Happy New Year

I write to you from the pleasant confines of BWI's new airport lounge, contentedly sipping a free coffee whilst awaiting transport to Atlanta to watch my Wahoos take on Auburn in what was formerly known as The Peach Bowl. Apparently, the $500 a year I send AMEX does get me something worthwhile now and then.

Thanks to the Kitten for giving me my liberty card to hang with the boys on New Years Eve. All good things to all readers of this blog--Merry New Year!

Have You Contributed to Romney for President Yet?

Look to your right, folks.  We're on the verge of breaking through the $3000 point in blog support for the ultimate GOP Standard Bearer.  Looks to me like Newt is fading and Ron Paul will get ground down under the weight of his own statements.  Who will be the one to put us over the $3K level?

Don't forget to click the box saying that you know your referrer's information--that will track it back to the blog.

UPDATE:  A frequent visitor to the blog put us over the $3K point today!

Big Fat Friday Free For All

Well folks?  What have you got?  Watching your lead slip away in Iowa?  Worried what happens to your campaign when all your supporters go back to college?  Worried about losing to an ACC team in your Bowl Game?  Step right up and bitch away!

WaPost Gets Iowahawked

Iowahawk takes a look at a recent WaPost piece on the Solydra scandal, and it is a gem.  Here's a wonderful bit from it, rightfully criticizing the Post's view of what the "scandal" at Solyndra actually was:

"Look, I have nothing against Linda Sterio, any more than I have anything against a waitress unwittingly employed by an Al Capone speakeasy. I wish her well in obtaining employment. But let's be clear: the scandal is not that she lost her job at Solyndra, it's that she ever had a job at Solyndra. And that she, and countless others, were deprived jobs at legitimate businesses because government sucked $500 million out capital markets to endorse and underwrite the "clean-energy" hustles of its favorite check-writing eco-crooks."

Classic.

Don't Forget Scott Brown

Yes, I know.  He voted now and again in ways that have pissed all of us off.  But take a look at this piece from the Boston Herald.  He's voted with Republican leadership 75% of the time--the "other" Senator in Massachusetts--John Kerry--voted with Democratic leadership 97% of the time.  Indeed, he is among the most moderate of Republicans in the Senate, right there with his neighbors from Maine.  But he votes with the Republican caucus.  He's yet another vote toward control of the Senate.  Dead-enders can turn against him because he didn't turn out to be a perfect Tea Party candidate--but that is not a strategically sound decision.  You'd rather have Elizabeth Warren, perhaps?  Support Scott Brown.  Contribute.  Today.

National Review Has A Go At Wall Street

Kevin Williamson

Kevin Williamson, Deputy Managing Editor of National Review, is a very smart man.  He also has the look of someone who has done hard time, which tends to put me in a bit of an intimidated position when I read his stuff...you know, he's smarter than I am, and he looks like he knows how to kill me in several imaginative ways.

Williamson has an article in the latest National Review, and National Review Online has graciously posted it here. In it, Williamson does a manful job of exposing the high state of crony capitalism running amok in the United States, fueled in no small measure by the ultra-cozy relationship between major Wall Street types and politicians of both parties.  Few emerge from this article unscathed, and if Williamson is to be believed, few should.

Many people wonder how Wall Street could have been so famously enthralled by the young man from Illinois, he of nary two years of undistinguished Senate experience.  Wasn't he a "share the wealth" guy?  Didn't he sound vaguely anti-capitalist?  Well--yes, He did.   But--and here is where Williamson is at his best--we shouldn't confuse Wall Street with free market capitalism.  It is a place in fact, where free-market capitalism has been replaced by state influenced--dare I say Fascist--collusion between government and capital.  So those who shook their head in wonder as investment banker millions piled into Barack Obama's coffers simply saw things wrong.  They weren't voting against their interests...they were voting FOR their interests--and that is, the best bet for continuing to give them the thumb on the scale needed to make the money they want to make.

I know, I know--I sound like a populist.  I sound like I am anti-Wall Street.  Well, I'm not.  I believe Wall Street carries out a necessary function in our-nay, the world's--economy.  I know there are a ton of hard working, virtuous people who do their very best to ensure shareholder value in their enterprises.  But you've really got to wonder how it was that SO MANY people that you once believed saw the world like you do voted for and financially supported a candidate so diametrically opposed to your beliefs.  The answer clearly is that I was wrong about them.  Those who voted for President Obama aren't interested in free markets and minimal regulation; those who voted for President Obama are interested largely in keeping the good deal that they had going as long as it could go.  Williamson's portrayal of  the sneering contempt with which some on Wall Street view REAL free-market capitalists (like the guy who sold you your car, who paved your driveway, who renovated your house) may have been a bit overdone, but it hit a nerve with me.

I've been a pretty consistent backer of Wall Street, and a fairly loud backer of free markets.  I'll continue to do both--but I will sharpen my thinking and rhetoric and be more willing to write about excesses enabled by the all-too-cozy relationship between Washington and Wall Street.  I hope that a change of administrations next year can move the issue forward, in a way that returns free-market principles to the world of high finance. But we all know where "hope" got us this time....

2012 Predictions

1. New Orleans will beat Green Bay in the NFC Championship game.
2. Kim Kardashian will write a memoir.
3. Kate Middleton will be with child by years' end.
4. Jerry Sandusky will be the victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
5. On Election Night, riots will break out in Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia.
6. Eric Holder will dig in, the press will circle the wagons, and he will keep his job.
7. The Washington Post will set a record for most consecutive days running essentially the same article to remind us that George Allen used the word macaca in 2006.
8. The Occupy movement will gain steam when the weather gets nice, and something very ugly will finally happen at one of their rallies.
9. The press will suddenly become fascinated with the Mormon faith and there will be an unprecedented number of stories devoted to covering it.
10. At least one and perhaps both of my dogs will finally realize that they're simply never going to catch a squirrel.
11. In CW's continuing effort to be 'nicer,' he will get a Gator for Halloween to tote all the neighborhood kids around.

2012 New Year's Resolutions

Ok folks.  This is a new one--I generally don't make many New Year's Resolutions, and I'm not aware that I've shared them in the past.  Posting them here may have the capacity to make me try harder to attain them.  So in no particular order, here they are.

1.  Eat better.  Low carb, all year.
2.  Exercise more.  Even a little bit is better than nothing.
3.  Curse less.  I'm an educated, reasonably articulate man, but I can curse like a Sailor.  It's time to put that away.
4.  Be a "nicer" guy.  I don't think the first thing that comes to people's minds when they think of me is that I'm a "nice guy".  I guess I'm okay with that, as I don't really strive to be seen that way.  In 2012, I think I'd like to be seen as a "nicer guy", at least nicer than 2011.
5.  Be more patient. In all things.  With all people.
6.  Be there more for my family.  In all ways.
7.  Smile more.
8.  Strive to develop a more nuanced sense of humor; value lightness more, sarcasm less.
9.  Work around the house more, in the house less.
10.  Read more books, fewer URL's.

Scorecard--2011; Predictions--2012

It was a dismal year for my predictions--you can see them for yourself here.  Looks like I got exactly ONE of TEN right--predicting that unemployment would be under 9%.  Never one to be dragged down by poor past performance, here are my 2012 Predictions.  I invite my fellow bloggers to post theirs as the spirit moves them.

1.  Mitt Romney will be elected President
2.  Marco Rubio will be elected Vice-President
3.  Republicans will win majorities in both Chambers of Congress as a result of the 2012 Elections
4.  The Presidential Election of 2012 will be notable for its ugliness.  Apologists for Mr. Obama will claim the result was a sign of lingering US racism, forgetting of course, 2008.
5.  My renovation will be completed by the time I write next year's wrapup
6.  The Dow will break its previous high sometime during the year
7.  UVA's Football Team will lose only two games, one of which will be to Va Tech (which will play in the BCS Championship Game)
8.  Israel will be at war with at least one other nation-state during 2012.  The US will provide logistics and intelligence support, but nothing else. 
9.  Scott Brown will lose his Massachusetts Senate Seat
10.Scott Brown will be Mitt Romney's choice for Attorney General

Book Review: "In My Time" by Dick Cheney

The Kitten gave me a copy of Lord Voldemort's autobiography for Christmas, and it is worth the read.  It isn't US Grant's story, mind you, but it is an interesting, straightforward account of a very interesting life.

Essentially this is two books--one, the pre-Bush VP days, and the other, an account of Cheney's time as VP.  To my mind, the pre-Bush Cheney is far more interesting.  Power company lineman (and 2 time DUI recipient), asked to leave Yale (again, twice), college/grad student, husband, father, White House Staffer, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Chief of Staff, Congressman, Secretary of Defense, Corporate CEO--the man lived a big life.  A lot here I didn't know, and a lot here that helped explain why he was the man he was. 
The VP part of the book?  Well, it is told with less wistfulness, less joy, more business and dedication.  There is some serious score settling here--as Condi, Colin Powell, and Richard Armitage come in for some rough treatment.  The Bush Years were probably too fresh in my mind for me to really like this section--it seemed more like reading a stack of Time Magazines than reading a life story.  But there are some great sections in this part--especially the discussion of striking Syria's nuclear complex (something Cheney advocated), a job eventually taken on by the Israelis.

Cheney's treatment of GWB remains loyal and respectful, though it is clear the President's failure to pardon Scooter Libby created distance between them.  Cheney was never what he was portrayed to be in the press (pulling the strings, the man behind the curtain) and he's not afraid to say that here.  He was, however, a very different brand of Vice President, and his role in many of the most important decisions of the Bush Presidency sets him apart from the field in terms of influence and legacy.

Read the book.  It is clearly Dick Cheney's no-nonsense voice, with spare prose and sentences written that point you in the direction of conclusions but never actually take you all the way, especially when he was trying to say unpleasant things about another person.  Of interest to me was the fact that Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich came into the House the same year--and while most of Newt's time in the spotlight occurred while Cheney was in the private sector, the two did serve together in the house for ten years.  Cheney is again, respectful of Gingrich and gives him a good deal of credit for bringing about a Republican majority in the House.  But he did not align himself with Gingrich's young insurgency, choosing instead to send his Chief of Staff to Newt's meetings.

Christmas Eve....Second Biggest Traffic Day Ever!

Why was this? Why, it is because we were linked to by my favorite all-grown up blogger, Tigerhawk!  Thanks to him for the link and to Sally for supplying the post. 

♫ Where Have All the Conservatives Gone?...Long Time Passing ♫

Interesting piece today in the Washington Post (by our old friend Bob Woodward) describing Newt's troubles with the Republican establishment, specifically the 1990 budget deal between George Bush and Congressional Democrats. Woodward's thesis is that Gingrich was an uncompromising, emotionally unstable jerk who had a problem with authority and betrayed a sitting President thereby facilitating his eventual defeat. Perhaps, but if the 1990 version of Newt were running for President, I would be an enthusiastic supporter.

Compromise is overrated. Compromise is a politician's default position, not a leader's. Say what you will about Obama, Pelosi, Reed et al., when they had the power they didn't compromise. They have their policies and the opposition be damned. I respect that. Compromise is what happens when you have exhausted every possible avenue to winning. I think Maggie Thatcher described the Romney wing of the party exactly: "“If you just set out to be liked, you will be prepared to compromise on anything at anytime, and would achieve nothing. ” Amen.

Jonah Goldberg Masterfully Skewers Ron Paul

I've been kinda quiet here on the blog (but not on the real-time debate chats) about my distaste for Ron Paul as a Presidential candidate.  While there are a number of interesting domestic policy ideas in his satchel, his views on foreign and defense policy make George McGovern look like a war-monger.

Jonah Goldberg--a conservative thinker generally well-disposed to Libertarianism--takes Paul out for a spin in this wonderful column.  Here's just a bit for you:

"Paul’s supporters love to talk about how he was a lone voice of dissent. They never explain why he was alone in his dissent. Why couldn’t he convince even his ideologically sympathetic colleagues? Why is there no Ron Paul caucus?"

The Entitlement That Is Social Security

For its history, Democrats have been able to point to Social Security as something other than an entitlement, a program in which people essentially "pay for their own benefit".  They realized (FDR first among them), that for Social Security to be protected and popular--it could not be seen as a giveaway to the poor.  No, it must be equally available to all, funded of course, by the contributions of workers themselves.

Something happened on the way to Utopia though, and that is, the birth control pill.  That's right, the birth control pill (and the equal rights evolution) conspired to drive birthrates down in the United states to the point where there are only a few workers actually paying for every retiree (while there were over 50 when the program started in the '30's).  In less than 15 years, it will be two workers for every retiree.  The bottom line is that the program can no longer pay for itself, and its continuation is a function of co-mingling payroll taxes with transfers from the general treasury.  In effect, Social Security is now an entitlement, something that has come into sharp relief with the recent payroll tax fight on the Hill. 

We simply don't have enough workers to fund the program anymore, unless taxes are raised in dangerously non-productive ways.  It is time to means test Social Security and see it for what it is--an insurance policy to keep people from slipping into poverty when they stop working.  The fiction of "I paid in, I'm entitled to the benefit" is undercut by longer lives and earlier retirements. 

Note to liberals and their echoes:  I am not saying get rid of social security.  I'm saying we should end the fiction that it is anything other than an entitlement.  Doing so opens the way for the kinds of reforms necessary to protect the plan's ability to do good for those who actually need it.

Virginia Ballot Fiasco

There will only be two candidates to choose from in Virginia's primary on Super Tuesday: Romney and Paul. It's an unusual system-10,000 signatures are required to get on the ballot, with a minimum of 400 from each of the state's 11 Congressional districts.

Newt, Perry, Bachmann, Santorum and Huntsman (hard to remember that last fella!) didn't make the cut. While at least two and possibly four of those candidates will have quit the race by then, Newt was actually leading Romney by a significant margin in the last statewide poll.

Newt is crying foul and blaming the system. RedState is hinting at a conspiracy. The Republican Party of Virginia, who was responsible for verifying the signatures, better have clean hands on this one. But assuming their hands are clean, it's hard to muster too much sympathy for Newt. The rules may be dumb, arcane, whatever. But they're not new rules. Eight candidates managed to get on the ballot in 2008. Goes to show you the vital importance of organization.

We Now Interrupt the Joy of the Season...

...to bring you a horror story:

Hey Everyone....Mitt Romney's Running for President

And you can contribute by clicking the link on the right side of the blog.  Make sure you check the "I know my referrer" block so that people will know you are a CW reader!  Check out the total, folks--we're really making a difference.  Every little bit helps!

By the way--if you have a chance, watch the video.  Some words you'd never hear Barack Obama say.

Big Fat Friday Free For All

So?  What's on your Christmas list this year?  Asking Santa for a little sweetheart deal for your "green" energy firm?  Looking for your your party's self respect after the Senate simply left town and said "deal with it"?  Miss your wife and girls in Hawaii?

Unburden yourselves, people.

Would Somebody Please Get Barney a Bra?

Barney on the House floor yesterday
post-surgery.

I'm sorry to report to all of you that you cannot un-ring a bell...and you will not be able to un-see this photo.

Book Review

Here's a great gift for the non-Obama fan on your list. A 150-page manifesto of everything O knows about the economy published by a 30-year-old banker from Tennessee.

The entire book is blank.

Available on Amazon for $9.99.