Terror Attack in India

The recent terror attack in India is a reminder that the industrialized world is still at war. I was hopeful that we had stifled the command structure enough to seriously limit their ability to make coordinated strikes. Apparently, I was wrong.

Clubbing Obama's Seals

What is with Obama and these damned seals? First, before he even received his party's nomination, he rolls out his own variation on the standard presidential seal. Then, he makes up an office and creates a seal for it. He was a U.S. Senator, the presidential nominee of a major political party, and in a few weeks he's going to be the president of the United States of America for crying out loud. Does he really need to aggrandize himself with this crap?

Citibank

I spent nearly all of the three years of law school flat broke. When I graduated, I had (no exaggeration) $44 in my bank account. Rather than travel to Europe following the bar exam like most of my classmates, I had to beg the firm that had hired me to let me start early so that I wouldn't go hungry.

I recall distinctly that about halfway through law school, Citibank cut the limit on my only credit card to an amount that was less than the modest balance on the card. At about the same time, they jacked up the interest rate on my balance and increased the monthly minimum payments. I had relied on that card to carry me from the time I'd burn through my student loan funds until the time I'd get my first paycheck from my summer job; so it was pretty devastating for me to be cut off and led me -- for hopefully the only time in my life -- to have to borrow money from my Dad. Given my financial situation at the time, though, it was pretty sensible for Citibank to take those steps. Now that the tables have turned and it's Citibank that is in a tough financial spot, I think it's time for the taxpayers to insist on the same sensible actions that Citibank would take with one of its cardholders. Let's cut these guys off.

SHTF in the WSJ

Usually, I come across descriptions of SHTF scenarios inadvertently when I'm researching take-down rifles or shotgun/rifle combos. I came across this one on the op-ed pages of The Wall Street Journal today. It may be time to check on your stock of .22 LR.

Another Lost Battle in the War on Drugs

If the mainstream media covered the War on Drugs the way they covered the Iraq War, they'd be citing the death of an FBI agent in the Pittsburgh area this week as another senseless death in pursuit of a failed policy. The young agent was shot and killed by the wife of an alleged drug dealer after a team of agents forcibly entered the home to execute a search warrant. The wife claims that she thought her home was being robbed while her two children were inside. I suspect she is telling the truth.

Although I consider myself to be a fairly ardent civil libertarian, my sympathies generally lie with the men and women who are tasked with the enforcement of our laws. They face off against violent criminals so that the rest of us don't have to. I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to on-the-ground operational decisions. I do not give that same benefit of the doubt to law enforcement policy makers. The policy makers have allowed (or used) the War on Drugs to drive the militarization of domestic law enforcement. The media did a nice job of portraying the agent who was killed as a good family man and a top-notch law enforcement officer. I wish they would also ask the tough questions of the agent's superiors about the need for us to continue with what seems to be a risky and mostly failed strategy toward the War on Drugs.

Medicine for Pirates

Drudge had a photo today of one of the anti-pirate forces off the coast of Africa with an old-school M16 rifle (carry handle and fixed stock) at the ready. (It was one of those photos that Drudge annoyingly embeds on his site without a link or any caption. From a story that he linked to separately, it looks like it might have been one of the Dutch.) This pirate problem has gotten remarkably out of hand, and I think it's going to take something more than a few varmint guns to solve it. Something like this would work:



Yeah, I know battleships with the 16-inch guns shown in the video have all been mothballed, but pirate-fighting duties would be a great excuse to pull one back into service.

Moran can't even do earmarks right

My (mis)representative in the House, Jim Moran (D (of course)-VA) was mentioned in an article by Radley Balko in Reason for loading up a Defense bill with millions of dollars worth of earmarks. (H/t to Glenn Reynolds.) Of course, earkmarks and pork irk me, but what irks me even more is that Moran has nothing to show for all of this other than the furtherance of his own career. I've spent most of the past 14 years in Arlington, and I can't think of a major, federally funded public works project in my district during that time.

Some of my politically formative years were spent in Southwestern Pennsylvania in the early 90s watching hacks like Joe Kolter and Austin Murphy (both D's, of course) up close. These guys were buffoons who didn't know jack about any of the major issues of the day, but they at least had something to show for their efforts at directing pork to their districts. Kolter and Murphy both played big roles in a major road construction projects, including the opening of one of the sweetest 20-mile stretches of 6-lane highway in the country. Part of the road had a small toll, and consequently hardly a soul used it. I lived near the south end of the new highway, and a young lady I was dating at the time lived near the north end, about 25 miles away. For fear that my wife may being reading this blog, I'll just say that this particular young lady had some attributes that were rather appealing to a young man in his early 20s (or a middle-aged man in his early 40s for that matter), among them a penchant for Kentucky bourbon. For the better part of a year, I made that road my own personal autobahn. I'd say a prayer of thanks for Murphy and Kolter every time I pulled into the parking lot of my girlfriend's apartment complex 20 minutes or so after I left the late shift at work.

Now, I curse that bastard Moran every time I get stuck on I-66 with our three-year-old in the backseat crying because she has a load of pooh in her pants.

Obligatory links

I'd be remiss if I didn't include this video account of the failure of the media in this election.



The Zogby poll that appears to support the video is amusing, although it would be more interesting if McCain voters had also been polled.

A few tidbits of election analysis

Two weeks have passed since the 2008 general election, and I wanted to provide a few tidbits of state and local analysis before too much time passes. The results for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Arlington County and my precinct, Rock Spring, appear in the tables below.

• Statewide: There were no particular surprises at the state level. McCain/Palin received almost exactly as many votes (1.73 million) as Bush/Cheney did in 2004 (1.72 million). Obama/Biden received about 510,000 more votes than Kerry/Edwards. I read that as meaning the Republicans have basically reached their ceiling with the traditional base in Virginia. To win against a strong Democrat (like, say, Obama in 2012), we are going to need to hold onto our base and either pull some of those Democrats/Independents back to our side or else find a new source of votes. As expected, turnout was significantly higher (16% higher) in this election than in 2004.

Virginia
2008
CANDIDATE VOTE VOTE%

Obama/Biden 1.96 million 52.60%

McCain/Palin 1.73 million 46.35%
Total 3.72 million


2004
CANDIDATE VOTE VOTE%

Kerry/Edwards 1.45 million 45.48%
Bush/Cheney 1.72 million 53.68%
Total 3.20 million


• Arlington County: Arlington is much bluer than most of the state, but the results reflected very closely the statewide results in at least one respect. The Republicans held their own -- McCain/Palin received almost the same number of votes (29,876) as Bush/Cheney did in 2004 (29,635). Obama/Biden attracted about 15,000 more votes than Kerry/Edwards. Turnout also was significantly higher (16% higher) in this election than in 2004. The one consolation is that the county Democrats were aiming for Obama to take 80% of the vote. They missed that goal by quite a bit despite a very active and organized GOTV effort. Every weekend starting in late September, I would see 6-10 20-somthings with Obama t-shirts canvassing our neighborhood with clipboards.

Arlington County
2008
CANDIDATE VOTE VOTE%

Obama/Biden 78,994 71.71%

McCain/Palin 29,876 27.12%
Total 110,153

2004
CANDIDATE VOTE VOTE%

Kerry/Edwards 63,987 67.20%
Bush/Cheney 29,635 31.12%
Total 95,219

• Rock Spring Precinct: Bizarro results. Obama/Biden did slightly worse than Kerry/Edwards; McCain/Palin did slightly better than Bush/Cheney. Turnout among both Republicans and Democrats was significantly lower in 2008 than in 2004 (a 25% drop overall!). To my knowledge, the district boundaries were not redrawn. I don't have access to any population data that would back me up on this, but I feel safe in saying that the population of my neighborhood is very stable. Although Democrats outnumber Republicans significantly, the neighborhood is very white and older than many parts of Arlington (e.g., Clarendon, Ballston). Hillary Clinton might have attracted more votes here than Obama. As to why there were fewer votes here for McCain than for Bush -- who knows? There are a least a fair number of people in the neighborhood who work or who have worked on the Hill. Maybe McCain has pissed off enough of his Republican colleagues over the years for there to be a noticeable lack of enthusiasm among insiders.


Rock Spring Precinct
CANDIDATE VOTE VOTE%

Obama/Biden 904 59.90%

McCain/Palin 594 39.36%
Total 1509


2004
CANDIDATE VOTE VOTE%

Kerry/Edwards 1227 60.74%

Bush/Cheney 768 38.02%
Total 2020

Blue Cars

A lot has been written about what has lead to the apparently inevitable bailout of the Big 3 auto manufacturers. Bad contracts with the UAW, unreliable cars, failure to keep up with "foreign" competitors -- all of these clearly have played a role. But I blame one other factor -- Democrats. No, I don't mean Barney Frank, Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi, although I'm sure I could find a reason to blame them too. I mean the urban and suburban coastal Democrats who have abandoned American-made cars.

In my very blue neck of Northern Virginia, imports far outnumber cars from the the Big 3. I've tried repeatedly to find statistics on this, to no avail. My informal counts of non-commercial vehicles as I'm driving on the Dulles Toll Road during rush hour almost always find imports accounting for 7 or 8 out of every 10 vehicles. If you discounted SUVs, Chrysler minivans and obvious fleet vehicles, it would be around 9 out of 10. On our side of the street in North Arlington, you'd have to go several blocks before you'd find another American car, other than the two Fords in our driveway.

For the past two presidential election cycles, I've made it a point to note American cars with stickers promoting the Democratic presidential ticket (as well as the even more rare -- a car with a "support our troops" magnet along with an Obama or Kerry sticker). I recall having seen only two American-built cars -- a Ford F-150 and a Jeep Liberty (of all blessed things) with an Obama sticker. Of course, those Hope/Change stickers seemed to come as standard equipment on all manner of foreign vehicles -- from Mazda 3's to Honda Odysseys. I've been astounded at how often a McCain/Palin sticker was attached to the rare American car I see on the road.

Don't believe my anecdotal evidence? Here's some proof -- a study that shows 71% of Democrats drive an import and 57% percent of Republicans drive an import. In my area, I think it is even more pronounced. So, maybe rather than sending billions of dollars to the Big 3, we could just have the Obama campaign machine crank out some ads appealing for his supporters to buy American.

Bobby Jindal and Health Care

This may the first of many posts about Bobby Jindal. But I have to say I am impressed with any Republican who is digging into health care issues.

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/11/gov_bobby_jindal_details_louis.html

I'm not enough of a policy wonk to know whether his ideas are good or not, but we need more people on our side who can speak articulately about health care. In fact, I think Republicans already start from a disadvantage because we've let the Left frame the issue as a question of how to provide health care to the uninsured, when the problem seems to be the broader issue of health care costs significantly outpacing other increases in the cost of living.

But as long as the MSM beat the 40-million-Americans-are-uninsured drum, this is going to be a top issue on voters' minds. The Democrats' solution sounds simple and caring -- "we are a rich nation and we should ensure that no one goes without health care." The details of how they would do that are complicated and alarming, but most folks don't get beyond the positive main message point. The Republicans' answers -- "let the free market solve the problem," "it's too expensive," "our tax policies are distorting the market," "the 40 million include a lot of illegal immigrants and young healthy people" sound callous or complicated.

Bailing on the Bailouts

With calls for nationalization of credit card companies and auto manufacturers along with further nationalization of the insurance industry, I think it is time for Republicans to get out of the bailout business.

I had very mixed feelings about the initial $700 billion bailout package. As a small-government conservative, I hated the idea of committing taxpayers’ money to a bailout of private business. As someone whose livelihood depends on the identification and assessment of business risks, I think those who are overly aggressive about taking on risks should bear the consequences of those judgments. I try not to be thick-headed about my libertarianism, and it seemed that a lot of smart people who understood the situation felt that the bailout package was essential. I gave some credit to folks who put their political careers at risk to vote for it. In hindsight, though, I’m not so certain the bailout package was necessary. I thought the key element was to create a market for illiquid “toxic” assets, but Hank Paulson now says that Treasury would focus on “injecting” cash into the financial industry not on purchasing these assets.

So, we seeing considerable mission creep on the initial $700 billion and "special interests" are lining up with their hands out. It’s time for a principled stand. Although there are a few folks who have made money by investing in failing businesses, they’ve done so by ruthlessly cutting costs (i.e., laying people off) and restructuring. The federal government lacks the competence and guts to do that. I hope I’m wrong, but I will be shocked if these investments wind up being anything other than an enormous cluster-f. Mr. Hope/Change and his friends will soon control the federal government. Let them own the coming disaster.

Veterans Day

Take a few moments today to say a prayer of thanks for our veterans.

Virginia Under Siege

I was hoping we Virginians would get a chance to regroup before the next assault, but apparently not:

McAuliffe: The Next Virginia governor?

I may have to vote in the Democratic primary to help make sure we have a couple of decent choices. It looks like it's going to be a race among McAuliffe, Brian Moran and Creigh Deeds. McAuliffe was the chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Moran is the brother of Congressman Jim Moran. 'nuff said about either of those two. Deeds ran for Virginia AG, and, in the spirit of bipartisanship, I voted for him. I seem to recall that he appeared to be even slightly better on Second Amendment issues than the Republican, Bob McDonnell. It was a close call. McDonnell also plans to run for governor next year. Another choice between McDonnell and Deeds would suit me just fine.

Our president too

It is a little hard to believe, but within a few weeks, Barack Obama is going to be our president. My impression of him is mostly negative -- we know little about his values and the little we know indicates he is a Statist with little regard for individual freedom. I credit him, though, with being politically savvy. Despite all of the post-election smack talk from the Left, I do not think the smarter ones think they have been given a mandate to steer this country in the direction of Sweden.
On election night, I went to bed just after they called Ohio for Obama, so I didn't watch Obama's victory speech. One segment stood out, though, when I watched the clips the next day.

"Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too."

The guy is an eloquent speaker, if nothing else, and those comments seem to show some insight into what folks like me don't like about Obama and his ilk. I'm certain the next four years will be difficult to watch, but if Obama continues serves in that spirit, I will indeed consider him my president and I will leave the 1.20.13 bumper sticker off my car. Obama's domestic challenge, of course, will be holding back the worst of the ideas from the Left, and the Left has no shortage of bad ideas -- imposing the (un)Fairness Doctrine, revoking favorable tax treatment for 401(k) plans, cutting the military budget by 25% and enacting another (perhaps even more egregious) ban on firearms with cosmetic features that frighten Statists, just to name a few. If any of these proposals comes under serious consideration, you can forget my civility and respect toward our elected leaders. I'll be working on my "Obama=Stalin" sign for my march on Washington, and, I'll post a couple of "Impeach him" signs in the front yard. One of my fine neighbors has seen fit to do the latter for the last few years, so maybe I'll just ask him if I could borrow them for a little while.

Why I'm doing this

For years I've read libertarian/conservative blogs like countertopchronicles, lgf, freewillblog, sayuncle and, of course, instapundit. I've always thought about starting my own blog, but lack of time and concerns about privacy have kept me from starting. The recent election has made me want to give this a shot. The federal government has made a mess of things over the last decade, and, remarkably, the presidential election in which we were supposed to be selecting someone to set us on the right track left us with a choice between a guy who conceded that "the issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should" and a guy whose understanding of economics seems to have been nurtured at Moscow State. Conservatives and libertarians in this country have got to do a better job of communicating their answers for the problems our country faces. I don't know if anyone will ever read this blog, but, if nothing else, I'm hoping it will sharpen my thinking and my skills at articulating positions I believe in.