To Hell In A Handbasket

Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Obama, Americastan.

As bad as that?  Who knows?  Despite my cynicism and utter lack of faith in the judgment of the American people even I did not think they would ultimately fall for the foolishness of Obama.  I was mistaken, we are that stupid.

Were these other men monsters to begin with?  No, none of them was.  They all expressed a deep concern for the well being of their people and sought to improve their lot in life.  The economy was their greatest concern.  That and being sure that everyone had their fair share.

Then things got ugly.   I will not make this a history lesson beyond this.  Many in the past have made themselves out to be the savior of the common people from the the fat cats and greed.  I know of no instance in which those who said they wanted to help did not in the end do boundless harm.

The electorate of the United States have made a decision that I pray will not come back to haunt them terribly.  Those of us who’s views are more conservative and traditional can only pray that not too much damage is done and that some sanity rises from this farce.

Perhaps most of all this is a betrayal of those in uniform that serve us so well under such difficult circumstances in such an imperfect and hostile world.  To place them in the hands of such an utterly unexperienced and naive commander in chief is an insult to them all.  They deserve better than this from the people they defend.  Von Rum cannot help but feel that the men and women of our armed forces have been ignored at best and at worst used as pawns in this game for the White House.  We can only hope that cooler heads around this semi-Marxist will prevail.

Should this blog continue look not for mercy upon either party in this.  They both got us into this state of having elected a man who represents the opposite of so much that America has always stood for.  A pox on all their houses.

von Rum

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Suffragium mortis

Suffragium mortis or voting death.  It is almost what one feels about this morbidly long campaign season.  Surely it has nearly bored us to death. Yet….

We are now in the final 48 hours of the longest, most infuriating election in human history.  I have witnessed even those who are enthusiastic about either candidate become so fed up with the length of this campaign that they only want it over no matter who wins.  Perhaps it is time to visit the idea of limiting by law the length of the campaign season as some countries do.  At least give it a look.

Still despite the widespread disgust with the whole thing it does matter who wins.  It matters because should Barack Hussein Obama win we wind up with virtual one party rule in this republic.  That cannot be good for any of us who love or respect liberty.

The dominance at the federal level of government of a single party is inherently bad.  It does not matter which party that might be.  The extremists which propel parties to such victories demand their reward in radical legislation that damages any country in which this takes place.

Yet I fear that is where we are headed.  The incompetence of the half liberal Bush administration has lead to the rise of the Marxist wing of the democrats.  The irony is that the conservatives are held to blame by the left when there is virtually nothing actually conservative about the Bush bunch.

It is my fervent hope that I am wrong.  I pray this country is not about to elect a charlatan snake oil salesman who promises the moon but delivers rotten government cheese.  Yet we may get just that, and it may take generations to undo the damage if in fact it ever is undone.  The foolish decisions and economic hard times of the 1930’s lead to the rise of fringe groups to serious national power.  Are we witnessing a repeat of those events?  I do not know but I am concerned.

von Rum is no great fan of universal voting.  A five minute conversation with the average voter will dispel the myth that there is wisdom in “the will of the people”.  Yet this time I urge any and all who can to vote for the candidate that brings not the most “change” but rather does the least damage.  We cannot afford less.

von Rum

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Worth the Read

I urge you to read this post by Neal Boortz. It is worth every second.

von Rum

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Rambling Morning

Some mornings are good for little but loafing around and daydreaming.  Sometimes those daydreams make it into print.  Which is unfortunate.

With that in mind here are some thoughts;

First on the election a fortnight from today; either way we are screwed.  On the one hand we have the disaster of a democratic dominated government that is but two degrees removed from Marxism lite.  On the other had we have the specter of a republican administration with absolutely no clue as to how to move forward on economic issues and which has already come out hell bent to head butt Russia.  The simple fact that no member of either party has taken the lead or offered a single creative suggestion in this crisis means that in practical terms for averting a depression, it does not matter who wins.

In other ways of course it does matter.  These include the direction the tax codes take and the nomination of Supreme Court Justices (the most long term affect).  Beyond that it is two heads of the same beast.  It is not that they cannot see the solution.  It is that they cannot see the problem.

I have been accused in recent days of wavering support for the candidate that I had endorsed.  That is both true and untrue.  It is untrue because the one I will personally vote for has not changed at all and will not.  I simply view the Marxist as far to dangerous for our future to elect.  (I use the term Marxist rather than socialist because like it or not, we are all socialists of one form or another.)  It is true that my enthusiasm has waivered because the acme of mediocrity is the candidate.  To be excited about McCain is like going to a five star restaurant and being served meatloaf.

Something else.  Even though everything about Hollywood and the celebrity cult sets my teeth on edge I do understand the fascination.  I suspect it only grows in times like these.  Stress is rising, incomes falling and the future is not so bright.  To look to something glamorous and utterly unimportant for entertainment is safe, easy and available.  No doubt the stock of those who bathe in the camera flash will go up.  Which makes the whole thing even more revolting.  If you have ever seen some teenage star gushing over the joys of her unwed pregnancy and then go blind with rage over the rash of similar pregnancies in your school or neighborhood you understand my disgust.

Speaking of nausea.  I have noted more public despair and disgust over this election than I ever have before.  For so many that I have talked with, even the very partisan democrats and republicans, they feel as if they have a choice between the gas chamber and the electric chair.  A sentiment lacking in hope I might add.

Enough for now, I have effectively ruined my own day.

von Rum

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Neighbors and Elections.

In the interest of full disclosure let it be known that von Rum is not a people person.  I have no real interest in meeting new people nor do I enjoy crowds in any form.  I find most people repulsive.  This is not hypocrisy though for my opinion of myself is not much better.  I sympathize with Joseph de Maistre’s statement that “Man in general, if reduced to himself, is too wicked to be free.”  That being said though I do attempt to be cordial to strangers.  It is the people I get to know who truly disgust me.

Having in recent months moved to a new neighborhood I have tried to be as friendly as nature allows me to my neighbors.  A few days after we moved in a tree in my next door neighbor’s back yard hard came down in a windstorm.  I went out and helped him clear it all our of our yards.  We agreed to cut up the bulk of it this fall.

Things were going swimmingly all summer.  We did not frequent each others homes by any means but usually spoke to each other outside and carried any misdelivered mail to each other.  The normal sort of suburban middle class neighborhood.

Then came the campaign season.

Elections rarely bring out the best in people.  Instead they reveal the base passions, prejudices, and irrational fears common to us all.  An intellectual event an election is not.  Especially a presidential election.  This one is no different, and perhaps in many ways worse.  I know of friends separated and old loyalties split over this farce.

Still in the context of being free to express an opinion I saw no problem with my neighbor’s yard sign supporting a presidential candidate.  My only thought was that my neighbor is probably not as bright as I thought he might be for supporting that phony.  Still it would not have varied my treatment of my neighbor one bit.  Everyone is free to support who they will, despite the stupidity of the decision.

With that in mind I foresaw no problems when a few days later I put up a sign in my yard supporting the candidate opposite my neighbors.  I was wrong.

Heading out to work one morning after the sign was up a few days I saw the neighbor’s wife in her front yard.  She was looking at me so I waved my hand and said, “Good Morning.”  She stared right through me, turned and went into her house.  I was amused.  It was later that night when relating the event to my wife that she told me that a day earlier the husband next door had refused to respond to her in a similar manner.

Personally I thought it was hilarious.

Do we take this that seriously?  I know at times I do, and have real reasons for who I vote for.  I also have real concerns about the future should the other candidate win.  Still, in the end we are, at least the majority of us, going to be screwed by whichever party wins because they are equally corrupt.  Their corruption only slants in slightly different angles.  A rotten red tomato and rotten turnip are both still rotten.

This reaction of my neighbor is probably not all that uncommon.  How many out there have had a similar experience due to an expressed opinion?  Some of it boils down to party loyalty handed down in families like fine china or the secrets of the crazy old aunt.  Much of it though stems from different views of the world and the nature of man.  Still there is no need for rudeness.  Even a misanthrope like me can be friendly to someone I profoundly disagree with.  If you have to kill a man the least you can do is be friendly about it.

Some see it differently.

von Rum

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Ad Nauseum

Let me be clear on something first. I am neither republican nor democrat. Philosophically I am a monarchist. I suppose living in the United States that makes me the ultimate reactionary. It is a title I wear proudly.

With that out of the way I can say this. There is no level, aided by the internet, that some groups will not lower themselves to. This includes groups from all political parties but it seems that the “angry left” as the President referred to them are the worst.

From the Daily Kos to Democratic Underground to Alan Colmes the blogs have been rife with vicious slander about Gov. Sarah Palin. From picking a nickname for her to posting photoshopped bikini and porn pictures of her they spew filth that nauseates anyone with a conscience.

The upshot of it all is that it may backlash violently against the left. By making Palin a sympathetic figure many people may warm to her and support her who might have otherwise been indifferent. Her accomplishments are remarkable. She has been elected mayor, and then lead a revolt against a corrupt governor to take that office. She has five children and has worked in the Alaskan fishing industry with her husband. She has reduced taxes and cut public spending. Honestly even though her experience is short it is strong. In fact neither McCain, Obama or Biden can really claim as much practical executive accomplishment.

With the venom being directed at her this record may shine even brighter. If she can stand up to the sewer rats who write this stuff she will be even stronger.

In that there is a message for us all. Difficulties come at us from every direction. It is when they are at their worst that we must be at our best. From that comes character. So here is a glass of rum for those who have done it all, endured it all, and come through it grinning.

von Rum

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Back at it.

After a few days off from the blog I have drawn myself kicking a screaming back to this keyboard. The weekend has seen the arrival of Hurricane Gustav on the Gulf coast. Thankfully it was not quite as bad as expected. Even more thankfully it appears the vast majority of people living in the affected region listened to reason this time and got the devil out of Dodge.

That being said there are now two more hurricanes possibly headed for the southeast coast. Let’s hope things turn out as well here.

With the election season now in full swing we can expect mud slinging on an epic scale. Rarely do such up for grabs presidential elections come about. In some ways it is engaging. In other ways it is merely annoying. Still by far the most interesting thing to happen so far has been John McCain’s political equivalent of a shock and awe campaign by nominating Sarah Palin. Personally the more I have learned about her the more I like her.

Alas the poor democrats. They could still win the election but at the moment when they learned she was the pick they stood there eyes wide open and mouth agape. They looked like they had been stung by a bee in the crack of their collective butts.

Gotta love it.

von Rum

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Hail Ceasar and the Hat Trick!

Well if the past two days are not interesting to you politically then I suppose nothing I can insert here can tickle your innards.

On Thursday night we had the Triumphal Procession of The Chosen One in Denver. It was, for all its pomp and spectacle something that Gaius Julius Caesar would have engineered to gain the support of the plebeians in Rome. It was well planned, well rehearsed, very well delivered and well nigh completely devoid of substance.

Obama has become the master of condensing the least thought into the most words. It is as though the campaign was based on the idea that if one repeats the words change and yes we can enough, people will become immune to facts.

This is perhaps one reason that Obama decided he was not up to the challenge of facing McCain in a series of town hall meetings. In a forum in which he would have to seriously answer questions and debate the details he would be lost.

That being said McCain pulled a hat trick of sorts on Friday morning by nominating Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential running mate. It was a broadside against the standard operating procedure of Washington politics. Whether it works or not remains to be seen.

Funny thing is that Obama’s campaign of all things jumped on her inexperience. She is younger than Obama yes, but that is all they really have. She has held executive positions as both a town mayor and has challenged and overthrown the established Republican governorship. Only a true character and a very strong woman could have conceived and carried out such things. As governor she is Commander in Chief of the Alaskan National Guard as well as running the many services and departments of that vast state. Compared to her Obama may as well drop the inexperience tack right now. He has not a leg to stand on.

All in all things could really interesting here. A true socialist and an old political hack on the democratic side verses an old line republican liberal and a new guard conservative on the other side. The whole thing might be worth a drink after all.

von Rum

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Three in the gate

Now that we have three candidates in the starting gate, let’s see where we go from here. First there is the now completed Democratic ticket of Obama-Biden. Then there is the yet to be announced Republican ticket of McCain-(whoever). I suspect the whoever will be Mitt Romney but that is a semi-informed opinion only.

What is somewhat more informed is this. Either way we are screwed. Not that I wish to sound cynical, though in today’s political climate to sound otherwise is to be the poster child for naivety. This is the best electoral system money can buy.

As the Democrats flirt with self destruction in Denver the Republicans have, despite the many misgivings about McCain welded themselves into a cohesive unit for the election. One hears endless blogging and punditry over the Clinton supporters who are threatening mutiny over the primary elections. The fact that Hillary was not picked for the VP position is only heightening the tension.

How much of this is actually the Clinton group preparing to decamp and support McCain and how much is media driven sensationalism is anyone’s guess. I daresay there are enough disgusted Clintonites to create an issue and perhaps even turn an election.

With Biden on board though, anything could happen. The Senator from Delaware has for decades had a recurring bout of foot in mouth disease. The fact that he now has the most public stage of his career only increases worries in the Democratic camp about their pick.

With no room for slippage Biden seems almost doomed to do or say something that can damage or derail Obama. That is perhaps a sign of how desperate Obama is. He critically needed to show that his campaign had someone on board with some age and experience. The ability to have a conversation without simply repeating the phrase “change yes we can” till people faint was perhaps a reason too. If nothing else Biden can talk. Whether that helps the Democrats in the long run is up for grabs.

You have to say this for McCain. The man never quits fighting. A year ago he was considered dead in the water and foundering. Now he is the Republican nominee. Such are the vicissitudes of politics.

With McCain though there are pitfalls as well. His age is actually no issue, though one will be made of it. More disturbing is his recently emphasised Cold Warrior mentality. The Soviet Union is dead. The foreign policies that sustained us from 1945-1991 will no longer do. There is vast room for improvement there. I have not doubt that national security will be job number one McCain. I wonder though will it be a short sighted security.

So the way I see it we have an Obama victory and the constant retreat of America on all foreign fronts as well as the coddling of Islamic revolutionaries throughout the Middle East. Domestically we will probably see the unrestrained growth of government programs with no fiscal responsibility. This has the net effect of handing China the mortgage to the United States.

With McCain we have a far more robust foreign policy. Unfortunately it may be so robust it creates for us conflicts with Russia which are in no way in our national interest. Again the net effect of that is to strengthen China. Domestically, probably more of what we have seen with some emphasis on a better energy policy. At least McCain has a chance of getting the other side to go along with him.

All in all the next two and a half months may be a grand time to bring back that grand old Czech song popular on the eve of the Munich debacle ,”Roll out the barrel”.

I have a feeling we will all be a couple of drinks behind come November.

von Rum

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Ripped Off For A Cheap Laugh

If anything can be taken from the run up to the 2008 election it is that Americans will do anything for a laugh.

No, American Idol (or Idiot as my dad calls it), America’s Got Talent, and Hell’s Kitchen were not enough. Nor were all the other so called reality shows. We had to have more; more hype, more painfully embarrassing moments, more ridiculous claims of competence, and more commercials. In the end we had to have the same from our political process. The result so far has been much the same as the result of a Big Brother-like contest. The cold sludge has risen to the top.

In a political year (actually it has lasted about 20 months) in which all sorts of miracles were supposed to happen, little has. Even when faced with replacing a President that is about as popular as warm beer the two main parties have managed to astound us with mediocrity. The Republican side is perhaps most disappointing. On the one hand you have to be downright diabolic not to admire John McCain. The man has suffered through more than many of us could endure to watch much less experience. Yet as a candidate for President he has all the attraction of cold Spam. That he could be an effective Commander in Chief is almost certain. That the voting masses could like him enough to give him the job is much less certain. Perhaps most unfortunate of all is that presidential campaigns now are little more than publicity contests which McCain does not lend himself to well at all.

On the other side we have Barack Obama. If ever there were a political case of shadow over substance this would be it. Whereas McCain has some substance but utterly no personality to build upon in a campaign, Obama is all hype. The man’s record is as thin as vegetable broth and his entire campaign consists of repeating the word “change” over and over and saying “I am the one!” until your hair hurts.

The United States may well need a change. Not all change however is good. Sometimes in desperation we grasp for things we have not clearly thought out, just out of frustration. The same is true in relationships as well as politics. In either case we often end up with a worse situation than what we had.

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