Constant Conservative

If you’ve not had the chance, go watch this morning’s interview with Sheriff Paul Babeau with reference to the latest attempt to control our southern borders. He is pretty blunt in his assessment that this is being treated as a political issue (not a security issue) and is suffering as a result.

You may have heard of a few folks getting together in Washington, DC today to celebrate the anniversary of a famous speech by Martin Luther King. Some of the headliners were Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. Dan Riehl has good overview of the reactions by those who, by their actions and their words, seem to not want all of us to be judged by the content of our character rather than the color of our skins:

Think Progress attempts to sterilize today of any emotion. No surprise, it is always and only about politics to the Left, even when they are winning: Political Rally Or Not? We Report, You Decide.

Crooks and Liars pretends to sleep through it. But I gather they’re too frightened for much sleep, otherwise, they wouldn’t attempt to cover themselves with the race card: Snoring Honor: Beck’s big rally just a long-winded and boring sermon. And boy, was the crowd white.

Bob Herbert at the New York Times is mortified that the dream King offered to all of America might slip a blacks and progressives only grasp that has turned it more into a nightmare, than a dream. He doesn’t want it to actually become America’s dream, as King intended. It does too much to empower Herbert’s politics for him to want that. Today, Herbert’s dream, stolen from King, has nothing to do with equality. It’s been twisted into a superficial and often ugly means of gaining and holding onto political power.

There is more, so be sure to go read all of Dan’s coverage.

I cannot and do not speak for others who were at the rally today, but for myself I would like to say that I am not calling for anyone to forget the history of our country. We ought not to forget the historic ill-treatment of blacks any more than we should forget any other terrible events. But we must both understand it in context (the things we’ve gotten right as a nation) as well as do our best to move past the constant flagellation of those who would continue to draw blood from us to pay a debt that is infinitely un-payable by humans.

Please understand that I do not mean to belittle the suffering of any by the following statements, but would like to note that there has been more than enough injustice in this world.

From what I gather, my ancestors on one side of the family were Huguenots. Members of the family and others of like mind were royally abused during the time of the St. Bartholomew Day’s Massacre (which lasted far more than a day). Many members of the Huguenots who were able fled to Germany to avoid further violence against their persons and properties. Their timely departure is part of the reason I am here today.

I’m certain that in any group of people, we could find the descendants of those who have been grievously wronged by reason of their religion, their ethnicity, their language, their–pick any dimension of humanity that you wish. Again, this is not to diminish in any regard the injustices done to any group by any other group.

We have all learned that this life does not see the redress of all grievances, nor the resolution of all injustices. If someone takes a life–and loses his life as a result–has the debt been paid? Judicially, yes. In real terms? No. We cannot un-ring the bell.

At the same time, we have also learned that if we only and always dwell on what was done to us or our parents or our grandparents, or whomever–that we will never, never be free of the burden of bitterness which must accompany such thinking.

To live our lives always in the shadow of past is to waste the present and to discount the future.

The well-known creator of Dilbert has a few thoughts about his desire to be green:

The greenest home is the one you don’t build. If you really want to save the Earth, move in with another family and share a house that’s already built. Better yet, live in the forest and eat whatever the squirrels don’t want. Don’t brag to me about riding your bicycle to work; a lot of energy went into building that bicycle. Stop being a hypocrite like me.

I prefer a more pragmatic definition of green. I think of it as living the life you want, with as much Earth-wise efficiency as your time and budget reasonably allow. Now back to our story.

It’s worth reading the whole thing. Language warning for repetition of old-fashioned expletive in affirmative statements of greenness.

PJ O’Rourke brings a useful perspective to modern day Afghanistan:

In Kabul I was met at the airport by M. Amin Mudaqiq, bureau chief for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Afghan branch, Radio Azadi. “Our office is just down the main road,” he said, “but since it’s early in the morning we’ll take the back way, because of the Suicides.” That last word, I noticed, was pronounced as a proper noun, the way we would say “Beatles” slightly differently than “beetles.” And, in a sense, suicide bombers do aspire to be the rock stars of the Afghan insurgency (average career span being about the same in both professions).

“The Suicides usually attack early in the morning,” Amin said. “It’s a hot country and the explosive vests are thick and heavy.”

I’d never thought about suicide bombing in terms of comfort. Here’s some guy who’s decided to blow himself gloriously to bits and he’s pounding the pavement all dressed up in the blazing sun, sweat running down his face, thinking, “Gosh this thing itches, I’m pooped, let’s call it off.”

“It’s the same with car bombs,” Amin said. “You don’t want to be driving around the whole day with police everywhere and maybe get a ticket.”

Imagine the indignity of winding up in traffic court instead of the terrorist equivalent of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Go and read it all. In the midst of humor there is truth.

I understand the concept and reality of the competitive advantage. I make regular recommendations to my clients with regard to identifying and then maximizing their competitive advantages in the marketplace. It is with that context I find myself reading the following from an essay (ca. 1970) by Gary North:

Why is it that private entrepreneurs involved in international trade want the government to take over the responsibility for organizing the terms of the monetary exchanges which govern the operation of their businesses? This is a familiar tale.  It is the old respected argument of the vast majority of people: let my suppliers compete, keep my competitors out of the market. Let others bear the burden of predicting the future. Subsidize me. I’m the important one. And governments do it. They take profits away from one group–international currency speculators—and guarantee the price of foreign exchange—almost. Unless there is a devaluation, of course. And then, it is every man for himself and any port in a storm.

Let my suppliers compete (to reduce the cost of my needed component materials) but keep my competitors out of the market (to increase the price at which my finished product may be sold). Pretty straightforward, isn’t it? And quite upsetting to the marketplace because everyone has the same lament, the same request for special treatment, the same desire to somehow be different from all the other businesses. When everyone is special, then no one is–and all that hardworking folks have to show for the “specialness” designations (for the most part) are increasingly complex and confusing laws and regulations which tend to result in no one but the government really getting ahead in the end. Is it any wonder government jobs are increasing while those in the private sector are decreasing? But I digress.

Let me say that there is nothing wrong with competitive advantages–if they are honestly gained and maintained. If, however, your competitive advantage comes from government rule or regulation A, it may be withdrawn by government rule or regulation B–and that is not to your advantage in the long term.

A nicely-done interview with the Hoover Institution and Thomas Sowell:

Via PowerLine

Takeaway? “It’s not over ’til it’s over.” However, things just don’t look that good right now.

Well done. Here’s a brief (2-minute) video that juxtaposes Reagan’s statements on government, freedom and the like with statements by Obama, Frank, Pelosi, Stark and others.

This 5-minute video is well done, if a painful reminder of many who have been damaged by those who claim to be their best hope.

It would appear that Texas is not appreciative of the EPA’s new-found power to regulate anything it feels like–regardless of the actual laws which Congress passes:

The letter (see below) addressed Aug. 2 and sent to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Regional EPA administrator Alfredo Almendariz, outlines the many reasons Texas doesn’t like the way EPA is trying to go about regulating greenhouse gases. But it starts off with a bang (bold added by us for emphasis):

“In order to deter challenges to your plan for centralized control of industrialized development through the issuance of permits for greenhouse gases, you have called upon each state to declare its allegiance to the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently enacated greenhouse gas regulations — regulations that are plainly contrary to United State law. ….. To encourage acquiesence with your unsupported findings you threaten to usurp state enforcment authority and to federalize the permitting program of any state that fails to pledge their fealty to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

As with the author of this letter, my spelling degrades when I’m penning strongly worded missives to those who don’t seem to understand that I do not exist to make them happy.

But then again, we’re not too far off from it either. According to the folks at Gallup, South Dakota came in at Number 4. Here’s the skinny:

A majority of Wyoming, Mississippi, and Utah residents identified as conservative rather than moderate or liberal during the first half of 2010, making these the most politically conservative states in the U.S. The District of Columbia had the greatest percentage of liberals, along with four New England states: Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts.

The chart following the above excerpt shows that 50% of South Dakotans self-identify as conservative. I grant that some of these may no doubt have a different meaning in mind, but still, I’ll take it. Now, if those 50% would consider that Ms. Herseth Sandlin should not be receiving their conservative vote this November, well, that’s something we can take to the polling booth.

I know the man whose name appears above is a pretty good shot with a bow, a rifle or pistol, but he doesn’t do poorly with his pen either:

Anyone with a lick of common sense will tell you that when you are in a hole, you need to quit digging. Continuing to dig will only create a larger problem. Do schools teach this?

Recently, even President Obama’s national debt commission told him that his continuing spending orgy is digging America into a gigantic fiscal hole.

Next year, America’s total debt is expected to exceed $14 trillion. Each American’s share of that debt totals just short of $50,000. If Fedzilla would be honest and put all the figures on the table, we would see that we are in debt more than $100 trillion because of the financial obligations for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

That’s $100 trillion. One hundred percent predictable, 100 percent preventable.

Go read it all.

Andrew adds: “Quit digging”.  I like it.  I think I’ve heard something like this before.  Hmmm…

Here’s a very short video with Morgan Freeman and Mike Wallace discussing a little history:

We categorize people for many reasons. We differentiate children from adults, for purposes of knowing who should be taking care of whom. We different criminals from non-criminals for purposes of knowing who must be penalized for crimes committed. With these and other examples, we can see that categorization is needful and useful at times.

However, when we categorize people according to the amount of melanin in their skin, we are not usually performing a useful task. Instead, we are focusing on an entirely superficial characteristic to either elevate or denigrate the group vis a vis some other group of people.

Stop calling attention to something, and it will go away. On the other hand, if you keep talking about something, it is hard to not pay attention. Now, I’d like you all to stop thinking about pink elephants–July is just not their month.

HT: The Other McCain