Far East Cynic

Other folks-not so much.

In choosing Sarah Palin to be his running mate, John McCain told the thinking voter who is in the center-neither liberal or conservative- that building a bridge to 2/3 of the population is not on his agenda:

From the invasion of Iraq to the selection of Sarah Palin, carelessness has characterized recent episodes of faux conservatism. Tuesday’s probable repudiation of the Republican Party will punish characteristics displayed in the campaign’s closing days.

Some polls show that Palin has become an even heavier weight in John McCain’s saddle than his association with George W. Bush. Did McCain, who seems to think that Palin’s never having attended a “Georgetown cocktail party” is sufficient qualification for the vice presidency, lift an eyebrow when she said that vice presidents “are in charge of the United States Senate”?

She may have been tailoring her narrative to her audience of third-graders, who do not know that vice presidents have no constitutional function in the Senate other than to cast tie-breaking votes. But does she know that when Lyndon Johnson, transformed by the 1960 election from Senate majority leader into vice president, ventured to the Capitol to attend the Democratic senators’ weekly policy luncheon, the new majority leader, Montana’s Mike Mansfield, supported by his caucus, barred him because his presence would be a derogation of the Senate’s autonomy?

Perhaps Palin’s confusion about the office for which she is auditioning comes from listening to its current occupant. Dick Cheney, the foremost practitioner of this administration’s constitutional carelessness in aggrandizing executive power, regularly attends the Senate Republicans’ Tuesday luncheons. He has said jocularly that he is “a product” of the Senate, which pays his salary, and that he has no “official duties” in the executive branch. His situational constitutionalism has, however, led him to assert, when claiming exemption from a particular executive order, that he is a member of the legislative branch and, when seeking to shield certain of his deliberations from legislative inquiry, to say that he is a member of the executive branch

Palin may be an inveterate simplifier; McCain has a history of reducing controversies to cartoons. A Republican financial expert recalls attending a dinner with McCain for the purpose of discussing with him domestic and international financial complexities that clearly did not fascinate the senator. As the dinner ended, McCain’s question for his briefer was: “So, who is the villain?”.

The constant refrain one hears these days from supporters of the McCain campaign is that if one does not accept Sarah Palin as she has been presented-then there must be something wrong with them. It cannot possibly be her. “She’s real, she’s folksy, she’s one of us-if you don’t get it, then you are not one of us and unworthy of opinion anyway”.

Maybe they are right-I don’t get Sarah Palin. I mean, after all, when there is so much talent in the Republican party that passes the conservative litmus tests, yet have proven track records of foreign policy experience, governing experience, of bridging divides and listening to the other half of the demographic-why not pick someone who has little national experience and is the governor of a one of a kind state?

Set aside the fact that most of the bedrock assertions about her and her record have proven to be untrue. Or that, unlike Barak Obama who survived a 20+ month primary campaign and still won the nomination in spite of a lot of things that were thrown at him, Sarah Palin was plucked from obscurity at the behest of that level headed realist, William Kristol.

Pay no attention to the fact that in considering her for the second highest office in the land-one has to not forget that the current possible incumbent may not finish one or both of his terms based on actuarial probabilities? Forget all that.

More importantly, pay no attention to the fact that her stated positions on a whole host of issues are 180 degrees out from where the rest of the population lies. Not relevant.

Just lump it all into the “S” word and make it someone else’s fault. Because its manufactured rage-you understand.

Not plain old dissappointment that someone you once believed in could be so careless. No not that. Must be a conspiracy out there somewhere…………………….

Wars and lechery-nothing else holds the fashion…………

Pensacola News Journal
October 31, 2008

Blues Angels Pilot, Other Grounded

Final 3 shows will fly a plane short as team members face investigation

By Troy Moon

Two members of the Navy’s Blue Angels have been “removed from duty”
with the team over an alleged inappropriate relationship, the team spokesman
said Thursday.

As a result of the removals, the Pensacola-based team will only fly five
jets during its remaining shows instead of the standard six, Marine Corps
Capt. Tyson Dunkelberger said.

Dunkelberger would not say whether either of the team members, removed
“pending further administrative action,” is a Blue Angels’
pilot. The Military Times reported Thursday that one of the individuals is
an aviator.

The allegations involve a male and female team member. There are 133 current
Blue Angel team members, 23 of whom are women, Dunkelberger said.

He said the investigation is under review by Rear Adm. Mark Guadagnini,
chief of Naval air training. The case is being handled as an administrative
issue rather than a judicial matter, Dunkelberger added.

The two team members were removed from the team by commanding officer and
flight leader Capt. Kevin Mannix on Sunday.

The Blue Angels currently are in San Antonio, where the squadron will
perform this weekend. The Blue Angels then perform Nov. 8-9 at Kennedy Space
Center and finish up the 2008 season with the Nov. 14-
15 homecoming show at Pensacola Naval Air Station.

The Blue Angels will still fly their regularly scheduled practice shows at
Pensacola Naval Air Station on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by an
autograph-signing session at the National Naval Aviation Museum. Practice
performances begin at 8:30 a.m.

According to the Blue Angels’ Web site, the team does not maintain a “spare”
pilot who could fill in when another member can’t fly.

“With the number of practice hours required to safely fly a demonstration a
spare pilot could not be utilized effectively. Each pilot must complete 120
training flights during winter training in order to perform a public
demonstration safely,” the Web site states. “The teamwork required for the
high speed, low-altitude flying in the tight Blue Angel formation takes
hundreds of hours to develop. A substitute pilot would not have enough time
in the formation to do this safely.”

Two aircraft did not fly with the team during Wednesday’s practice.
One solo aircraft and one member of the diamond formation were absent.

A volunteer announcer at the practice pointed out the absence of the
aircraft but said he didn’t know why they weren’t present.

The Military Times contributed to this report.

Reprinted from The Economist, who has it right:

America should take a chance and make Barack Obama the next leader of the free world

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Or at least his brother in the Marines.:

For two sinful indulgences in Hong Kong:

Krispy Kreme doughnuts in Hong Kong is shutting down. The HK franchise was owned and operated by the same group that runs Pepperoni’s, Jaspa’s, Cru, Wagyu, etc. They’ll probably continue through the end of this week and then that’s it. But as many who frequent their shops have noted, every time I went in, they were never busy. I think it just never took off in HK.

That Krispy Kreme was right down the street from McSorley’s-my favorite place to eat a two beer lunch in Hong Kong. Sigh.

And as for the other sinful indulgence? Well that’s probably a closure for the best. The real question is whether the other “retail outlets” can handle their “inventory”.

Dear Senator Obama,

If you do not rein in your own party and keep them focused together-you will be drinking no champagne next Tuesday night. If I had 2000 dollars I could spare-I might be tempted to go place a bet on McCain winning the election. With the current odds it would pay off nicely. At least better than the stock market of late.

Foolish bet? Maybe. But not a dead certain loser of a bet-and far more likely to pay off this week than last. I’m afraid you do not realize it yet, but your campaign peaked last week and is coasting, losing altitude right now,  through some turbulent airspace. McCain on the other hand has added power and is gaining altitude.

You should be very nervous. Your support is soft-not firm, and could still turn on you in heart beat.

Second, you should not underestimate the effects of the repeated use of the words: socialism, income redistribution, and “tax and spend”. Republicans are like zombies-they will walk around in a trance repeating the mantra that’s played over the loudspeakers. Plus, and it is always amazing to see this-people who are not rich will defend the rich bastards who are screwing them to the hilt. It’s because they want to preserve the illusion that someday they could be that rich-no matter how stacked the deck is against them. Or how many opportunities to gain that wealth have been foreclosed on them by the stupidity of the current administration.

Your should lock Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi,  and Harry Reid in a closet. Better yet-push them over a cliff and get some new Democrats, they are out there, to lead the way. Frank in particular was devastating with his : “cut by 25% gaffe”. For a party that carries a word association with the term , “pussy”, those kinds of remarks are deadly poison.

Screw the polls. This is going to be a close election. A nail biter. You can still lose this election and McCain can win it. Which is not in the best interests of the country. Why? Two words: President Palin.

So crack the whip and put some of this junk to bed. Keep your message cutting like a laser beam-about the economy, about a prudent foreign policy, and about being a reasonable man. The land mines you have to navigate around are large. Fraudulent nonetheless-flawed in the extreme-but  still deadly. Never underestimate the stupidity of the American voter.

I’m telling you this as a pal. You are in trouble friend and do not yet realize it. I can envision about 3 scenarios where 30 electoral votes slip away faster than you can say “pit bull with lipstick”. The election and the repudiation of George Bush and his eight years of flawed government are too important to screw it away in the in close position.

It is going to be a long week and you cannot speed up the hand of time. The opposition has a lot of time left on the books and they are in their comfort zone: defending income disparity and blatant unfairness as some sort of God given right.  Trying to argue that balancing the standard of living to raise it to a higher median just goes over most people’s heads. Stick to the basics.

If you ignore this advice-don’t blame me when you are staring at the TV wondering what the hell happened. And if you think there is going to be any bipartisanship or forgiveness from either side-trust me there won’t be.

Now turn to and get it done. The country needs to change.

Especially so when the New Republic is in complete agreement with the Townhall Harlot……………..

One of the most interesting things I think about this campaign is how McCain channels Theodore Roosevelt-without really understanding the man. Or what he really accomplished as President. As well as the fact, that the failures of William McKinley enabled TR to be successful when McKinley was assassinated.

Edmund Morris is an authority on TR.  He wrote a great book on TR, Theodore Rex, which  covers the years of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, from 1901 to 1909, covering events such as the construction of the Panama Canal as well as the Roosevelt Administration’s political, diplomatic and military exploits during the aforementioned period.

So lets go see what he thinks  TR would have thought of the election this year……….

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Waxing nostalgic……

Because while I was drinking beer, getting quietly buzzed, doing my best to ignore the S.O.’s whining- watching the Phillies almost blow a three run lead- Spike was here:

Oh, and btw, last night was the Lan Kwai Fong Carnival. LKF was mobbed, as was Cavern Club. So many freaking hot women everywhere, a fresh heart attack every 3 seconds.

Just not fair I tell you, just not fair. Thanks for the Tokyo pix too………………

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It was a beautiful morning today. Got up early, which is amazing in of itself considering what time the Series game finished-and then I surfed porn the Internet for another hour. Made coffee and sat outside reading the paper. Started on the front stoop-but decided to go around back so I could sit in the sunshine. Learned something I did not know-how Sean Hannity got his start in obnoxiousness. Reading about local talk jock Dale Jackson:

He developed an interest in communications in the Army. He was discharged late in the summer of 2001.

About one month later, the world exploded on Sept. 11. In the flood of information that followed, Jackson became obsessed with the media, especially Bill O’Reilly of Fox News.

He enrolled in a junior college, then the University of Florida. There, he interned with a talk-show host and was hooked.

Since then, there have been occasional difficulties along the way. Before coming to Huntsville, for instance, he was fired at a station in Birmingham.

He attributes the firing to his attempts to force out a team of popular morning personalities, part of his duties as a manager at the station.

Yet he remains undaunted, more confident than ever.

He’s aware that he’s following a similar career path as Hannity, now one of the nation’s leading right-wing voices.

In 1992, Hannity became a star for the first time as a relentless critic of Cramer, the longtime congressman in the 5th District.

Jackson also points out similarities in personalities: Hannity’s wife, Jill, is a former reporter at The Huntsville Times. Jackson’s dating a reporter at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a newspaper in Fort Lauderdale.

“Do I see myself as the next Hannity?” he asks. “No. First of all, I’m much too ugly.”

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FWIW, Speaking of Rep Cramer, I sent his office a blistering e-mail when the house voted down the bail-out bill. Amazingly enough I got a letter back from him. Not a form letter of the normal kind-but a two pager explaining his vote in detail.

That and a few bucks can get me Starbucks I guess. But its more than I expected.

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Tomorrow morning, the morning meeting is going to suck. Because certain people will be lording this over me:

Alabama blows out Tennessee again, 29-9.

For what it is worth-I added to the problem by publicly belittling both Auburn and Alabama-something that is a capital crime down here.

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Another year has come and gone and I was not riding the rails at Halloween.  When I first came to Japan, the annual Gaijin circuit of the Yamanote line was a big deal-evidently now not so much. The keisatsu (police) were out in force:

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S.O. is up now. Another day spiraling down the wasted ways of domesticity. Its a beautiful golf day-but you can bet I won’t get to touch my clubs at all. Sigh. Grocery store or Kohls? Those are the exciting choices I get to make these days.

Just not f**king fair.

As is my custom, this day-it is time to remember those who struggled and fought in another overseas intervention. Foolishly embarked upon and then poorly executed. Bear any similarities to conflicts today?

Background:

What drove me to the other side this election. This You Tube is pure genius:

Send her back to Wassila!

But it evidently takes a lot of money to put lipstick on a pit bull:

Ms. Strozzi, who was nominated for an Emmy award for her makeup work on the television show “So You Think You Can Dance?”, was paid $22,800 for the first two weeks of October alone, according to the records. The campaign categorized Ms. Strozzi’s payment as “Personnel Svc/Equipment.”

In addition, Angela Lew, who is Ms. Palin’s traveling hair stylist, got $10,000 for “Communications Consulting” in the first half of October. Ms. Lew’s address listed in F.E.C. records traces to an Angela M. Lew in Thousands Oaks, Calif., which matches with a license issued by the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology. The board said Ms. Lew works at a salon called Hair Grove in Westlake Village, Calif.

Talk about a high maintenance woman!

One of the most troubling aspects of the recent coverage of the election, is this tone that Obama has already got the election sewn up. If I were Obama I would be doing my damndest to squelch that kind of talk.

And if it were me-I sure as hell would not be doing this.

A huge stage is being constructed in Chicago’s Grant Park, where Obama hopes to declare victory before a cheering throng that could dwarf the one at the Democratic convention. Back then, “only” 80,000 fans were in attendance that night. This time, it could be hundreds of thousands in the park and its surroundings — closer to Berlin in July than Denver in August.

You think the so called “true blue conservatives” are assholes now? Wait till you see that after an election McCain wins-even if it is by just a nose. They will be insufferable.

And the obnoxious smiling face of Bill Kristol will be every where-claiming it was the whore that shall not be named who did it.

Plus, McCain winning this election is still a great possibility-one the Democrats ignore at their peril. Marc Ambinder sums it up well:

The Party knows how to turn out Republican voters in red states. The Democratic Party has no record of turning out sporadic Democratic voters in presidential years in red states. It is not reasonable to assume, therefore, that Democrats can really turn out the voters they say they will, while Republicans have a record of turning out habitual Republican voters. How can Democrats build good and accurate voter lists in these red states?

Take Indiana: Gov. Mitch Daniels leads his Democratic opponent, Jill Long Thompson, by a healthy margin. Can you imagine Mitch Daniels voters choosing Obama?

Obama’s in trouble in Pennsylvania. Why else is Ed Rendell begging Obama to return there?

In 2006, the Republican base was depressed after “Macaca” and Jim Webb still only barely managed a victory there.

The GOP will spend $70 million on GOTV in the next 13 days.

Obama isn’t breaking 50% in Ohio and Florida. It’s hard to imagine a big shift to him in the final ten days, when the mind is concentrated, when imponderables come into play.

Colorado is tough… but Pennsylvania is doable.

Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana and Missouri will all revert to partisan form. Already, McCain’s campaign has factored in census + 1 turnout for African Americans, and there are plausible scenarios under which McCain wins.

Several polls — including McCain’s internal polls — show that some white male voters who broke away from McCain [ed note: but did not support Obama] are coming back to McCain’s fold.

Oh, and all this talk of Barack Obama leading in the early vote? So did John Kerry.

Never underestimate the ability of Democrats to screw up a good thing.

Looks like this.

Better renew  my passport now.

( Make sure you move the mouse around to the windows and computer screen…..).