Search






Jeff's Amazon.com Wish List

Archive Calendar

November 2024
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  

Archives

Why Won’t You Admit They Died In Vain? [Dan Collins]

And that their sacrifice meant nothing? Gateway Pundit goes behind the numbers to analyze the left’s fury at Cheney for stating that the WOT has been worth it.

Related: Obamamobile to run on unicorn farts

“I think he’s a good president,” I told her, which seemed to dumbfound her, and wreck my chances of appearing on her show.

In the avalanche of abuse and ridicule that we are witnessing in the media assessments of President Bush’s legacy, there are factors that need to be borne in mind if we are to come to a judgment that is not warped by the kind of partisan hysteria that has characterised this issue on both sides of the Atlantic.

The first is that history, by looking at the key facts rather than being distracted by the loud ambient noise of the 24-hour news cycle, will probably hand down a far more positive judgment on Mr Bush’s presidency than the immediate, knee-jerk loathing of the American and European elites.

104 Replies to “Why Won’t You Admit They Died In Vain? [Dan Collins]”

  1. Sdferr says:

    Gateway’s post, ’til the linky gets fixed.

  2. Bob Reed says:

    It’ll suddenly become worth it on Jan 21; believe me…

    Radical Islamo-fascists will amazingly go from misunderstood peaceful people to violent haters that are challenging O!s resolve to protect the nation! They will no longer simply need our empathy; they’ll require the business end of a howitzer or other precision guided munitions…

    But, just as they’re doing with every other aspect of his leadership, the expectations are being lowered for O!s prosecution of the GWOT. Even to the point of “getting” Bin Laden…

    http://hotair.com/archives/2009/01/14/obama-on-second-thought-its-not-that-important-to-capture-bin-laden/

    Another revoltin’ development…

  3. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    I see that they’ve been burning pictures of Teh One!!1!!111!!! in Tehran and Gaza.

    I thought everyone was supposed to like us if we elected Barry?

  4. Bob Reed says:

    I dunno SBP,
    I thought the oceans were gonna subside, the AGW cease, and peace break out all over the world…
    As described here in this jungle; if you don’t remember it in particular, there’s a film link at the bottom…

    http://drsanity.blogspot.com/2009/01/mr-change.html

    Best Wishes

  5. Patrick Carroll says:

    Is it true that every time a unicorn farts, an angel get its wings?

    Because, if so, I want my ticket to(e) paradise.

    (Sorry, having a Dan Quayle/Jeffrey Lebowski moment.)

  6. Mikey NTH says:

    Part of the rage is neither Bush nor Cheney will actually deign to answer or acknowledge their accusations. And all of the rage can’t make them do that.

    It isn’t much of a show trial if the accused doesn’t confess, much less acknowledge.

  7. Mark A. Flacy says:

    I come here for the comedy, you know.

    You do not appear to realize that you are providing it.

  8. ho hum. Phil’s out with the boys again tonight?

  9. N. O'Brain says:

    “Comment by Mark A. Flacy on 1/14 @ 10:01 pm #

    I come here for the comedy, you know.

    You do not appear to realize that you are providing it.”

    Yeah, the same kind of feeling you get watching a street corner lunatic raging at the voices in his head.

  10. Bob Reed says:

    And when the facts of Obama’s lying is presented, assclown, you join with the other MSM shills and either act like it didn’t happen or join the connivance in walking back his words in the manner outlined in the “action alerts!”…

    Like the stock market tanking ever since Obama named the guy who rode CITI down, you know, TIMMAH!

    Or, Obama walking back his vow to “get” Bin Laden…

    Or lowering expectations on Afghanistan; the righteous war he was going to win…

    Or going from creating two million new jobs to saving 3 million…

    I could keep going all night; Obama is a great source of material for dissent…

    But I ask you; who are you gonna hate, and blame, after Booooosh! is gone..?

    Because after Jan 21, Obama owns it all…

    Just like Booooosh! owned the post dot-com bubble recession that was occurring when he took office, so Obama owns this; there will be no Boooooosh! hangover…

    Same with national security…You better hope they don’t close Gitmo prematurely…

  11. Bob Reed says:

    Regardless of the actual job that he does in office, Americans won’t be afforded the chance to hate Obama the way they have been prompted and propagandized to hate Bush…

    The media has already closed ranks around him, generally, and accepted the farce of scripted press conferences where it is pre-determined whether they will be called on that day. And they have already declared it theor job to make his presidency successful, or as Tavis Smiley of NPR put it, “to make him a great president”…

    Throughout this entire transition, each gaffe and botched appointment has been walked back with the help of the MSM and lefty blogosphere. They always use the same tired phrase too; “In the first mis-step of the incoming administration…” There have been more than half a dozen of these first mis-steps so far!

    And throught his presidency they will contine to tell us how great he is, laud the phony hopey-changiness of it all, and blame anything bad on anyone but the one!…

    Oh, and any criticism that becomes too intense will be called racist and partisan

    The latter is the biggest laffer; the Democrats have been in constant campaign mode for the last 6 years; that’s one of the drivers of Bush’s low opinion numbers. The nightly press drumbeat in support of their chosen partisans was like a chinese water torture for the cafeteria politico that only tuned in occasionally; and it provided valuable supressing fire for the fire-breathing lefty zealots…

    You failed to address any of my immediate assertions; I undertand, it would take a lot of googling and wiki-page reading…

    I just want you to have a shred of intellectual honesty and pledge to hold Obama to the same standard as Bush with respect to the economy; that he owns the economic situation from day 1 (jan 21 ’09) just like Booooosh! had to own the aftermath of the dot-com-bubble-bursting from his day 1…

    I’ll settle for that, and a timeline for the righteous Afghan war; when do we get to start chanting that the war is lost and it’s Obama’s fault..?

  12. assclown says:

    I like to smell my own poopies.

  13. Bob Reed says:

    And with that non sequiter, I’ll just take it as a given that you cannott argue on merits and issue, but are simply another shill here to mau-mau and needle those who you consider your opponents…

    You are truly sociopathic…

    I’ll pray for you…

  14. Carolynp says:

    “That so many people would convince themselves the GWB was unfairly maligned is shocking. The denial needed, especially for folks who clearly have the time and intelligence to use the internet, is pretty amazing.” I think it would be less amazing for you if you could turn off your computer and read a book. Unlike you, I am not so impressed with those who can figure out the on/off switch of a pc. You want to impress me? Read , , and . Then you’ll have a better feel for what we think and why. In any case, you’ll soon have a better understanding of our concerns regarding Obama and a greater respect for the job Bush has done. It doesn’t usually take our citizens more than four years to figure out why we don’t elect liberals.

  15. erm, you keep a schedule?

    BWAH HA HA HA HAaaaaa

  16. assclown says:

    I am wicked cool. And tough. And cool.

  17. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    “If there is a group of wingnut regulards glued to a site more than proteinwisdom.com, I have yet to see it.”

    Here ya go assy.

    http://www.democraticunderground.com

  18. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    “The[y] run it in shifts to keep the delusion flowing like wine.”

    Well fucking move over Chuck Palahniuk, there’s a new scribe in town!

    Your prose is genius assy.

    You should totally be able to skip from 2nd to 4th grade based on your ideology alone.

    Jr. High is gonna be a bitch for you, but Obama will right you a note for gym.

  19. thor says:


    Comment by Carolynp on 1/14 @ 11:04 pm #

    I think it would be less amazing for you if you could turn off your computer and read a book. Unlike you, I am not so impressed with those who can figure out the on/off switch of a pc. You want to impress me? Read , , and . Then you’ll have a better feel for what we think and why. In any case, you’ll soon have a better understanding of our concerns regarding Obama and a greater respect for the job Bush has done. It doesn’t usually take our citizens more than four years to figure out why we don’t elect liberals.

    No thanks, lady, I’ve already read enough really bad fiction.

    Jesus, Bob, are you openly weeping?

  20. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    “No thanks, lady, I’ve already read enough really bad fiction.”

    And I bet you still sleep with that autographed copy of “My Life” by Bill Clinton.

    You can let it go thor. Seriously.

    Wish all you want, but I’ve read it.

    There’s no porn in there.

  21. thor says:

    I’m not a fan of either Clinton, half-witted dummy.

    So far I’m a fan of Barack Obama’s.

    He did what I predicted he’d do.

    He is, so far, who I said he was.

    Suck that.

  22. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    Don’t get me wrong thor. Bill Clinton “fucked” a lot of people, but that’s not really in the book.

    Plus, most of the people that witnessed the a fore mentioned “fuckings” are kinda dead.

    And, well, ya know, the rest got pardoned.

    Bill based all of it on readings from a Magic 8 Ball.

    He got it at Spencer Gifts… at the mall in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

  23. parsnip says:

    Bill did leave office with a 70% approval rating, almost three times as popular as your sad little munchkin who heads back to Jesusland next week, head hung low.

  24. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    “He is, so far, who I said he was.”

    Can you point me to the comment thread where you said “Obama would be just like George Bush?”

    Cuz…so far he’s pimp slapped every fucking promise he made to you dumbshits in the campaign, and saddled right in to George Bush’s America.

    Sure he’s appointed a few socialist crazies to worthless positions.

    Net effect: 0

  25. parsnip says:

    I love how wingnuts have started to believe Obama will rule somewhere to the right of shrub.

    Who do you suppose Obama will nominate to replace Scalia, Lamont?

  26. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    “Bill did leave office with a 70% approval rating”…

    According to who? The media? Zogby?

    He left office impeached, without his law license, guilty of purgery, and his spooge on a fat ugly intern’s blue dress.

    He fucking left us with Al Qaeda too.

    So, provided you can back up the number, you’re saying 70% of the 1,000 people polled were flat out retarded?

    Fine. I agree.

  27. thor says:

    Maybe it was before you showed up here with your pedestrian hoohahooha posts.

    Since the Iowa primary I’ve stated Barack Obama was a moderate liberal who is incredibly smart, reflective and a man who owns a degree of empathy and character that we haven’t seen on the national stage in a long, long time.

    I was able to recognize such because I’ve the ability of honest and clear assessment, in other words I don’t have the damaged psyche of the typical PW wingered butthole.

  28. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    “Who do you suppose Obama will nominate to replace Scalia, Lamont?”

    Are you kidding? I mean I know you’re stupid but damn.

    The President-Elect (your Super-Half-Black-Commie-Jesus) hasn’t even been sworn in yet and he’s choking just trying to tread water in the deep end. You think Rahm, Geithner, or Blago is gonna throw your messiah some water wings?

    His past is a fucking anvil hanging around his neck and he hasn’t even been hit with the weight of the Presidency yet.

    I’d laugh my ass off if it weren’t so fucking tragic for the rest of us.

  29. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    “I was able to recognize such because I’ve the ability of honest and clear assessment, in other words I don’t have the damaged psyche of the typical PW wingered butthole.”

    Wow! I’ve never actually seen a guy blow himself before. Way to go thor.

    …”in other words”…

    Whew! I’m glad you put it in “other words.” I would have been stumped.

    Jackass.

    “Since the Iowa primary I’ve stated Barack Obama was a moderate liberal who is incredibly smart, reflective and a man who owns a degree of empathy and character”….

    Double wow!! I’ve never seen one dude blow another dude either (NTTAWWT)! I like chicks in my porn (just the way I roll), but that was impressive thor.

    Hey, did Obama smoke a Malboro after you, ya know, blew him or whatever?

    Speaking of…You know what the Oval Office has been missing? Some straight up socialism, and a pack of Kools on the desk.

  30. parsnip says:

    71% of Americans approve of the way Obama handled his transition, Lamont, a record.

    If anyone is treading water, it’s the poor deluded wingnuts like you who are desperately clinging to the hope Obama will do worse than W.

    Why do you hate America?

  31. thor says:

    Me thinks Larry Craig spins the propeller on your beanie cap after he hand signals you to your knees, Lamont.

    I can’t help but imagine you’re a arm-pit scratching stupid fuck born to wear redumblican high-water khakis and horn-rimmed spectacles. Hang around high-pressure toilets much? Yeah, I thinks you do.

  32. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    “71% of Americans approve of the way Obama handled his transition”…

    Wow. You zinged me there…with you’re stupid, bullshit statistic.

    Did you make that up all on you’re own or pilfer it from the NYT?

    Hey! 99.9% of Americans think George Bush rocks the Casbah.

    See how that works?

    Child.

  33. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    “I can’t help but imagine you’re a arm-pit scratching stupid fuck born to wear redumblican high-water khakis and horn-rimmed spectacles. Hang around high-pressure toilets much? Yeah, I thinks you do.”

    Really? Horned-rimmed spectacles? Fucking khakis? Larry Craig? Spin my beanie? WTF?!

    I mean…really? That’s all ya got?

    Really?

    Come on man (snicker).

    It doesn’t seem fair. Look, I’m a gentleman, so I’ll give you another shot.

    Take your time and think really hard.

    Jackass.

  34. Salt Lick says:

    George Bush liberated 10 times as many people as Lincoln, and with about 300,000 less military casualties. It takes guts and courage to advance freedom.

    Obama will free no one. On his watch the noose of tyranny will tighten throughout the world, just as it did on Clinton’s — the Clinton who came after Reagan-Bush and the demolished Berlin Wall, and the Clinton who let AQ grow in Afghanistan while he got a hummer.

    Bring in the popular little boys. Let the adults clean up after them.

    Two steps forward, one step back.

  35. donald says:

    Assclown (What a name), I’ll do you a favor, I won’t pray for you cause that’s not what I do. I will however wish heavily that you have an aneurysm. Because you have earned it.

  36. DoDoGuRu says:

    Bush is grrrreat! If, like this historian, you narrowly define his presidency to include only National Security and trot out the CRA as the only relevant economic factor of the last 8 years. Bush was highly focused on American Security, but he didn’t give two sh1ts about American Prosperity. From government waste and corruption, to illegal immigration, to drumming up new bureaucracies and entitlements, to outrageous spending in general and mortgaging away the earnings of my grandchildren, Bush’s terrible domestic policy has paved the way for people to speak seriously in public about generating 2,000,000,000,000 more debt every year.

    If historians make Bush into a good president in 30 years, those historians will still be wrong.

  37. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    On his watch the noose of tyranny will tighten throughout the world

    The assmaggots and nipplys of the world see that as a feature, not a bug.

  38. B Moe says:

    70% of Americans wouldn’t really mind having a tyrant. If he gave us free health care and was like really cool and shit.

  39. Rusty says:

    #40
    Uh. Congress shares a lot of the blame. They’re sort of enablers.

  40. Mr. Pink says:

    #40
    I agree with some of that, but the solution is definately not to give another politician even more power and more of our money and “hope” he performs better. That is for f@cking sure.

  41. bour3 says:

    That was a very good article. I hung on every word. I intend to memorize it until I’m able to spill it out breathlessly in chunks the same way everybody I know without exception spills out their grievances, as drunks do who belly up and ruminate over a sequence of cocktails, mentally running over the same material in an endless loop so that when cued it all pours out at once. I’ll do this just to watch heads explode, as entertainment, playing on predictable Pavlovian responses.

  42. SmokeVanThorn says:

    Ignore the little shits.

  43. Mr. Pink says:

    “as drunks do who belly up and ruminate over a sequence of cocktails, mentally running over the same material in an endless loop so that when cued it all pours out at once.”

    Sounds like the delusional BDS rants of left wing bloggers who have been endlessly spouting the same tired nonsense for 8 years.

  44. donald says:

    I’d really like to be that tyrant. Things would get done.

  45. Mikey NTH says:

    #49 donald:

    And I bet it would be real quiet immediately after those things got done, right?

  46. Mr. Pink says:

    Sorry to quible guys but wasn’t our country founded on a distrust of tyrants and government control? Maybe I missed a couple lessons in my history classes.

  47. donald says:

    If I got to be tyrant? Yes.

  48. Carin says:

    I think they’re joking Pink. The point, I believe, is that the left is so in love with Obama they might just hand over their freedom. All he’d have to do is promise a few things. Healthcare and a guaranteed job might be all it takes.

    Speaking of hero worship, iTunes has a playlist of Obama tunes (48 songs, to be exact ) and next tuesday they are releasing an Obama Album to commemorate his (historic!) inauguration. Is it to early to start taking spec for his mug to be included on Mt. Rushmore?

  49. donald says:

    Absolutely Pink. That’s not the point. I mean that in the best possible way.

  50. Mr. Pink says:

    I realized the sarcasm. I also realize that reality is probably aligning more with the sarcasm than with historical precident. Let’s repeal the 2 term presidential limitation people!!11!!!!

  51. Carin says:

    It’s ironic, though, that for all the screams of fascism and Bush shredding our constitution, I honestly believe that if O! promised Health Care and Jobs – it would be frightening what the voters would give up to him in so far as our rights and freedoms.

    And, honestly, I think we need to bash bash bash all these stupid Obama songs out there. The comments on iTunes are kinda funny – because a LOT of people are bashing the songs. That cocoon that is always mentioned by our trolls? The obamabots are the ones living in those cocoons.

  52. Slartibartfast says:

    71% of Americans approve of the way Obama handled his transition, Lamont, a record

    I actually approve of the way Obama has handled his transition. I also think Obama is going to have a fairly uncontroversial presidency, and do a halfway decent job. I didn’t vote for the guy, but he’s got his head screwed on at least partially right. More right than Bush did, at least. Bush’s appointments have been disastrous to a distressing degree.

    Sure, Obama is going to have to go back on some campaign promises, but that’s politics. Relax, sit back, and enjoy the spectacle of Democrats worrying each other to rags. There’s not much else you can do.

    I did enjoy Barney Franks’ comments played on NPR this morning, talking about the next phase of the bailout. He said something to the effect that you don’t hit the kid next to the one misbehaving, you hit the one misbehaving. Barney is basically volunteering himself for some thwacks.

    I didn’t know he rolled that way.

  53. Andrew the Noisy says:

    This place is getting boring. The trolling and troll-baiting is diminishing to one long “you know how I know you’re gay?” routine. Knock it the fuck off already. Yes, thor is a drunk, banged russian hookers like nobody since Rasputin, and believes in Barack H. “I can haz trillionz?” Obama’s super-SMRTness. Yes, parsnip is the best caricature of a smug, preening, “no one I know voted for Nixon” libby pupate we could ever have come up with at 3 a.m. on NoDoz. Yes, assclown possesses the intellectual heft and self-awareness of your average commedia dell’arte stock character.

    SFW? Is this a place to talk about some shit in a new way, or is this a place to have the same tired-ass slapfight we’ve had a million times before?

    When you respond to the trolls, and they keep coming back, you’re doing it wrong. I’ve done my share on this, but man. Enough already.

    So I denounce myself. I am a pretentious, frightened snowbilly racist redumblican warmonger. I smell like cabbage and have small hands. I remind people of drool. I make people sad inside and cause God to kill puppies. I am gay, bisexual, trisexual, transgendered, and I STILL can’t get any. I voted against Obama becuze I don’t like THEIR KIND around here. I am frightened of strong women because my puny, malnourished mind cannot comprehend anything except linear thought or boobies. I regularly hump my Bible and then call it a whore and kick it out of bed, before begging SuperJebus to forgive me and be with them starving pygmies in New Guinea. If I were ever given power, my tyrannies would make Vlad the Impaler nauseous, Caligulia embarrassed to know me and Saddam Hussein concerned about my regard for human rights. I am a Nazi, a loser, and very bad person.

    Oh, and BTW, is the mouth on the demon at the bottom of the picture supposed to make me think of a vagina? Just askin’.

  54. N. O'Brain says:

    “71% of Americans approve of the way Obama handled his transition, Lamont, a record”

    Why not, people are comfortable with the familiar, and O!bama is reinstalling the Clinton corruption machine.

  55. Dan Collins says:

    Actually, Andrew, Satan’s lodged in the earth’s sphincter in the impacted, frozen Cocytus. De gustibus and so forth.

  56. Andrew the Noisy says:

    Ah. That would have been my next guess.

  57. Obstreperous Infidel says:

    “And tough”

    I doubt it. But I am betting that your IQ is near “moron” status. Stupid and a pussy? I’ll just laugh.

    #40 kind of summed it up for me. I mean I get the, “Bush is a great guy” thing. I really do and yes it seems like he is a great guy. But the truth is that doesn’t really matter. I was 100% against the Iraq escalation, but have been very surprised to see what Iraq is becoming. Yes, the honest dems/libs/paleocons/libertarians admit that it is transitioning well, too. And I wasn’t going to be a weak kneed ankle biting pussy (assclowns and alphies of the world) and “hate” Bush for it. I just disagree with Wilsonian nation building.

    My problem, as #40 noted, are his domestic policies. I understand the rationalizing of him caving in on domestic issues so he could get the WOT and Iraq escalation partnering with the dems that he needed, but come on…He was a liberal republican in any area that I care about before he became President. Again, realizing that the alphies and assclowns of the world just aren’t intelligent people, the man is not conservative. Socially? Yes. But in almost every other way, as it pertains to governing? He’s liberal.

  58. MAJ (P) John says:

    #57 – thanks for that, I just hope some people here will actually heed your words.

  59. Carin says:

    71% of Americans approve of the way Obama handled his transition, Lamont, a record

    I actually approve of the way Obama has handled his transition.

    Not to nitpick, but the “transition” is still taking place, no? That poll came out weeks ago, yes? Lemme guess, if we polled people BEFORE any transition had started, what do you think the results would have been?

  60. Carin says:

    Actually, I’ve been pretty much ignoring the trolls myself. AT times, I’ve typed responses, but then I simply don’t send. I try to ask myself if their “contribution” is worthy or not, and then decide (depending on how bored I am) if I should send.

    Honestly, ignoring works pretty well.

  61. Obstreperous Infidel says:

    Again, don’t engage. When they type something stupid? Ridicule, point and laugh or ignore. Take your pick. Just don’t try to reason with them. It’s fruitless and gums up everything leading to more ridiculing, pointing and laughing or ignoring.

    BTW, Carin, how cold is it in your neck of the woods? 0 degrees at 8:30 am in Cleveland. The Global Warming is killing me! Thor don’t even respond telling me it’s 85 degrees and sunny in S. Florida! That’d be way too cruel!

  62. Slartibartfast says:

    Ditto.

    Ditto, ditto.

    I’ve got a pallet of clue musk that I bought at Costco; I can let Andrew have a few cases. It doesn’t seem to work all that well for me, unfortunately, so I cannot guarantee results.

    I also have small hands. I can’t even palm a water polo ball. Oh, and I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a Russian hooker, much less banged one.

  63. Mikey NTH says:

    #65 Carin:

    Ignoring them certainly saves me a lot of time.

  64. Carin says:

    I’m at negative 3 at the moments (don’t know what the wind chill might be.)

    I’m gonna go out in a bit and needlessly drive my minvan around… see if I can warm things up.

    And, amid this cold spell, I’ve got useless Jenny Granholm on the TV and radio 24/7 talking up battery cars, and some battery assembly plant for the Volt that supposedly is being located somewhere in Michigan. The auto show in Detroit is all about Green, they say. OF course, commentary yesterday was that it was all for the politicians … that no one is actually gonna buy that crap.

    AND, to go on … sorry … but the other day some chick was going on about how she can’t WAIT until she can buy one of these new battery cars. Of course she won’t use it on the highway … just to run errands.

    Yes, just what everyone can afford/wants/needs. A car for errands. To make you feel good about yourself.

  65. Sdferr says:

    Obstreperous Infid. — S. Florida today, for S.F. as such, is freezing ass cold if you ask me. We’ll be lucky to see a 65 degree high would be my guess. It was probably as low as 40 last night. Oh, and right now it’s pretty cloudy too.

  66. Carin says:

    Sdferr, my cousin lives down in Hobe Sound. Before the election, I got a lecture from her husband that 1) Sarah Palin was a stupid bint 2) Global warming is a serious threat and 3) the DEFICIT!

    I’d be really curious to know if he’s thinking about those things today.

  67. Percy Dovetonsils says:

    It’s -9 in Chicago, will be a brisk -16 tomorrow morning.

    Also, for Andrew the Noisy at #57? *measured yet sincere golf clap*

  68. Mossberg500 says:

    It’s 48° in Tampa, FL right now.

  69. Carin says:

    We’re supposed to have a high for today and tomorrow of 3. Can’t wait ’till it warms up to that!

  70. Carin says:

    Average low, for Michigan (my city) is 13. Average high 29.

    We’re not supposed to hit our averages until sometime next week.

  71. Obstreperous Infidel says:

    Thanks, Sdferr. It still sounds balmy to me, but I know it’s all relative. But what is not relative is 0 degrees is freaking cold! With windchill, we’re looking at -8 or -9. Stay warm peeps. Even you Floridians!

  72. Slartibartfast says:

    Uh, Obama is nearly done transiting. Or transitioning: whatev.

    He’s made some good picks, and some less good picks. The problem with good government is you need people that are both good and experienced, and if you rule out Clinton-era folks you have to go all the way back to Bush I or (shudder) Reagan. I don’t think any of the Carter-era people are even still alive, or would be worth considering if they were.

    I don’t expect to agree with all of Obama’s picks, and I don’t expect to particularly like the direction he takes government, but I do know that to me, the attraction of small government is less important than the attraction of competent government. IOW, I’ll take a little bigger and a lot more competent over smaller and incompetent.

    Practically any random joe off the street would be a better FEMA head than Mike Brown was.

  73. Andrew the Noisy says:

    In Baltimore, it’s sunny and somewhere below freezing. we got a few faint whisps of snow and they delayed schools. I can’t decide if Marylanders’ hyperreaction to snow is the collective unconscious of the nanny state at work or a deep-seated need to deny that we are part of the Northeast and not the South. In any case, I’ve decided to blame Our Fine Governor for it.

  74. Andrew the Noisy says:

    IOW, I’ll take a little bigger and a lot more competent over smaller and incompetent.

    Only problem with that is, even if such a beast (bigger and more competent) existed, it would inevitably be the cause of government finding more things to get big about. With the Democrats, that’s a strong trend anyway, but…

  75. Slartibartfast says:

    All I’m saying is, I can applaud the competency trend without abandoning my POV as regards size.

  76. Andrew the Noisy says:

    Fair enough. Lord knows we won’t get competency until we reward it when we see it, and no one wants any kind of government, large or small, that doesn’t do things properly.

    So long as we add the caveat, “and the more shit it has to do, the easier it will be to fuck things up,” we can applaud whoever Obama brings on that’s not a complete muppet.

  77. Mikey NTH says:

    #69 Carin:

    If the auto show is all about green, then that is a sign that the latest bout of ‘Green Thinking’ is about to end. When big corporate bureaucratic dinosaurs finally get on to ‘the latest thing’ then you can be sure that latest thing is on its way out.

  78. Carin says:

    We can hope, Mikey.

    Slart – transition, to me … invokes the actual transfer of power. Meaning, Obama is POTUS and is a position to react to events. IN my mind, he’s got the actors in the wings, ready to go.

  79. Carin says:

    Honestly, if the poll is just about how he did picking men for his cabinet (and perhaps that is what it means) … honestly I’ve got a big old so what? He did well? Two men had questionable backgrounds.

    I’m thinking whole “transition of power” deal, which hasn’t happened. I could care less about his performance leading up to that.

  80. Slartibartfast says:

    Ah. Well, the only thing I can say is you have it wrong, Carin. At that point, the transition would be pretty much over.

  81. N. O'Brain says:

    “AND, to go on … sorry … but the other day some chick was going on about how she can’t WAIT until she can buy one of these new battery cars.”

    And the electricity to recharge it is going to come from……the wall?

  82. Squid says:

    I never tire of referring to my friends’ electric cars as “coal-powered” autos. I applaud their adoption of Industrial Revolution-era technology.

    What depresses me most is that some of them have degrees that involved math. There’s really no excuse for that.

  83. Carin says:

    Well, then I go back to my “who cares” about transition approval rating. What percentage of Americans even know the who and why of those he picked. It’s a bullshit factoid.

  84. Slartibartfast says:

    And the electricity to recharge it is going to come from……the wall?

    Check. It’s more efficient to burn the fossil fuel, regardless of form, convert the resulting heat to mechanical motion, generate electricity, send it over the wires, charge the batteries, and power the electric motor than it is to simply burn the fossil fuel onsite in an internal combustion engine.

    And, sure, the power is going to have to come from teh eeevul coal or even more eeevul nucular. Can’t get something for nothing.

  85. Carin says:

    The electric rates are shooting through the roof here in Michigan, with promises of more to come. Jenny wants us to not think about that while she’s cheerleading, though.

    Jenny’s has pledged that by 2015, 10% of our energy would come from renewable sources. So, apparently we’re planning to charge our cars up with our wind turbines.

  86. Pablo says:

    Well, then I go back to my “who cares” about transition approval rating. What percentage of Americans even know the who and why of those he picked. It’s a bullshit factoid.

    I heard harry Reid saying yesterday, though I can’t find the quite, that Geithner had the qualities to be the best Treasury Secretary ever. And I was reminded of Ryan Leaf. But then Ryan wasn’t anointed by a Messiah.

  87. Carin says:

    The Times is even getting critical of the Geithner appointment. Of course, speculation is that they would prefer someone more leftoid.

  88. Andrew the Noisy says:

    It’s going to come from all the renewable resources that the Sainted O! is going to bring forth from the earth after spreading magic money all over the U.S. like Johnny Appleseed.

  89. Bob Reed says:

    Rainbow colored Unicorn flatulence will power the entire nation starting January 21…

  90. JPS says:

    Slartibartfast:

    Interesting posts. I must say, when you refer to abandoning your POV, it conjures an image of you leaving an automobile at the wayside. (I had to stop and say: Oh, Point Of View!)

    Speaking of automobiles:

    It’s more efficient to burn the fossil fuel, regardless of form, convert the resulting heat to mechanical motion, generate electricity, send it over the wires, charge the batteries, and power the electric motor than it is to simply burn the fossil fuel onsite in an internal combustion engine.

    This is sarcasm, right? I mean, yes there are economies of scale in electricity generation versus small combustion engines, and electric motors are extremely efficient compared to reciprocating engines, but I’m thinking electric cars must produce substantially more CO2 than gasoline-powered cars when you consider the whole sequence you outlined.

  91. Andrew the Noisy says:

    Not if we make more windfarms, Slart.

    Windfarms make everything okay. Except when it interferes with a bird’s path or a Kennedy’s narcissism. Then it becomes another example of industrial blight.

  92. JPS says:

    Ah, should have Googled my question before asking it here. I’m finding numbers like 20-25% efficiency for conversion of fossil fuel energy to kinetic energy for a plug-in electric car. The site I read (www.straightdope.com) says this wins out over gasoline-powered cars, but cites an efficiency for them of 15%, which is pretty low–most sources give somewhere in the 20s.

    Still, roughly a wash. Interesting (to me, anyway).

  93. Slartibartfast says:

    I’m thinking electric cars must produce substantially more CO2 than gasoline-powered cars when you consider the whole sequence you outlined.

    This is a decent discussion of the topic. It’s probably not exactly right in terms of numbers, but it does outline the nature of the problem.

  94. Slartibartfast says:

    Windfarms make everything okay.

    [nitpicky]Technically, solar power isn’t renewable. Nor, for the same reason, is wind power. Eventually the sun will burn out, and the atmosphere will freeze, and then it’s no more solar or wind power to be had. What NEXT, bitches?[/nitpicky]

  95. Carin says:

    Of course, none of that answers the questions of:

    1)What happens if you need to drive on “real” highways to get to work, and can’t afford two cars – one for real travel and one for the trip to the corner market?

    2) What if you lose power – which happens frequently. Do you just stay home from work? You’ll be doubly screwed ’cause you won’t be able to even DRIVE to eat out, etc.

  96. Slartibartfast says:

    Baby steps, Carin.

    Me, I’m investing in a really stout watchspring, which I’ll need to wind every day via gear reduction from my exercise bike. Or better yet, I’ll design a car that’s powered by my kid’s reaction to sugar.

  97. Carin says:

    I suppose I’m panicky because being in Detroit, I’m right in the middle of it. It’s being shoved down my throat TODAY. And today, they don’t have those answers.

    I’ve got a “Green Governor” who wants higher electricity prices and alternative sources and battery power cards NOW.

  98. kelly says:

    “I’ve got a “Green Governor” who wants higher electricity prices and alternative sources and battery power cards NOW.”

    What a coincindence…so does Baracky. Especially the higher electricity prices.

  99. Mikey NTH says:

    Solar power, especially in Michigan, would be a great job creation investment. Think of all the people that would find jobs clearing the snow and ice off the panels in winter and clearing the brush away from them in the rest of the year!

  100. Patrick Carroll says:

    I think GWB’s been one of the most radical Presidents this nation has ever had.

    He spent like a drunken Kennedy, while supporting a drunken Kennedy’s agenda. Just about the only thing he did right was to carry the war to the islamofascists, and he almost screwed tht one up.

  101. […] Related… The Telegraph reported today: “History will show that George W Bush was right” –via Protein Wisdom. […]

  102. Slartibartfast says:

    like a drunken Kennedy

    There’s another kind? In office, I mean?

Comments are closed.