A random thought....

Last night, Fox News--as they should be--was all over the story of the SEAL snipers shooting the three Somali pirates and the rescue of the kidnapped Capt. Phillips. O'Reilly touched on it, as did Greta (Prolly others too. I forget who now). They were amazed that these shots could be made. Don't get me wrong--three simultaneous shots from a platform which is moving with the sea to an enclosed lifeboat which is also moving with the sea onto targets which are certainly moving inside the lifeboat is an amazing feat. But this is something that we hire--and train--SEAL snipers to be ready to do.

One of the former-SEAL guests on Fox last night explained how the SEALs got onto the ship. His explanation was something that rang familar to me. In my past life as a C130 pilot, we called this a "Duck Drop".

A SEAL inflatable boat is rigged with a parachute. The SEALs and this boat are loaded into a C130 and they head off for their drop zone. They drop the boat into the water, followed shortly thereafter by the SEALs. The SEALs swim to their boat, de-rig the parachute, and head off for their target--in this case the USS Bainbridge. They would, of course, do this all at night and would approach the Bainbridge from the side away from the lifeboat.

End result: One SEAL team inserted onto the Bainbridge without the pirates knowing.

As for the shooting, as I have explained, that everything involved was moving makes for the amazing part. However, for those who do not shoot, a 25-30 yard shot with a scoped rifle is a piece of cake. I--more of a pistol shooter than a rifle shooter--could get a completely inexperienced shooter to place their shots onto a non-moving target at twice that distance in a couple of hours. For the SEAL snipers, this was routine. Making those simultaneous shots at 500 or 600 yards would earn them "props" (no pun intended) inside their world, but I would imagine that the short distance involved here would mean they would be forever chastised if they hadn't made the shots.

There were apparently two sets of orders from Zero on this. Why two? What changed from his first orders to his second? The citation here makes it seem as though the arrival of the SEALs changed things. Maybe so.

But my random thought here was political. Phillips had tried to escape once earlier in his captivity. And the pirates had already shot at the Navy with no return fire delivered.

I'm glad things "ended" as they did. There is still the question of what to do with the captured pirate. He is apparently quite young, but he is still a pirate. The "foreign-policy-as-law-enforcement" will be their first approach, but giving this pirate too many "rights" has a downside too. Then too are the foreign policy issues: Despite the thriving business that Somalian piracy has become, many countries have had much more aggressive stances on this than we have. India sank a pirate mothership. The Saudis have had their success. The Germans too. And of course, the French (!) have an aggressive rescue policy.

I'm just playing armchair political observer here, but might it be that the second set of orders came after Zero had received advice (Rahmbo?) to make this situation go away or face being the President who allowed four skinny Somalians in an out-of-gas lifeboat to face down his U.S. Navy?

You have got to be freaking kidding me².....

$92 for a box of 1000 small rifle primers, which are unavailable, but listed at Midway for $27.99.

You have got to freaking kidding me......

9mm plinking ammo at nearly $22 a box. At least they have some, which is more than can be said for most ammo retailers, but this is ridiculous.

I am hoping that ammo (and ammo components) is doing today what gasoline did last summer.

Naturally, I blame Obama.

"Surviving in....

"....a post-American world". Well said.

h/t neo-neocon.

On Obama and Pirates....

Jon over at Exurban League has a wickedly cutting take on Obama and the current crisis with Pirates. The fellas over there are getting all sorts of attention for this, from a mention on Hugh Hewitt's show to another mention on Rush's show to a hit on HotAir's headlines. It is quite a funny bit, and you ought to take some time to read it.

However, I'd like to take the question a bit more seriously.

There are all sorts of comments here and there in the 'sphere to the effect that we can't take action to free Capt. Phillips without unnecessarily endangering him. Apparently, he has tried to escape, only to be recaptured.

I think we are missing a crucial point: Shipping in the area is already in danger. There are reports of as many as 200 hostages being held from as many as a dozen ships. Each one of these hostages is being held in as real a threat to life as Capt. Phillips is enduring.

The Somali pirates are Muslim, but the point of their piracy seems to be financial rather than the political aims of the al Qaeda terrorists. This, I think, is a distinction without a difference.

As I admit to in the sidebar, I am an airline pilot. And here is what I know.....

Federal Air Marshals and Federal Flight Deck Officers (armed pilots) are on commercial flights today because aviation remains in danger from terrorists. These law enforcement officers are there to keep someone from taking control of another airplane. If there is no FAM or FFDO onboard, the American passenger should know that the government of the United States will send fighters up to keep a hijacked airplane from another 9/11 attack. The government, in one capacity or another, will act to keep that from happening. Allowing another airplane to be hijacked is unacceptable.

In the not-so-distant past, we had a religious group resist a search by the BATF and barricade themselves inside their compound. There was a whole host of things the government did wrong leading up to the search. I've always believed that because the Branch Davidians were harming no one with their peculiar apocolyptic views, that they should have been left alone. That said, the government should expect, once shots have been exchanged, that everyone involved should respect the law enforcement and legal system, and the Davidians clearly did not do this. At some point, the government decided to send in the tanks.

Whenever I fly, I know that a law enforcement officer might have to shoot someone. And as a shooter, I know that sometimes bullets overpenetrate or completely miss their targets. Further, as I have said, if there are no government shooters on a hijacked flight, everyone should know that it is likely that an Air Force fighter will shoot that plane down rather than allow it to impact another American target. In the interests of the larger good, we have to know that the passengers are expendable.

Captain Phillips, having already demonstrated his honor by exchanging himself for some of his men, and his bravery with his escape attempt, will also know that he is expendable.

This piracy cannot continue. That the failed state of Somalia has created the incentive for these criminals to enter into their piracy is no excuse for us to tolerate it. The French (!) have already been more bold than we have been, and the Chinese are flexing their muscles in the Indian Ocean. We must end this thing, even if it means that some innocents are hurt or killed. Allowing skinny Somalians to standoff against the US Navy is unacceptable.

"This is not a failure of regulation of any kind, particularly of banking...."

....Rather, it’s a failure of over-regulation and a lack of free markets.

I so wish....

....that this sort of thing surprised me. But I'm afraid it doesn't.

Obamas fly in chef 860 miles... just to make pizza

h/t JammieWearingFool, via a HotAir comment to President Pantywaist.

A Little Gun-Bloggin'.....

So anyhoo, yesterday I had the chance to make it out to Dillon Precision for more "stuff" for the RL-550B that Mrs. Azlib got me for Christmas.



I picked up a couple of sets of dies and caliber conversion kits, an extra quick change assembly, and a video detailing how to assemble and set up the press.

I can tell already: Reloading is requiring a steep up-front investment. The press ran the Mrs. $390 or so, and I spent $355 yesterday, and I'm not nearly done. To complete the Dillon hardware I have in mind, I've still got to get a scale (prolly electronic) and maybe their case trimmer, not to mention the odds-and-ends like a bullet puller and a reliable set of calipers (at a minimum). I'll have a $1000 into this thing before I reload the first round. Once I've got that taken care of, I've got to finagle a space to do this work. My first choice (outside building the backyard workshop/storage shed that the wife and I discussed last week) will be to use the "bar" area of the house. That idea prolly isn't going to float (she's got plans for that space already), so I'm left with recovering some garage space for a decent reloading bench. And that will require getting rid of crap cleaning up the things that have accumulated in every corner of my garage.

And then come the components, which have been lately hard (read: "impossible") to find.

The savings of reloading vs. buying factory ammo is substantial, but I still have to get up that slope. I imagine I'll enjoy the reloading, and will certainly enjoy the more-frequent shooting that reloading will allow (not to mention missing the frustrations of ammo unavailability), but this will require some work to get me there. Ah...just what I need: Another project.

However, I also had the opportunity yesterday to stop by the Scottsdale Gun Club.



If you've never been, the SGC is a first-class operation, as you would expect to find in tony Scottsdale. They too are suffering from a shortage of ammo, but otherwise were quite busy. The reasoning behind why gun shops across the country have been busy has been well discussed.

But along these lines, I ran across another in a series of Things-I-Never-Thought-I'd-See....



You can click this cell-phone photo to see what caught my eye. There, in the lower left window of the Suburban in the foreground, is an Obama/Biden sticker. The folks who got out of the Suburban, looking to be a grandmother, a mother, and two teenaged kids, are either the most-clueless fools on the planet, or some of the bravest. I really don't know what to make of their California license plate (which I have obscured). Are they vacationing/visiting from out of state and hoping to take in some forbidden taboo? Was one of the kids researching the guns that are available in nearby Arizona for some term paper? Or are they just generally clueless about the connection between the idiots that they support and what goes on inside the SGC?

Teleprompter Jesus....

...A richly-deserved term for Zero's habit of relying on his teleprompter to tell him what is on his mind, is now morphing into....

President Strawman. Once again, Zero erects the strawman with the implication that "the Bush administration was fighting Islam", and now President Strawman will reverse course and knock that strawman down.

[OK. OK. OK. It's only 8am and I see I've already used up my daily quota of mixed metaphors. Gotta work on that.]

And speaking of....

Gerard....

Go ahead, I dare you.

Just try to get through this video without smiling.

You know.....

I don't know why, but I guess I have to wonder just what came in this box. I can't help it, but the answer that keeps popping into my head is.....

Ammo.

h/t: Gerard.

A note to mark....

....the passage of a (very) small milestone: On checking my Sitemeter stats, I found that I was the 6000th visitor to my humble blog. I am still getting a (relative) ton of my visitors from the two Michelle Obama photos I used a while back. If you're here via these photos: Welcome. This is my humble effort at chronicling my views of the world, and I'm glad you stopped through. I don't pretend to be influential in the least.

On my previous mention of computer problems.....I am still battling this thing. This evening, I had an update to Adobe Flash that would not install completely, and would lock up the computer completely. After three attempts at installing this stupid thing, I did a System Restore. I am now running both a Webroot Antivirus scan and a Trend Micro Internet Security scan, and these two things in conjunction with Mozilla is bringing this thing to a crawl. Hope things improve.

Hey. What could possibly go wrong?

Should Obama Control the Internet?

h/t Hotair headlines.

My recent absence....

....was due to my previously cited spring-time busy-ness, and a laptop acting up to the point of hiring a hacker computer expert to fix it.

Back to normal now, though. [Well, "normal" being a relative term, I guess.]

Reinforcing my 3½ Minute Rule on YouTube videos...

You really should take a look at this one....



Where is our American version of this guy?

Seen on a number of blogs, but I first watched it via The Anchoress, who, although I am not Catholic, writes a wonderful blog.

20 Minutes.....

It is kind of an unwritten rule that a You Tube should not be more than 3 minutes long. Put up an 8 minute video and your audience will click off at 3½ minutes. On our own, we have exceptionally short attention spans, and much of the internet does nothing to improve this.

But you should find a way to book 20 minutes of your life away from everything else to enjoy Mike Rowe.



From the always-interesting Gerard.

This was kinda scary....

....Not in a dangerous way, and I have to admit I am partially bragging on this point.

I went to the IDPA match last night. It turned out to be the night they shoot under USPSA rules, so it was a little different than I am used to.

The scary part was that there were 4 cops there. I felt like that scene in Magnum Force...



These guys shot OK, but not nearly at the level that you'd expect cops to perform at. I suck, and being a fat guy twice their age who shoots better than they did (and who kept my gun running flawlessly the whole night) ought to make these guys think a bit. It sure made me think: Lord, don't ever let these guys pull their guns near me.

[R]ecent lawlessness, situational constitutionalism and institutional derangement....

Which George Will says describes the Congress in the first days of the Obama administration.

Go. Read it.

I'm beginning to get a suspicious feeling.....

And not just the same "I-Hate-Obama-and-Everything-He's-Doing" feeling. If I'm counting things right, he still has 18 vacancies to fill at Treasury. Geithner is a one-man act, and it isn't going well: They're developing a plan on when to plan to tell us about their plan for the economy. I'm betting that half of these vacancies are due to some of the problems (primarily past taxes) that brought the Zero administration so much attention earlier, but there may be some vacancies due to either Zero being unable to find capable person for the jobs or a willing approach to leave the jobs open. There are calls for Geithner's head, of course, but paradoxically, the vacancies at Treasury almost ensure that no matter how badly Geithner may be handling things, his job is safe.

Whatever the case, Geithner (and by extension, Zero) are handling things badly. The economy is in bad enough shape that this cannot be a one-man job for very long. Geithner will have a heart attack before we get things fixed....there is simply too much to do. Zero had better start something else before Geithner strokes out or something.

Hey! Look!....

Zero's wearing his flag pin!



Swiped from these knuckleheads, courtesy of Ace's sidebar.

The Nose on Your Face....

Swiped from Iowahawk, who is about the funniest guy on the intertubes.

You simply must...

Click Here: What will history say about Obama?

[And damn my poor bloggin' skilz. Somebody knows how to grab that photo and link it along, but it ain't me.]

"Pakistan Implodes"

Via Glenn, I see Richard Fernandez of Belmont Club offer...

"...The reason the Pakistani crisis seems to be coming out of the blue is because Washington is preoccupied by so much else. The world is still dangerous; perhaps even more so today than when George W. Bushchimp left office to the delight of so many on the Left. But contrary to expectation, America’s enemies did not stop their depradations upon the ascension of The One...."

Zero is being mocked by the Associated Press. He's in over his head, which is something that we who were his opponents were saying last summer. His approach on foreign policy--that we can just talk our way into a world of peace and happiness--isn't working with those who really, seriously, oppose us. We have elected a man of little substance, and now we're paying the price for that.

Reason #7012....

....That government management of the economy won't work.

Energy Dept. Said to Err on Coal Project

“This is math illiteracy on a grand scale and with global consequences.”

Folks, when the rocket scientists at NASA can launch into space a huge telescope with a near-sighted lens, and can slam a probe into Mars because they mixed up meters and feet, and now the watchers of a coal project can make a half a billion dollar math error, we ought to call into question the idea that if only we had more regulators--more oversight--more something--we could finally fix our problems.

We can't. Regulations and regulators are fine. They serve an important purpose.

But to rely on them to fix every problem--before they become problems--just doesn't work. Regulators--unlike those inside the industries they regulate--have no direct interest in seeing things actually work. They can make that half billion dollar mistake and keep their jobs. Maybe they won't get that next promotion to GS-XX, but they'll still be employed.

Wh...Wha.....What'd He Say?

Fox News: Obama Considering Deploying Troops to U.S.-Mexico Border

President Obama says he's considering whether to deploy National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border...

and simultaneously,

"I'm not interested in militarizing the border."

Can sumbody splain me that?

Channeling my Inner Bonnie Raitt....

♪♫ ♪Let's Give Them Something to Talk Blog About ♪♫ ♪

• WSJ: Islam Should Prove It's a Religion of Peace written by...a Muslim

  ....Many Muslims seem to believe that it is acceptable to teach hatred and violence in the name of their religion -- while at the same time expecting the world to respect Islam as a religion of peace, love and harmony....
  
  ...So, Islamic scholars and clerics, it is up to you to produce a Shariah book that will be accepted in the Islamic world and that teaches that Jews are not pigs and monkeys, that declaring war to spread Islam is unacceptable, and that killing apostates is a crime. Such a book would prove that Islam is a religion of peace.

• WSJ (again): He Says the Darndnest Things About His Life and New Quest
  Stephen Moore interviews Art Linkletter
  

  About Barack Obama, he says: "He's intelligent, a born performer and ambitious, like I was, but that spending bill [the stimulus] is the most terrible mistake in our history. I never thought I would see so much debt."
  
  His passion is Social Security reform. "...At first Social Security was a terrific idea. Give people some financial security in their old age," he says. But the taxes grew and grew over his lifetime -- to 15% from 2% of each paycheck. "And as the time went on, this huge fund became an ATM machine for Congress. And now all they have left are IOUs. Nobody owns anything." He says: "I was one of the first people to ever pay Social Security, at age 22 starting in 1935. But now the program has become a rip-off, just like the guy [Bernard Madoff] who did the Ponzi scheme. We need to stop the congressional raid on the trust fund and turn this tax money back over to individuals so they can own it and control it."
  

[FWIW, my emphases]

Friedman on Libertarianism...

The Debt Star...

Courtesy of The Smallest Minority, one of my favorite 2A and mostly libertarian, and Arizona bloggers (whom I should visit more often).

[And, BTW, the "I have altered the pool" image is one that I once used as my signature image on That-Forum-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named. That kid still cracks me up.]

A (Very) Little Linkery...

Via Glenn, I see "How to Get Your Family out of a Financial Crisis".

Yes. I see no reason why that won't work.

Savannah & Charleston Report

WifeofAzlib and I had a great time on our little getaway. I liked Savannah more than she did, but we were both impressed with Charleston, and especially our little walking tour.

However, while we were gone, SonofAzlib noticed a little watery sound coming from under the kitchen sink. On exploring, he found one of the sinks was leaking badly, and the entire space was full of a black mold. He (wonderfully) tore out the damaged areas, and now, in addition to a March full of tree trimming, taxes, study for recurrent, manage a dwindling 401k account, truck maintenance, and other chores, I've got to rebuild a cabinet and install a new sink and faucet set.

File this under....

"How can you have a revolution when everyone is watching TV?"

With regard to my previous, I do manage to bounce a bit through the blog world. Today I noticed this, via a comment over at Gerard's house. I agree that we may be facing the need to have a revolution, but that the public may be too lazy to have one.

Recent and forecast posting.....

As a way of providing an explanation to my tens and tens of readers for the dearth of posting here recently, I claim a busy schedule. For most people, the Spring is supposed to be carefree and quite unlike the busy Holiday weeks of Winter.

However, for me, it seems as if each Spring is busier than the previous. We were able to get to see Dau#1ofAZlib in early February, and make a scramble out to our Undisclosed Location in the middle of the month. We're trying to find a way to get our retirement cabin built without driving ourselves into bankruptcy. The Spring is also the time for me to get the oranges off the trees and do whatever trimming they require before the summer months. And, as it turns out, I have my annual Recurrent training to prepare and finish. And WifeofAzlib and I are planning a little excursion to Savannah and Charleston, if her job doesn't interfere too much.

So, this is all a long-winded explanation of why I can go a week or so between posts. I'll get back to this, but for the time being, things will be sparse.

So, anyhooo....

I think I've mentioned somewhere that we are a family with pets. Specifically, a cat and five dogs. Most of these "belong" to WifeofAzlib, but I do claim the one large dog (a yellow lab).

As with children, they occasionally get sick and require a trip to the vet.

Today, it was our littlest dog, Lola, a Yorkie who has been blind for some years. I often joke that she is our dog who needs a seeing-eye dog, but in truth she makes out as well as can be expected. That said, she is a fragile breed with a disability, and as such, WifeofAzlib often pampers her.

However a day or two ago, Lola began to walk in circles and become not responsive to sound. And this prompted our trip to the vet today. Our vet is a dear kind man who has treated our many pets for years. He diagnosed an inner ear problem.

That's not why I write today.

In his lobby, I couldn't help but notice this magazine....



The "Tails" magazine franchise is a complimentary magazine seen in a number of communities meant as a medium for veterinary offices or maybe pet stores. This means that it is high on advertising and low on content.

And Barack Obama graces the cover of this magazine--this free, low-content magazine--in a story telling us how the Obamas going to get a dog for their girls. So, get the girls a dog already. How hard is it? There are about a thousand shelters or breeders who would be happy to put their puppy in your hands. Quit holding out the "hope" [**snicker**] of a dog for your girls and just get one.

And, are there no magazine covers that Obama would turn down?

No. You don't say....

"By a 2-to-1 margin Americans believe that no matter how bad things are, Congress can make them worse."

Also...

"Following passage of the stimulus bill, consumer confidence fell to a record low. It has been falling to new lows will regularity since early 2008. Confidence in the nation’s banking system also has plummeted.

President’s Obama’s overall approval ratings have remained steady and high since his inauguration. However, Republicans have gained ground on Democrats in Generic Congressional Ballot polling.

Most Americans believe tax cuts are good for the economy, and half (48%) say that more government spending is bad for the economy.

Polling last week showed that 67% of Americans trust their own judgment on economic matters more than the trust the average member of Congress. Forty-nine percent (49%) trust their own judgment more than the president’s."

I dunno....

...Maybe its just me, but the first thing I noticed is that their lips are moving.

“...The stabilization of the global economy and financial markets remains our highest priority....”

Also,

"...The authorities are still at a loss on the best course of action 18 months after the credit crisis broke out...."

Noooo. Ya' think?

Personally, I'm of half a mind that they really do know what they're doing--crashing the dollar to bring about the greatest concentration of economic power ever considered.

"...President Barack Obama will pivot quickly...."

"...to address a budget deficit that could now approach $2 trillion this year...."

Why that "could approach $2 trillion this year" isn't italicized and bolded, and followed by an exclamation point is something that I can't understand.

That said, the very idea of such a pivot makes me dizzy and makes me wonder: Now he's concerned about the deficit? What about the "crisis"(!), the "catastrophe"(!!)?



Zero has taken us Off The Deep End. We may have been headed there anyway, but his concern now, that he has his Stimulus package, is duplicitous. But what else is new?

Kevin's....

...Leviathon post. Well worth your time.

I saw this while on the treadmill...

...on my last trip, and it literally, stopped me in my tracks.

"We Are All Socialists Now"

Isn't this what Joe the Plumber exposed?



Not the cover art to the Newsweek story above, but somehow apt anyway....

"...The people who say they are qualified to micromanage the affairs of the world...."

"...can't do arithmetic well enough to be a successful bank teller, and can't figure out whether to put an apostrophe in it is."

I've often had these same thoughts--that those who cannot do, teach, and that those who cannot teach, regulate--but am rarely able to coalesce these thoughts in my own head, much less get them out onto (cyber)-paper.

"...It smacks of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting held in a bar...."

Courtesy of Glenn, I see that "We're Heading Toward a Global Weimar". I too have a number of disagreements here, primarily with the idea that merging the G-8 and the U.N. Security Council will accomplish anything. The Security Council has little of accomplishment on it's own, and why giving them a role in financial regulation is beyond me.

Its a good thing...

...We have a President who

"...wants to rein in a hyperactive, unitary executive that works to insinuate itself into every nook and cranny by intelligence overreach."

Oh. Wait a minute.

Nevermind.

Obama's NSC Will Get New Power

Zero....

As will surprise no one who has read this blog for any time, I am less-than-impressed with Barack Obama. He is a leftist with ties to Marxists (Alinsky, Ayers), racists (Wright), and idiots (Biden).

But with his first two weeks, Obama has demonstrated one of the traits not commented on widely in recent days: Inexperience with leadership.

Obama has little experience at running anything larger than his former Senate office. His Harvard Law Review days show little evidence of leadership. He is our Community-Organizer-in-Chief, now cast into a leadership role, and he is floundering.

His Cabinet choices are appalling. Clinton is damaged goods (her husband's speaking fees from foreign sources), Holder is a politically-tied Attorney General, Geithner is a tax cheat. Richardson, Daschle and Killefer had to withdraw. His Labor Department nominee is in trouble. These are mistakes that those who have not lead make.

He is being treated rudely by the families of those killed in the GWOT. A leader would know how to assuage these people.

Iran and North Korea taunt him. Is Pakistan deliberately trying to embarass him?

His stimulus plan, while it may pass, has damaged him.

On That-Forum-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, I have been challenged for addressing Obama as "Zero". However, for a man of no accomplishment, who screws up half his cabinet appointments, who offers no solutions to our problems, who offends the families of our heros, who tin-horn dictators around the world openly mock, the term "Zero" seems to be apt.

His weakness is everywhere.

Told you so.

Peter Schiff Hedges His Opinion....

....Not.

Schiff: "Stimulus Bill Will Lead to 'Unmitigated Disaster'"

h/t Allahpundit over at Hot Air.

Joe Biden:

Dope.
(Image swiped from The American Thinker.)

"If we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, there's still a 30 percent chance we're going to get it wrong,"

Grammys and Oscars....

So yesterday, after landing my flight from JFK to LAX, the lead Flight Attendant told me that we had two nominees on board.

I had noticed the first at the gate in JFK. I'm pretty sure it was George Clinton and a woman I took to be his wife. (The Grammy nominee list is here, but it is not searchable, and I didn't take the time to look at every name. Maybe Clinton is there; maybe not.)



Although he did not have the wigs/hats/etc that he wears on stage, he is still hard not to notice.

As is my habit, I stood in the door to greet as many of our passengers as I could (especially our First Class passengers). I noticed that the Clintons were completely cold to my greeting....not acknowledging me in any way. At the gate in LAX, they were equally cool. They struck me as people who believed they were better than "The Hired Help".

I also noticed a happy, friendly woman who pleasantly acknowledged both the greeting I offered in JFK and my "goodbye" in LAX.

As it turns out, the same Flight Attendant said that she is an Oscar nominee...for cinematography.

Why is it that some people at the pinnacle of their careers can be so warm and happy about it, and others project coolness?

I wish we had been here sooner....

Via Hot Air, I see this WaPo article which headlines...

"Senate Lacks Votes to Pass Stimulus"

This is obviously good news. I've been against these tax incentives/bailouts/stimuli from the start. We have been poorly served, both by the congresscritters and the Fed who have gotten us into this mess, and by the idiots trying to get us out.

I thought I had written about McCain suspending his campaign, but now can't find it. I do remember being alarmed at the stunt. While I could see where he might see the moment as one where he could offer leadership, I thought that suspending his campaign spoke of desperation. That said, a bit more principled opposition to the whole idea of the bailouts would have served us well.

Today, with the backbone that the House Republicans offered a week ago, perhaps the Senate R's will also slow this train down. Before we rush at full speed right over the cliff.

More here, and here.

As if we needed further evidence...

...of our impending financial doom.

Financial Times January 28, 2009

"The US financial sector's new political masters began exercising their influence yesterday...."

Folks, there are none who have fewer qualifications to run our financial sector (or the energy sector, or the farming sector, or the manufacturing sector, or any other sector) than a "political master", and especially this current crowd.

USA Today...

You know, I don't really decry the loss of American print media. They have spend the last couple of decades peddling a patently biased product. They haven't figured out how to make money from providing their product in the internet. For these reasons (and more), we gave up our subscription to the Arizona Republic.

But I have always really, really, REALLY (!) hated USA Today. It epitomizes the dumbing down of America. Nothing they write is of substance. Most of their viewpoints are wrong. They are only good for the Suduko, and that isn't even all that good. I get a better puzzle off my cellphone.

And they fail to ask themselves the most basic of questions.

Case in point: [And damn my poor intertubes skillz: I cannot find this online to post here.] USA Today posts a "USA Today Snapshot" on the front of every section. Here is a very old list. It is a small graphic which, I guess, is supposed to tell us a story.

Today's Front Section includes this question: "Most adults ride without helmets. There is no federal law requiring bicycle helmets, but 36 states have local laws. How often adults wear helmets when they bike:...."

Does USA Today even wonder if we would want a federal law on bike helmets? Who would enforce this? Would we have the FBI begin looking for unhelmeted bikers? Would our prisons fill up with bike scofflaws?

Morons. Media morons.

A couple of gun videos...

Via Glenn, we see that the British have called and they want their guns back.



...and its hard not to admire this guy.



Anyhoo. It can happen any time. You can lose your rights, or you can lose your life.

OK. Lemme get this right....

...All the opposition the Democrats showed to the Bush policies for the last 8 years were principled objections, speaking Truth to Power, or something....

...And it is today that we find that "Partisanship is officially back"?

Bush's Real Sin....

...Was Winning in Iraq.

Ok. I'll play....

Bold=Yeah, I've done it.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (not Disney World, though)
8. Climbed a mountain (Mt. Lassen)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped (no way in hell)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (It was closed when we visited.)
18. Grown your own vegetables. (Routinely)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (I've thought about a half-marathon. But thinking doesn't get one across the finish line, now does it.)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person (Does from the air count?)
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant (One of my greatest joys is to buy a soldier a meal in an airport food court. I do it all the time.)
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (Daughter #1 is an artist)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (We are counting the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas, arent' we?)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies.
62. Gone whale watching (Maui, '08)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (I've been a routine donor--2 gallons--but my last experience was awful and has me rethinking whether I'll go back)
65. Gone sky diving (Sort of. Paragliding training in the AF.)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (Unwittingly, of course.)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square (All the damned time. Central Park, too.)
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (I'm counting that I quit--actually walked out--one, though.)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (Hiked Havasu Falls, too!)
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox (Had shingles in my '30s. Hurt like hell.)
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury (I've got a summons for next month too.)
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (Being a father counts, I guess)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone (Felt prisoner to a cell phone, too.)
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

h/t Exurban League

Yes We Can....

Surely, this is a sign of our coming Apocolypse.



Yes, that's right: You can buy your very own Chia-Obama. Choose between two versions--the "Determined Chia Obama" and the "Happy Chia Obama". Fun for the whole family. Get yours here.

h/t: The Art of Obama via Darleen at Protein Wisdom.

Hannity and Rush on Obama...

In preface, I really don't like Hannity much. He, like Rush, is a conservative more than a Republican, and that's great, but I tire of his continual selling of his books/concerts and the "You're a Great American" schtick. Rush is great, but I don't often give him my attention for his whole show.

That said, these two videos are worth watching. Found over at Theo's place, but many other places too.

Connecting Two Dots....

Dot One...



Via John at Powerline, we see this chart of the measure of our money supply, and in which he suggests that no one has "any idea what the medium-term consequences of these extremes of fiscal and monetary policy will be". (See also this additional Powerline question.)

This chart ought to alarm the most casual observer of our monetary policy. Simply put: Never in the history of the Fed have we seen such a spike.

Dot Two...

Via Glenn, this post asks: "Who will bail out the Fed?"

OK. I'll admit the obvious: The title to this post isn't connecting anything. The point here is that no one--not you, not me, not Ben Bernanke, and certainly not the Congressional luminaries or Zero or his minions--knows if this approach will work either.

Good Lord...

Three words.....

Victor. Davis. Hanson.

Read them all.

h/t: Gerard, out on walkabout, and looking fine for it.

A Small chapter...

...which "says volumes about our new president and the direction he is taking us".

"Every inaugurated president for the last 56 years has attended the Salute to Heroes Ball. Except one."

Gawd. This is going to be worse than I thought.

"...He got a fist bump from me."

[But I am pleased to see that Zero's evasiveness and irritation at substantive questions is drawing the media's notice.]

IDPA Range Report....

After my disappointing results at the State match last April, the summer's escalating gas prices (25 miles one-way at 15mpg and $4/gal was $13 just to get there) and my general busy-ness with our wedding last year, I ended up with months and months away from my IDPA habit.

So, after all that, when I finally got back into the game last week, I came through in the middle of the pack.

One word: Wow.

I have to give credit to this observation: I ditched my range safety glasses and shot in my prescription glasses. Actually being able to--you know--focus on the front sight does tend to get the shots closer to where I had intended them to go. Who knew?

I've been thinking I may change....

....my nom-de-internet to: The Patriot.



'Cuz, you know, (and a point I made very recently on That-Forum-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named), dissent is patriotic.

Geithner's Excuses.....

"A common mistake. I didn't know."

"Turbotax made me do it."

[Turbotax: "Oh no we didn't."]

Up next: The dog ate my homework. Really.

Hey! Lookee that!....

It appears that I'm in good company!

"Its getting a little 'cult-y'..."

Really? She's just now noticing this?



h/t Glenn. Of course.

Wow...

I'm getting a great number of hits today to my humble blog ("great" for my largely unread blog, at least), most of which are coming in via that Radar "What's So Scary about Michelle Obama" picture I used a while back.

For those that stay around a while: Welcome. You can read the broad outline of who I am in the sidebar. Other than that, I don't share much personal information.

I am particularly proud of this post, written a while back, but now perhaps something we will be addressing again. Also, a more recent post on the USAirways "Miracle on the Hudson" can be found here.

I hope you enjoy the place.

Shipping rates hit zero....

Via Glenn, I see this story. I know I commented last fall--somewhere--on the Baltic Dry Index, and think I blogged about it here, but now can't find it.

Shipping is in trouble. In a global economy, this means trouble. Obviously, we've got our troubles here. But others are being pinched too. The Baltic Dry Index has fallen off a cliff.



How we get out of this--peacefully--is a large question.

More on the Cult of Personality....

H.J.RES.5

Whoooo Hooooo! A Permanent President! What could possibly go wrong?

h/t: Purple Avenger over at Ace's Place.

Required Reading Not Yet Read....

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

[Admitting the obvious here....I don't read as much as I used to and no where near as much as I should. I have two correspondence courses laying mostly untouched, and a related, and very technical book only just begun. I am finding at this stage in my life that my interest in viewing the political world through the intertubes combines with my concerns over the continuing damage to the economy (and the social implications falling from this) which leave me with little time and/or energy for reading. I really ought to read Atlas Shrugged, but I should really finish all sorts of things. So much to do; So little time.]

What prompted this, however, was this Stephen Moore article which I've seen referenced:

'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years

FWIW, I was born the same year that Rand published Atlas Shrugged.

Obama-mania....

Today I write about the mania focused on Barack Obama.

I have written earlier about the cult of personality surrounding him. Oprah called him "The One", Farrakhan called him The Messiah. The Grecian columns at his inauguration. His logo. The Stalin-esque imagery. His fake "Office of the President-Elect". The coins. And more coins. The T-shirts. The thongs.

Today on my New Orleans walkabout, I saw Obama buttons, placemats, refrigerator magnets.

The media has fallen head over heels for him. They're covering his train-ride like it was Armstrong landing on the moon.

This cult of personality is a very bad thing. Not looking at our leaders critically is a huge mistake.

Thoughts on USAirways 1549.....

While it may be interesting to a number of people, I've never thought of my life as an airline pilot as particularly interesting (and certainly not heroic). I don't often write of my airline life because in many ways, it is just a job, and if I do it well, it is a very boring job. An exciting day at work usually means something bad has happened. More exciting=More bad.

Obviously, Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III did everything perfectly. What is only now becoming obvious to most is that so did his crew.

The World assumes that I know how to fly my airplane within the envelope that it can be flown. My FAA and my company assume this; My passengers assume this; My crew assumes this; and most importantly--I assume this. Like everyone else in your own work, I have my good days and my bad days, but I always know that everyone assumes, at a minimum, that I can operate the machine.

However, the biggest job an airline captain has is not with operating the machine, but rather in leading his crew.

I work with some of the most capable First Officers I can imagine. "First Officers" is really a misnomer. A more apt title would be "Co-Captain". With very few exceptions, these guys are capable of making each decision that I am called on to make.

But I don't always agree with these guys. Some of them are liberals and want all the things that liberals want. Some of them are bitter about all the changes we have seen in our profession. There are those who walk around with "baggage" (no pun intended). I don't even like some of them.

However, I always have to find a way to work with these guys. It is up to me to form The Team.

A couple of anecdotes...

When I was in the military flying C-130s, I had one of my last trips as a copilot with an Aircraft Commander (the guy in charge) with a guy named "Steve". Steve was a nice enough guy...a little "different", but not overtly unpleasant. I went to college with Steve. However, Steve was fairly regimented. If there were five acceptable techniques to accomplish a given task, most guys will watch another perform that task and think: "OK. That's not the way I might have done it, but it worked none-the-less." Not Steve. If Steve had a technique, it meant that he wanted you to use it. It didn't matter to Steve if you wanted to do things another way. It was his way or the highway.

Anyhoo, I launched off on this six-day trip with Steve, and we weren't airborne 20 minutes and he had the entire crew alienated. Each of us spent the next 6 days doing our jobs and no more. There was little conversation, and there was no way I was going to cover for a mistake that Steve was about to make. Likewise the Nav (navigator) and the Flight Engineer and the Loadmaster. We were on the same airplane, but we were not a crew.

This was all Steve's fault.

Second anecdote....

I am not tooting my own horn here. Really.

On one of my last Tactical flights as a C-130 A/C, I picked up a load of Navy SEALs to bring them up to our dropzone for some parachute practice for them and us. We got to practice delivering paratroopers--they got to practice jumping out of a plane. For a number of reasons, the dropzone was located right next to the runway at Clark AB--as in less than a mile from the end of the runway. Our procedures had us calling the tower for entry into the airport area before the airdrop. The plan that day was fly a low level to get to the dropzone and then to make about 4 passes over the dropzone, each time dropping out 4-6 SEALs. After each drop, we'd make a left hand turn to fly a "race-track" pattern to set up for the subsequent group. The run in for the airdrop was on a heading converging with the runway centerline at about 30 degrees.

Anyhoo, seconds after the first group was clear of the left troop door, my #2 engine (inboard engine on the left wing) just quit. And quit hard. This was my first airborne engine failure, and I had always expected that an inboard engine failure would be felt as a loss of thrust, but not that much of a yaw. This failure came to me as both.

An engine which fails will often fling parts of itself all over the place. The engines are designed to spew those parts into the airflow which will take the exploding parts aft of the plane. One of my initial concerns (which, thankfully, turned out to be baseless) was that parts of this failing engine might have injured the SEALs who had just jumped out the door only feet from the engine that had just failed. There really wasn't much I could do about it, but it was a concern none-the-less.

My next concern was getting this airplane on the ground. As it turns out, we were less than 2 miles from the end of the runway.

And I'll tell you folks, it was simply amazing to watch my crew work.

The Loadmaster got the remaining jumpers back into their seats and ready for landing. Once we had "caged" the engine, he scanned it for any other issues. The Flight Engineer and Co-pilot were the busiest. They had emergency checklists and normal landing checklists to run in a very, very compressed time frame.

And they got it done. All of it. For me, it was a piece of cake. All I had to do was fly the plane. It was they who were doing all the work. They were the real heros.

Prediction: When we do finally hear what "Sully" has to say about his water landing, I predict he will say much the same thing. I know that his crew--the now named First Officer Jeff Skiles, and the Flight Attendants--did far more than the public is now aware of to make this episode into a "Miracle on the Hudson" the miracle that it was. "Sully" will get the credit, but if I'm right, it is the crew which deserves it.

Water landings....

Gawd, I hate that term. [And Double-Gawd, do I wish Blogger had a strike text feature.] The end of USAirways 1549 was not a "water landing". This is a "water landing".



What "Sully" did was "crash-an-unpowered-airplane-on-the-water-and-have-everyone-live". That doesn't fit well into a newspaper column, but it is far more the truth than "water landing".

Birds...

As the public is now becoming aware of, birds are a problem in aviation. They have been since Orville Wright first flew a plane.

As a professional pilot, bird strikes are part of my life. They don't happen every day, but neither are they unheard of. Most bird strikes are benign events which require little more than an inspection by a mechanic who will then send us on our way. The .gov does keep records on these things, so there is a birdstrike form which facilitates this.

I can't tell you how many bird strikes I've had. As I said, most are benign. My most eventful bird strike was on a C130 takeoff from Pohang during Team Spirit '85. I took a duck in the #2 engine on takeoff roll, and it took us out of the Pohang Air Races.

However, as US1549 illustrates, birdstrikes do occasionally create significant, and sometimes catastrophic damages.

A couple of videos....









Preparations for emergencies...

A long, long time ago, I wrote a Small Cautionary Note on the need to be ready to evacuate a plane. That Caution still stands.

Folks, if you've read this far, I don't care how experienced a traveler you are, the same basic recommendation applies: Pay attention to the safety video/demonstration. Pull out the safety card in the seat pocket and look at it. Look around for the nearest emergency exit. Count the number of rows to that door. Then do the same for the exit in the opposite direction. Take a moment to touch that flotation device under your seat. Is it in a box or a pouch?

Before you get dressed to go to the airport, ask yourself: "If I were in an emergency today, would these clothes/shoes help me or hurt me?"

For as rare as airline accidents are, you have to assume that it can happen on any day.

Be Prepared.

Peter Schiff....

...Scores a shack.



h/t: Theo.

Yep.

What Dennis Miller said.....

If McCain had won, this would not stand....

Look, folks. I am a conservative libertarian. I don't apologize for that. There is far too much about Bush's Compassionate Conservatism that I did not like. But as a wartime President, I think--and disagree with many other conservative libertarians on this point--that Bush's foreign policy has been nearly perfect. Churchillian.

Of course, there is almost no topic for me to agree with Obama.

That said, I do not wish him to fail. While I may disagree with his every decision, for the sake of the country, I don't want him to stumble.

But had a Republican tried this stunt, it would never stand.

Obama has already lost Richardson (rightly). On her merits, Clinton should have probably gone too, but because of her name, she will be confirmed. I'd like to see Holder go too.

Some may say that Geithner's tax problem is no big deal, and that in the interest of allowing Obama to get on with his administration, and especially for a SecTreas in the middle of a horrible economy in recession, after the Senate touches him up a bit, they should confirm him.

I disagree.

We're talking about a tax problem from the Secretary of the Treasury, for chrissakes. And not just a SecTreas-nominee. A former Governor of the Federal Reserve. Of New York--center of the financial world. Imagine a nominee for head of the EPA having a "forgotten" arrest for polluting or a draft dodger named to be Secretary of Defense.

Outside the serious misgivings I've had about Obama--Ayers, Rezco, Wright, Marxism, the Chicago Way, etc.--Geithner's tax problem should be enough to cause serious questions about his fitness for the office.

Update: John, over at Powerline, in an addition to a post begun by Paul, which makes this exact point.

"[I]f Geithner were a Republican with the same tax-scofflaw record, there is not the chance of a snowball in Hell that he would be confirmed."

Biden in Iraq....

Beyond my view that Joe Biden is one of the biggest idiots on the planet, he is, none-the-less, the Vice President-Elect.

He recently went on a tour with some other Senators of the Mid-East. [The trip itself was of some small controversy.]

But what really got me was this question: Since when do those who represent us--either as a Senator or a VP-Elect--to foreign governments wear slacks and a sport coat vice a suit?

As seen on my drive into the airport the other day...

....A license plate which read....

8BB88B88

Oh, Yeah. I called it.....

"...[T]he president-elect told me that fixing our economy over the long term will require sacrifice from every American and scaling back some of his campaign promises...."

Hope!

Change!

Rainbows!

Wa, Wa, Wa, Wait a Minute.....

I was sure--No. Strike that. I was certain that Democrats were opposed to the Bush-era CIA interrogation methods.

And now, this is all forgotten? How can that be?

File this under.....

Oh. Great.

Today, I got a blog hit from Nigeria.

[Note to my Nigerian reader, if you come back: No. I'm not sending you any money.]

Oh, that we could always have....

....such problems.

h/t: The Blog-faddah, although it passed through a number of others first.

Gawd.

You just gotta love Matt Drudge.

"We'll spend our way out of this."

Who knew? Democrats are opposed to Zero's plan!

Yes. That's what is desperately needed here. An "exit strategy".

Drudge also notes that the spokes may be coming off the wheel (to use a favorite term from an internet friend). I can't find it now, but I ran across an article yesterday making the point that the US consumer is tapped out on taking on more debt, and that others in the world (China, primarily) aren't willing to buy any of it.

Trouble approaches. Gotta get the new toy up and running, before The Apocolypse hits.

"People are too depressed to be sexually active,"

So give us a bailout.

h/t Ace.

This is what is wrong with this country.....

Click here. I ran across this at Powerline, and it was an ad that leads here. I don't really know how these blog ads work (I suspect that they change moment-to-moment), but it gave me pause.

Think about this: "...[A] free government grant that you don't have to pay back."

Folks, there is no such thing as "a free government grant". If you believe that there is, you also have to believe in a perpetual motion machine.

"A free government grant" gets paid by someone. It may be free to you, but its not free to us. We are taxed to provide the funds for these grants. And when you become wealthy enough to become one of us, you too will be taxed to provide a "free government grant" to someone else. And if we aren't taxed, then the Fed. or somebody will be printing money out of thin air.

"...Obama's economic team...."

"... is still working out the details of the [Stimulus] package."

Prediction: The Stimulus package (sic) that he campaigned on will not be the one he sends to Congress.

Count this as yet another....

So, anyhooo...

On that Forum-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, a question was asked as to why the Politics conference had become so boring post-election. After letting the question sit for about a week (taking a break from the place for Christmas), I posted the following....

Oh, I am far from bored. In fact, I can hardly keep myself in my bunker, clinging bitterly to that to which I bitterly cling.

This thing has become such fun entertainment that I am surprised that I did not send money earlier to The Prophet Obama (PBUH). Its like your first trip to see the Three Ringed Circus...you're enjoying everything you see, and its hard to keep your eye on it all.

But to recap...

As [redacted] mentioned, in one ring we have The One's Appointments. We've got Zero's vanquished opponent (who kindly introduced us to Tony Rezko) now named as Secretary of State. Lost in the circus are the questions of how a SecState will represent this country when her husband's "...organization [has] accepted multimillion-dollar gifts from a variety of foreign governments, companies and individuals who might have an interest in United States foreign policy." Our interest then shifts to his choice for Secretary of Commerce--Gov. Bill Richardson. Richardson, as it turns out, is about to be embroiled in his own "Pay to Play" scheme. [Noooo. Say it ain't so!] And then, we see O's nominee for Attorney General, Eric Holder. Holder, you may remember, was up to his eyeballs in the Marc Rich pardon scandal. A Congressional investigation found that Holder had "played a major role, [in] steering Mr. Rich’s lawyers toward Jack Quinn, a former White House counsel.". The confirmation hearings for The One's Cabinet promise further entertainment.

And in the other ring, there is the magic act using a version of Three Card Monte entitled "Obama's Change From The Change That I Promised". Watch him shuffle the cards labelled "A Betrayal on FISA", "I Won't End The War That I Promised I'd End", and (by extension) Guantanamo Policy. Try to keep your eyes on the cards, as the Change has a habit of Changing, if you know what I mean.

But then in the center ring, we see the continuing saga of "Who to pick for the vacant Senate Seats?" The Delaware vacancy, open due to Joe Biden's new role as Vice-President Elect, will go to--get this--Biden's Chief of Staff. He, however, will only act in that position until Biden's son will return from Iraq. [Is there no one in Delaware not named Biden qualified for that seat?] But a larger drama is found (naturally) on Broadway, or, if you must be precise, on the Upper East Side. There, we find one Caroline Kennedy asking to be named to the soon-to-be vacated Clinton seat based on no qualifications what-so-ever beyond having a va-jay-jay (Stranger things have happened. Look what happened with Zero.). The woman frequently has not voted, and despite her wealth, has a very meager history of political donations. She has never been elected to anything and has a habit of losing articles of clothing while in public. The poor woman can barely complete a sentence without interrupting herself. [The Mainstream Media, exhausted as they are after searching All of Alaska for everything Palin (including, if you can believe it, 1.9 million stories on "Palin's daughter's boyfriend's mother".) cannot manage to ask the last vestige of Camelot "What ever happened to that Schlossberg guy?"]

However, the star of the center ring is none other than "HotRod" Rod Blagojevich. He, of course, has been accused of blatantly attempting to sell the Senate seat that The One is vacating. The alleged buyer of this seat was none other than Jesse Jackson, Jr., he of the Chicago Jackson's. But the bartering for the naming rights to this seat went through PEBO's Chief of Staff, Rahm "Rahmbo" Emanuel. After an indepth look at what went on, PEBO's White House Counsel, Greg Craig (Yes. There is a reason you recognize that name.) adopts a version of The Jedi Mind Trick to proclaim "There is nothing to see here. Move along." (Why didn't Scooter Libby try this?) This announcement comes on the afternoon of Dec. 23, whereupon Obama and Emanuel are immediately available for questions, if the questioner wants to go to Hawaii and Africa--but whatever you do, don't question the timing. While the Illinois legislature is still working up the nerve to impeach the scoundrel, Dingy Harry Reid has announced (in tandem with The Messiah) that the Senate will not seat whomever Blago appoints. [Stand by for a Constitutional Crisis, folks. They don't have that power.]

Oh. And as if this weren't enough, Rep. Bobby Rush--he the former Black Panther--pronounced the Obama Senate seat as "The Black Seat" in a defense of Blago's appointment of Burris.

And just who is this Roland Burris character anyway? Turns out, he, like the Chicago-based Rep. Rush, Rev. Jackson and Rev. Wright is racist too (What is it about Chicago and racists?). He's also a former lobbyist [Gasp!] and--this is delicious--once "headed a commercial group that covered government guaranteed loans and minority business banking" and is a former "National Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer for Operation PUSH" (same citation). He named both of his children--a son and a daughter--after himself. And he has erected this crypt as his entryway into the Hereafter. My, oh my. What a guy.

So, to sum up, a white governor is going to be impeached (but may not be convicted and removed from office) and probably is going to jail because he tried to sell a Senate appointment. The Democratic Senate leadership (and the half-black President) is put in the position of refusing to seat the black appointee. The Democrat-led Illinois legislature desperately wants Blago to resign so as to avoid impeachment and the exposure of all the political skeletons. Blago, absolutely the dumbest, slimiest politcian from that cesspool that is Chicago has outsmarted the whole lot of the others--his appointment will stand on his terms. And out of this whorehouse, we're lead to believe that arose one virgin. Identity politics, anyone?

No. I am not bored. The Messiah has not yet even taken office yet, and already I've had more entertainment out of this whole thing than I could have had in ten movies. I'm making popcorn.

An update to my "Center Ring": I had forgotten that the "legitimate" contender to the Clinton Senate seat was none other than Andrew Cuomo--another pol's son--who comes complete with his own Kennedy-fueled drama.

But what really is the attention-getter, and what prompted this update, is this little nugget of sunshine.

Better than a Three-Ringed Circus!

/Update.

Another Update: I oughta sue. P.J. O'Rourke steals my meme. Of course, he does it far better than I did, but that's beside the point.

/Another Update.