Real Thought

OK, here we go with my analysis:

Rudy Guiliani should quit trying to say that he isn’t trying to ride the events of September 11 to the White House.  We all know that if it weren’t for the terrorist attacks on that day, Rudy would simply be an ex-mayor of New York City and not a candidate for the Presidency.

Mitt Romney should quit trying to be so evasive in his answers.  The hemming and hawing of the other night simply make him look “Clintonesque” and that is a very bad thing to be among Republicans.

Ron Paul should simply run as a Libertarian.  I actually agree with Congressman Paul’s position on the need to reduce the size of the federal government and the level of governmental intrusion into our lives but to say that he is not “isolationist” and his constant harping on ending the war in Iraq smacks of delusion.

John McCain should realize that being a hero in the Vietnam War may resonate with the Baby Boomer generation but not with younger voters.  Also, his wanting to apply the Geneva Conventions to terrorists and murderers does not sit well with most of the Republican base.

Duncan Hunter is a good guy with practical experience especially in immigration, military and foreign policy but I think that we all know that he stands a snowball’s chance in Hades of actually winning a general election.  He simply isn’t that well known outside of California.

Mike Huckabee seems to be the dark horse in this field.  He is likable, Conservative and seems to have a good sense of humor about him.  That sense of humor seems to be what is keeping him from being taken seriously.  That and the fact that being governor of Arkansas doesn’t seem to prepare one for the Presidency all that well.

Fred Thompson.  I still don’t even know if he is a serious candidate.  He seems tired, almost reluctant to debate and he comes across as running only because a large number of people want him to.  He seems like he would be happier if he were home with his family in Tennessee, perhaps that is where he should stay.

Tom Tancredo is spot on correct when it comes to the immigration issue but that is his only issue.  Sorry Tom, but the falling dollar, imports from China, Islamic terrorism, the  federal deficit and the looming crisis surrounding Social Security and other federal entitlement programs cannot all be solved by solving the immigration issue alone.

Who do I favor?  I think Mike Huckabee might be worth a look but I am not sure he is the person who can beat Clinton, Obama or Edwards in the general election.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a statement critical of the United States. He says that it is wrong for a country to try to end horrible dictatorships and allow the people of a county the right of self determination. Rather he prefers that the United States colonize much like the British did in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

I believe that the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Lord Archbishop of Canterbury has it completely wrong. We, here in the United States have a deeply held belief that it is the right of all people in the world to be free. We are imperfect in the application of this belief to be sure but I believe that it is a central core of our Weltanshauung. We try not to colonize, at least since the end of WWII, and I believe that the invasion of a sovereign country for the purpose of colonization would find no support among the American populace.

Perhaps His Grace Rowan Williams should look to his own house. With the American Episcopal Bishops in near open rebellion and acting more like Unitarians than Anglicans, I am sure he has more important problems to consider other than whether or not we Yanks have gotten the process of colonization right.  After all, the well being of the souls of the Anglican congregation world wide ought to be His Grace’s primary concern.

Not only did Kentucky Girl and I have a very good Thanksgiving, we engaged in the time honored American tradition of dragging out the Christmas decorations. Buddy the beagle had to make sure that they were all safe:

Afterwards, he had to rest.  Making sure that the Christmas decorations are explosive free is hard work:

The billionaire software mogul and alleged yachtsman has filed a lawsuit challenging the staging of the next America’s Cup. According to news reports, Ellison is not happy with the fact that Spain’s Nautico Espanol de Vela yacht club has been chosen as the “challenger of record” and gets to set the rules for the next America’s Cup regatta, originally slated for 2009 but now postponed to 2010 or 2011. OK, Larry, why don’t you try to win back the Cup instead of challenging the winner’s choice of a “challenger of record”? Perhaps if you put a team and a boat together that were worth a damn you would have not lost to Team New Zealand and Alinghi. Just maybe the Golden Gate Yacht Club would hold the Cup and you would be choosing a “challenger of record” and not the Swiss and the America’s Cup would be held in San Francisco Bay instead of Valencia, Spain. Larry, just get your proverbial feces together and win the Cup. Just a thought.

Why I never, ever considered living in Southern California.  Sure, the weather is great, the beaches are pretty cool and anyone with or without a smidgen of talent can make money there.  However, the lifestyle and the people are for the most part plastic and there is this annoying problem with wildfires.  Malibu is burning yet again and the wealthy are whining about it yet again.  Here is my modest proposal; GET OUT OF MY STATE!!!!!!!!!!  Perhaps the fact that your $2.5 million split level is now a pile of ashes is God’s way of telling you to move somewhere else.  Go home!  Leave!  Get Out!  Go back to whatever God-forsaken fly over state from whence you came and leave California to the REAL Californians.  Those would be the people who are born here and love the place or those who moved here and don’t bitch about everything or flaunt our lifestyle or spend money on crap like BMW 5-series cars for our children while complaining that the cost of living is so high and that we are broke all the time.

The government of the People’s Republic of China has denied permission for the USS Kitty Hawk and her battle group to dock in Hong Kong for the Thanksgiving holiday. Yet again, this action proves that the Chinese are not our true friends or allies. Citing differences ranging from trade difficulties to the Dalai Lama’s meeting with President Bush, the Chinese have forced the Kitty Hawk and the other ships in her battle group to remain at sea. OK, how about this for a solution?  From now on no US warship or training ship should visit Hong Kong or any port under PRC authority. Perhaps the US Navy should visit Kaohsiung on Taiwan, Port Darwin in Australia, Singapore or even Labuan in Malaysia instead. Perhaps if our Chinese friends don’t want us in Hong Kong we should accede to their wishes and while we are at it perhaps we should rethink the PRC’s “most favored nation” trade status.

UPDATE: The government of the PRC has decided to allow the Kitty Hawk to visit Hong Kong, much too late for the Thanksgiving holiday. According to a PRC spokesman, the new decision was made for “humanitarian reasons”. The Kitty Hawk and her battle group are currently steaming to their home port of Yokosuka, Japan.

I sent in my passport renewal.  This is the first time my passport has been out of my possession since it was issued in 1997.  This morning I ran around and got new passport photos and filled in the forms and mailed them off.  Hopefully I’ll be able to travel outside of the US again in about eight weeks.  Hopefully…

The FBI has released it’s report on hate crimes in the United States. According to the report, there were 7,722 criminal incidents involving 9,080 offenses. OK, here is the truth, there is no such thing as a “hate crime”. ALL crimes are hate crimes of one sort or another. All are motivated by jealousy, greed, racism or hatred of another person. The concept of categorizing certain crimes as “hate crimes” is simply illogical and Orwellian. An assault is an assault regardless of the motivation of the perpetrator, arson is arson, battery is battery and murder is murder. It does not matter whether or not the person committing the crime was motivated by “hate”; the result is the same and all should be punished equally under the law. As more crimes fall under the definition of a “hate crime”, there will be more “hate crimes” to prosecute, ergo let’s just define all crimes as hate crimes and be done with it.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has finally released its draft report!!!!!!  Finally, we will be able to do something about “global warming”!!!!!!!  What is the panels recommendation?  That we curb CO2 emissions and other”greenhouse gasses”.  Well, well, isn’t that a shock!  When will people wake up and realize that there is nothing we can do about “climate change”?  The climate has been constantly changing on the planet for about four billion years or so.  The climate will continue to change even if there were no humans or industrial activity on the planet.  Climate change is a natural phenomenon.  In reality, what this document calls for is a strict reduction in global industrial development which will doom billions to a life of poverty, misery and suffering as well as a surrender of individual freedom to a global watchdog agency which will monitor CO2 and other emissions.  Now I am not one of those who deny that global warming exists, I believe that planet has been warming since the end of the last Ice Age and will continue to warm, with periodic cooling periods, for an unspecified and unpredictable length of time, but I believe that this warming is not caused by human activity and I also believe that there is very little that we humans can do to stop it.

There is a cult of 33 Russians who have barricaded themselves inside of a remote cave and refuse to come out because they believe the end of the world is near. With mass hysteria about “global warming”, the front running Democratic candidate for President indecisive about allowing illegal aliens to get driver’s licenses, Iran “not fully” cooperating with United Nations nuclear inspectors, the Congress tying funding for the war in Iraq to a “pull out time table”, drought in Georgia and a dollar that is worth almost as much as the Turkish Lira perhaps they aren’t that crazy after all.