Friday, October 31, 2008

Congress

I'm not a mike castle fan. He votes to take my guns away, raise my taxes, he keeps going on this ridiculous quest to have the federal government pay for embryonic stem cell research and in my opinion he is destroying the Delaware republican party. I was really hoping that there would be a decent, preferably pro-life democrat up this year but they have me Karen Hartley-Nagel. After reading her positions online and seeing her speak I don't think I can bring myself to vote for her. As such, I'm throwing my lot in with the libertarians. A friend of mine recommended I take a look at Mark Anthony Parks and I feel confident that he is the best man for the job. If you have any policy questions that you don't feel are addressed in enough detail on his website I can attest that he gets back to e-mails pretty quickly so it isn't too late.

http://www.markparks2008.com/

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Donald Draper, Matt Denn and Mickey Mouse

Did anyone else see the latest episode of Mad Men? I was blown away by the first season but I think this season is drifting away from the format that made season 1 so badass. What the hell was Don Draper doing having sex with some hippy in Los Angeles? Why is there some gay European walking around Sterling Cooper? I don't need this show to get all preachy on me, I just want to see more of the alcohalic New York business work of the late 50s/early 60s.

I was walking around the UD football game this weekend handing out Charlie Copeland literature. One woman was unloading stuff from her car when she heard my friend and I talking with another group of people. When she heard Charlie's name she spun around and walked tword us. She said she has worked with Matt Denn at the Insurance Commissioner's office for the last 4 years and is ready to do anything she can to help Charlie win. This is not the first time we have gotten a similar response out of people who have been working with Denn in Dover. We gave her a sticker and she gave us her e-mail. I really hope more people get a chance to meet Matt Denn before the election.

And just in case you missed it, Mickey Mouse is now registered to vote in Florida. God Bless ACORN.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Thursday, August 28, 2008

There is a mouse in my house.

A kitten of mine was pawing at the door to a closet so I let her in and she started chasing after a little mouse. I tried to hold back the kitten with one hand a scoop up the mouse with the other but I failed and it ran off. The kitten was then unable to track down the mouse. I hope there isn't the batted around dead body of a mouse outside one of my sisters' doors tomorrow morning.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Has he really picked yet?

Not that I've given it too much though, but what possible advantage is there to waiting this long? By now potential candidates have built up followings that are about to be disappointed, home states and districts have gotten excited. I see opportunity cost in this play and no gain.

I don't think Obama has made up his mind yet.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Who is this T. Boone Pickens Cat?

I saw some other bloggers with links to his energy plan and had seen a few adds on TV but never really paid any attention to him. I always planned on looking into this later and I've had a little time and was he just met with both Barak Obama and John McCain.

I must say, I am skeptical.

I like the idea of wind farms in the Midwest and I really like the notion of not relying on foreign countries for our energy needs. But this veers toward socialism. The premise of Pickens Plan is that we'll spend around $1 Billion in tax money to fund wind farm and then use the natural gas we usually expend to get energy in many cities and use that for transportation. It is the $1 Billion that bothers me.

The reason that private companies didn't already build windmills all across the US (even with the already existing generous government subsidies) is that they're just not worth it. Spending $1 Billion to drop what? 20% of our demand for foreign oil? I think thats a bad deal.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

The New Democratic Party Platform - Are They Bitter Or Do They Just Like Losing Elections?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/09/democrats-debate-party-platform/

The dems restructured their party platform to set themselves further away from the majority opinion on two of my favorite domestic issues - guns and abortion.

On the guns side the dems promised to give the assault weapons ban another go - while I admit naming it the "assault weapons ban" did buy them some traction in the past the bill is widely (rightly, in my opinion) viewed as a failure and with the power and popularity gun groups the AWB is dead for good. All this will do is make things hard on western democrats who have (in many cases successfully) been working to changing the image of the democratic party as anti-gun.

On the abortion front the dems removed the "rare" from the "safe, legal and rare" bit. What idiots! What ground will this possibly gain you? Will planned parenthood write the DNC a slightly bigger check this year? The opinion of the country has shifted toward a generally pro-life stance. In areas like late-term abortion and the use of abortion as birth-control the nation is solidly opposed. Even people who don't want Roe v. Wade overturned say it would be nice to see fewer abortions every year. The democrats have increasing numbers of pro-life politicians - look at Senator Casey out of PA.

Why would a party go about alienating America like this? There is no benefit here - people who want to ban guns and the few strange people who think we should aim for more abortions in this country already support the democratic party. What the hell are these people thinking? With fumbles like this I am feeling more and more optimistic about the republicans in the fall.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The X-Files Movie

==Minor Spoiler Alert==

I'm a big fan of the X-Files but the movie was sub par. The movie in no way touched on the linear plot and instead was just like a stand alone episode that happened to be 2 hours long, and not even a good episode. As long as it was, the film wasn't long enough to sufficiently explain the back story to many elements of the plot and was rather confusing. And the island ending was way out of canon.

If you're an X-Files junkie you have to see it because, you know....you have to. If you're not it probably isn't worth your time.

And apparently Xzibit was in it. Who knew?

Friday, July 25, 2008

Adgate

I think both Carney and Markel are equally silly and you should all just vote for Bill Lee. Carney took money intended for the Delaware Democratic party and used it for his gubernatorial primary, Markel too money intended for a Treasury race and used it for his gubernatorial primary.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Delaware 4th. Senate District

For now, I like John Clatworthy for the 4th.

John is good guy, but I suspect the other 2 fellows are just as nice. John has been a foot soldier for the party even when the party was unpopular and has never been ashamed of his conservatism. John has a wonderful business resume and takes principled, unwaivering stances on issues that are important to me.

The other two fellows are probably nice guys and probably even good republicans, but John has put the time in and with no filed opponent in the fall, I feel that we should send a true conservative from the 4th.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

We Give Delaware Tax Money to Whom?

http://budget.delaware.gov/fy2009/operating/09opbudbill.pdf

Check out page 108 item 7.

That's right. Planned Parenthood.

I'll probably give the budget a more thorough look later but that is what jumped out at me first.


And for the record, yes, I agree with everyone else that Ruth Ann is a bitch for vetoing the Eminent Domain law.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Back from vacation...

...and fuck Zimbabwe

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7467990.stm

The MDC has dropped out of the presidential race, handing it to Mugabe. At first I was very disappointed and thought Mr. Tsvangirai a coward for dropping out. (if the future of your nation is at stake, along with the lives of tens of millions of people and you have to put your life on the line to secure that future then you put your life on the line or step down to someone who will) Then a friend of mine brought up a good tactical thought. At this point everyone knows the election was a farce and support for the MDC is pretty much universal. Had the poll continued and (of course) the ruling regime won, all the Mugabe apologists out there would have been able to claim that Mugabe won a "free and fair" election. I hope it was with this thought in mind Mr. Tsvangirai dropped out.

I can't wait for the books on this election to come out.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Abortion is complicated

Not a huge fan of Fox News but check out this story from the UK. Nothing gory, I promise, it even has a happy ending.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,363434,00.html

Man that was a fun Primary!

No matter who you were backing you have to admit – that was pretty awesome. But now to the business end – Conservatives – are you feeling lucky?

The Democratic party had two options; a moderate liberal and a rather extremist liberal. If they had gone with Hillary they would have had a better shot at the 2008 election, the 2012 election and so on but they would have advanced the leftist agenda less. Barack’s Socialism will be unpopular and if he somehow manages to capture the 2008 election he will be packing his bags by 2012, but how much damage can he get done by then?

Barack will play poorly in the polls and if elected will pave the way for a very conservative president in 2012 (it takes a Carter to get a Reagan) but in those 4 years a lot could happen.

So, in the long run are we better off with the moderation of McCain right now or would we be better off with Reagan part II trying to undue 4 years of Socialism in 2012?

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Shopping for a Third Party Candidate in 08 – Part II

As was expressed here, I am interested in the delicate act of protest voting and wanted to advise all of my friends on the right who could not bring themselves to vote for John McCain. Of the candidates that have a shot in this election John McCain is by far the least bad, I support him and think there are plenty of reasons you should too. If McCain is either clearly going to win or clearly going to lose Delaware and my presidential vote wouldn’t make a difference anyway I may vote third party. Out of curiosity I also wanted to see who else was out there. Right now, this is the field;

Libertarians – The most promising place for my vote right now, the Libertarians emerged from their convention having nominated a Barr/Root ticket. I really like the looks of Barr and I’m glad to see that Root has clearly specified he does not believe abortion is a federal issue. I’d still like to know more about Barr, particularly where he stands on illegal immigration but he has a pretty solid record from Congress. Right now this is probably where my protest vote is going.

Constitutionalists – Nominated a fellow named Chuck Baldwin. Don’t know too much about Chuck but it looks like he would be a solid anti-illegal immigration, lower-taxes, shrink the government vote if Barr doesn’t pan out for some reason.

Prohibitionists – When you’ve finally had enough of politics. Not sure if they’ll be on the ballot in Delaware.

Ralph Nader – got 2,000 votes from DE in 2004, he’ll probably be on the ballot again this year.

Greens – seem set to nominate Cynthia McKinney, she may very well be to the left of Arden.

Mike Gravel! – Alas, the dream has died. After finishing fourth at the Libertarian National Convention Gravel does not appear to be further pursuing a presidential run.

There are a couple other Third Parties but it is unlikely they will make it onto the ballot in Delaware. Nationwide, if you’ve got a problem with McCain send a clear message to Republican leadership with a vote for Barr or Baldwin.

Friday, May 30, 2008

This is Obscene

http://www.citizenlink.org/clspecialalert/A000007545.cfm

I'm not even sure what to file this under, maybe "Gay Marriage"? Yeah, thats it, from now on there will be a "Gay Marriage" label.

Shame on you Colorado.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Sunday, May 25, 2008

What would I need if my country were ravaged by a deadly cyclone?

Condoms.

Lots and lots of condoms.

In fact, I would need about 2 condoms for every 1 person that died and I would need them before water, food, medical care and shelter had been taken care of. And throw in some abortifacient pills while you're at it.

The UN, in its infinite wisdom decided that they should use their limited resources to transport hundreds of thousands of condoms and abortifacient pills to Burma before they worried about other trivial needs like, say, water. The UN is a politicized piece of shit that should be partially defunded for this stunt. Where is John Bolton when we need him?

http://newsblaze.com/story/20080523122700krzy.nb/newsblaze/WORLDNEW/World-News.html

Saturday, May 17, 2008

California Marriage Overturning

In this nation, there is a thin line between Constitutional Democracy and a 9-man dictatorship. On May 15th, California stepped over that line.

Hilary has taken the lead in the popular vote

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_vote_count.html

At this rate, even if she loses the nomination she will have gotten the most votes.

Monday, May 12, 2008

What exactly is happening in Beirut?

Lebanon has been a pretty tense place after Israel destroyed the credibility of the pro-American government and solidified Hezbollah as the dominant force in the country, but last week has been tenser than most. Hezbollah seized control of half of the capital city from its pro-American Sunni political rivals (they all have militias) and the fighting is spreading, on May 11th Hezbollah complied with army demands and withdrew from the areas they had seized.

The sporadic fighting through out the rest of Lebanon is probably motivated be multiple factors and doesn't have all that much to do with the central government vs. Hezbollah conflict. What is disturbing was the speed with which Hezbollah was able to take over, I can not stress this enough, half of Beirut without much effective opposition from the other political parties. What is highly confusing is why Hezbollah bowed to the demands of the army - the army would be no match against Hezbollah - why should they let themselves be pushed around?

Best guess is that Hezbollah knows it will likely eventually dominate the political infrastructure of Lebanon and wants to inherit an intact state. I am curious to see how this will turn out. I think to whatever extent possible we should help out the Lebanese army in this, throw em a couple helicopters or something.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Impression of the 2008 Delaware Republican Convention

Over all, not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

-Terry Strine had to go and he did
-There will be no real primary in September
-I am really really excited about the possibility of Charlie Copeland for Lt. Governor
-I think we have a good shot at picking up the Insurance Commissioner spot
-Bill Lee for Governor: Because I told you so

I realize much in Delaware state-wide politics will depend on trends in nation-wide politics but I think the Delaware GOP retardedly managed to do most of what they could to make things go well in the fall. I think we have a strong candidate for Insurance Commissioner (an open seat with 3 democrats fighting each other for their nomination) which is important because in 8 years the Insurance Commissioner will probably advance to something else. Bill Lee stands a legitimate chance at governor and the state would be better for it. Finally, I can not stress how excited I am about Copeland. We all have liberal friends who listen to us from time to time, if you think any of them are capable for voting for 1 republican this fall, ask them to vote for Charlie Copeland.

Friday, May 2, 2008

New Idea for a Running Topic

I know a fair bit about guns + I know a fair bit about International Relation = combine the two.


I'm going to analyze trends in the world arms market or pictures from the news and take a guess at any clues they may be revealing


To start it out - I have an antique British rifle from the Second World War, it fires a rather rare, often expensive bullet called a .303. Recently there has been a veritable flood of surplus .303 rounds coming out of Pakistan. Pakistan picked up a bunch of the same type of rifle I have after the Second World War and still issues them to their reserve troops in case things ever get really bad against India.

The fact that Pakistan is willing to sell off their last line of defense for western cash only has 3 possible explanations; 1. They're feeling confident they won't fight an all-out war with India, 2. They've got better, newer weapons or 3. They really really want western cash. I'm putting my money on option number 1 - I think the Pakistanis have made this move because they're feeling confident that an all out war with India (where reservists armed with these old guns would fight) is not going to happen any time soon.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Italy - Vanguard of a New European Renaissance?

I have always been fond of Italy's interaction with the European Union. Take this example; after a sharp rise in crime by recent immigrants culminating in the brutal beating, rape and murder of the wife of the commander of the Italian Navy's mine sweeping squadron by a Gypsy, Italy moved to expel all Immigrants who posed a threat to the nation. The EU said Italy couldn't do that because those people were EU citizens. Italy told the European Union where it could stick its objections. The EU realized it had no real enforcement mechanisms.

Italy has recently re-elected Silvio Berlusconi and a recent survey has showed that 70% of Italy's gynecologists now refuse to perform abortions.

Europe, with Italy at the forefront seems to be moving in a more conservative direction at a healthy pace. Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and now Silvio Berlusconi is back? And the Tories are expected to take back the UK - if only they'd start having kids again!

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/105266.php

Friday, April 25, 2008

Canadian TV Sucks and Why Anyone Should Care

After being thoroughly disappointed by awesome potential of The Border I decided to check out some other current Canadian TV shows and they all seem to have had the entertainment sucked right out of them by Political Correctness. I was watching another CBC show called Little Mosque on the Prairie and it blew. It was scene after scene of wise, tolerant Muslims putting up with blundering bigoted white people stupidly misinterpreting everything they do and suspecting them of terrorism. You can practically feel the Minister of Multiculturalism and Citizenship nudging you in the ribbs going; "see, see, they're not terrorists, stop being such a racist".

This heavy handed brand of programming is patronizing, dangerous and in no way productive. In my opinion, one of the best movies for the empowerment of women was Aliens. In the multi-million dollar Sci-Fi classic Aliens the character Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) takes command of a squad of Marines because she is the best qualified to do so in that situation. There is no long, dramatic discussion about it, there is no cliché redneck who opposes the idea out of bigotry and later realizes the fault of his position when the woman/minority ends up saving him. People look to the culture to guide them and this was the way it ought to be. On a similar note, the most empowering moments for Sikhs was in the Sopranos when one of the mechanics in the garage was a turban-wearing Sikh and no one mentions it, they just talk to him about the car. Folks will never react well to these patronizing, overly sensitive, contrived portrayals of life - if you want to send a normalizing message about Muslims in Canada just portray them as normal people.

As long as Canadian TV continues to suck civil, honest discussion of issues on the CBC will be hampered, the CBC (controlled by the Canadian government) will have a lower ability to impact on society and Canadians will continue to turn to the US to be entertained.

On a more positive note Irish TV still seems pretty decent - check out this clip from The Panel. I love their attempt at American accents.

Friday, April 11, 2008

What do you do with a Generation of Young Men without Fathers who have grown up Idolizing Womanizing Criminals?

Have them watch Ax Men....

The History Channel put on a new show where they just follow some guys in Oregon around during the logging season and it may be the most positive thing going on in American culture right now. This is a picture of rough, honest men in lean times working in a rough yet rewarding profession with no margin for bullshit. And the views are just down right beautiful - this show takes place in the towering, still wild Cascade Mountains and with men who still fight for their wages and are prepared to fight for anything else dear to them. These men embody the American spirit which has sulked away from much of our cities and suburbs.

So why do I think a show embracing this type of masculinity is so great? Keep in mind, American manlyness (which has been in decline for many years) has positive virtues, virtues which I believe greatly benefit this country - crime and dishonesty are unmanly, running out on your wife and kids is unmanly, being economically unproductive is unmanly, allowing the government to take away an inch of your freedom is unmanly, being a 30 year old man living in your mother's basement is decidedly unmanly (the so-called "child-man").

The best cost-free move our government could make right now would be to put 1 episode of this show on in ever 8th grade civics class - what womanizing rap star could hold a light to these men?


If you can, check out an episode. (And if you are a man, just try to tell me you didn't want to be a lumberjack afterward. )

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Dg-eiDT5EeM&feature=related

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Shopping for a Third Party Candidate in 08 - Part I.

There are only really 3 people who have a chance at claiming our nation's presidency, and of those people John McCain is far and away the best, I pray he wins and I'll probably be voting for him.

I say probably because if it looks like McCain is either clearly going to win, or clearly not going to win Delaware I'm going to throw up the protest vote. I like McCain but I am weary of him on some issues, particularly illegal immigration and I think it is not illogical to fear that McCain could shift the Republican party a few notches to the left. But protest voting is tricky - people have to understand that it is protest.

Some of my more conservative friends have suggested that we all need to vote for the democrats in 2008 to show the Republican party that we're not happy with their moderate candidates. I think that's silly - how do we expect the Republican party is going to get that message? Are they going to look at a Hillary win and say "Wow! The conservative voter is disgruntled with us and voted for the opposition out of spite, we'd better select more conservative candidates"? No, they're going to say "Wow! People really like Hillary".



I did a little shopping (mind you, it was on wikipedia) to look for a third party candidate that would send the message I want to send ("hey Republican party, I'm still open to voting for you but in the future put up someone who is a little more libertarian and will enforce our immigration laws") and I think I found a decent one. Out of the Libertarian Party we have Wayne Allyn Root - reduced government spending, increased personal liberties and responsibilities, strong international stance though weak on social issues like abortion.

There are also a few other decent candidates up for the Libertarian primary, as well as up for the Constitution Party and as a last option I've got the Prohibition Party. Under no circumstances will I be voting for either of the democrats or any of the Greens, Communists or Socialists.



So to recap - of the realistic options on the table I'm backing McCain and will only vote third party if the margins are far enough away that a vote for McCain will be pointless. If you plan on a protest vote against McCain for motivations similar to mine I ask that rather than just voting for the dem you vote for a candidate like Root who will send a relatively clear and productive message to the GOP.



On a related note - Mike Gravel is running for the Libertarian Party's nomination, and while that isn't funny his campaign ad is - http://youtube.com/watch?v=bA2LgJviH9w
I hope all the crazies vote for him

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

I was really hoping stuff like this would wait until after the democratic primary

Hillary was caught clearly, clearly lying about her experiences in Yugoslavia but I’m not sure it will damage her campaign all that much. While this will invariably do a little long term damage to her I think she’ll still take PA and I think if Obama’s campaign sputters toward the end (which it very well might) she still has a good shot at the nomination.


BTW, check out the video, just playing this over and over again on TV would be a slam dunk campaign, I hope Giuliani challenges her in NY and uses it.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=8BfNqhV5hg4

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Obama's "Dean Scream"?

Say Howard Dean and most Americans will think back to that high-pitched "YeaAHah!!!" he boomed for all of West Des Moines, and indeed, the world, to hear. That was defiantly the moment his chance at the Democratic Nomination took a dive, but I don't believe that was the reason.

People didn't really like Dean all that much; his positions on many areas were bordering on communism, his supporters were creepy and potentially unreliable, he wanted to make national fights out of local issues, he probably wasn't all that viable in a race against a determined Republican president, he didn't know much about international relations and he came off as a bit of a jerk to a lot of people. Wow that was a long sentence, but those were the real, complex reasons behind Dean's downfall. The scream was just the moment, something undeniably tangible that people could easily point to rather than explain all those other reasons that Dean didn't sit well in their guts.

Obama gave a pretty good speech this week, maybe even a great speech. It told us what we should all already know - some ethnic groups in America don't get along all that well and there are sometimes legitimate reasons behind this ill will. Mr. Obama doesn't really have any particular solution for this problem but never the less honestly talking about race in America doesn't hurt anything. So why are people, particularly democrats, reacting to this speech badly? Some will say its racism but those people are silly, any objective analysis says Obama's racial makeup has decidedly aided his campaign. I think this was Obama's Dean Scream Moment.

Obama is in many ways a Democratic candidate flawed in the same ways (though not to the same extent) as Dean was. He has an army of young volunteers who while enthusiastic are often not only poorly informed but also not registered to vote and will probably be made mince meat of by the efficient RNC cadres. His positions are not just left of center, economically they're left of left of left. He has no foreign policy experience. He too is looking to make federal issues out of state decisions. Above all else the Obama campaign of propelled by a naive optimism that more and more democratic leaders are seeing could be less effective than the tried and true Clinton machine.

I thought Obama's speech was at worst empty rhetoric, certainly there was noting bad about it but this opinion is not shared by many influential democratic bellwethers.

After February 4th there was a long stretch when all that was in the news was this unprobable swath of Obama victories which built momentum and enthusiasm. But that is over now, the voters and the Democratic party have a month and a half to sit back and as if they really want a state senator from south Chicago to be running the most powerful nation mankind has ever seen.

Obama is still in this, but after this speech I predict a chilling effect. I think donations will slow, the media will be more critical, he will get rocked in Pennsylvania, Indiana will not look good for him.

Monday, March 17, 2008

The Border

I have only seen the pilot, but in a huge let down it appears that The Border is nothing more than a politically correct version of 24. bbooooooooooooo Canada.

Monday, March 3, 2008

South America on the brink of war?

“Boy, that escalated quickly... I mean, that really got out of hand fast!” - Ron Burgundy



A bunch of Columbian soldiers were chasing FARC rebels near the Ecuadorian border and ended up straying over it. They claim it was an accident, but at the same time say they found documents linking Ecuador’s anti-American president with the terrorist group. Ecuador cut off relations, moved some armed forces into the region and called for the OAS to meet as would be expected after such an incident. And then BAM! Chavez makes his move!


Hugo also suspended diplomatic relations with Bogota and ordered his defense minister to move around 10,000 men along with tanks and jet fighters to his border with Columbia and threatened war. Chavez has called Uribe, the democratically elected president of Columbia, a liar and gangster while praising the recently killed FARC (read terrorist) leader Raul Reyes.


Chavez has spun what would have been an international dispute into a situation that could trigger war and he has done it coming to the aid of a terrorist organization. Chavez’s reforms inside Venezuela has led to sharp economic decline inside the country (including a food shortage) despite the recent rise in oil prices. Chavez knows his country is headed for domestic political turmoil and is trying to head it off by finding a foreign enemy, it is heavy handed and most people will see it for what it is. Let’s hope he doesn’t think a real war is necessary for him to stay in power.


http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8V5H5TG1&show_article=1

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN0227633020080302?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Friday, February 29, 2008

Update: Robert Mugabe Still a Douchebag

Mugabe has launched his re-election campaign. I admit, I’m surprised there will even be an election, I suppose I should credit to MDC for that. The stiff stench of corruption is already in the air with Major-General Paradzayi Zimondi, head of Zimbabwe’s prisons ordering his staff to vote for Mugabe. Mugabe took the opportunity to continues to blame all the country’s problems on the White oppressors this time saying Black Zimbabweans were being cheated out of their share of the mining business and that once he corrected this prosperity would return to the people.


In a brief over-view of Mugabe’s rule of the Zimbabwe UNICEF announced the number of reported cases of children being raped in Zimbabwe has jumped more than 40% in the last 3 years. Thousands of White farmers (the backbone of the Zimbabwean economy) have been forcibly deported or murdered. Around 3 million starving Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa (that’s right, these people have fled into the “rape capital of the world”). What was once the largest grain exporter in all of Africa now relies on food aid to feed itself and the average life expectancy has dropped from 60 under White rule to 37 under Mugabe.


The ANC government of South Africa continues to prop up Mugabe to repay him for his aid to them when they were a rebel group and out of the sense that action against Mugabe would serve to vindicate the white government he fought against.



South Africa and the world at large continue to fail to do the right thing and replace Mugabe with a democratic government. Or at a minimum, with a leader who can make sure none of his people starve to death in what was a major food exporter 25 years ago. And why do they fail to do this? Why do African leaders continue to support such a vile despicable man? Because Mugabe seized control of Zimbabwe from Ian Smith, the white leader of the racist minority government that ruled Zimbabwe when it was known as Rhodesia


But honestly now – how bad was Ian Smith? Unfortunately that question will never be honestly debated because the one who answers maybe stepping into a racial minefield and it is for that fear of being painted a racist that people of Zimbabwe will be made to continue to suffer – oh the irony!


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7271611.stm

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Hillary sucks at offence

Though it is not yet do or die time for Hillary it is game time and she is not playing well. Hillary is now behind Barack by 16 points nationally and by 100 delegates, she is now officially the underdog and that gives her the right to go on the attack, and she should, but she sucks at it.


Hillary’s attacks are heavy-handed and are making her look worse than her opponent; During a recent debate she mocked Barack’s “change you can believe in” by saying he is “chance you can Xerox” – weak burn Hillary – the dude who originally made that statement encouraged Barack to use it and her slogan doesn’t rhyme with the old one. And there are so many better things to mock Obama about! If he gets it McCain is going to rip into him – why can’t Hillary? This recent photo is a great example – if it is from their camp it should have been released in a way that it couldn’t have been traced, if it wasn’t their camp they should call Obama dishonest turning the guilt on him (and getting more people to look at that goofy photo).


Hillary’s campaign staff was shaken up two weeks ago, I suspect the original members were appointed more for political reasons than performance as they have been replaced with more fiscally conservative old-hands. After these recent blundering excursions into negative-land she might want to shake up some more of that staff.

Monday, February 25, 2008

The New Cuba?

Yesterday Cuba got a new leader, and with him America may get a new outlook on Cuban-American relations. There has been a lot of talk of normalizing relations with Cuba, it has even been argued at the Democratic debates but I am weary.

Raul Castro is a huge pillar of Chavez’s “Bolivarian revolution”, Cuba is still actively trying (and often succeeding in) infiltrating our intelligence agencies and most importantly he is still the leader of a repressive communist dictatorship with a terrible human rights record. We should be willing to negotiate with Raul (we should be willing to negotiate with anyone, if Osama offered to turn himself in for a candy bar we should give it to him) but we shouldn’t expect too much. There is a chance he will give in to democracy but that’s a slim one – let’s make small, limited exchanges before we get our hopes up and put removing the embargo on the table.

On a related note - shame on Obama for pledging to meet with Raul “without preconditions”.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/congress/1998_cr/s980924-cuba-spy.htm
http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/spies11201.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN24114603

Friday, February 22, 2008

HRC – down, but not out

On February 7th 2008 Mitt Romney, knowing his presidential campaign had become a hindrance to the Republican Party dropped out of the race. I was there when he did it, he was magnanimous. He still stood a chance, he still had cards to play but he dropped out for the advancement of what was always his paramount goal; the common good of the United States. Hillary shares no such goal.

Hillary is behind in the national polls by a fair bit but there will be no Mitt Romneyesque bowing out for Hillary. Hillary is, and always has been in it for herself and as long as she stands any chance at all she’ll stay in the race and she still has one hell of a chance. She isn’t too far behind in the delegate count, she is still ahead by a lot in PA, she is making inroads into Barrack’s pledged delegates and more importantly still has Florida and Michigan to play. If Hillary can bring this to convention there is a great chance that she, the bureaucratic in-fighter with years of national experience, will be able to win over more delegates in backroom deals than an inexperienced Illinois state senator can.

The news has been talking about Texas/Ohio a lot recently, saying Hillary will be finished if she doesn’t win at least one of them by a large margin. But they’re doing that because they’re the news – they want you to think this race is as suspenseful as possible so that you’ll watch it. Don’t expect HRC to back down unless she loses by at least 60-40 in both big states.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Kosovo: should it stay or should it go?

I am a nationalist, among other things. That is to say I believe states function more smoothly and have greater national cohesion when they are founded on, well, nations. I also believe a race has a much better shot at preserving its language, its culture and itself when it has a state to call its own. As such, Kosovo is a tricky situation for me.

Kosovo is currently a part of Serbia, a nation of Serbs, yet it is a province distinctly lacking in Serbs. It is filled with Albanian Muslims, the majority of whom want Kosovo to be a free country, and the following are the reasons why I believe they should not be.

1 – Kosovo is home not only to a large Serbian minority but also to many of the landmarks of Serbian culture and history. Those people will not stop wanting this land back. NATO may forget about this in a few years, generations from now those Serbs will still be wanting that land back and recent history says that they’ll eventually be in a position to get it and that they will fight for it.

2 – Kosovo was originally Serbian, overwhelmingly Serbian, it only became Albanian after Christian Serbs were kicked out by the late Ottoman Empire and then by the puppet government put up by fascist Italy during WW2. Transferring land from nations based on a demographics shift is a dangerous notion. As a drastic example, most of the counties around where I was born in Iowa could easily be awarded to Germany on the basis of race. As a more probable example, large portions of northern Macedonia could go to Albania on this precedent.

3 – Serbians have a lot of faults, they have done a lot of bad things but they are a repressed minority in Kosovo and if IFOR leaves in the wake of Kosovar independence things will get bad for them, very bad.

4 – Most importantly, we will piss off the Russians immensely. The Slavs see this as a broader blow against them (in a way, it is) and they will unite behind Putin who will promptly screw over several of our interests in that region in retaliation. If we allow Kosovo to become independent and hurt Russia’s ally (Serbia) they will allow Abkhazia to move toward independence and hurt our ally (Georgia). It will be a decided net lose for American interests if Kosovo becomes independent.

Kosovo deserves recognition of its special status, but more along the lines that Scotland has now and the Serbs are willing to give it that. We should not let Kosovo go, it is the wrong thing to do in principle and pragmatically it is terribly disadvantageous. If Kosovo declares independence we should not recognize it and support reunification under some sort of a federation.

http://www.euronews.net/index.php?page=info&article=470393&lng=1

Thursday, February 14, 2008

South Africa slips further away from freedom.

What has been hailed as South Africa’s most effective police unit is set to be disbanded for investigating high ranking party officials in what is increasingly becoming a one party state. The “Scorpions” are an elite unit of law enforcement agents legally separated from other branches of the regular South African Police Service (and thus, from political influence) and tasked with tackling organized crime and government corruption. Unfortunately for open government they’ve been investigating the wrong people. The Scorpions have been major actors in leveling charges against Jackie Selebi (former commissioner of the South African Police Service and president of Interpol) and Jacob Zuma (President of the ANC and presumably the next President of South Africa). The same ANC that elected Zuma its president doesn’t want to see him go to jail for corruption so in the name of politics it is about to destroy what appears to be the nation’s greatest crime-fighting apparatus.

I believe this move represents the continuing march of a once-great country toward second-rate dictatorship. If Nelson Mandela is half the man my teachers and professors have made him out to be he should intervene as the father of the ANC and put his party back on task before the principles he fought for erode away under the waves of instability his progeny have brought crashing down on his nation.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200802130023.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7220409.stm

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

First Post

I’ve started this blog at what is a critical time in American history, and thus, in world history. After the Potomac Primaries it seems that America will be faced with a choice between a man who would shirk away from our duties in this world and a man who would embrace them. I believe, firmly, that America has become the City upon the Hill, that we, more than any other nation at any other time, have the capacity to lead the world toward enlightenment, justice, peace and prosperity. I also believe that if we do not, no other nation will. In 9 months time this country will have to make a choice between our domestic desires and our international responsibilities, in that time I’d like to make a case for the latter.