Dispatch from the Road: Day 8--Last Day in Taiwan

It must be time for me to leave this dynamic, wonderful place, because my sleep cycle has thoroughly matched to the time zone.  I nodded off at 2100 last night and woke at 0600 this morning, refreshed and ready to tackle or last day here.  Yesterday was a good day and worth a bit of retelling.

Parade figures

As we discussed, yesterday was Taiwan's "National Day", and we were treated to front row seats at the National Day Parade/presentation in front of the building the President works in (he lives in another).  The streets were packed with patriotic Taiwans (I hear people using this phrase rather than "Taiwanese", and I like it better anyway), and it was clear that folks were into it.  A brief diversion?  We in the United States are metaphysically certain of both the greatness and the exceptional nature of our Republic.  For many, we simply can't understand why anyone free to choose would not try and move to our country.  The funny thing is, lots of people in lots of other countries feel the exact same way.  Have you ever landed on a plane in Japan or Turkey?  I have.  And when the plane touches down, people applaud.  Because they are back where they want to be.  Being here this week and especially yesterday gave me yet another opportunity to reflect upon the universality of love of country. The people of Taiwan have a LOT to be proud of, and it was good to share this day with them.

101 Taipe looking up

We sat on a broad boulevard and watched the dancers, acrobats, military bands and marchers pass by, mostly in the cloudy morning, but occasionally in the rain.  We were provided with large rain hats and slickers to protect us from the elements, and they did come in handy when the heavens opened up.  There were speeches and exhortations which the crowd seemed to appreciate, but my lack of Chinese language skills left me to just people watch, mostly.  Occasionally I cracked a tasteful joke.  And a few less tasteful.  But I digress.  We were provided with a translated version of the President's address, and it hit all the high points.  The bottom line for me after making this trip is that right here, just off the coast of China, is a version of China that blends all the wonders of this ancient culture with the vibrancy of representative democracy and economic dynamism....and the world chooses to believe that it does not exist.  That countries such as North Korea and Syria have seats in the UN and Taiwan does not seems unjust.  Again, I'll take my foreign policy stuff to another blog, but as an American, you ought to question degree to which we accommodate the mainland in order to salve their poor ego's where Taiwan is concerned.

Warning on a mirrored floor

We headed back to the hotel after the parade to change out of wet clothes and then head to the Taipei
101 skyscraper, formerly the tallest building in the world and now sixth.  We had a delightful dumpling meal in what our handler assures us was a very famous restaurant, and then we headed to the observation deck on the 89th floor.  We didn't get back to the hotel until 30 minutes before we had to turn around again and head off to a diplomatic reception, but the bus waits for no man and so I changed clothes again and headed to the reception.

Tool

This was quite a party, and the whole diplomatic community--such as it is in a country where 9/10ths of the nations on Earth do not extend full diplomatic relations--was on display.  Food and booze were everywhere, and the crowd was in good spirits. We (my companions and I) mingled a bit and then congealed in a central location to share our observations and to people watch.  It really was quite a party, but we were all pretty ragged and so we alighted from the gaiety and headed back to the humdrum of our hotel.

The Hullabaloo

My mission upon arriving was to deal with the logistics of all the presentos I had received in the past week.  The lovely woman in the business center hooked me up, selling me a box and directing me to the concierge who handled the particulars of mailing it back.  I had the choice of using FEDEX to ship my stuff for nearly $400, or the Taiwan equivalent of "Joe's Shipping" for $138.  I chose the latter, and managed to lighten my traveling load by packing a bunch of non-essential/dirty clothes into the box.  It is estimated to reach Easton in two weeks.

Today is a sightseeing day and departure.  We'll hit some local history until lunchtime, then back to the hotel for packing and preparing for the flight.  We leave tonight at 1900 and land Saturday night at JFK; we'll overnight near the airport and fly back to Dulles on Sunday morning.

I will probably get the inflight wifi for the flight home, so there may be a closing post then.  If not perhaps Sunday..  But for now, signing off to go to breakfast.  Cheers.

Dispatch from the Road: Day 7--Starting to Lose Steam...

For the first time this week, I woke this morning (it is now 0647 Friday as I write) to the sound of an alarm and not ninety minutes beforehand.  Eight hours of sleep followed a very good day of meetings, but I must honestly confess to missing the Kittens, my house, my familiar life, and my bed.  I look forward to returning to the splendors of autumn, my favorite time of year.  Today is Taiwan's National Day, and so our activities are completely wrapped up in it.  No meetings per se, but we will observe the big parade and then be invited to a she-she reception tonight.  Then tomorrow (Saturday) is a day of sightseeing followed by the beginning of the long journey home.  But let us not forget yesterday (Thursday).

We started at a gentlemanly hour and first headed to a meeting at what is essentially the equivalent of our U.S. Trade Representative to talk about trade issues.  Taiwan's status (or lack of status) worldwide means that it has a tough time getting trade deals that advantage other nations.  Putting aside for the moment the lack of diplomatic relations that stands in the way of such agreements (with some nations), there is also the bullying behavior of the mainland to take into account, whose mafioso-like threats tend to diminish enthusiasm to reach deals with Taiwan.  There is also an issue between the U.S. and Taiwan on pork imports, but it is hard to see this as much more than something to be overcome rather than a fatal break.  Of note, there was a young woman in the meeting with flawless, Fairfax County English, and it turned out that she had gone to UVA as an undergrad.  We exchanged all the necessary greetings and salutations of Hoos recognizing each other in the wild, and her supervisor did not seem to know what to make of the familiarity and lack of protocol.  

We then moved onto a meeting with Andrew Yang who runs a think tank in Taipei.  As you can see from the Wiki link here, he had been Defense Minister but resigned after a plagiarism scandal last year, six days into the job.  Be that as it may, this was a fascinating discussion with a man who had served at the top levels of Taiwanese government who was now somewhat more free to discuss with us things that folks IN the government were a bit more coy about.  I was much taken with Mr. Yang, who was very intelligent, thoughtful, and seemed to exude wisdom.  He was also very patient with our group, who once again seemed quite happy to provide the benefit of their six days of experience in Taiwan to the difficult problems this nation faces.

The haul, thus far

From here we headed to "Jimmy's Kitchen"  which our handler assured us was a famous eatery here in Taipei.  It was not disappointing....I found both the pig's knuckles and the frog legs to be delicious.  From here we took another one of our famous hit-every-red-light-along-the-way bus rides to the edge of town to have a "round table" discussion with a number of professors from the Taiwan National Defense University.  We were met by a Major General who I believe was the #2 man at the school...and he could not have been smoother...six two, a jet black mane of hair, big smile and excellent English, he easily could have been an insurance salesman, or a car dealer.  After a brief meeting (and more presents), we were taken to another building for the actual round-table.  

It appears that there is sort of a standard Taiwanese military approach to these kinds of discussions.  First, the tables are not round.  A U-shaped arrangement is favored.  Along each of the long sides sits the opposing sides, in this case, professors from their NDU on one side and our delegation on the other.  We are seated in descending order of our "rank" or at least what they perceive our rank to be.  Our delegation lead--my colleague at Hudson Seth Cropsey--is afforded head of delegation status and sits next to whomever is hosting the affair.  Arrayed before us are usually several pens (which I cadge), tea and or coffee with creamer and sugar, water, sometimes coke, and often sweets or fruit or sweets and fruit.  Next to these necessaries sits the bag in which the gift resides--tea, teacups, paper weights, etc.  Perched at the front edge of the table is the microphone stand, and usually we each get our own microphones.  Push the button, the little red light comes on, and speak.  The practice of using the microphone does not seem to be geared to room size however, as even in rooms where someone of such a challenged auditory state as I can hear the human voice quite clearly, we still resort to amplified voiceovers.  When in Rome....

In this case, as soon as we walked into the room, the professors began to very enthusiastically applaud our arrival.  I don't mind telling you, there is something very pleasant in having one's arrival applauded.  I did take the opportunity to let the retired SEAL Admiral know that this kind of applause generally attends my comings and goings, which caused him some amusement.  

After our discussion, we piled again into our buses for the ride back to the hotel.  We had been scheduled to go to a "very famous" Japanese restaurant, but none of us wanted to go through another long, multi-course dinner no matter how good the food--so we asked our handler if he minded if we didn't do it and he enthusiastically agreed.  I think he is losing steam too.  So it was back to the hotel to do a little work and hit the elliptical before meeting the boys down in the bar at 7PM.  I think the plan was then to move to the buffet in the hotel or eat there in the bar, but the combination of the comfy chair, the bar lighting, and the utter lack of attention we received from the waitstaff caused me to declare that I was going to walk over the the Taipei 101 building foodcourt and avail myself of a McDonald's dinner--then go to bed.  This I did, and I am glad of it, because I was able to have a quick, easy, familiar dinner and then get a good night's sleep.

Some quick hits?

The masks.  My U.S. based expert on all things China emailed me yesterday that the people wearing masks are actually doing so because THEY are sick, or feel that they are becoming sick, and so they don't want to spread THEIR germs.  I asked our handler about this, and he indicated that some of them fell into this category, as there is a pretty serious public health campaign that urges people to do so.  But he said, he believed that more of them were trying to keep themselves protected against other people's germs.  

The People.  The folks I meet here in Taipei are a very happy lot.  Smiles, handshakes, warmth...are abounding.  I think the U.S. is missing out on a pretty good opportunity to actually point our what a success this place is, that right here, 170km from totalitarian China is a vibrant, free-market democracy that proves such a thing IS consistent with being Chinese.  

Ok, that's enough for now.  Have a good day/night as the case may be. 

The Hammer's Guide to Winning Elections

Politics is very much like war. If you are fortunate enough to have an advantage it is imperative you press your advantage. If you give your opponent breathing space, a chance to lick their wounds and regroup, then my friend you are playing with fire. If you snooze you lose.
Not so many months ago Kay Hagan was losing to a GENERIC Republican opponent by 8-10 points. Now it stands to reason the race would tighten when a real candidate was picked, but there is no way in the world a good, competent Republican candidate should NOT be up by four or five points now and really throughout the course of the campaign.
Now many will say Hagan has outspent Tillis, and that is true. But why? The Democrats are fighting (and funding) at least a half dozen VERY competitive Senate races around the country so why would they pour resources into a race that looks hopeless? Well simply put they recognized early on that Tillis was an empty suit. They realized that his establishment led campaign had a "run out the clock" strategy that would allow them to define Tillis and go on offense (he's certainly made no effort to define himself). They realized his strategists would go after the moderates which meant his would be a "nice guy" campaign relying on Hagan's negatives to bring her down. Well it didn't work because it can't work. Any candidate that relies on a protest vote as the basis of their campaign is doomed.
A good example of this occurred in the opening statements of last night's debate. Hagan's opening salvo was to attack Tillis for giving tax cuts to the rich and "wealthy" corporations, "gutting" education, hating on women and making college more expensive. Tillis' throughly forgeable response was that Hagan had not kept her promise to the people of NC (what promise?) because she voted with the President 96% of the time. At that point I flipped over to a Dukes of Hazzard rerun.
So please allow me to take a shot, here's what Tillis would have said if Lee Atwater (or me) ran his campaign.

Senator Hagan you are mistaken, we cut taxes across the board, not just for the rich, and considering our corporate tax rate is the highest in the industrialized world and North Carolina's was one of the highest in the country, we thought it would be a good idea to reform our tax structure so as to save jobs and PREVENT these companies from going overseas. I'm not sure if you've noticed but middle-class income is down, middle-class buying power is down and the middle-class have lost 30-40% of their assets during your time in office. But the wealthy have done VERY well. Their share has gone up significantly, as has your share I suspect. But for the sake of argument let's say your assertion is true, let's say we are favoring the rich. I would think you'd be thrilled. Out of 100 Senators you are more wealthy than all but 8. Your husband and your son "won" stimulus cash to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars on a bill that YOU voted on. And you Senator, you voted with Barack Obama 96% of the time. When he lied about "shovel ready jobs" you lied about shovel ready jobs, when he lied about Obamacare you lied about Obamacare. YOU Senator Hagan have been Barack Obama and Harry Reid's Senator, not North Carolina's.
Now, you just said we "gutted" education. You tweeted recently that our education "cuts" have put the squeeze on our teachers and NC ranks near the bottom for teacher satisfaction, pay etc. I guess that might be true, WHEN THE RESEARCH WAS DONE! This study was from 2003-2013. Gov. McCrory didn't take office until Jan 2013. There hasn't been a Republican Governor in this State for over 20 years so this was a critique of Democratic run schools. The fact is we gave the teachers a 7% raise this year...2014, which is 7% more than the previous legislature and Democratic governor ever did. We are doing everything we can to repair the damage of the previous Democratic administrations and I think the numbers prove we're doing a pretty good job especially in light of what we have in Washington. If I am elected Senator I'll bring those skills to the Senate and try to repair the damage done by YOU and your bosses, Harry Reid and Barack Hussein Obama. I just hope we're not too late. 

That my friends is how you press an advantage, and win an election. 

Dispatch from the Road--Day 6: Field Trips

Curse the night.  I awoke today again at 0330, ready to go.  Perhaps I need to stay up later...went to bed at 2130, so six hours is a respectable rest.  On the good side, the early wakeup gives me the opportunity to get some work done, and to spend some time with you.

We had an early start yesterday, meeting in the lobby at 0700 to head to the train station to catch our high speed rail to Kaoshiung in the southern part of the island, there to be whisked by bus to a nearby Navy base.  Taiwan is a sort of tropical place, lots of palm trees, etc.  But the 90 minute ride south took us to a downright tropical place--beautiful, hot, a bit humid, etc.  The ride on the train was uneventful, through a mostly green but densely packed country.  We were in business class, which essentially meant a large, reclining seat (assigned) and fetching Train Attendants (one with mask--still don't get this). This was my first ride on a legitimate "High Speed Train", and I have to say I'm a believer.  The Wiki I linked to above about the rail line indicates that it was built and operated by a private corporation (good), but I wonder what kind of government intercession was required to make it happen.

The Navy base we visited was nice, not Air Force quality mind you (more on that later), but nice enough.  We were met at the zone HQ building by two two-stars, and the head of our delegation was "piped aboard".  I needled our retired USAF general at this point, reminding him of the great deals Navy admirals get, what with all the whistling, and side boys, and bells, etc.  We were ushered into the standard U-Shaped briefing room, with the standard pre-poured (and somewhat lukewarm) coffee, and the standard plate of sweets and fruit.  Since it had been a full two hours since I had gorged myself on the breakfast buffet at the hotel, I made fast work of these offerings.  We were briefed on the Navy's view of the situation in the Strait and their building program; the briefing was done by a Captain from HQ in Taipei--and it was superb.  He was a Naval War College grad and his English was impeccable.  He blew through his slide deck with skill, and it was a fact-packed presentation.  Some of you know that they are very keen to obtain diesel submarines, and they made this very clear.  So clear that they took us after the brief down to the piers to visit one of their four submarines....two of which are 70 year old US WWII diesels and two of which are 30 year old Dutch diesels.  We visited one of the US boats, and god love 'em, they seemed to do a pretty good job keeping it up.  But the message was clear--our submarines are old and we need new ones....and we need your help.

We left the boat after about a half hour visit, and then headed to the Marine Corps section of the base to get a brief from the Marines and a visit to one of their motor pools.  I have a theory that Marines are basically stamped out of the same machine, with language and ethnicity selection being the last phase in their production.  Motivated and physically fit, they put on a nice show which included a ride in one of their LTV's.  I must say, our group of older, less fit gentlemen looked a bit silly with the white helmets and white gloves they gave us for the LTV ride. But one does not question Marines of any type when they are on a roll.

We alighted to our buses for another high speed rail ride about halfway up the island, where we were met by a representative from the 427th Fighter Wing and his big air conditioned bus which took us to their base.  The ride was about forty minutes through scenes of Taiwan life.  I cannot think that unemployment is high here, as wherever I go there is a overabundance of staff.  At a red light, I peered over to a filling station and to my wondrous eyes, it was like that scene from Back to the Future where the Marty sees the uniformed pit crew descend on a motorist for filling, wiping, and inflating.  We arrived after hitting every red light along the way at a magnificent Air Force base (but I repeat myself), built were were to learn, in no small measure by the USAF who used it extensively during the Viet Nam conflict.  We got a brief from the Fighter Wing Commander (actually a video, complete with "Top Gun" music) and then headed out to the flight line to visit their Indigenous Defense Fighter which appears to be essentially a two-engine F-16.  After the static display, we headed over to their simulator facility, and we each got to "fly" the fighter.

Now, I've never held fighter pilots in particularly high regard.  Not low regard either, but just not high.  But after ten minutes of flying this high performance jet, I need to tell you that doing so is a skill....no question about it.  Standing next to the cockpit looking at the large screen encapsulating us, one could easily get motion sickness.  The experience was so lifelike that as one of your buddies was "flying", your body couldn't help but move along with things, even though the room was saying completely still.  This was a very cool experience.

We then headed to a place that I'm still having a little difficulty processing...the old base Chapel built by the U.S. Air Force, still very much resembling a chapel, but now housing a museum dedicated to the U.S. presence there.  A young, fetching Air Force enlisted woman was our guide, and she was one of the most enthusiastic people I have met in a long time.  She took us through the displays, which were essentially the detritus of the U.S. presence there.  Shoes, table settings from the O'Club, Detroit switches and AC/R power panels.  Picture after picture of U.S. service members smiling, surrounded by their Taiwanese counterparts.  A slightly bawdy poster from the wall of the O'club, presumably the pool room.  The whole thing brought home to me what it must be like FOR A COUNTRY to be abandoned by the world.  Let's face it...only 22 nations recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, and we aren't one of them.  We are still very good friends, and their is genuine affection on their part for the US, but you simply can't get around the isolation these folks must truly feel.

We hopped in our buses for the every red light trip back to the town 40 minutes away, then to the high speed train, then to Taipei and our hotel.  Because we arrived late late in a long day, there was no formal dinner.  There was however, a hotel restaurant serving from yet another ridiculous buffet, and so I joined a group of fellow travelers and gave it the old college try--though I was somewhat restrained after the big piece of cake I ate at the Chapel/Museum.

Kind of a light day today (Thursday) and then tomorrow is filled with "National Day" celebrations.

Dispatch from the Road--Day 5: Meeting the President

Having in some way damaged my internal timing mechanism, I awoke at 0340 today with a start, and immediately began thinking about all the things I have to do.  We leave early today, 0700, for a train ride south to visit an Air Force Base and a Navy Base.  I wanted to knock off a few things before then, including this little slice of heaven with you, Dear Readers.

Yesterday was blissful---the piece I wrote to you was part of an extended morning in, as we did not meet until 1030.  I slept until 0800, worked out, drank coffee, blogged, drank some more coffee, marked a paper, and then went to Starbucks before hopping on the bus en route our first call on the Deputy Defense Minister.  Another of a serious of ultra-polished dudes, he came up through the Foreign Affairs Ministry but was moved over to Defense for his first, current post.  We met in a spartan, military style meeting room, u-shaped table, with him and our delegation leader looking down the legs of the U at the rest of us.  Across from our group was a murderers row of Admirals and Generals from the Navy, Air Force and Army.  It was a pleasant chat....I sometimes get the feeling that there are folks in our group who possess wisdom or knowledge unavailable to these men facing the Chinese threat every day of their lives, because that wisdom and knowledge is conveyed with such certainty and confidence.  Were I one of the guys across the table, I might find myself having a moment of ... irritation with the know-it-alls in ties.  But I digress....

Grand Hotel

After this meeting, we headed out to the edge of town to the Grand Hotel, Taipei, for many years the only 5 star hotel in the city and apparently a favorite haunt of Chiang Kai-Shek.  This was to be our lunch spot, and it was wonderful.  Unlike some of the other meals on this trip, the languid pace seemed just right.  Very good food and very good conversation.  We have a great group, including a retired Air Force three star and a retired Navy Seal two-star...and they've gotten into a few good-natured tussles about the A-

Lunch Homeys

10.....good to hear guys who really know their stuff argue their positions.  From here we headed to the Presidential Palace for two meetings.

The first was with the Deputy Secretary General of the National Security Council, a retired Army three star.  Very bright guy.  You get a sense of how bright someone is when they sound smart in what is obviously a second language.  Sometimes, however, you only get the full measure when he speaks in his native tongue and is then translated by someone of skill.  That was the case with this fellow.  He was great using his English, but only when he tired of it and launched into long interludes of Mandarin was I able to get the full measure of his big, quick, brain.  After about an hour, we started upstairs to meet the President.

Presidential Palace

We were ushered into a formal meeting room in which comfy chairs ringed the wall.  Each of us had a bag with a gift/name tag on it sitting net to our chairs.  Since I am one of the few non-retired flag/general officers on the trip, I tend to be seated farther from the places of distinction.  Such is life.  The room was high ceilinged and ornate, festooned with fragrant blossoms (many of the places we meet and our hotel lobby are similarly awash in very smelly flowers--nice smells, but a bit overpowering at times) and while not overwhelmingly Asian in decor, Asian enough for you to get a broad sense of where you were.  There were a few functionaries hanging out and also some members of the Press Corps.   President Mawas ushered in once everyone was in their place, and he (in perfect English) informed us that he would read an opening statement in Mandarin (which was translated for we benighted Anglo-Saxons).  The statement was pretty straightforward stuff, with a dig now and again at the rival political party for their inability to be as wise has his reign has been. This was obviously for domestic consumption, for when his statement was over, the reporters were ushered out of the room and the rest of the meeting was conducted solely in English.

President Ma

Ma is a very, very good politician.  We've seen some pretty smart and smooth operators during our trip here, but this guy is in the major leagues.  What amazed me was that here was the head of state of a nation of 26 million people, and he spent an hour with us, taking our questions and getting into a very good discussion of some very sensitive issues.  For those interested, I asked a question about the growing, warm, relationship between Taiwan and Japan, and he seemed very happy to talk about that for a bit.

At the end our time with the President, we had one more meeting, a 1700 meeting with Deputy Minister for Mainland Affairs, which is a cabinet level ministry separate from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Why, you ask?  Why because if it were in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that would be a sign that Taiwan considers China a foreign country...which it doesn't.  Capice?  An uneventful interlude, we finished up and went to dinner---at which point I was once again nearing exhaustion.  Some of the party exercised good judgment and hopped back to the hotel rather than go to dinner, only because (as I'll talk about below), meals here are extensive and time consuming.  

Some quick hits?

Meals.  Far bet it from me to complain about food...but here goes.  The food here is wonderful.  Really, really good stuff.  But every course is served separately and there are many courses in each meal.  At the end of the day when hung dog tired, the last thing I want is a meal that comes in little parts spread out over two hours.  As I said, it was good at lunchtime yesterday, because I was alert and in good company.  It is less so when I'm grumpy and tired, the company notwithstanding.

Presents.  We have been given presents at some of the stops.  Little things, books, paper weight, etc.  The bags are ornate though.  I fear I will have to purchase another bag to get this stuff home with me!

Flowers.  The Kitten (and the Kittens) all have allergies to strong smells, and so our house is pretty smell free.  We use fragrance free detergents, soaps, shampoos.  We tend to keep only neutral smelling flowers in the house, etc.  But here, flowers are on full display.  Huge arrangements of flowers that smell wonderfully, but because of the hermetically sealed environment in which I spend much of my time, become somewhat overpowering after a while.  

Situation.  I will probably write extensively about his on some Foreign Relations type blog, but for the time being, I'll share a thought or two with you.  This trip has given me a greater appreciation for the real pickle these guys are in.  They have to walk fine lines, wherever they go.  They need to be strong to deter an attack from China, but not too strong as to be provocative.  They need to curry favor with the United States in order to be protected and have arms sales, and they have to listen to us complain that they don't spend enough on their own defense.  If they spend more on defense, they get viewed by the CHICOMS as provocative.  The cycles are vicious and lines are fine.  I've come to admire the path President Ma appears to have chosen, and his people seem to like it too.

Ok, that's it for now.  

Dispatch from the Road: Day 4--Grand Hyatt Taipei

As predicted, yesterday was simply brutal.  By the time I arrived home at 2130 I was exhausted and went straight to bed.  But it was a good day, worth recounting.  And so, armed with the delights of the little coffee setup in my room (insta-boiler, Nescafe) I shall begin.

Before I do, can I say yet again home much I love Nescafe?  I know I raved about it during my trip to Israel and South Africa....must be getting old for you, though not for me.

We started our day with a trip to the American Institute in Taiwan, which is essentially our Embassy in Taipei, except that since we do not have diplomatic relations with Taipei, it isn't an embassy.  We met with the Director (Ambassador sort of, but no Senate confirmation) and some members of his staff for an hour.  I am always impressed with the quality of people we have at our diplomatic posts around the world, and this was no exception.  We had an excellent chat about US/Taiwan/China relations and the challenges all three nations face in the region.  Note:  yesterday I mis-identified AIT as the sponsor of our trip....this is not the case.  The Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs engaged Hudson to put together the delegation.

After this meeting, we piled into our little tour bus for a trip the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  We were ushered into an elevator to a plush meeting room where we spent the next hour with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, (Secretary of State).  A polished, smooth older man, he engaged us in the manner of an experienced diplomat, returning to his themes and verbally jujuitsu-ing any question that was a little too hot for him to handle.

From here, we went to a buffet lunch in a "five star" hotel (words of our handler) that was an orgy of food.  I embarrassed myself and our nation with the volume of food I ate.  You cannot imagine the bounty that was spread before me.  I should have exercised restraint for a number of reasons, but avoidance of an afternoon food coma should have been chief among them.  I did not, and so struggled with consciousness for the remainder of the afternoon.

Our next stop was the Taiwan National Security Bureau, which is essentially their CIA and FBI combined.  We got a brief on Chinese military modernization and we engaged in a spirited discussion of Taiwan's reactions/plans/strategies.  We sat facing each other in a nicely laid out command center, with the Taiwans on one side and we eight on the other.  Across from us were ten officials and the Deputy Director, a Navy three star I met in DC a few months back.  One of the interesting things was that of the eleven men facing us, three were named "Wang"----and they had the largest speaking roles (except for the Admiral).  By the end of this event, I was dying.  I needed my bed, desperately.  And an angel of mercy intervened, because when we got on the bus our handler told us we were essentially free for two hours once we got to the hotel.  I obviously  hadn't been following the program closely enough....but yes...there it was...sweet, blessed relief.  I hurried to the room, stripped off my suit and climbed into the rack for 1 hour and 48 minutes of bliss, awakening to the rude tones of my alarm and then dressing while still asleep to head down to the lobby for dinner.  Eat till you're tired, sleep till you're hungry--the Naval Aviation creed.

Our dinner was in a private room hosted by Su Chi, former Taiwan National Security Adviser.  I rallied long enough to engage in both the meal (very good, though I was somewhat more restrained than at lunch) and the conversation--which was superb.  Dr. Su was engaging, very intelligent, and quite funny.  Afterward, it was back to the room and again, straight to the rack.

We don't rally this morning until 1130, and I awoke at 0530--so I've been diddling since, taking care of some admin back home, Skyping with various customer service reps, etc.  I need to grade a few papers, and to do a bit of other work, in addition to hitting the treadmill.  Our day looks pretty gentlemanly, and I don't think we have an extended dinner to contend with.  Some thoughts?

Surgical masks.  The air quality here is pretty high, but there are a lot of surgical masks.  It seems to me that Asians resort to this more than others  Am I right here?

Motor Scooters. This city is lousy with them.  They appear to have special travel lanes.  If I lived here, I think this is how I would get around.  In fact if I lived in any city it is how I would get around.

Ok---time to put in a little work.  Ciao for now.

Dispatch from the Road: Day 2--Grand Hyatt Taipei

My Pod

This is going to be brutal day.  I arrived at the hotel last night around 2315 hrs and putted around until 0030 or so.  Got my internets working.  Scoped out the hotel.  Admired my nighttime view.  I figured that I'd sleep for five hours or so and set my alarm accordingly.  At 0350 I awoke fully refreshed and unable to get back to sleep.  It is now 0613 and I have:  worked out in the 24 hr fitness center here; ironed my suit and shirt, consumed two cups of coffee and had a delightful Skype with The Kitten. Soon as I am finished with this update, it's into the shower, down to breakfast, and off for our busy day of meetings.  Some thoughts so far?  Don't mind if I do.

The Flight.  And by this, I mean the flight from LAX to Taipei on EVA Airlines.  No doubt you haven't heard of them either, and for some reason I was a bit apprehensive.  I shouldn't have been.  It was the most delightful 14 hours I've ever spent in an airplane.  As discussed earlier, The Fellowship was put up in "Royal Laurel" class, which appears to be a hybrid First/Business.  Each of us had a podlike dwelling to inhabit with the bed folding down fully flat.  There appeared to be wonderful entertainment available, but I did not avail myself of it, choosing instead to spend the first couple of hours reading and eating, the next five sleeping, and the following seven working.  It was a good mix. Got a lot done and ate some damn good airplane food.  I asked my Flight Attendant to bring me "what someone from Taiwan would eat" when she brought me the substantial menu from which we were to choose our dinner, a full snack, and a breakfast.  Everything was superb, save for the POW-like breakfast porridge, some kind of rice gruel that was warm, but without taste.  We are being accompanied by a representative of the American Institute in Taiwan, our hosts for the week, and he appears to have some pull as we were whisked through immigration with nary a wink. We were however, scanned with an IR camera for signs of fever, and anyone showing such would be immediately taken aside to have their temperature taken.  This is what mature nations do when they use immigration policy to support public health.  The ride to the hotel was uneventful, save for the superb roads (no doubt, tank capable) and incredibly clean roadsides.  As we drove along, I tried to peer into the apartments of regular Taiwan folks.  I do this wherever I travel, not in any kind of a prurient way, but to perhaps get a glimpse of everyday life being lived.  I think this is why I love foreign films....the chance to see how other cultures operate.  What did they have for dinner?  What are they watching on TV?  What are they concerned about?

What greeted me in my room

The Hotel.  We were met at the hotel by some sort of manager person who said hello and thank you 46 times.  This is quite a place, ornate, lots of marble, etc.  I am on the 20th floor and my room is pretty luxe.

Right outside my window

The Program. We have a number of meetings today with Taiwanese officials and grandees, but until I've scoped out the sense of how broadly I'm allowed to discuss all this, I won't identify anyone.  We'll be on the go from 0800 to 2100 tonight, so I doubt I'll be able to check in again.

The Hammer's College Football Review: Week 6, The "WTF Just Happened" Edition

Well...I think we're in for some changes in our next Top 25. Oregon went down, Alabama lost to Ole Miss, The Sooners got the horn at TCU, Texas A&M was abused doggie-style by the Miss State Bulldogs and Southern Cal and UCLA both lost at home.
Let's look at it state by state. Arizona is looking good with Arizona 5-0 and Arizona State 4-1. Mississississippi is doing great with Ole Miss 5-0 and Miss State 5-0. Texas is doing good, Baylor is 5-0 (I like Bryce Petty) A&M lost but they're still 5-1, TCU is 4-0 and in Utah the Utes are 4-1 and BYU is 4-1.
In the ACC the Pack got thrashed by Clemson (no surprise there I'm embarrassed to say), Ga. Tech is 5-0 beating Miami and the Heels sucked again losing to Va Tech. Oh yeah, UVA beat Pitt...zzzzzzzz.
The Big Ten, man I don't know what to say. I hate those assholes but I miss them being good. It was league play this week but what in the world is Wisconsin doing losing to Northwestern? Plus I don't think Michigan could beat Miami of Ohio (1-5 having just beaten zero win UMass 42-41). The Wolverines (keep it up and they'll be renamed the Weasels) lost to the New Jersey State School for Dumbasses 26-24.
The SEC is still the cream of the crop. Auburn looks fantastic and is the best team I've seen so far. Tennessee is 2-3 and I would bet the farm they'd be #2 behind FSU if they were in the ACC. Georgia is strong and that running back of their's Todd Gurley has got to be an early Heisman favorite. Alabama, the Mississippi schools, LSU, A&M, Missouri, even piss-ass "can't get outta their own way" South Carolina would be kicking ass in the ACC (and Big Ten probably). The SEC is just head and shoulders better than everybody else. No surprise they're better than the ACC, but the Big Ten has really screwed the pooch in recent years. I guess nobody wants to play in the snow and ice anymore, plus Big Ten chicks are the Big 4 and 5 on the hotness scale. Would you rather go to class with a woman wearing a top with spaghetti straps so as to let them puppies breathe or some slack jawed Slavic chick looking like Rosie O'Donnell and dressed like the Michelin man (like the guys in American Werewolf in London)? Thank you, me too!
That's all I got, lots to digest this week so color me gone.

Dispatch from the Road: Day 1--LAX

Where I'm headed..

I am seated in the Star Alliance lounge in the International Terminal of LAX with my five traveling companions at the start of our journey to Taiwan.  Earlier this year, my colleague Seth Cropsey and I started the Hudson Center for American Seapower in order to advance the study of stuff that means a lot to me.  Through my association with Hudson, I was invited to join this trip to visit with officials of the Taiwanese government, especially within their defense establishment.  I am looking forward to the trip, and my five companions (plus two who traveled separately) are a great group of guys I have known for a long time.

We are flying business class--or what is known as "Royal Laurel" class--on EVA Airlines.  The flight is 13 hours and 50 minutes, and we will arrive Sunday night at 10PM Taipei time.  The flight out here from Dulles was uneventful.  When I checked in online yesterday to get my boarding pass associated with the flight arrangements made for me, I noticed the box on the bottom that said I could upgrade to First Class for a nominal sum.  I took United up on the offer and grabbed the final seat in luxe class--while the rest of the Fellowship gave me dirty looks as they walked past.  Haters.

I've done the research, and my seat goes fully flat, has a personal entertainment system, and has its own power outlet.  I have a ton of work to do during the course of this trip so I'll probably no spend my time watching movies on the flight.  Some sleep shortly after chow, but then work for the final eight hours of the flight or so.

The schedule for the week is not grueling, but it is steady.  I'll have a good chance to keep up on things and do the work I need to do.  Hopefully I will be able to spend some time with you via this blog.  We work most of the day Monday through Friday, then sight seeing Saturday before heading home Saturday evening.  The way things work, we land in New York soon after we take off.  Overnight in NY Saturday night and then a quick flight Sunday morning back to DC.

I've seen a few upsets in College Football, and I'm sure Hammer will bring us up to speed on them.  Alabama and Oklahoma going down today was some big news....hopefully my Wahoos can get it done tonight....

That's all for now....if I get bored on the flight, perhaps a midflight update .

Big Fat Friday Free For All

Good morning friends, how are you?  Just back yesterday from four days in California, leave tomorrow for a bit of a WESTPAC swing, returning Stateside a week from Sunday.  Will have the computer with me, so hope to keep you up to date on things during my trip.

Some thoughts from my trip to San Diego, just completed? And perhaps some other topics?

1. I've said it before, I'll say it again.  I wasted 15 months in that city, bitching about a broken heart and not enjoying myself.  It really is an amazing place to live.

2.  Redeye travel is fine with me, as I can generally sleep en route.  This is made more difficult however, when the completely full plane features a six foot two, 280 pound man who looked to be kin of Shrek sitting in the center seat next to you.  He spilled liberally over into my seat throughout the flight.  I can only hope my snoring was as offputting to him.

3.  Brother Tom is off to Italy, his first trip to my most favorite-est vacation spot.  Looking forward to hearing his views when he comes home.

4.  UVA/Pitt on Saturday night.  Big game.  Sorry to miss it.  UVA is going all out to try and bring fans back who have found other things to do with their time over the course of the past few years.  My tickets have already been sent to rabid fans, so I feel no shame.

What Should Come Next for the GOP?

Let's assume for the sake of argument that the Republicans take the Senate and extend their majority in the House.  What comes next?

I'm not exactly sure--but I do know one thing.  I want Mitt Romney to be in charge.

So here's what I propose.  If the Republicans take the Senate, Mitt comes to DC and sets up shop.  Gets an office.  A staff.  A press operation.  And he starts running things.  Like a Boss.  Two or three speeches a week, in town.

Mitch McConnell and John Boehner--guess what--you now answer  to the man who got 61 million votes in the last election.  HE sets the agenda.  HE dictates the terms.  HE talks to the Press.  The two of you have proven your incompetence in leading--get out of the way now and let a man who knows how to lead, lead.

GOP Pro-Consul

Mitt lays out strategy--comprehensive Party strategy--not House Strategy, and Senate Strategy.  You, the conference chairs, the whips--you all work for him.  If Mitt decides to run for President, so much the better.  If he doesn't, the GOP gets his leadership for at least a year.  The country will be better off either way.

The Hammer's College Football Review: Week 5, the "almost" Edition

Let's get this out of the way because I'm sure most of you could give a rat's ass. If you don't like it, screw you I'm talking about it anyway.
My beloved North Carolina State Wolfpack hosted the Number 1 Florida State Seminoles yesterday at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, NC. We played them tough, displayed a lot of talent, character, discipline and poise but eventually lost 56-41 having being outscored 14-4 in the final quarter. That's the difference between a team like State and an FSU...depth. FSU can platoon their players in and out and not loose a lot in quality, teams like State can't. So when the 4th. quarter rolls around the fresher legs prevail.
But I'm not disappointed. A lot of questions were answered and if State ain't a top 20 team then CW is not a man of a thousand hats (most ugly as hell of course). But who can go wrong with dedicated fans like these guys? Dressing up as a bunch of Rednecks ha ha ha. Somebody should tell these guys Halloween is a month away ha ha ha.

So, on to other games. UVA won beating some rinky-dink team (really, who gives a shit?) Duke lost to Miami, UNC got trashed by Clemson and Pitt lost to Akron. Syracuse lost, BC lost and Va. Tech got past an outmanned W. Michigan. So far all these "football" schools they brought into the ACC aren't doing too well.
Speaking of Michigan, they lost again but Mich. State won. There's a good few one loss teams in the Big Ten, so even though the league may be down a bit it still looks real competitive. Penn State is 4-1 but got dusted by Northwestern yesterday (all they could manage was two field goals).
Down in the Lone Star State Texas A&M, Baylor and TCU are undefeated and the Texas Longhorns are playing 500 ball. That must gripe their burnt-orange asses I'd say.
In the SEC Tennessee played Georgia tough with a killer passing attack but couldn't stop Todd Hurley (a funk-soul-brother with a preppy name, I love when that happens!) who gashed the Vols for 200+ yards. Misery spanked the frustrated and frustrating Gamecocks in Columbia (guess which one) and Auburn remains undefeated...'Bama had the week off.
Oh, I did want to mention my former employer the Shepherd Rams are 4-0 beating West Virginia Wesleyan 56-7 yesterday. Their average margin of victory this year is about 35 points so they must be pretty good. What's that? "Hammer, you worked at a college?" Why yes I did. I was the Chair of the Philosophy Department don't you know (the less said about that the better!).

Anyway that's it. I'm in a foul mood after yesterday's loss so I'm outta here.

Illegals in the Military

News here of a new DoD policy that will allow illegal aliens to serve in the military.  This is a military which--mind you--is sending people home because it is "too big".  Capped at 1500 a year, the camel's nose is in the tent.

One more case of this President's utter disregard for our sovereignty.

Big Fat Friday Free For All

Good morning, friends.  Is there anything you'd like to share?  Better out than in, as Grandma always said.

I am huge, and stepping on the scale is not in my plan today.

A lot of travel coming up in the next two weeks, so perhaps some musings from the road to follow.

Cheerio!

Ruminations from a Superficial Mind: Midterm Bitchfest Edition

How is this woman even in the NC Senate race? How bad a candidate do you have to be, to be losing to this woman at this stage in the campaign? She came in on the Obama wave. She has supported every last thing Barack Obama and the Democrat majority in the Senate told her to support, including Obamacare (she parroted Obama's "if you like your plan..." of which there is ample video evidence). She gets nearly every last penny for her campaign from out of state sources (she missed an important ISIL briefing the other day, fundraising in Manhattan don't you know). She's from Florida (niece of Lawton Chiles), she's not attractive (I'm being kind), she has a BaBa WaWa lisp and the State went for Mitt Romney last election. So how? Thom Tillis that's how. We've gone from "I'm not a witch" to "I'm the invisible man". Well done RNC (and the NRSC), once again you've snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
This is the kind of emails guys like me are getting. I guess this is what Country Club Republicans thinks is good fundraising.
Hammer, 

Senator Hatch sent me the list of people that have not confirmed their NRSC charter membership for the 2014 election and you were on it. I told him that this doesn’t seem correct, but that I would reach out to you. 

"Charter membership", to what, the all time chumps club? No thanks. It's because of you guys the Democrats have a what amounts to a lock on the Presidency for the next 100 years. I am not motivated by being in some God-damn bullshit "charter membership" and I resent that you would think I'm that stupid. Tell me how you're going to eviscerate Harry Reid and then I might shoot you a couple of bucks. But nooooo, that might alienate the moderates. Friggin' losers!

I was reading a Charlotte blog by a very bright conservative lady D.C. McAllister and she breaks down why women are putting Hagan over the top. It's boils down to the same old issue; freedom vs. equality. Many women equate abortion with equality, and any...ANY contrarian position is deemed out of hand and anti-woman. I have been saying for 35 years conservatives need to put the abortion issue to bed, once and for all. From the Republican perspective it's all bad. Look I know we've got some social conservatives out there who are absolutely opposed to abortion under any and all circumstances, but so what? They haven't been to the polls in any kind of numbers since GWB so what difference does it make? I say do what should have been done years ago, propose a grand compromise: Unlimited abortion in the first trimester plus a week (the plus a week looks good). After that you had damned well better have a legitimate medical reason and I'm mean LEGIT! Now there would be a few exceptions that being crack ho's, prostitutes, Mexicans (just kidding...sorta), but otherwise strictly enforced. This would put the Dems on the defensive real quick and, if handled right take the issue away. Plus it's good law. But until SOMETHING is done, this is a stick the Democrats will continue to use until it doesn't work anymore...and that ain't happened yet.

That's all I got. But I was thinking, I should sign up for Hagan's mailing list.

The Hammer's College Football Wrap-Up: Week 4

The man to the left with the Excedrin headache is Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney (unusual name even for a redneck). He's just watched his team blow a lead, blow opportunities and blow a game his team should have won. Life can be cruel but his problem was not football, his problem was not preparing his team to be winners. Being a winner is a big responsibility. Being on top carries with it an obligation to excellence. It's easy to be a loser, nobody expects anything from a loser, but from winners everything (and more) is expected. His team, his staff and the whole Clemson organization chose the easy way out...they CHOSE it, and he's probably wondering why they lost.

Well, now that I've set Coach Swinney straight, lets see what happened yesterday. Hmmm, what's this I wonder. UVA flew out to Provo and lost to the Fighting Polygamists from Brigham Young? Tough break all around. I watched a bit of the game, and caught the turning point when Virginia had a short yardage situation and BYU stripped the ball for a fumble. Woulda been called forward progress anywhere else, but them's the breaks. A back east team goes on the road out west, better expect a little home cooking (nice call mayor). So suck it up CW, your guys are still better than last year.

Did you catch any of the Carolina ECU game in Greenville? Great Googly Moogly, ECU hung 70 points on the hapless, hopeless, Heels. 789 yards in total offense! This broke ECU previous best from 1975 by nearly 100 yards (ECU vs. UVA). But let me tell you what, the Pirates are one good football team! Offensively they can hang with anybody I'd say. But ain't it a shame though, the poor Tar Heels just can't get a break. I guess when Coach Fedora is playing with his own recruits rather than the mercenaries Butch Davis brought in, well it seems he ain't that great a coach after all.

Around the country there were a few upsets but nothing to write home about. Mizzou lost to Indiana, Va. Tech lost again, Duke keeps rolling along and my beloved WolfPack embarrassingly beat Presbyterian 42-0 (embarrassing for us, why are we playing this team?). LSU looked like total shit against the Missississississippi State Bulldogs at home and the Big 10 continues its downward spiral with Utah beating the once great Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor (Bo Schembechler is spinning in his grave) 26-10. Out west Oregon, Oregon State and Arizona all remain undefeated.

Well that's about it. C-ya, wouldn't wanna be ya.

Do Us All A Favor ESPN, Piss off!

Ok ok, I get it. If the wife gets drunk and starts ragging your ass down to the ground in a public place, then backhands you, do not, I repeat DO NOT go Joe Frazier on her ass and give her the old left hook (at least not on camera). It could end your career.

I say that only partially in jest. Yes indeed what Ray Rice did was wrong, but the sista was acting the fool too. If a woman is drunk enough or stupid enough to backhand a guy who plays professional football and has had a drink or two himself, then hey, it's assumed risk in my view. Plus these two look like they've been down this road before, after all she was only Rice's fiancee at the time and has since married him.

So the guy lost his gig, I hope the feminists are happy. There was nary a peep out of them when OJ was busily defending himself from, what was it again, nearly beheading his ex-wife and stabbing some poor guy to death. Tammy Bruce who was big in NOW-LA documented it pretty well. NOW was told to sit OJ out quietly, and they did. Come to find out NOW is not really a "women's" group per se, it's just a progressive outfit who's assigned mission is "women's issues". There's a lot of that stuff in leftist circles. Most environment groups don't give two craps about the environment, if they did they'd be bitching up a storm about China, India and Brazil. No, what they care about is the power to control American energy and development...and NOW cares about terrorizing American males and putting females in positions of authority (as long as they're PROGRESSIVE females that is).

In addition to all the preaching we've had to put up with all weekend from the likes of those punks over at ESPN (and others), we now have a "lesbian athlete" telling us "America needs to reprogram the way we raise men". This sound advice comes from a lesbian who made a big deal a couple of years ago about how she "came out" to her teammates on the Colorado women's b-ball team. Really? I'm sure they were shocked! I would certainly like to hear her views but there are just a couple of troubling statements I need cleared up. First, she says "I'm not going down the road of pitting women against women" suggests to me she's coming at this from a female only perspective. Is not domestic violence a societal problem not restricted to this or that sex? Women beat the shit out of men too, women murder men too, and it's equally wrong. Second, terms like "throwing like a girl" are not demeaning women, unless you happen to be a lesbian basketball player (pardon the redundancy). There are clear differences between the sexes, and women that act like men and men that act like women will always be, well different. If society tries to "reprogram" males then look out for the law of unintended consequences. I don't know what the hell you'll get, but it won't be the "pajama boy" you seek.

ESPN needs to STFU! Their job is to broadcast and commentate on sport, not be a shill for progressives who's only goal is to tear down America and American institutions.

Hammeratic Review of College Gridiron Action: Week 3

It was a good day for Wahoos across the globe as the Cavs beats a ranked Louisville team at home, and being a spiteful, vindictive bunch they were equally thrilled when the Hokies stumbled in Blacksburg against East Carolina. Coming off their HUGE win at Ohio State last week a letdown can sometimes happen so I chalk this up to coaching. And trust me, ECU's win was no fluke. Va. Tech just seemed to be treading water the whole game. Tech did manage a rally late but it was a halfhearted effort. Well done ECU, my home-boys did good!

The Lamecocks got back on track beating Georgia in Williams-Brice, Texas A&M looks for real and Notre Dame is 3-0 whipping up on their perennial whipping boy Purdue University in South Bend. The Pac 12 went 7-1 against outside competition with the only surprise, and actually the upset of the week, Southern Cal losing to BC on the road. But I can see why that happened, Boston is a depressing shit-hole of a city full of wall-to-wall assholes. You have Guineas and half-wit Irishmen living on top of each other in squalor unfit for human habitation. I'd rather live in Detroit. So for those Southern California guys the whole depressing atmosphere must have been overwhelming and consequently lost focus thinking of nothing but getting the hell out of this dirty, filthy town full of dirty, filthy people. Whomever scheduled this game has some splanning to do.  

What's going on with the Big 10 I wonder? To begin with there are 14 teams now, NOT 10, FOURTEEN! So maybe ex-Carolina guard and Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delaney (he goes by "James" these days, isn't that special?) should get their math department involved. Anyway the conference is in trouble, and people are starting to notice. These guys just ain't that good anymore. Last week a good but not great Va. Tech breezes into the Horseshoe and whips shit outta Ohio State, Wisconsin folds to LSU down in Tigerland and Oregon kicks hell out of conference standard bearer Michigan State. This week Bowling Green beat Indiana, Iowa State beat Iowa, Washington over Illinois and on and on. Do I even need to mention Michigan and their fall from the heights of football royalty? I heard on the radio the other day it's been 19 years since the Big 10 had a first round quarterback pick, and I struggled to remember who it was. Jeff George, Art Schlichter, nope it was Kerry Collins from Penn State, and the Nittany Lions had only been in the league about 15 minutes!
Look I'm well aware the Big 10 has never been a passing league, and Lord knows they have feed the NFL linebackers and linemen and running backs like no other, but the game has changed, Woody Hayes is dead and they better get with the times if they want to turn things around. But who wants to go play in the ice and snow of Madison, Wisconsin or Ann Arbor, Michigan when they can play in Tallahassee? There you go!

Well that's it, congrats to CW again. Let's all be nice to him, UVA ain't that good so he's in for an emotional letdown. They got ranked BYU in Mormon country next week, so we'll see what they got.

Big Fat Friday Free For All

What's on your mind, this fine Friday?  I've just returned from the massage table, and I feel like a new (though large) man.

September 11 went as well as could be expected round these parts yesterday...never a great day.

Weighed in at a stout 189.4 this morning, though it has been a good week of eating and exercise.  The plain truth is I have to get rid of my left hip before I'm ever going to feel good exercising again....

Have a good weekend, friends.

Political Ruminations From the Heavy Drinker Perspective

     Well we made it through another 9/11 without getting a city burned to the ground. In my humble opinion the next major terrorist attack won't be just taking out a building or two, it's be much more catastrophic than that. 9/11 did what it did, but if I were a terrorist I'd be thinking: Ok taking out the World Trade Center was fine but it caused as many problems for us as it did the enemy. We need to ramp it up a lot if we want to demoralize these people and win. Not to say we won't go small with "independents" like those idiots in Boston, but next time we need to go VERY big or go home. Therefore in my view the next time we're hit we're probably talking big-time biologics or WMDs. I wish it weren't true but I swear I can see terrible things in our future. I need to move and not be so close to Fort Bragg. Has anybody out there ever been to Montana?
     The Prez sounded almost credible the other night but kids let me tell you something. This is a war with Islam, and I mean all of Islam including moderate Islam (if there is such a thing). Just because the Saudis are afraid of ISIS or ISIL or whatever it is, doesn't mean they're our buddies and pals. Under the right circumstances they'd turn on us in a heartbeat, and you can take that to the bank. There is no such thing as "radical" Islam, it's just those who choose to openly fight as opposed to those who war by other means. Again, this is a war, a war of values and cultures, plus it is a war of attrition and it will continue until somebody wins. The war was declared by Muhammad in the fifth century against any and all religions, and nothing has changed. Over the centuries Islam has stamped out a ton of religions (Babism is my favorite, unfortunately not what the name suggests) and those ragheaded bastards have put a lot of deities out of work. Christianity and Judaism are their immediate goals now, and they've made steady progress since the days of Jimmy Carter.

     So, what is to be done? In my view not a helluva lot. We can't isolate them economically, they have oil. We can't defeat them militarily, they're too big (geographically speaking, we can't go in and occupy Morocco to Indonesia). We can't get along with them because they won't play nice until Israel is gone and every Jew is dead, and even after that why would we believe they'd stop there? Their goal is a world-wide caliphate. If they achieved their goals in the Middle-East they would just press on. So what to do, hang on until such time as they gets nukes and we all burn up? I wish I had an answer short of World War III. 

     On a lighter note (but not much lighter) 9/10 came and went without much notice. What's 9/10 you say? Well my sports-illiterate friends, on September 10th. 1972 the Olympics conspired to cheat us out of our Gold Medals in the sport of basketball.
     Here's the rundown for all you youngsters. Up until that time the Americans had won all the Golds in basketball, and we did it with boys against men. All our guys were college athletes but most of the world fielded "national" teams that for all intents and purposes were professionals. Out '72 team was made up of some very good college players, but certainly not the best college players. The two most dominate players in college ball at the time, Bill Walton and David Thompson weren't on the team. Neither was Keith Wilkes or Henry Bibby from NCAA champs UCLA, or for that matter  All Americans like Tom Riker from South Carolina or Barry Parkhill from Virginia. Our coach Hank Iba was old, and OLD SCHOOL. He coached a slow methodical game and a lot of the kids weren't interested in playing 1940's set-shot basketball.
     Anyway if you're interested here a video that lays it all out. I remember the game, I remember the emotion and I still don't know who pissed me off the most, the Olympic officials, the Russians or the stupid ass American sports bureaucracy that couldn't get their shit together. But I can't help but imagine what the outcome would have been had we Walt Frazier, John Havlicek and Kareem.

     To keep you up to date on the Hagan-Tillis race, the NCAE (an offshoot of the NEA) and Emily's List are running commercials attacking Republicans with some very interesting ads. They got a 7% wage increase this year and apparently that's a declaration of war. The story behind the story is that in 2012 after the Republican "takeover" of the legislature and executive they immediately passed a bill that the state would no longer collect dues for the NCAE. Their membership dropped by about 20% overnight. Well, this will not stand says the teachers union which adamantly denies it is a union. So it's full on war, and since NC is next in line as a "swing state" the national leftist organizations are taking an interest.

Now, the "cuts" she's talking about are a lie, at least according to the Washington Post and WRAL. But hey, that never stopped a union. Hell there's one ad of a teacher in Cary (median income $85.00k per year) saying the schools are so poor she doesn't have a textbook! Lord Lord Lord, what a load of bollox! I can't find the ad on youtube so I think they've pulled it due to it's high bullshit quotient. I'm sure even the low info crowd wouldn't fall for that one. But I expect more of this kinda stuff, stay tuned.  

   

The Hammer's College Football RoundUp: Week 2 (or 3, depends on how you count it)

Well let's get right to critiquing this week's BIG TIME college football action. Yesterday in Charlottesville...HA HA, GOT YA! Yeah I know, UVA beat piddly little Richmond 45-13 and CW attended wearing this ridiculous straw fedora. It's been pointed out to him time and again that only Cubans and maricones wear such things but he won't listen. Whatcha gonna do?
Now back to the action: "Bama wore out Florida Atlantic yesterday at home. Not exactly big time but I like FAU (that's why I brought it up). Went to a soiree or two there back in my Florida days, man that might be the prettiest campus in the country. None of this old, tired faux Ivy League looking stuff, just palm trees and babes! Here's a good example, the FAU dance team (if I were younger Arthur Murray here I come). Anyway Alabama wore their asses out as one might expect.

The game of the week was #7 Michigan State at Oregon, and I think we can safely say the Quack Attack is back. The Spartans looked pretty good in the first half leading 24-18 at the break but The Ducks came out smoking in the second half with four touchdowns. Oh well. Tough times in Michigan these days, State loses and Big Blue looked like they had a case of big blue balls....maybe Wayne State won, must have a look. 

CW's second favorite team (after everybody else including the Red Army hockey squad), the unranked and unheralded (that'll sure change!) Virginia Polytechnic and State University Hokies went to the Shoe in Columbus, Ohio and kicked the living shit out of Ohio State currently ranked #8 by ESPN (that'll sure change!). I saw a bit of the game before the Cutty Sark and percocets kicked in properly and Va. Tech looked pretty darn good. They had a lot of chances to fold, and oh boy that's easy to do in front of 100K screaming rednecks (of the midwestern variety), but they didn't. Plus their offense looks like it actually makes sense. For years they opened up with 1st. down, halfback off tackle for a two yard gain. 2nd. down, fullback up the middle no gain. 3rd. and 8, what the hell do we do? Screw it, let's go off tackle again. Look, they won a lot of games but Jeez Louise, this ain't 1965 and the Bear is dead (don't mention that to any Alabama folks you know, you might get the hell knocked out of you). 

In local ACC play Clemson mauled SC State (they might want to consider scheduling them FIRST game), #21 UNC (please bitch!) hung on again San Diego State at home, the mighty Wolfpack came back against (do I have to say it?) Old Dominion after getting dominated most of the game (I'm convinced the football Gods are just toying with Wolfpack-Nation, trying to give hope where there is none). Duke looked good, Ga. Tech looked good and FSU looked good, all against chumps. I'd say if Flawda State is gonna get any competition in this league it'll be from Va. Tech. but you never know, Louisville or Duke might sneak one in.

Well that's it for this week. Next week Louisville is at Virginia (CW will call in sick for that one), NCSU in down in Tampax, Florida to take on the South Florida Bulls (coincidentally bull was my college nickname) and the biggie, Tennessee at Oklahoma (both 2-0). 

C-ya, wouldn't wanna be ya. 

UVA 45 Richmond 13

At the tailgate before the game, there was some trepidation among the esteemed Sigma Chis, their wives, children, and guests.  Richmond was an FCS Ranked team, we have a bit of a QB controversy, and we don't really yet know what this team is about.  Feeling for some reason very confident, I predicted a 30 point victory.  Off by a bit.

Both QB's played well, though Matt Johns seemed to make the offense click better, and he clearly is more comfortable moving around in the backfield.  Richmond moved the ball on us big time, but it was almost all in the air--very little running game.

Our offensive coordinator needs to realize that no one fears our running game and since we cannot apparently pass on first or second down, we don't move the ball efficiently.  A lot of teams use the run to set up the pass, we need to use the pass to set up the run...soften the LB's up a bit.

I've never sat in that stadium and been hotter--sweated like a stuffed pig.  But my, was I stylin'.....

AFTER THE BLACKOUT: Psychotic Ramblings From an Alcohol Damaged Brain

Ladies and gents, running for political office in a competitive race is a little like a science fiction movie, no matter how great the special effects the movie still needs a good story. Not necessarily a great story, but a GOOD story. Republicans don't seem to get that because their story sucks.
This go round we've got some real competitive races going on and we've got a real opportunity to hang a monster defeat on the Democrats, and it appears we're blowing it. Hagan in North Carolina, Mark Pryor in Arkansas and Mary Landrieu in Louisiana should all be behind by double digits by now. But they are not, quite the contrary. Why is that friends? All are from states that Mitt Romney carried in 2012! Every advantage (apart from money) falls to the Republicans. So why?
Well I can't speak to what's going on in other states but let me say this, the first time I've ever heard Hagan's opponent Thom Tillis speak was in the debate the other night and I still haven't the foggiest idea what the man stands for. As far as I can tell he has no message other than attack Hagan for being Hagan. My first impression is that Tillis is not ready for prime time. He looked tentative and scared. He didn't even attempt to set the record straight on some of these boiler-plate Democrat charges being run in ads funded by Soros & Company (along with a little Chinese, Russian and Middle-East money I hear). I'm a little surprised Hagan didn't accuse him of pulling her hair from behind (who would do such a thing!?). Tillis just stayed on message, his boring God damn, NRSC political consultant approved message. The man couldn't sell half-price hooch at an AA meeting!
I suspect the same thing is going on in Arkansas and Louisiana. When oh Lord will the Republicans learn? Ok I get it, the Republicans nominated a few yahoos lately, but the answer isn't go boring or play-it-safe. Some guy who looks the part but has a lousy, uninspiring middle-of-the-road message is the road to defeat. It's like Steven Jobs said, people often times don't know what they want until you show it to them. Consultants can poll and focus group to their hearts content but if their candidate can't or isn't allowed to sell a clear conservative message (a VERY good story) then they will lose. I expect Hagan to pull out a squeaker.

I've been reading America by Dinest D'Souza and Blood Feud by Edward Klein, both excellent reads. But for the life of me I still can't decide whether Obama's destruction of the middle-class and consequently America (the middle-class IS America) is by design or default. I guess it's a chicken or the egg thing. Is our destruction just a consequence of Obama's insane policies or is Obama destroying us with his insane policies? In other word is it ineptitude or deliberate? D'Souza suggests willful destruction, however Klein makes the case for incompetence citing a variety of reasons and examples of Obama's unsuitability for the job. I guess they're both right, sometimes it's a particle, sometimes a wave. In the end it doesn't really matter, destruction is destruction.

I was sad to see the passing of Joan Rivers. She was one of the great old comics like Rodney Dangerfield, Don Rickles and George Carlin. She had a quick wit and at times was very funny. Sgt. Major liked to watch here on, gosh what was it(?) Runway Police or something (on one of those chick channels). Anyway it was a show where a bunch of snarky bitches critique celebrity fashion at the Oscars and Emmys and stuff. They show a clip of some dweeb asking Scarlett Johansson about her dress and shoes who made it etc. I always thought that was a little junior high, as in "you gotta have the right shoes or you're just an idiot" kinda way. Anyway then Joan and Ozzie Osborne's daughter (and usually a homo so over-the-top-gay Elton John's pool boy would kick his ass for being so queer!) would say how great they looked or take shots at them. I watched for the fashion of course, had nothing at all to do with Ms. Johansson's tits being front and center. I recall Joan commenting on some woman's red dress, something along the lines of "Does she look in the mirror before she leaves home? My God she looks like a blood clot".
Anyway, RIP Joan, I for one will miss you.

Big Fat Friday Free For All

Aw, what's the matter friend? Your Cheesehead buddies get pounded in their opener?  Have your nude selfies made their way out into the public domain?  Did your "Desperate Housewife" defense go down in flames?

Share your pain, folks.  Lots of sympathetic minds here!

First Day of School

An early Fall view of our lane

As I write this, Kitten #2 is enjoying the last 27 minutes of Summer, blissfully asleep until rudely awakened by the march of time.  Kitten #1 starts classes today too, and I imagine she is also still asleep.  Kitten of All Kittens--She Who Loves Summer Like No Other--also is abed.  I am up to greet the day early, as is my custom, but as I sat here I realized that I was the only person in my family excited about the first day of school.  I've always been that way, mostly because I always liked school.  My girls like school just fine, but if given the choice between going and spending their time doing Summer things, I know what would win out.

The Kitten is another story altogether.  She takes Summer Worship to a whole new level, luxuriating in the soupy heat of it and the slow pace.  She gets genuinely down every year around the 10th of August after realizing the season is almost gone and the lists constructed in May have not been substantially completed.  I've begun to hear the resident geese making a bit of noise lately, and it puts me in an Autumn state of mind thinking about their Northern cousins who will winter over here and offer themselves up for my dining pleasure.  While it is going to be 94 degrees here today, I still am thinking Fall, and the dying embers of Summer have no impact on me whatsoever.

Soon, very soon, we'll have the first chilly night.  The leaves on the trees in the lane will begin to turn.  The annual "shouldn't we close the pool for the season" conversation will occur.  The sound of geese in the cove and overhead will become constant. I'll renew my hunting licenses and make a reservation with Mudge to sit freezing in a tree all day and listen to my friends shoot deer.

No, the first day of school never made me down.  Because it is the real first day of Fall, the best season of all.