On an experimental basis, I am now posting most of my (sporadic) content at Google+, its social network platform. It more blog-ish than Facebook and Twitter, and it strikes a nice social interaction balance, both of which appeal to me.
My Google+ account name is Jim Getzen.
What to make of the Occupy movement?
Sometimes I can’t help but laugh at them, the unclean hippie wannabes with their kooky signs. Ann Coulter captured this (large) segment of Occupy humorously and thusly:
So far, the only major accomplishment of the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters is that they have finally put an end to their previous initiative, “Occupy Our Mothers’ Basements.”
Alternatively, I am angered by the Occupiers. One of their nebulous complaints seems to be the lack of jobs. Why aren’t they in front of the White House? I know the answer, of course: they have bought into the myth that Wall Street and corporations are to blame for all ills, and, well, Obama is a Democrat, and they can’t protest against their own kind, now can they?
More than anything, I am mystified by the Occupiers. They aren’t accomplishing anything, as far as I can tell. They are simply on an extended campout, but instead of having the good sense to do it in the wilderness, they’re in downtown New York City. I guess they need a Starbuck’s restroom close at hand.
It’s well-documented that the movement has no coherent message, goal, or plan of action. While the Tea Party came together as a civilized, organized movement seeking to reduce the cost and reach of government, and then proceeded to successfully elect like-minded citizens to office, the Flea Party is just wasting tax payer dollars, creating a mess, and inconveniencing New Yorkers.
Here’s a clue, Occupiers. We working, tax-paying citizens are upset with the economy too. Those among us with any sense plan are looking forward to the 2012 election, we will can (and will) change the system the American way, through the peaceful election of those who share our views and political beliefs.
Some Occupiers seem to want the dissolution of capitalism, or the banking system, or corporations. Sorry, I can’t help them with that. They might want to check out a move to Cuba. But no matter what change they seek, pointlessly camping out in some city isn’t going to get anything done. Just like fleas, the Occupiers are irritating parasites that don’t accomplish anything.
Here’s some advice, Occupiers: Don’t be the Flea Party. Pack up your stuff, clean up your site (and yourself), go home, and figure out what you really want, and get people elected that share your views. That’s the way to effect real change.
Just ask the Tea Party.
Unbelievable!
The shear improbability of what happened last night in baseball has me stunned.
Come back from a record-breaking nine games back at the beginning of the month to win the wild card?
Come back from a 7-0 deficit going into the bottom of the eighth inning, against the New York Yankees no less, having gotten only two hits in the first seven innings, to tie the game?
Tie the game by putting in Dan Johnson? The guy who spent most of the year in AAA, who has a .108 batting average, who hadn’t had a major league hit since April 27?
With two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth?
Against a Yankees team that hadn’t given up a seven-run lead after seven innings since 1953?
The Red Sox lose, even though they were 76-0 this season when leading after eight innings?
The Red Sox lose because former Ray Carl Crawford can’t quite hold onto a line drive after diving to catch it and having it fleetingly in his glove?
And then three minutes later Evan Longoria hits a home run in the 12th inning that barely, barely cleared the wall at just the spot where the wall is its lowest?
Are you kidding me? Totally, completely, unforgettable.
Some pundits are saying that last night was the greatest regular-season day in the history of baseball.
I believe it.
I never thought the national economy could get this bad. Sure, I knew that Obama was the most liberal member of the Senate when he was elected. I knew his policies, if they mirrored his ideology, would fail.
But I had no idea that the unemployment rate would rise so much, and stay so high. Or that incomes would fall so much (now down to 1996 levels). Or that the poverty rate would set records. Or that the United States credit rating would actually be downgraded. Or that the annual deficits and national debt would soar as much as they have. Or that consumer confidence would remain so low. Or that property values would continue to erode. Is there any economic statistic that has improved during Obama’s watch?
The malaise is downright Carter-esque.
If conditions persist, President Obama has no chance whatsoever to be reelected, and he will have to be considered, by any rational observer, one of the worst presidents of all time, at least economically.
Yet I have a latent fear, and I know I am not alone, that we as a country are teetering on the edge of a cliff, that the economy, as bad as it is, could actually slide over the edge and get much, much worse. What happens if China announces that it will no longer buy our debt? What happens if riots start appearing, as in Greece or London? What happens if the DJIA drops back to 5,000 or 6,000? What happens if we have a double-dip recession and unemployment rate tops 10%? What happens if Recession turns to Depression? I don’t have the answers, but the possibilities scare me.
Most Americans, I believe, have written off the Obama administration and are simply trying to hang on until the next president is elected. They are trying to run out the clock, so to speak, praying that things don’t get any worse until then.
I can’t help but recall and amend Reagan:
Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Barack Obama loses his.
Despite the fact that the bulk of my posts have been about politics, I don’t enjoy the subject. I consider politics, especially on the national level, to be so important that I can’t bypass it and simply enjoy life.
Today is a great example since I came across a quote that’s impossible for me to ignore. It so perfectly captures the modern liberal mindset, that I just have to comment. It is:
In my house growing up, The Times substituted for religion. If The Times said it, it was the absolute truth.
That quote is from Jill Abramson, the new Executive Editor (or perhaps High Priestess would be a better title?) of the New York Times. Revealing and interesting on a number of different levels, I can’t hope to cover them all in the time I have today. Some words spring to mind though: pathos, naivety, nausea among them.
If it’s possible to enhance perfection, such was accomplished by The Times’ decision to delete the quote from the original article in which it appeared. They obviously didn’t see a problem with it originally, which also speaks volumes.
The Old Gray Lady ain’t what she used to be.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I summarized my thoughts on the Republican candidates, declared or potential, for President of the United States. It’s been quickly evolving situation, so I thought I should post updated rankings. This post will be briefer than the previous one since I have already covered my initial thoughts; I’m now cutting to the chase.
The percentages reflect my current rating, with 100% meaning that I’d crawl across a mile of broken glass to vote for the candidate, and 0% meaning waterboarding would be necessary to get me to do it, and even then you’d have a hard time of it. Obama is a 0%.
The representative from Wisconsin, Ryan presented a serious, clear-eyed proposal to reign in the deficits and get our financial house in order. He’s very well-spoken, young (but not too young), and reasonably telegenic. Like Dick Cheney, I worship the ground Ryan walks on.
He has not said he’s running, but he hasn’t completely shut the door on the possibility. I hope and pray he does.
I have seen and read more about Pawlenty over the last couple of weeks. The more I see, the more I like, so I have bumped him up.
He’s mild-mannered, but that sits well with me. He’s knowledgeable and prepared. I think he’ll start moving up in the polls, once all the will-they-run speculation (e.g. Sarah Palin, Rick Perry) dies down and we begin a clear-eyed look at the candidates.
I have a tie for second. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has said that he’ll consider running. My initial impression is strong, and I imagine he’d be a force to be reckoned with. Stay tuned.
I have cooled on Romney a bit. I like him, but I can’t see getting excited by his candidacy.
I think she can do the most good doing what she’s doing: being an influential commentator. She’s good at it, and she gives voice to many conservatives.
As much as I would love to meet Sarah Palin in person and shake her hand, I don’t think she can win. Great VP choice though. We’ll see.
I saw his interview with Chris Wallace and have moved Cain down in my rankings. I like his message, but he needs to be better prepared, and I doubt he has a much chance of actually winning. VP maybe?
These are the people that I am not seriously considering at this time.
He has made it very clear that he’s not running. I’d love it if he’d change his mind since I’d instantly put him near the top, but he’d pay a heavy “flip-flopper” price for doing so.
Smart but volatile. Persuasive but prone to kookiness. I’d gladly listen to a history speech from Newt, but he’s not the guy for me for president.
Former Senator from Pennsylvania. I don’t know a whole lot about him, but he’s supposed to be a social and fiscal conservative. I don’t sense he has a real chance of gaining momentum, but he’s one to watch.
Representative from Minnesota. Smart and attractive, but prone to gaffes? I need to learn more about her, especially since she seems to gin up excitement among the hard-core conservative faithful.
Former Utah Governor and Obama’s ambassador to China. Once supported a cap-and-trade initiative, ostensibly to reduce greenhouse gases (ouch). I need to learn more about him, but don’t see him as a serious possibility at this time.
Gimme a break. Way, way too bizarre.
OK, we’re all human and we all make mistakes, even silly ones. But writing “2008″ as the year when you are the President of the United States and you are signing a distinguished guestbook at Westminster Abbey? It’s beyond belief.
I can see mistakenly writing 2010, but 2008? It’s not only a gaffe, it’s a bizzare one. It reminds me of Obama’s “57 states” comment. Huh?
Can you imagine the mainstream press reaction if President George W. Bush had done the same thing? We’d be hearing about it non-stop until, well, forever.
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Speaking of The One, I’m not sure the general populace fully understands how much he has deviated from his campaign rhetoric of 2008. Victor Davis Hanson comes to the rescue with An Honest Obama Campaign. It’s spot on. Here’s a taste of what Obama would say, if he had been straight with us:
“… I will promise to keep our unemployment rate below 10 percent, while my team borrows no more than an additional $5 trillion for new shovel-ready stimulus. I envision our national debt rising to no more than $16 trillion over my tenure. I also promise to take over any corporation that explores bankruptcy as a way to default on what it owes its union members and pensioners, who will always have a higher claim than any creditors or Wall Street speculators. I have already talked of spreading the wealth; but as president I promise to extend food stamps to more Americans than at any time in history.”
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Think that Greece’s debt woes are in a different category than those of the United States? Think again. Michael Tanner illustrates alarming similarities in Hellenic Handbasket (bonus points for clever title):
But what about the United States? Our budget deficit this year is estimated to be roughly 10.8 percent of GDP. That’s nearly one and a half percentage points higher than Greece’s. We are slightly better off, however, in terms of national debt. Our official $14.3 trillion debt is only about 98 percent of GDP. Our debt won’t hit Greek percentages of GDP until 2020 or so. On the other hand, if the unfunded liabilities of Medicare and Social Security are included, then our real total indebtedness tops 900 percent of GDP, putting us in worse long-term shape than Greece.
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So the Democrats won an election in New York by scaring the populace with demogogery about Medicare, and by running a fake Tea Party candidate to confuse voters and siphon off enough votes from the actual conservative in the race?
How proud Democrats must be of those tactics! Win at all costs, right? How proud they must be of demonizing Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to finally tackle the financial emergency we’re in, and offering up no plan of their own!
It must be something to live in such a state of denial, irresponsibility, and immorality.
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Hmmm, just days after I posted about visualizing the size of national debt, Reuters published an article about the very topic. I was unaware that Reagan had the same idea back in 1981. He pointed out that a stack of $1,000 bills totaling a trillion dollars (the debt at that time, boy were those the halcyon days!) would rise 67 miles.
Now, of course, our $14,300,000,000,000 debt would cause that stack to reach 900 miles high.
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Finally, let me give overdue kudos to Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. While the search features are fine, what I really love is the new background photograph that greets me each day. Sometimes stunning, sometimes odd, sometimes moving in a zen way, the pictures are wonderful. Here’s an example from today:
See the tiny people? These are salt reservoirs, apparently. Click to enlarge.
Well done, Microsoft. I’m not a huge fan of your software, but you’ve done the right thing with Bing.
James Delingpole of The Telegraph has an amusing and enlightening article about President Obama and his (Obama’s) trip to Ireland in which he is supposedly “exploring his roots,” according to fawning press accounts.
In his piece, Mr. Delingpole creates various elaborate titles for Obama, depending where Obama is visiting. We get an Irish version:
Barack Seamus O’Toole Flaherty Joyce O’Bama, the most Irish US president that ever set foot on the Emerald Oisle.
Which is bettered by the African version:
Mandingo, Prince of the Bloodline of the Bonga People, Drinker of Cattle Urine, Father of A Thousand Warrior Sons, Keeper of King Solomon’s Mines, Barehanded Slayer of Lions, Undaunted Victim of the Evil Colonial British Empire.
Which, in turn, is topped by the Arab version:
Al-Barak Hussein Obama, Protector of the Holy Shrine, Smiter of the Kuffar, Lion of the Desert, Tent-Loving-Aficionado-of-the-Oversweetened-Coffee, Chomper of Sheeps’ Eyeballs, Restorer of the Caliphate.
I'd call that fawning coverage.
These kinds of descriptions aren’t new, of course. There is just something about the guy that calls for it. David Kahane, of National Review, has the comprehensive US version:
His Serene Majesty the Emperor Barack Hussein Obama II, Lord of the Flies, Keeper of the Hoops, Master of the Greens, Bringer of Kinetic Military Action, Vacationer-in-Chief, Slayer of Osama, and Protector of the Holy Cities of Honolulu and Chicago.
So why does it seem so appropriate to mockingly betitle Obama? It’s simple really. The media fawn over him, his supporters view him as some sort of Messiah (“The One”), he has a policy of taking personal credit for every positive development and no responsibility for anything negative, he has an outsized ego and a condescending manner, and he is apt to say things like:
…I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal…
Obama, the Humble and Self-Deprecating, he is not.