"Conventional Wisdom"

From Slate Magazine’s Forum, “The Fray” In the middle of a harsh crtique of Palin's new book a contributor wrote the following:

“The apartment was small, with slanting floors and irregular heat and a buzzer downstairs that didn’t work, so that visitors had to call ahead from a pay phone at the corner gas station, where a black Doberman the size of a wolf paced through the night in vigilant patrol, its jaws clamped around an empty beer bottle.”

Wow! That wouldn’t make it through freshman English class, and I mean high school, not college. What’s the sentence about anyway? The apartment? The gas station? The Doberman? How about sticking with one complete thought before going on to three more? Just goes to show that some people should stick with politics and give up any presumptions of being a writer.

As with all web opinion pieces this brought forth a flood of comments from readers such as this one- “That sentence by Sarah Palin could be entered into the annual Bulwer-Lytton bad writing contest.”

However, the author of the article then posted a confession:

I probably should have mentioned that the sentence quoted above was not written by Sarah Palin. It’s taken from the first paragraph of Dreams from My Father, written by Barack Obama.

I post this not to poke fun at the President’s writing, but to challenge people’s knee-jerk reactions. The common meme is that Obama is brilliant and Palin is simple. Clinton was a policy heavyweight; Bush did not have a clue. The truth is always somewhere in the middle and to jump to either conclusion is to give more power to pop culture than your own powers of observation.

Hat tip to Mark Lowe at Race42010

Climate Change a Fraud?

From The Wall Street Journal:

The picture that emerges of prominent climate-change scientists from the more than 3,000 documents and emails accessed by hackers and put on the Internet this week is one of professional backbiting and questionable scientific practices. It could undermine the idea that the science of man-made global warming is entirely settled just weeks before a crucial climate-change summit.

That this is not front page news is telling isn't it? This could be one of the major scandals of the 21st century, yet I saw nothing about it on TV yesterday. I have always been in the middle on the climate change discussion. While it could be a bad thing for humans I do not necessarily think we are completely to blame- nor do I think there is much we can do. Trying to control nature on such a macro scale seems folly to me. However, the complete and outright dishonesty of these scientists is a bit overwhelming.

Some more interesting facts from the hacked emails. One of the emails says [emphasis mine]:

"I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline."

The finally some damning meta-statistics from Karl Denninger.
The number of times the following words appear:

• Fraud: 79
• Falsify: 6
• Inflate: 14
• Conceal: 5
• Hide: 19

Let The Rationing Begin?

Many fear that the recent changes to cervical and breast cancer screenings are the first step in the move towards rationing health care. Whether this is true or not, it is certainly making selling the American public on Obamacare more difficult. Recent polls are for the first time showing that the majority of Americans are not in favor of the current reform package. Should make the next month interesting.

For an overview of the new guideline controversy see my Suite101 article.

2010 a GOP Year?

A new Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll shows President Obama's approval rating sinking to a new low of 46% with an equal number now disapproving of the job Obama is doing as President.

In the generic congressional ballot, Republicans lead Democrats, 42% to 39% with 15% undecided.

What Congressional District?

KMS Trial

Newsweek: "Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged a previously unspoken proviso to the controversial decision to try alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators in a federal court in New York: even if the defendants are somehow acquitted, they will still stay behind bars."

Then why exactly are we bothering to try them? Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't want anyone acquitted here, but what is the benefit of a show trial? What if they want to act as their own attorney? What hate speech will we have to listen to throughout the trial process?

Obama Slips

President Barack Obama's job approval rating is 48 - 42 percent, the first time he has slipped below the 50 percent threshold nationally, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Support for the war in Afghanistan and approval of President Obama's handling of the war also is down in the last month, and Republican support for the war is more than twice as strong as Democratic support.

Secular Europe Strikes Again

Italian schools are told crucifixes are exclusionary and Italians of all political persuasions react against the secularization of the country's Roman Catholic identity. Whether public schools should have crosses is certainly debatable, however, the idea that a European court can tell Italy how it should run its schools is distressing. For a summary of the issue see my new article at Suite101.
European Court Rules Against Crucifixes

Stay Classy McCain

NBC News reports that Sen. John McCain "has specifically asked his former aides not to do interviews rebutting Palin's charges in her book -- to avoid escalating the feud between her and the campaign staff. Most are complying with his wishes, hoping it will die down."

Chris Dodd Continues to Fall

I have been saying for months that Sen. Chris Dodd (D) could be on his way out. More evidence from Quinnipiac:

Former Connecticut Congressman Rob Simmons has an early lead in the Republican primary race for the 2010 U.S. Senate contest and runs better than any other challenger against Sen. Christopher Dodd, topping the Democratic incumbent 49 – 38 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon gets 43 percent to Sen. Dodd’s 41 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

Even potential Republican contenders with almost no name recognition and almost no Republican primary voter support give Dodd a run for his money.

Massachusetts & The Stimulus

As I stated last week, the number of jobs saved by the stimulus bill is a highly suspect figure. A new study by the Boston Globe (a PR arm of the Democratic Party-wink-wink) agrees. Some highlights:

While Massachusetts recipients of federal stimulus money collectively report 12,374 jobs saved or created, a Globe review shows that number is wildly exaggerated. Organizations that received stimulus money miscounted jobs, filed erroneous figures, or claimed jobs for work that has not yet started...

But in interviews with recipients, the Globe found that several openly acknowledged creating far fewer jobs than they have been credited for.

One of the largest reported jobs figures comes from Bridgewater State College, which is listed as using $77,181 in stimulus money for 160 full-time work-study jobs for students. But Bridgewater State spokesman Bryan Baldwin said the college made a mistake and the actual number of new jobs was “almost nothing.’’ Bridgewater has submitted a correction, but it is not yet reflected in the report....

“There were no jobs created. It was just shuffling around of the funds,’’ said Susan Kelly, director of property management for Boston Land Co., which reported retaining 26 jobs with $2.7 million in rental subsidies for its affordable housing developments in Waltham. “It’s hard to figure out if you did the paperwork right. We never asked for this.’’...

Robert Ercolini manages a 201-unit affordable housing development in Plymouth. After being notified his annual rental subsidies were classified as stimulus spending, Ercolini renewed a request to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development for more than $1 million to fix up the property, reasoning he would be creating jobs by hiring contractors. He was refused.

“After HUD denied me money to make needed improvements and actually create jobs,’’ Ercolini said, “it’s really funny to find out in September that I’ve been receiving stimulus funds all along and they want to know how many jobs we’ve saved or created.’’

By his count, the answer is: “No jobs.’’

Pessimism Grows

AP-Gfk poll finds 56% of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. This is a significant change from April when 48% thought the country was going in the right direction and 44% it was on the wrong track.

Is this due to the increased anxiety over the economy or the governement's continued focus on health care?

Political Correctness VS. Treason

I am posting this short editorial from The New Hampshire Union Leader. It broaches a topic that may be uncomfortableto talk about, but one that needs to be investigated with open eyes. I am interested in readers thoughts on this one.

Did 13 American soldiers die at Fort Hood because officers were afraid of appearing insensitive to Muslims?

In 2001, the alleged shooter, Nidal Hasan, apparently attended a Virginia mosque led by a radical cleric -- the same mosque attended by two of the 9/11 hijackers. He openly opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because the United States was fighting Muslims. A doctor who studied with Hasan recalled him justifying suicide bombings and accusing the United States of waging war against Islam.

"His fellow students complained to the faculty about Hasan's 'anti-American propaganda,' but said a fear of appearing discriminatory against a Muslim student kept officers from filing a formal written complaint," The Associated Press reported over the weekend.

U.S. intelligence officials knew that Hasan had tried to contact al-Qaida, ABC News reported on Monday.

Patriotic Muslims have given and continue to give valuable service to this country. That is not the question the Fort Hood shooting raises. The question is whether kowtowing to political correctness prevented the Army from expelling a known enemy within its ranks. At the moment, that appears to be the case.

Dems Clash on HCR

Don't hold your breath on HCR just yet.

"In a move that will intensify the coming war over how to treat abortion in the health care bill, more than three dozen House Dems have signed a letter to Nancy Pelosi firmly pledging to vote against the bill if it contains an anti-abortion amendment," Greg Sargent reports.

"A source sends over a working copy of the letter without the signatories, and the source says it currently bears the signatures of 41 House Dems. They're all vowing to vote No on a bill if it contains the Stupak amendment -- enough to sink the bill."

640,00 Jobs sAved...Maybe Not

The well worn adage that you can make statistics say anything was given further proof with last week; saved jobs announcement from the White House. The Associated Press, hardly a right wing operation, reported gross counting errors which inflated the supposed jobs saved to 640,000. Some highlights:

President Barack Obama's economic recovery program saved 935 jobs at the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, an impressive success story for the stimulus plan. Trouble is, only 508 people work there.... director Myrtis Mulkey-Ndawula said she followed the guidelines the Obama administration provided. She said she multiplied the 508 employees by 1.84 — the percentage pay raise they received — and came up with 935 jobs saved.

"I would say it's confusing at best," she said. "But we followed the instructions we were given."

Turns out pay raises count as jobs saved.

But officials defended the practice of counting raises as saved jobs.

"If I give you a raise, it is going to save a portion of your job," HHS spokesman Luis Rosero said.

Really? Are we seriously to believe this rationalization?

[Ben Allen, the research director at the National Head Start Association] said a cost-of-living adjustment "may not be viewed traditionally as a job saved, but one could interpret it that [way].

About two-thirds of the 14,506 jobs claimed to be saved under one federal office, the Administration for Children and Families at Health and Human Services, actually weren't saved at all, according to a review of the latest data by The Associated Press. Instead, that figure includes more than 9,300 existing employees in hundreds of local agencies who received pay raises and benefits and whose jobs weren't saved.

Auto Bailout Money Lost For Good

Remember when we (the American tax payers) bailed out the auto industry with the idea that we were making a sound investment? We would simultaneously save an industry and get a return on our money when the car companies rebounded. Well, so much for that. From CNSNews:

Taxpayers are unlikely to recover their full investment in General Motors or Chrysler, government investigators said Monday in the latest review to cast doubts that the government will recoup the $80 billion it poured into the two automakers.

The Government Accountability Office concluded that General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC likely won't be valuable enough for the Treasury Department to break even on its investment in the two auto companies that went though bankruptcy earlier this year.

The GAO also revealed that the Obama administration is closely scrutinizing the finances of GM and Chrysler and has set some requirements on production even though it has said it will maintain a hands-off approach on the automakers' daily operations.

Obama Continues to Try To Isolate Fox

The Obama administrations Orwellian moves continue. This from the Chicago Tribune ...

"At least one Democratic political strategist has gotten a blunt warning from the White House to never appear on Fox News Channel, an outlet that presidential aides have depicted as not so much a news-gathering operation as a political opponent bent on damaging the Obama administration.

The strategist said the message was, "We better not see you on again."

Will Obama Lose The Center?

Michael Gerson says it better than I can. Emphasis mine.
Some say....

If only more conservatives were nominated, such as Doug Hoffman in New York's 23rd Congressional District, the party might be pure enough to excite the base. Liberal Republicans who eventually endorse Democrats, such as Hoffman's opponent, should probably expect a conservative primary challenge. But this strategy is self-destructive when universalized. Would Republican appeal throughout the Northeast really be expanded by more ideological nominees? Though the Republican Party will remain the conservative party nationally, it is not possible for Republicans to win everywhere with an identical conservative message.

The Republican candidates who won on Tuesday were generally conservative, but not angry. They were supported by the Republican base, but spent most of their time reaching toward the middle. It was a center-right victory in a center-right country....

...Now comes Obama's largest test, which will determine the ideological atmosphere for the 2010 election. If the president -- opposed by a majority of Americans, with almost no support from the other party -- imposes an ideologically divisive health reform, it will smack of radicalism, reinforce polarization, and may cede the ideological center to Republicans for years to come.

Post Election Thoughts

Sorry for the delay in posting- been a busy week! Now, some quick post election thoughts...

For centrist Republicans like myself, Tuesday night was exactly what I wanted to have happen. First, conservatives made some strong gains in VA and NJ, both states that Democrats had laid claim to. This should scare some of the more centrist Democrats from swing states into thinking twice about walking lock step with Obama. Landreiu, Nelson and Bayh had better be very careful when it comes time to vote on a public option.

Second, the Conservative Party candidate lost in NY. I know this may seem at first a contradiction- but I still believe that to build a party that can govern effectively you need a big tent. If Hoffman had won it would have sent the signal to the far right to go ahead and weed out all moderates. ( Please note however that I do not think Hoffman himself was a far right candidate, nor do I think the Republican chased out of the race was a moderate- she was a liberal in GOP clothes. But the point is it would have set a precedent that I feel is bad for the Republican Party.)

So all in all it was a great night!

Book recommendation: The Importance of Leisure

In the past I have occasionally recommended a book that I felt readers of this blog and others like it would find interesting- books like Crunchy Cons or Neither a Liberal nor a Conservative Be. Today I am recommending a book that on the surface may seem like an odd choice- but bare with me.

Joseph Pieper's Leisure: The Basis of Culture is a fascinating if complex read. The premise behind this short volume is that we have moved into a world of total work and in doing so have lost, or are loosing, some of what makes us human. Pieper explains that the ancient Greeks and medieval philosophers understood and valued leisure and that it has been the first foundation of any culture.

He tells how our world of total labor has destroyed classical leisure, and warns that unless we recover true silence, unless we experience true leisure, we will destroy our culture-and ourselves.

To me this is a very conservative message in the truest sense of the word. We need to conserve that which makes us what we are. The current ethic of work for work's sake is best seen in light of the coming holiday season. What should be a joyous time of family reunion turns into a second job for many- between decorating, shopping and party going they need a vacation to recuperate from the holidays. Turning everything into work is exactly what Pieper is warning us about.

If you'd like a more in depth review please see my new article at Suite101: Joesph Pieper, on Leisure the Basis of Culture.

Score One For The Free Market

The only major U.S. automaker not to file for bankruptcy or take bail out cash this year earned earned $997 million, or 29 cents a share, compared to a loss of $161 million, or 7 cents a share on that basis a year earlier.

The Double Edged Sword in NY

PPP (D) New York 23rd Congressional District Survey

The candidates for Congress in your district are Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, Democrat Bill Owens, and Republican Dede Scozzafava. If the election was today, who would you vote for?

• Doug Hoffman 51%
• Bill Owens 34%
• Dede Scozzafava 13%

If the candidates were just Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman and Democrat Bill Owens, who would you vote for?

• Doug Hoffman 54%
• Bill Owens 38%

While on the one hand this could be a great victory for the conservative movement, on the other hand it could be an excuse for more RINO hunting which in the end will create a permanent minority party.