Let Freedom Ring

I want to end the year with an optimistic article by historian Victor Davis Hanson. Despite being told numerous times that America was going to soon be eclipsed by the New World Power du Jour, we have soldiered on and continued to lead the world again and again. Americans are a resilient people and while we have made mistakes, we reinvent ourselves as necessary and come out even stronger. You can never forcibly harness the restless energy of 308,000,000 people, but you can inspire them and, when inspired, America is a force to be reckoned with. Inspiration starts with God and that's where we need to start 2011. We have lost our way for a little while, but I am certain that with God's help, we will again be the America that leads the world. Happy New Year.

 townhall.com/columnists/VictorDavisHanson/2010/12/30/the_american_21st_century

Merry Christmas!

It's Time

It's no longer time for politics. Economics can wait. Wars can stop. It's time to consider. I am the Light of the world. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it. Consider God stepped into human history and it has never been the same since. Consider and be still before Him. Merry Christmas!

Put a Little Light in Your Heart - and Your Neighbor's

Oregon in the winter is a pretty gloomy place - gray and rain, rain and gray. Christmas lights help dispel the gloom and now here's a story that says that whether or not a neighborhood turns on the lights is an indicator of its "social capital" e.g. - how well people care for each other. The story is ironic for me because although I like Christmas lights, I hate putting them up. Clover gave me the gift several years ago of hiring our neighbor's son to do it, which has been delightful. So consider putting them up yourself, or hiring someone, but however you get it done, invest a little social capital in your neighborhood.

 www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9K73N680&show_article=1

More Sun and Fun in the Caribbean

Here's a story that is easy to miss in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season but is going to cause problems for the U.S. in the months ahead. The ever-lovable Hugo Chavez was granted dictatorial powers in Venezuela by the Legislative Assembly. Generally speaking, once these powers are acquired tin-horn dictators don't usually go gently into the night. Hugo was facing a situation where his popularity was ebbing and an election was approaching, so this neatly resolved the conundrum. BTW, Venezuela is in the top ten oil producers in the world and supplies about 10% of total U.S. oil imports. He is also busy trying to install mini-Hugos around Central and South America, loves Cuba and China, buying advanced arms, and is snuggling up to Iran including cooperation on "peaceful" nuclear power. Feliz Navidad!

www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1729156220101217

No Good Deed Will Go Unpunished

We're from the government and we're here to help you! Tell that to the two Good Samaritans who used a raft to rescue a struggling deer from an icy river with a raft while a "natural resources" police officer (game warden apparently would be too simple a title) looked on. When they got the freezing animal to safety, the NRPO (Ner-Po, Nerd-Poo?) calmly walked over and ticketed the pair for not wearing life jackets, even though they were over the age where one was required. Yup, that's what makes this country great! Sheesh. The Good Sams plan to fight the ticket.
 
baltimore.cbslocal.com/2010/12/17/good-samaritans-face-fine-after-rescuing-deer-from-icy-water/

Things are Starting to Look Up in Afghanistan

Here is a post originally in the LA Times that says things are starting to look up in the Afghan theater. The Taliban operating in the southern part of the country (Helmland) were surprised at the capabilities and ferocity of the new American forces. That would probably be the U.S. Marines of whom there are now 15,000-20,000 down south. They are indeed both capable and ferocious. Semper fi guys!

 www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/pete-mansoor-and-max-boot-report-afghanistan_523435.html

El Camino Real - An Advent Reflection

Advent is the time of preparation for the coming of Christ. For four consecutive Sundays we go on a journey of preparation for God entering this world in human form to draw the mundane and broken upward into the divine. This is supernatural stuff of which I speak and too easily forgotten in the tinsel and tawdriness in which Christmas is now wrapped. Indeed, we can no longer even call it Christmas but rather "Winter Holiday" or some other lame title devoid of meaning but oh so politically correct. El Camino Real - The King's Highway. This is the road He took and the one that we too should take during Advent for faith, love, hope and joy are in the High Country and not easily reached. You may be surprised by what you find on your journey.

BBQ Pork Anyone?

Fox News reports that Rep. Harold Rogers (R - Ky), aka the "Prince of Pork", has been appointed by House Republicans as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee for the incoming Congress. Great. Let me phrase this carfully - NO PORK!!!!!! NO EARMARKS!!!!!! CUT THE DARN BUDGET!!!!!! Ah, I feel better now. But the Republican Old Guard had better get the message. They screwed this up once before and if they do it again, they won't be in office the next time. Pass the coleslaw!

politics.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=23888&external=615453.proteus.fma

Set Sail with the Dawn Treader

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader opens today at theaters. I am a C.S. Lewis fan and this is my favorite book of the Chronicles of Narnia. I have included a link to an article by Dr. Ted Baehr that gives you some good background on the story line. It's definitely not just a children's yarn, so if you are looking for a great holiday movie, this would be the one to see.

www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=237353

Bush Lied...Well Not So Much

Julian Assange is a loathsome little fleck of fecal material who should at a minimum spend the rest of his rotten little life in prison for terrorism. Having said that, the WikiLeaked dox do put the lie to the Left's mantra about George Bush, "Bush lied; people died." Consider:

"Wired magazine's contributing editor Noah Shachtman -- a nonresident fellow at the liberal Brookings Institution -- researched the 400,000 WikiLeaked documents released in October. Here's what he found: "By late 2003, even the Bush White House's staunchest defenders were starting to give up on the idea that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But WikiLeaks' newly-released Iraq war documents reveal that for years afterward, U.S. troops continued to find chemical weapons labs, encounter insurgent specialists in toxins and uncover weapons of mass destruction (emphasis added). ... Chemical weapons, especially, did not vanish from the Iraqi battlefield. Remnants of Saddam's toxic arsenal, largely destroyed after the Gulf War, remained. Jihadists, insurgents and foreign (possibly Iranian) agitators turned to these stockpiles during the Iraq conflict -- and may have brewed up their own deadly agents."
In 2008, our military shipped out of Iraq -- on 37 flights in 3,500 barrels -- what even The Associated Press called "the last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program": 550 metric tons of the supposedly nonexistent yellowcake. The New York Sun editorialized: "The uranium issue is not a trivial one, because Iraq, sitting on vast oil reserves, has no peaceful need for nuclear power. ... To leave this nuclear material sitting around the Middle East in the hands of Saddam ... would have been too big a risk."

The "Bush lied" crowd isn't concerned with the security of the U.S., which means the security of folks like you and me. They want to score their cheap political points and the don't care who gets hurt. As big a threat as Assange is to the the United States, these folks are worse.

townhall.com/columnists/LarryElder/2010/12/09/the_wikileaks_vindication_of_george_w_bush/page/2

Why Me? Why Me?

In a quote-without comment (on my part) item from today's WSJ Best of the Web:

"Why Me? I'm So Complacent!
In a USA Today op-ed, Tom Krattenmaker of Portland, Ore., "a writer specializing in religion in public life," puzzles over why a terrorist would consider bombing his city:

For several good reasons, many of us Portlanders are having a hard time wrapping our minds around the horrific thought of a 19-year-old from the local suburbs wanting to kill and destroy. Why would Portland, of all places, be the site of a terror attack?

The "People's Republic of Portland"--so dubbed for its liberal ways--seems so utterly different from New York, Mumbai, London, or the other places that one associates with terrorist attacks. Portland is so much smaller, light years from the figurative front lines. This is a laid-back city where the red-hot rhetoric around terrorism, Islam, the "ground zero mosque," and the like runs cooler. It's a place where a live-and-let-live spirit extends ample latitude to anyone who might otherwise stand out--whether it's for wearing a Santa hat and pedaling around on a unicycle playing bagpipes (which my wife actually witnessed last year), covering every inch of your arm with tattoos, or wearing a head scarf and praying at a mosque rather than a church or synagogue.

This guy really needs to get out more. Portland is liberal, welcoming of weirdos, and munificent toward Muslims, and he thinks that sets it apart--from New York? And how self-absorbed do you have to be to think, almost a decade after 9/11, that terrorists won't target you because of your "live-and-let-live spirit"?"

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703296604576005542958085686.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

To Where in a Handbasket?

As Portland goes, so goes the rest of the state. Well, here's a new report that shows where Portland is going economically and it doesn't bode well for the rest of the state.

Basically, a new economic study shows that Portland has gone from near parity with other big Western cities in the 1970s to way down the list when it comes to income. The report notes:

"The sobering report says Multnomah County, the state's main economic engine, ranked second from last in private-sector job creation among 194 Western counties and five multicounty areas from 1997 to 2009. Per capita incomes in metro Seattle, Denver and Minneapolis exceed those in greater Portland by 16 to 21 percent..."


Interestingly, the Clark County, Washington area just across the Columbia showed more growth than Portland. Surely it couldn't be all the state and local taxes could it? Nah - and don't call me Shirley!


Portland officials can blow smoke all day long about "green jobs" and the "creative class" but at the end of the day, more high-paying manufacturing and other jobs have left than have located here and Portland is becoming a green version of the Rust Belt cities of the East and Midwest. I would remind them mold is green too. 

www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/12/portland_area_wages_job_creati.html

A Penny for Your Thoughts?

As it turns out, Obama's commitment to reducing the deficit isn't worth even a penny. Take a look at the video and get a very graphic view of how big the deficit really is and the itsy bitsy, teeny weeny austerity measures pledged by the administration.

wimp.com/budgetcuts/

(Tip 'o the hat to Al Lyons)

Proof of the Dems Great Job with the Economy

No Gas for You!

A new study finds that the gases used for surgical anesthesia have the same effect on global warming as a million cars. I guess that means I can drive an SUV to the hospital but I can't be put out for my surgery. Well, no price is too high to protect the polar bears! Al Gore, we'll be watching the next time you get cut.
 
www.express.co.uk/posts/view/215352/Global-warming-What-a-gas-surgery-is-now-being-blamed

Mystery Missile Shot

A couple of weeks ago someone popped a missile about 35 miles offshore from Los Angeles. It was filmed by a television helicopter that happened to be in the area. Some have tried to brush it off as a jet contrail. Some alarmists said that it was fired by a Chinese missile sub as a warning to the U.S. I think the real story is starting to emerge and not surprisingly it was one of ours.

The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency is tasked with providing accurate navigation for the U.S. armed forces. www1.nga.mil/Pages/Default.aspx In late October this agency issued a notice to mariners of "intermittent missile firings" in the eastern Pacific off California. www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=235013  It is undoubtedly a coincidence that the area where this missile was launched was directly off the Navy's Pt. Mugu sea warfare test center which describes itself as a:

" ... unique coastal location offers an isolated area, which encompasses 36,000 square-miles of fully instrumented and integrated sea test range for the testing and evaluation of weapons and aircraft systems. San Nicolas Island, 60 miles offshore, further extends this coverage and provides an airfield for launching full-scale target drone aircraft and an emergency divert aircraft operating on the range."

Thus the launch site was well within the 60-mile boundary of this facility. So what's going on?

The U.S. has been worried for a long time about the growing anti-satellite capability of a number of countries, China chief among them. Our military is heavily dependent on GPS navigation, satellite imagery, and satellite communications links. It would be a real problem if several of our satellites were taken out by an adversary, particulary in the early stages of a conflict. What to do?

My guess is that the answer was tested a few weeks ago off Pt. Mugu - a nav sat launched from one of our ballistic missile subs. This explains the copter sighting, the notice to mariners, and the reluctance of the government to talk about it. Such a satellite and launch capability would allow us to pre-position these nav sats around the world on our ballistic missile subs and as soon as one was needed, up it would go. I am open to other interpretations of what happened but this fits the facts better than anything else. It's also a great idea.

Glo ... I Mean Climate Change Conference Held in Cancun

Bet you didn't know that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is being held right now in Cancun, Mexico. Why Cancun you say? Well, why not and besides, it's c-o-l-d in much of the rest of the world. Oh I forgot - it's "climate change" and not "global warming" any more. But we still know what it really means, don't we? So hoist a margarita or daiquiri to the rest of us freezing our tooties off in the nether regions of the world not yet affected by the name-that-cannot-be-mentioned!
 unfccc.int/2860.php

Ignorance is Bliss

Did you know that Portland Mayor Sam Adams had no idea that the FBI was going to take down the would-be Christmas tree bomber? True story. Portland is the only city in the U.S. that pulled out of the Federal Joint Terrorist Task Force (JTTF) that shares information about terrorist activities in this country, so PDX wasn't notified of the plot or the upcoming bust. Sam now assures his nervous citizenry that he's on top of it and they have nothing to fear. Oh thank goodness Sudden Sam is on on it! We have nothing to fear. Of course, several hundred people could have died last Friday if this plot had not been discovered and he wouldn't have had a clue - at Portland's own election. Ignorance, after all, is bliss but they can feel righteous.

www.kgw.com/news/Mayor-Adams-portland-terror-polt-pioneer-square-mohamud-111087504.html

Happy Thanksgiving!

Banko!

California is insolvent from an accounting perspective. Illinois is pretty much there and New York isn't far behind. How do we avoid a massive Federal bailout of these spendthrift states? According to law professor David Skeel, we have Congress pass a new chapter of the Bankruptcy Code that allows states to pull the plug. Since the 1930s there has been a chapter that lets cities do so and now it's time to let states do likewise. He may well be right. Strange times we live in.
 
www.weeklystandard.com/articles/give-states-way-go-bankrupt_518378.html

Never Mind!

 Like the Church Lady, Al Gore has just uttered "Never mind!" when it comes to his endorsement of ethanol added to gasoline. He says that he was running for President and basically needed farm votes, so he pushed ethanol. There is only so much land for corn production and it seems that corn grown for ethanol is competing with eating corn and food prices are going up as a consequence. It also makes a crappy fuel that decreases mileage and eats engine components. Obviously, all this was completely unpredictable, right? Well, no, but it's OK because Al was running for President. Sort of makes you wonder what else he has gotten wrong because he has some vested interest but hasn't yet told us. Let's see - I'm thinking melting glaciers, rising sea levels -  wait, wait, it'll come to me!

news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20023671-54.html?tag=cnetRiver

Kindly Remove All Your Clothes and Stay to the Right

Verum Serum is an interesting site that Al Lyons put me on to. Here is a video from that site of Germans disrobing at the airport security line to protest the overly intrusive searches in their country. Jeez - they should be in the U.S.A. now where even little kids are getting the proctological treatment! Come to think of it, this is pretty much like standing in the TSA line at any major American airport. Heaven forbid that we should P-R-O-F-I-L-E based on what we know about the sorts of people who target airliners. Hint: it's not Swedes, grandmothers, or 3-year olds. In the meantime, you've got to hand it to the Germans for an effective protest.

 www.verumserum.com/?p=19156

A Friend Indeed

Just over a week ago I posted on events surrounding the heart surgery of my friend, Al Wipf.  I closed by saying that God is in charge, regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. This is still true, but the circumstances are unexpectedly sadder. Al died Thursday night after improving steadily following his surgery and his family and friends are devastated, me included.

Experts say that we are fortunate to have five good friends in our lifetime. Men typically only have 2 or 3. Al was one of those friends.  My father died of cancer when I was 14. Al sat in for him as I grew older. We went to lunch and we talked about kids, Jesus, the church, baseball, and politics – lots of politics - and just lots of "guy" things. We enjoyed the kind of conversations that I did not get to have with my dad and these talks shaped me for the better. We didn’t always agree (although most often we did) but we enjoyed our time together and kept coming back for more.  It was a ritual that I looked forward to and a friendship that we shared for 40 years this year.  It is a friendship that, despite this momentary interruption, we will share again when we both have more time, an eternity in fact.

Psalm 23 says that we pass through the valley of the shadow of death.  A shadow lacks substance and requires light beyond it to exist at all. Al has walked through the shadow and now knows only light. Praise God from whom all blessings flow and praise Him for the life of my friend, Al Wipf. I will miss him greatly.

You're Gonna Get Me Killed!

There's a great line in Die Hard 3 where Samuel Jackson tells Bruce Willis, "I don't like you 'cause you're gonna get me killed!" My sentiments exactly about the current Administration. Check this out.

Obama's Interior Department is declaring 532 square miles (miles!) along the New Mexico/Mexico border as "Wilderness." What this means is that the Border Patrol cannot patrol the border in this massive area because it might offend the jack rabbits, cacti,  or who knows what. I am sure that terrorists and major drug smugglers will just as scrupulously obey the rules in this area. Unbelievable! I don't like these guys 'cause they're gonna get me - and all of us - killed!

frontpagemag.com/2010/11/18/expanding-cracks-in-the-border/

The New Look of the Democrat Party

Old Look











New Look

Why mess with success?

Look Who Crashed the Party!

An aircraft carrier is one of the crown jewels of American power. Guess who showed up in the middle of a U.S. fleet exercise in the Pacific within torpedo range of the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk?  Why none other than a Chinese diesel-powered sub that should not have been within 200 miles of the flotilla. It surfaced, said hello to the embarrassed American sailors, and then got out of Dodge before it pushed its luck too far.

Lesson: The Chinese are not screwing around in the western Pacific and we had better get our game on too - they make more than consumer items for Wal Mart.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-492804/The-uninvited-guest-Chinese-sub-pops-middle-U-S-Navy-exercise-leaving-military-chiefs-red-faced.html

Deutschland Unter Alles?

It looks like Ireland has jumped to the front of the bread line as its banking system goes into cardiac arrest. Another EU bailout is being discussed. And Germany's position on this? Germany has done all the things that the U.S. has not in dealing with this recession - cut spending, lowered taxes, etc. As a result, its economy is decent, if not sparkling. Other European nations have not been as disciplined. The German public was not happy with bailing out Greece, so you can be pretty sure that Ireland will get an even worse reception. And BTW, Portugal's fall is being openly discussed now too. Et tu, Allemagne?

Music Discovered

My long-time friend Al Wipf is in the hospital this week for a heart valve replacement. His daughter, Lisa, has been keeping us apprised of his condition, which thankfully is very good. On the first evening, though, when things weren't quite so clear, she penned this note:

'The orchestra that God is directing is sometimes beautiful sometimes painful sometimes miraculous. Sometimes we are given a show/performance that is amazing.

God allowed me to be off this day, I took off long ago. There were two nurses that knew Tobi from high school, a patient of mine and dads is the head floor nurse and took care to over see us. A friend of mine Shannon was here for her husbands surgery: comfort  A friend of mothers was volunteering at the front desk. All were orchestrated to be here today; at this time.  At this place. Whether good happens or bad we have blessed by these people; our friends that have surrounded us.

It's eight. They want to take the tube out but he refuses to breath deep enough. But his colour is good and temp good. They really think he's doing well.   This is the last email for the night. Tonight All is well with the world."

All is still well with the world; God is in charge, regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.There is a symphony being played that occasionally we are allowed to hear. I'm glad that Lisa had such a moment and shared it with the rest of us. Remember the music.

We Salute You

It's Veterans Day and time to say thank you to those of you currently serving or who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said "Land of the Free; Courtesy of the Brave." I agree. Thank you for your service: Ben Cameron. Taylor Rieff, Brent Gillaspie, Jake Miller, Chris Staley, Nate Lyons, Tony Dix, Ed Cameron, Bill Brooks, Dave Williams, Bill Lewis, Al Wipf, George McGreer, Gary Edelbrock, George Jagodnik, Connie Stein, John Whitehead, Bill Watson, Harry Andersen, and Janey Wiles. I hope you will use the "Comments" button below to add the names of those you know who deserve our thanks.

He Iss Alive!

This is the  classic line from Frankenstein movies. My personal favorite is Young Frankenstein with Marty Feldman and Gene Wilder, but I digress, as my point when I started this sentence was to apply it to the Oregon economy.

The UO Index of Economic Indicators showed a blip up in September of 0.2% after falling 6.4% over a six-month period. Although the headline banners the improvement, the actual text focuses on why the economists are projecting an "echo recession" with weak employment until well into 2011, even including further job losses.

Governor-elect (again) Kitzhaber says Oregon's problems are "green." Not so - they are "red" as in red ink from bloated state budgets. The patient has no more blood to give; he iss alive, if just barely. You are a doctor, so start cutting already and not just with manicure scissors!


www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/11/oregon_economic_indicators_tur.html

The Lindsay Lohan of the States?

Gosh I wish this piece had been out when I posted the other day on California's problems. This writer from the WSJ says it so much better - and funnier. Lindsay Lohan of the states - what a hoot!






online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592612400443370.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Thar She Blows!

Newberry Crater south of Bend is still a hottie! Little did we know when we drove around the enormous crater a couple of years ago that this volcano is on the list of the top 3 highest risk volcanoes in Oregon. The cinder cone in the picture is just a small part of the caldera - the ridge in the background is actually the edge of the volcano and it extends around the caldera for miles. Although the chances aren't great that it will blow in our lifetime, they are still high enough that scientists are placing 8 seismic sensors to give some advance notice if she decides to act out. This is an interesting state geologically and after Mt. St. Helens, better to be safe than sorry.

www.kgw.com/news/Geologists-Volcano-near-Bend-still-a-threat-106713578.html

Progress Against Type 2 Diabetes

Researchers at Oregon State have discovered that a high-fat diet suppresses an enzyme (elongase-five) that process sugars normally. When they changed the diet of lab mice to a very low-fat diet, the enzyme kicked back in and the mice were diabetes-free within 5 days and their triglyceride levels also dropped substantially. The researchers are now researching how this process works and hope to develop a drug that will produce the same result in people.

www.kgw.com/lifestyle/health/Are-we-closer-to-a-cure-for-type-2-diabetes-106527278.html

Phew! A Bullet Dodged

I don't know if you caught this one in the aftermath of Tuesday's election news, but the move to change Detroit, Oregon to "Detroit Lake" was crushed 47-37. The Red Tide of conservatism rolls on. I will sleep well tonight.

 www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/03/AR2010110307255.html

Own It!

California Democrats own it. What a shame, no more Arnold to blame. Come what may, Governor Moonbeam and his Happy Merrymakers in the Legislature now own it. The budget deficit is $26 billion and the unfunded public pension liability is $500 billion (yep - a half Trillion big ones!) and yet Jerry Brown was taped during the campaign that if they can find some money, they're going to give that away too! Whatever else it may be, the "Look ma - no hands!" approach is amusing. Now that the U.S. House is firmly in Republican hands, I think that you will not see a bailout of the Golden State in the event it defaults on a bond issue or other financial obligation. Perhaps they can spray paint things gold to maintain the image. Good luck folks!

The Gloves are Off

I thought Krauthammer's hit on Obama was pretty good in my post the other day. The diminutive Peggy Noonan (who wrote the "1000 points of light" speech), however, drops one in the 10 megaton range in the Wall Street Journal:

"On to the aftermath of the election. On Wednesday, President Obama gave a news conference to share his thoughts. Viewers would have found it disappointing if there had been any viewers. The president is speaking, in effect, to an empty room. From my notes five minutes in: "This wet blanket, this occupier of the least interesting corner of the faculty lounge, this joy-free zone, this inert gas." By the end I was certain he will never produce a successful stimulus because he is a human depression.

Actually I thought the worst thing you can say about a president: He won't even make a good former president.

His detachment is so great, it is even from himself. As he spoke, he seemed to be narrating from a remove. It was like hearing the audiobook of Volume I of his presidential memoirs. "Obama was frustrated. He honestly didn't understand what the country was doing. It was as if they had compulsive hand-washing disorder. In '08 they washed off Bush. Now they're washing off Obama. There he is, swirling down the drain! It's all too dramatic, too polar. The morning after the election it occurred to him: maybe he should take strong action. Maybe he should fire America! They did well in 2008, but since then they've been slipping. They weren't giving him the followership he needed. But that wouldn't work, they'd only complain. He had to keep his cool. His aides kept telling him, 'Show humility.' But they never told him what humility looked like. What was he supposed to do, burst into tears and say hit me? Not knowing how to feel humility or therefore show humility he decided to announce humility: He found the election 'humbling,' he said."


online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805704575594772776292394.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_BelowLEFTSecond

Those are elegant and devastatingly funny words - and humor is something that Obama can't stand because it deprives him of cool. It's going to be a very interesting two years.

Hail to the Chief

What We Have Heah is a Failure to Communicate!

This is a famous line from the movie Cool Hand Luke and Charles Krauthammer, in giving his take on the results of Tuesday's election, both warns Republicans and applies this line to our President. Take it away Charles:

"Nor should Republicans overinterpret their Tuesday mandate. They received none. They were merely rewarded for acting as the people's proxy in saying no to Obama's overreaching liberalism. The Republicans won by default. And their prize is nothing more than a two-year lease on the House.

The president, however, remains clueless. In his next-day news conference, he had the right demeanor — subdued, his closest approximation to humility — but was uncomprehending about what just happened. The "folks" are apparently just "frustrated" that "progress" is just too slow. Asked three times whether popular rejection of his policy agenda might have had something to do with the shellacking he took, he looked as if he'd been asked whether the sun had risen in the West. Why, no, he said."

www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20101105/OPINION/11050313/1049

The next two years should be very interesting.

The Bipolar Express

It's done! No more crummy campaign commercials, strange people calling you at all hours, or knocking on your door when you are sitting down to dinner. I am delighted with the national results. The brakes have been firmly put on by the American people (remember all revenue measures start in the House) and if the newly-elected Republicans don't wuss out, we will be on our way back to some level of sanity. On the other hand, I am down about the results in Oregon and the whole Left Coast. If these states were the captain of the Titanic, upon seeing the iceberg they would have turned directly toward it and ordered ramming speed. Unbelievable! Is it the rain? Perhaps the gray skies? The dope? Whatever it is, the mush level in all the Pacific coast states is clearly insurmountable for Republicans. Good job anyway Dudley, Bruun, Cornilles, and Robinson. If you move to Idaho where I am going, I'll gladly vote for you.

Vote!

We get a choice. Use it.

vimeo.com/16288411

Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily Life is But a Dream

For all you Mark Steyn fans out there, his book America Alone projected that by 2020 Europe would become Eurabia. It looks like his projections may actually be a little conservative, at least in England, where "Mohammed" has become the most popular name for baby boys. Row, row, row your boat...

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1324194/Mohammed-popular-baby-boys-ahead-Jack-Harry.html

Abortion/Breast Cancer Link

Chuck Colson reports on the link between abortion and breast cancer, which most media are loathe to publish. Nevertheless, the link is well demonstrated, as this quote from a pro abortion researcher illustrates:

"Dr. Janet Daling, a cancer epidemiologist who supports legal abortion, says, 'I would have loved to have found no association between breast cancer and abortion, but our research is rock solid, and our data is accurate.' And in 2007, the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons found that women who have an abortion increase by 40 percent their risk of breast cancer."

Abortion claims way too many victims. It's time we as a society rethink and at the very least severely limit this awful procedure. 

www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/15647

More Evidence of Global Warming Accumulates

The photo is from Timberline Lodge preparing for an early opening this Friday, October 29. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

 www.kgw.com/news/Snow-dumps-on-Mt-Hood-ski-resorts-105703688.html

Is America in Denial About the President?

My friend Al Lyons sends this opinion piece from Fox News which asks whether the U.S. is in denial about its Chief Executive. I have thought and posted for some time that Obama simply does not have a sense for the heart of this country. If, in fact, he will only love it if the U.S. conforms to his vision of what it should be, then there is going to be trouble. If the elections polls are right for 11/2, then that trouble is already here because a majority of Americans, Republicans and Democrats, like the U.S. as it has been historically conceived, thank you very much. If the polls prove true, it will be interesting to see Obama's response.

www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/10/25/keith-ablow-obama-michelle-listening-commander-chief-president-psychiatry/

Detroit to Become Detroit Lake?

I like this ballot measure. Detroit, Oregon is deciding whether to change its name to "Detroit Lake" next Tuesday. The sponsors of the measure don't like their city to be associated with the crime-ridden, dilapidated Motor City located 2000 miles to the east. Can't say I blame 'em. Located on the shore of a beautiful lake in the Cascade Mountains, the two have nothing in common, so a rousing "YES" on this measure. Please forgive me in advance, though, if I still say I'm going fishing "up at Detroit" - it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

www.kgw.com/news/Oregon-tourist-town-considers-dumping-Detroit-105768778.html

Who Got Stimulated?

Deroy Murdock, a columnist for Human Events and a fellow at the Hoover Institution for War and Peace at Stanford, has collected a couple of charts that clearly show who was stimulated by the $814 billion economic stimulus package. Enjoy - and remember on November 2!

Junk Expands to Fit Available Space

Anyone who has their own place knows this is true, which is why I am against Measure 71. This measure would allow limited (right!) annual sessions. The problem with the Oregon Legislature now is that they dork around for most of the session posturing for their constituencies and playing political games and then, with the end of the session approaching, they get semi-serious and pass some legislation. I don't see how adding more time will do anything but extend the time for the politicians to expand their shenanigans. Texas, which is a heckuva lot bigger than Oregon ( and has a much better economy I might add) is limited by its constitution to legislative sessions every other year and for only 140 days and they do just fine, thank you very much. Sorry all you political junkies, but Oregon does better when you guys are not in session passing some of the mega-duds of legislation coming out of Salem of late, so a big "NO" on 71!