Memo to Glenn Hall: Nickname Accurate, Not New

Yesterday, Hall started out his "Daily Outrage" with this remark: "I've got a new name for Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio): Dennis the Menace."

Well, it's not really new. Kind of a no-brainer nickname, akin to monikers assigned to me like "French Fry" and "Small Fry". Fortunately, I wasn't scarred for life [eyes begin twitching noticeably....]

OTOH, I heartily agree with the rest of what Hall wrote:

This two-time failed presidential candidate is fighting Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank's (PNC Quote - Cramer on PNC - Stock Picks)takeover of Cleveland-based National City (NCC Quote - Cramer on NCC - Stock Picks) because he fears the merger will result in job losses in his district.

What does he think will happen if National City doesn't get bought? Kucinich's home-town bank is laden with high-risk mortgage loans and posted losses for five quarters in a row before the takeover was announced.

Oh, by the way, National City had already cut thousands of jobs and planned to cut thousands more before PNC stepped in. National City got itself in this mess, and its board signed off on the takeover.

Halting the process now may just end up killing National City.

So give it a rest, Dennis, and stop being such a menace.

Amen. Honestly, why didn't Cimperman go after Kucinich on being bad for business the way they went after him for being "in the pocket of corporations"? I'll never understand Democrat politics.

Pope Benedict on Original Sin

In his regular weekly public audience on December 3, Pope Benedict called the doctrine of Original Sin and "alternative to a vision of despair." Excerpt from the Catholic Culture piece:

"Does Original Sin exist or not, then?" the Pontiff asked rhetorically. He pointed out that St. Paul, in sketching "the basic outlines of the doctrine" in his Letter to the Romans, explains Original Sin by comparing the Fall in Eden with the redemption brought by Christ, the new Adam.

Every rational person recognizes the reality of human weakness, the Pope said. The doctrine of Original Sin goes beyond that obvious reality to address the "ontological foundation" of evil, he said. "In effect, there is a contradiction in our being. On the one hand we know we must do good, and in our inner selves this is what we desire, yet at the same time we feel an impulse to do the opposite, to follow the path of egoism, of violence."

Many people don't seem to know this, but Muslims do not believe in the doctrine of Original Sin. I'm not a theologian, so I don't know if that's why some of them believe it's okay to kill and enslave people. But it does seem that desperation and despair characterizes Islam, even the non-violent part.

Gold Buying Opportunity

Bloomberg reports the slippage of gold (presently $766.30; source) as the dollar has strengthened and oil prices have dropped. If you believe, as I do, that a strong dollar and low oil prices are both temporary, then you will see this as buying opportunity.

Not with the program? Let's be "China for a day"!

In my most famous post to date, I stated this:

It seemed to [H. G.] Wells that democracy includes too many people who aren't "with the program"; there needs to be totalitarian control by "elites" to effect the correct Utopian system.

when musing upon Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism. (BTW, his book blog still going strong.)

Well, I just heard the "China for a day" comments from Thomas Friedman on the Mark Levin show last night, and thought they provided a pretty stark example of Wells's call for "enlightened fascisti". Excerpt:

FRIEDMAN: Well, China for a day is a fantasy, basically. What if we had a government here that could actually make decisions? Okay? That could actually come together, Democrats and Republicans, and make a long-term plan and pursue it?

COLBERT, with sarcasm: Are you saying the Chinese do that?

FRIEDMAN: Yeah, sometimes they do.

COLBERT: But that is a totalitarian regime.

FRIEDMAN: Mm-hmm, and it is a measure of the frustration a lot of people in the green movement have, certainly me —

COLBERT: So you say that for one day we should have a totalitarian government where some ‘benign person at the top’ [He makes quotation-mark fingers] says this is what we do?

FRIEDMAN: No. Basically what I'm saying is if only our government could get its act together and launch a green revolution with the same persistence, focus, stick-to-it-iveness and direction that China does through authoritarian means. If we could only do that through democratic means —

Although Friedman pays some lip-service to "democratic means", he decries the sad result of those means, viz., no "green revolution" because so many poor unwashed slobs like me don't see the need for one. Tim Graham, from the conclusion of the Newsbusters link above, insightfully dissects from Friedman's writing what he likes and dislikes about Democracy:

Late in his book, in his "China For A Day" chapter, Friedman explains his envy that China could effectively ban the thin plastic bag, and it is banned. Why can’t we be like that? But that takes not only a day of enactment, but an eternity of enforcement. Friedman isn’t worried about Day Two forward, because the liberal groups will enforce it (page 374):

...because if it is ignored by companies or local governments, a dozen public interest groups, led by the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, will sue the violators (including the federal government) all the way to the Supreme Court. That is why being China for a day – imposing all the right taxes, regulations, and standards needed to launch a clean power system in one day – would be so much more valuable to Washington than Beijing. Because once the directions are given from above, we would be overcoming the worst part of our democracy (the inability to make big decisions in peacetime), and the next day we would be able to enjoy the best part of our democracy (the power of our civic society to make government rules stick and the power of our markets to take advantage of them.)

In a nutshell, the worst part of our democracy are the conservatives who prevent statism, and the best part of our democracy are the leftist lawyers who insure that statism is enforced.

Put more generally, the best part of our civil society is comprised by activist lawyers who march out and methodically sue corporations who won't bow to the whim of the bureaucrats, whereas the worst part of our civil society are those people who are always "gettin' in the way" by exercising their right to dissent from the prevailing do-gooder dogma. Personally, I always believed that loan sharks and used car salesman were the most worthy citizens, even more worthy than bottom-feeding lawyers and ambulance chasers, but to each his own.

[cross-posted]

Watch Out, Conservatives

I heard Mike Gallagher reading this London Daily Mail piece about the Barack Obama expensive ring gift to his wife and I thought, "That sounds fake." And I was right.

Just like the fake caviar story and the not-born-in-the-USA story, these things are always counter-productive and often meaningless. The guy won the election -- focus on what the guy says and does. I'm all for people saying what they think about his cabinet appointments, for example. I think it worth pointing out that he could be doing more for the economy by explaining, finally, exactly what he intends to do with regard to taxes and the economy, and suggesting that he might want the economy to get a little worse before inauguration day is plausible. But, come on, people, don't go the way of anger and pusillanimity, lest we rightly be accused of Obama-derangement. We're smarter and bigger than that.

Blacklisting for Prop 8 supporters

I wonder if Michael Stipe would say this blacklist was an instance of Exhuming McCarthy. Probably not. From the CBS piece:

Now the anger is moving to the Internet, where supporters of same-sex marriage are posting blacklists - the names and businesses of those who gave money to help Proposition 8 pass.

Chris Lee, an engineer who is an immigrant from China, was shocked to see his name on the Web site AntiGayBlacklist.com after he gave $1,000 to the campaign to end same-sex marriage.

"I was completely disgusted," Li said. "This sort of blacklist should only appear in communist countries, should not be found in the United States."

In Los Angeles, demonstrators called for a boycott of a restaurant whose manager made a personal donation of $100 to the "Yes on 8" campaign.

"She didn't think it would be public record," said Jeff Yarbrough.

Anger over the blacklists brought out demonstrators in Sacramento, where Scott Eckern resigned as musical director of a local theater when he was identified as a donor.

Yeah, I suppose the theater and Proposition 8 don't really mix to well. And, I guess the gloves are off....

Those campaigning to end same-sex marriage drew up their own blacklist, sending letters to large donors to the campaign to save same-sex marriage, demanding equal money or threatening to publish their names.

"Enemy sighted, enemy met."

"Two blankets and a bookshelf...."

Yes--the Rave-ups, Positively Lost Me. Love this tune. "Then you lost my confidence." I remember being totally cheesed that Shut Up wasn't on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack.

My Cousin Vinny Kicks Godwin's Law's Ass

What if there actually is no real media bias? What if the very concept of media bias is merely a conservative construct? a perception of the imagination of us crazy right-wing "sheeple"? What if the explanation for why it seems like the mainstream media treats... oh.... Barack Obama, for example, better than Sarah Palin is the same reason that President Franklin D. Roosevelt gets higher marks from historians than Adolf Hitler?

Well, that's the point that our new friend Vinny is making here. He posits that there is an "objective basis" for why the media picked Kerry over Bush, Obama over McCain, etc. and that it is directly comparable to why a historian—or a normal person—might prefer national leaders who do not massacre millions of people in gas chambers.

After all, as Vinny argues, wouldn't it be absurd to assume that criticism of Hitler necessarily betrays some type of partisan bias? And as with Hitler, likewise with Bush or McCain?

What can I say to such... "logic", except welcome to our little party, Vinny. I hope you don't mind losing your first argument with us over on this post. Or maybe, like the Black Knight, you think it's "just a flesh wound". Stick around and we'll be careful not to let you "bite our legs off".