Sanity - The Last Frontier

Government & Pensions

2005-07-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

The Gazette editorial on pensions this morning went into the pension fiasco here in WV and across the country. Somehow they find some consolation in knowing it is a national problem and not just a local problem. I find that fascinating.

There are two things the editorial doesn’t address. The first is failure of the local, i.e., state, pension bond sale rejection rationale. All the swirl of finger pointing and legal actions notwithstanding, many people don’t trust state government to act in a fiscally responsible way. Although the bond issue may well have solved the immediate problem, the calls for special sessions to address pay increases for selected groups, e.g., teachers, would have bled most, if not all, of the savings plus made the pension problem even worse.

The second is that everyone complains about the size and cost of government, WV state government in particular. Oddly enough, people don’t seem to recognize the correlation between requests for services and cost. Are there things that could be done better or more cheaply? Is there waste in government? Without a doubt, the answer to both questions is yes. Some things could be done better and there is absolutely waste; pick up a newspaper any week or almost any day it sometimes seems and you will find an example. But one simple fact remains and that is people want government to supply certain services. Many of these services are things we used to do for ourselves – take a look at some of the education programs if you need an example. If people are willing to abdicate their responsibilities to government programs, government is happy to grow to accommodate. Remember the story about rice bowls; one is considered successful in government not by providing efficient, cost effective services but by establishing new programs to meet a “need” established by a government survey. If any government is reduced to only necessary services, the price tag can be reduced. Will it be reduced? That, my friend, could be a completely different story. But we’ll never know so long as we insist on more and more government programs.

Legal or Right?

2005-07-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

There is an article in this morning's Gazette on the coal silos and the Manchin-Blankenship continuing saga. The most interesting part to me was something the governor said. I quote from the story, "Manchin said he had faith in the professionals at the DEP to do what is legal and right."

Too often those two words mean opposite, or at least different, things.

National Will

2005-07-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

100 Decisive Battles, copyright 1999, Paul K. Davis. I just finished the book. Good read if you’re interested in that sort of thing. The book was one of the sources for the piece below on Megiddo.

The next to last decisive battle discussed in the book is the Tet Offensive in January 1968. It made me think a little about the recently departed William Westmoreland. It is fairly easy to dissect events nearly 40 years after the fact. Everyone knows what happened – massive attacks in the south by both the NVA and the Viet Cong, the guerilla arm of the armed forces. Nearly 100 targets were attacked including five of the six major cities, 36 out of 44 provincial capitals, and most, if not all, of the major military bases in the south. Tet was preceded by a massive effort to relocate supplies to the south and at least part of this was detected by US intelligence. General Westmoreland reported to Washington that a major offensive was imminent but was ignored, even when the diversionary attack on Khe Sanh began on January 21. The results, as they say, are history. Hue fell. The US embassy was attacked but never fell.

One hates to sound merely glib. However, as noted in the book, and despite some anti-war efforts in the US, at the beginning of 1968 most thought the war was being won. This was in part due to the weekly news reports of enemy casualties. That changed radically after Tet.

Within a few weeks all the gains of the NVA and Viet Cong had been regained, including recapture of the ancient imperial capital, Hue. To quote from the book, “Everything the Communists had hoped for failed to materialize. The peasant population did not rise up and welcome them as liberators. Indeed, when the U.S. and ARVN troops reentered Communist-held towns, the Viet Cong were usually turned over to them. The government … remained as strong as ever. The dream of establishing strongholds in southern cities never happened. It was the greatest tactical defeat that the Communists ever suffered in this war, and afterward the Communist leadership could do little more than wonder how their plans could have gone so far awry.”

The Viet Cong were nearly decimated in the literal and classical sense. Exact casualty counts are unknown but, according to the book, it is generally accepted that the Communists lost 40,000 dead. One would expect the count of wounded to be much higher. Because of these losses, there was a very real opportunity to inflict a fatal blow against the North.

There are two points to be made. Rather than use my own poor words, I’ll use Mr. Davis’:

“Worst of all, it was all on the evening news, watched by the entire country. Even the presence of General Westmoreland standing in the embassy compound failed to assure the public. Could it be all lies? The public came to believe the early reports that the Communists had, temporarily, occupied the embassy. Untrue, but later denials were viewed skeptically.

What the U.S. public saw was Viet Cong in the embassy compound. What they did not see, because the news cameras did not follow, was the massive U.S. and ARVN counteroffensive that smashed the Communists forces. The perception of stalemate, if not defeat, entered the American psyche.”

Many of us remember what was reported in the days following. The media did NOT cause the fall of Saigon nor did it cause the failure of U.S. policy. However, and in my opinion, the media did contribute to both through their failure to accurately depict the events of the time. Can you say unbiased?

“After the Tet Offensive, the American people seemed to want not victory, just an end to the war. Although it took five more years for final arrangements to be concluded, the war had long been lost. The struggle in Vietnam, the only serious U.S. setback in the entire Cold War era, was in the end not a struggle of military might, but of national will.”

National will. Do we have that?

Great Ironies

2005-07-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

The first battle recorded by an eyewitness, and thus the first documented battle, took place on or about May 15, 1479 B.C. (Opinions vary about the date but a few years one way or the other over a span of 3500 years probably isn’t significant). Sure, we've been fighting each other for time uncounted. We just didn't write it down before this one.

This battle took place in and around the walled city of Megiddo, in ancient Palestine. The forces engaged were those of Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III and those of the Kadesh alliance, commanded by the King of Kadesh. The battle reestablished Egyptian dominance in the region and allowed the invading Egyptians to press on into Lebanon, continuing the outward expansion of the empire to its greatest expanse.

Ok. So that is kinda sorta interesting. But where is the irony? What is the point? The irony is in that this is the first recorded battle and in the Hebrew name for Megiddo – Armageddon.

Affable Conservative

2005-07-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

I was reading the Gazette’s editorial on the John Roberts nomination to the Supreme Court. It wasn’t bad at all considering their usual take on all things Bush. At least it wasn’t bad until the very last sentence. After noting that the nomination was politically wise, they end with, “Now it’s up to responsible Senate Democrats to educate themselves and the nation about this affable conservative’s agenda.”

I conclude from that final sentence that only Senate Democrats are responsible and that this “affable conservative” clearly has an agenda. Perhaps they didn’t mean it that way. Perhaps Ragin' Red and Dave Peyton are alter egos of Don Surber.

Yet those of us with a conservative bent are considered divisive.

No! It's a giant squid!

2005-07-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

Dave Peyton wrote a pretty decent piece in today’s Daily Mail. The article, and the play discussed in the column is in reference to the Octopus Party. I have to admit that some of the article rings true – it is certainly true that we always see the same names either in power or in pursuit of power.

At least it would have been a pretty good article if only he hadn’t suggested, as the play suggests, that Charlotte Pritt lost the nomination for Governor because she wasn’t a tentacle of the octopus. Reading the article, it appears that the sole reason she lost was because of this lack of connection with the octopus. It had absolutely nothing to do with her voting record or the loony comments she made.

I took the time to see what I might find about the play and came across a suggestion or two that might indicate why Ms. Pritt lost the nomination in 1992 and the general election in 1996. According to an article posted on Huntington News, “Without hesitation the former candidate for governor asserted, "I don't think George Bush won either of the elections. People are afraid to speak out because the climate in the country after 9/11 homeland security has turned us into a military state. With our freedoms of speech being curtailed and all kinds of civil liberties being curtailed, people who know what's happening are very concerned that we have complete control of the media right now by the right wing.””

Interesting! It seems that not only have we been duped by believing that George W. won the election but at least part of it is due to a vast conspiracy of the right and their knowing media outlet goons! Of course, the theme that we’re too stupid to vote is intimated, as well, in that “only people who know what’s happening,” are attuned to this conspiracy.

Elinore Taylor, the play’s author, worked on Pritt’s campaigns. I suppose that could have contributed to the losses. According to the article linked above, she charges that, “he kinda went Republican” when speaking of Bill Clinton.

At least Peyton’s article would have been pretty good if the tag line hadn’t been “Don’t blame democrats for the problem.” He says that the octopus has been in power for the last 75 years and not the Democratic party.

Come to think of it… perhaps that column wasn’t that great after all!

What a country!

2005-07-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

General Quarters, General Quarters. All hands man your battle stations.

I was home on leave. There was some state of the world that is now long forgotten but those in the military were considering the possibility that a shooting war was in the making and that we would once again hear those words. I was standing on the boulevard at Regatta amid perhaps 100,000 other people attending the headliner concert. The crowd was having a good time and completely oblivious to my concerns and generally oblivious to the circumstances causing those concerns.

That was the moment that I realized that as small as it might be, what I did ostensibly for a living made a difference. My service played some small part in allowing 100,000 other people to forget whatever concerns they may have had in their life for a while and enjoy the moment without fear.

Generations have heard that call to General Quarters. Generations have responded. All so we can be at home on this day and cook out, go to concerts, watch a ball game, swim, ride, fish, complain about the state of the world or nation, and do all those things without the fear of a police state taking exception. As the catch phrase used to be, “What a country!”

Happy Birthday, America!

For Rent

2005-06-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

Headline in the Gazette: Mansion for rent

Why is this newsworthy? The mansion, along with offices of the other elected officials, has been rented out for years. … Or did I miss the article's connection to vote buying?

Eminent Domain, Indeed!

2005-06-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

AP and CNN reports this morning:
"WEARE, New Hampshire (AP) -- A critic of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that governments may seize private property for economic development is suggesting the process be used to replace Justice David Souter's New Hampshire home with a hotel.

"The justification for such an eminent domain action is that our hotel will better serve the public interest as it will bring in economic development and higher tax revenue to Weare," Logan Darrow Clements wrote in a fax to town officials in Weare Tuesday."

While I don't expect much of anything to come of it, I can hope that justice comes to the Justice.

Oh, yeah...

2005-06-25T13:51:00.000-07:00

There is another interesting thing that happened as a result of the Revolutionary War. The Army had been disbanded and the war was declared to be over on April 11, 1783. On June 24, 1783 Congress moved from Philadelphia to Princeton, NJ. Why? They were trying to avoid the angry crowds of unpaid soldiers.

It appears we had some politicians in the crowd even then.

Timetable?

2005-06-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

I’ve been over at Don Surber’s blog. The comments are interesting, particularly those that suggest a comparison between military conflict and business activities. A timetable for withdrawal from Iraq? I don’t think so!

We're not making widgets. We're creating freedom where there was none except in the hearts and minds of millions. This is neither clean nor simple.

Do you suppose a timetable would have secured our nation in 1776? Signing a declaration is one thing. Implementing it is quite another. Can you imagine a codicil to the Constitution that would have limited those activities to 2 years or 4 years? If you need the lesson:

September 17, 1774: First Continental Congress. The right of life, liberty and property are asserted. The formation of local militias is promoted.

April 19, 1775: Lexington Green. The British army under General Gates continues on to Concord and destroys the colonist’s weapons cache. The British are harassed at every turn with small arms fire on the return march.

Things go down hill rapidly for a long time. Perhaps we should have withdrawn when we lost Charleston. It certainly would have prevented the loss of many lives and the destruction of countless homes and businesses. But we don’t. We fight on until…

October 19, 1781: General Cornwallis surrenders.

November 10, 1782: The final battle of the Revolutionary War in the Ohio territory.

April 11, 1783: Congress officially declares an end to the war.

It took rather a long time to free a little over two million people. Does anyone suppose that took too long?

Or how about the issue of slavery? On July 8, 1783 the Supreme Court of Massachusetts abolished slavery. When was that issue finally decided?

No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. It seems they have their own plan and they don't often work to our advantage.

I’d like nothing better than to see our people home. However, I refuse to diminish the sacrifice made by 1700 young men and women, their families, and the more that will surely follow by supporting any kind of a timetable. I refuse to diminish the sacrifices of the thousands of Iraqis who have been butchered while lining up to become a police officer or any of the other jobs vital to a secure Iraq.

Finish the job. Stay the course.

Pawns?

2005-06-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

I’ve been reading my usual list of blogs, newspapers and news sites and sometimes I don’t get it at all. Right, left, or somewhere in the middle, people of all political persuasions continue to use troops as pawns.

When did people who “solemnly swear (or affirm – never did like that little insertion) to support and defend the Constitution of the United States” become pawns for the left and right? When did their motivation and sacrifice for a greater good become something that either the left or right had to uphold?

People who worry about what others think of them are few and far between in the military services. After only a short period, soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines all understand what is expected of them and why. They get it. They understand like no others what it means when someone says that all gave some, some gave all. They know why that is true.

Most of the time, military people are merely amused by the rants of the left and right. Darkly amused, to be sure, but amused nonetheless. They tend to be more conservative than the population as a whole (can’t imagine why the Gore campaign would have wanted to limit the ballots from overseas) but understand that both the left and right have and are entitled to use their voices. They get it. They don’t necessarily agree with the speech and they may not even understand the furor, but they get it.

Don’t call them Pol Pots or Nazis or anything else. Don’t make them out as superhuman; that they rise to the occasion is, as the citations say, “in the highest tradition” of their service is laudable, to be sure, but not superhuman. They’re none of those things. They are everyday men and women performing always necessary, often dangerous, generally unappreciated work to defend your right to politicize their lives.

If you want to attack someone the Commander-in-Chief wears a big target as do the congressional supporters of the CinC’s programs. If you want to lift someone to a higher level, see the previous sentence but find someone with a program to support. If you want to say something about the men and women of the armed forces, how about a simple thank you?

Multiculturalism

2005-06-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

If you have an interest in multiculturalism, you may (or may not) like a speech by Democratic former governor of Colorado Richard Lamm.

In the mail this morning...

2005-06-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

"They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq.

Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years and hell, we're not using it anymore."

Senator Durbin

2005-06-20T07:53:00.000-07:00

"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings," Durbin said Tuesday.

Durbin had said Thursday that he had never brought U.S. soldiers into the comparison in the first place, and that he was criticizing the approved interrogation methods described in an FBI memo obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

It sounds very much like he did, in fact, bring US soldiers into the comparison to me. … The Gazette considers those of us that voted for Bush to be too stupid to vote. I wonder if they consider Senator Durbin too stupid to be in the Senate

Unfair?

2005-06-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

Whew! I’m back. I started a new job and I’ve been consumed with catching up. After a long period of being absolutely convinced I could do perform the required activities better than anyone else, now I have to prove it. But I like the idea of living or dieing by my own hand. One criteria I’ve had for employment has been that it is ok to beat me up for doing something wrong or failing to do something I should have done, just don’t bore me. … I haven’t been bored!

Anyway… Dave Peyton wrote in the Friday edition of the Daily Mail about West Virginia making the news – around the world this time – for our obesity problem. He comments on several things but one thing in particular rings true for me – his comment about a fair shake from the press. We don’t often get that. Of course, we’re pretty good at shooting ourselves in the foot, too. From elected officials to the usual, or perhaps not so usual, collection of nut cases, we seem to be our own worst enemy. I’ve had the opportunity to live in a lot of different places and the news from West Virginia has always been bad.

I didn’t know A. James Manchin although I did meet him on a couple of occasions. He may have been a good man but most of what I know about him is from press reports of his foibles. What I remember most about him are his letters to various news organizations damning them for their presumed unfair reporting of something that happened in the state. Unfortunately, he would never get around to refuting the report but would go on and on in a rather bombastic style about how it is a beautiful state with good people. I don’t think he ever made a single point about the issue at hand. This, of course, merely reinforced the idea that perhaps we weren’t very bright.

In the 1970’s we also had the book burnings. That certainly helped our position. Stories like that don’t die easily. The news out of West Virginia is almost always something we’ve managed to do badly, stupidly, or both.

Does anyone remember the comic strip Pogo? “We have seen the enemy and it is us.” Until we figure out that we’re our own worst enemies and make some changes in the way we conduct the business of the state, the news will always be that we’re fat, ignorant hillbillies incapable of anything more.

The Activist Court

2005-06-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

A lot of other people have already written on the subject but the United States Supreme Court ruled 6-3 yesterday that medical marijuana use is in violation of US drug law. At least part of this decision rested on the ability of the federal government to regulate interstate commerce. A bit of a stretch, I’d say but we’ll leave that for now.

Did anyone notice that Nixon, Reagan and Bush appointees to the court (Rehnquist, O’Conner and Thomas, respectively) were in the minority and that Clinton appointees (Ginsburg and Breyer) voted with the majority?

Where is the hue and cry over judicial activism now? If it is raised, where will it be directed? This, my friend, might be termed the horns of a dilemma!

Plan B

2005-06-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

Here, boys and girls, is yet another example of why the most liberal have no message left. The Charleston Gazette editorialized today that pharmacists who say they won’t stock the “morning after” contraceptive pill are irrational. They go on to say that one possible reason for not wanting to stock this drug is that the pharmacists are uncomfortable with the degree of control it gives women over their reproductive lives which, in turn, implies an intent to punish women.

At least one of the pharmacists stated that stocking the drug was inconsistent with his faith. Why isn’t that enough? The pharmacists in question were even willing to direct women to other pharmacies where the drug could be obtained. Why should these people have to defend thier personal values?

The actions of these pharmacists are neither immoral nor illegal. These are educated and presumably intelligent people running a business. People are free to support or not support these particular places of business. We are all free to make choices – a freedom heartily endorsed by the Gazette but only when it fits their view of the world.

Don't BS Me!

2005-06-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

This post is about another blog and a comment left on it. Don Surber’s post, How The Left Lost The War On Terrorism, commented at length, complete with links to articles discussing the points he made. The post concluded that the left has no longer has a message.

A comment by Dave Peyton… Well, rather than paraphrase, I’ll copy it in here:
“It's an absolutely amazing post, Don. Full of sources and quotes. I am impressed. Really. And if I didn't personally know that you have misrepresented real liberals, I'd probably say that you're right on the mark.”

What, precisely, constitutes a “real” liberal? Would that be one that refers to victims of 9/11 as Eichmanns? Would it be one that editorializes that people who intended to vote for George Bush were too stupid to vote? Would it be one that consistently says the defense budget is too big and then raises a furor about a potential base closing?

People have absolute rights to free speech, free association and a host of other rights that I spent 20 years of my life defending. I applaud their exercise of those rights. Just don’t try to BS me!

Dutch Reject EU Constitution

2005-06-01T20:05:00.000-07:00

The BBC reports that the Dutch have rejected the EU Constitution by a margin of almost two to one - 63% against. One of the leading "no" campaigners in the Netherlands, right-wing politician Geert Wilders, told reporters he had not expected such a decisive result - which exceeded poll predictions.
"If you realise that two-thirds of parliament supported the constitution and two out of three people in the land are against, it means a lot is wrong in the country."

The last part of that quote says a lot. Two out of three politicians support something despite two out of three citizens being against the same thing. To the Delegates and Senators of the State of West Virginia: Are you listening?

Rhapsody in the Clay

2005-06-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

The Gazette rhapsodizes on the “The Soul of the Senate” eulogy.. umm... no... documentary of Bob Byrd. I find it illuminating that after the showing at the Clay Center it was also shown on PBS and distributed to the school system. Lawbot at Fifth Column has a slightly different take on it.

Deep Throat

2005-05-31T19:46:00.000-07:00

Talk about mixed feelings! W. Mark Felt, the former number two at the FBI, was Deep Throat. Part of me says it was sour grapes that a career FBI agent wasn’t promoted to Director after Hoover. Part of me is angry that a career federal agent leaked a story while yet another part is grateful that he did. Perhaps I would view it all differently if he had demonstrated the courage of his convictions and spoken out at the time. Perhaps then I would view him as a good, perhaps great, man.

France & the EU... Again

2005-05-31T18:27:00.000-07:00

There has been a good deal of analysis of the French defeating the EU Constitution referendum this past Sunday. Everyone and their brother commented. You probably won't read anything new in this post. One of the more lucid, albeit inconclusive, articles was published by the BBC. I understand, or at least think I understand some the objectives of the EU but I’ve simply never got it. I can’t see France and Germany agreeing on much of anything of substance. Ever. Another pretty good piece was on the English version of the Al Jazeera web site. (Yeah – I read it from time to time; it is a good thing to know what the opposition thinks. I went back to get the link but the story has been taken down. One reason I liked it was the wording. When is the last time you read “Trotskyite”?)

Many of the comments on the reasons the French rejected the constitution focus on a rejection of Chirac’s government. That may be true but I tend to think of it as more French arrogance. For some odd reason, France considers herself a leader. I think a lot of people believe that ratification and execution of the EU Constitution will dilute any influence France currently maintains in Europe.

As has been pointed out in various blogs and news accounts, France is experiencing an unemployment rate in excess of 10 percent. Ratification of the constitution will require France to cut their deficit spending to an approved level. What do you suppose that will do to social programs in a country with a 35 hour work week, extended vacation and sick time, and low worker productivity when coupled with their unemployment rate? What do you suppose it will do to the tax structure?

Finally, I’m confused by the reappointment of De Villepin as the Prime Minister. He was well known and liked as the voice of French refusal to support US efforts in Iraq. But isn’t this the same guy that talked Chirac into calling for early elections a couple years prior with the resultant loss of seats for the ‘conservatives’ so that Chirac had to form a coalition government?

France & the EU

2005-05-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

"France has expressed itself democratically. You have rejected the European constitution by a majority. It is your sovereign decision and I take note of it." "Nevertheless, our ambitions and interests are profoundly linked to Europe. France, a founder member of the union, remains, naturally, within the union.” President Jacques Chirac commenting on the French declining to ratify the European Union Constitution

Is it me or does that sound much like someone saying they don’t much care about the result of the referendum?

War and Warriors

2005-05-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

The Associated Press reports, “GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines — Two men believed to be former soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army have been found on Mindanao Island in the Southern Philippines, the Japanese Embassy in Manila has reported.

The embassy sent three officials to the Mindanao city of General Santos on Friday to meet with the two men to determine whether they are Japanese stragglers.

It was not known Friday if the two men were aware that the war was over.”

Who'da Thunk It?

2005-05-27T18:25:00.000-07:00

CNN reported today the results of a study commissioned by GMAC Insurance. Basically, the findings were that people in the Northeast were the most clueless about rules of the road, followed by the mid-Atlantic states. People in the Northwest scored highest on the test. Oddly enough, West Virginia was scored the 10th highest, i.e., best, of all the states.

Two thoughts:
- How do we get the insurance company to buy into this?
- Left lane is for passing!

Gulag?

2005-05-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

Amnesty International called the U.S. detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the "gulag of our times." In the written introduction to the report, Irene Khan mentioned only two countries at length: Sudan and the United States. She called the latter the "unrivalled political, military and economic hyper-power," which "thumbs its nose at the rule of law and human rights."

Gulag? Thumbs its nose? Incredible. I can’t even begin…

Irrelevance

2005-05-25T08:37:00.000-07:00

I always enjoy reading Don Surber’s stuff, even if I think he’s wrong; it makes me think about where I stand on things. This morning, however, his post has a real gem. No, not the part about France or Drudge or Bolton or any of that. His gem was buried, almost an afterthought, contextually speaking.

“Conservatives need to lighten up or follow the liberals down the rabbit hole of irrelevance.”

We need to continue to fight back against the idiocy in government, those with an agenda, and sundry fringe elements. We must transform West Virginia into a two party state. But we also need to heed the gem in Surber’s column lest we all become marginalized.

Appearances

2005-05-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

Howard Kurtz writes in the Washington Post this morning on the filibuster deal. He opines that if everyone hates the deal, all the declaring of victory notwithstanding, then it is possibly a good thing. My own opinion coincides with another blogger quoted in the article – Stop acting like spoiled children. You did it first! No, I didn’t! Ad infinitum. Ad nauseam.

I was in RFK Stadium last week to watch the Nationals and Brewers. The Nats? A fitting nickname for the club given its location in the seat of political power, I suppose, although it looks misspelled.

I read an article in the Daily Mail yesterday about abuse of cell phones on the public dime. While I’m sure there is some abuse, it also appears to be a tempest in a teapot with the possible exception of the City of Nitro. Even if it turns out that the vast majority of the calls are legitimate government business, there is an appearance of impropriety. I have to wonder about that. According to the article the Nitro situation was identified by Wanda Carney of West Virginia Want$ to Know. Isn’t there still a civil suit and counter-suit between one of the principals and a Nitro councilman? It would be a shame to see some fine work done in the Mezzatesta case be overshadowed by pettiness. Appearances are as important for those watching as it is for those being watched.

Blood Money

2005-05-14T16:50:00.000-07:00

Act in haste, repent at leisure. The post below about the 130th appeared right after I read the list of bases being closed. The realignments weren’t available to me when I posted that. Not that it matters all that much.

I see General Tackett observed that you can’t have an air base without airplanes. … I’ll take the high road on that one.

I also see the Gazette is playing Chicken Little again. As I've noted before, they aren’t upset about the air base being closed, they’re upset about the money again. The loss they’re bemoaning is $71 millions. Calm yourselves! The loss is quite a bit less than that. Remember that the part-time jobs you are talking about are reservists. Many of those people don’t live in the Charleston area anyway and those that do aren’t moving because their part-time job moved. They have other employment and they aren’t going anywhere. That they’ll have to drive to North Carolina first to bring the part-time payroll home is unfortunate.

I also see some irony in all the wailing the Gazette is doing. Why don’t they consider the $71 millions as blood money since it is generated by the war effort? To be consistent they should be happy to see it go.

130th - Again

2005-05-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

It will be interesting to see how many of our "leaders" take credit for "saving" the 130th.

Bouts With Discretion

2005-05-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday’s flap with the private aircraft inbound toward the Capitol barely made the front page in the Washington Post. That wasn’t terribly surprising – old news in a fast world. What was surprising was the conversation on the elevator in the hotel. Two twenty-something males were looking at a picture of the aircraft involved at the field where it landed after the incursion into restricted airspace. The conversation went something like this:
Passenger 1: They evacuated over that?
Passenger 2: (Expletive deleted) crazy (expletive deleted)!
Passenger 1: Yeah, they are completely paranoid.

I started to ask if they had any idea of how much plastic explosive could be packed into a plane that size and how much it would take to effectively destroy the White House or any other building. Then I thought about blissful ignorance and decided to let them enjoy that for a little while longer. … I sometimes have these unwelcome bouts with discretion.

Missing Something?

2005-05-12T13:40:00.000-07:00

So, the senior senator from West Virginia goes to President Bush with his hat in his hand to “save” the 130th! That must have caused a substantial display of apoplexy! But politics is politics, I suppose. What I found more interesting was staffer Tom Gavin’s quote, "Senator Byrd is a statesman and willing to work with the president where appropriate." When would it NOT be appropriate to work with the president? Am I missing something?

130th

2005-05-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the Charleston Gazette. Check out the Save the 130th editorial then read Don Surber’s blog (link over there --> ). It has been a struggle for them but they have now truly shown their hypocrisy. Well Done!!!

I always have mixed thoughts about base closures. That is because of my background, I suppose. On the one hand it concentrates the military community into fewer locations and makes them easier targets. On a personal level, relocation of military personnel can often cause a financial hardship on those moving, particularly if they relocate from somewhere like Charleston to somewhere like San Diego or Washington, DC. I also have very fond memories of some bases that have been shuttered, sold or given to a governmental entity since my time there. On the other, it really is in the best interests of both the military and the public at large. Closing unnecessary bases allows the money to be concentrated in places other than upkeep of an ultimately useless facility. It also allows for growth of the private sector; often military facilities are located on prime real estate and have a wonderful, even if utilitarian, infrastructure of roads, utilities, buildings and recreational facilities.

If the 130th is on the closure list, so be it. It will be a shame to lose a large part of the payroll and it will be difficult for those that are full-time to relocate but that is the nature of military service. Sometimes you just have to do things you don’t want to do.

Rice Bowls

2005-05-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

It was a very odd day. Nothing happened that really warranted a rant. Oh, there were the usual bit in the newspapers that make you scratch your head but nothing to be particularly indignant about. Don Surber’s blog (link is over there --> ) quoting the AP article was pretty good but all I did was chuckle at the 1600+ extra voters in Lincoln County and the 18-29 demographic chart.

I worry about days like that; have I lost my indignation? Nah… that can’t be it. I think it is because I’ve been working in Washington for the past couple of weeks and even though there is a veneer of social sophistication and the appearance that there are people concerned with “the big picture”, I see the same crap that we deal with every day except on a somewhat larger scale.

From everything I can see, “W” isn’t a particularly popular guy with the civil servants (who, as it has been observed, are sometimes neither civil nor servants). When I was in the service, we referred to any negative change in responsibility for an individual or eliminating a job as breaking someone’s rice bowl. The somewhat garbled version of the definition was that in Oriental cultures if you break someone’s rice bowl they can’t eat. Hence the lack of popularity here: attempts at changing the way government works threatens too many people’s rice bowls. Sounds a lot like politics in West Virginia, don’t you think?

Find A Banner

2005-05-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

I keep thinking about the vote buying fiasco. Then I keep coming back to something Niccolo Machiavelli wrote about Italy of his time. There really was no Italy then as we know it today. The area we call Italy was really a group of city-states controlled by the leading families of the time. He could have been writing about the West Virginia of today:

“…it was necessary that … be reduced to her present condition and that she be more enslaved than the Hebrews, more servile than the Persians, more scattered than the Athenians; without a leader, without organization, beaten, despoiled, ripped apart, overrun, and prey to every sort of catastrophe. … Look how she prays to God to send someone to redeem her from these barbaric cruelties and insolence; see her still ready and willing to follow a banner, provided there is someone to raise it up.”

Jingoistic Simplicities?

2005-05-10T00:20:00.000-07:00

Although they probably lost readers, the editorial board at the Gazette got it right when they said, “President Bush is right to maintain his friendly demeanor toward Moscow while asserting his right to have warm relations with members of its lost empire.”

As for “jingoistic simplicities”, I don’t think anyone believes that the world is a simple place. Cultural differences abound and within cultures opinions abound. It occurs to me that jingoism is an eye of the beholder issue subject to interpretation by people within their own cultural point of reference and political leanings within that culture.

Make no mistake, I believe that we are generally on the right course for foreign policy. If you don’t like my opinion that’s fine but then you should remember who said, “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.” John F. Kennedy.

Cash, Booze and Shaky Registrations

2005-05-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

I see the humor in the Gazette editorial policy. First they shed tears over vote buying and then take a swing at how proud we should be as West Virginians that we helped "...undermine religious bigotry in our nation."

Kenndy won West Virginia in the same way Greg Stowers won election in Lincoln County. Don't forget that although the southern West Virginia coal fields were not at their zenith, the number of people employed by the mining companies and beholden to the UMWA was enough to warrant substantial political attention. They got it, too, in the form of people arriving in Logan, including the presidential candidates, with their hats in their hands. The anecdote that he should rent the state instead of buying it is probably all too true.

While the election of Kennedy in 1960 did help reduce, if not eliminate, religious bigotry, this is not a feel good story. It is just another example of the machine working its magic with cash, booze, and shaky registrations.

Old Pattern?

2005-05-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

The Charleston Gazette’s lead editorial this morning Politicos – Courthouse Machines was so very odd. The Gazette bemoaning the methods used by the very people they endorse for political office.

I take exception with one comment in particular. The editorial says that “the old pattern” (of vote buying) is back in the news. Old pattern? What, precisely, leads one to believe that the pattern ever changed? Shouldn’t that read, “…the same old pattern…”? The only difference between now and 50 years ago is that the vote buying isn’t so open. Enforcing the law isn’t easy when you’re part of the ticket and that is why the Feds are involved.

Things haven’t changed ever. Ancient Rome bought favor with bread and the gladiators. West Virginia politicians buy favor with cheap booze and $20.00 or less. The only issue is whether we wink and accept status quo or execute a plan to eradicate both the buying and selling. … I’d bet on the former.

Stay The Course

2005-05-05T17:43:00.000-07:00

Much of what follows is from an editorial in the Charleston Gazette of 5/5/2005. My comments are in red.

ANOTHER suicide volunteer detonated himself Wednesday amid a line of unemployed men seeing jobs at a Kurdish police station in Iraq. About 60 were killed and 150 wounded.

And yet they keep lining up to become a police officer, despite the risk, despite the history of attacks on others attempting to bring order out of near-chaos.

Wednesday’s massacre was the latest in a gory string of terror attacks that have killed about 200 Iraqis in the past few days, as Iraq’s new U.S.-installed government takes office. Meanwhile, other grim aspects of the war keep multiplying.

Correction. The Iraqi government is US backed, not US installed. Do try not to forget people walking miles despite the risk to vote. Do try to remember the ink-stained fingers raised in front of smiling faces. You know, that activity you say you support every couple years her in WV even though you believe us too stupid to vote.

A new poll by CNN, USA Today and Gallup found that 57 percent of surveyed Americans now think the Iraq war was “not worth fighting.” Only 41 percent approve of President Bush’s decision to invade the little Mideastern nation two years ago. That’s a dramatic drop from past polls. In April 2003, shortly after the invasion, 73 percent approved.

Surprise! A “dramatic” drop in the number of Americans who think the war wasn’t worth fighting. The American public is not noted for their ability to focus. As for “…the little Mideastern nation…” – Do you mean the one with the largest standing military force in the region? The one that invaded Kuwait?

Great Britain, which holds its parliamentary election today, is abuzz over a secret memo implying that Prime Minister Tony Blair backed Bush’s plan for a “regime change” in Iraq nearly a year before the attack, but concealed his intentions from Britons.

The memo records a confidential meeting in July 2002 between Blair and top aides. The document says intelligence chief Richard Dearlove, just returned from Washington, told the group that “Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action. Intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”

In the memo, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is quoted as saying the case for war was “thin,” because dictator Saddam Hussein “was not threatening his neighbors” and his weapons capacity “was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran.” But Blair talked glowingly of persuading Britons to “support regime change.”

Tonight, as Britain’s ballots are counted, it may be clear whether English disapproval of President Bush’s war is enough to sweep the Blair administration from office.

And it appears that the English do not disapprove as deeply as you may have hoped. Blair’s majority may or may not be smaller but he is still expected to win a third term.

Meanwhile, the former U.N. chief inspector in Iraq told a New York audience Tuesday night that the Bush administration relied on “faith-based intelligence,” conjuring up imaginary evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, to justify the president’s desire to remove Saddam.

“The war was unleashed despite the lack of any armed attack by Iraq and in the face of a highly questionable and certainly not imminent threat,” Hans Blix said at a gathering of 150 lawyers. “In terms of lives and suffering, property and money, the war was a very costly way of concluding that there were no WMDs.”

If his U.N. inspectors had been allowed to continue searching Iraq in 2003, Blix said, they would have proven conclusively that the alleged horror weapons were nonexistent, and the devastating war could have been avoided. Dictator Saddam Hussein could have been contained and marginalized, like Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, he observed.

Hans Blix. I presume you mean the appeasing, ineffective Hans Blix? Well… no matter. I will point out, however, that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi became marginalized when he was targeted by a US air raid, had one of his palaces bombed, and assumed a much lower profile over the course of the next few years. I will also point out that Gadhafi, despite everything, never employed chemical warfare against his own people. Gadhafi had few illusions about US policy. I can’t say that for Hussein.

Finally, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, told a congressional committee that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have consumed so much firepower that America would be overstrained by any additional conflict. And a Tokyo news report said Japan will pull its 550 troops from Iraq, joining Spain, Ukraine, Holland and other coalition nations that have withdrawn.

No kidding! Of course America would be overstrained by any additional conflict. That should come as a surprise to no one. The size of the armed forces of this country has been reduced almost annually since Ronald Regan wanted a 600 ship Navy. You and the rest of the arm chair quarterbacks have no idea what it takes to project a force. You have no idea of what it is like to serve back to back deployments. You have no idea what it is like to keep going to sea, to the field, to training, or conducting readiness inspections when you are “home”. You see dollars and that is it. And the only reason you care about the dollars is because if they’re spent on defense then they can’t be spent on whatever your cause of the moment might be.

Even before President Bush plunged America into the Iraq slaughter, we joined other voices warning that it was a needless war, based on untrue allegations. Now, after nearly 1,600 young Americans have been killed, along with tens of thousands of Iraqis, and hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have been squandered, it’s glaringly obvious that those warnings were accurate.

And the message is…? I told you so? And now you would do what? Quit? Go home?

You don’t give two hoots in Hell about those 1600 young Americans, you don’t care about tens of thousands of Iraqis. You care about the money. I say the money wasn’t squandered. The money was spent removing a ruthless regime that I still believe harbored terrorist organizations, invaded a neighbor, killed not less than tens of thousands of its citizens, suppressed dissent, and enriched itself at the expense of everyone in their own country as well as you and me.

Good riddance. Stay the course!

Military Recruiting

2005-05-02T18:07:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post (you may have to register – free if you do) reported today that the Supreme Court has decided to review the right of college and universities to deny Pentagon recruiters equal access to campuses.

In 1994 an amendment was attached to a bill that cuts off federal funding to schools that inhibit or ban military recruiting. This law was successfully challenged by a group of law schools which argued that the military’s policy toward gays and lesbians violated their First Amendment rights of speech and association by requiring them to support discrimination.

The threat of withholding federal funding has been used for years to advance federal policy in a wide range of matters ranging from race discrimination to interstate highway speed limits.

I find it entertaining that it is only the military that ever faces challenges of this sort. I find it incredible that people who will eventually be sworn to uphold the law take a position against those who are sworn to support and defend the Constitution of the United States

Red State?

2005-05-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

I realize this is pretty old but I also realized that nothing has changed on the Gazette editorial board when I read the Red State? piece the other day. The following is a letter that was published in part in the Charleston Gazette. The final paragraph was deleted. I wonder why?

Congratulations on your leap into the humor business. Your ‘Murdocracy’ editorial of 1/28/05 was humor, right?

I won’t dispute your comments about Fox News; I don’t watch it. For all I know you are 100% correct in your assessment.

I will dispute your own handling of news, however. You did give yourself an out by saying that news columns are “nonpartisan and unbiased to the greatest extent possible.” Apparently that is a very small possibility in your world. Columns purported as news in the Gazette are often little more than efforts to bash whomever has made your “naughty” list at that moment.

Perhaps instead of lamenting Fox becoming the most watched news network you should be asking yourself why that came to be. I have nothing against liberal education and thought; you have your ways and I have mine. But you should be asking yourself if it could be that your brand of liberalism is out of touch with the values of the country as a whole. You should be asking if it could be that your brand of liberalism is out of touch with people in your market.

You’re brand of liberalism has rather pointedly said that anyone voting for George W. Bush was entirely too stupid to vote. Your own editorials have said as much. Yet George W. Bush won the state and the national votes. The only thing you seem to derive from those immutable facts are that you were right in assessing the intelligence of your constituency. Do you suppose the arrogance of your brand of liberalism has anything to do with the results?

I Just Couldn't Help Myself

2005-05-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

Dave Peyton is responsible for this blog. Not because he has even the slightest idea of who I am and certainly not because he is my inspiration but because I tried to leave a comment on one of his posts. It seems Dave allows only registered bloggers to leave comments. Oh, well. Now the world is stuck with my own thoughts on politics, religion, and any number of other subjects once considered taboo in polite company.

The comment I intended to leave - and may have left - with Mr. Peyton was with regard to his claim that, "...statistics and a whole bunch of polls don't lie." I say show me the poll or show me the statistics and I'll decide. I offer the comment of Mark Twain, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."