RedStateEclectic

How Do the Dems Define You?

It could tell you what kind of republican you are:

The current GOP fault line is not exactly conservatives vs. moderates or new guard vs. old guard. For 2010, the rivalry is the Tea Party wing against the K Street wing. To tell which kind of Republican a candidate is, see how the Democrats attack him: If
he’s branded a shill for Wall Street, he’s from the K Street wing. If he’s labeled an extremist outside the mainstream, he’s a Tea Partier.

Great little article.

Speaking of republican splits, here’s a juicy radio interview of matter vs. antimatter. The Southern Avenger stirs Lindsey Graham’s pot:

The Morning Buzz

(And, boy! Is Lindsey a neocon! 5,000 dead and 34,000 wounded was “absolutely worth it”.)

Gremlins, Housecleaning and Book Reviews

I tend to just leave my computer on at night.  After an hour of no activity, it goes into “hibernate” mode, so there’s not much energy lost in all of it, and when I get up in the morning, I flick the mouse, and everything’s waiting for me—just as it was when I headed off to bed.

At some point during the night—must have been as I was just drifting off to sleep, I heard this rather strange sound; it sounded like Tweetdeck (my Twitter interface on my computer), however since I knew that it hadn’t been opened when I went to bed (the “tweets” are kind of obnoxious, really, and get pretty irritating if you follow a lot of people), I wrote it off as a cricket in the hallway, or something coming from the kids’ rooms, and just crashed.

This morning, I head to my computer, and find that gremlins must have been playing with it during the night.  The “task bar” that’s usually on the bottom of my screen was on the side; my browser, Chrome, had been shut down, but somehow (don’t ask me how) Internet Explorer had been opened (I NEVER use IE) AND all of the tabs that I’d had opened on Chrome had been opened in IE; my Google Reader and Google homepage are HUGE, although the rest of the websites I go to look pretty normal; things were opened (or at least in the first stage of openness) that are password protected.  I have two theories about the cause of this, but neither of them make much sense since all of the humans in the house were in bed: 1) Gremlins; 2) one of our cats.  One of our cats likes to hang out near my computer when I’m at it, and since the screen is a touch screen, her tail has—on occasion—caused some rather strange blips.  Still, the number of things that were opened or changed makes that seem like an odd possibility.  But if that’s not what caused it, does anyone have any ideas about exterminating Gremlins?

I’ve been cleaning like crazy this weekend—scrubbing carpets, dusting, vacuuming, etc.  I hate housework.  I really hate it when we’ve let the mess pile up.  Yesterday, I worked on some of the piles in my office…found a favorite pen that I was afraid I’d lost, and some papers that I thought I needed to keep from last winter—I decided that since I hadn’t used them in the intervening time, I didn’t need them, and they’ve found their way to the trash.  I’ve got a bit more in the office, and then I’ll be working on mopping, I suppose, today. 

The reason for my sudden desire for cleanliness: I’ve got a dozen ladies coming over to my house tomorrow.  I think I’ve written before about my affinity for some of the more “mature” ladies in our community—those who are 80+.  Most of these ladies are pretty active yet, although a few of them—especially the ones who are sneaking up on (or have passed) 90, are starting to slow down physically, although are still sharp mentally, have slowed down a bit.  There is one for whom I have special affection, and she and I (along with a couple of other more seasoned citizens) make a point of going to breakfast every Friday morning, and when she’s not feeling up to driving, I will sometimes drive her to doctors’ appointments, or to the grocery store.

Anyway, this friend, last spring, asked me whether I’d be interested in becoming part of the local Literary Guild.  The people that belong (there are a dozen of us) are all ladies whose company I enjoy.  One of the other members is closer to my age—maybe a few years younger.  The way this group works is this: they meet monthly (but not during the summer), take turns traveling from one members’ house to the other, and a different member does a book review each month (usually, that member is the only person who has read the book).  During our closing meeting in May, the sheet was passed around for folks to act as “host” and “reviewer” for the different meetings.  Usually, members host one month, and then review in another, but I noticed that there were a few who did both in the same month.  I decided to do that—with the idea that I’d get it all out of the way at the same time.  Tomorrow is my day….  So, as I clean my house and plot my book review (just like grad school—why prepare in advance?  I finished reading the book yesterday), I may be scarce around here today.

LLE

An Open Letter To Mitt Romney

Dear Mitt,

Flip flops make people look absolutely ridiculous.

Sincerely, Angela

Skydiving from the edge of space: can a human break the sound barrier? | Science | The Observer

Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner in his high-altitude suit after a test jump in California. Photograph: Robert Yager

We know this. At around 120,000 feet, on the fringes of space, the air is so thin that a falling human body would travel fast enough to exceed the speed of sound. A skydiver, properly equipped with pressurised suit and a supply of oxygen to protect against the hostile elements, could feasibly jump from that height and, about 30 seconds later, punch through the sound barrier – becoming the first person ever to go "supersonic" without the aid of an aircraft or space shuttle.

Here our knowledge ends. Experts admit cluelessness. Our skydiver could render a mighty "krakoom!" across the high skies or history could be made in utter silence. Immense forces could knock the intrepid skydiver out cold, could peel the skin back from his body or simply cause a little wobble in the midriff, like a playful hug. Nobody is quite sure – but one of two men will soon find out.

via www.guardian.co.uk

One wonders why someone would want to jump from a height like that (personally, I've never really understood the thrill of simple sky-diving...why would you want to jump out of a perfectly good plane?), but since Angela has decided to post photos of beefcake here today, I thought I'd contribute a little Red Bull sponsored handsomeness...

Stacy McCain Is Currently The Sexiest Man Alive

(Edited because it was indeed a typo! Freudian perhaps, but a typo never the less.)

Meghan and her dirty sexy politics got nothing on this guy:

Don't believe me? Then read this  and tell me that it didn't titillate you just a little.*

  The Other McCain links to us, and he did it without us even asking. I'm sure he doesn't agree with every word we write, but he is one of the good guys when it comes to working to change the GOP into a conservative organization. If you like what he said, please hit his tip jar. Warm fuzzies wont buy him a new used car, which he desperately needs because the car he just put $700 (that he could ill afford) into was promptly then totaled when he hit a deer.

He's a decent enough guy who lives a modest life and ekes out a living as a writer. If you like what he says, make him happy he knows us.  Since we can't really buy him a beer, let him buy a beer on us.

(As for Lisa Graas, I tried to be friendly with her during Rand's campaign, but her positions are too inconsistent for me to waste time deciphering.   She blogs as a pro-life devout Catholic  but when it comes to voting for Rand Paul? Well, during the primaries she tweeted:

So much for the strong anti-abortion stance. Additionally, there's no war she wants to end. She believes in unconstitutional federal entitlements. In short,  she's a RINO. 

So why is she writing about Ron Paul, instead of Rand Paul, these days? I suspect she's adhering to McCain's "How To Get A Million Hits On Your Blog" advice.  Ron Paul's name generates traffic, and she's run her own blog long enough to know it. She recently got a new gig, and nothing makes a new blog boss happier than seeing the new girl generate some traffic.

Ignore her, read him, and let's fix this country. )

(* No? Then try the following discreet allusion designed to appeal to the more masculine of our readers.)

UPDATE: Lisa whose-last-name-doesn't-rhyme-with-grass-because-it-is-German responds here.  Remember what I said about "convoluted" and "deciphering?" Enter exhibit A into the record.

Congressional Candidate Posts on Hayek

So how many legitimate congressional candidates post links like this on Facebook (or anywhere for that matter)?

Justin Amash If you read only two essays on economics, read Hayek's "The Use of Knowledge in Society" (previous post) and this one by Bastiat . . .

Bastiat: Selected Essays, Chapter 1, What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen | Library of Economics and Li

www.econlib.org

In the economic sphere an act, a habit, an institution, a law produces not only one effect, but a series of effects. Of these effects, the first alone is immediate; it appears simultaneously with its cause; it is seen. The other effects emerge only subsequently; they are not seen; we are fortunate i...

If you believe in free markets, the Constitution, and have a modicum of hope for the future, then you need to follow GOP congressional candidate Justin Amash on Facebook and contribute to his campaign. He is the future of the 'new conservatism' in the GOP and actually understands economics and isn't afraid to express it.

A Veto-Proof Senate or Even a Congress? by Clark Judge

There has also been talk that Democratic candidates would run on cutting spending.  After jamming through Congress a string of trillion-dollar bills including the widely reviled Obamacare, this sounds like an updated version of the old joke about the boy who killed his parents, then pleaded for the court’s mercy because he was an orphan.
 
Despite these desperate tactics, it is a fair bet that every GOP House seat that switched hands in the 2006 or 2008 elections will go back in November, a 54 vote shift.  
 
But what about the Senate?  Though pundits have not focused on it, the Senate may turn out to be an even bigger story than the House.  Until recently the professional poll watchers scoffed at the idea of a GOP majority in the smaller body.  Look again.
 
As of the most recent Rasmussen polls, four Senate races show double digit Republican leads (Delaware, Indiana, North Dakota and Arkansas) and one has a single digit GOP lead outside the margin of error and holding steady (Pennsylvania).
 
Six races are effectively tied, with the spread between the candidates inside the margin of polling error (Illinois, California, Colorado, Nevada, Washington, and Wisconsin). In a final race (West Virginia), the six percent spread exceeds the margin of error, but the Republican has cut the gap by ten percentage points since late July.  With the possible exception of Nevada, the Republican candidate appears to have the momentum in each of these seven races.
 
It is unlikely that any GOP senator will lose to a Democrat this fall.  So national alarm at the Obama-Reid-Pelosi government being what it is, the Republicans could pick up a net of twelve Senate seats. There is already talk in Washington of Connecticut senator Joseph Lieberman, an independent who currently caucuses with the Democrats, switching his caucus if the GOP wins a Senate majority.  In other words, the GOP could come out of November counting 54 votes in its Senate camp.
 

via www.hughhewitt.com

I don't think we're liable to get to "veto proof", but the whole idea of picking up a significant majority in the Senate--a majority big enough to make it possible to break filibusters--is an interesting possibility.

Regime Uncertainty

Regime Uncertainty? What does the term mean? On the most general level: the absence of the rule of law. The presence of arbitrary political fiat. Regulated Irregularity. A spill of Kafka (see also Josef K. - Under Arrest) into the real world.

Robert Higgs explains the fundamental issue:

To bring about this essential revival of investment, the government needs to put an end to actions that threaten investors’ returns and create uncertainty that paralyzes their undertaking of new long-term projects. Gigantic measures such as the recently enacted health-care legislation and the financial-reform law, which entail hundreds of new regulations whose specific content, enforcement, and costs are impossible to forecast with confidence, contribute to “regime uncertainty” and thereby encourage investors to hold large cash balances or to park their funds in short-term, low-yield, less risky securities. Such investments cannot support genuine recovery and sustained long-run growth.

In sum, our crying need at present is for a robust revival of private long-term investment. Consumption-oriented government “stimulus” programs, at best, only ensure a protracted period of economic stagnation.

S.M. Oliva provides us with a case in point:

With a quarter-century in the industry, Patricia G. Satterfield has long recognized that regulation of banks is a subjective practice. But the president and CEO of the Virginia Association of Community Banks says the current regulatory environment is the most difficult and “over-reaching” of her career.

“Banks are receiving uncertain and mixed messages in the examination process. They don’t know what to expect,” she said. “What was once A-OK is no longer A-OK, but no one knows that until after the examination.”

...

The definition of regulation is “to make regular,” yet most of what the government touts as regulation is just the opposite. The prevailing model of “regulation” since the Progressive Era has been to make things irregular and subject to the subjective discretion of government officials — usually unelected, extra-constitutional agencies. This is not a model of regulation at all, but really a perverse category of patents. While we generally associate patents with creation rights over literature and inventions, the patent power applies to a wide range of state activities designed to monopolize (or cartelize) private industry.

...

True regulation only comes from a decentralized market process, where standards can develop through trial-and-error. Government patent-holders act primarily to defend and expand the scope of their patents. Any “regulation” that derives from this centralization process is purely incidental.

Tilting At Oil Rigs

Three paragraphs can set the mind whirling:

Just before dawn, the four campaigners used three high-speed inflatable boats to evade the Danish navy before clambering on to the British-owned rig and slinging mountaineering-type platforms beneath it about 15 metres above the sea. The raid forced the Edinburgh-based oil exploration firm Cairn Energy to suspend drilling, escalating tensions between the Greenlandic government and Greenpeace.

Kuupik Kleist, the government's socialist prime minister, denounced the campaigners' actions, claiming they were damaging the economy of the country, now largely independent from Denmark, and ignoring the strict environmental and safety regulations Greenland had imposed on oil companies. "This is clearly an illegal act, ignoring the rules of democracy," he said in a statement.

"The cabinet regards Greenpeace's action as very serious and an illegal attack on the country's constitutional rights. It is worrying that Greenpeace, in their hunt for media exposure, violate security rules made to protect human lives and the environment."

Is it all that hard to evade the Danish Navy? Are high speed inflatable boats environmentally friendly? How do four suspended trespassers cause an oil rig to shut down? Aren’t socialists and Greenpeacers chums? Would those environmental regulations be in place if not for environmentalists like Greenpeace? Are there really ANY rules in a democracy? Can the cabinet give a believable example of a legal attack? Can it explain to me how a COUNTRY has constitutional rights?!?

I think I’ll go ask the cabinet in the kitchen. Maybe it can explain all this to me.

A society that chooses between capitalism and socialism does not choose between two social systems; it chooses between social cooperation and the disintegration of society. – Ludwig von Mises

Hooliganomics

If you love ...

your country and its people, beware the broken window fallacy:

See also my post Ce qu'on voit, et ce qu'on ne voit pas (Frédéric Bastiat). 

FMA Slams AMA Which Is A-OK With Me

Physicians of the Florida Medical Association recently sent a message on health care reform to America and the AMA: The FMA has "no confidence" in "the ability of the AMA leadership to effectively protect the Profession of Medicine in America". AMA leadership aided politicians with dark of night votes -- overcoming bipartisan opposition of a bill that had been rejected by the American people. The AMA provided political cover for a government and corporate takeover of medicine that breaks the trust between patients and doctors -- a betrayal of the finest medical care in the history of the world. Americans cannot trust the AMA leadership on health care at this time.

In related acronymous news, the AAPS has filed suit against Obamacare.

Ron Paul in California

“So here I am, introducing maybe the only American statesman we have left.” – John Dennis

All Hail The Aqua Buddha

Rand Paul leads by 15 points in the latest poll from Survey USA.

The article has a link to the poll with crosstabs, but this is good news. In July, he was up by 8 points, so he's almost doubled his lead.  

Kudos to Paul for remembering that "it's the economy, stupid!" thus making Rolling Stone's foul mouthed Matt Taibbi waste a trip to Kentucky.

Fritz Wunderlich

Fritz Wunderlich (1930 - 1966) was a German lyric tenor, born and brought up in Kusel, 30 km north-west of Kaiserslautern.

Never out of touch with his roots, Fritz Wunderlich found time to compose and record a song about his hometown Kusel.

Aiken GOP Censures Graham

Yeah, I’m likin’ my hometown just a wee bit more today:

The Aiken County Republican Party has approved a formal censure of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
The party's executive committee took the action Thursday, joining a handful of other county parties, including Greenville's GOP.

Committee member Pete Seaha, who also is the Aiken County Tea Party chairman, wrote the resolution and introduced it at the meeting. The resolution states in part that Graham won't be invited to any party meetings or events.