As the world knows, nearly two hundred people were killed in Bombay, which is what Indians still call it instead of Mumbai, a fiat name. And the press wonders why? Why did it happen? Overpaid navel-gazers want to know, but not really.

It's very simple. Islamists hate the west. They hate America, Britain, and they hate Jews. They hate the growing financial sophistication of India and its links to the West. And they want us dead.

Which was apparent to me when the second plane hit the WTC on 9/11.

Why doesn't our media get it? Cannot they believe that they are hated too? Do they think it can be sorted out with a meet-and-greet? My biggest fear about the Chosen One is that he thinks that these things can be sorted out over a cup of strong tea but then he's callow in everything except voter and credit-card fraud, and stiffing workers.

The first WTC bombing told us what to expect but no one, including me, listened. For years we've had Muslims stating baldly that they wanted to die to kill Americans and Americans said, "No, they can't mean what they said," although some of them just died to prove it.

And now we have mass murder in India. I suppose that it will take some sort of mass murder in America to make these precious people get it.

Oh. That happened. September 11, 2001. And still they don't get it. Perhaps there's a reason that The New York Times, the flagship of polite, received opinion, is junk stock, just like their junk opinions, and will have to sell assets to meet debt repayment obligations which is still causing me a deep-seated glow of satisfaction. There is a reason that CBS, lowered even further by the big feet and ego but small worth of Katie Couric is thinking about buying news from CNN and blogging off it. Well, if you had that Couric woman eating 75% of your budget for nothing, what would you do? CNN has fallen behind Fox. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann has not only saved that virtually unwatched network by appealing to a small cadre of glinty-eyed leftists but such success that it has had has infiltrated NBC too, which says more about the parlous state of NBC than of the success of MSNBC. And ABC has decreed that its journalists cannot wear American flag pins. Reuters refuses to use the word terrorists on the theory that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. I suppose that the murders don't count if you say they're for, er, freedom.

The news rooms of America have very much a fin de siècle feeling to them as the talking heads explain why what is happening cannot be happening as they take time out from the (bankrupt) Sharper Image stores or leg-waxing parlors to condescend to a public that increasingly doesn't care because the public knows there is nothing of value left in the MSM. All that remains is its own narcissistic and solipsistic view of the world.

I suspect that it is axiomatic that the useful idiots are the last to know that they are.

Wake up and strike terrorism with an iron hand, say Hollywood's stars shocked by the brazen terror attack that targeted Mumbai's poshest areas.

Oops. Did I say Hollywood?

I meant Bollywood. Hollywood is still asking us to ask ourselves why the Islamofascists hate us...as if they started planning the attacks of September 11th during the last year of the Clinton Presidency in anticipation of the impending election of then-Governor of Texas George W. Bush.

Although, we can expect our own 'stars' to take a much harder stance against international terror (or at least a softer stance towards any administration action against it) now that the Oval office is to be occupied by one of their own. A Lightworker, no less.

American action against terrorism abroad will be righteous again now that it is their man calling the shots.

Who knows, we may even get a slew of movies that don't (at best) infantilize the American soldier or (at worst) portray them as rapists and murderers stuck in Iraq because of their lack of education and opportunity.

Wait. Was that Hollywood? Or was it John Kerry...the Audie Murphy of the Vietnam War?

It was both.

But starting in late January the gloves come off. One deemed enlightened by the Plasticized-Americans of Hollywood will be in office and for good measure the Iranians have already called him a "house slave".

I'm thinking Dresden.

Do you suppose that the people who are simultaneously advocating hard for a re-introduction of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" and also for a 60-seat "veto proof" Senate majority sense any irony at all?

Indianapolis - The Obama campaign says most of the payment issues that brought hundreds of upset campaign workers to the Indianapolis office Wednesday have been resolved.

Campaign spokesman Jonathan Swain says a few people showed up Thursday and made arrangements for payment by mail.

A few hundred people stood in line for several hours Wednesday waiting to get paid for working in the final days of the campaign. Many of those people said they were underpaid for the number of hours they worked.

There's more here.

Let's see. The attorney general of Ohio said sure, don't bother to check the IDs of people bussed in from shelters to register to vote and then to vote. And the Secretary of State of Nevada seized ACORN's records. It seems that they'd registered the Dallas Cowboys to vote.

In the county that I live in, the county Democratic chairman murdered a man in 1974 while DWI, was penalized $1500 and three years' probation, which was reduced to $500 paid and one year's probation served and by this we may know the value of a man's life. Then he was penalized by the State for running an gambling book out of a trust account. His latest? He altered official documents, colluding with the then-official to disqualify electoral competition. He is still the county Democratic chairman and very proud of it too. Except when he's dodging phone calls from people wanting to know when they will get paid for working elections.

I have no love for the Republican party, for I'm a conservative and they have thrown me under the bus, reveling in the orgiastic thrill of spending other peoples' money. And I have many other points of contention. But still, they don't come close to the breath-taking fraud and deception of the Democratic party. It seems that mouthing populist platitudes enwreathes them in a sanctity which excuses the basest of behavior.

I know that even without the voter fraud, the Chosen One would have been chosen by the electorate; the numbers proclaim it. But really. Stiffing bottom-rung vote canvassers? I'll bet the Chosen One didn't get stiffed when he was doing his community organizing. It seems that "community organizing" means fraud from both ends perpetrated against the law-abiding.

For a good while now I've been doing some study and reading on Urban vs. Rural/Suburban and its impact on our founding documents, political persuasion and policy. I guess this fascination started shortly after I read Jane Jacobs "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" in my attempt to understand what all our high paid consultants where trying to do with Downtown Midland. I've always known anecdotally that "City Folk don't think like us," but I never really had a good feel for how and why that is, until I started reading.

Peter Brown has a piece in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend that outlined some of the changes in perception and policy that may accompany the Country's first "Urban President."

There are a number of issues, many of them controversial, that have an urban/suburban/rural tilt:

Take guns, for instance. Urban dwellers, according to public opinion polls, are much more likely to favor stricter gun control than are those who live in exurban or rural communities.

Not surprisingly, those who live in cities see a need for more money to be spent on mass transportation. Those who live in suburban and rural areas, where a much larger percentage of people have cars, prefer new roads.

Those who live in cities are less likely to have widespread contact with military families, who disproportionately live outside of them. It is a reasonable assumption that this translates into lesser support for military spending than for those who live in the suburbs and rural areas.

The list could go on a lot longer.

And, to put it simply, birds of a feather flock together.

I'm starting to get the impression that Urban living has already quashed Liberty and Freedom as envisioned by the Founders, which explains why some 50% of the population (mostly Urban) doesn't see the coming socialist storm...they've been getting rained on for decades, so what's the big deal?

Ohh well... at least public transportation may be a bigger priority than new road construction, so I guess EZ Rider is safe for another 4 years.

You knew it was coming.

Here we are in November again, and it is time to take a peek at the 2007 final figures from the National Transit Database to see just how well EZ Rider performed last fiscal year:

All of these figures come from the National Transit Database

Now what about passengers?

The percentages breakdown like this: Fares: 11%, Local Taxes: 14%, State Taxes: 21% and Federal Taxes: 53%

So what is this in numbers anyone can understand? Well, according to the 2007 report it cost $4.89 for every bus UPT (unlinked passenger trip) [up from $4.52] and $15.66 for every para-transit UPT [up from $15.62]. UPT is a bureaucratic term, which basically means every time a passenger walks onto a bus. In Midland it takes, to make most cross town trips takes 4 UPT's to make a round trip on a bus and 2 UPT's on a para-transit. So in 2007 it cost $19.56 for every person who traveled on a fixed route and 31.32 for every person who traveled on a demand bus to make a round trip. In 2006 these figures were $18.08 and $31.24 respectively and in 2005 these figures were $21.40 and $24.32 respectively, in 2004 these figures were $24.72 and $34.90 respectively.

Costs didn't go up significantly in 2007, but remember, this data is only through September 30, 2007, which was before oil shot up to $140 a barrel. Fares increased slightly and State funding was flat, so our local government had to kick in quite a bit more, and the Feds really came to the rescue of our local governments with a significant funding increase.

As always, I wonder when that majority funding from the State and Feds might dry up?

In the MRT story relating the latest unemployment figures for the City and State, Willie Taylor, executive director of Workforce Solutions Permian Basin (a regional adjunct of the Workforce Commission) made the following statement:

"When you have the two lowest unemployment rates in the state, even if we see 4.5 or 5 percent, we're still doing better than the rest of the nation. We're still in great shape and we can thank the economic development group. They've done a great job diversifying the economy."

I'm sorry, but that is a perception of many in leadership around here, and the Bureau of Labor Statics data paints a different picture of the diversification efforts in Midland.

Since the December 2002 nadir of 9,800 employees, the Mining and Minerals Sector has added some 5,500 jobs. The MDC, with investments in NGSG, FloCO2, and FiberRod, would like to take some of the credit for that rise in employment diversity. Is this the Diversity we were promised and that everyone seems to think we've gained?

Total Non-Farm Employment has risen from 45,800 to 59,900 in the same time period, or about 14,100 jobs. Mining and Minerals make up a staggering 39% of that job increase.

The next biggest gainer is Business and Professional Services. That sector tacked on 2,900 jobs in that time frame. Though, I'm sure most of this is related to oil and gas with the resurgence of Lawyers, Landmen, Petroleum Engineers, and CPA's.

Manufacturing accounts for 1,100 of those jobs, but there has been no increase in manufacturing jobs in 16 months, so that isn't growing, and what we have is most likely Oil and Gas related.

Retail Trade accounts for about 1,100 jobs in that time too, but we don't target retail as a diversifying industry.

Speaking of target industries, Information Technology has experienced a 200 employee contraction in the last couple of years locally and Health care and Education has added a shade under 1,000 jobs.

For comparison, Odessa's non-farm employment increases in the Mining sector account for 57.4% of all employment growth in Odessa from December 2002 to October 2008.

So tell me again, just how good of a job has our Economic Development Group done diversifying the economy?

The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board finally came out and said what the Austin and Houston Editorial Boards wouldn't.....that for them, the Speaker's Race is all about shifting power in the State of Texas to the Metro Areas, and not about Craddick.

Here's the opening paragraph:

The contest for Texas House speaker has become a horse race. Handicappers are raising the odds against a fourth term for Midland's Tom Craddick - an outcome that could pay off for Texas' population centers.

and here's the closing paragraph:

The bulk of Texans live in metro areas. It's where the growth is. Dallas-Fort Worth has been adding a million people every seven years. Change is coming fast and can't reach the Texas House soon enough.

In persuasive writing, I was taught to lay out the thesis, or reason for writing the persuasive piece at the beginning of the writing assignment and then restate said thesis at the end. I think the Dallas Morning News Editorial Board did a fine job of following that rule.

I have though all along that the Craddick criticisms of "Absolute Power", being a "Loyalist" and not being a good "consensus-builder" was a ruse. The Dallas Morning News has all but said this is really about finding *anyone* that pursues a metro centric agenda. The way Craddick has navigated through various issues in Texas politics in his tenure, just makes a nice large mud pit for them to wallow in.

Just look at the Red/Blue breakdown for Texas, and the Nation and you can see the clear divide between Urban and Rural voting patterns and governing philosophies. The more rural you are, the more conservative you vote. This is not a new problem, the Founders foresaw the problem of Urban vs. Rural when they created our bicameral legislative branch as they tried to strike a balance between the two.

Leaders like Craddick, who make sure the Cities don't suck all of the tax resources out of the State without providing for the rural areas and work to return and preserve the representation in the US Congress due the Rural areas, don't come along very often.

Like Craddick said himself during his constituent conference call, "I believe I will be the last Rural Speaker in Texas." It seems the urban Editorial Boards are more than happy to hasten that prophecy along.

From the website of origin:

"On Election day twelve Obama voters were interviewed extensively right after they voted to learn how the news media impacted their knowledge of what occurred during the campaign. These voters were chosen for their apparent intelligence/verbal abilities and willingness to express their opinions to a large audience. The rather shocking video below seeks to provide some insight into which information broke through the news media clutter and which did not."

An Oregon woman who is out $400,000 after falling for a well-known Internet scam says she wasn't a sucker or an easy mark.

The election has left me in an anomalous state; I could not believe that America, or this much of America, would ignore Obama's unsavory past associations and actions. I figured that the usual suspects would: those who let themselves be flattered into servility, the professionally aggrieved, and those on the make. I cannot attribute wickedness to Obama himself for I just don't see it. I see, frankly, nothing outside the wrapping. Mark Steyn said that when he heard Obama speak he had to fight an urge to giggle and I understand that.

So it's been a workaday world and for entertainment some slight satire.

Echoing that bad dream of the Clinton years, the Obamas have decided to get a dog, no doubt for the sloppy and sentimental vote, for the White House. What dog, and what name for it? A friend has an answer.

This is the first of a proposed new cartoon strip by BigFurHat, the artist. Others are working in collaboration on the story line for possible future ones.

Some tid-bits from Oleg Atbashian:

Poll: most Muslims find curvature of Riemannian manifolds offensive

Violence in Iraq down 60%; media stories reporting this down 6000%

Murtha: if we quit now, capitalism will win

Berkeley ousting US Marines gives hope to al Qaeda: "If hippies can do it, so can we!"

Focus group: if water boarding was a sexual preference, they'd be teaching it in public schools

Friendly fire: BBC office hit by al-Qaeda rocket

And the next-to-best:

World to USA: "Fix world ecomonic crisis so we can get back to hating you"

And the very best:

US Postal Service to publish Obama's resume on new stamp

--------------

Enjoy life in grumbling opposition. The Republican party has collapsed into a rump party in two years. There will be a lot of fixing to do before the White House is in Republican hands--I predict that the Chosen One will be chosen again in 2012, unless something really nasty comes up.

Silly me. The media won't report it if it does, and Clinton stayed in office the whole eight years.

Midland Memorial Hospital is a vital part of our community. Much like Midland College, it is a local institution that underpins the growth of Midland and is a critical part of our community infrastructure. Overall the Hospital and the College have been decent stewards of the taxpayers money, and they generally enjoy favorable treatment when it comes time to expand and build.

I have been a big fan of the efforts of MMH to modernize their Information Technology infrastructure and implement a comprehensive Electronic Health Records systems. Their successful efforts, using Open Source code and pouring the savings on coding into information infrastructure and customization, resulted in the implementation a $22 million dollar system for a little over $7 million. Since it went live, it has been a great service to patients of MMH and has returned a significant savings to the local taxpayer.

Today, those efforts were rewarded by InfoWorld as one of the Top Ten organizations that have implemented and integrated technologies in innovative ways in pursuit of concrete business goals for 2008.

It is a very high honor, and yet it is just one of a growing number of accolades heaped upon our little Hospital for cost effective modernization and technical innovation.

This spring, the Health Information Management and Systems Society recognized Midland for having one of the highest levels of automation. The $7 million price tag for an assembled system, as opposed to $22 million for a top-of-the-line system, makes it sweeter. Sure, "Cadillac" EHR systems probably have more features and less need for tweaking code and building interfaces, says Whiles, "but I'll put ours up against anyone's."

I can't predict at this moment how the local electorate will react to the bond election for the new $140 million dollar patient tower, but you can't say our hospital isn't making a difference in increasing the efficiency and streamlining the cost of health care in America.

I feel sorry for Jane Fonda.

In this, if you can take it, Ted Turner says that global warming, which he still believes in despite record-breaking early snows, will create cannibals.

I recall that Jane Fonda once rhapsodized (at last, a reason to use that purple word) that she and Ted were attending a dusk light show at the Acropolis and she felt a flush--and knew it was menopause. Come to her with her husband, Ted Turner, at a light show. At the Acropolis. She of course found meaning in this.

Sad, really, these precious, self-absorbed fools.

Over the years I have had nothing but a lip-curling contempt for Time magazine ever since I read two articles by Margaret Carlson, one of the most offensive of the sneerocracy. Today I got in the mail a letter from Time asking me to subscribe. The value of their 56 issues was, in their lofty estimation, $232, but they'd let me have it for $20.00. If I paid right then I'd get it for $15.00.

Can't give it away. Sweet Schadenfreude.

Oil prices slid to near $55 a barrel Thursday in Asia as more bad economic news from the U.S. heightened fears of a severe global downturn that will pulverise demand for crude.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery was down 81 cents to $55.35 a barrel, after falling as low as $55.03, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midmorning in Singapore.

The only good news for Midland here is that restaurants will soon be able to find wait staff again.

New York--Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was passed over yet again by Barack Obama, but this time for the post of First Dog in the Obama White House.

I wonder if mad scientists infected the electorate with Obama Nanobots programmed to activate the "HopenChange" receptors in their brains?

"The electoral process," wrote Mr. Obama, "allows a person from any background to work hard, to build a strong organization, to raise investment capital and to take the personal risk that is the necessary precursor to any successful venture. When they do that well, and they win, the benefits ripple outward to many others."

More here from Scott Ott.

Further to Theo's post below:

When Russian tanks start pouring into eastern Europe and Iranian missiles begin raining down on Jerusalem, their leaders will know they will be facing a man who not only conquered America's racial divide but the hearts of the entire Cannes film community. And those Al Qaeda terrorists plotting a dirty nuke or chemical attack on San Francisco face a stark new reality: while they may no longer need to worry about US Marines, they are looking down the barrel of a strongly worded diplomatic condemnation by a Europe fully united in their deep sympathy for surviving Americans.

Read the rest here.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to say: With all due respect to our President-elect and my future President...

Since I turned 50 I have been bombarded by solicitations, and the word is just, by the biggest socialist organization in America. I don't mean groups of left-wing lawyers or even the CPUSA. I mean the AARP. I of course send the envelope back with something in it which doesn't identify me, to cost them the postage and so they'll keep doing it so I can continue costing them the postage. I'm always amazed at how the wealthiest demographic is hell-bent on taking the poorest through social-security and Medicare taxes, not caring that their own grandchildren are being looted and that there won't be anything left for them. I have no grandchildren but friends do.

In 1993 when Hillary decided to grab one sixth of the economy by controlling health care (if buggy whips constituted a dollar's more expenditure, she'd have gone for that), the AARP was in with her up to their elbows. Along with them was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to which I belonged at the time. They asked for a renewal on the phone, and I read them the Riot Act. Enough people did so that they actually sent out a representative to Culo de Pecos to talk us into joining again. I, armed with facts, did not.

And so I was ripe for picking by the National Federation of Independent Business, who suddenly could define themselves as being the un U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The television, when it is on in a room in a house I am visiting, vomits forth the gurgling pleasures of Europeans pleased that we have Chosen the Chosen One and are thereby welcome into the club of European sophistication. That's real comforting. A lot of them are Brits, because their accents are pleasing, except for the likes of Jamie Oliver. But no one has had on a Russian. I aim to rectify that.

The Secretary of the Volkhov District Committee of the Communist Party Katerina Petrova has expressed the Party's position in her statement regarding the victory in the presidential election of the candidate of the liberal wing of the Democrat Party Barack Obama:

The days of the bloodthirsty and thieving Bush administration are ending. The American people have rejected the rabid Russophobia and anti-Sovietism of McCain. We, the Communists, believe that McCain must respond to his own defeat like an honorable officer and shoot himself in the head. [Emphasis mine.] Or there will be no respect left for him.

Even though Obama was supported by many left-wing forces in the U.S., including - at our request - The Communist Party of America, Barack is clearly being controlled by the Pentagon and Wall Street. Comrade Zyuganov has correctly observed with dismay that Obama is surrounded by slithering certified Russophobes - Brzezinski and the maniacal Albright. Therefore, Russia cannot lower its guard - we must be prepared for the continuation of the Cold War. But there still is a chance that Barack Obama chooses a realistic policy and brings new people into his team. The Communists and the Socialist Party USA, as well as Negro organizations, must demand that Obama appoint their representatives to key management positions! Let's also hope that Obama is intelligent enough to reach out to Venezuela, Cuba, Syria, Korea, Zimbabwe, and Palestine. 



We would like to alert the progressive forces of America: if Obama chooses the policies of reason and renounces Bush's policies of aggression and intervention, the CIA will try to assassinate the new president. To this end, the American Left must hide Obama in some sort of Uncle Tom's cabin. But in the event Obama succumbs to the pressure from the bankers and the military reactionaries, all the workers who have contributed money to his campaign must withdraw their dollars back.

We have noticed the hope and enthusiasm with which the people's America is celebrating the Negro boy's victory; how it is being cheered in the streets of American towns and villages by common toilers who are tired of the war in Iraq, of the absolute power of monopolies, of the hawks in the White House; it is impossible not to get excited at the sight of the dark-skinned Americans - so thirsty for change... You better not mislead them, Barack Obama! Do not leave them exposed to the forces of blind fate! Do not betray the legacy of glorious Americans - Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King! Or you won't be worth a red cent!

Easy. Audit the loser.

Only by auditing the campaign finances of the losing candidate can we remain confident that a candidate who does not attain an elected office nor gain a position of public trust and responsibility did, in fact, lose in an honest, open, and forthright manner.

Democracy itself demands no less.

Of all of the constant drumbeats we hear from the Left in this country the one that sets my teeth on edge the fastest is the incessant moaning about the loss of America's "moral authority" and our diminished standing in the eyes of the world.

I call Bull****.

If there was ever a global program created that essentially offered citizenship and free boat rides from any country to any country the United States would take in about 80% of the world's population exactly as quickly as passenger transport space allowed.

To many, the election of Barack Obama means that only now can they say, "Yes, we can!" Only now are the limitations gone. Only now is America a place where they can pursue their dreams unencumbered by [insert personal encumbrance or injustice here].

At the risk of sounding harsh....if you were waiting on Barack Obama to tell you, "Yes, you can!", then I have some bad news:

You still won't.

You still won't because the limitation is within you.

Take it from a guy who knows.

I was born into the Lebanese civil war, both chronologically and geographically. My earliest memories are those of hiding in a makeshift bunker, huddling to pray with my family and neighbors, while a barrage of fire rained down outside. My other memories are those of constantly hearing gunfire while in school, and of speeding on more than one occasion toward a ship that would take refugees to the nearby island of Cyprus when the burden became just too much to bear.

I lived in a country ruled by neighboring Syria, with an unstable society and an economy in tatters, until my parents made the best decision of their lives - bringing my sisters and me to America. I began learning my third language, English, in eighth grade, and I had far from mastered it through much of high school. I was mocked by some in high school for not being American enough, and by many in college for not being anti-American enough. Two days after the 9/11 attacks, and only a few miles from the Pentagon, one of my teachers told me that I bore an uncanny resemblance to Mohammed Atta.

Let's just say that I didn't start life with a big advantage. Far from it.

Yet not for one second did I believe that I faced limitations other than my own initiative. Had I stayed in Lebanon, or gone to Africa, South America or even Europe, I probably would have had overwhelming obstacles beyond my control. But not in America. Not in the one country that provides you with equality of opportunity. And I didn't need some politician to give me self-esteem or hope. I already knew I could.

When you hear about America's diminished standing in the world it always...always...comes from those who must bear the awful brunt of less enjoyable cocktail parties in cushy salons abroad because they have to listen to people who don't share our interests criticize our policies and actions.

You never hear about it from people like Paul Ibrahim.

Hey, it isn't like the incoming Administration and Congress doesn't owe the New York Times in a big way. And the New York Times needs to find $400 million somewhere and fast:

Specifically, the company must deliver $400 million to lenders in May of 2009, six months from now. The company has only $46 million of cash on hand, and its operations will likely begin consuming this meager balance this quarter or next. The company has been shut out of the commercial paper market, but has a $366 million short-term credit line remaining that it entered into several years ago, when the industry was strong. It has not yet drawn this cash down, and given the current environment and the trends at the company, we would not take for granted that it will be able to do so.

Schadenfreude. Sweet, sweet schadenfreude.

Jamie Gorelick's fingerprints are all over the two single largest disasters of the last 40 years, that being the collapse of Fannie Mae and the failure of pre-911 intelligence gathering. In the Washington of old this got you promoted.

In the era of Obamian Hope and Change it...well...it may still get you promoted. As high as Attorney General even.

A refresher: Jamie Gorelick (who is under consideration for Attorney General) is known chiefly for two things.

1. While at the Justice Department in the Clinton years, she created the "intelligence wall" that kept the FBI and the CIA from sharing information regarding any information on terror activities that each of them may have run across.
2. From 1998 to 2003 was the Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae where she was paid $25.6 million in salary and other compensation. She left just as Fannie Mae was coming under attack for massive accounting failures.
   

Appointing as Attorney General a person who was a major big at Fannie Mae and personally took $25.6 million out of it just before it began its slide toward its ultimate collapse is a pretty good indication that you aren't real interested in policing wrongdoing there either past or present.

Fannie Mae's big money contribution to the Obama campaign(s) may pay off in record fashion here.

"Hope, Change...I'd like you to meet Realpolitik. He'll be in charge come January 21, 2009."

How good a President-elect are you when people are pushing for a national holiday in your honor and you are still two months away from taking the Oath of Office?

Sure, it may sound ridiculously premature to some. But how often does such a figure come into the world, inspiring countless millions to change how they look at their fellow man and their own place in the world? Someone who inspires peace and compassion wherever they go and is such a transcendent figure that they possess the capacity to alter people's thinking not just on their lives here on earth but perhaps even beyond that?

Not often.

A day off from work is not near enough. It should be a whole season. With decorations. And gifts.

The season should be held during a time that symbolizes a period of the highest hopes all mankind...that being the time after he is elected but before he has to take office.

Like late December.

Oh, wait.

Never mind.

Wow. Self-awareness doesn't appear to be the media's strong suit.

The media totally failed in their duties during this round of elections.

Am I only saying this because McCain lost? No.

I am saying it because it is the media's charge to deliver to their readers all of the information that they can about all of the candidates. They really only looked into McCain and Palin. And Joe the Plumber.

And all of the way up to Friday before the election even Tom Brokaw was saying that Barack Obama was a mystery to them. I'll bet he was. Kind of like the contents of any book that you haven't bothered to read are a mystery.

Maybe if Barack Obama had won them over they would have been interested enough to research him as thoroughly as they did Joe "His real first name is Samuel!" the Plumber.

But the new President-Elect didn't win them over...according to CBS...and now he must face even tougher and hard-hitting coverage and criticism.

From guys like Keith Olbermann.

How will the new administration survive?

From the Change.gov web site:

So do we get to choose or not? And what should be the penalty for choosing not to?

For me it is not a problem. I'll blow past 100 hours of "community service" by March 1 of any given year.

Because I choose to. But should there be penalties for those who do not so choose?

Will there be?

"Change" looked great on the posters, guys....but now it is time to explain it. That is the cost of winning.

UPDATE: Change promised. Change delivered. The Change.gov website has been...em...changed to soften the whole "required" thing.

Somebody out there with kids in school answer this for me. Don't the all high schools have requirements for community service already?

I was thinking about going ahead and getting my Concealed Carry Instructor's License and then providing 100 hours of instruction to groups for free.

Will this count as "community service" under the new administration?

On the United Auto Worker web site is this cut and paste e-mail that you can send to the new administration and the new congress to show your support for the wildly and purposefully mis-named Employee Free Choice Act.

To: The New President and Congress

I urge you to enact the Employee Free Choice Act immediately. This crucial legislation will protect workers' freedom to choose a union and bargain, without management intimidation. Allowing more workers to freely join unions and bargain with their employers will help rebuild the middle class by expanding health care, improving retirement security and raising the standard of living for America's working families. My bargaining rights are worth working for and voting for!

The so-called Employee Free Choice Act does two big things, both of which you have to be smoking crack to think would make employee choice more free.

1) It repeals the "Right to Work" designation or election by states, as established under the Taft-Hartley Act. "Right to Work" states establish that membership in an organized labor union can not be compulsory for employment.

Join the Union or have no job. Some choice.

2) Removes the employees right to a secret ballot regarding his vote on whether to unionize or not.

So the Union organizers know who is with them and who isn't.

Union. Organizers.

Let that sink in for a second.

The "Employee Free Choice To Not Get Their Knees Broken Act" is entirely more accurate.

Related: The so-called "Fairness Doctrine". Others have begun soliciting more accurate and descriptive names for an act that is essentially a government imposed fine on radio stations that carry conservative talk shows.

When I have more time I will post some suggestions of my own.

The media: Where it went wrong. Where it went right. The editorial staff of the Midland Reporter-Telegram will hold an online discussion in the MyWestTexas.com forum section to discuss the role and the performance of the media during the Presidential elections of 2008.

At least that is what I would like to see.

Maybe they will. It really would be interesting to see the six or eight (or however many there are on the news staff) discuss this in an open forum. And maybe not just limited to the print guys, either. Invite any local news media folks, radio, TV, etc. to participate.

(Did I take undue advantage of our ability to feed our headlines into the MyWestTexas.com website? You can't prove nothin', Coppers!)

From NRO:

His very first appointment? Rahm Emmanuel. Modern Orthodox, spoke Hebrew in his household growing up, wife converted before marriage, volunteered as a civilian for the IDF during the 1991 Gulf War. This guy has every bit the Jewish chops of a Joe Lieberman, an Alan Dershowitz, a Debbie Wasserman Schultz. He is Jewish and pro-Israel through and through and wears it on the outside for everyone to see. I am hopeful that if, as and when Obama sends out conciliatory feelers to Fatah and even perhaps Hamas, they will get the point that they have in Obama no patsy.

I hope this is true.

Another "Credit where credit is due" moment if it should come to pass: Robert Gates may be asked to stay on as SecDef.

The Bad News: Pursuant to Political Decree 1 from the Ministry of Hope and Change: The Dems are going to try and shut down Talk Radio.

Remember the good old days when simply disagreeing with someone or even going so far as to "question their patriotism" was to crush the delicate flower that was their God-given, honorable and precious dissent?

Don't look now but the crushing of dissent is about to be codified and industrialized.

You may think this is crazy but there are a ton of people out there who believe that any political discourse..effective political discourse anyway...needs to be handled only by "the responsible", i.e. those in the political class and the "mainstream" media.

They look at the First Amendment exactly like they look at the Second Amendment in that the "right to bear arms" is not an individual right, rather it is a right due only a "well regulated militia". A militia obviously commanded by or beholden to the political class.

In the comments section under this MyWestTexas.com article concerning the implosion of the old Midland Savings Building comes advice from one time Jessica's Well serial commenter "The Eurasian".

If you will be there at implosion, write your name, family name, next of kin, address, family members and phone numbers to call in case you are hit by debris, end up unconscious, dead. Put this information on your pants pocket, on a paper inside your socks. Also carry your picture. And pray for yourself in case you might end up dead.

Good advice? Who knows? But if you do this and the worst happens keep in mind that your estate will owe some compensation to "The Eurasian" for the idea.

Maybe even if the worst doesn't happen.

"The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers".

I wish I could take credit but I can't. In fact I can't even remember where I saw it yesterday.

Google it, I guess.

I don't care who you are, that's funny.

/Larry the Cable Guy

Before we run out of scary.

Northern hemisphere cyclone activity lowest in 30 years.

Today President-Elect Obama will receive for the first time the same daily national security and intelligence briefing that a sitting President gets.

Barack Obama will get his first intelligence briefing as president-elect on Thursday, a U.S. official said, as the first-term senator prepared to face security challenges from terrorism to a resurgent Russia.

The official, who is familiar with the process, said on Wednesday that Obama would receive the same briefing as outgoing President George W. Bush.

The briefing is more detailed and comprehensive than those given candidate Obama and the Republican opponent he defeated on Tuesday, Sen. John McCain.

"He (Obama) will see the full range of capabilities we deploy for the United States," CIA Director Michael Hayden said in a letter to employees.

U.S. presidents start their day with an overview of intelligence developments, delivered by the director of national intelligence.

If you want to know what makes these guys age in office then this is it. Today we begin watching the graying of Barack Obama.

Regardless of what side of the aisle you occupy you kind of have to admire anyone who is willing to wake up to this every single day of their time in office.

One thing further. Barack Obama is not my guy. Far from it. But he is the duly elected President, so chosen by a majority of my countrymen. I will refer to him in future posts as either "Barack Obama", "The President", or President(-Elect) Obama.

The office demands it.

So sayeth Walsingham.

Now to be fair, five new physicians is better than none (even if you were hoping for ten) but it is always fun to read spin language.

It doesn't really matter in the larger sense in that it is all tax money anyway. Either the MDC spends our tax dollars attempting to recruit physicians to the area or the hospital district does. This is similar to negotiations between MISD and the City of Midland concerning the "rent" paid for the use of Grande Communications stadium. While it is very important to each of those entities on whose books the unavoidable losses land, it matters not to the ones who are actually coughing up for the losses.

It is unclear from the article whether these reimbursements to the hospital from the MDC are strictly for the cost of recruiting or if they are also made up of some sort of cash incentive to the potential recruit. If there is incentive money it probably can't be enough to make a difference.

And it would be interesting to have some clarification of this:

In attempts to find four new full-time pediatricians, one had been successfully recruited. But that person left within a short period of time "due to the volume of work expected in her new practice."

Was the volume of work expected too high or too low? If it was too high, I am forced to try and think of any other business where one runs away from a generous supply of customers. If it is too low then why are we recruiting them?

Every time I see the name Christopher Buckley it makes me think of the great conservative thinker and writer William F. Buckley, Jr.

The Onion has this almost note perfect except that even in victory these people aren't nearly miserable enough.

"Angry white males" was fair game for use as a political term. Why not this?

Perhaps this was the down side of McCain's choice of Sarah Palin.

Effective January 20, 2009:

Dissent will be downgraded from "the highest form of patriotism" to "divisiveness".

Over at Gizmodo: A poll on preference of voting method. Optical scan paper ballots (my choice) seem to be winning.

For the life of me I don't know why I didn't get a screen grab showing Jimmy "Jimmy the P" Patterson of MyWestTexas.com sitting there on a live webcam with our own Ospurt and Shepherd discussing the election returns.

Complete with paper bags on their heads so as not to give away the second most closely guarded secret in Midland politics, which is: "Who are the Jessica's Well contributors"?

The most guarded secret is, "Who cares?"

Thanks to Os and Shep for going on the webcast and plugging this here blog. Go ahead and send the receipts for your disguises to our Comptroller so you can be reimbursed.

And if either of you guys (or Jimmy) managed to get a photo send it to me so I can post it.

Obama asks in his acceptance speech:

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

Here is one of his "answers":

It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

Bending toward Hope of a Better Day? That's not what he meant by "Bending the Arc of History" in February of 2007. From Obama's own website, in the community pages, Ed Kundson writes:

February 11th in Ames, Iowa. He talks about the arc of history bending toward justice, a phrase used by Martin Luther King

and what kind of justice is that arc bending to?

There is no concern for economic justice, for social justice, for racial justice, no concern even for basic civil rights. This administration is captured by neoconservatives advocating militarism, by market fundamentalists who think business can do no wrong, and by religious fundamentalists who want to destroy the public schools and use the power of the state to force everyone to submit to their particular view of the bible. So, I think that word "justice" is vitally important.

Prepare to be Bent.

This is it for tonight...for me at least. I have an early day with lots of travel involved (No, I'm not leaving the Country.)

While I'm away, I think I will ponder the question that has been bubbling below the surface in the right wing blogosphere should Obama win....what will be become?

Will we become like KOS or HuffPo and spew insane rants and vile hatred for all things in an Obama administration?

I don't think so, because even in this heated election the right wing blogs seemed to hit issues, character, and judgment, and tried their best to restrain the fringe from hurting our positions and credibility.

I don't think most of the bloggers on the right could bring themselves to attack Obama every day like Bush was attacked, because in the end, he represents America, and as patriotic citizens they generally Love America...which couldn't always be said of the left leaning bloggers.

So what will we become?

Just let that wash over you. Even the most strident Obamaniac has to be given some heebie-jeebies over that.

Maybe the late night talk show writers won't have to work so hard after all with the Ronco Gaffmatic residing in the Naval Observatory.

Somebody has to be the foil for these guys and anyone in showbiz at all interested in their career arc damned sure isn't going after the first African-American President.

For the first time in six years they will begin having to earn their paychecks.

Is it enough to make Letterman funny again?

If Obama can pull that off maybe he'll get my vote in 2012.

Mark Levin:

On FOX, they're giddy about the Barack Obama election. On MSNBC, they're crying. This country faces serious challenges with an Obama election and such a large Democrat majority. I can't get caught up in Obamamania -- I couldn't before and I can't now. This is a historic election, but I am more concerned today than yesterday about the nation's future because of the policies Obama himself said he would pursue. And we conservatives have much work before us.

Jonah Goldberg:

For those who disagree, I'll have a lot more commentary on this tomorrow. Trust me, I understand where your head is at (at least most of you). I am very disappointed and deeply worried about the future of the country. Deeply. But you only have one president at a time. And it's at least worth remembering that the job of political conservatism is not simply to see Republicans win every election, it's to move the country to the right.

Mark Steyn:

I think we are near a point at which America joins the rest of the west as a center-left society - that's to say, a society whose assumptions about the role of government and the size of the state are far closer to Continental social democracies than to the Founding Fathers. In a grim media-cultural environment, the temptation for American conservatism is to be seduced into becoming one of those ever so mildly right-of-left-of-right-of-left-of-center parties they have in Europe. We should have the fight about conservatism's future vigorously and openly - perhaps at Bud's Roadhouse out on Route 137 in lieu of All-Girl Mud-Wrestling Night.

All from The Corner.

And ditto the post by Walsingham below. I am watching Obama's acceptance speech: who wrote this? And why does it have no relation to his campaign?

Now that the National Elections called for Obama and a 58 Seat Democratic Senate, it is time to look at the Texas Legislature.....and it doesn't look great.

From my hand count of the Secretary of State office with 70% reporting, it looks like the Republicans have lost one Senate Seat (District 10) and as far as the incumbents go, have lost at least 4 House Seats (I'm not sure if any non-incumbent races flipped).

This could be trouble for the Texas Republicans.

Note: Obama is about to give his acceptance speach......will my ears bleed?

It looks like we will have new President.

What do we do now? Well, a certain amount of disappointment is in order. And relief that it is all over...at least for the next year or so before people begin showing up in Iowa again.

The sun will come up tomorrow and I will remain in goods spirits unless President Obama's politics become interested in me. They may. They may not. We will have to see.

The Left has a bigger problem. They have right now all that they think they want or need. It will make them happier than they typically are for a time but they will regress to their steady state of generally miserable and pissy because President Obama cannot create a world that is as 'fair' as he describes or that they desire.

At least some portion of the "95% of taxpayers" who voted for Obama will be waiting for their tax cuts.

Peggy Joseph will, in a year's time, begin to realize that President Obama isn't taking care of her gasoline payment nor her mortgage as she had hoped.

As for the race issue, it appears to have helped Obama more than it has hurt him and all things remaining equal it is a great thing that our country is a place that will allow a black man to become the President.

So congratulations to Team Obama. They ran a successful campaign and won. Was it a fair one? With an In The Tank Media blocking any and all threats as hard as they could, I would say no. But that isn't Obama's fault. That is the media's fault.

A parting question: Will the press grant to Obama enough equality that, should it come to it, they will allow him to fail?

Drudge is out with a Red Banner: "Pennsylvania +15 for Obama", but Gawker has Pennsylvania as +4 for Obama, which is 3.3% tighter than the last telephone poll.

It's an 11 point spread with polling bias to boot.

Take Walsingham's advice and don't rubberneck at this trainwreck... go vote!

Don't freak out. Just. Vote.

There is no reasonable basis for thinking that the media that has been carrying water for Barack Obama for months now will suddenly play it straight with news coverage on election day.

So, no matter what you hear today SPECIFICALLY REGARDING EXIT POLLING or even States in the Eastern part of the country that have been "called" before polls have closed in the West you have to do the one thing that negates any coverage designed to discourage turnout today: Vote.

Just vote.

If it is late and you are tired and just want to go home...and haven't yet voted....and Keith Olbermann has told you over and over that it is over and done with and hey, "Why don't all of you McCain people do yourselves a favor and just quit"....just go vote.

Just vote. No matter what.

In this article, Roger Kimball does an excellent job of enumerating the reasons for a.) voting for McCain and Palin and b.) a McCain-Palin victory tomorrow.

Nevertheless, I continue to think McCain can pull victory from the jaws of defeat. Why? Not because of any complex statistical alchemy but for the simple old fashioned reason that I do not believe the instinct for self-preservation has been entirely bred out of the American electorate.

This election, at the national level, is about preservation: of the self, of capital, of jobs, of life, of liberty and of the America the founders established. The first and second amendments are under fire, the Freedom of Choice act is a serious issue yet is not being debated and, as has been documented in this blog and elsewhere, the simple criminality of the Obama fundraising and Acorn voter registration/railroading is beyond appalling.

Please read Kimball's article in full and follow the links to the documented work behind his (and my) point of view.

UPDATE: More closing arguments from Thomas Sowell and from Powerline.

Sowell:

The kind of self-righteous self-confidence that has become Obama's trademark is usually found in sophomores in Ivy League colleges-- very bright and articulate students, utterly untempered by experience in the real world.

Powerline:

McCain, however, also harks back to JFK - the JFK who represented a generation "tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage - and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world."

Go read 'em both.

Jimmy the P has asked a couple of the regular contributors at the Well to participate in the Midland Reporter Telegram's election night coverage, including yours truly.

That's right, a respectable news organization has asked me to be a real life Political Pundit. I sense a train-wreck, but isn't that what sells papers and drives eye-balls to websites?

I'm not sure about the status of the other contributors, but I have accepted Jimmy's offer and will provide my amateur analysis of this election.

The first thing most pundits do is make predictions, so here it goes:

State/Local Races and Issues:

Craddick vs. Dingus: Craddick 65%, Dingus 35%. Craddick will win easily, but unless he surprises me and relegates Dingus to less than 25% of the vote count, he should expect aggressive challengers for as long as he wants to serve in the Texas House.

Jail Bond Issue: For: 55%, Against 45%. A bond election with almost no local media/coffee shop heat generally passes. The dollar figure is low and Midland County has shown a propensity to move forward with projects in this funding range without voter approval, I guess we should be lucky it went to the ballot box.

Conaway vs. Strohm: Conaway in a blow-out 90%+, but it will be interesting to see the percentage of non-voters in this race. Anything over 25% blank ballots in this race could signal a challenger to rise up. Though, it won't matter in the long run, redistricting is coming up very quickly and Conaway, and Midland/Odessa, could suffer at the hands of the redistricting committee, especially if Craddick is out of the Speakership.

Williams vs Two Other Opponents: Williams by a large margin, but not a blow out because of straight party voting. As a well liked elected official with lots of potential, I'm just curious how many more terms Williams will serve at the RRC before he jumps to a bigger office? Energy Secretary in a McCain White house?

My precincts for County Commissioner and School Board aren't on the ballot this year, so I really don't have an opinion on these races, because I haven't followed them.

National Races:

Cornyn vs. Noriega and a Libertarian: Cornyn 62%, Noriega 32%. Cornyn hasn't done anything to upset the electorate, but he's going to suffer with a lot of straight party voting in the metro areas, so Noriega gets a boost.

McCain/Palin vs. Obama/Biden: Split decision with at least Four State Supreme Courts or Secretary's of State making significant rulings (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Missouri). Obama will win the popular vote because California is excited about his candidacy and they will turn out in big numbers, and Obama has made gains in the Texas Metro areas. However, McCain will win the electoral vote, in no small part to Obama's Joe the Plumber and Bankrupting the Coal Companies remarks. Ayers and Wright fire up the base, but taxes and jobs motivate the masses. Look for something akin to 2000, but realistically, this will be over by Friday.

Democratic Control of House and Senate: The Democratic majorities will get larger, but they will fail to get a cloture proof 60 in the senate by 3 seats, and they will fail to get a veto proof house. That really doesn't matter because there are still enough RINO's in each chamber to allow lots of bad legislation to get through.

Let the comments commence!

The transcript from his talk with the San Francisco Chronicle in January, 2008.

Let me sort of describe my overall policy.

What I've said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else's out there.

I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.

That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches.

The only thing I've said with respect to coal, I haven't been some coal booster. What I have said is that for us to take coal off the table as a ideological matter as opposed to saying if technology allows us to use coal in a clean way, we should pursue it.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can.

It's just that it will bankrupt them."

What say you now, Pennsylvania? Colorado?

No drilling. No coal. No nuclear. And at the same time no dependence on foreign sources.

Especially stupid is the comment above...I'll repeat it so as not to have it lost in the rest of his stupidity:

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.

That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches.

Just how in Holy Hell can it do both? Can any of you Obama Kool-Aid drinkers out there explain how companies will undertake a coal-based project in the first place knowing full well that Barack the Spreader specifically aims to bankrupt them for doing so? In one sentence he extols the virtue of killing coal-based initiatives at the outset and then goes on to tell us what he plans to do with all of the money that will be generated from the projects that he killed at the outset.

This isn't a vision of change. This is economic illiteracy. This is an idea from a guy who has never been in a position where his income had anything to do with his actual worth or productivity. Obama is from the world of grants, loans, and political payments. He has never produced a thing that you could hold in your hand nor can he even comprehend the lives of people who do.

I have for some time said that the left is the politics of the spoiled child, seeking perfect justice, as they see it on earth, and therefore the freedom of knowing that actions do not have consequences. And when they are questioned they fly into a rage, just like a spoiled child denied a toy.

Erica Jong, who wrote Fear of Flying, which is number two or three on the list of books which I will not read, just below Al Gore's hysterical and apocalyptic lie, has given an interview to the Italian evening paper Corriere sella Sera. In it she ventilates:

"My friends Ken Follett and Susan Cheever are extremely worried. Naomi Wolf [another increasingly unhinged person not of interest] calls me every day. Yesterday, Jane Fonda sent me an email to tell me that she cried all night and can't cure her ailing back for all the stress that has reduces her to a bundle of nerves."


"My back is also suffering from spasms, so much so that I had to see an acupuncturist and get prescriptions for Valium."


"After having stolen the last two elections, the Republican Mafia..." "If Obama loses it will spark the second American Civil War. Blood will run in the streets, believe me. And it's not a coincidence that President Bush recalled soldiers from Iraq for Dick Cheney to lead against American citizens in the streets."


"Bush has transformed America into a police state, from torture to the imprisonment of reporters, to the Patriot Act."

Have you ever seen such self-obsession? I'd rather have a fat spoiled poodle. The poodle can be made happy with chew toys instead of chew lives.

Local blogger Jeff, over at ArchaeoTexture kind of pokes fun at us WellHeads by saying: "I'm surprised our local anonymice haven't trumpeted this one"

Well there's a reason for that... we were waiting for our super secret right wing blog astroturf network announcement from the McCain campaign regarding his upcoming rally where he will accept the Alien's endorsement:

Road to Victory Rally in Roswell, NM MONDAY, NOVEMBER 03, 2008 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM

This in a Presidential election year. It looks as though there may be an upcoming glut in the market of *cough* unlicensed plumbers......or former journalists. Call them what you want.