The Savage Republican

The Coleman recount Part, whatever

From a link at Hot Air, there is an editorial from the Wall Street Journal about the consistent inconsistencies that seemingly always favor Franken. The money making quote? "The Coleman campaign clearly misjudged the politics here..." Do ya think?!?!? I've written about the Coleman recount disaster here and here.
My friend Ed Morrissey, from Hot Air, was on the Bill Bennett Show this morning talking about the Coleman/Franken recount. After hearing the interview, I wrote to Ed expressing my thoughts:
"Ed-
Heard you on Bill Bennett this morning.

Mentioned on Rush, sought after by all the rest. And I can say “I knew him when he was just a Captain.”

I listened to your comparison of the Chambliss and Martin race with Coleman and Franken. There is/was one huge difference and that’s Dean Barkley. The third party candidate in GA only took in 3.4% of the vote. Dean took in 15.1%. There was no third candidate in the Georgia race for the run off. I’ve yet to see an analysis of the Barkley voters, but heard King and Michael do an analysis in early October that showed Dean bleeding more votes from Franken than Coleman. If you remember Ventura’s run in 1998, for every one vote he took from Coleman he took two from Skip Humphrey. My gut tells me Dean probably did about the same %’s. I believe if Dean had not run, Franken would have won outright. Had there been a Georgia style run off here, I believe Franken would have won by recapturing enough votes from Dean that he would have won.

That being said, I figure those missing 7 MM votes from the 2004 Presidential election figured into Coleman’s totals. If Coleman had been able to capture just 5,000 more votes (just over 1 vote per precinct here in MN), he’d be on the Senate floor this morning rather than meeting with his legal team for coffee. "

Just my thoughts...

Hope springs eternal

There is so much that stupefies me in this clip: California, near Berkley, while shopping at Whole Foods, driving a VW van. Granted, the firearm wasn't hers (there are fairly strict gun control laws in California. So, the victim didn't have a firearm but the criminal did- which I'm sure that he obtained legally. I'm still just a bit confused on how gun control laws protect citizens). So, she had to borrow the criminal's firearm.

Notice that the police don't recommend fighting back. That advice is absolutely situational. If you are being taken by the carjackers, you definitely need to fight back. Never, ever be taken in a car. EVER! It appears that she was in the back of the van and the carjacker was in control in the driver's seat. It is not apparent if the side doors were open or closed, if the van was already in motion and therefore she was fighting to get free or to get out or to force the carjacker out. So, I would take the reporter's comments about the police saying don't fight as conditional.
That being said, good on her.

Post script: Heroic deeds presented as commonplace

My WWII vet friend Mark's funeral was today. I was privileged by his son to be allowed to read what I had written previously. And I heard a new story about Mark.

Seems Sgt. Holmes was in Paris in June 1945. A Colonel he knew asked him "Sergeant, do you have a jeep?" "Yes, sir, I do." "I want to visit my family that I haven't seen since I fled Italy and the fascists. So, I need to have you drive me to the Swiss border." "Yes, sir." And off they went on their 600 mile round trip odyssey. Mark dropped off the Colonel at his direction and was told to be back at that spot next day at 1500 hours. "Yes, sir." Mark called his C.O. (a two star if I remember correctly) and was asked where he was doing. Mark said he'd report back to him when he returned. Next day, 1500 hours, Mark picked the Colonel up after visiting his family and returned to Paris. Mark immediately reported to his C.O. and was asked where he had gone. "Well, sir, I took Colonel Fermi to Switzerland to reunite with his family that he hasn't seen since he fled the fascists and came to the United States." Colonel Fermi was Colonel Enrico Fermi, Noble Prize winning top nuclear physicist in the world Enrico Fermi, the man who launched the first fission reaction Enrico Fermi and was deeply involved in the top secret Manhattan Project Enrico Fermi. That's the Colonel Fermi who Mark was spiriting all around France, Switzerland and Italy. With no escort or security detail. The General replied: "I didn't hear a single word you just said Sergeant! Dismissed." "Yes, sir."
My friend Mark:

It wasn't until yesterday that I when I was taking a picture of Mark's medals that I saw he had his jump wings, a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star .
Heroic deeds as commonplace.

146 years of government consistency

Please click on the below image and look over the map, drawing your attention to the area dated 1851. Look at the incredible area outlined. Just eyeballing it, it appears to be about 1/3 of the entire current area of the state of Minnesota.

When I was in sixth grade, we studied Minnesota state history, including the Treaty of Travers de Sioux which was signed just north of what is now St. Peter. Five years ago I was coming back from a gun show in St. Peter and decided to stop by the Treaty Center. As I walked in, I saw a similar map on the wall next to a copy of the treaty signed in 1851. The price for the ceded area was $1,650,000. Works out to be about 7¢ an acre. The government then went ahead and sold it at $1.25 an acre to the white settlers. This infuriated the signers of the treaty and ruined their reputations in the tribes (more on that in a bit). Oh, and the Sioux never received the full amount(further reputation destruction if not outright hostility to whites. By destroying the reputation of these men, the government had eroded if not destroyed its ability to reason with and within the various tribes). I remember thinking, as I read that last statement "Yup. They did it to you and they doing it to us also.The only thing that's changed is time and they've gotten better at their craft."
One of the provisions in the treaty was that the Sioux reservations and be able to have access to their traditional hunting grounds. The Senate, however, changed the treaty more on all treaties here). The Senate eliminated the reservations set aside. It then insisted that they tribes accept the new provisions or there would be no monies paid. The tribes were desperate for food, goods and the money having abandoned the land. Millard Fillmore agreed that the tribes could occupy what had been the original reservation land until " it was needed for white settlement." In 1858 the Sioux who lived along the Minnesota River were pressured to cede their land also. They did and were granted reservations called the Upper and Lower Sioux Agencies. Without access to their traditional hunting grounds, they were forced to depend on the government for their very sustenance (anyone see a warning flare here?). The Upper and Lower Sioux Agencies contained incredibly rich farm land and one the agents said that the land was being settled with "great rapidity". Surprisingly enough, the landowners and Indians were very fond of each other for the most part. It was the agents who ran the warehouses that were the problem. Payments to the Sioux were usually late. Goods and services were denied or were sold by the agents to those outside the agencies. However, after a failed crop in 1861, by 1862, the Sioux were desperate. They were starving. One agent, who when the Sioux came to him pleading their case, was quoted as saying "Let them eat grass and dung!" The Sioux had reached a breaking point and rebelled in what is called "The Great Sioux Uprising". The aforementioned agent was found dead. His mouth had been stuffed with grass.
The white settlers ran for towns, starting with New Ulm. Many made it. Many did not. Years ago I was in a very small town in SW Minnesota called Currie. In preparation for a pig roast, my friends from Curry and I went out of town to pick sweet corn (I was admonished, as a city boy, that I had wandered into and was picking the field corn). Paul asked me if I knew where I was. "Outside Currie, trying desperately to distinguish between sweet and field corn?" He said,"This area is called Slaughter Slough. This where a number of white settlers who were trying to get to New Ulm were caught and killed in the Great Sioux Uprising". I was standing on blood soaked ground. Fifteen settlers had been killed where I stood.
After cessation of hostilities, there was a trial for over 300 of the tribal members. Well, not really a trial. It was a military tribunal, many times having no witnesses, no legal representation or explanation of the charges. Many were summarily convicted and sentenced to death within five minutes. President Lincoln reviewed the sentences and commuted all but 38 of the convicted. They were executed enmass on this day in Mankato in what is still the largest mass execution in the United States. I remember travelling down highway 169 as a child with my Mom and Dad on the way to visit my grandparents in SW Minnesota. One time we went through downtown Mankato, across the river to the east side near the railroad underpass. As we stopped, I looked out the window. There was a plaque that read on this spot 38 Indians were hanged as a result of the Great Sioux Uprising. That plaque has been removed.
Those hangings took place on this day, 26 December 1862, 146 years ago.
And so I reflect on this day about men who were starving, desperate, watching their children suffer, who had been lied to, cheated on, deceived by that very same government they depended on, when men who were left with no alternatives took action.

One thing more: when the Senate changed the treaty it reminded me of two Supreme Court decisions: There does not, repeat , does not exist a contract between the government and citizens concerning Social Security. Two Supreme Court decisions.
So, when you hear politicians say how "we need to honor the contract we have with the American public" remember: no, they don't. No, they haven't.
And , if needed, they can and are perfectly willing do to you as they did to the Sioux and Dakota fifteen decades ago.
So, hang in there...so to speak.

Side by side

I've written about Coleman's recount team before. That being, I came across what again proves to me that lefties always have two sets of rules and laws: one for them and one for the unwashed servants (us) that should serve them.
John Lott (from a link from Mitch Berg) has done a comparison of ballots for Coleman and ballots for Franken.
I did some screen shots, edited and used my stitching software so cobble together a side by side comparison of the ballots (I apologize for the less than professional level of the image. You can provide contributions to send me to graphics school if the image quality stresses you that much). All the ballots on the left, save the last one, were not counted for Coleman. All the ballots on the right were counted for Franken. In this side by side, if this sampling were to carry through all ballots, I'd believe the +46 for Franken would disappear faster than ACORN volunteers in front of an FBI sweep.
Seems to me there is supposed to be a consistency in the law. Coleman may have a case with Bush v Gore as the case precedent.

Today...

Merry Christmas

Heroic deeds presented as commonplace

I've written before about my friends in the 8th Air Force Historical Society. These are the guys who flew and maintained the B-17, B-24's, B-25's, C-47, Corsairs and so many more planes in WWII (both Europe and the Pacific). We also have ground troops and aviators from other wars and we also have hanger ons like me.
The WWII vets are all in their 80's. Some have walkers, others have oxygen tanks, many have hearing aids. I watch as I see my future in these men. They go from being old to being frail to being infirm. They go from attending the lunches to missing some lunches to getting to some lunches to not being able to go to lunches anymore. And then it's the call or the notice...So it is with another one my friends, Mark Holmes.
I met Mark about a year after I joined the 8thAFHS in 2001. I ran into Mark at an Arby's in Edina, but didn't remember his name. Well, that changed over the next few months. From his name tag at the lunches, I knew Mark was in Air Force Intelligence, but not much more than that. Again, that was to change.
My friend Larry Bachman (B-24 pilot, 35 completed combat missions) celebrated his and his wife's 60th wedding anniversary with an open house at his church. Mark was there and we talked for a bit. He was telling me that he no longer drove and wasn't sure about making the lunches. I said I could come and pick him up from time to time. "Well, if it's not out of your way." Serving WWII vets is never out of my way. So, one bright early spring morning I went to Hopkins to pick Mark up. As we were going to lunch, I asked Mark what he did in Air Force Intelligence. "I was a courier." What did he do as courier? "Oh, I picked up documents and brought them back to headquarters." Ah, I see. Well, trying to keep the conversation going I asked where in England did he pick those documents up? "Oh, I picked them up in France, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Germany." Behind enemy lines? "Oh, sure." Oh, sure? Well,how many times? "21 I think." TWENTY ONE! Parachuted? "Only once. Airplane all the other times." Ever caught? "No. Real, real close lots of times though!" Oh....real, real close... lots of time. Here I was, giving a ride to one of the most self effacing men I had ever met. Just a matter of fact tale of going behind enemy lines on numerous occasions and coming close to certain execution if caught-a number of times.
This morning, about an hour ago, my friend Glenn called. My friend Mark has passed from living history to history past.
As I said before they go from being old to being frail. The notice was relayed to us a couple of months ago from Mark's son that his Dad was probably not going to be able to make it to the lunches anymore. I knew time was being counted for Mark.
And of course I reflect on the time being counted for all the rest of my WWII friends. There will come that time when the last WWII veteran I know will transcend living history. There will be that moment when all experience will become memory.
I've written before that I told my brother that the deeper we get into the 8thAFHS and the more we know these guys, the more acute and deeper the pain will be when they pass away. My brother then made a comment that echoes what Mark did in WWII:"We knew the mission was dangerous when we accepted it."
And I intend to enjoy whatever time left the Lord allows me to hang out with these guys.
Rest and fare well Mark.

The Coleman recount

I've posted on the organizational problems at Team Recount Coleman. It has not gotten better.
I'm a member of the Republican Party of Minnesota State Central Committee. Members are elected from their Senate District conventions in odd numbered years. Our terms are for two years. The officers of the Republican Party are elected by the State Central Committee and they serve for two years.We meet as called. And we were called to meet on 6 December at the Sheraton in Bloomington. After the business of the day, there was a meeting to update us on the senate race recount. Very interesting stuff that you'll never hear in the MSM. One point: those 133 "missing ballots"? Not necessarily...Seems that the precinct with the "missing ballots" is at the University if Minnesota. Also seemsm that this is the second 'serious" problem at that precinct. But, here's what happened with the "missing 133": There were 133 ballots short on the reconciliation tape from the optical scanners versus how many people signed the voter register. So, there was discrepnacy. Now, the lines at this precinct were up to 2 hours long. These are University students who have classes and jobs to get to. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that they got of line to go to class, their job, they got impatient. Sue Jeffers over at KTLK has a daughter who was in a line to vote where she goes to college. She lefrt the line and came back later. But, our intrepid George Soros backed Sec of State said "AH HA! These ballots are missing!!!" Of course they were. Nothing suspicious about his proclamation about missing ballots in a heavily Franken leaning enclave. Anyhow, back to Team Recount Coleman.

So, at this meeting is guy taking names to help with the recount. I approached him and told him of my previous failure to be contacted by Team Coleman. I told him of my background: a former election judge, a former SD Executive Chair, State Central Committee member, I'm 6'2', 250# and have played rugby and can be intimidating, and so on and so forth. He had his laptop open. He took and entered my name and cell number. He told me I'd be contacted "today". He gave me his card. I told him I'd email him as soon as I got home. I emailed him directly at 5:54 p.m., Saturday, 6 December, with, as promised, my name and county in the subject line.

As of this writing, I've yet to hear from Team Coleman or this gentleman.

And now, look, look I say, look upon our new Senator brought to you by inept Republicans:

Twitter

Amendment X is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AmendmentX .
Any guesses as to what this is a picture of (it's the picture I've associated with my #AmendmentX):

Seeing the future in a teacup, twice.

Last night I was wasting an hour of my life watching "Parking Wars" on A&E. It's a real reality show based on the adventures and the never ending war between parkers and the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA). There are four scenarios: those that walk the streets issuing tickets, those that boot scofflaws, the impound lot and occasionally the tow truck drivers. What caught my attention in my mildly "EUREKA" moment was a scene from the Impound Lot where towed vehicles go to be redeemed by their owners.
Teacup One
A man and his wife had literally just moved to Philly and had their trucked towed within 12 hours of their arrival (in small print on a sign "No Parking 7:30-9:00 a.m.) and away she went!
I didn't hear how the figured out or were told that their vehicle was at "The Impound".
So, off they went, information and a Discover card in hand for the ticket and the tow. A simple process: pay the ticket and the tow, car released, drive away and Welcome to Philly. Enjoy your stay. Yah, right!
So this guy shows up having lived in Philly for less than 16 hours and is about to run into "The Bureaucracy". He's told of the ticket and the towing charges ($125 I believe). OK. "We need your registration and proof of insurance before we can release your car." They're in the car. OK, here's a red permission card that will allow you to go to your car to get your registration and proof of insurance. Just present it to the officer (not attendant, "officer") at the blue booth. he does as he's instructed. And tells the "officer" (instant respect with that title, right?) that he also needs to get his wallet and cash. SCREECH!!!! Oh, no, she (the booth "officer") says. She then tells him why he needs a new card, completely filled out, to get his wallet, HIS wallet out of HIS car. But, he protests, I just want to get my wallet also. Nope. And she makes it clear, VERY clear that he needs a new form, again telling him to have it completely filled out to be able to retrieve anything BUT his registration and proof of insurance. he begins to express his frustration and is told, in NO uncertain terms "Don't you go off on me like that!!!" OK, he'll just get those documents and shut up.
He retrieves registration, proof of insurance and gets back in line. He then notices that the PPA takes Visa and Mastercard. No Discover card. He gets to the window. New "officer" behind the bullet proof window. The man tells the "officer" what's transpired and that he needs to retrieve his wallet where he has a Visa card. No problem, says the officer. Take this card to the "officer" at the blue booth and the "officer" will escort you to your car. The card the "officer" gives the man is a red card. The man dutifully again does as he's instructed. Upon his arrival at the blue booth, Mizzzzz "Officer" CompassionandTolerance sees his red card and hears what he needs to retrieve and immediately berates him as she was abundantly clear on his last visit that he was ONLY allowed to retrieve registration and proof of insurance. The man (as tempted as I am to refer to him as the "victim") repeats the same story he told the bullet proof officer. Officer CompassionandTolerance repeats again, in a sharply voiced reprimand, that she was quite clear in what the red card allowed. The man repeats again that he was clear what he wanted in his description. Seems Officer Bullet Proof was hasty and gave the man the wrong card. No fault of the man's part. No fault at all. No matter. Rules is rules are rules. We have a process says Officer CompassionandTolerance. So, back to Officer Bullet Proof for the proper form, completely and correctly filled out. This time, finally, everything works out and the man has all the proper forms, cards, credit cards, and approval of "The Bureaucracy" to be able to pay his fine, tow charges and get the other proper form at another window showing he has fully paid all, then gets a release form that he then presents to, who class, who...? CORRECT-Officer CompassionandTolerance, who still is berating the man for Officer Bullet Proof's mistake. And the man and his wife retrieve the car and begin their life in Philly.
Teacup Two
After a night of clubbing, a woman and her brother (celebrating his 21st birthday) had parked in a "No Stopping" space. She mentioned that the sign was posted with a number of others and all were fairly confusing. Well, a new Officer Bullet Proof agreed with her (there was then a video shot of three signs with an arrow on each pointing three different directions complete with three different times, all confusing. Real confusing. But, ya gotta put the sign where the bureaucrat says "put this sign there").So, again "proof of registration and insurance, please." You know where they are. Red card, blue booth. Thankfully Officer CompassionandTolerance is off duty. The woman who owns the car is also handicapped from a motorcycle accident and walking long distances are painful for her. But, off she trudges and retrieves the necessary documents. Back to new Officer bullet Proof. Oh, oh...Insurance has expired. Date on the insurance card reads "12-21". This is late May. What to do at 2:00 a.m.? Walk back and look again. Nothing. So,call the 24 hour line at USAA and have USAA fax the current insurance info to the PPA at the fax number in new Officer Bullet Proof's office. 24 hour line called. A recording is heard: "The system is temporarily down. Please call back later." The PPA Impound Lot office closes at 3:00 a.m. Brother and sister call again and again. Tick, tock on the clock, closer to 3:00 a.m. and pumpkin time for our hapless clubbing brother and sister (whose leg is now bothering her). Finally, success! The USAA system is up and the request is taken and the current insurance information is on its electronic way to new Officer Bullet Proof. Fax arrives. Oh, oh...Now, as it's 2:57 a.m and locks are being put on PPA Impound Lot entrance/exit, new Officer Bullet Proof's supervisor , Sergeant IHaveAWhiteShirtandBadgetoShowIAMinChargeHere takes over. We have a problem he intones with much, much bureaucratic seriousness. The information faxed from USAA is exactly the same as what our now frustrated painful leg car owner has retrieved form her car. The date is still "12-21". However, there is another glaring "oopsy" from our gallant PPA. The submitted insurance card and the new fax from USAA clearly states that the insurance "expires six months" from "12-21". Well, our intrepid new Officer Bullet Proof was told that, but insisted that "12-21" was the expiration date (after all, could he be faulted that nearly all other insurance companies mark their cards with an expiration date rather than an "expires six months from" date? I hear a federal regulation on expiration dates in the offing...). Well, now that new Officer Bullet Proof and new Officer Bullet Proof's supervisor , Sergeant IHaveAWhiteShirtandBadgetoShowIAMinChargeHere finally see their mistake, we also learn that new Officer Bullet Proof's supervisor , Sergeant IHaveAWhiteShirtandBadgetoShowIAMinChargeHere is also a math genius. "12-21" (December 21st) plus six months = "5-21"(May 21st). And therefore, the insurance is expired. No, brother and sister attempt to instruct new Officer Bullet Proof's supervisor , Sergeant IHaveAWhiteShirtandBadgetoShowIAMinChargeHere. "12-21" plus six months="6-21". Repeat new Officer Bullet Proof's supervisor , Sergeant IHaveAWhiteShirtandBadgetoShowIAMinChargeHere's addition of six months onto "12-21" to get 5-21 proving that he's waiting to hear from Lawrenece Livermore to accept the post as Head of Theoretical Physics. Sister and brother repeat. And lo and behold new Officer Bullet Proof's supervisor , Sergeant IHaveAWhiteShirtandBadgetoShowIAMinChargeHere sees that he forgot to carry pi to the e in the regressive application calculation.
And so, at 3:00 a.m., after having wasted a full hour of their time while the highly trained PPA staff once again earns their pay, off sister and brother drive.
So, what was the future I saw in these two scenes? Here is my eureka moment: what I was seeing, on a micro scale at the PPA Impound Lot was how national health care was going to be run, administered, practiced and enjoyed.
National health care is not going to be run by you. It will not be run by your doctor (assuming that you'll be able to have a doctor, "your" doctor that will have a comprehensive view of your health history). It will not be run by your family. It will not be run by mothers and fathers for their children and family. It will not be run by sons and daughters for their aging parents. It will not be run by health care specialists or hospital staff. It will not be run by a Health Care Czar.
It will be run by faceless, nameless bureaucrats that you may or may not ever see. It will be run by functionaries that have rules and procedures that must be adhered to. It will be run by the health care equivalents of Officer CompassionandTolerance and new Officer Bullet Proof's supervisor Sergeant IHaveAWhiteShirtandBadgetoShowIAMinChargeHere.
These people may, or may not, give a rip about you, your health, your cancer, your child's suffering at 2:57 a.m. because there are rules, hours, procedures and closing times. And those rules, hours and procedures must, repeat MUST be adhered to!
The two most important things I saw? Above all, they have the power over you! They may be little, faceless people at a crappy government steel desk,sitting in a crappy government desk chair, in a government paint job office someplace, putting in their exactly 8 hours a day (with 45 minutes for lunch) but, by checking one box or another, they have power! POWER!
The second thing I saw: if they make a mistake, you suffer. They don't. Period! Again, they have the power. And again,you don't. An appeal to the upper levels, or at least a higher level, to correct an obvious mistake will yield whatever that level decides. Good luck!
Oh, and one more thing: you can't fire them. You can't go anywhere else as that would be black market health care and there will be severe penalties for freedom of choice being exercised in America.
That's what I saw watching videos of the PPA in action with the citizens of Philadelphia, PA.

Einstein was right...again...twice

As I'm waiting to make a phone call to a supplier out west, I came across a great video that explains complicated and failed Keynesian economic theory in a short lesson. John Maynard Keynes was the new whiz kid in the 20's and 30's that Herbert Hoover and FDR looked to in taking the country from a recession to a depression to the Great Depression. And yet, the left, after eight decades of evidence, still repeats and applies failed theory. Despite all the disaster and disasters Keynesians have wrought, the children and grandchildren (and now the great-grand children) of economic failures still tout failure as success.
Here is a simple, easy to understand, put the cookies down where the kids can get them video. Watch and learn (from Right Wing News. The instructor is Dan Mitchell of Cato) :

BTW, Einstein being right twice? "The definition of insanity is repeating the same action and expecting different results." "We can not solve the significant problems of our lives at the same level of thought we were at when we created them." (I've paraphrased. So sue me).

The Savage Republican

Local Attractions

Favorite Links

Previous Posts

Archives

Monday, January 05, 2009

The Coleman recount Part, whatever

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Hope springs eternal

Friday, December 26, 2008

Post script: Heroic deeds presented as commonplace

146 years of government consistency

Thursday, December 25, 2008