MICHAEL YON: Afghan Quicksand Awaits Obama. Some further thoughts from Jules Crittenden. Quicksand is only dangerous if you’re stupid. Otherwise, it’s just messy.
Archive for 2008
November 11, 2008
ROGER SIMON: Make Steve Jobs CEO of General Motors.
HAPPY VETERANS’ DAY: Some thoughts from Marc Danziger.
UPDATE: A reader emails:
I’m a long-time reader and active duty Army infantryman who’s been to Iraq twice…
So today is Veteran’s Day… all day on many cable TV channels they’ll be showing classics like “The Longest Day”, “Patton”, and “A Bridge Too Far”… It’s a shame they don’t make ’em like this anymore. When Hollywood deigns to make a war flick, it usually goes for the squad- or platoon-sized navel-gazer, instead of for the cast of thousands epic that communicates the enormous scope of any military effort, in which even Sean Connery can get cast as a machinegunner with only 10 minutes of screen time.
Methinks with a Democrat back in office, patriotism and Hollywood will re-discover each other. While it may be too soon to do the War on Terror justice (Blackhawk Down wasn’t made until 8 years after the fact), here’s hoping we see Bruce Willis, Russell Crowe, Gerard Baker, and/or Daniel Craig in something soon that celebrates the Western military tradition in the 20th or 21st Century.
Sort of sad that three out of four of those tough guys aren’t even American…
Yeah.
HMM: Obama’s Assault Weapons Ban plan disappears down the memory hole. So long as it stays there, that’s fine . . . .
IF YOU LOVE WIND AND SOLAR POWER, you’d better at least like building transmission lines.
LET’S NOT REPEAT THIS MISTAKE: Tax Rates During the Great Depression.
GAY-RIGHTS PROTESTERS target another church. More background here. This strategy seems quite unwise.
MATT WELCH: “Remember when Arnold Schwarzenegger was a Milton Friedman-quoting fiscal conservative out to clean up the irresponsible budgets of Singapore Gray Davis? Ah, memories.”
BAILOUT JUNKIES: “There really is no rationale, after we depart from the financial sector, for picking and choosing among the pleaders. They might as well all line up.”
ERIC SCHEIE: “I’d hate to think all this fuss is over a desire for official state imprimatur, but I worry that it is. Like almost everything else (soon including the auto industry), marriage is seen as something you get from the government. Maybe it would be better to see it as something that the government cannot interfere with, the way genuine rights are.” I’d like that too. But we’re a long way from that point, I’m afraid.
SHRUM TO FRUM: “Make my decade.”
November 10, 2008
MICHAEL SILENCE: Feinstein wants to make free trade a crime. “For crying out loud. Is it crap like this that the new Congress is going to focus on? Boy, talk about elitism.”
OBAMA-BACKER ANN ALTHOUSE on The New York Times’ coverage of Jamie Gorelick: “Unbelievably ponderous baggage! Oh, but conservatives have attacked her. Does that somehow cancel the baggage? A better question: Why haven’t liberals attacked her?”
BUSH MEETS OBAMA: They all actually look happy. Well, heck. Obama’s glad to be President, and Bush is glad to leave. As I noted a while ago, Bush didn’t seem very happy to be President even before 9/11.
UPDATE: Reader John Steakley emails:
As John Adams thought of the First George, President-elect Obama may say, “Methought I heard him think, ‘Ay! I am fairly out and you are fairly in! See which of us will be the happiest!’ “
Heh. Indeed.
RICHARD LUGAR for Secretary of State? I don’t know if it’s true. But hey, he’d be better than John Kerry . . . .
HOW TO stop the hate.
ADVICE FOR SARAH PALIN: “Why on earth would you want to be VP when you could be a TV rock star making 10 million a year, or who knows, with her own line of make up, outdoor gear, snowmobile related products (for Todd), maybe much more. . . . Besides, she is a lock as a media star and a presidential run would be a long shot, unless Obama is a complete disaster.”
ADDITIONAL FUNDING for the Bussard polywell fusion reactor. I had missed this.
PRICE-GOUGING ALERT: Corporate Greed Runs Amok. “When will Henry Waxman hold hearings?”
POWER LINE: What’s happening in Minnesota?
JERRY POURNELLE on Obama: “I would be thrilled to have a real two party system in which I was not afraid to have either party in power. Obama has the power to make that happen, presuming that he can survive the ravenous wolves who are Democratic committee chairmen in Congress.” Well, that’s why he hired Rahm Emanuel . . . .
SO I GUESS THE OBAMA VICTORY WASN’T A TRIUMPH FOR LATTE LIBERALISM AFTER ALL: Starbucks 4th-quarter profit falls 97 percent.
UPDATE: Reader Jeff Dobbs writes:
Yes, that’s obvious in hindsight. All the latte-liberals cut their Stabucks intake to send that money to Obama.
The real question is, will Obama let them go back to spending money at Starbucks — or, once in office, will he continue to ask them to donate to His Cause, never again to return to, what is, let’s face it, just the transient trappings of capitalist self-indulgence.
“Just remember that if you purchase that cup of coffee, the taste will be bitter as you consider what that money could have done to help Barack Obama change the world.”
Heh.
JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: Is Obama Planning a Surprise Tax Hike? “So we could end up with a top rate of 45 percent, higher than the top rate during the Clinton years. And up it goes.” (Via TaxProf).