CW March Madness Standings

Here are the standings in the CW March Madness Bracket.  Jeffrey "Chicken and Noodles" Stewart is in the lead Rob Ganus Close behind.

The Michigan State/Virginia  and Louisville/Kentucky games are going to be awesome.

Standings
Rank	Team Name	Score	Correct	Best Score	Best Correct	Champion
1	Jeff Stewart	45	34	169	48	Virginia (124)
2	Rob Ganus	42	33	154	45	Virginia (138)
3	Meaghan McGrath	41	32	113	39	Arizona (142)
4	Greg Dail	40	32	132	42	Michigan St. (165)
5	Bryan McGrath	37	29	145	40	Virginia (116)
5	Dean Hackemer	37	30	117	38	Virginia (107)
5	Sean McGrath	37	29	149	40	Louisville (177)

Obama Hunts Osama bin Kony

Our most pressing foreign policy issue--Kony

News this morning of a redoubled effort on the part of the Obama Administration to bring Ugandan Warlord "Kony" to justice.  Let's face it, Kony is nasty stuff, and he would look great facing the music in an international tribunal, or on a cold slab somewhere.  But this is not a compelling U.S. interest.  It is a sideshow, driven by activists with megaphones, T-shirts and social media sites.  The President is looking to bottle lightning again, with a sexy special forces raid, book deals and Academy Award winning film to follow.

Seeking a small-ball victory, the Administration appears to be loosing our special forces to take out America's #1 Strategic Issue, a Central African Warlord operating in the former colonies of our European friends.  

This is what passes for foreign policy in this moribund Administration.  Time and again, we find ourselves powerless to impact important events because we have chosen to be powerless.  Our esteem is slipping worldwide, we are not respected because we are not feared, and this appears to be just fine with the President.  His job is to remake the relationship between the governed and the government, not to extend and sustain America's pre-eminence in the world.  Oh--did you not know that?  Perhaps you should have thought about it before you voted for him. Twice.

Big Fat Friday Free For All

What's got you down, Shipmate?  Your bracket busted after the first game of the tournament?  Your team forget to shoot free-throws?  Your diet get torpedoed by a trip to the American South?  Your country's First Lady taking a trip to China on the public's dime, yet no press is allowed?

Let it out, friend.  Let it out....

Thanks to Obamacare I Can Keep My Lexus

This is Retta Riordan, an "Obamacare Success Story" according to the headline. Apparently Ms. Riordan has a preexisting condition (dodgy knee) which precludes her purchasing health insurance on the open market (is there a health insurance open market?). So the Affordable Care Act stepped in to save the day. Thank you President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and the entire Democratic Party establishment who are constantly vigilant in their protection of the disadvantaged.

Oh, but what's this? Retta IS the Democratic Party establishment. What's that about? Well heck, I guess that's ok, she qualified for the subsidy so at least for the time being thems the rules. What's that? She what? She lives in a 400k+ home? WTF!!? Hmmmmm...wonder what's going on here?

Conservative Wahoo Bracketology

Come one, come all and join in the Conservative Wahoo 2014 Bracket Challenge. 

You are invited to join my CBSSports.com Bracket Manager group! To accept this invitation and join the group, click the link below (or cut and paste the link into your browser's address bar). You'll be asked to enter the group password before you can join, so it is posted below.

http://uvawahoo.mayhem.cbssports.com/e?ttag=BPM14_em_cbsinv

Our Group password is: wahoo

Joining is as easy as:

1) Sign In to CBSSports.com or create a new account

2) Enter your Bracket Group password when prompted

3) You're in!

Wager Among Yourselves

As you can see CW asked me to run this years NCAA B-Ball pool as Bourbon Street and strippers proved too much of a distraction for our worldly, well traveled, "super-genius". However I'm just too busy at the moment with my mundane, boring, stay at home life, especially since the first game is tonight.
Sorry CW, we left it too late but maybe this is a good omen. You don't want to be picking UVA, too emotionally involving (you'd know that if your team had been to three final fours and won two of them). So
good luck kids and may your favorite team...do ok.

Dispatch from The Road: Bentonville, Arkansas

Seated at Gate A-6 of the Northwest Arkansas Airport, I find myself with a bit of time before my flight to New Orleans via Houston.  The snow is falling here, kind of hard, and it presages what the East Coast should expect later today and tomorrow.  The reports are that 13 days of school were canceled in Bentonville this year due to the hard winter and modest means to combat it.  Such is the life of a Southern town.

This is however, quite unlike any other Southern Town, as it is the Worldwide Headquarters of the world's largest retailer--Walmart--along with Tyson Foods and J.B. Hunt Trucking.  It really is quite remarkable, what has grown here in Northwest Arkansas along the 540 corridor. 

I am here because my friend asked me to come.  He's a VP at Walmart and he asked me to talk to a group of managers on his team about leadership and the like, the sort of things one accumulates in a 21 year career in the military.  Some of it translates over to business, some not so much.  I concentrated my remarks on the former.  Walmart HQ reflects the culture created by its founder--no frills.  If you want to know how Walmart is able to keep its prices as low as it does, a walk around corporate HQ will help.  Don't get me wrong, it is a pleasant, serviceable atmosphere where people are happy and work hard within a well-defined corporate culture. But there are no frills here, no wasted energy.  Shareholders should be happy.

My friend was lucky enough to have the Navy buy him a Harvard MBA a few years ago, back when the Navy thought it wise to keep its rising talent by doing such things.  I remember thinking then that there will be dubious return on investment in the program, and I think that has come to pass.  This guy worked for me on the ship I commanded, and he was the star among stars.  Shortly before I left, he told me he was going to leave the Navy.  I think he thought I would be really disappointed in him, but I wasn't.  I was very happy for him and his family, and I knew that the sky would be the limit for them going forward.  It has been, and he has done very well for himself, putting the same drive and intelligence that I enjoyed to work trying to advance the interests of Walmart.

The talk I gave went really well, and the managers had awesome questions...there were a lot of issues particular to their business that they sought my thoughts on, and I did my best to keep up.  They were a great bunch.  Yesterday morning, we went to the monthly Saturday Morning Meeting at HQ, which is a ritual going back to the Sam Walton days.  Then it was more of a management meeting, now it serves as a great way to drive out corporate messaging throughout the business and to get alignment.  They also invite guest speakers, and yesterday's was (coincidentally) Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense.  He did a great job and was very well-received.

After the meeting, we went to Crystal Bridges Art Museum, an unbelievably beautiful Walton Family funded oasis of great art in Northwest AR.  The buildings were stunning, their beauty exceeded only by the priceless treasures within.  After a bit of cultural exposure, we wallowed in local culture by hitting a famous BBQ Joint.  After a quiet night in, I am now headed to New Orleans for a bit if bidness tomorrow followed by dinner with another Navy stalwart in the French Quarter.

I will return to an empty house, save for the dogs and cats who've been looked after by a dutiful house sitter.  The Kittens are luxuriating in the Caribbean on a friend's luxe catamaran, and we'll all be back together next Saturday night.  I'll be on my own Tuesday through Saturday, and I hope to muddle through. 

Random Hate Speech from Redneckistan

Lord what is Renee Ellmers up to? Have a look for yourself, Laura Ingraham absolutely destroyed her with the "non-establishment", conservative,  (RR) Real Republican argument. As you probably know last election I voted for Ellmers and even gave her a little lunch money from time to time. What I didn't vote for (I thought) was a Boehner-bot or a tool for local farm interests (her predecessor's primary function). Sadly she's been a big disappointment. She's intelligent, personable, telegenic and could have been a rising star, but at this stage I'd say she has only one more election to change her sinful ways. Oh she'll get re-elected in '14 easy enough, it's '16 she has to worry about. The rule is simple, dance with the one that brung ya. Betrayal is a bad campaign theme.

Did you see that Tony Benn went toes up? Never heard of the guy(?) well Google him. Anyway I liked Tony Benn, not his Marxism of course but his honesty. Benn was a true blue leftist, and certainly NOT a liberal. He made no attempt to hide his beliefs and he fought like a cornered rat to advance them. Benn and British nationalist Enoch Powell had some famous and very entertaining dustups you might want to research. He was a big noise from the hard left in the Labour Party for a while during Thatcher's run (with very little success) but didn't have a home when the more pragmatic Tony Blair and his bunch took over. Benn was the kind of guy that might show up on a Sunday at Marble Arch and debate the issues with anyone who dared, and if you wanted to act the bollox and play rough he wasn't opposed to kicking a little arse. See if this quote reminds you of anyone: "The crisis that we inherit when we come to power will be the occasion for fundamental change and not the excuse for postponing it" Labour Party Conference 1973.

...and in sports the University of Virginia squares off against the Duke Blue Devils in the ACC Tournament Finals today. CW has been very quiet of late especially considering the outstanding season the Wahoos have had (#5 national ranking), trying not to queer his luck I'd guess. It should be an interesting contest and as I don't have a dog in this fight I will be hoping they both lose. Duke is Duke, and although I appreciate and admire Coach K's abilities and success, I am certainly NOT a fan of the school, their politics or the snotty little Yankee bastards who attend. Plus their porn stars are terrible (knockers WAY too small!). Carolina has it all over Duke in this regard, heck their's was a Morehead Scholar. Take that Duke!

That's it, c-ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!

This Woman Makes Me Feel Like a Coward

Brenda Lenard

At the CPAC Dinner on Friday night, I was seated at a table with a group of strangers, including the woman pictured, Brenda Lenard.  I was introduced to her by another woman at our table as "Brenda Lenard, candidate for Senate in the State of Tennessee."  The other woman was her campaign manager, it turns out.

Knowing a little bit about politics, I remembered that Tennessee is having a Senate election in 2014 in which Senator Lamar Alexander is defending his seat--if he wins, it will be his third term.  He is also a former two-term Governor of the State of Tennessee and a former Secretary of Education.  Since Ms. Lenard was attending CPAC, I figured she was likely not a Democrat.  So I asked her directly:

"Are you primarying Lamar Alexander?"

And she answered "Yes I am". 

"Gonna be a tough race", I opined.  "Why are you doing it?"

"Because someone's got to act", she answered.

In those few words, this flawed candidate with an interesting history and what amounts to an infinitesimal chance of winning her election, reduced me to the status of coward, first class.  I honestly believe that she has almost no chance of winning--yet she is running anyway.  She isn't worried about the money.  About the career gap.  About losing.  She thinks this is what she should be doing.

Someday I want to have that kind of courage. 

CPAC Wrap Up: "Act Worthy of Yourselves!"

Before I get on to my wrap up--please watch the video above.  One of the best conservatives in the world (can I designate that) Daniel Hannan of the UK reminds us of our place, and our responsibilities. I assure you, I was on my feet several times during this speech, cheering unabashedly. 

And so it is now Sunday morning, and I am warmly snug in the ManCave.  I left CPAC yesterday at mid-day and went home, but not before watching that magnificent speech above.  In fact, I stayed Friday night specifically for Hannan's speech, and it was the right decision.

Some random thoughts to close out this account, so that Captain Todd won't get on my butt for "leaving him hanging".

First, I am glad that I went to CPAC.  It was a good opportunity to hear the Presidential contenders in person, and while I'm really no closer to knowing who will eventually be the nominee, I am much closer to a sense of what that person is going to have to do to win the election.  See my review of Rick Santorum's speech the other day for insight.  Santorum's not the man, but he has provided the message.

Second, I have a hard time with CPAC offering the stage to Donald Trump and Sarah Palin.  I watched Trump's speech as one would watch the Tattooed Lady at the circus...with mix of amusement and revulsion.  I did not stay for Palin, who closed the convention for some unknown reason.  Listen--I don't want to get into Palin bashing, as it is something I've generally avoided.  And in August 2008, I was genuinely happy that she was chosen as the VP nom.  But in the meantime, she has done little to establish herself as a serious political thinker, and she quit her Governorship long before it was done which I find inexcusable.

Third, it wasn't until I attended CPAC that I got a real understanding of the history of the conservative movement in the US as a political force and how that history has been somewhat mangled and projected into a narrative that it simply does not sustain.  There is within CPAC and its governing body, the American Conservative Union, a narrative not unlike Mao's long march.  There is Buckley at Yale, the Sharon Statement, the rebuilding after Goldwater's crushing defeat, the slow buildup of the conservative movement in the 60's and 70's guided always by the titanic presence of Ronald Reagan, the insurgency of 1976 in which Reagan nearly defeated Ford, and then the consummation of their efforts with the election of Reagan in 1980 and his re-election in 1984.    So here I was, somewhat familiar with the general flow of that history but not its context, listening to movement conservatives talk about how "establishment" Republicans always lose, etc, and that when the Party nominates a true conservative, it wins.  And this is simply not true.  In fact, there has been only one "movement" conservative who has ever been the Republican nominee, and that was Reagan.  And while the conservative movement can rightly lay claim to his rise and election, they have were not successful before him or since, in electing a movement conservative to the White House.  No other movement conservative has even been NOMINATED as the standard bearer of the Republican Party.  Which leads me to conclude (and I am certainly not the first) that Reagan won NOT because he was a movement conservative, or because he was the most conservative guy running....but because he most effectively UNITED the Party's social, economic and national security conservatives AND he promoted a positive vision of the future to a nation desperately in need of one.  The path to the Presidency is NOT to be the most doctrinaire conservative--rather it is to bring together all the elements of the Republican Party under an effective message tuned to the times. 

I guess that's all for now.  If you have an opportunity, a trip to CPAC would be well worth your while. 

CPAC Day 2: Friday Afternoon

The big annual dinner (the Reagan Dinner, natch) is this evening, and while I think I'd rather meander off by myself and grab some chow in one of the little restaurants in the vicinity, I paid an awful lot of money to be there tonight and so I will likely go.  Got a good workout in this afternoon after the speakers were done, as I a skipped the break-out sessions in favor of a little work, and a workout.

I enjoyed the events today, and got to hear Rick Perry, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Rand Paul up close.  I managed to snag seats just outside the roped off section wherein the "Premier" attendees sat, close to the stage and using a special entrance and exit that enabled them to escape the giant, slow moving exodus from the main hall that occurs at each major break.  Someone tweeted that it was exactly the thing that killed Mufasa in The Lion King, which I found hilarious.

I sat with a group of middle aged women for much of the day, women my brother Tom would refer to as "Yentas".  My goodness, but they were rapid Tea Party Conservatives!  I'm glad they are on my side!  Wonderful women, pleasant as hell, but when the speakers started to speak, I felt like I was in a Southern Baptist church with all the call and response that was going on.  I

The standing ovation comes cheaply at events such as this, but I refuse to get caught up in it.  The ladies were serious spring-butts, up and down with each talking point.  I mostly remained seated, standing only when I felt a point was important and particularly well delivered. 

Before we get round to the main speakers, I want to bitch a little about conservatism, or at least what passes for it these days.  There is a lot of beating up on President Obama going on here for cutting the military and weakening our security.  I am all for that.  What there really isn't much of is any serious soul-searching within the conservative movement--especially among those elected to the House in 2010 with Libertarian leanings--about the degree to which WE are complicit in this weakening.  Let's face it--there is a not insignificant number of conservatives in the House who look at defense spending as just another domestic spending program to cut, rather than a sacred Constitutional duty.  They made common cause with the President and his friends in the Democratic Party, and they don't appear to be in any hurry to reverse the damage they've done.  Every one of them prays at the altar of St. Ronald of California, but they seem to forget that there was one account, one part of government, that he unabashedly spent on to grow--and that was defense. 

Happily, former Congressman Allen West was here, and he had a room to talk in this morning (not the main hall), ostensibly a "veterans welcome" event.  As a veteran (you're damn right--got a huge discount), I attended to hear a man I find very interesting speak.  He didn't get straight to it as directly as I did in the previous paragraph--but he made the point nonetheless.  We--conservatives--need to stop looking at defense the way we look at every other spending program.  We must demand economy and effectiveness, but we cannot accept decline.  He makes quite an impression. 

Now, onto the possible Presidential candidates.

Rick Perry--Rick Perry was on fire here.  He gave a great speech, full of ideas, full of hope, full of red meat, and full of enthusiasm--and he has been actively courting the kingmakers here.  He sat on a panel after his speech on reform in the criminal justice system, and he was great on an issue where there are a lot of great conservative ideas coming forward.  Of all the people who have spoken thus far, he did the most to help himself. 

Mike Huckabee--I don't think Huckabee will run, but if he does, I should cover his talk.  It was classic Huckabee, well delivered and interesting.  All his speeches sound like good sermons, and the audience was stocked with social conservatives who lap it up like kittens and milk.  Heavy on applause lines and light on ideas.

Rick Santorum--As many of you remember, I don't like Rick Santorum.  And I still don't.  But that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the fact that he gave the most important speech thus far in this convention.  Rick Santorum's message of economic populism and connection with the common man is going to HAVE to be part of whomever the Republican Party nominates in 2016.  It must be.  It is a great, straightforward message--one that says while we must make sure we get out of the way of "job creators", most folks just want to put in an eight hour day and then go coach baseball.  Not everyone is an entrepreneur, not everyone is a titan of industry.  We need to connect conservative policies and initiatives with people who work and pay bills.  I love the message, I think it is essential, I just think he's the wrong guy to convey it.

Rand Paul--I wanted to like Rand Paul's speech, I really did.  There was extra energy in the packed house of teenagers that seem to accompany any politician in the Paul family, and Rand really is pretty "cool" as politicians go.  His speech quoted Roger Waters of Pink Floyd and Montesquieu.  He wore jeans with his coat and tie.  But he spent his entire speech talking about NSA and privacy and personal liberty.  Now we all know this is his sweetspot, but he had a chance here--a chance to connect more broadly--and he blew it. He'll win the straw poll, but you can consider it meaningless.  If he adopts Santorum's message though, watch out--this guy could be a force of nature.

Daniel Hannan of the Eurpoean Parliament will speak in the morning, and then I'll probably leave around lunchtime.  As I'll be observing the eSabbath, don't expect any wrap up until Sunday, if even then. 

Big Fat Friday Free For All

No weigh in this week as I am away from home--but I had an "unofficial" weigh yesterday and am down 3 from last week.

What's on your minds, friends?  Disturbed that great powers have started acting like great powers again?  Wondering just what power the President does NOT have to interfere with legislation that the Congress passed?

Let it out. 

CPAC Day 1: Thursday Night

I am perched atop one of the two beds provided for me in my hotel room here at the Gaylord National, site of CPAC2014, laptop fired up and ready to report on the day's events.  The Gaylord sits on the Maryland side of the Potomac, near the terminus of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.  It can be fantastically onerous to get to from either the Pentagon or downtown DC, but once you're here, it's not a bad place to be.  Dubbed "National Harbor", there are a few hotels, some restaurants and shops, and a marina all quite closely packed.  Lots of big events happen here now due to the twin benefits of a lot of space and lower overhead than doing it in DC.  But once you're here, you're sorta stuck here.

The only thing like this I've ever attended was the 2012 RNC Convention, which is a truly huge event.  This is smaller, but I'm told it gets bigger as the Presidential election gets closer.  There is a main room where all the big speakers and panels happen, there are breakout rooms where lesser panels happen, there is a floor show, where all manner of conservative interest organizations have set up shop, and there is a "radio row" where you can stroll up and down and look at semi-famous people who have radio shows or who regularly appear on them. I spend the vast majority of my time today in the big room listening to the name brand speakers, slipping out now and again to do some work, to eat a fine Chinese lunch, and to people watch.  But I heard the big names, the ones that are likely to run for President.  I'm candidate shopping this week, and many of the most prominent names will be speaking--though it doesn't appear that Scott Walker or Jeb Bush will, both of whom I'd like to see.

Before giving you my views of the speeches, a few observations about other things.

--This place is awash with College Republicans, who are on the whole, a fine looking bunch.  I found myself at one point wondering why I hadn't been a CR, as those heady Reagan era CPAC's were probably a huge party. Another great opportunity lost.
--I complained mightily about the choices of filler music at RNC 2012.  Not here.  These folks have stepped up the game, and hopefully the Establishment Types (my people) who run RNC2016 will get the message.  RNC is currently conducting a beauty contest about where 2016 will be held, with three cities in Ohio, Vegas, Denver and KC all up for grabs.  I'm hoping for Vegas or Denver.
--This is by the way, not a Republican affair, it is a conservative affair.  There is a difference, as I 'splained to a young lovely at the gym this afternoon who asked me what all the Republicans were doing there.  Lots of Libertarians, too.  I think Rand Paul will kill it here when he speaks (tomorrow, I think), and I predict he'll win the straw poll on Saturday.  I voted for Paul Ryan today.
--The crowd is very upbeat, and very positive.  I expected Chris Christie to get savaged, but he was very well received, and even Mitch McConnell was politely received.
--Lots of speakers keep hitting a theme Jeb Bush peddled last year--we can't just be against them, we have to be for something....and lo and behold, we are!  I am very much enjoying hearing about and learning more about a number of very interesting conservative policy initiatives.  Conservatism has always been about ideas, and it appears that we're back in the idea business.
--Saw Christine O'Donnell here, she of the Delaware race in which she primaried an establishment Republican and beat him with Tea Party support (and $250 from me). Then she got slaughtered int he general.   She's a handsome woman.  Probably why I gave her the money in the first place--which happened very early in her run at a house party in Arlington.   Had I known how badly she'd combust later, I'd have kept my money.  But she is easy on the eyes.  

Ok, now onto the speakers.

Ted Cruz--I remember seeing Cruz in Tampa in 2012 and being put off by him.  He walks around the stage without notes and delivers his speech flawlessly...but I can't get "televangelist" out of my mind.  Everything is just too rehearsed, too polished, too trite.  He's a better speaker than Obama by far, and his messages were very well received by the crowd.  I just don't like him very much. 

Paul Ryan--Love this guy.  Really love him.  But he's just not a ball o' fire on the stump.  He's the brain of the Republican Party and he'll be a great VP or Secretary of the Treasury someday.  Maybe even President.  But not this time--even though I voted for him in the Straw Poll.

Chris Christie--I think he gave the strongest, most polished Presidential Candidate address of the day.  He burnished his conservative credentials (I didn't realize he was so unabashedly pro-life), he hit the President hard, and was uncharacteristically effusive in his praise for others--other Republican Governors. 

Bobby Jindal--Home run speech.  He's got a great speaking voice and a wonderful little Southern drawl thing, neither of which seems particularly well-synched to his SouthWest Asian physical presence--but it all works.  He's as policy savvy as Paul Ryan, and I think he may be a better politician.  Great VP prospect.

Marco Rubio--Solid.  Really got me interested by talking a great deal about foreign policy, something that is noticeably, under-represented here.  He's a likable guy, but he seemed somehow smaller on stage than Jindal did, which was surprising to me.

Donald Trump--I don't think he'll be a candidate, but he is damn entertaining.  It looks to me like he pulls out an index card on the helo and writes a few thoughts down and then wings it.  But it works.  As comedy.  But not as politics. 

In order of finish (speaking, that is): Christie, Jindal, Rubio, Cruz, Ryan--but they were all pretty damn good

I don't believe Scott Walker of Wisconsin is speaking here this year, which is unfortunate.  I'd like to have heard him.  He was mentioned several times today, and the audience responded very positively.  Clearly a favorite of the movement.

That's all for now, friends.  Back tomorrow!

12 years a Slave, 5 Years of Obama and the Crimea is Back in Town

Have you seen 12 Years a Slave? I was really impressed with this movie, their teeth were beautiful! I've got pretty good teeth (only ever had one cavity) but they're kinda yellow now (too many H. Upmanns) but even still, they were NEVER this nice. Maybe this slavery/Obamacare stuff ain't half bad, they obviously had a good dental plan. 

Does this look like the kinda guy who can be bluffed or bullshitted? No, not to me either. I guess maybe the old Soviet system was better than ours, at least in the way they produced their leaders. If a guy could claw his way to the top of the Russian hierarchy then you could figure two things: 1) He's a tough son of a bitch and 2) He ain't no dummy. God bless Obama but there isn't any affirmative action when it comes to geopolitics. It's a shark tank and if you show weakness somebody is gonna take a bite out of your ass. My guess is Obama and Kerry are too stupid to know they've been bitten, but we'll see. All this talk of economic sanctions etc. is just that, talk. The Europeans won't go along because they can't afford to upset the Ruskies least their energy spigot be turned off (when your grandma get old you can't let her get cold... PROPANE). This one is in the books, Russians win. 

Did you see Elijah Cummings yesterday? Issa brought IRS hit-bitch Lois Lerner back before the House Committee on Out of Control Government Bureaucrats in the Back Pocket of Obama, and SURPRISE SURPRISE, she took the fifth once again. So Issa adjourns and Rep. Cummings (who reminds us he is a sitting member of Congress and represents 700k constituents) grabs the mic and start ranting. It reminded me of the Robert Duvall scene in Godfather II "SENATOR, THIS COMMITTEE OWNS AN APOLOGY"!!
Nice move it was because now the headline is "Black Congressman Silenced by Whitey" as opposed to "Lying Authoritarian Hag Takes Fifth". Of course it's easy to pull off stuff like this when you own the media. If a Republican had tried this with a black chairman...well, you know.

Have you been following the Duke porn star mini-scandal? Well let me fill you in (poor choice of words). There's a Duke freshman who moonlights as a porn actress to earn the 60k yearly tuition. It's Duke's fault (according to Belle Knox, her stage name) because she hasn't been given the financial aid one might expect and is entitled to, so what's a girl to do? Nevermind that she was offered a free ride (poor choice of words) at Vanderbilt, the limelight calls. Of course she's going on with the usual rationalizations about empowerment and how we shouldn't be ashamed of our bodies when we all know she's just got a bad case of Fonda (Fonda-Penis I think is the medical term). Anyway Duke is not favorably impressed so look for her to matriculate that ass of her's to UC Davis or somewhere. Plus it doesn't help that she looks like she could be Coach K's daughter!

   

CPAC 2014

Well friends, I'm taking the plunge tomorrow and wading into the star-studded political hoe-down that is the "Conservative Political Action Conference".  It goes tomorrow through Saturday evening, though I'll be departing on Saturday noonish.

I am going for lots of reasons, but being a more loyal conservative than Hammer is chief among them.

That said, I want to get immersed in conservative and Republican politics for a couple of days, do a little business here and there, and give the Presidential contenders (most of whom are speaking) the once over.  There are a lot of interesting seminars to attend, so I'll swing by some of them.

I'll be sure to pop a blog post up now and again, so stay tuned to this channel!

Big Fat Friday Free For All

My dieting discipline having abandoned me, I have ballooned again to 187.2, basically half way back up to my largest mass.  I must get back in the swing.

But enough of my bitching, what have you got?

Cyril Cusack Was Right

This is a clip from one of my favorite movies, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. In it "Control" is briefing a burned out, alcoholic field agent about a mission behind the Iron Curtain. Control makes the point that one cannot be less ruthless than the opposition if one wants to win. Our policies may be "benevolent" but our methods must be just as brutal. This is a universal truth in politics/war be it present day, ten thousand years ago or ten thousand years from now. The denial of this truth is why we lost in Vietnam, lost in Iraq, will eventually lose in Afghanistan and most likely lose the "War on Terror".  It's also why the Republican Party is such a mess.

A case directly on point is the latest threat by the left (and their new butt-boy the NFL) to take away the Super Bowl if Arizona passes The Religious Freedom Restoration Act which basically says any business can deny service based on religious grounds. Gay groups have taken this to mean their local bakery won't be putting Bruce & Bruce on top of that wedding cake because they're Godless sodomites who worship a hairy sphincter muscle rather than an all powerful Supreme Being. 

Now, how should we feel (feelings are everything, screw logic) about this law? Well my opinion is anyone should have the right to do business with whomever they choose; it's called free association. If I owned a pub (my lifelong dream...and death wish) and I choose not to serve kids or gays or Mexkins or even say.... Democrats, then that's my business. To the extent that I turn away paying customers and piss off my community/clientele the marketplace will punish me accordingly (now in my business I don't care if you're having a love affair with your Dyson upright I'm taking your money). But let's get real, discrimination is part of the human condition, we discriminate all the time in all kinds of ways. Let me walk my Redneck ass into the Russian Tea Room wearing an NRA t-shirt and Levis and see how far I get. 

Anyway, back to the point. The left is putting pressure on the NFL through a variety of ways and the league is now ready to do their bidding. 
“Our policies emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness and prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or any other improper standard,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told USA Today. “We are following the issue in Arizona and will continue to do so should the bill be signed into law, but will decline further comment at this time.”
Clearly the National Football League is frightened, so how can we, as conservatives, show the No Fun League the error of their ways?

I'm glad you asked. Pressure works both ways and if we want to win we cannot afford to be less ruthless than our enemies (see above). So, if Jan Brewer vetoes this bill we immediately call for a boycott of the Super Bowl. Every Republican, every conservative, every freedom loving American will not participate in any event, public or private, which has anything to do whatsoever with the Super Bowl. We will not watch, we will not go to a party, a bar or even talk about the game. Our refusal will be our weapon. If we did this just once, JUST ONE TIME, the revenue lost by the National Football League, by the Networks (yes all of them), the local stations, the advertisers, vendors, host city etc. would be enormous (and catastrophic for some entities). It would reverberate through the political consciousness of America and THE WORLD and scare the living shit out of the powers that be. Billions upon billions would be lost in one fell swoop and we could literally break the back of the left in 12 hours. 

Politics is politics but you mess with somebody's money and you'll get their attention real quick! If they are stupid enough to do this then let's not pussyfoot around. I say go for the throat, MAKE THEM PAY!

CW Book Review: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

Reading a great book is one of life's most fulfilling gifts.  Receiving that book from a special friend who hands it to you saying "I know you will like this" is a double gift.  There is the experience of the read itself, and then the great gift of someone knowing you so well that they can connect you with the story.  That was my experience with the novel "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet".  This is a period piece, largely taking place at the turn of the 18th to 19th century in Japan, at the Dutch trading compound of Dejima.  It is worthwhile to read the Dejima link in order to get a sense of the conditions under which the Dutch lived and worked in what was essentially a trading isolation ward designed to limit the exposure of the people of Nagasaki to the Europeans who traded there.

Jacob hires on to the Dutch East India Company for a term of five years, hoping to make his fortune and be worthy of his girlfriend at home, whose father insists on his going out to make his way before giving away his daughter.  Jacob winds up at Dejima, where his honesty and diligence as a clerk are clearly orthogonal to the way business was run there.  He is surrounded by a Star Wars Bar of Dutchmen, Americans, Malay, Indonesians, Germans and the always watchful Japanese interpreters.  The most decent of the cast is a Dr. Marius who is famous among the Japanese for the effectiveness of his medical treatments, so famous that the local administrator allows his daughter to study with Dr. Marius.  Orito--the daughter--is thought to be not marriageable due to a burn on the side of her face, and so is permitted to take up the trade of midwife.  Jacob sees her differently and falls in love, but it is a love separated by cultures and by locked and guarded gates. 

Orito is eventually sold into a nunnery by her stepmother upon the death of her father, breaking Jacob's heart.  The nunnery is a place of horror to Orito, where the nuns' primary job is to produce the children of the monks, something she cannot bear. Her story comes to Jacob (in a Japanese scroll), and he spends considerable time (illegally) learning Japanese so that he might unlock the mystery of her order.  Jacob's place in the trading compound also descends, as his honesty brings him into direct conflict with his superiors.  Eventually, his bravery in defending Dejima from the attack of a British Navy frigate catches the eye of powerful Japanese officials, one of whom he is able to convince help him spring Orito.  The rest, as they say, would spoil the story.

The writing is beautiful, the story is tight and well-told, the history is interesting and the characters are likable and well developed.  This is a world that virtually none of us knows about, and David Mitchell does a great job describing it to us. 

Big Fat Friday Free For All

Contrary to smart-ass Brother Tom's comments, I don't always avoid BFFFFA posts in order to hide bad diet performance.  As a matter of fact, I'm posting today, and avoiding any mention of my piss poor, wussy, fat man diet.

What's on your mind, folks?

Just did your taxes for the first time as a small business owner, and feeling the bite? 

Lose your in the bag hockey game in overtime?

Emote, friends.  Emote.

CW Book Reviews

Henry Kissinger is one of the most compelling thinkers of our time, and this book, written as he neared ninety years of age, is proof positive of why.  "On China" is a fascinating look inside the Middle Kingdom, from its ancient history to its current (re)rise to world power status.  Anyone who spends time thinking about great power politics should read this book and should think deeply about Kissinger's views on how to contend with China. 

Relying on transcripts/verbatim notes from many of the meetings in which he was directly involved, Kissinger's retelling of Nixon's opening to China is riveting.  China's need to use us to balance the Soviet Union, our need to use China to balance the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union's seeming befuddlement at what it all meant show both Mao and Nixon at their best. 

Where I tend to deviate from Mr. Kissinger is in his tendency to urge readers to treat China "differently" than Western powers; that its history, its Confucianism, its Maoism, its strategic culture, etc. create a situation in which it ought to be understood quite differently than other rising powers.  I think there is something here, and it is worth considering.  But in the meantime, I'd rather play it safe and look at a "worse" case scenario, one in which China's rise is something to be warily watched and shaped.  But, then again, I'm no Henry Kissinger.

Next, in an effort to get a little better acquainted with the contenders for the 2016 Republican nomination, I read Marco Rubio's memoir "An American Son".  Rubio, as some of you may remember, captivated America with his 2012 Republican National Convention speech introducing Mitt Romney.  It was an electric performance, one that put him firmly on the map for 2016.  This is not a great book, or even a good one, but it is worth reading for anyone looking to get a better sense of who Rubio is.  It comes across as authentic, with some effort made to address what he believes are both his strengths and weaknesses.  The book reinforces my view that state politics is a morass, and Florida was no different.  Rubio's rise was through the Florida House of Representatives, where he eventually became Speaker.  I was a little uncomfortable with this portion of the book, as it was during this time that many of the charges Charlie Crist made against him in the 2010 Senate Race were occurring.  Primarily a question of using a Republican Party credit card to charge personal expenses (which Rubio says were all paid off from personal accounts), Rubio chalks up the errors to basic human mistake making.  Whether or not this is true, I hope that his recordkeeping and management improves as he continues his rise.

Rubio is at his best in the telling of the story of the 2010 Senate Race.  Charlie Crist was thought unbeatable in that race, and Rubio pulled off a huge upset.  First he drove Crist out of the Republican nomination, then when Crist ran a third party candidacy, he beat him (and Kendrick Meek) in the three way race.  I remember being captivated by this young force of nature, especially as Charlie Crist exposed himself as the charlatan he is.  Rubio's secret weapon in this campaign was his wife Jeanette, who time and again put a little starch in his shorts when he doubted his prospects or when she thought that his ambition was getting in the way of doing what was right.  We should all have such helpmates.

The bottom line is that very few people in a modern age of nearly 80 year life-spans should be writing autobiographies in their forties.  I don't care of you are Barack Obama or Marco Rubio, there is a certain pretense in it.  But such is our time, and such is the lot of national politics, that one must write a book to "introduce" oneself to the electorate.  In this regard, Rubio has done a good job and generally comes off in a positive light.

CW Doing His Day Job

I did a panel on "Defending the First Island Chain" (in the Pacific) last month in Washington.  The video is below.  My stuff is at 0:49:30,  1:24:00 and 1:44:00

Zen and the Art of Shoe Repair

Among the many estimable charms of small town Eastern Shore life is the existence of small businesses that do things the old fashioned way.  Mr. Caldwell operates a shoe repair shop just off the main drag in Easton, and I find my every-two-years-or-so trip back in to see him to be an exercise in civility, value, and contentedness.  The shop is not long on creature comforts or decor; it is a place of business, wherein  a man works with his hands.  There is a strong odor of glue in the air.

Few things in life are quite as satisfying as having a pair of dress shoes resoled.  What was once  destined for the dustbin is returned to you not quite new, but in a far better state than when dropped off.  For a pittance ($35 in this case), I will have at least another two years wear from my cordovan wing tips, perhaps my favorite pair of dress shoes.  It feels like stealing. 

I dropped the shoes off two Saturdays ago and picked them up yesterday.  In the meantime, my black wing tips developed the same malady (sole separation at the right toe, the classic "barking dog" issue), and so I delivered them for recrafting yesterday.  I took a pair of shoes in two years ago for repair, and Mr. Caldwell just told me straight out, "I can't fix them".  And then he showed me why.  While there, I had a nice chat with a man I believe to be his brother, who liked my car and asked how I liked it.  We talked cars for a bit (he owned a Corvette and was very happy) and it was a pleasant experience all around--while I was not able to get my shoes repaired, I did walk away with the sense of confidence that I had done all I could do to save them.

So when I went in two Saturdays ago, both Mr. Caldwell and his (likely) brother were there, and wouldn't you know, we had virtually the same car conversation we had two years ago.  Perhaps the glue odor is more potent than I considered.

I am not a parsimonious man, though I am not profligate.  Were there no shoe repair shop convenient to me, I would hop on the interwebs and have a replacement pair delivered.  But there is smug satisfaction in wringing another couple of years from these shoes, and I am happy to try and keep Mr. Caldwell in business in our little town.  I only hope that he is training someone to replace him someday. 

Charity, Thy Name is Black-Redneck

Ok, had me a little pee-peeing contest over on FB with one of CW's pals, a Mr. Jim Rushton. Now I'm sure Jim is wonderful human being and a pillar of his community, but James tried to tell The Hammer et al. that liberals give as much to charitable organizations as conservatives and that America wasn't even in the top ten worldwide in giving. WELL, my bullshit-o-meter pegged immediately! I countered that based on my extensive knowledge of other peoples and cultures Americans were by far the most generous and that among Americans the less Christian the tighter the purse strings. Not so said Mr. Rushton. So, there it is, let's have a look shall we?

First let's talk about methodology. As I'm sure you know statistics are there to be fiddled and there are millions of ways to slice and dice the numbers. Given enough data I could prove most Iranians are George Bush Republicans. But let's be reasonable and factor in our own experiences with a little common sense. Numbers don't always tell the whole story they help us to understand the whole story, so here goes.

In America who gives the most? Jim and I both cited philanthropy.com which seems to make it their business to know this stuff. Here's an interactive map of American giving I found useful.

Now as you can see, total contributions tend to support Jim's assertion that liberal states give as much as conservative states (I refuse to use the blue vs. red analogy; we know who the REDS are and they ain't the conservatives!). But considering these states tend to have very dense populations, in my opinion this is the least useful statistic.

A better view is given by the percent given by all incomes chart. As you can plainly see, the more conservative, the more Christian, the more they give. New York represents the only New England state that gives much of anything, which considering the wealth of those states is just appalling!

Now let's take a look at an individual state, one with a fair amount of diversity and see what we come up with. And since I'm a Tar Heel (not to be confused with those OTHER Tar Heels) and since I know this state pretty well and since it meets our criteria I offer up North Carolina.

As you can see Durham, Forsyth, Wake and Mecklenburg along with the coastal counties are the stingiest with the dirt-bomb rural counties (the poorest) giving the most. I wonder why? From Horry County south of the border (Myrtle Beach) to Norfolk nothing but skinflint after skinflint. The reason is that happens to be where our Yankee friends tend to relocate (nobody from New York moves to Jones County; county seat Trenton, population 297). No they go to the cities and retire at our nice beaches... and apparently hoard their cash. But why Moore County? It's not close enough to Raleigh or Durham to be a bedroom community and it's kind of rural. What's up with that? Simple, Southern Pines and Pinehurst have attracted a ton of snowbirds in the past twenty years. Tightwad, miserable, penny-pinching, Country Club liberals who wouldn't give you the time of day.

Even more revealing have a look at this one. These are the zip codes for the Triangle area (Durham/Raleigh/Chapel Hill) including Johnston County. Look at 27520, Clayton. That is where many Northern liberals live (regrets to CW's sister, she lives there). Then look at 27610 in Wake County, home of the poorest of the poor black population in the entire area. Then on to 27513, Cary, NC, wall-to-wall Yankees with a yearly median income in 2011 of $82,500. Do I need to draw a conclusion for you?


Now, many will say these numbers don't give a true picture because conservatives and most especially rednecks and blacks give a lot to churches and religious organizations whereas liberals do not. Control for that and Massassassachusettes turns into a loving, caring, sharing kinda place we could all be proud of. WRONG! Are not contributions given to Planned Parenthood and NARAL counted? How about the Sierra Club or the Council On Islamic American Relations? Hell I would say NAMBLA money is in there somewhere. If I had to guess (and often times statistical analysis boils down to a good guess) I'd say they cancel each other out.

So, there you have it Mr. Rushton. I stand by my statement, the religious and conservative give FAR MORE than the Godless and liberal. What say you?

(Oh, I'll try to address the America vs. the World at a later date. Mustn't bite off more than we can chew.)

Big Fat Friday Free For All

Somethin' botherin' you, my friend?  Something you want to share?  Looking for some sympathetic readers?  Have I got the place for you!

Let it all hang out!  Let your whine flag fly!

Today's Weigh In:  180.4
Last Weigh in (01/31/13): 180.4
Diet Start (8/11/13):  198

Goose Stepping Towards Amerika Inc.

Reagan never trusted George Bush. George the first was the price Reagan paid for the old money Republicans and corporate America to to open up their wallets and bite their damn tongues. You see Reagan was a student of philosophy, he understood the theory of capitalism as well as its practicality. He also knew its opponents and what they were willing to do to undermine freedom. Having very different backgrounds the son of Prescott Bush did not, and neither did his son. It's interesting (and depressing) to see that the undoing of America is coming from the so-called right rather than the left. Pat Buchanan has a good piece on this very subject you might want to take a look at.

Question: What do we owe business? In my view we owe them a free and open marketplace unencumbered by excessive taxes or regulations. In other words we owe them the same freedoms we offer our citizens, no more no less. What we don't owe them is special access, set asides, subsidies or special laws. We now live in a transitional, pre-mercantile, quasi-fascist state, and if you're not quite sure where we're headed have a gander at China.

As the ancient Greeks discovered 2000 years ago one of the pitfalls of democracy comes when the ordinary citizen realizes they can vote themselves money from the public treasury, but it's not the only pitfall. Another, and maybe even more dangerous is that the wealthy corrupt the government for their own ends. I think we see an excellent example of this very thing with the Affordable Care Act (wow...that's like putting a Porsche badge on a VW Rabbit). Do you think for one minute the healthcare/insurance industry would have rolled over for Obamacare if not promised increased profits?

Let's look back at the past 20 years and see what corporations have given us. In their pursuit of profits corporations, the elites and their lapdog politicians have given us an unsustainable welfare state (including corporate welfare) unsurpassed in human history for its corruption and generosity (with other people's money), a nation that can't control it's own borders eaten alive by illegal immigration, an America that is a dumping ground for every third world nation on the planet (legal immigration) resulting in a cheap labor pool and lower wages and diluting the political and economic power of its native born citizens WHO BUILT THE DAMNED COUNTRY, an addiction to deficits and borrowing that will INEVITABLY destroy capitalism and freedom once and for all, and a propaganda industry to maintain this house of cards until its dying day (which will be sooner than you think). Plus the multinationals have taken an undeveloped, authoritarian basket-case of a country like Red China, exploited its cheap labor to the detriment of the ordinary Chinese worker AND MOST ESPECIALLY THE AMERICAN WORKER, and turned it into a malevolent super-power that will likely start acting on old grudges and potentially start a third world war (Serbia 1914?).

I hate to say this but I think the left has corporate America pretty much nailed (as opposed to the Republicans). They understand big business and exploits their greed to further their own agenda. They understand that Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and George Soros have only one goal... money and power. Don't get me wrong, that's as it should be. Corporations have an obligation to their shareholders to grow profits, in fact that is their very purpose. If they can control markets etc. then half their work is done. But the purpose of the the American government should be to protect us against such assaults (what's good for GM is NOT necessarily what's good for the country), not to act as a shill for special interest be it corporate or otherwise. The left willingly uses business to undermine America, the right does it out of ignorance.

And that brings me to the greatest pitfall to freedom of all, and that is it gives evil room to operate. No country on Earth has ever tolerated subversion, hate, greed and envy like we do. That's why we need an ever diligent political class that can see past the next election and put the country first. However, between the insanely stupid and frustrating country club Republicans, the leftists, between the bureaucracy and the corporate hustlers, between the parasites and bums, WE, the last remaining Constitutionalist/libertarians/Reaganites are witnessing the demise of the greatest, most powerful, wealthiest and freest meritocracy, and the MOST JUST society in the history of civilization. Thanks Republicans, they couldn't have done it without you.