Welcome, dear reader, to the most intense nightly read in the ‘sphere… The Nightly Ramble….
[1]A busy Wednesday, and a new month. Let’s get to it.
- George Will questions the qualifications [2]of Sarah Palin? That’s OK, I’ve long since started to question the sanity of George Will. That boy needs to come out from behind the keyboard for a while. Go watch a few ball games, George.
- I commented on the Gwen Ifil bit [3]earlier today. An added thouht; What amazes me is that there was ever any question, …including among the McCain campaign…. that a PBS wonk wouldn’t be left-leaning. Far as I know, that’s a situation we have never seen since their very first tax- funded broadcast.
- I see the Senate [4]has now started taking up the mater of the so-called ‘bailout bill’. I suppose that given the upturn yesterday in the markets there will be some question from some corners if the bailout is even needed. I think this is a little narrow in the vision department, making a broadband economic judgement on the sole basis of the DJIA is never wise.
- I see at least one Democrat [5]is starting to wake up to reality.
Artur Davis of Alabama issued the following statement to “Hannity & Colmes”:”Like a lot of my Democratic colleagues I was too slow to appreciate the recklessness of Fannie and Freddie. I defended their efforts to encourage affordable homeownership when in retrospect I should have heeded the concerns raised by their regulator in 2004. Frankly, I wish my Democratic colleagues would admit when it comes to Fannie and Freddie, we were wrong. By the way, I wish my Republican colleagues would admit that they missed the early warning signs, that Wall Street deregulation was overheating the securities market and promoting dangerously lax lending practices. When it comes to the debacle in our capital markets, there is much blame to go around for both sides.”
Wel, I said ‘starting’. He’s not quite awake yet. No, there isn’t a lot of blame to go around. This is a failure of socialism, and the Democrat party that embraced it and then defended it when others were calling for caution.
- Is a bailout needed? I’m still torn on this one, folks. Understand; I still see this as a simple moral issue; “You broke it, you fix it”. Thats a position I’ve taken some serious heat for from both sides. My discomoft with the bailout idea now is that I’m not convinced given the current makeup of the government… that is to say, liberal dominated… that the government can ever get through this without mucking it up still further. For all the screaming and bitching about oversight on the thing, you’d think someone would have noted that we’re bailing out Citi, who just unloaded $1MUSD on LaRaza [6]. Will anyone in Congress dare mention this?
- The shift to the Senate seems to me a ploy to get around the objections to he huge mountain of socialistic crap the Democrats wanted to add to the bill that was defeated in the House the other day. My sense is that this thing will pass, eventually, and will be somewhat smaller in overall size. That being a good or bad thing will in the end depend outright on how much beyond a simple infusion of cash we’re talking about. That comes down to the partisan BS we’re seeing. To that point, Extreme Mortman [7]passes on WaPo comments [8]on that bailout vote:
Still, Pelosi deserves no praise for her leadership on Monday. Even stipulating that we are in the closing weeks of one of the most important political campaigns in a generation, her inability to rise above the tendency to score political points was inexcusable. Monday’s vote was a moment to set aside those instincts and talk about the package as an example of Washington’s ability to work cooperatively in a time of crisis.
Ain’t it real. The Republicans have been demonstrating their ability to work across the isle for a generation and longer.As a result we as a nation have also tilted left. The campaign by the Republicans has turned out to be very beneficial to the left. Yet, the Democrats have gone hyper-partisan at every turn. It’s about time the Republicans stopped waving the white flag at these people and started raising the battle flag, instead. Are you listening John McCain? It’s clear this ‘reaching out’ isn’t winning Democrat party hearts and minds. On the contrary, they see it like any other enemy would; as a weakness to exploit.
- Which reminds me of a similar discussion on a different topic… Me at OTB this morning [9], on the subject of Afghanistan:
An overview of history… both recent and ancient, reports exactly that; The only way to maintain country and empire and the safety and prosperity of the people within it, is to maintain the ability to repel violence, violently. Hopefully, though not always, the mere threat of violence is enough to the task.It also suggests what happens to those who forget, or by intent try to ignore that equation. You may find it distatseful, but it exists, and is in force, and unless you can overcome Human nature all around the globe, every individual, all at the same time, (Highly improbable) it always WILL be in force.
Can’t wait to hear the outraged howls as they try to argue against something so obviously true. But it strikes me that the situation with our freinds across the isle is quite similar, if somewhat less violent. Something in human nature there is that requires a show of force to get things done… and Republicans have been particularly remiss in that area.
- I see Fox, tis morning has taken up the cry of ‘Republicans tried to fix this mess back in ’04’. They were shoing You Tube caps of C-Span, where one after another the Democrats tried to tell us there was nothing wrong. The same vids [10]I’ve shown you in recent days. It’s a good thing, particularly given that this election is now about the economy, and fitness to lead it. But I wonder as I have in the past, if mere facts are enough to sway the electorate, given that support for the people responsible for this mess… Democrats… was never based on fact in the first place.
- The CBC is issuing an apology for that Pailin thing, as I mentioned yesteray. Here’s a better link for it. [11] And forget it, Surber [12]. I have great respect for you, but I gotta tell ya.. in my read, you wouldn’t last ten minutes in that looney bin..
- Oh.. and the CBS interview with Sarah Palin? Palin need not worry about messing that up much. Couric’s ratings are down so far [13], even with Palin being the subject, nobody will notice. At some point, CBS is going to toss the towel in. My guess is it’ll be right after the election, regardless who wins.
- When the Chinese pet food scandal broke a while ago, I wondered publicly how long it would be before it broke into human terms. It did that there, domestically, a few weeks back, and was nearly without note here in the ‘States. But it’s still going on over there [14]. One aspect I’ve not seen touched, though is the trust level in Chinese products is most certainly taking a hit world-wide. And that kind of damage lasts, too. In my own case, one of or cats is now starting to show signs of kidney failure. she’s what, 13 or 14, so I guess under normal conditions, you could consider this to be a matter of mere age. But with so many pets succumbing to Chinese pet food, all with Kidney failure and all related directl to Melamine poisoning in the food, I can’t help but consider the food as part of the issue. It’s a matter of trust, and I suppose it’s going to take a while to rebuild that trust. And that’s just my cat. Think about the ramifications of trust in Human terms.
- Speaking of trust, there’s massive vote fraud happening in Ohio as we speak [15]. And in St. Louis [16]. ACORN at the heart of both, and let’s remember that Obama is connected directly to ACORN. Ho-hum. Nothing to see here, citizen. Move along.
[17]The house of Bit is still planning on a fall camping run on the 11th. Destination is still TBD, but the lean is toward Lake Erie State Park, near Dunkirk NY.- Bitsblog readers, meet Michelle Allen. Yep, there’s no mistake, here. Seems to me that this business [18]isn’t so very far out of line with Cow, of the ‘Cow and Chicken’ cartoons. Except for peeing on the neighbor’s frott porch. Or, maybe not. Anyway… A 30 year old WOMAN, though? Yikes. Imagine the singles bar where she hangs out. I’m sorry, man… but this ummmmm girl… (That’s a woman?) …put her in a football lineman’s uniform and line her up… I tell you, would give Bruce Smith in his heyday, second thoughts.
- What is it with all these Islamic radicals dying of kidney failure [19]? Almost like someone with the power to do such things was a little annoyed. Hmmm.