John McCain - Stick a fork in him

Last night's GOP debate was pretty funny. Most telling was John McCain's attack of Ron Paul and actually seeing Ron Paul fight back. McCain was surely trying to attack Paul in an effort to win back "most-favored-maverick" status among those in New Hampshire but while Paul fought back against McCain, the good doctor launched a few attacks of his own at the man also known as "Senator Whats-up-with-your-face?"

McCain stated in the debate that they had all "...gone to Washington to change Washington but Washington changed us." Ron Paul quoted McCain and said, "That statement does not apply to me." Zing! McCain is done. In one statement those in New Hampshire saw McCain as the establishment insider that he is against Ron Paul who has been unswayed by the DC politics as usual. McCain has already been dipping in New Hampshire as Ron Paul's traditional polling numbers have climbed.

Hopefully this is the beginnings to an end of the miserable political legacy of John McCain. For Arizona the man who replaced Barry Goldwater in the Senate has been a downgrade for sure.

Best line from the debate was from Huckabee about capital punishment and "What would Jesus do?" Huck's answer: “Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office,’’ Huckabee said. “That's what Jesus would do.’’

Based on last night's debate a Rudy/Huckabee ticket seems likely in my view.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year I'm traveling a bit...should be different. We'll see.

I obviously have low expectations of this holiday.

Take care,
-t

My 2007 Reading List

My goal is to read three fiction books a year. I started late this year but I'm half done with my three books.

Books I've read or started in 2007

Fiction:

This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff - Done.
Old School by Tobias Wolff - Half Done.
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham - On my nightstand...I read the jacket blurb.

Non-Fiction:

Creeds of the Churches Third Edition, Edited by John H. Leith - I've read most or all of the 730 pages.

The Law by Frederic Bastiat- Done.

For 2008 I'm flirting with the idea of tackling Atlas Shrugged. It's kind of too long for me and I'm not sure I can tolerate Rand's nonsensical objectivist bull crap for that many pages but I may take a stab at it. Maybe The Fountainhead is shorter.

Anyone have any other suggestions? Keep in mind that I read fiction as a discipline rather than pure enjoyment because I have a considerable reading disability. The shorter the book is the greater chance I have of completing it. Anything over 350 pages will probably require you reading it to me. Please post suggestions if you have any.

Pakistan - The new Iran

In 1953 the United States backed a coup to install the Shah in place of Mohammad Mosaddeq who was the democratically elected leader. In the long memories of Iranians this caused a great resentment among their people. When the Shah was eventually overthrown the U.S. Embassy went down with it and the story of the hostages began.

Now the U.S. has backed another coup leader in President Gen. Pervez Musharraf even though he is not wanted by the people of Pakistan. When he is eventually overthrown we should expect an increasing resentment from their people against the United Stated because of our intervening foreign policy. And oh by the way...Osama Bin Laden is hiding out in Pakistan...and oh by the way again...they have a nuclear weapon.

Our policy is right now creating the very Iran we're afraid that could emerge...except it's in Pakistan.

9/11 conspiracies and other junk I don't believe

9/11 was an inside job - I distrust government but not because they're trying to hide the truth about major plots. I distrust them because they try to hide things like how much they pay for hammers and what elected officials were doing in Minneapolis airport restrooms. Government is not able to pull off anything properly when it tries. To believe this 9/11 was an inside job I have to believe that the same government that is in charge of Social Security can pull off what happened that day. I don't buy it.

Any non-Warren Commission plot to kill Kennedy - I think Oswald acted alone. End of story.

FDR Invited the attacks by Japan - He may have expected a declaration of war but I do not believe he had prior knowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Why do we take tragedies in this country and blame the people we elect...just to reelected them again?

The Lunar Landing was fake - Just kidding of course it was fake.

Gerald Ford was a space alien - This one I'm completely tired of. It is a well-established fact that Gerald Ford was not and had never been a space alien. He was a robot manufactured in a secret government laboratory.

Trick or Treater Update

On Halloween 51 trick or treaters came to my door. I awarded a few of them and they will get a mention in this post.

Most Original: A giant homemade iPod. This kid was also the first trick or treater. I told him if he came with iTunes I'd kick him off my porch because iTunes sucks.

Most Entertaining: Three kids came to my door. I could identify two of their costumes but not the third. I asked the third kid, "What are you?" His buddy answered before he could with "He's a fat kid." This comment earned him a punch to the stomach. I laughed and gave them lots of the best candy for entertaining me.

Laziest Costume - The hobo. There's always at least one hobo. It requires nothing except a dirty face and your dad's old work clothes. I reward this classic half-ass attempt at a costume with good candy every year.

Pillowcasers - I had 11 of them this year. They're usually age 12-14 and are hanging on to the last year they can go trick or treating. Their costumes are lame if they even have one. Instead of a bag they bring a pillowcase and load up on as much candy as possible. They arrive at your door out of breath because they're hitting as many doors as possible. I pity them and give them good candy...as they are the most likely to egg my house.

Lamest Costume that actually took time to make - Unicorn...holy crap I couldn't believe my eyes. What a dumb costume! Here have some circus peanuts and get off my property lamer!

Weirdest Store-bought Costume - Engineer. Hardhat, vest, et al. I asked him what kind of engineer he was...his reply? "I don't know." Here have some bulk candy I found under the couch cushions.

Now with Halloween out of the way I can concentrate on Guy Fawkes day!

The folly of nation building

I was just reading a quote by this guy who used to be governor of Texas about a decade ago. I don't know who this guy is but he seems pretty sharp. Here he is quoted about how he didn't support nation building in Somalia but supported the original mission to remove their dictator. He didn't like how the mission changed from removing a dictator to something ridiculous like nation building. Where is this guy now when we need him?

Somalia Started off as a humanitarian mission and then changed into a nation-building mission, and that's where the mission went wrong. The mission was changed and, as a result, our nation paid a price. And so I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building. I think our troops ought to be used to fight and win war. I think our troops ought to be used to help overthrow a dictator that's in our -- when it's in our best interests. But in this case, it was a nation-building exercise. And the same with Haiti, I wouldn't have supported, either.