabashed, full-on, no holds barred, committed pro-life voter. I am not a single-issue voter, but pro-life is one of my litmus tests.

Having said that, I must comment on the foolishness exhibited by the pro-life caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives this past weekend. It was typified by the email I got from "Americans United for Life", whose email alerts I subscribe to. They were crowing about a great victory they had won over pro-abortion factions in the House, as the Stupak et.al. amendment was passed as part of the onerous and misnamed "Health Care Reform Bill" approved this past weekend.

It seems to me that the best way for them to have been true to their position was to kill the Bill entirely. That way current federal law prohibiting funding of abortions would have remained in effect. But apparently, in order to make a headline and to appear effective, they achieved a Pyrrhic victory (which will be undone in conference), while giving some pro-life democrats the political cover they needed to be able to vote for the bill without offending their pro-life constituencies.

Given the fact that this bill passed by only 3 votes, it will be a costly victory for them in the end, both politically and in human lives.

So way to go you knuckleheads - you just made it a whole lot easier for the president and his cadre to roll back three decades of work. Just so you could thump your chest a little. I'm sure those babies that might have had a chance for life will give you all the thanks you deserve when you meet them in heaven.

Oh, and I unsubscribed from "Americans United for Life". However, since they didn't seem to have a "Comments" link, I couldn't tell them why. Oh well.

Here's why I oppose Michigan's new Enhanced Drivers License

Not to mention the federal "RealID" program.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=565&tag=nl.e550

August 10th, 2009

Fed's RFIDiocy pwnd at DefCon

Posted by Robin Harris @ 2:17 am

Categories: Infrastructure, Public policy, Security

Tags: Federal Reserve Board, RFID, Wireless And Mobility, Security, Biometrics, Robin Harris

NSA spooks gather for a colleague’s retirement party at a bar. What they don’t know is that an RFID scanner is picking them out - and a wireless Bluetooth webcam is taking their picture.

Could that really happen? It already did.

The Feds got a taste of the real world risks of RFID passports and IDs at DefCon, the annual hacker conference. According to Wired:

. . . federal agents at the conference got a scare on Friday when they were told they might have been caught in the sights of an RFID reader.

The reader, connected to a web camera, sniffed data from RFID-enabled ID cards and other documents carried by attendees in pockets and backpacks as they passed a table where the equipment was stationed in full view.

RFIDiots
The goal at DefCon was awareness, not crime. But as organized tech mobs grow it won’t be long before crime - or terrorism - exploits the gaping security holes in RFID.

Chris Paget, the researcher who demo’d drive-by scanning early this year

. . . will be releasing a $50 kit at the end of August that will make reading 125-kHz RFID chips — the kind embedded in employee access cards — trivial. It will include open source software for reading, storing and re-transmitting card data and will also include a software tool to decode the RFID encryption used in car keys for Toyota, BMW and Lexus models. This would allow an attacker to scan an unsuspecting car-owner’s key, decrypt the data and open the car.

RFID Bad Day: you get fired because a bunch of office equipment went missing after someone with your ID entered the office at 1 AM. And when you go to your car, it isn’t there.

Cloning on the fly
Adam Laurie, another researcher and author of the RFIDiot (RFID I/O tool), an open source python library, said

It takes a few milliseconds to read [a chip] and, depending on what equipment I’ve got, doing the cloning can take a minute. I could literally do it on the fly.

Mr. Paget even demo’d a wired doorframe that collects RFID data as people walk through it. Handy, eh?

The Storage Bits take
Perhaps now that federal security gurus have been pwnd the RFID threat will get some serious attention. Like, maybe this isn’t such a great idea, attention.

Maybe that will be enough to start the wheels turning, but with hundreds of millions of dollars already spent on this stupidity, I’m afraid that someone, somewhere, will have to die before citizens figure out that this is a real, increasing and unnecessary risk.

The technology for reading, hacking and cloning RFID tags will only get better. The mass production machinery behind the tags can’t keep up with the security threats.

The time to end this nonsense is now. There are perfectly usable non-RF storage technologies - like 3D barcodes - that can safely store data in hard to crack, hard to hack formats.

The President is Lying to You

Here's why:

1. He said the "Stimulus Package" would get the economy going again. Thousands and thousands of layoffs later, national unemployment rate nearing 10% (nearing 20% here in Michigan), massive national debt (large amounts of which are held by governments who bear us no good will), and declining tax revenues at all levels (because businesses are failing and people are saving their money instead of spending it, not to mention those who are laid off and not making any money for you to tax). The only ones that really believe things are getting better are the ones who have sold their souls to Obama for their own political and personal gain.

George W. Bush screwed up the economy. Obama makes him look like a little-leaguer. Bush seemed to be out to show how many principles of sound economics he could violate and still have a viable economy. Obama is out to destroy capitalism and implement national socialism, and having a viable economy has no place in those plans.

2. Nationalization of Banking and Manufacturing. Despite his denials, Obama and his minions are pulling the strings at all of the banks and financial institutions and car companies which were bailed out of failure over the last year. If he and his "czars" are reviewing, changing, and denying compensation packages for the individuals who work there, do you really think he isn't doing the same thing with the decisions about everything else those companies do?

For the record, when I bought a car this past spring, I purposely bought a Ford because they were the only U.S. Automaker not to take a federal bailout and become a part of the Obama Borg.

3. Nationalization of Healthcare. Obama says we will be able to keep our current coverage, choose our own doctors, and our healthcare will be better and cheaper. Yet, in every other country where nationalized, government administered, government controlled healthcare has been implemented, you get long waits, substandard treatement, rationing, and less innovation, and higher taxes. Insurance companies, who must show a profit to continue to operate, cannot compete with a government-run entity that does not have to show a profit. They will go out of business, and the only option left will be the government plan, which will suck (to use a technical term). Obama can stand up in front of a million townhall meetings and lie to every one of them about how wonderful his plan is, but he can no more change the laws of economics than he can the law of gravity.

4. No middle-class tax increase. Three words: Cap. And. Trade. Your utility bills will be going up because of this plan by over a thousand dollars a year according to estimates. These increases will be necessary in order for the utility companies to implement the "green" energy mandates in this stinker of a bill. That is about $100 per month extra you and I will have to come up with just to pay our bills. So while it isn't called an income tax increase, the money goes out of your checkbook all the same. When it's because of a law passed by Congress, that's a tax increase folks.

So here's a question for you Mr. President, in my own little virtual town hall meeting: When are you going to stop lying to the world about what you are trying to do? When are you going to admit that you are trying to destroy the foundations of this nation and turn it into your own vision of a Socialist utopia? A utopia that has never, can never, and will never exist?

"Cars for Clunkers": Warning! Do not log in to cars.gov!

I admit that I am incredibly wary of anything the government says or does. I especially believe that the bunch in charge in DC now do not consider the Constitution as binding on them or any obstacle to what they want to do to this country. They will use the Constitution when it is convenient for them or suits their purposes, but they will ignore vast sections of it when it opposes them. I offer as exhibit A their treatment of the Second Amendment. Heck, I'll even give you exhibit B with their treatment of the First Amendment free speech rights when that speech is conservative in content and nature.

This video is exhibit C today. Now, you may think Glen Beck is some far-right crackpot conspiracy theorist goofball, but in this video he quotes directly from the cars.gov website privacy notice which you have to agree to before you can use the site. Pay close attention to that part of the video:


Now do you really want to use that "Cash for Clunkers" program and give up all your computer privacy in perpetuity to the federal government and anyone they think needs what you have on your computer?

Not this little gray duck.

8/4 UPDATE: Read a note discussing this clip from a guy who is a Fedgov computer security analyst, and said this is standard for any federal computer system, and it's no big deal. No big deal. No big deal? You give the government permission to take any file they want to out of your computer, and to install any monitoring software they want to into your computer, and it's no big deal?

Sorry, I personally think it's a big deal.

8/12 UPDATE: It seems that the text of the Terms of Use have now been changed to remove the offending statements. If it was just Standard Operating Procedure, why the change? The cynic in me says "Now they'll just take it over without your permission".

Commentary on the state of Michigan roads

My friend Aaron over at The Shekel Blog has a short, direct, and to-the-point comment on the state of our nasty Michigan roads. Read it here.

Cleaning a Milsurp - Adventures in Gunk!

Today was a day for cleaning guns. Last Sunday I was out shooting with my Dad, and I had taken my Yugoslavian Mauser rifle (M24/47 in 8mm Mauser caliber) and I hadn't cleaned it yet, which I try to do quickly after shooting surplus ammo since it is likely corrosive.

Well, time got away from me and it wasn't until today that I had time to clean it. So I started with a wet patch to get things dissolving in there, let it sit for a few minutes, then brushed it (15-20 strokes), then a couple more wet patches, followed by a dry patch. I repeated this sequence a couple of times, and it seemed that I was making no headway - every patch came out black with grime. I also started to see a blue-green stain on the patches, indicating copper fouling.

Well, I decided I was going to give my homemade electric bore cleaner another try. The principle behind these things is reverse electroplating - that is, you run an electrical charge through the gun, and whatever is stuck to the bore is attracted to the electrode you put in the bore (a steel rod) and it sticks to that instead of your bore. There is a solution of ammonia, vinegar, and water that you pour into the barrel that causes this reaction to happen when you apply current. You basically wire up a cheap flashlight to provide the DC electrical current and let 'er unplate.

I had tried this a while back with an old transformer from a cell phone charger or some such, but my brother-in-law (who has worked with industrial plating equipment) told me that these do not produce true DC, which is what is required for the electroplating process. He told me the batteries are my best bet, so I got the flashlight and hooked it all up. (If you want to try it yourself, check out surplusrifle.com for instructions on how to build one - it shouldn't cost more than $20 for all the parts you need)

Based on the amount of crud and gunk that I have gotten out of this rifle today, I have to conclude that the Yugoslavian Army never cleaned it's guns. Two separate sessions with the converted flashlight, plus another 70 or so strokes with the bore brush, and at least that many wet and dry patches, and I am still getting gunk out of that bore.

And the funny thing is, the rifle was pretty accurate last weekend when I shot it. I wonder if it will be any better once I get the crud out of the bore.

Sucked in by Geoffrey Feiger

I come to use my blog as a confessional today, to admit to the world that I was foolish enough to believe there was some redeeming quality in Geoffrey Feiger. This situation was brought on by my habit of listening to The Paul W. Smith Show on WJR radio in the morning. Michigan residents well remember ol' Geoffrey from his days as Jack Kevorkian's defense attorney, and one-time Democrat candidate for Governor of this state. Paul will, from time to time have Geoffrey on as a guest, and he and Feiger seem to have a fairly cordial relationship despite their philosophical differences.

When I turned on the radio they were conversing about fatherhood after age 50 (Feiger apparently has a 2-year-old), and about Feigers prolific intake of vitamins and supplements. As I listened I began to think that despite his tendancy to rant to the point of exaggeration about some legal battle he is currently fighting, that there is a human side to the man that one can respect despite the differences.

Then the conversation turned to things political, and Feiger started railing about the greedy, corrupt corporations, and the greedy, corrupt John Engler (can't forget him) and how they were the cause of all the ills now befalling Detroit, Michigan, and the country. Paul W prodded Feiger a little by saying that certainly people like Barney Frank had a hand in the current economic and financial woes we are all facing. Feiger expanded his condemnation to politicians as well. All from a socialist point of view, but some of his targets were well worth hitting.

From there he made the startling statement that the cure for all these economic maladies was - wait for it - National Health Care. The auto companies and suppliers, quoth he, were forced into failure because of their massive health care costs, and if we were to relieve them of the burden of paying for their employees health care to the insurance companies who charged exhorbitant premiums and racked up massive profits, they wouldn't be in the state they are in now!

At this point I decided that getting into the shower was more important than listening for one more second to Geoffrey Feiger' lunacy, and so I didn't hear if Paul W pointed out his folly to him. In case he didn't, I'm going to.

Geoffrey, I have some questions for you: First, why is it that insurance companies have to charge such high premiums? Is not one major reason that shyster attorneys have found it lucrative to sue these insurance companies often, and frivolously? And are not many of these cases brought not because of anything the Doctors or Hospitals did wrong, but because the patient didn't get the outcome they wanted? Geoffrey, I don't know if you have brought any such cases, but some of your attorney bretheren assuredly have, and this is a widely recognized cause of high medical costs. Not the only one, but a big one. And one you can't lay at the feet of any greedy corporate types or politicians. No, this one is on the greedy lawyers.

Here's another question for you, Geoff (may I call you Geoff?). How exactly is a National Health Care program funded? You and I both know the answer to that one: Taxation. So your proposal is instead of paying premiums to those unscrupulous, greedy, no-account insurance companies, we're instead going to pay more taxes to those honest, selfless, abounding in compassion politicians? Is that what you are telling us? Oh, wait - you just finished agreeing with Paul W that politicians are just as greedy and corrupt as the insurance companies. Hmmm - I'm sensing a disconnect here.

Right now, if a business is not satisfied with the insurance provider's rates or service, that business is free to choose a different plan that more closely meets their needs. That's called freedom, Geoff. No one puts a gun to your head and forces you to continue with substandard service. But how do you choose another provider when the only provider is the Government? Do you stop paying taxes until changes are made in the system? Yeah, that will go over really well with the ol' .gov tax collectors. They will, in fact, send out men with guns to arrest you and force you to pay up, or they will take away everything you have and then throw you in jail for a few years to ponder your sins against the almighty (and benevolent) government. While your wife and kids are forced to fend for themselves while you are doing your time. Where's the freedom in that, Geoff?

Just one more question, for you Geoff - and you're a lawyer, so you will understand this one: what evidence can you offer that a National Health Care program will be more efficient, less costly, and more sensitive to the needs of patients than what we have now? Let me save you a little time here: YOU CAN'T! Europe and Canada have given us ample evidence that Government-run health systems are the most expensive, least compassionate, least oriented toward patients organizations that you will find. They are rife with incompetance, corruption, and bad care, and they run their respective economies into the ground. Why does anyone in their right mind think that this is better? How can you sit there and advocate for such a thing with a straight face?

No Geoffrey, you are clearly a fool of the highest order. Or worse.

Monica Conyers to do no jail time?

Almost former Detroit City Council member and convicted felon Monica Conyers is looking for ways to convince judges she should not go to jail, reports The Detroit News this morning.

Seriously? You take bribes, and you expect to get off scot-free? You should get ten years just for being a serial idiot!

Providentia blog calls for a tough sentence for Mrs. Conyers - something significantly more than the 120-days given to former Mayor and convicted felon Kwame Kilpatrick (which was a serious joke, by the way)

Reunion with an old frield

This was an extremely unexpected reunion, and a happy one at that.

In 1986 I bought a S&W Model 10-6 revolver as surplus from the Michigan State Police, after they transitioned to Sig 226's. This one seemed to have been a "carried much, shot little" gun, as there was a little holster wear, but everything else was in really nice shape. It was my first handgun, and it was a bit of a memento, as my Dad was a Sgt. in MSP at the time. It wasn't *his* gun, but it was *like* his. It looks pretty much like this one:

Well, this gun followed me through several moves, until about 1995 when my house was broken into by 3 juveniles, and the gun was stolen, along with some cash and jewelry. They left my .22 rifles and took the revolver! They caught the jerks soon after, but the Detective couldn't get them to tell him who they sold the gun to.

I never expected to see the gun again, but yesterday I got home and in the mail was a letter from the Police Department Property Division. I was bewildered for a moment, and then thought "I wonder if they found my gun", and sure enough, it was a notice to come and get your stolen gun!

I still had the original registration and bill of sale, so I hustled downtown on my lunch hour today and picked it up. It was a little worse for wear, and has some surface rust and other gunk on it, but it still seems to be in decent shape. I rubbed some oil on it, just because I couldn't stand for it to be sitting there uncared for for another minute, and I'll do a detail strip and clean this weekend.

It turns out the gun was recovered in 98, and has been sitting there waiting for the detectives to sign off on it. There seemed to be a case pending that was finally resolved and they could release it - I think that is what the officer told me.

So it was joy mixed with a little sadness that this gun had lain so long uncared for in the property room. But at least it's back in caring hands now!

6/23 update: Further inspection of the action revealed NO RUST! And the gunk on the outside seemed to be mildew from sitting in the property room for so long. The rear of the cylinder looks to have been scraped or ground on (why, I have no idea) but there are no major injuries to the old girl. I took it out to the range Sunday afternoon and shot a bunch of my wadcutter reloads through it, and it is just as accurate as you would expect an old school 4-inch Smith and Wesson revolver to be, holding inside the 3 inch circle at 25 yards when I did my part. I am so glad this gun is back in my safe! Now, a nice Hogue monogrip will finish it out for me. Next payday.

C.S. Lewis comments on the narcissist-in-chief

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies, The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

"Hey - We Won. Get over it"

We have been hearing this response from those on the left who are cramming socialism down the throats of the American people.

Here is my response. It is the American response:

"You may have won the election. That does not give you the right to trample the Constitution your guy swore on oath to preserve, protect, and defend. If you are trampling the Constitution, your authority is compromised, and so is your right to maintain your office."

The Mess at DPS

That would be "Detroit Public Schools". Great article today at RightMichigan: http://www.rightmichigan.com/story/2009/4/9/103128/9367

(This is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs. Hope to see you at the Tea Party, Nick!)

Folks, if we want to save Detroit - if we want it to return to it's former status, it must first be allowed to fail. The school district is as good a place to start as any. It must fail so the entrenched bureaucrats can be broomed out, corrupt school board members prosecuted and incarcerated, and people who care about fiscal responsibility and the education of children (in that order) put in their places. That is what will save DPS. But you know that won't happen, because bureaucrats look out for their own, as this article points out.

Longtime readers know that I am no fan of public education, but these kids deserve more than what they are getting in Detroit.

A Note to Europe

Just a quick note to any European readers that might wander by: Our President is an idiot and you should not listen to him when he says we are sorry for stuff. We aren't. In fact, we're pretty angry that this empty suit with a teleprompter thinks that he can just go all over the world trashing the rest of us back here at home, and apologizing for imagined offenses against the world.

The truth is, you are about to see a world that is not protected by American strength and resolve. You are about to see a world where cowardice reigns, clothed in the expensive tailored suits of "diplomacy" and "negotiation". You are about to see a world where "senseless violence" becomes the norm, because these cowards in suits will not confront the bullys that preach and commit it.

The one thing you can say about Americans is that we were fools for even electing this fool. That is it.

"The Anschluss was Peaceful..."

My kids have had "The Sound of Music" on the brain since seeing a performance of it on Saturday by the local homeschool community, so they decided to watch the movie version yesterday. I happened to plunk down with them about the time that Capt. Von Trapp was on his honeymoon, and Herr Zoeller was getting antsy about carrying out his orders to whisk the Captain away to Bremerhaven. Upon returning from his honeymoon, Capt. Von Trapp is confronted by the reality of the Anschluss - the political union of Austria and Germany, and "Uncle Max" Detweiler's go along to get along attitude, encompassed by his observation that "...the Anschluss was peaceful."

As I watched, I was struck by the thought that we in the modern United States have also had our own Anschluss. It was voted in by the people (though admittedly, not the 97% the Nazi's garnered in the Austrian Anschluss), and the Government is changing into something resembling the National Socialists of those days, constitutional strictures notwithstanding.

The question is, will we who still love our country stand and fight for it, or will we passively let it be taken over by the National Socialists? It is a daunting task, and I must admit to a large dose of trepidation as I ponder my own place in it, and how it will affect my life and my family. But how can I (we) turn away? How can we just let the National Socialists have their way, and destroy the last bastion of liberty on the planet? It has already begun - the nationalization of the banking and financial systems, and the auto industry. Soon it will be the healthcare system, the transportation systems, and then infrastructure. The currency is being debased at a rate unprecedented outside the Weimar Republic or Zimbabwe, and the entire nation will soon be reduced to either abject poverty or total dependence on the fedgov. That will be the only choice left to us.

And so, as weak and disorganized as we are now, we must fight them. We must somehow find it in ourselves to be free men again, and not accept the rise of National Socialism, and the destruction of all we hold dear. We must understand the motto of New Hamphire: "Live Free or Die" once again, or we will descend into comfortable slavery. Or maybe not so comfortable.

Tigers Release Gary Sheffield

News over the sports wire today is that the Detroit Tigers have released DH Gary Sheffield.

My heart leaped with joy at this news, as Sheffield has been dead weight to this team over the last two years, and has done nothing to justify all the money he was paid. He has been a fragile, aging, ineffective, complainer for most of his stay here, and I'm glad to see that the Tigers will be giving his roster spot (and batting order spot) to someone who deserves it. Perhaps Marcus Thames will get the at-bats he deserves now, or someone like Jeff Larish, who is a left-handed bat with some pop the Tigers desperately need in their lineup.

Good luck to you Gary, I hope you find another team to hook up with, but I'm not sorry to see you go.

Barack Motors

A new automaking entity was created over the weekend: Barack Motors. Here is their logo.


The "On-Star" program is also being renamed to "O-Star", and the "turn-by-turn directions" feature will only give left turns in any route requested. Steering control programs will be automatically upgraded so that drivers will not have to think about which way to turn the wheel, it will only turn left. New features to be added will be an automatic tendency to drive off of cliffs, and revisions to the computerized information that mechanics use to diagnose problems with the car. It will now report back for every problem "Don't worry, Barack will fix it".

Seriously folks - where does the hubris of this man end? He now expects us to believe he knows how to fix the auto industry? From my perspective all he seems to know anything about is NCAA Brackets (now known as "Barack-ets").

The reality of it is, he has just signed the death warrant for the state of Michigan. We were on life support and he has just pulled the plug. Tens of thousands of auto workers in this state just lost their jobs. They may have still gone to work today, but they have no future. I wonder how happy they are with their union now - their union that was in the tank for Obama from the get-go? They've really got a lot of job security now, don't they? And all those laid-off autoworkers are streaming back to those factories that can't make enough cars to meet demand, aren't they?

Ladies and gentlemen, we are witnessing firsthand the destruction of the United States of America. And we have done it to ourselves by electing a fool as President.

Earth Hour

Lots of posters hanging up all around the office building this week promoting "Earth Hour" - a time to turn off your electrical stuff to save the planet. There was also a march scheduled from Spartan Stadium to Beaumont Tower at Michigan State University, where you would be given a free compact fluorescent light bulb.

Not one to sit idly by while this kind of foolishness happens, I created my own "Earth Hour" celebration. I turned on all three of the computers in my office, all the desk lamps, and the radio (to Rush Limbaugh, of course). I then got in my car and drove to Sam's Club to purchase paper products that had been bleached to pristine whiteness.

Unexpectedly adding to my festivities was the Michigan High School Basketball playoffs at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, and the new construction zone on US127. Both of these events caused large amounts of traffic in East Lansing, thus causing lots of sitting and idling while waiting for the ill-timed lights to allow us all through. And since the 127 construction includes bridge work, all the streets that pass under it are construction zones too, and reduced to 1 lane each way. So lots of gas was burned waiting for lights and looking for alternate routes around all the traffic.

It was the perfect way to celebrate Earth Hour!

George Kell

Sad news this morning, word that George Kell, Hall of Fame third baseman and longtime radio and TV announcer for the Detroit Tigers, has died.

I never saw George Kell play, except in an old-timers game on TV, (I think as part of an All-Star game) where he was playing second base (of all places). He must have been in his 70's at the time, but he went to his right on a grounder, dove, snagged the ball, came up throwing, and threw out the batter at first. I wish there was video of that play!

For me, George Kell was one of the voices of baseball that I grew up with, as he teamed with Larry Osterman, and later Al Kaline, to call Tigers games on TV until 1996. Ernie Harwell on the radio and George Kell on the TV calling Tigers games were things you could count on every summer. The current announcers do a fine job, but I think even they would admit to being spoiled for all those years listening to the likes of Kell, Harwell, Kaline, and Carey. They don't make 'em like those guys any more.

So Mr. Kell, thank you for all those warm summer nights describing baseball both good and bad, to kids like me who had no idea until much later how good we had it then.

Rest in Peace, sir.

The National Financial Mess

I haven't blogged recently - not for a lack of topics, but for the absolute abundance of topics. It's hard to know where to start - trying to drink from a firehose and all that. And since I am one of the few people left in Michigan still working (and I would like to keep it that way!) I haven't had time. But today I have a few minutes so...

I note with interest the calls for the resignation of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. He is, according to those doing the calling, completely over his head and out of his element, and is making a fool of himself and the Administration with his bumbling.

This may or may not be true, but I have to ask the followup question: "And replace him with whom?"

Ladies and Gentlemen, the fiscal and financial system of this country has been under the control of politicians, professional economists, and bankers for over a century now (some would say longer than that, but it makes no difference to my argument). What has been the effect of these "experts" having that control?

The easiest way to grasp what has happened is to relate it to some fixed point of reference - that is, something that is a known quantity that has a specific value or worth that isn't affected by the whims of markets or economies. I believe a great thing to use as a fixed point when talking about economics is gold. An ounce of gold is an ounce of gold, whether it's a thousand years ago or today. So let's talk about what these "experts" have done by using an ounce of pure 24-carat gold as our measuring stick.

In 1907, the famous Saint Gaudens gold "Double Eagle" coin was first minted, with a face value of twenty US dollars (USD). It contained nearly one ounce of fine gold. So for arguments sake we can say that around the turn of the last century, one ounce of gold was worth approximately twenty dollars. This is not collector value, just the value of the gold content if the coin were melted down. This was a circulating coin in those days - you could actually buy stuff with it.

For this month so far (as of Mar. 23, 2009) gold has traded anywhere from 880 to 960 US dollars per ounce, for an average of USD920 per ounce. So that is the number we'll use for this example. Plugging those numbers into the formula for percent increase: ((new -old)/old)*100 gives us ((920-20)/20)*100, which comes out to 4500%. That is, it takes 4500% more US dollars to buy that one ounce of gold than it did 100 years ago.

That, my friends, is how weak our currency is today, after 100 years of central management by all of these "experts". 100 years of currency inflation. 100 years of booms and busts and depressions and recessions. 100 years of ever increasing public debt, welfare, and bailouts. That is what you have gotten from all these "experts".

So you want Tim Geithner out? Fine - throw the bum out. But all you'll get is another one of the same clowns who has been destroying the value of the currency (and oh by the way your purchasing power and your retirement income) for the last century. Is that what you really want?

Think about it. And remember the oft-quoted definition of insanity: "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results".

Oh, by the way, the spot price of gold as I publish this is just over USD950. So it's even worse now than my example!

UN "Rights of the Child" Treaty - an Abomination that needs to die in the US Senate

Although I believe all Home Educators should oppose ratification of this treaty, it's ramifications go far beyond homeschooling, as this article points out. I urge everyone to contact your US Senators and tell them to OPPOSE the ratification of this treaty.

From WorldNetDaily today:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=87929

By Chelsea Schilling
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

A United Nations human rights treaty that could prohibit children from being spanked or homeschooled, ban youngsters from facing the death penalty and forbid parents from deciding their families' religion is on America's doorstep, a legal expert warns.

Michael Farris of Purcellville, Va., is president of ParentalRights.org, chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association and chancellor of Patrick Henry College. He told WND that under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, or CRC, every decision a parent makes can be reviewed by the government to determine whether it is in the child's best interest.

"It's definitely on our doorstep," he said. "The left wants to make the Obama-Clinton era permanent. Treaties are a way to make it as permanent as stuff gets. It is very difficult to extract yourself from a treaty once you begin it. If they can put all of their left-wing socialist policies into treaty form, we're stuck with it even if they lose the next election."

The 1990s-era document was ratified quickly by 193 nations worldwide, but not the United States or Somalia. In Somalia, there was then no recognized government to do the formal recognition, and in the United States there's been opposition to its power. Countries that ratify the treaty are bound to it by international law.

Although signed by Madeleine Albright, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., on Feb. 16, 1995, the U.S. Senate never ratified the treaty, largely because of conservatives' efforts to point out it would create that list of rights which primarily would be enforced against parents.

The international treaty creates specific civil, economic, social, cultural and even economic rights for every child and states that "the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration." It is monitored by the CRC, which conceivably has enforcement powers.

According to the Parental Rights website, the substance of the CRC dictates the following:

• Parents would no longer be able to administer reasonable spankings to their children.

• A murderer aged 17 years, 11 months and 29 days at the time of his crime could no longer be sentenced to life in prison.

• Children would have the ability to choose their own religion while parents would only have the authority to give their children advice about religion.

• The best interest of the child principle would give the government the ability to override every decision made by every parent if a government worker disagreed with the parent's decision.

• A child's "right to be heard" would allow him (or her) to seek governmental review of every parental decision with which the child disagreed.

• According to existing interpretation, it would be illegal for a nation to spend more on national defense than it does on children's welfare.

• Children would acquire a legally enforceable right to leisure.

• Teaching children about Christianity in schools has been held to be out of compliance with the CRC.

• Allowing parents to opt their children out of sex education has been held to be out of compliance with the CRC.

• Children would have the right to reproductive health information and services, including abortions, without parental knowledge or consent.

(Story continues below)

"Where the child has a right fulfilled by the government, the responsibilities shift from parents to the government," Farris said. "The implications of all this shifting of responsibilities is that parents no longer have the traditional roles of either being responsible for their children or having the right to direct their children."

Michael Farris

The government would decide what is in the best interest of a children in every case, and the CRC would be considered superior to state laws, Farris said. Parents could be treated like criminals for making every-day decisions about their children's lives.

"If you think your child shouldn't go to the prom because their grades were low, the U.N. Convention gives that power to the government to review your decision and decide if it thinks that's what's best for your child," he said. "If you think that your children are too young to have a Facebook account, which interferes with the right of communication, the U.N. gets to determine whether or not your decision is in the best interest of the child."

He continued, "If you think your child should go to church three times a week, but the child wants to go to church once a week, the government gets to decide what it thinks is in the best interest of the children on the frequency of church attendance."

He said American social workers would be the ones responsible for implementation of the policies.

Farris said it could be easier for President Obama to push for ratification of the treaty than it was for the Clinton administration because "the political world has changed."

At a Walden University presidential debate last October, Obama indicated he may take action.

"It's embarrassing to find ourselves in the company of Somalia, a lawless land," Obama said. "I will review this and other treaties to ensure the United States resumes its global leadership in human rights."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been a strong supporter of the CRC, and she now has direct control over the treaty's submission to the Senate for ratification. The process requires a two-thirds vote.

Farris said Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., claimed in a private meeting just before Christmas that the treaty would be ratified within two years.

In November, a group of three dozen senior foreign policy figures urged Obama to strengthen U.S. relations with the U.N. Among other things, they asked the president to push for Senate approval of treaties that have been signed by the U.S. but not ratified.

Partnership for a Secure America Director Matthew Rojansky helped draft the statement. He said the treaty commands strong support and is likely to be acted on quickly, according to an Inter Press Service report.

While he said ratification is certain to come up, Farris said advocates of the treaty will face fierce opposition.

"I think it is going to be the battle of their lifetime," he said. "There's not enough political capital in Washington, D.C., to pass this treaty. We will defeat it."

Ramos, Compean receive Commutation

Well, it's better than rotting in a jail cell for the next ten years, but frankly, it's like drinking a glass of warm spit. A pardon is what was deserved, Mr. Former President, under the circumstances. But commutation? That was the parting middle finger to all those men and women who are trying, with a shot glass, to bail out your leaky southern border lifeboat. If you had taken your duty to the country seriously and acted to secure the border instead of doing nothing, these guys (and many others like them) would never have had to deal with the vermin that infest our southern border. They would have stayed where they belonged. Instead, those who are defending (as best they can) our border, are prosecuted for DOING THEIR JOBS!

Boys, I'm glad you're getting out of the slam, and going home to your families who need you.

Al Franken is ...

...a big fat liar (to coin a phrase). Wall Street Journal story here.

Hereinafter, this lump of biomass will be referred to (when referred to at all) as "The Fraudulent Senator from Minnesota".

The Obama Test

Blogger Cassy Fiano linked to this test today, so I went over and took it.

Barack is very disappointed with me!


I only scored 24 on the Obama Test

What I can't understand is how I scored so high. She only scored 14!

0-16

I kept my word and didn't blog about the Detroit Lions after their second game, but today I am breaking my silence, since the season is over. We now know that it was over before it began.

This has been the most disgusting display of football ownership ever seen in professional sports. Yes, Mr. William Clay Ford, the blame for this forty-year debacle rests squarely on your shoulders. You are the one who has hired doofus coaches, doofus GM's, doofus scouts, all of which has lead to doofuses on the field. You wasted 10 years of Barry Sanders on Wayne Fontes and Bobby Ross. There should have been 2 or 3 Super Bowls in that span alone, but you can't pull your head out to find people to run your team! And all you had to do is look down the road about 20 miles to see how it's done, because there are teams in Auburn Hills and Detroit that have won championships and made an impact in their sport. I'm talking about the Pistons, Red Wings, and yes, even the Tigers.

It is so simple in concept: find people who are really, really good at what they do and put them in a position where they can let their talent and experience work to build up your team. Yes, you have to be able to find those people, but you should have enough contacts in the sport to find these people.

Bill Davidson and Mike Ilitch have both shown you the way, but apparently, Mr. Ford, you are unable to learn the lessons. You are satisfied with the losing, as long as there are butts in the seats. Well, how did that turn out for you this year? With a brand new stadium that is 20% empty, that's how!

And so with all of this mediocrity, this record-breaking badness, most owners with an ounce of common sense would broom the lot of these people and find new ones who could do the job. But what do you do, Mr. Ford? You promote them!!!!

Mark my words (and I'm sure I'm not the only one saying this): The Detroit Lions will never amount to anything until William Clay Ford is no longer the owner.

I think I may become a Titans or Panthers fan, or maybe even Atlanta. They at least have ownership that cares and players that can play. Certainly the Detroit Lions don't have many of those qualities going for them.

To Calvin Johnson and Kevin Smith: you deserve better than what you have here. Thank you for showing up and caring when everything was going to hell around you, but my advice to you is to play out your contract and leave for a team that will give you a chance to win. Just ask Barry Sanders about what playing in Detroit will do for you. The greatest running back ever to play the game quit because he was tired of the crap in Detroit. I was mad at him then - felt that he abandoned all of us Lions fans, but I don't blame him any more. I completely understand why he did what he did. Don't let it happen to you!!

I will probably always follow the Lions (call it "Battered Football Fan Syndrome"), but I will have no hope for them until WCF no longer owns the team.

Pausing to reflect on the season

Mostly, it seems, I blog about foolishness. Today, I'm taking a moment to blog about the foolishness of God. That may sound sacrilegious to some, but hear me out.

To a world that was violent, callous, and hard, God sent relief and redemption not in the form of a conquering army (as was expected), but in the weakness of a baby. What foolishness! To think that a baby would be able to do anything against the might of Rome, or the evil of men!

Yet on that night, that foolish story written from the foundation of time, foretold to Adam and Eve as they were expelled from Eden, and repeated by the prophets of old - began.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. (Luke 2:8-20)

Christmas has become the season for excessive spending, excessive eating, and all kinds of self-indulgence. But in reality, Christmas is the moment where God took upon himself our flesh in all its weakness and frailty, so that he could rescue us out of the sin that has enslaved us and restore us to our proper place in his kingdom, if only we would accept that rescue.

And so, from my house to yours, we wish you not just Merry Christmas, but all the blessings and joy that extend from the birth of that Savior. Gloria in excelcis deo!



Thanks to Musings of a Vast Right Winger for the video

White House releases Automaker bailout money from TARP

I have blogged against the bailout a couple of times, and I have not changed my position. I do, however, understand the inevitability of it.

Nevertheless, I note with disappointment the announcement from the White House today that the federal government will in fact bail out the "Detroit 3" automakers, via TARP.

I hope it works - I really do. But when you do something like this, which is so totally against any kind of sound economic and fiscal practice, you shouldn't expect some sort of miracle. What you should expect is resounding failure, followed by more government intervention (especially since the next time around it will be the Obama administration that will be in charge), and more failure. And more government intervention. And...well, you get the idea.

Just as the laws of physics determine that when you drop an object it must fall to the ground (Wile E. Coyote notwithstanding), so the true laws of economics (as differentiated from Keynesian economics) determine that when a company is too inefficient, mismanaged, in debt, producing a product that is no longer wanted, or any combination thereof, it must fail and be liquidated. Newer, better, stronger, more responsive, and more profitable companies will be the result, and will absorb the displaced workers. But of course, we can't have that in this country, now can we?

What we really want, according to the latest election, is nice-sounding slogans and European Socialism. Gee, that's working out real well for them, isn't it?

Chris Dodd now giving advice on how to run International Corporations?

After teaming up with Rep. Barney Frank to make Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fiscally sound and profitable, Senator Chris Dodd (S-CT) has turned his expertise to new horizons: the U.S. Auto industry. To those readers who don't have a sarcasm sensor installed, this last paragraph is dripping with it.

Over the weekend, the Senator took his expertise to the Sunday talk circuit, stating that a condition of the bailout (yes, bailout) for U.S. Automakers should be that General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner should be fired.

This morning, according to The Paul W. Smith Show on WJR radio, Dodd has expanded this call to include the heads of Ford and Chrysler as well.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the American voting public: behold what you have elected. Not just this year, but for the last 40 at least. The halls of Congress are now filled with this kind of foolishness, and we keep sending more of them up there. And frankly, it's on both sides of the aisle. How is it that we keep electing people who have no economic common sense at all? How is it that Chris Dodd didn't understand that when you "encourage" mortgage lenders (with threats of prosecution by Janet Reno if they don't) to make loans to people who can't pay them back, that those institutions would go bankrupt? How can any of them not understand that giving away trillions of dollars (which is not backed by anything tangible like, oh, say GOLD), is going to destroy the economy, either through hyperinflation (ala' Germany in the 1920's), or through a currency crisis (via panic selling of dollars by other countries seeking to cut their losses)

What most folks don't understand is that recession, and even depression, are necessary economic evils. Just like surgery is often required to remove diseased organs in the body, and that surgery can have a difficult and painful recovery (but you're still alive!), so recession and depression cut out the diseased parts of an economy and allows healing to take place.

I don't like the idea of millions out of work and thousands of businesses failing any more than the next guy, but I like the idea of total economic collapse even less, and that is where people like Chris Dodd are leading us.

Has the Dust Settled Yet?

There has been so much worthy of writing about over the last couple of months, but either someone else said things better than I could, or I was so angry that any post would have devolved into a stream of expletives, or I still hadn't sorted through everything in my mind enough to create a coherent message. But I have a few minutes tonight to write a few blips about a few things.

1. "The Bailout". In my last message I was quite happy than some folks in congress had the stones to stand up and say "This sucks". Not that I thought it would ultimately do any good, but it was nice to see that stinking, steaming pile of legislation known as "The Bailout" sent down to defeat in round one. Of course, subsequently, it was passed, sticking future generations of Americans with staggering national debt and a thoroughly debased currency. Don't believe for a minute that AIG and those financial services companies will ever pay that money back. Hope my kids and yours can find work somewhere in the world so fedgov can confiscate all their money to pay off that debt. Thanks a lot, jerks!

2. The Election. As you might surmise, I was none to pleased (although not terribly surprised) at the results of the election. The United States of America is mostly dead, being replaced by the United Socialist States of America. Hope you like it folks.

3. The Election, part two - a Christian perspective. Bottom line - God was not surprised by this result. He ordained it, in fact. I noticed that the sun still shines, there is still an atmosphere, and all the stars are still in the heavens. God is bigger than this election, and he still cares for his people. So, Christian, ask yourself: "Why did God allow this to happen"? Then ask yourself "What am I supposed to learn from it"? Apply as revealed.

4. Auto Bailout/Bridge Loan. There is a part of me that really wants to let the automakers fail, file for bankruptcy, and have their assets purchased by companies that are better run and will run a car company better. It would be worth it to break the UAW, which has priced American labor out of competitiveness in the world market. It would also get rid of the dinosaurs in the leadership positions of those companies who can't run a modern auto company.

The question of course is how do we deal with the impact on all those who make their living serving the auto industry at every level? Many other businesses will fail, and many thousands of people will be laid off. That is hard to contemplate, and it would also give the new president just the crisis he wants to use to implement his socialist plans for America. So which is worse: socialism or an increasingly uncompetitive auto industry and loss of manufacturing capability in this country? My gut says take the bitter medicine now, as it will be worse later, and we will be on the hook for a whole lot more, financially.

The Bailout: Round 1

Round 1 of the great $700 billion bailout scam goes to the voices of sanity. Wow! Big slap to Pres. Bush and the House Democrat leadership, all of which needed the slap desperately.

I applaud all those who voted against this package and defeated it. Keep up the good work!

America - the worst thing we could do is to take on these mortgages. We need to just hunker down and ride this out. We will be better off in the long run than passing this monstrosity of a bailout.

Bailout? Or Cover-up?

This message is not my own, but fully expresses my sentiments on the so-called "bailout" being bandied about Congress over this weekend. Make no mistake: whatever plan comes out that does anything but leave these organizations to fail will mean greater misery down the road.

Not that I think the fools in Congress will do the right thing...

Dear Friends:

The financial meltdown the economists of the Austrian School predicted has arrived.

We are in this crisis because of an excess of artificially created credit at the hands of the Federal Reserve System. The solution being proposed? More artificial credit by the Federal Reserve. No liquidation of bad debt and malinvestment is to be allowed. By doing more of the same, we will only continue and intensify the distortions in our economy - all the capital misallocation, all the malinvestment - and prevent the market's attempt to re-establish rational pricing of houses and other assets.

Last night the president addressed the nation about the financial crisis. There is no point in going through his remarks line by line, since I'd only be repeating what I've been saying over and over - not just for the past several days, but for years and even decades.

Still, at least a few observations are necessary.

The president assures us that his administration "is working with Congress to address the root cause behind much of the instability in our markets." Care to take a guess at whether the Federal Reserve and its money creation spree were even mentioned?

We are told that "low interest rates" led to excessive borrowing, but we are not told how these low interest rates came about. They were a deliberate policy of the Federal Reserve. As always, artificially low interest rates distort the market. Entrepreneurs engage in malinvestments - investments that do not make sense in light of current resource availability, that occur in more temporally remote stages of the capital structure than the pattern of consumer demand can support, and that would not have been made at all if the interest rate had been permitted to tell the truth instead of being toyed with by the Fed.

Not a word about any of that, of course, because Americans might then discover how the great wise men in Washington caused this great debacle. Better to keep scapegoating the mortgage industry or "wildcat capitalism" (as if we actually have a pure free market!).

Speaking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the president said: "Because these companies were chartered by Congress, many believed they were guaranteed by the federal government. This allowed them to borrow enormous sums of money, fuel the market for questionable investments, and put our financial system at risk."

Doesn't that prove the foolishness of chartering Fannie and Freddie in the first place? Doesn't that suggest that maybe, just maybe, government may have contributed to this mess? And of course, by bailing out Fannie and Freddie, hasn't the federal government shown that the "many" who "believed they were guaranteed by the federal government" were in fact correct?

Then come the scare tactics. If we don't give dictatorial powers to the Treasury Secretary "the stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account. The value of your home could plummet." Left unsaid, naturally, is that with the bailout and all the money and credit that must be produced out of thin air to fund it, the value of your retirement account will drop anyway, because the value of the dollar will suffer a precipitous decline. As for home prices, they are obviously much too high, and supply and demand cannot equilibrate if government insists on propping them up.

It's the same destructive strategy that government tried during the Great Depression: prop up prices at all costs. The Depression went on for over a decade. On the other hand, when liquidation was allowed to occur in the equally devastating downturn of 1921, the economy recovered within less than a year.

The president also tells us that Senators McCain and Obama will join him at the White House today in order to figure out how to get the bipartisan bailout passed. The two senators would do their country much more good if they stayed on the campaign trail debating who the bigger celebrity is, or whatever it is that occupies their attention these days.

F.A. Hayek won the Nobel Prize for showing how central banks' manipulation of interest rates creates the boom-bust cycle with which we are sadly familiar. In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, he described the foolish policies being pursued in his day - and which are being proposed, just as destructively, in our own:

Instead of furthering the inevitable liquidation of the maladjustments brought about by the boom during the last three years, all conceivable means have been used to prevent that readjustment from taking place; and one of these means, which has been repeatedly tried though without success, from the earliest to the most recent stages of depression, has been this deliberate policy of credit expansion.

To combat the depression by a forced credit expansion is to attempt to cure the evil by the very means which brought it about; because we are suffering from a misdirection of production, we want to create further misdirection - a procedure that can only lead to a much more severe crisis as soon as the credit expansion comes to an end... It is probably to this experiment, together with the attempts to prevent liquidation once the crisis had come, that we owe the exceptional severity and duration of the depression.

The only thing we learn from history, I am afraid, is that we do not learn from history.

The very people who have spent the past several years assuring us that the economy is fundamentally sound, and who themselves foolishly cheered the extension of all these novel kinds of mortgages, are the ones who now claim to be the experts who will restore prosperity! Just how spectacularly wrong, how utterly without a clue, does someone have to be before his expert status is called into question?

Oh, and did you notice that the bailout is now being called a "rescue plan"? I guess "bailout" wasn't sitting too well with the American people.

The very people who with somber faces tell us of their deep concern for the spread of democracy around the world are the ones most insistent on forcing a bill through Congress that the American people overwhelmingly oppose. The very fact that some of you seem to think you're supposed to have a voice in all this actually seems to annoy them.

I continue to urge you to contact your representatives and give them a piece of your mind. I myself am doing everything I can to promote the correct point of view on the crisis. Be sure also to educate yourselves on these subjects - the Campaign for Liberty blog is an excellent place to start. Read the posts, ask questions in the comment section, and learn.

H.G. Wells once said that civilization was in a race between education and catastrophe. Let us learn the truth and spread it as far and wide as our circumstances allow. For the truth is the greatest weapon we have.

To those who argue that more taxes are the answer to our national problems

...you are taking one piece of the pie (tax cuts), and saying that is the entire problem, thus ignoring the problem completely.

The problem is that as a nation we have gone from not trusting our government as far as we can throw it, to entrusting to it our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.

Why, after all the evidence to the contrary, do we continue to let government (at all levels) run our infrastructure, educate (if you can even call it that) our children, provide our health care, fund our retirement (if you even believe that), and "fix" every little boo-boo we ever get. Not to mention providing mortgages to people who shouldn't have them in the first place, and giving tax money to "artists" who think crucifixes in jars of urine are somehow uplifting to the human spirit. And don't even get me started on elephant dung.

And what has all this governmental largesse gotten us? Beyond the obvious budget deficits that our great-grandchildren will still be paying off, it has gotten us self-centered, self-absorbed, self-indulgent, covetous, nincompoops as citizens, who see successful people as the enemy instead of someone to try to emulate, and who don't understand the simple fact that not everyone can be a billionaire, and there is no dishonor in being a farmer or a plumber or a garbage man, even though those people don't have a billion dollar net worth. But being lower on the income ladder doesn't give you the right to take (through your elected officials) one penny from anyone who is above you on it.

We have gotten here because of one hundred years of social engineering by people who thought they were smarter than everyone else who ever lived, and who thought they, through their own intellect and their own ideas, could change the laws of economics and of human nature by government decree (and oh, by the way, control). And now we are faced with the distinct possibility of a committed socialist and his sycophantic henchmen and henchwomen in Congress legislating out the last vestiges of what has made this country great. All because a few hundred thousand mindless knucklehead voters are willing to give up what has made them unique in the history of the world - their God-given liberty - and embrace the vision of a socialist utopia that never has been and never will be, because they think they will get lower taxes! To use the Biblical example - they are selling their birthright for a pot of stew.

Does this mean I think John McCain is the answer? Not at all. No Politician is the answer. A year ago I would not have voted for him, and I vote for him now reluctantly at best, because he isn't too far removed from what I have spent this post railing against. He makes me very nervous indeed. But in some of the most important areas of American life, he gets it. If he follows through on a fraction of what he promises about cleaning up the corruption in Washington, I will be happy. If he appoints another originalist justice to the Supreme Court, I will rejoice greatly! If he continues to cut taxes and reduce the size and scope of government, I will stand up and cheer.

But the change that really needs to happen is that the hearts of the citizens of this country need to change. They need to get over this need to punish success and reward mediocrity. We all need to cinch it up and make what we can out of ourselves without having the government pull down others to do it. We need to get back to the realization that government exists to protect our rights (as enumerated), and not to cater to special interests. It exists to prosecute wrongdoers, not make new laws and strain at gnats from the bench. It exists to be our servant, not our master. When we start electing representatives (not politicians!) who understand these things, then we will be getting somewhere.

So vote for Obama if you think you must, but understand what you will be getting if he is elected, and understand that your liberty is worth infinitely more than the few dollars more you might get on any tax return.

Detroit Lions - week 2

Warning! The Surgeon General has determined that watching, listening to, or reading about Detroit Lions Football will put your health (mental and physical) at serious risk.

Warning signs are nausea, vomiting, unexplained cursing, violent outbursts against tv, radio, or newspaper containing word of the Lions, and making effigies of W.C. Ford and Matt Millen. If you observe these signs in yourself or others, get medical help immediately.

This may well be my last Lions post of the year. I don't need the aggrivation right now.

Remembering WTC

Tomorrow is the 7th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Even though Barack Obama wants to forget that it ever happened, this is what I remember most - people jumping to their deaths rather than burning to death inside their offices.

So Barack - you are wrong to forget what our enemies did to us, and you are wrong to give aid and comfort to them in your position in the US Senate. How can you look at these images and not want to eradicate from the earth those who caused so many deaths and so much heartache to so many?

You have no heart, and you have no sense of justice.

Detroit Lions Football 2008

Putting my sports blogger hat back on to comment on the Detroit Lions. I have been a Lions fan through thick and thin for at least 35 years, and I can't remember when I have been more disgusted by a team than this years version. I didn't expect a Super Bowl, or even playoffs this year, but I expected more than the pathetic effort displayed last Sunday in the season opener, especially after the supposed deadwood had been cleared from the mess Rod Marinelli inherited. I completely understand the anger and disgust being displayed by the fans, especially the longtime season ticket holders who have given up their tickets because they are fed up with the bad football they get to watch year after pathetic year.

Then, to hear the players say "we're not this bad, we can get this fixed" - boys, please...don't give us mindless optimism - GO OUT AND PLAY THE D**N GAME LIKE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO. EARN YOUR D**N MONEY THAT YOU ARE EARNING GREAT HEAPING GOBS OF (MR. COREY REDDING). You lost to a rookie QB playing behind an inexperienced line and on a team that was 4-12 last year and is in rebuilding mode. You should have wiped the field with these guys!

So don't give us platitudes. Give us game. Give us something worth watching. Because none of us believe in now, and we don't believe in you either.

Gary Sheffield (Again)

Well, I'm turning into a sports blogger!

Now the whiner in chief on the Tigers weighs in again: Gary Sheffield is not happy being DH.

When you came here, Gary, you knew it was to be DH. Your body can't take playing defense every day, and you have proved that over your season and a half in Detroit. Every time you play defense, you hurt yourself, and when you are hurt you are worthless.

But let me say this too: I'm not happy with you being DH either. You are hitting .219 for the year. You are hitting .225 for the last 30 days. So even as a DH you aren't contributing. If you were holding up your end, maybe you would have grounds to complain, but Brandon Inge is the only regular player that is hitting worse than you for the season. Even Rentaria is hitting better than you.

Jim Leyland needs to sit you down Gary. There are others who are producing, and you are not. At this point in the season, we can't afford the dead wood.

Detroit Tigers Collapse in progress

And while I'm thinking about it, I have to comment on the woeful Tigers. They were one of the hottest team in baseball before the All-Star break, but this past weekend's series in Tampa showed with blinding clarity the fate of this team in 2008. They have some guys with heart, but not enough pitchers who can throw strikes, especially in the bullpen.

I realize the trade deadline is past and we are likely stuck with what we have for the rest of the season, so here is my official "I'm Throwing In the Towel Offseason Moves the Tigers Need to Make" list.

• Get a Decent Catcher. Brandon Inge is a good catcher, but you need him at 3B.
• Move Inge back to 3B. The guy is a gold-glove caliber 3B and you have him catching. You need to have him at 3B. Caveat: Brandon needs to get a lot more serious about his hitting - .220 just doesn't cut it. You're making lots of money - hire the best hitting coach you can find and spend the offseason at his house thinking, eating, sleeping, and breathing hitting. You need to hit .280 with 20-30 HR's every year to be earning your keep, no matter how good your defense.
• Let Miguel Cabrera continue to develop at 1B. I think Leyland is right: he can be a very good 1B, and he's shown some of it already. I like this move and I hope it sticks, because he stunk it up at 3B.
• I like Marcus Thames, but we need a left-handed power hitter in LF next year. I don't think Matt Joyce is the answer.
• What to do with Guillen? Get rid of Sheffield and make Guillen the DH. He's still got a good bat, is a switch hitter, and has some pop. It'll help his knees too. Then find someone who can play SS.
• Starting Pitching. Robertson and Rogers need to go. Willis needs to get his head out of his butt and pitch, or else give back that contract extension and go get a job a WalMart or something. Verlander was lights-out for a month, but has regressed. Still, this is only his 3rd season in the majors, I think he's doing pretty good. I hope Bonderman's surgeries fix his coconut and he will start getting out of the first inning without getting scored on. He needs to come back strong. Then, you need to find a fifth starter, preferrably a left-hander.
• Relief Pitching. The only keepers in the bullpen right now are Zumaya, Seay, and maybe Fossum (I like his BB/K ratio, and his ERA for his last 10 games is 2.41). Beyond that, this is the area that needs the most help on this team.

US House Republicans making a statement against Dems, Pelosi

Republicans in the US House are trying to raise the pressure on the Dems, and Speaker Pelosi in particular, to address the critical domestic energy needs of the United States. The Speaker adjourned the House last week for a six week vacation, presumably so Congresscritters can go back to their districts and campaign.

I listened to Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) on The Paul W. Smith Show on WJR radio this morning, describing what he and about 30 other Congressmen were about on Friday. Apparently, the Speaker has control of the C-SPAN cameras, and once the House was adjourned, the cameras were turned off. According to Rep. Hoekstra, the adjournment was made contrary to normal House procedure, which allows members who wish to, to make 5-minute speeches after the daily business of the House has concluded. Speaker Pelosi did not allow this on Friday. So the Republicans did it anyway, in front of only the tourists in the Capital and whatever media happened to be there - apparently they were warmly received by all, and they are going to continue to demand that the Congress debate energy policy and provide for the energy needs of the country.

Speaker Pelosi is being shown for what she is: an out of touch with reality, environmentalist marxist, who is clueless about how the real world operates and what the needs of real Americans are. (Gee, sort of like her party's candidate for President)

Having said that, I also have to say this to the Republicans: It's about bloody time!

You doofuses have sat on your backsides for 7-1/2 years and done NOTHING. You had majorities in both houses of Congress, and you had the Presidency, and you squandered it all! So while I applaud your grandstanding now, I have very little sympathy for your whining about the Speaker and how mean she is being to you for not letting you speak. You had your chance and you blew it! Go back to your districts, find yourselves some spine, get yourselves elected (or re-elected) and do what you're supposed to do: LEAD!