Separated At Birth, Backpedal Edition

The ghoulish Helen Thomas and...


The librarian ghoul in Ghostbusters.

We May Have Found Our Man

It may very well be that the Republican Party has found its answer to no-drama Obama. The more I hear this guy, the more I like him.

New Member of the CW Blog Team

I am pleased to announce the addition of NavyAustin to our team of bloggers here on the CW. I've known NavyAustin for over 22 years, and he brings a wealth of experience, wisdom, intelligence and erudition to our site. I look forward to his initial posting in the days to come.

Double Dip?

Robert Reich (and Goldwater's Ghost) think we're headed for a "double dip" recession. I disagree. I think we're simply a year into a three to five year stretch of little or no growth. Certain indicators in the economy will rise and fall, and there will be a concomitant rise or fall in the markets. But by and large, the Dow will hover between largely between 10K and 11K for the foreseeable future--and THAT'S OK. We don't NEED to do any more monkeying around with things. We need to let the toxins work their way out of the system. We need to allow the housing inventory to decline slowly, over time. We need to allow the real signs of increased productivity in the productive side of our economy continue--even as government seeks to support that productivity with enlightened policy decisions (not what we're seeing today). We need to get used to high unemployment and low growth while we work to shore up the fundamentals of the economy. We need to cut spending and move to more rational revenue models.

What we don't need is more stimulus. What we don't need is more debt. What we do need it to take some of the medicine we are so freely prescribing to Greece.

On The Europeanization of America

AEI President Arthur Brooks is fast becoming a favorite of mine. His thoughts here on our slide into the abyss are insightful.

Helen Thomas Is A Troll

This woman's time in the spotlight has been, and continues to be, a national embarrassment.

The Weakness of the White House

Jonah Goldberg had a short post on NRO the other day talking about the weakness of the Obama White House. I think this is a big issue, one that Conservatives and Republicans need to think through strategically.

Obama supported a candidates in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia. All lost. He supported a candidate in Pennsylvania who switched to his party--and that candidate lost. His administration has offered jobs to at least two candidates to drop their runs in in favor of White House choices--both have refused. What's happening here? To fracture Machiavelli--Obama is loved, but he is not feared.

There will be no more "big" wins for Mr. Obama. His party will get waxed in November's mid terms, and moving anything big along in the second half of the first term will be even more difficult than it was in the first half. There is simply no penalty to crossing the White House (I could go on about how this applies internationally too, but I will restrict this to domestic politics), and Democrats in Congress will walk fine lines between public affirmation of the President and votes that are ultimately in their own electoral interest. We are watching the beginning of this generation's Carter Presidency unfold before us.

The Big Cat Bites For The First Time

Many of you know that I conducted a lengthy and exhaustive (to the Kitten, at least) search for my latest ride. Lots of test drives, lots of reading, lots of lustful glances on the road--fifteen months of kvetching until I finally pulled the trigger in January on a 2010 Jaguar XF. I have to say, I have been thrilled with virtually every facet of this car. It is comfortable, it is sporty, it is eye-catching, and it has some awesome technology. My 4.2 liter V8 375hp powerplant is the entry level engine, and its throaty power is unlike anything I've ever driven. The supercharged XFR with a 510hp engine must be simply unreal. But Jaguar has had its problems, and many of you joined in with the little voice inside warning me not to buy a Jag. I ignored those voices.

Two weeks ago, I had a long drive to do a speech at a shipmate's retirement ceremony. Although I drive a sporty V8, I am still concerned with fuel mileage, and I was tickled to see the onboard computer telling me that for that tank of gas, I was averaging 29.4 mpg. Wonderful.

I arrived at the function, did my speech and then headed for a quiet place to do a little admin. I needed to schedule my first maintenance on the new car, its 10,000 mile service. I was preparing for a massive number when I asked the service manager what it would cost. "It's free" he said. Free? "Yes, free--the 10K service is with our compliments". Holy moly. I'm getting nearly 30 mpg on the highway in a car I love like ice cream and the first service is free?

So I pack myself up and start the drive back to the farm. Wasn't on the road more than ten minutes when a good sized rock came shooting out of the bed of an uncovered dumptruck (I watched it throughout its trajectory) and impacted my "windscreen" (that's what Jag calls a windshield) on the lower left hand corner leaving an immediate small crack, less than the size of a dime. Man, was I pissed.

I got my insurance company on the phone (USAA--a wonderful company) and they pointed me to their auto glass partner who would come to me and fix the windscreen free of charge. We set up the appointment.

When the technician arrived a few days later, he looked at the crack and told me two things. First--it was repairable. Second--cracks in that part of the glass--and especially on highly curved glass like I have--often tend to radically proliferate during the course of the repair job. In fact, I had sign a waiver, releasing him from liability in case just such a thing happens. Yes--you guessed it--it happened.

I now have a nearing three-foot crack across the windshield. They are coming Monday morning to replace it. Insurance normally takes care of these kinds of things--subject of course to one's deductible. To limit my monthly insurance payments, I chose a $1000 deductible. New windshield purchase and installation cost? $968. Naturally.

Still love the car, can't wait to get the windshield replaced. Added two chrome inserts to the front quarter panel vents and mudflaps to deal with the dust and mud of the farm during my free service window*. But damn, that's an expensive windshield.

*Photo without new additions

Big Fat Friday Free For All

All time high (April 1 2009): 192.2
Last weigh in: 185.4 (5/30/10)
This week's weight: 183.6

A good week on the slow and steady front--worked out more than usual and ate relatively well. On travel next week, so I've got to watch what I do...

What's on your mind, folks? Speak now of forever hold your peace. Or your piece, for the second amendment crowd.

May Blog Stats

Total Visits: 3931 (4340 April)
Return Visits: 2969 (76%) (2966 April or 68%)
New Visitors: 959 (24%) (1374 April or 32%)
Average Time On Site: 3:50 (3:26 April)
Dec 2o09 Average Daily Visitors: 117
January 2010 Average Daily Visitors: 146
February 2010 Average Daily Visitors: 159
March 2010 Average Daily Visitors: 151
April 2010 Average Daily Visitors: 145
May 2010 Average Daily Visitors: 127

The decline in daily readership on the blog continues. A couple of theories:
1. We just didn't publish as much content in May as usual
2. I have not personally published as much, nor have I been as active in marketing posts via Twitter and Facebook. Problem is, when I leave the farm for DC at 0515 and then don't post/blog anything all day, I don't get anything out onto Facebook either.
3. We suck more?

On The Israeli Boarding

I contributed to this blog post about the Israeli take-down attempt. From my perspective, it was not a good showing.

Mortgage Got You Down? "Nah--I Just Don't Pay It"

Saw this story in the NYT Tuesday morning and meant to blog it that day--never got around to it. The story is about a people who have just stopped paying their mortgages, counting on the fact that it is more trouble for a bank to evict them than it is worth to the bank to take possession of the property in a down market.

The story is downright disgusting, mostly for the breathtaking shifts of responsibility that are voiced. Here's one: "One reason the house is worth so much less than the debt is because of the real estate crash. But the couple also refinanced at the height of the market, taking out cash to buy a truck they used as a contest prize for their hired animal trappers. It was a stupid move by their lender, according to Mr. Pemberton. “They went outside their own guidelines on debt to income,” he said. “And when they did, they put themselves in jeopardy.”

Ah. I see. It's their fault you are a deadbeat. Precious.

Goodbye, Mercury.

Ford is going to discontinue the Mercury line. I've never bought one, can't remember ever driving one, and have never looked at one with anything even approaching longing. Seems like a good decision to me--and it should pump up the stock price!

My Nephew Colin, Role Model

It takes a while to develop mad skills.

The Conservative Wahoo LIVE! Tonight at 8PM

Tune in tonight at 8PM to The Conservative Wahoo Live! On tap for tonight are:

Obama and Memorial Day
Obama and the Oil Spill
Israel and the Peace Activists
The Sestak Affair
Al and Tipper Call it Quits
Copa Mundial


Call in to join the fun! (347) 637-2203

Connecticut GOP Senate Candidate Skewered

Rich Lowry of National Review skewers the presumptive Connecticut Republican Senate Candidate, Linda McMahon, she of the the professional wrestling juggernaut. Republicans can do better. And they should have.

Of Butterflies And Rainbows

Recovery.gov, the agency/website that tracks federal stimulus spending, is looking for a mascot. The agency is seeking public submissions that show "creativity and ingenuity", and are accepting ideas up until July 1st - so get those thinking caps on.



I'm partial to butterflies and rainbows myself.

An Addition to the Blog List

I've added a great blog to the list, Foreign Policy Magazine's "Shadow Government" website. Populated with Republican defense and foreign policy types, you get a very good sense of what the right is thinking on these issues. Right up front there now are a few posts on the President's new national security strategy.

My thoughts on the strategy? Well, it's a hell of a lot more like the Bush Strategy than anyone in the White House will publicly say. It's emphasis on economic security is welcome, though their policies to achieve it are asinine.

But all in all--read it, and pause every forty-five seconds and think of applause--then you'll realize that it is just an extended State of the Union speech.

Krugman Is Answered, Again

Paul Krugman took to his perch on the NYT Editorial page yesterday to make yet another statement on macroeconomics that struck me as misguided when I first read it. But since Krugman won the NOBEL PRIZE, I generally feel I ought to defer to him. Unless of course, real economists also say he's crazy.

Which brings me to this post from our friends at Cato. Krugman states in his column today that "Both textbook economics and experience say that slashing spending when you’re still suffering from high unemployment is a really bad idea — not only does it deepen the slump, but it does little to improve the budget outlook, because much of what governments save by spending less they lose as a weaker economy depresses tax receipts."

Cato's answer concentrates on the "slashing spending" part--pointing to the post-WWII US experience in which spending was cut dramatically in one year. In Krugman's defense (or is it contra-Cato), the US was hardly suffering from "high unemployment" at war's end--though the return and discharge of millions of servicemen did raise that specter.

Radio Show Bleg

Our first show of June is Wednesday night, and I want to cover what you want to hear. What do you want to talk about friends?