02 October, 2010

Clueless

Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09) makes you wonder how the left can get away with calling conservatives “dumb”. After racist, that is their favorite attack on the right.

Schakowsky, though, gets new marks in cluelessness.

In her view, it’s “extreme” to quote the Constitution, or to believe that the Tenth Amendment actually means something, or to believe that government can only exist with the consent of the governed.

I’ll tell you who’s extreme. It’s her. Sadly, her district is just about immune from Republican takeover. I think Illinois is scheduled to lose a seat though. Maybe we can get lucky and get rid of hers, or at least make it less blue.

 

The sad thing is that in a party that contains people like Alan Grayson (D-FL-08) and Baron Hill (D-IN-09), I’m not sure she’s even at the bottom.

31 days until the flood.

01 October, 2010

Why Is The Economy So Bad?

Because the people making the economic decisions for this country are extremely left-wing progressives.

Progressives don’t understand even the fundamentals of economics.

Think I’m making this up? Just trying to score some cheap points? You’re wrong.

Read this article from he Wall Street Journal. I’ll give you the money quote:

Who is better informed about the policy choices facing the country—liberals, conservatives or libertarians? According to a Zogby International survey that I write about in the May issue of Econ Journal Watch, the answer is unequivocal: The left flunks Econ 101.

Zogby ran a poll that made some basic economic statements. You can see them here.  There’s only 8. You can get through it quickly. Respondents were asked if they strongly agreed, agreed, somewhat disagreed, strongly disagreed or weren’t sure about the statements. Some of the statements were true and some false. Respondents were graded on how many answers they got right. If it was a true statement and the respondent said “disagree” or “strongly disagree” that’s a wrong answer.

They then asked respondents their party affiliation and ideological leanings

So, what were the results?

Ideology Number Wrong
Very Conservative 1.30
Libertarian 1.38
Conservative 1.67
Moderate 3.67
Liberal 4.69
Progressive/Very Liberal 5.26

 

Party Affiliation Number Wrong
Libertarian 1.26
Republican 1.61
Democratic 4.59

 

The results speak for themselves. And so do the economic results of the last two years.

Zogby’s full report on the poll and Klein’s analysis can be found here.

We can fix this. In 32 days we will. The flood is coming.

30 September, 2010

Mourning In America

This video has made the rounds recently, and it’s terrific. I will bring it up once more before November 2nd, but I think it can stand two posts.

The Senate Follows The House

Well, there’s no point in the Senators sticking around if the Representatives are leaving, is there?

The Senate has time to have Stephen Colbert come and do his schtick under guise of “testifying” for committee, but like the House, they don’t have time to do their jobs.

And they wonder why their approval rating is at an all time low.

I have some advice for these fellows who felt it was more important to campaign than to work.

Don’t come back.

33 days until the flood washes them away.

29 September, 2010

I Think The Dust Is Gone

Ok, I think I like how the blog is set up now. I may make a few minor tweaks, but for now I’m happy with things. Should be a lot faster for you and IE friendly. I hadn’t realized that my old stuff was no longer working with IE. I apologize for that.

I haven’t tried it with Chrome, Safari, or Opera. If I’m bored this weekend I may load them up in a VM, and give it a try.

James O’Keefe

I applaud James O’Keefe’s work exposing ACORN.

The stuff with Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) is less impressive. He screwed up. No doubt about it.

If the stuff we’re hearing about CNN Reporter Abbie Boudreau is true (and I have no reason to think that it isn’t), it’s a despicable act.

Yes, we need to take the fight to them. Conservatives have been beaten hard by the Alinsky followers and we need to respond.

But not this way.

Test Post

This is a test post from my Android phone.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.0

Thank You, Nancy Pelosi

Just when I was thinking I wouldn’t have anything to blog about today.

You adjourned the House.

You adjourned the House without even attempting your one Constitutionally mandated duty, that of passing a budget. Yes, I know it’s not the first time the House failed to pass a budget. Yet it is the first time that you didn’t even try. You didn’t even create a budget bill. What were you doing all year?

You adjourned the House without voting to extend the Bush tax cuts. Unless something unforeseen occurs, the largest tax hike in American history will go into effect on January 1. I’ve checked and it’s going to cost my family about $4,000. My daughters thank you.

You adjourned the House early because so many Democrats are in trouble in their districts. You wanted to give them time to go home and campaign. Campaigning is now more important to you and your Democrat cohorts than actually doing your job.

Thank you, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-08) for reminding me once again, why it’s so important that I get out and vote on November 2nd.

34 days and nights until the great flood.

Pardon My Dust…

…just doing a little cleaning around here. Hope to have it finished in a couple days.

28 September, 2010

How Big Will The Wave Be?

35 days and nights until the great flood.

Politico says the Democrats have given up on the House and are urging donors to save the Senate.

In some cases, donors report that they are being urged to fund Senate campaigns at the expense of the House, where Democrats are in danger of losing their majority.

One House Democratic fundraiser said that some Senate operatives are telling big donors and union officials, “The House is lost; you have to save the Senate.”

In addition, Republican John Raese leads in West Virginia by 2, according to latest Rasmussen poll. And, Republican Linda McMahon is catching up in Connecticut, down 3 according to Quinnipiac.

Nearly every poll lately is trending in the Republicans favor, with the exceptions of California and Washington. Even O’Donnell in Delaware is gaining. We’ll know more next week when Gallup switches from Registered Voters to Likely Voters in their polls. Gallup still says there’s a major enthusiasm gap, which indicates their likely voter models won’t be friendly to Democrats.

My prediction. House: Minimum 50 seat flip. Senate: Minimum 8 seat flip.

I wouldn’t be surprised if both of those numbers are off by 50% or more. Yes, that means I’m talking about 75+ and 12+. The wave is coming and we can see it 35 days out.

(h/t HotAir)

Terror In Cyberspace

In addition to my series on the past and future elections, and my 40 days and 40 nights series, I’m going to start another series here. This one is about Democrats and what they really want. And it will scare you to your very soul. I’m not going to go Glenn Beck on you, and I’m not wearing a tinfoil hat. I’m going to talk about, as Mark Levin calls it, Liberty and Tyranny.

This was in the New York Times today, and may be the most terrifying thing you will see this year. As reported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the federal government wants “to put government-mandated back doors in all communications systems, including all encryption software”. This idea is coming straight from the White House.

The Times said the Obama administration is drafting a law that would impose a new "mandate" that all communications services be "able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages" — including ordering "[d]evelopers of software that enables peer-to-peer communication [to] redesign their service to allow interception".

What does this mean? It means that there will be no cyber-privacy. Not e-mail, not text, not cell phones, not even communication with your bank. Basically, this completely shreds the Fourth Amendment. I’ve mentioned in the past that President Barack Obama (D-USA) is no friend to the Fourth Amendment (and neither was President George W. Bush (R-USA), I know). FISA doesn’t even apply here, because this appears to be something that would work for all communications, foreign and domestic, so this is far worse than anything that Bush did. And here’s the real issue here. I suppose they’ll still have to get some sort of court approval to actually examine the private communication, but they’ll already have the keys.  It’s like having a tap on every phone line in the United States and then having to go get permission to turn it on. Or, here’s an even more frightening analogy. Remember The Hunt For Red October? Our feds will have both the missile keys and access to the lock. They’ll just be required to get permission before turning the keys. I’m sure they’ll be perfectly trustworthy and always get permission. And I have some land in Florida I’d like to sell you.

But wait, it gets worse. The Fourth Amendment concern isn’t even the scariest part about this. How bad is this? Let me count the ways.

First, the government will have the keys to all encrypted data, but someone is going to have to generate these keys for them. Whoever that someone is also capable of having the keys. Uh oh.

Second, once you open a “back door”, you create a weak link in your security. Hackers will be able to open these “back doors”. Just give them time. And, God forbid if the keys themselves are actually stored in some hackable location.

Scared yet? I’m just getting started.

Third, let’s say Microsoft writes the encryption software that’s used in sending encrypted data from Windows. I’m not picking on Microsoft, just using them as an example. Now, the Democrats in general, and the Obama administration in particular, are globalists. Every move they make they view from a global government perspective. Microsoft sells Windows in the UK too. If the U.S. forces Microsoft to put these back doors in, the UK is going to want the same thing eventually. And maybe the UK will try to force Microsoft to do it, or maybe the U.S. will require it. Now, we can’t have the same back door for the UK that we have for the U.S. Then they’ll be able to see all our private communications too. So, we’ll have to make another set of keys. Which means another back door. Which means another weak link in the security for hackers to exploit.

But wait, it gets worse.

Fourth, if Microsoft has to create two different encryptions for the UK and the U.S., then they’re likely not compatible. I won’t be able to establish a secure communications link from my home in Indiana with my bank in London. Moreover, Ford Motor Company won’t be able to do it with its Jaguar division in the UK.

Ok, maybe I’m wrong here. Software developers are pretty smart people. They can probably figure out how to handle this encryption with multiple sets of keys and still make it be readable and writeable at both ends. It means rewriting a lot of cryptography textbooks, but I imagine someone creative can come up with a way to do it.

Here’s the thing, though. As I said above, we now have two weak links in our system. And of course it’s worse than that. What do we do when Sweden wants their own keys? Or even Russia? Or China? Eventually we have lots of keys and for every inter-country communication we have two weak links, one at each endpoint. And they’re interdependent weak links, meaning that if some creative hacker can hack the UK keys, and then get to some UK/U.S. communications, not only can they view that, but they can likely then hack the U.S. keys.

At this point our entire infrastructure comes crumbling down. Did you see the movie Sneakers?

WHISTLER: Look at this, boys. Anybody want to shut down the Federal Reserve?

WHISTLER: What else have you got?

CARL: The national power grid.

WHISTLER: Anybody want to black out New England? Carl, what else?

CARL: Air Traffic Control System

WHISTLER: Anybody want to crash a couple of passenger jets?

Perhaps that reference is too old for you. How about Die Hard 4? Allowing these “back doors” makes a “Fire Sale” a very real and workable feat. These back doors turn speculative fiction into terrifying reality.

I’ll wait while you go and change your underwear, because there’s still a bit more.

I keep throwing around the term “hacker”, and you’re probably thinking of it in its 80s and 90s sense. Some pale skinned kid up late at night in his parents basement trolling the internet trying to create some mischief. That’s the wrong image. Hackers are the Rangers and Seals of the 21st century. Cyber-warfare is the next great arms race, and it appears we’re seeing some of the first hints of that right now. Heard of the Stuxnet worm? If not, follow the link. I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

See, it’s not just some teenager that’s going to be hacking into my e-mails between you and your children and sending mail apparently from you. It’s rogue states. You want the President of Iran in your e-mail? Neither do I. Nor do I want him in my bank account. Or Bill Gates’ bank account. Or the Federal Reserve. Or NORAD.

Yeah, NORAD’s a good one. Maybe he could just start launching our nuclear weapons at Russia? I’m thinking of an R.E.M. song now and I don’t feel fine.

I hope I’ve convinced you that the Obama administration must be stopped dead in its tracks here. We have to push back and push back so hard that they’ll get the message never to go down this route again.

27 September, 2010

Revisiting The Past

My very first post on this blog laid out my frustrations with the GOP, and what they could do to bring me back into the fold. I went back to see how they’re doing. Here were my points from then (abbreviated for space)

  1. Create something like the Contract with America. Check.
  2. Go back to your base. Check.
  3. Keep your pants zipped. Hey, I haven’t heard about a Republican sex scandal in a while. Supposedly the NYT has something coming out about Representative John Boehner (R-OH-08). I’m sure it will be as reliable as what they had on Senator John McCain (R-AZ) in ‘08. Check.
  4. Be the party of energy independence. Meh. There’s a lot more they can do here. Fail.
  5. Eliminate Republican earmarks and pork barrel spending. They did this in 2010. Check. Nothing in the Pledge about continuing that, though. Hmmm.
  6. Be for small government. Check.
  7. Stay the course in Iraq. Check.
  8. Secure the borders. Even McCain seems to finally be on board with this. Check.
  9. Fight to keep the Bush tax cuts in place. Check.
  10. Lessen the emphasis on social issues on the national platform. Meh. Maybe a half check here.
  11. Stand up to the mainstream media. They’re doing better here. Sarah Palin is definitely leading this charge. Check.
  12. Start calling Democrats to the carpet on the “Culture of Corruption”. The Republican actions here have been timid. Fail.
  13. Point out the failures of the Democrats in Congress. Mostly a check. Hard to give a full check here. The failures are too numerous to point out in a succinct manner.
  14. Stop with the “boogeyman” letters and phone calls. Fail. Still getting those.
  15. Support the FairTax. Meh. Support is increasing, but needs to go farther. At least they’re not on board with a VAT though.

Only 3 fails. And a couple that I’d like to see more progress. Overall, though, perhaps the GOP is finally waking up and listening to the people.

And that’s why they’re doing much better in the polls, not just with me, but with all. The Democrats will realize that in 36 days.

 

The flood is coming.

Epic Fail

37 days until the great flood.

As you by now already know, Stephen Colbert “testified” before the House Judiciary Committee on Immigration on Friday. It’s hard to say who looked more pathetic, Colbert, or the Democrats who called upon him to testify.

It isn’t hard to say that this was a new low water mark in Congressional cluelessness.

I don’t even understand why the Democrats would want to pull a stunt like this. Especially so close to an election. Especially so close to this election. If I were in the Democrat leadership, I’d be trying to get the message out that “We’re the party that understands everyday Americans. We know what you’re going through, and we know how tough it is, and we’re the ones you can trust to get this country moving in the right direction again.”

Having a comedian testify in character sends pretty much the exact opposite message. This could very well cost the Dems 2-3 more points on the Generic Ballot. This is not something they need right now. It was a very dumb mistake, an unforced error as Ed Morrissey likes to say.

I’ll just say it like the cool kids do.

Epic Fail.

26 September, 2010

How’s That Stimulus Workin’ Out For Ya?

38 days until the great flood.

Noted economist and author, Nassim Nicholas Taleb (The Black Swan) is blunt about it:

“Obama did exactly the opposite of what should have been done,” Taleb said yesterday in Montreal in a speech as part of Canada’s Salon Speakers series. “He surrounded himself with people who exacerbated the problem. You have a person who has cancer and instead of removing the cancer, you give him tranquilizers. When you give tranquilizers to a cancer patient, they feel better but the cancer gets worse.”

Of course, President Barack Obama’s (D-USA) not listening to the likes of Taleb. He prefers to listen to the likes of Nobel Award winning idiot, Paul Krugman, who thinks that the only problem with the stimulus is that we didn’t spend enough!

So, the choice on November 2 is clear. If the stimulus is workin’ for ya, vote for candidates who support it. If, on the other hand, it isn’t, and you’re worried about the long term budget outlook, like the Director of the CBO, vote for someone who wants to Stop The Insanity.