I know it has a watermark, but what are you going to do?

Posted by: Ace at 09:05 AM | Comments (513)
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Worries about Perry, a great speech by Cain and a leap of faith about Cain's electability.

In the days before the vote, nearly all the delegates who voted for Cain either said or heard someone else say this: "I love Herman Cain, but he can't get elected." The assumption that Cain can't win the Republican nomination was a serious obstacle in their minds. But at some point late Friday and early Saturday, the delegates overcame that obstacle. Some concluded that since they had heard so many people speak well of Cain, he could indeed win, if everyone who liked him would actually vote for him. Others remained skeptical of Cain's ultimate chances but decided to send the message that they would choose candidates based on conservative principles, and not on perceived electability.

Once the delegates got over the can't-get-elected hurdle, a close contest became a landslide for Herman Cain.

One other factor should not be underestimated. Yes, the delegates liked what Cain had to say. But how he said it was just as important. With his deep, booming voice and a style that any motivational speaker would envy, Cain can give a rousing speech, and he gave several of them during four days in Orlando. No other candidate, frontrunner or back of the pack, could match him. It's not an exaggeration to say that his power as an orator sealed the deal for hundreds of delegates. They believed Cain was speaking to them from the heart, and they were carried away by it. As with the Democratic primary contests of 2007 and 2008, never underestimate the power of a stirring speech.

Yeah, that's the funny thing isn't it? After screaming and laughing at Democrats for falling for a slick talker with little to no experience the conservative base is falling in love with a stirring speaker with little to no experience.

I don't say that as a knock on Cain or his supporters. It just reveals a basic truth...people want to be inspired by someone. They want to see their values and aspirations trumpeted in a moving and eloquent fashion. It's just human nature. Cain is very, very good at that.

As for experience, yes Cain has significant business experience. So does Jeffery Immelt. Electing a political novice President is going to be a bridge to far for a lot of people. Especially after Obama. That's why we're in this mess to begin with.

Cain got a boost when he introduced himself to voters back in May during the first South Carolina debate. After getting caught up in comments about Muslims he wasn't able to capitalize on it. That was a rookie mistake and hopefully he won't make a similar mistake this time. The fact that he didn't have any political events scheduled for this week seems to indicate he really wasn't expecting to do this well in Florida. He better get some set up if he's going to capitalize his win.

Either way, I don't think Cain is going to win the nomination any more than I did Michele Bachmann would after her win in Ames (which was what? 3 years ago or so?). Keep in mind, he's currently at 5.6% nationally and 5.3% in Iowa in the RCP average of polls. I could easily see him climbing in Iowa and pulling a Huckabee type upset there then fade later on.

Who was the last true insurgent candidate to actually win a nomination? I can't think of one in the last 50 years. You might say Obama but he wasn't a true insurgent. Yes, Clinton was the establishment candidate but Obama came out of Chicago with a real organization behind him from the get go.

Cain is likely to be the Howard Dean of this cycle. The guy the base loves but ultimately the party as a whole can't quite pull the trigger on when it comes to picking a candidate to actually run against a hated incumbent. Though unlike Dean, he might have a shot at the VP slot.

Who will be our John Kerry? My guess is, it's just that and not something I look forward to, Mitt Romney. So far his plan of being the last man standing while conservative challengers come and go is working out. I can't believe we might actually do that but Republicans really do tend to vote for then next in line.

If Rick Perry is going to stop Romney he needs to turn it around quickly. On the upside he's got 2 weeks until the next debate on October 11th, on Bloomberg TV so not sure how many people are watching that one. (CNN hosts one on the 18th). That will give him time to get his act together. On the downside, after his shaky debate performance on Thursday and his loss to Cain in the straw poll, he could really use something to swing the momentum before the "Perry's done" narrative takes hold. He could give a speech but I'm not sure that's going to do it at this point. He may just have to ride out the next two weeks, have a gangbusters debate and in essence relaunch himself like McCain did 4 years ago.

Failing all of that, maybe we could just push the whole primary schedule back two months and start all over again? I for one am up for a do-over at this point.

Added: Romney won a Michigan straw poll yesterday.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:50 AM | Comments (186)
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Thanks to scott, who asks "Which couple are you?"

Meh, I'm 50/50 on judging too harshly here. These stereotypical biker guys weren't just sitting around chatting and waiting for the movie to start.

The bikers were glaring and scowling and projecting the 'you are not wanted here' vibe to the couples entering the theater. I would react hesitantly to that look alone, regardless of the person's garb.

Many of us are actually not so sensitive to how people are dressed and tatted up these days, but to classic nonverbal hostility- the prolonged stare, tense stillness, the curled lip- most of us are exquisitely tuned.

Plus, Northern Europe has hosted a biker gang turf war recently.

Still, kudos to Pretty Hot Pink Shirt That Matches My Girlfriend's Floral Outfit Guy. I would not have expected that of him.

Posted by: LauraW at 06:20 AM | Comments (106)
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If you have a Kindle but, like me, are a cheapskate, you've probably been put off by the high cost of many of the books in Kindle format. Well, rejoice! 11,000 libraries nationwide will now allow Kindle users to borrow books. I expect this number to grow if the service takes off. I haven't tried it with my local library yet -- I have so many unread books in my queue right now I won't be done with them all until next year, at the rate I'm going. But this seems like a boon to folks who have a Kindle but either can't or don't want to buy certain books permanently.

My only book purchase in the past week was the dead-tree edition of Jaques Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present. This book is an exploration of how Western culture has become debased even as our science and technology has raced ahead over the past 500 years. I read this book a few years ago in hardcover, and decided it was time to revisit it.

I have to be careful with books like this because they tend to confirm my own prejudices too much (DOOM!). Yet it's important to step back and remember that our culture still produces wonderful things -- music, art, film, architecture, and so on. But it is perhaps an inevitable side-effect of mass communication and travel that the "lowest common denominator" kinds of culture tend to become the norm. Europe has been complaining for two centuries that Western culture has been "Americanized" (and it's not a compliment), and many Eastern cultures have expressed concerns that their domestic cultures are being subsumed under a Westernized overculture.

English is by far the most widespread language in the world (though not the most-spoken; Mandarin Chinese takes that honor). American and European films and music fill the world's multiplexes. The Western world produces the vast bulk of the world's printed matter and scientific research. And yet, for all this near-hegemonic control of the overculture, it does seem as though our cultural life has become coarsened over the years. I think some of this is simply historical amnesia (Opera was considered by many to be a low entertainment fit only for the rabble in its day, and "penny dreadful" serials were all the rage in London more than a century ago). What we call "Classical" music today was simply the popular music of yesteryear -- you can mount a case as to why Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl" is no less culturally significant than Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. (Certainly Perry's work is far more widely listened-to these days.)

Culture and art are not permanent fixtures of human life. Tastes change, times change, our moral and ethical outlook changes. Perhaps we only know Great Art when it persists -- when it remains relevant through age after age. Perhaps this is why we still read The Iliad and The Odyssey even today; the themes and concepts in the works are universal, and expressed in such a way as to appeal to anyone, regardless of time or circumstance.

This is not to say that Barzun doesn't have many good points to make. I think it is patently true that the Western world has given up on making "Great Art"...mostly because it has also given up on religious faith and morality as an absolute value. It's hard to write a piece of music like "Ode to Joy", or paint something like the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, or write a book like Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, without a sincere belief in some higher ideal.

What's everyone else reading?

Posted by: Monty at 05:42 AM | Comments (92)
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"As he was valiant, I honour him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him."
-- Wm. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

Posted by: Monty at 05:21 AM | Comments (82)
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Well, my fellow morons, it's another Caturday and the weather absolutely sucked here today. I was looking forward to going to the NAS Oceana airshow but no, mother nature had to let it rain all damn day. Oh well. It would've been nice to see the Blues during the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation. Click the following link to take an interactive tour of Naval Aviation. Century Over The Seas.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:56 PM | Comments (578)
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Wow is the general reaction I'm seeing.

Cain 37%

Perry 15%

Romney 14%

Santorum 11%

Paul 10%

Gingrich 8%

Huntsman 2%

Bachmann 1%

Supposedly Romney wasn't officially participation and then there were rumors his team was voting Cain to deny Perry the win. Either way, Perry only coming in 1% ahead of Romney? a CPAC event?

Ouch.

Via Josh Trevino...Perry was trying hard to win this.

Bachmann got beat by John Huntsman? Shows you how important Ames is.

Posted by: DrewM at 01:52 PM | Comments (807)
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There's been a flurry of posts on NRO's The Corner about Social Security as a Ponzi scheme in the last few days. This post seems definitive. I'll emphasize one paragraph but the entire note is worth reading.

Furthermore, the real objective of Social Security was not to set up a retirement insurance program. It was to lay the foundation for a full-blown entitlement state, complete with socialized healthcare. The original plan included a Medicare component, which was abandoned because FDR realized it would jeopardize passage of social security. (The push on Medicare, as I’ve recounted before, was renewed immediately after passage - although it took 30 years, due to deep opposition from the public and the medical profession.) As Gov. Perry points out in his book, while feigning to address a "crisis," Social Security (like Obamacare) collected the taxes ("contributions") for several years (from 1935 to 1942) before any benefits were paid out; and the eligibility age was pegged at 62 even though life expectancy was then 60. The goal was not to ensure a decent retirement for "beneficiaries"; it was to erect - in incremental stealth - an entitlement state that the public would never have supported if Progressives had been forthright about their ambitions. Social security was the foot in the door.

And Obamacare is the 3rd foot* (if you call Medicare the 2nd). That's why it's so critical to repeal it not reform it or tinker around the edges or try and make it work. I'm sure there are more than a few Repubs who, if they were President, would view Obamacare as a project - something that the Dems screwed up but -I- can make work! We can do two things. Either keep those guys away from the White House OR make it politically impossible for them to do anything but repeal it. Don't forget that Friedman quote...

*Some sort of multi-limbed commie monster must be lurking outside that door!

I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Unless it is politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing, the right people will not do the right thing either, or if they try, they will shortly be out of office. - Milton Friedman

That second option is more reliable that trying to navigate the minefield of figuring out which pol is conservative and which talks conservative. For decades the political climate has been moving the US towards a Euro-style social democracy. Picking conservative pols delays and stalls that move but doesn't reverse it.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:11 PM | Comments (101)
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What is the relationship between the words "college" and "collagen"?

They seem close, but I don't know why. Please investigate and get back to me.

It's a beeyooteeful day in Texas this morning, and I'm ready for some football. Also the Rangers clinch the AL West cause the Angels lost. HAHAHAHA. Best way ever!

The Big 12 tries to breath life into itself. CLEAR!

Top 25 clashes: FSU (11) and Clemson (21) who taught Auburn a lesson last week, around 3:30 EDT today. Alabama (3) vs. Arkansas (14), same time, Oklahoma State (OSU according to Gabriel), (7) vs. Texas A&M ( , same time, LSU (2) vs. West Va (116). Something.

Girls from Georgia have really cute smiles.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 07:19 AM | Comments (214)
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Apparently some people have bought into this notion (lie), citizens from other states cannot qualify for resident tuition rates in Texas. This is how stupid the argument has become.

Well they're wrong.

You get it this is about paying taxes here, right? Taxes that support schools. Like, oh I don't know, sales taxes for example. Which every slob here pays.

Option 1, for high school students:

1.Graduate from a Texas high school or receive a GED in Texas; and
2.Live in Texas for the 36 months immediately before high school graduation; and
3.Live in Texas for the 12 months immediately before the census date (usually the 12th class day) of the semester in which you enroll at UT Austin (or another college or university).

Option 2, live here for a year.

1.Live in Texas for 12 consecutive months; and
2.Establish and maintain domicile for 12 consecutive months by doing one (emphasis me) of the following:
■ Be gainfully employed in Texas (Student jobs do not qualify as gainful employment.)
■ Sole or joint marital ownership of residential real property in Texas by the person seeking to enroll or the dependentÂ’s parent, having established and maintained a domicile at the residence
■ Own and operate a business in Texas
■ Be married for one year to a person who has established domicile in Texas

Regardless of how you feel about the extension of this benefit to the kids of illegals, can we at least acknowledge the benefit isn't extended to them and denied to US citizens?

Also, here's a stupid music video. Hayseed Dixie's Bohemian Rhapsody.

We can't be all serial, all the time.

Well, I can't.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 06:05 AM | Comments (380)
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