Politics and Culture

On the 63rd RRC wall at the moment.

I'm working for my beloved Army unit, the 63rd RRC, as the executive officer at the moment, and as I walk in every day, I look at the chain of command display you see above. Bush has been at the top since I joined the Army in 2003. Well, today his picture comes down: "The King is dead (Figuratively, although some have wished and his poll numbers have suggested otherwise.). Long live the king!

Oddly for a guy on the losing side, I'm as elated as anybody in these here United States. I didn't vote for Obama, but I prayed for him last night and wish him and our nation now under his care, well. He's a decent guy with different ideas. If his ideas don't work out, we'll let him know, I'm sure.

God bless America! God bless Barack Obama!

To my former Commander in Chief:

Thanks for:

-Doing what you could to keep all of us, even those who never appreciated it, safe.

-Letting me keep a few extra thousand dollars of my money.

-The all-expenses paid trip to Iraq, the opportunity to participate in the liberation of the same and help along the biggest transition to democracy since the demise of the Soviet Union.

-Not getting down in the gutter with the deranged people who hated you.

Round and round the case goes. Where it ends, nobody knows.

Some statements stay with one. A friend commented on the customs officials in his native Nigeria: He said that the law was "whoever was on duty." I feel that way about the American judiciary in 2008.

Nothing seems to matter except who sits on the bench. Reviewing the same law, "conservative" and "liberal" judges will come to completely different conclusions. That's why California Attorney General Jerry Brown could have articulated that Proposition 8 should be struck down because it violated the intent of the future Galactic Federation's constitution and it wouldn't make any difference. It all depends on the disposition of the judges.

It should be entertaining to watch "legal experts" pretend otherwise.

Sorry in sign language.

Henry of Babalu blog and I had a minor disagreement last winter over the best candidate for the Republican nomination. Henry wanted a more conservative candidate like Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney and I thought that John McCain had the best chance of winning.

Romney would have lost and Thompson probably would have lost. Romney may have tried to chase the zeitgeist and proposed fashionable solutions to the mortgage crisis, for example. Thompson, however, in the manner of 1964 Goldwater, would have delivered a consistent, if out-of-step, message that would have served as a base for future Republican victories.

At the very least, he wouldn't have confused the electorate by Maverickly lurching for bailouts and global warming curbs one day and anti-redistribution, pro-Joe policies the next.

Thompson impressed me with his debate performances because he didn't stress a win-win solutions for everything. Whereas McCain was never able to articulate his plan on health care, Thompson would say stuff like (paraphrasing): We have the best health care in the world. It might not be totally equal and some might fall through the cracks, but you can't have freedom and absolute equality.

Thompson wouldn't have felt the need to choose Sarah Palin, whom I think was an overall negative.

Anyways, Henry; looking back, I think you were right.

1. We have the first black president. I think it's a good thing, potentially, if people take it as the end of pervasive racism. One less thing.

2. Hollywood will give us more patriotic movies with hero soldiers and stuff like Saving Private Ryan. Maybe the president himself can be a hero like in Independence Day.

Saving Private Ryan (Special Limited Edition)

Independence Day (Single Disc Widescreen Edition)

3. Leftists will be more calm which should make life a little less stressful for all of us who live in blue areas.

4. People in favored industries like education, solar panels, law suits, and community organizing should make a killing which might trickle down to small businesses.

5. Now that the left is happy, the hate level in the country will decrease my 99% with only hard core racists holding out.

1. Proposition 8 passed in California meaning that common sense and the logic has triumphed over people's feelings and political correctness.

2. If a liberal is sad about this fact, does that make him a social liberal? Aren't we supposed to not care about social issues?

3. Proposition 8 passed and it didn't hurt my marriage.

4. I am glad that there's a black president. In fact, I'm downright giddy over it. I wonder what groups like the NAACP will do now?

5. Proposition 1000 passed in Washington, allowing physician assisted suicide, and continuing our march towards a Logan's Run world. Don't worry, however: Everybody between birth and infirmity is safe. Why do they need a doctor, anyways? Is this like a union thing. Just have somebody come in and shoot the poor guy.

Logan's Run

6. Libertarians entered the room, defecated, and walked out again as if nothing happened. They made the Minnesota Senate race closer than it had to be and forced Chambliss into a runoff.

7. It could have been a lot worse, however.

8. I do hope that Ted Stevens retires.

9. Did you get the feeling that liberals are somewhat nervous this morning?

10. Since we're nice again, do you think that Russia, Iran, and al Qaeda will disarm?

11. Hugh Hewitt has cemented his position as the most unreliable mainstream conservative pundit.

OK. The rebuilding begins:

1. Prevent the permanent. That means prevent huge government takeovers of things like the health care industry. Once the details of any plan comes out, the people will probably oppose it. If we can delay it long enough, the people will elect enough Republicans to permanently squash the ideas.

Is this the right thing to do? Yes. I think people voted for "change," but not for "meaningful change." How do I know this? Because Obama's campaign strategy wasn't, "Let's get health care and redistribute wealth!" It was "change," "McBush," and a bunch of lies on taxes and stuff.

2. Remember what things looked like in 2008. That is, we don't have a "department of poverty" today, right? So, when Obama creates one, target it for elimination. It's not going to work, right?

Unless the spirit of Ronald Reagan descends upon San Francisco like some great common-sense pentecost, it looks like Barack Obama will be our next president. Some thoughts for us Republicans to keep in mind:

1. This wasn't an invasion. Americans voted and decided to roll the dice on Obama. We should respect the choice of our brother and sister Americans.

2. Let's not fall into lefty, Olbermann-Kos style hatred (I doubt conservatives will. Most of us have faith and family, and jobs to keep us happy.). We should respect Obama and hope that he makes sound choices. Above all, let's not nitpick and blindly criticize every one of his policies. We have to believe that Obama wants what's best for the country as much as we do.

3. If those choices lean centrist, fine. If they lean left, then we'll see the results. If the results are as bad as conservatives think they are, then people will vote in a conservative congress to stop Obama like they did to stop Clinton. If his programs succeed-if higher taxes encourage hiring, if our enemies melt away from Obama's love offensive, if more regulation make manufacturers decide to invest in the United States, and if more research finally brings us the Tesla coil- then we have to change our assumptions and/or opinions, right?

Hey! We get to see how a completely left government governs. It worked for France.

Anyways, God bless the president.