Role of RNC Chair

Role of Republican National Committee Chair
If he’s supposed to be the public face, how come no one knows Mike Duncan?

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Adventures In Travel: Part Deux

Here’s what I’ve learned today, just now: Oriental people are early birds. Like this very Anglo-Saxon gal, these people are way too early for their flights because they aren’t going to be left behind. No siree. The rapture folks ain’t got nothin’ on these always prepared Buddhists. They are ready. Like now. They are also hogging every single outlet in the Tom Bradley International Terminal. I’m wigging out. I need power, baby, and no aggressive Chinaman is going to put me off. Oh, hell no. You have your Sun Tzu? I raise you a General Patton, sucka.

I’m juicing up for the long flight. One outlet is mine. All mine, precious. An upside of Continental Airlines being run by a bunch of apathetic boobs is that we got upgraded today, plane-wise. We are now on the Airbus A-380. Yes, it’s a plane made by the French and that worries me. Italians are troublesome, too. (Whew, I’m being all kinds of politically incorrect tonight. Let’s just go for another continent and say right here, right now that Robert Mugabe is a despicable human being and the rest of Africa needs to stop covering for leaders who work over their own people.) The upside of this glorious plane is that 1) it’s quiet and 2) it’s quiet. Oh, and I hear the seats are wide–a benefit for wide-assed corn-fed Americans. (I’m on my way to a politically incorrect ringer.)

Anyway, today was a good day. Gorgeous, if brisk, and the kids got to see the Pacific, a lack of experience that has excessively bothered them for some time. I don’t get why. One theory: they know too much. The downside of home schooling is that they now know world geography and feel deprived because they haven’t been to say, Singapore. They figure everyone goes to Singapore (the oil industry means that lots of kids have lived lots of places) or Europe or Russia or the UAE. It’s a different, more connected world, that’s for sure.

Google Earth freaked us out today. My daughter was fooling with my iPhone, found the street we were on, looked at street view and hello, there’s a car. There’s a couple layers of scary. She knows how to use the technology, no problem. And Google knows how to find us, no problem.

Anyway, in 17 hours or so, I should be in another hemisphere, on another continent. I’ve decided to not disparage the Australians because they seem like really nice people and plus, I’m going to be there for a couple weeks and I want to make it back home alive. Because you know what? Now that Kevin (I’m sorry) Rudd is in charge, Australia isn’t as America friendly and I might be dropped in the “outback” to be eaten by “dingos”. That is just scary.

Oh! And this is the strangeness of the universe. We met a guy suffering our same plight. He was Australian, didn’t know the area and frankly looked a wee bit terrified of finding his way in LA. So, I suggested he come with us even though, at 1 a.m. we didn’t know where we were going. He came along. We ended up at the Hilton which gave us nice hotel at a very good price and very late check out. Today, we saw him on the streets of Santa Monica. He’ll probably be next to us on the plane. This is where people’s beliefs about coincidence and fiat come into play. I tend to start thinking there is something I should pay attention to when I trip over the same person or idea multiple times. Others would say that I give chance too much credit.

More adventures coming forth with.

P.S. Is this travel blogging boring you? Rush Limbaugh’s readers always give him crud when he talks about football, but I’m like, get a life, football is fine. And so, today, I haven’t blogged about the UAW Bailout or Ann Romney’s breast cancer or Sarah Palin for Senate or Democratic corruption or Congress’ pay raise (even though they suck and are the reason the economy is imploding) or Princess Caroline (wow, even Kos is talking about her lack of voting, snort). I haven’t talked about any of that stuff because well, I’m sick of politicians and politics. By this time last year, I was so fed up that I “quit” for two whole weeks. And then, like a big sucker, I came back during the most hideous election year ever. I didn’t think it could get worse and then, it did.

I want to go on the record here about something important. Yes, it’s Friday night and no one’s reading this anyway, but I’m saying it:

I’m glad John McCain lost.

There. I said it. And I voted for him, by the way. The next four years are going to stink in ways only B.O. can stink and and it’s a relief that it’s him and not McCain. It is bad being worked over by your opponent. I’ve been on a losing team before and it’s no fun. But there is nothing worse than being on the winning team only to have the “star” not live up to one shred of his potential. What is worse, is to find out that the star of your team is throwing the game because he’s in on some gambling scheme. I’m not saying that John McCain would be a cheater. I’m just saying he would completely disrespect his voters every, single day of our existence. The Left would hate him, but that wouldn’t stop McCain from trying to curry their favor. It would be a tortured experience.

Watching the Left endure their version of voter colic has been nothing if not entertaining. Seeing Obama stumble through a press conference and chastise his sycophants makes me giggle. Reading the far left’s bloggers try to explain their savior’s betrayals makes me all warm inside. Oh, I feel their pain. I know what it’s like to actually believe something and to be rolled by the guy you voted for. It’s not fun. I’d rather it be them than me.

We’re all going to suffer the next four years. It’s going to be awful. It would be awful with McCain. It would be awful with anyone. The environment is just bad right now. Way back, I wondered what kind of lunatic would want to be president during such a difficult time. Well, we’ve got one, Barack Obama. May the force be with him. In the mean time, it’s been a lot more fun than I expected…..so far.

Posted in America, Political Animals | 2 Comments »

About Caroline Kennedy–UPDATED

So, the American Princess desireth a Senate seat. Well, of course she does! She has everything else and what do you get a girl who has everything for Christmas? Barely restrained power, of course. It’s what all the girls want these days.

Aside from the nepotistic, inbred, closed community called leftist Senatorial politics, let’s be real here: It ain’t no big thang to be a United States Senator. If you’re smarter than your Pet Rock, have no real-life experience to speak of, have a vague grasp of world events (aka scan the New York Times Sunday edition), and follow the liberal ideology, what’s to know?

There are only a few things that you have to believe to be a useful Democrat and in their view, a useful American:

1. War is bad.
2. Abortion is good.
3. God is suspect.
4. Government is infallible.
5. Guns kill people.
6. Criminals are victims.
7. Global warming is man made.
8. Corporations are evil.
9. Taxes need to go up.
10. They know what’s best for you

See? Simple. Don’t hassle Sweet Caroline. She’s got all the qualifications she needs to be a Democratic Senator from New York. She’s probably over-qualified.

More here.

Claudia Rosett on New York’s “Banana Republic.”

Mary Katherine Hamm calls her quest not terribly “auspicious”.

Posted in Political Animals | 4 Comments »

Is Twitter Evil, Too?

We tend to think that those who run online systems like Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed and the grand poo-bah Google make them passive robot-like vehicles for democratic action. That’s not exactly true. At the very least someone wrote the code in a certain way to achieve a certain outcome. It doesn’t have to be a nefarious plot to inadvertently cause harm.

Still, there are living, breathing people behind these companies who watch their technology grow and develop and make money. These people have ideologies and philosophies and the ability to manipulate their domain either very specifically or generally. Imagine a developer constructing a neighborhood. He can mess things up passively–use the wrong kind of pipe fittings that causes leaks in all the homes. Or he can mess things up specifically–hang the cabinets wrong, “forget” some special hardware, order the wrong tile for a customer he doesn’t particularly like. Software developers can do the same thing. Heck, hardware developers can too. Sony was found to have put a chip in their machines to collect data.

A couple years ago, there was a big internet stink over a psycho lefty who was harassing and threatening a conservative blogger (Jeff Goldstein). I was watching and writing about the episode. The conservative blogger ended up with a denial of service attack. Around the same time, a DOS attack happened to my blog. And then, my blog just disappeared. Whoosh! At the time, I was using Blogger (hosted by Google). Another conservative blogger, Betsy Newmark, had her blogger domain name taken and given to someone else. Blogger just “lost” her whole archive of blog posts. This is Google we’re talking about. They lose nothing. After two weeks of wrangling, Google “found” her domain and archives and restored them.

So now, a conservative Twitterer is wondering if the same sort of manipulation is happening to him. Remember the Motrin Moms? I barely blogged about it because it seemed like another tempest in a D-cup, typical feminist fare. The women got worked up because they were offended by a stupid (and it was stupid) Motrin commercial. Well, a conservative Tech blogger in California, Brooksbayne shares his story:

It’s purely coincidental that my last post in the public timeline was regarding #motrinmoms, right? Although, theoretically, it wouldn’t be difficult for the devs to create another Bit column in Twitter’s database and keep people’s posts from hitting the public timeline and search by marking them hidden behind the scenes, but that would be censorship. Is @brooksbayne being censored by a liberal at Twitter who is sympathetic to the #motrinmoms? I have a feeling we’re about to find out.

Here’s the thing. It IS possible for these companies to censor and manipulate and they can do it all behind a technological shroud. I’m not for being a conspiracy theorist, but I do think that it’s wise to realize that the internet and it’s businesses are a sea of people driving technology, not the other way around.

It is in everyone’s interest to keep these operators honest.

Cross-posted at RightWingNews

Posted in Nerd Stuff | 2 Comments »

Blago: A Theory

Blago: A Theory
Rahm, Rahm, what have you done?

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Funny Thought

Funny Thought
Blogo puts a Republican in Obama’s Senate seat as his last psychotic decision.

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Traits The RNC Chair Should Possess

Unless Republicans truly have become Democrats where failure is rewarded, the current Republican National Committee Chairman must move along. The Republicans need new blood. Preferably, they need new, younger blood.

Quickly now. Who is the current RNC chairman? Now, who is the DNC chairman? That’s right Howard “The Scream” Dean. Hey, at least you know his name. Name recognition would be a nice start for the Republicans.

Here’s my list:

Charismatic–Please, can we have someone who can interview well on TV?

Smart–The party chair has to be one step of everyone else.

Tough-minded–Politics is a bloodsport. The chair has to have the spine to make tough decisions during tough times.

Personable–Possess the ability to tell someone to go to hell and after the conversation the person is excited about the trip.

Uses New Media and Embraces Technology–Hello! This is the new fashioned days, people. Social media is not a fad. It will be here in one form or another. Hell, if social media was good enough for Paul Revere, it should be good enough for the RNC chair. (Here’s how the candidates do.)

Excels at Fund Raising–This is raison d’etre, non?

Committed To Conservative Candidates–People who know who they are and why they’re not Democrats.

I don’t know who best fits these traits. I like Michael Steele and Saul Anuzis. (As an aside, Steele’s web page is messy. It really needs to look better. Anuzis’ is great. It is obvious he understands new media.) Friends of mine really like Ken Blackwell.

If I had to pick right now, I’d pick Saul. But I’m willing to be persuaded. Also, I’m a bit biased as Saul is from my home turf and I think he understands the economic, social, and other concerns based on his location. But that would be true, I suppose, of Ken Blackwell, too, since he’s from Ohio.

Cross-posted at RightWingNews.com

Posted in Political Animals | 2 Comments »

% Who Think Obama Will Be A Good President

% Who Think Obama Will Be A Good President
I think this proves Republicans are more generous and optimistic than Democrats. After the last two elections, the world was ending. Remember?

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Obama’s Cabinet Human Shield–UPDATED

My brother and I were discussing Barack Obama’s team. We were also discussing Obama’s propensity to throw unhelpful people, and ideas for that matter, under the bus. Where George Bush didn’t seem to know when to cut his losses, Barack Obama will cut even those closest to him, if their presence is a problem. Even grandma.

I’m not so sure I’d want a place in an Obama cabinet. To me, they will form a human shield he’ll employ whenever a policy turns out stupid. He hired “the best” and if the best screwed up, it won’t be his fault, it will be theirs’.

A note about Hillary Clinton. She is a junior Senator from New York, a worker bee, and by all accounts diligent. Will she end up taking up State? My brother is convinced she has to, that it’s her best chance at power. My thoughts immediately turned to Colin Powell. Everyone is expendable. Would Barack Obama dump Hillary Clinton? Why wouldn’t he? If he thought her presence harmed him, he would. Does she want her political career to be at the leisure of this president?

There is more drama surrounding the Clinton-Obama dance than King Lear. If I don’t miss my mark, Michelle Obama hates Hillary, and Bill hates Barack. I do not use the word “hate” lightly. When the Obama camp accused Bill Clinton of being racist, that did it. Interestingly, both Barack and Hillary seem to share a common trait: the willingness to subsume personal feelings for power. Hillary has spent a lifetime building that muscle and Barack had to learn quickly to survive Chicago.

So, will there be trust between staffs? Will Clinton adhere to Obama’s policy positions? I actually think Obama makes a good guess about Hillary. She has put up with an outrageous political partner her whole adult life–enabling, covering for. This is old territory for her. It is also comfortable. She will spend the remainder of her career second fiddle (who is Joe Biden, again?) to a powerful, charismatic man.

UPDATED: A fly in the ointment already?

Posted in Political Animals | 5 Comments »

Who Wants A Filibuster?

What is best for the country is a Senate where Republicans hold on to the filibuster. (That becomes less likely as Ted Stevens goes down for the count.) It will moderate choices, give the government some form of restraint. Maybe. The Senate is packed full of chummy buds and plenty of Republicans who will do their master’s bidding. Oh! You think I mean the voters? Au contraire. mon ami. I’m talking about Democrat Senators.

But here’s the thing about the Republicans having the filibuster. As long as they have it, every “bad” thing ever done or not done or thwarted will be blamed on Republicans. It won’t matter that there’s a Democrat in the White House. It won’t matter that Democrats control the House like they have for two years. It won’t matter that the Democrats control the Senate in a huge way. No, the way every piece of hung up legislation will be handled will be be to blame the Republicans even though they have next to zero power to stop anything any Democrat wants.

There is a reason the Democrats are bringing the Auto execs to capital hill now. They have political cover–they can still blame the Republicans for a failed bailout.

In a couple months, Democrats have to balance the budgets (yeah, right), figure out how to not look like weak losers when it comes to our military engagements, keep psychotic leftists hell-bent on destroying America’s social fabric happy and they have to do all this without excuse. They own it.

They own it all without reservation if Republicans don’t have the filibuster in the Senate.

Americans watch with keen interest how the hope and change crowd are hopefully going to change things. That is to say, Americans, the fickle pickles that they are, want some change but not too much change. The Democrats overreach and they will be punished. After eight years of non-stop bitching, moaning and complaining, they have it all. Americans gave it to them. The mood is generally: Shut up and get to work.

What will Nancy Pelosi have without the foil of George Bush to blame every one of her embarrassing failures on? How will Harry Reid appease the Kos Kids out for blood, literally? How will Barack Obama entreat the bitter Leftists while keeping the idealistic electorate convinced of his centrality?

A filibuster gives these opportunists cover. They don’t deserve it. But America will pay a steep price along the way for the lack of it.

Cross-posted at RightWingNews.com and The Houston Chronicle

Posted in Political Animals | 2 Comments »