Of Mutiny and Education

Cover of The Caine Mutiny (Collector’s Edition)

 

Growing up one of my favorite books was The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk. He wrote it shortly after the Second World War and it was pretty much his first best-seller.

It tells the story of Willie Keith a pampered young man, and a bit of a momma’s boy, as he joins the Navy during the war, and becomes a pretty good officer. Like everybody coming out of officer’s school he wants to be on a shiny new battleship or aircraft carrier, but he’s assign to the Caine, a rusty old 4 pipe destroyer now converted to a destroyer minesweeper. He’s pretty surly, and has a lot of trouble adapting to serving in a ship that looks like a wreck, and he therefore runs afoul of his CO, Captain de Vriess, usually over silly stuff.

He does notice though, that while it seems to him that a lot of Naval Regulations get ignored the Caine is always where it needs to be to do the job. He credits this to the executive officer, Steve Maryk, who before the war was a fisherman. But he still longs for the spit and polish navy of his dreams. When the Captain is promoted out, he is overjoyed to find that the new captain is a spit and polish and follow all the regulations guy. Funny part is that it doesn’t work all that well, and morale gets very bad. Eventually the ship is caught, along with the rest of the 3d Fleet, in a typhoon off Okinawa, and they are having a great deal of trouble with the ship.

Finally the Exec relieves the captain and turns the bow into the wind, with Keith concurring presumably saving the ship at the cost of a mutiny. Following on this the ship is off the line while Maryk is court-martialed for Mutiny. Keith ends up with a letter of reprimand and command of the ship with orders to return to the east coast after the war so the ship can be scrapped.

It’s a good yarn, and I recommend it highly, and like all good yarns it has a moral.

At some point on of the other officers tells Keith the secret:

“The navy is a master plan designed by geniuses for execution by idiots.”

Think about that for a while. Isn’t that pretty much what any large organization is? If it works at all, a large organization doesn’t necessarily have to be efficient but, it cannot be allowed to fail (in the organization’s terms) in any catastrophic way. In the Navy’s case, it must win battles. It doesn’t have to promote the best man, it doesn’t even have to keep everybody alive but, It must win battles and the war. That is it’s whole reason for being.

If you’ve ever been around the military, you know there are at least 4 ways to do anything, 1) The right way; 2) The wrong way; 3) The Navy way; and 4) my way, and that comes from experience. What Capt. de Vriess was doing along with LT Maryk was doing what had to be done to remain operational while ignoring most of the rest, and it worked very well as long as they had people who understood the goals and aspirations of their unit (The Caine).

So what is my point, other than a book review of a book published in about 1948? This is how all large organizations act if they are more concerned about something other than executing their mission. They write all the details down so that a computer can do every job, but nobody has any allowance for common sense.

Sound familiar?

To me it sound a lot like suspending a kindergarten student for eating his Pop-tart into the shape of a gun and saying “bang”. Not to mention a lot of the other stories that come out of American life lately.

Mark Esposito, writing on Jonathon Turley’s blog has thought and written about this as well, and done a better job of researching it than I have, here is some of his thinking

In Maryland, a seven-year-old boy is suspended from his school under its “zero tolerance” policy because he nibbles a pastry into the shape of a handgun and says “Bang!” “Bang!” (Here).  In California,  a high school principal refuses to let an ambulance come onto a football filed to tend to a seriously injured player citing school board rules. (Here). A nurse at a home for the aged ignores the furtive pleas of a 911 dispatcher and refuses to perform CPR on a woman dying of cardiac arrest because she says its policy not to do it.  (Here). She won’t even get someone else to do it.

These grotesque examples of indifference to any form of reason are becoming all too common as we find ourselves governed more by rules than by the judgment of people.  These stories got me thinking about the need for rules in a complicated society and their limitations. It also got me wondering why wisdom and its country cousin, common sense, have been banished from most every discussion of decision making. Here’s John Maynard Keynes in his famous treatise on decision making, Treatise of Probability, discussing how to make the right decision:

If, therefore, the question of right action is under all circumstances a determinate problem, it must be in virtue of an intuitive judgment directed to the situation as a whole, and not in virtue of an arithmetical deduction derived from a series of separate judgments directed to the individual alternatives each treated in isolation.

Armed with that little tidbit, I searched the entire work and found exactly zero uses of the word “wisdom” in Professor Keynes’ detailed analysis of doing the right thing. How can that be?

Wisdom is a an old-fashioned word. It hearkens back to Solomon and Solon. To Plato and Socrates. Aristotle explained that practical wisdom is one part moral will and one part moral skill. It means a human action premised on experience or intuition that achieves the best possible moral result.  Not efficient. Not effective. Not even the most profitable. But the most moral result.

At its core, it is about the time and thought necessary to achieve deep understanding.  Both are in short supply these days as we measure our progress by how far we’ve gotten or by how much we have obtained and how fast we did it. The process by which we achieved these things is less important that the result. And it is this philosophy that has laid waste to ethics, judgment, and most importantly wisdom. In this race to “Just Win Baby,” we have ossified our capacity for wisdom under a steady stream of rules, regulations, guidelines, and protocols. But why?

Speaking at a TED conference in 2009, Professor Barry Schwartz examined the problem and offered an explanation in the context of a study done of hospital janitors. Schwartz looked at the job descriptions of  the janitors.  The explanations of employment were big on such rudimentary tasks as cleaning, restocking, and sanitation, but not one mention of anything involving human interaction. As professor Schwartz remarked “the job could just as easily have been done in a mortuary as in a hospital.” But that assessment did not match what the janitors considered the most important aspect of their jobs. In responses to questioning from researchers, one janitor, Mike,  explained the most important thing about his job was caring for patients. Like the time he stopped mopping a floor because Mr. Jones was finally up and around from surgery and had just left his bed to get some exercise.  Another custodian,  Charlene, told of ignoring the orders of a supervisor to vacuum the visitors lounge because family members of a patient who dutifully arrived every day to be with their loved one were finally getting a chance to take a nap.  And, Luke, who scrubbed the floor of a comatose patient’s room twice because the emotionally drained father at the bedside didn’t see it the first time and insisted it be done. No argument. No rebuttal. No peevishness of any sort. Just compassion. [..]

Continue reading Shackling Our Wisdom With Rules

Do you see his point? It’s pretty obvious isn’t it? Or is it?

Let’s take the schools for an example. What is the mission of a public school?

Is it:

1. To educate our young in the basics they need to survive?
2. To indoctrinate our young to be dependent on government all their life?
3. To provide jobs for teachers
4.  To provide jobs for administrators
5. To provide union dues for union leadership
6. To provide union dues for political lobbying

Or some combination.

Maybe that is part (maybe even a large part) of the problems we see in our society, is the mission of the organization what we think it is, or has it mutated into something that was not anticipated.

How do we, if this is the problem, get these organizations back to their original mission?

Related articles

 

• Shackling Our Wisdom With Rules (jonathanturley.org)
• Herman Wouk Bucks Literary Trends to Produce Best-Selling Novels (wnyc.org)
• His Queeg Moment (redneckmormon.wordpress.com)

 

Monday Morning Review

Justice (Dike, on the left) and Divine Vengeance (Nemesis, right) are pursuing the criminal murderer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Quite a bit here, so let’s get started, shall we?

 

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.  It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.  The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.  They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth.  Their very kindness stings with intolerable insult.  To be ‘cured’ against one’s will and to be cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level with those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.  But to be punished, however severely, because we have deserved it, because we ‘ought to have known better’, is to be treated as a human person made in God’s image.

 

The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment

 

C. S. Lewis

 

Manhunt & Theory of Moral Law

 

Have you been paying attention to the Dorner manhunt? You know the loon you killed a cop out in California, and went to ground somewhere or the other. Not surprisingly I have no sympathy for him but he is making the police look terrible. So far they’ve wounded a mother and daughter delivering papers, and rammed and opened fire on a guy trying to sneak some surfing in before work. In both cases they claimed the vehicles match even though they were both blue instead of gray, and with millions of dollars worth of equipment and half of California on tactical alert they can’t find him. As Scott Johnson said in the Power Line Blog, “As I say, you have to wonder what’s going on.”  In addition Henry Moore over at Notes on Liberty has some very pertinent thoughts as well.

 

[...]

I do think that it is fortunate that they were conditioned to prefer the law over crime. But when the law itself tends to codify and protect crime (legal plunder), either in its text, in its intent, or in its predictable effects; and as the distinction between just law and legalized crime blurs; the degree to which this fortune is beneficial to society goes down. (Incrementally, exponentially, arithmetically, geometrically?) Things that are not crimes are made into crimes, so there arises an attitude among people that sympathizes with criminals (even ones that commit actual crimes). This creates disrespect for not just law enforcement but for the law (even the just ones). The whole process feeds on itself. More “crime” leading to more “law” leading to more disrespect for the “law” leading to more “crime”. And who knows where it will eventually lead? [...]

 

Read it all at Pigeonholing Pigs

 

The Economy, if it exists

 

Brandon Smith writing in ZeroHedge pretty well says what I see in the economy, and it ain’t pretty

 

Recently I was asked to give a presentation on the current state of the global economy to a local group of concerned citizens here in Northwest Montana.  I was happy to oblige but when composing my bullet points I realized that, in truth, there were no legitimate economic numbers to examine anymore.  You see, financial analysts have traditionally used multiple indicators of employment, profit, savings, credit, supply, and demand in their efforts to divine the often obscured facts of our financial system.  The problem is, nearly every index we used in the past, every measure of capital flow and industry, is absolutely useless today.

We now live in an entirely fabricated fiscal environment.  Every aspect of it is filtered, muddled, molded, and manipulated before our eyes ever get to study the stats.  The metaphor may be overused, but our economic system has become an absolute “matrix”.  All that we see and hear has been homogenized and all truth has been sterilized away.  There is nothing to investigate anymore.  It is like awaking in the middle of a vast and hallucinatory live action theater production, complete with performers, props, and sound effects, all designed to confuse us and do us harm.  In the end, trying to make sense of the illusion is a waste of time.  All we can do is look for the exits…

There is some tangible reality out there, but it is difficult to find, and there are few if any mainstream numbers to verify.  One has to remember always that the fundamental world of money and trade revolves around real people and real circumstances.  No matter how corrupt our economic system is, as long as there are human beings, there will always be supply and demand that cannot be hidden.  We have to look past the “official numbers” and look at the roots of trade.  Where has demand fallen?  Where has supply diminished?  Where are the tangible goods and needs and how have they changed?

Let’s first start with the mainstream version of our system, looking at each aspect of the economy that no longer represents the truth of our situation…

 

Continue reading The U.S. Economy Is Now Dangerously Detached From Reality | Brandon Smith via ZeroHedge « The Grey Enigma and fasten your seat belts.

 

Truth to Power

 

And then there is good news to end the post. I suspect you’ve seen this floating around, but you need to watch it.

 

 

That’s a great video but, the speaker is much more impressive, he is Dr. Benjamin Carson, this is from his biography at the Academy of Achievement

 

Benjamin Carson was born in Detroit, Michigan. His mother Sonya had dropped out of school in the third grade, and married when she was only 13. When Benjamin Carson was only eight, his parents divorced, and Mrs. Carson was left to raise Benjamin and his older brother Curtis on her own. She worked at two, sometimes three, jobs at a time to provide for her boys.

Benjamin and his brother fell farther and farther behind in school. In fifth grade, Carson was at the bottom of his class. His classmates called him “dummy” and he developed a violent, uncontrollable temper.

When Mrs. Carson saw Benjamin’s failing grades, she determined to turn her sons’ lives around. She sharply limited the boys’ television watching and refused to let them outside to play until they had finished their homework each day. She required them to read two library books a week and to give her written reports on their reading even though, with her own poor education, she could barely read what they had written.

Within a few weeks, Carson astonished his classmates by identifying rock samples his teacher had brought to class. He recognized them from one of the books he had read. “It was at that moment that I realized I wasn’t stupid,” he recalled later. Carson continued to amaze his classmates with his newfound knowledge and within a year he was at the top of his class.

The hunger for knowledge had taken hold of him, and he began to read voraciously on all subjects. He determined to become a physician, and he learned to control the violent temper that still threatened his future. After graduating with honors from his high school, he attended Yale University, where he earned a degree in Psychology.

From Yale, he went to the Medical School of the University of Michigan, where his interest shifted from psychiatry to neurosurgery. His excellent hand-eye coordination and three-dimensional reasoning skills made him a superior surgeon. After medical school he became a neurosurgery resident at the world-famous Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. At age 32, he became the hospital’s Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery.

 

Continue reading Benjamin Carson Biography

 

He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008. We need many more like him, and even more like his mother.

 

Have a good day

 

Related articles

• Dr. Benjamin Carson Is In The House (babalublog.com)
• ICYMI: Dr. Benjamin Carson’s speech at the National Prayer Breakfast (twitchy.com)
• Dr. Ben Carson Speaks Out On Political Correctness (jlue.wordpress.com)
• Dr. Benjamin Carson refutes Barack Obama’s agenda at Prayer Breakfast (illinoisreview.typepad.com)

 

Obama=Green Energy=Failure

Yingli (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well. it’s been an interesting week. But the drumbeat of inane, not to say insane, ‘investments in green energy (not to say the administration’s fundraisers) goes on. Marita Noon has pulled these together for our convenience. Yes people, there’s a lot beyond Solyndra. Here’s Marita

If he succeeds in his run for a second term, President Obama doesn’t intend to tone down his efforts to push for green energy. Instead of learning from his mistakes, he plans to “do more.”

During his recent sit down with Steve Kroft for the interview that aired on 60 Minutes, the President was asked about green energy—though the clip was omitted from the program that the American public saw.

Kroft: “You said one of your big campaign themes was that green energy, the green economy, was going to be a tremendous generator of jobs and that has not turned out to be the case, yet.”

Obama: “We have tens of thousands of jobs that have been created as a consequence of wind energy alone. Is that enough? Absolutely not. Can we do more? Yes. … This is still an industry in its infancy. … Has it all paid off yet? Absolutely not. But I am not going to cede those new jobs, the jobs of the future, to countries like China or Germany that are making those same investments.”

One could argue that the $80 billion, plus, in stimulus funds that were designated for green energy projects have “paid off”—just not for the American tax payer.  During the summer, with the help of researcher Christine Lakatos, I produced a series of reports on the Obama green-energy, crony-corruption scandal. Through those reports, we profiled a series of companies and showed how people with political connections to the Obama Administration had a return on their green energy investment that “paid off” at rates greater than anything available on Wall Street. Each report detailed the players involved, their connections to the White House and/or other high-ranking Democrats, such as the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and powerful Senator Diane Feinstein—something we can expect “more” of in his green-energy, green-economy emphasis during an Obama second term.

No, President Obama is not going to “cede.” He will not admit failure; he’ll do more. We can expect more failure— à la Solyndra, which is only the most well-known green energy, stimulus fund failure.

Here, in a new series of reports, Lakatos and I will expose the various failures of Obama’s green-energy expenditures: projects that have gone bankrupt (approximately 19), those that are heading that way (approximately 20), and the jobs he says he has created (at an average cost of $6.7 million per job)—all while raising energy costs, serving as a hidden tax on all Americans.

Continue reading Obama Never Admits Green Failure – Marita Noon – Townhall Finance Conservative Columnists and Financial Commentary .

Then there is trying to buy gasoline in California

Out in the land of “Nuts and Fruits” as it’s often called out here, it getting to be even more of a problem to fill your gas tank. Steven Hayward at the Power Line blog has some news on that. It will make you glad you don’t live there

5 pm yesterday; At noon, Supreme had been 4.99 at the same station

Want to give the Obama campaign even more heartburn than it has now?  How about putting California in play?

Seems farfetched, but then people outside of California might not have noticed that gasoline pump prices jumped as much as 30 cents a gallon yesterday.  That’s how much pump prices jumped between lunch and late afternoon here on the central coast; the figure is lower in the major metropolitan areas apparently.  It is not inconceivable that there could be old-fashioned shortages and gas lines by the end of the month.  Some stations are shutting down or limiting sales already.  Paging Jimmy Carter!

The sharp price spike is attributed to tight refinery capacity problems in the state (as a couple of refineries are offline), which is true, but not exhaustive, as Churchill once explained in a different context.  As I explained in “Bureaucratic Gas” in The Weekly Standarda few months ago, California has its own special blend of gasoline for environmental reasons that are now largely obsolete.  This means that California can’t use the gasoline blends sold in Oregon, Nevada, or Arizona, which means that a refinery shortage here can’t be remedied by the usual means of bringing in more supply from somewhere else.

But President Obama could order the EPA to waive the gasoline regulations, and allow out-of-state gasoline to be transported and sold in California, delivering at least 10 to 20 cents a gallon of price relief, and perhaps much more.  Oh, that’s right: Obama wants higher gasoline prices, so don’t hold your breath.  (Note: After Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration waived the EPA’s boutique gasoline regulations to assure adequate supplies and stable prices while the Gulf Coast refineries got back up and running.)

Continue reading California Gas| Power Line

I saw a picture somewhere this morning of a [Cosco, I think] gas station closed and roped off. Why? They have six that are out of gas. Whoops!!

.

Related articles

• Romney Confronts Obama On Green Energy (5min.com)
• Obama is the OPEC President – Marita Noon – Townhall Finance Conservative Columnists and Financial Commentary (nebraskaenergyobserver.wordpress.com)
• The Special Seven: Obamas Green-Energy Crony-Corruption Story, Part II (ConservativeActionAlerts.com)
• Frackin’ B.S. – Marita Noon (nebraskaenergyobserver.wordpress.com)
• Marita Noon: Piggies At The Trough (gadabout-blogalot.com)
• Just how much liberal bias is there in the Washington Post news and opinion? (althouse.blogspot.com)

Eye Candy For My Fellow UP Gentlemen | Sago

 

 

If you know me at all you know I’m not ever going to tell you to vote for somebody based on their looks, their skin color or any of the other externalities. You should vote for a candidate based on their character, intelligence and their qualifications.

On the other hand, I have never known a woman, who didn’t like to be told how beautiful she is either. And since I’m not a Democrat Progressive, I know that a woman can be both beautiful and smart. Eye candy and brain food, it doesn’t get any better. So here from the Unified Patriots via Sago is a group of very brainy and gorgeous women who would like your support this fall. What gentleman wouldn’t support them?

Six Republican lady nominees are running for 23 seats that are either open or an incumbent Democrat is their opponent in the US Senate. Twenty-five Republican lady nominees are running for 157 seats that are either open or an incumbent Democrat is their opponent in the US House.

The title reflects a lighthearted mood for this piece. August is a good time to allow yourself a lighthearted moment because the next two months will be a time of vicious attacks from Democrats. They will use every opportunity to proclaim umbrage and outrage intended to divide our nation along gender, race, religion, and wealth lines. Of course this is entirely insincere on their part, but be prepared for the onslaught.

Fourteen of the Republican ladies running for the US House and Senate especially caught my eye, and I expect my fellow UP gentlemen know what I mean. You’ll also understand why the songs, California Girls and Windy kept bouncing around inside my head. Believe it or not, physical appearance is a factor for winning. These ladies are not just new pretty faces. They are Republicans whose victories would improve the results from the Senate and the House.

California
Senate nominee Elizabeth Emken

Prosperity doesn’t just happen by accident. And government, no matter how well intentioned, can’t produce it or protect it. Just the opposite. Government is responsible for America’s regulatory crisis and creating a climate that increases costs, handcuffs innovation and limits opportunity. To return to prosperity, it’s time to retire career politicians like Dianne Feinstein who created this red tape nightmare.

3rd District House nominee Kim Vann

Last week, President Obama told business owners across America that they ‘didn’t build that.’ But it’s clear what President Obama and his friend John Garamendi have built: a stagnant economy, a nation crippled by growing debt, and a record of failed policies that have provided no relief to the economic challenges plaguing the people of California.

It’s time for a new direction. It’s time for common sense solutions that will grow the economy—not burden our small businesses with job-killing regulations. It’s clear that John Garamendi’s out-of-touch policies haven’t worked. Californians deserve better.

11th District House nominee Virginia Fuller

The War on Terror is real! The numerous attacks by Islamic fascists on U.S. soil and against our allies are not just criminal acts or “Man made disasters”. Let’s not kid ourselves, they are acts of War.

We the PEOPLE MUST not allow our spineless legislators to make our armed forces sacrificial lambs as their price for political correctness when waging war against beheading savages.

14th District House nominee Debbie Bacigalupi

There is far, far too much regulation. It’s killing our freedom of choice, killing opportunities, and killing American business. The last few years have seen over 100,000 new laws enter the books; California is getting thousands of new ones every year. We need less regulation and less government intrusion, not more of either. Elect me, and I’ll work to enact only laws that are in concert, not in conflict, with the Constitution, and to reform laws that work against American freedoms and our founding concepts.

17th District House nominee Evelyn Li

We need to get America working again. This is done by encouraging businesses with tax relief, less regulation, and the ability to use their creativity to discover and produce better services and products. This approach will increase the number of jobs we have available for our workforce. Let the private sector lead the charge on recovering our economy, not the government. We want to cultivate an environment that supports our independent entrepreneurs in business, not stifles them. We want to innovate new products and services so we can once again lead this world in technology. We want laws that protect and propel forward and upward the very ones who bring America to the next level.

New York

Senate nominee Wendy Long

The main purpose and idea of my campaign is not original. I can’t claim authorship. An inspired group of New Yorkers and other Americans came up with the idea, about 225 years ago.

It’s called limited self-government, of the people, by the people, and for the people.

No one in this country is above the law, and no one is beneath it. The law is what protects the weak from the strong, affirms the dignity of every person, and overlooks no one in its demand of equal justice.

The principles and ideals of the American Constitution and Declaration of Independence are what give us hope for a future that is bright for businesses large and small, for jobs and free enterprise and private property in New York, for safety for our families, and for individual freedom.

More than anything else, our Constitution and its principles are what unite us, and always have.

I won’t go to Washington looking for enemies, but I won’t go there fearing anyone either. With all the troubles our country faces, we can no longer take time for granted. I know I am not the only one who sees this nation at a turning point- where things could get much worse or much better- depending on the choices we make in this election.

25th District House nominee Maggie Brooks

Today, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter voted to maintain ObamaCare and one of the largest tax hikes in American history. Like everyday taxpayers across our community, I think that Mrs. Slaughter’s vote can be described with one word – wrong. ObamaCare is wrong for our economy, because it will make it harder for small business to create jobs and hire American workers. ObamaCare is wrong for our seniors and families, because it will force millions of Americans from their current plans and end Medicare as we know it. And, after voting with entrenched partisans in her party to levy a massive new tax on the American people, it is clear that Louise Slaughter is wrong for Monroe County, too. That’s why, with the continued support of local voters, I look forward to working collaboratively in Congress to replace ObamaCare with real reform that best serves American families, while protecting taxpayers.

Delaware

At-large House candidate Rose Izzo

We need to develop a strong economic environment in order to help small businesses grow. This will, in turn, create jobs and new opportunities for our fellow Delawareans. I believe we need to cut taxes on small businesses, and this will open up more jobs for prospective employees. As it stands now, the Federal Government has an extremely oppressive way of regulating taxes, restricting business startups, and hindering innovation along with prosperity.

We need to help businesses instead of penalizing them. I will fight to burn every regulation that restricts and kills entrepreneurs and small businesses from succeeding.

Indiana

5th District House nominee Susan Brooks

Private businesses, not government, provide the jobs that grow our economy. Small businesses, in particular, have been the engine of our economy that has historically led the way out of a recession and economic down-turn. In order to do that, businesses need an environment of certainty and a globally competitive framework in which to succeed.

Our businesses are not failing us. Our government is failing us. And it is getting worse every day.

The proper role of government in job creation is to create an environment of certainty in which businesses in the private sector can and will invest, innovate, prosper, and profit. Jobs will follow. It is urgent that we cut wasteful and out-of-control spending; reduce taxes to create a globally competitive tax environment; remove unnecessary, burdensome and costly regulations and paperwork; speed the services required by our businesses; and foster the innovation that has and will continue to make this country great.

Missouri

2nd District House nominee Ann Wagner

As a first-time candidate for Congress I do a lot of listening these days and, as a result, a lot of learning. Whether visiting at kitchen tables and coffee shops or businesses throughout Missouri’s 2nd District, I am hearing from a lot of women and they are genuinely and sincerely worried about the future of our great nation. They fear their children and grandchildren will not have the same opportunities they did, the same shot at the American Dream. I believe this new group of concerned, and politically awakened women are echoing the major concerns of this country. They will be heard and known as “Budget Moms.”

Budget Moms want an economic environment that fosters growth, encourages competition, and creates jobs and opportunities so the free enterprise system can flourish unencumbered by government over-regulation and interference.

They are tired of an Administration that seeks to divide us for political gain by class, race, age, or gender – pitting American against American. They see the impact this divisiveness has on families and the fear it creates, generating an instinctive skepticism toward an over-reaching government that wants to replace the family structure and chip away at our liberties.

Now they’re talking about a war on women, but there shouldn’t be a war on women; there should be a battle — a battle for our votes. In the St. Louis area alone, we account for nearly 53 percent of the population, making us one of the largest voting blocks in the country and we have our sights set on the 2012 election.

My grandmother always said that a mother is only as happy as her most unhappy child and I see a whole generation of unhappiness ahead if we continue down our current path. Budget Moms understand this, they know we must make a change and if you listen you’ll know change is coming.

Ohio

13th District House nominee Marisha De Guzman Agana

I have developed strength from my experience in the loss of freedom in the Philippines. That same strength helps me through the sufferings of the families I see in my practice. It’s time to use that strength to join the people in restoring America.

Pennsylvania

17th District House nominee Laureen A. Cummings

Mitt Romney announced Paul Ryan as his running mate. Ryan is a talented and experienced fiscal conservative who understands the challenges facing our country. His selection confirms that the Mitt Romney is committed to turning America around. The ‘R & R’ team promises America some badly needed “r&r” from the irresponsible, job killing policies of the Obama Administration. Paul Ryan is the right choice at the right time and I commend Mitt Romney on his selection.

Texas

34th District House nominee Jessica Puente Bradshaw

My job as your congresswoman will be to get Washington, DC out of our way, so that the Texan entrepreneurial spirit can grow, prosper and produce jobs!

Utah

4th District House nominee Mia Love

Utah is home because when I moved to Utah I found people who believed the same thing I do: in fiscal discipline, limited government, personal responsibility, The only history I’m interested in making is getting our fiscal house in order.

Eye Candy For My Fellow UP Gentlemen | Sago.

 

St. Nancy Pelosi

 

 

From my e-mail, no comment required from me.

ST. NANCY PELOSI

Last Saturday afternoon, in Washington, DC, an aide to the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the Bishop of the Catholic cathedral in D.C. He told the Cardinal that Nancy Pelosi would be attending the next day’s Mass, and he asked if the Cardinal would kindly point out Pelosi to the congregation and say a few words that would include calling Pelosi a saint.

The Cardinal replied, “No. I don’t really like the woman, and there are issues of conflict with the Catholic Church over certain of Pelosi’s views.”

Pelosi’s aide then said, “Look, I’ll write a check here and now for a donation of $100,000 to your church if you’ll just tell the congregation you see Pelosi as a saint.”

The Cardinal thought about it and said, “Well, the church can use the money, so I’ll work your request into tomorrow’s sermon.”

As Pelosi’s aide promised, Nancy Pelosi appeared for the Sunday worship and seated herself prominently at the forward left side of the center aisle. As promised, at the start of his sermon, the Cardinal pointed out that Nancy Pelosi was present.

The Cardinal went on to explain to the congregation, “While Nancy Pelosi’s presence is probably an honor to some; the woman is not numbered among my personal favorite personages. Some of her most egregious views are contrary to tenets of the Church, and she tends to flip- flop on many other issues. Nancy Pelosi is a petty, self-absorbed hypocrite, a thumb sucker, and a nit-wit. Nancy Pelosi is also a serial liar, a cheat, and a thief. I must say, Nancy Pelosi is the worst example of a Catholic I have ever personally witnessed. She married for money and is using her wealth to lie to the American people. She also has a reputation for shirking her Representative obligations both in Washington , and in California . The woman is simply not to be trusted.”
The Cardinal concluded, “But, when compared with President Obama, Nancy Pelosi is a saint.”

Gosh, I love being around Catholics…

 

The Train to Nowhere

 

 

You all know that I’m fond of trains, they’re the indispensable transportation link in the United States. You can’t build airplanes, airports or truck and highways without them. That’s just the way they are. For all practical purposes we killed passenger traffic (outside of the Northeast corridor) a half century ago, when we took the mail away from them, we also mortally wounded the postal service.

From about 1850 to (stretching a bit) you could go nearly anywhere in this country by train, Most of my life I’ve lived in towns of less than 1000 population, all of them either have, or mostly had, train depots. An American Passenger train in say 1935  was the wonder of the world, fast, safe, comfortable, and usually air conditioned, and for the most part, on time.

But we killed it with subsidized air travel and highways, it’s not going to come back, It disrupts freight traffic too much.

But in an insane case of California Dreamin’, California wants to build a light rail line from Los Angeles to San Fransisco. Never mind that they can’t fill Amtrak’s Daylight which runs right down that beautiful coastline, and you can even take your bike. Oh, and California’s broke, and it’s citizens love their cars. I guess they figure if they build they will come but, they won’t and it will never get built. It as bad a boondoggle as as any American government has ever gotten it’s crony-capitalist hands on. From Troy Senik of the Center for Individual Freedom.

A USC/Los Angeles Times poll conducted in May showed a whopping 59 percent of Californians saying they would oppose the plan if presented with it again.

“This is a courageous step forward for California’s future.”

Those were the words recently uttered by Jim Wunderman, a man who must be accounted an optimist given the general consensus that “California’s future” is something of a bear market. The occasion for Mr. Wunderman’s remarks, however, reveal him to have crossed the line from optimism into delusion.

Wunderman, you see, is the president and CEO of Northern California’s Bay Area Council, a business group made up of denizens of Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay area that has long championed California’s plans to build a high-speed rail line connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco. And his effusiveness was occasioned by the state legislature’s decision to allow California to issue $4.6 billion in new debt for initial construction on the project, supposedly revolutionizing the state’s often-sclerotic transportation system in the process.

Wunderman may be the last man in the State of California who feels this way. In truth, government-initiated high-speed rail has never commanded the imaginations of a broad swath of Californians.

When the project came to the ballot in 2008 as Proposition 1A, it passed with the support of less than 53 percent of voters. Granted, a simple majority was all that was needed for victory, but a look down ballot provides some much-needed context. Proposition 8, the state’s controversial prohibition on gay marriage, passed with only 4/10 of a percentage point less support than high-speed rail. The same liberals who have denounced that decision ever since as the unjust verdict of a “slim majority” have proceeded as if the plan for Golden State bullet trains has the mandate of heaven.

The public shortcomings of the project, however – foremost among which is the fact that, nearly four years after being authorized by voters, not a single inch of track has been laid – have led to undeniable cracks in that façade. A USC/Los Angeles Times poll conducted in May showed a whopping 59 percent of Californians saying they would oppose the plan if presented with it again….

For the sake of the nation, let’s hope that the high-speed rail project finally terminates California’s role as a national bellwether. If not, the consequences could be grim. Take it from those of us on the West Coast: we’ve seen your future … and it doesn’t work.

Continue reading The Train to Nowhere: The Dream of California Liberals Becomes a Nightmare – John Malcolm.

Related articles

• Calif. OKs funding for first high-speed rail line (news.yahoo.com)
• George F. Will: Despite its high-ranking supporters, high-speed rail is no boon for California (sacbee.com)
• Amtrak Shifts Strategy From Begging for Money to Thinking Big – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)