wolfe’s Musings

More fool those that pay it.

Just weeks after former presidential candidate John Edwards admitted cheating on his wife, he’s not shying away from public speaking engagements — and his fee has gone up, his agent says.

Edwards is due to speak at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Oct. 14 …

Edwards is to speak on “The American Dream,” Kaler said. Tickets are free, but the student group is paying him $65,000.

I used to have considerable sympathy for students struggling to get by. In the case of these students, if this is an example of their fiscal prudence, my sympathy has become more focused on their parents.

-wolfe

One of the sillier things this campaign season (in my view) has been people making much ado about Senator Obama not wearing a flag pin or holding his hand over his heart when the national anthem is played.

Clearly, the Palin family, right down to the youngest daughter had been briefed: hand over heart. Don’t let any silly bloggers say you’re not patriotic.

And look at what five-year-old Piper Palin, does. Her hand is over her heart all right… but…

Credit: AP via Drudge.

I admit to one misgiving… what kind of parent names a daughter “Piper Palin”?

-wolfe, hand over heart.

No, not a new baby, but John McCain has selected a woman as his Vice-Presidential candidate. I’ve written very briefly about Sarah Palin (Governor of Alaska) before, and generally view her quite positively. I did think she was quite a long-shot pick for several reasons:

• she’s just had a young son;
• there’s a lot of work left to be done to clean the Augean Stables of Alaskan (Republican) politics; while very popular with voters, she’s not so popular with the State party.
• there’s a peculiar accusation that she fired an official because he (in turn) wouldn’t fire a police officer who was her former brother-in-law.

But pick her he has, and I think it’s a good pick, based on my assessment and understanding of the accusation made against her, referenced above. I’ll reference that briefly now; I’ve studied the controversy, and it’s my impression that she did not fire the individual for that reason and did not abuse her office. If the documents in the linked material are correct, then her own actions were appropriate. There is, in any event, a Democratic-led investigation that should conclude shortly.

The bizarrely graceless response from Senator Obama’s campaign has seemingly been to concede the election to John McCain and carp about her lack of experience:

Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Uh… ok… so… John McCain is already President? Thanks, guys. Guess we don’t need to hold that election thing.

Leaving the concession aside, if we’re talking about “former” jobs, the executive experience of someone who has run a small town of 9,000 is significantly greater than that of a “community organizer” (whatever that may be). Or even a state senator. I wonder if all Americans resident in towns of 9,000 or fewer people will feel the same way as Senator Obama’s spokesperson. She’s got significantly more successful hands-on executive experience than Senator Obama.

So if the Democrats can appoint a less qualified (in executive experience) person, the Republicans can’t appoint a more qualified (in executive experience) person as VP?

(NB- In terms of background and capabilities I think Barack Obama is well-qualified to be President. I think the same of Sarah Palin.)

Moreover, just what was the foreign policy experience of Bill Clinton? Jimmy Carter?

Senator Obama’s spokesperson went on to say “Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to … the agenda of Big Oil.”

I’ll discuss how laughable I think this is below, and why. Suffice to say it’s a surprisingly foot-in-mouth response from Senator Obama’s campaign.

What’s her background?

Well, she’s a former beauty contestant (Miss Wasilla, 1984) and finished second in the Miss Alaska pageant. She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Idaho. She married her high school sweetheart, Todd Palin. For a time she worked as a reporter and as a commercial fisherman with her husband. She ran for office first for city councilor and then in 1996 for Mayor.  She won, and upheld her campaign promise to cut her own salary and cut taxes a staggering 60%.

She was reelected, served as President of Alaska’s Conference of Mayors, and became Ethics Commissioner of the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

It’s here that suggestions that she’s in the pocket of ‘Big Oil’ become particularly laughable.

Discovering that there was rampant corruption in the Commission, with one commissioner doing Republican party work on government paid time, and leaking sensitive documents to oil industrly lobbyists, she took her findings to the Republican governor, Frank Murkowski.

When Murkowski refused to act, she resigned in protest and went public, filing formal charges. Record fines were paid, and those involved wound up resigning.

Not surprisingly, when she decided to run against the sitting Republican governor on a clean government ticket, she defeated him decisively.

She saved taxpayers billions of dollars by terminating a deal with her husband’s own employer (BP) that the previous governor had inked under suspicious circumstances. Again, these are not the actions of someone who cares one whit about ‘Big Oil’.

She engaged in a series of reforms, both to government and to her own party:

In less than two years in office, Palin has made cleaning up the Alaska Republican party — which has been buffeted by a wide-ranging federal corruption investigation — into a top priority. In the process, she has angered many in the state’s old-guard. In a particularly brash move, Palin earlier this year put out the equivalent of a political hit on Young, who has served as the state’s lone House member for 35 years, by encouraging Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell to jump into the GOP primary against the incumbent.

Palin has been a bit more circumspect about criticizing Stevens, but she has made clear her desire for the state, and her party, to wipe the slate clean.

In an interview with CNBC a few weeks ago, Palin was asked about her efforts to root out corruption in the GOP. She said: “You’re absolutely right on the cleansing that’s needed in our party, in the Republican Party.

Indeed.

She and her husband have two sons, and three daughters. The eldest son is a Private in the United States Army, and will be deploying to Iraq on September 11, 2008. There is a coincidental parallel in that of Senator Biden’s sons will also deploy to Iraq later this year.

Other background? She is a staunch Conservative, likely more so than your humble blogger, though not infinitely so. She is a member of Feminists For Life (a pro-life feminist organization). In a sad personal note, she revealed that their youngest son had been diagnosed, well before birth, with Down’s Syndrome.

She is a life member of the NRA, hunts, eats moose, “ice fishes, rides snowmobiles, has run a marathon, and owns a float plane“.

My kind of candidate.

Will McCain get a big boost from disaffected Hillary supporters? I doubt it, and I actually hope not. Pure identity politics — the idea that one should vote for a candidate primarily based on shared race, religion, or gender — is asinine and destructive.

Can it be a minor factor? Sure, if it’s important to you. Should it determine your vote? Very definitely not, in my view.

I think both of these picks are very good, and all four candidates on the major national tickets are great Americans, fine people, and each has something special to offer this country.

My name is wolfe and I approve this selection.

-wolfe

Not.

I felt a little sorry for the guy until his “I was holding the beer spigot over her mouth but it was not a functional beer keg” defense.

Oh, and this:

In 2002, Paxton was indicted on charges of felonious misconduct in office, falsification of public records and tampering with public records

But mainly it’s the corny “it wasn’t dispensing beer” line.

-wolfe

I can’t think of ever seeing an ad like this. Interesting.

Senator Obama, this is truly a good day for America.

You know too often the achievements of our opponents go unnoticed. So I wanted to stop and say “Congratulations”. How perfect that your nomination would come on this historic day. Tomorrow we’ll be back at it, but tonight, Senator, ‘Job Well Done’.

Tomorrow we’ll be back to silly ads about houses and ads that deliberately conflate an existential threat with merely a threat in scale. Oh well.

-wolfe

Arresting an ABC news crew for filming big money Democratic donors leaving a meeting with Senators seems a touch over-the-top:

Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel.

Police on the scene refused to tell ABC lawyers the charges against the producer, Asa Eslocker, who works with the ABC News investigative unit.

A cigar-smoking Denver police sergeant, accompanied by a team of five other officers, first put his hands on Eslocker’s neck, then twisted the producer’s arm behind him to put on handcuffs.

… During the arrest, one of the officers can be heard saying to Eslocker, “You’re lucky I didn’t knock the f..k out of you.”

That is ABC’s story. The hotel claims that their presence on a public sidewalk was impeding guests of the hotel.

For those readers who take pictures in the US, you may find this guide handy. [pdf format]

Taking pictures of almost anything from a public place is legal in the US. Precisely what happened here — Democrats frightened of being exposed as pawns of big money donors, arrogant hotel personnel being overprotective of gusts, or, yes, the media being stupid and arrogant — I’m not sure.

But I’m guessing that ABC was within their rights, and that this is a disturbing violation of them.

Personally, I blame George W. Bush.

-wolfe

Update:

That was fast. In addition to this brief US guide I referenced above, someone was kind enough to send me a link to this incredibly comprehensive page on Canadian Photography Laws. The bottom line in most Canadian cases for non-commercial photgraphy  seems to be, courtesy of Supt. Dave Pickford of the Windsor Police:

“I am unaware of any laws that prohibit the taking of pictures of anything that is viewable in a public venue. The only restriction that I would see if a person was to take photographs of the interior of a private dwelling or business while on the public right of way”

There are national security exceptions, and exceptions where you publish pictures of private people who feature non-incidentally in pictures.

If you know of a relevant English-language guide in your country (on legal rights of non-commercial photographers), please feel free to send a link.

-w

Everyone’s writing about him. He’s the rockstar politician who moved from being a broke political loser in 2000, face in the shadows of a phosphor screen as he stood at the periphery of the Democratic Convention, quietly looking in.

In 2004, thanks to clever legal maneuvering, his Republican opponent left the race. He suddenly had an (almost) open shot at an open Senate seat. Legal maneuvers on Barack’s part had gotten him his first public electoral victory by getting all credible candidates tossed off the ballot; it happened again, though this time it was a third party.

He was on the way. Soon he’d be one of an elect 100 Americans, joining John Kerry, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and John McCain in the US Senate.

And John Kerry, in one of the few brilliant moves of his campaign, picked Barack Obama to deliver the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention. In a convention otherwise filled with bloviated rhetoric, Mr. Obama’s speech was electric. I loved it. I was very struck by his appeal to one America; quite distinct from John Edward’s (Kerry’s 2004 running mate) Marxist whinge about “two Americas”.

I am struck, as I watch the speech, at Mr. Obama’s political skill. Here he is, a State Senator from Illinois… and he’s got a whole crew on the floor madly waving Obama placards. In 2004. At the Democratic Convention. Genius!

“from the land of Lincoln…” “an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation…” “In a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success…” “a faith in simple dreams; an insistence on small miracles…” “work hard to get ahead…”  “don’t want their tax money wasted…” “eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is ‘acting white’ …” It’s positively Reaganesque.

Yet it didn’t have much in terms of substance. It painted a beautiful vision of America; a vision that I share. Yet where was the beef?

The video I linked has much to commend it, though it’s 18 minutes long. A few highlights. At 11:30 or so, note the sea of Obama signs drowning out the few Kerry-Edwards signs. Amazing. You’d think he was the candidate. At 13:35 (or so), note the very tepid applause coming from Jesse Jackson, sensing at that moment that he was being upstaged.

Note also how brilliantly he attacks that which he dislikes without ever making it personal. (Sadly I lack at this). He’s no conventional attack dog; and he speaks very positively of both conservatives and liberals. (”There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq; there are patriots who supported it”).

He’s written two books, a biography, Dreams from My Father (1995) and a political prescription, The Audacity of Hope. Both are good; as a political junkie, I preferred The Audacity of Hope. I found the idea of a 1995 biography of such a young man with impressive but narrow achievements to be premature. I’d find it less so today.

At its heart, Barack Obama’s story is that of a “skinny kid with a funny name” who came from an unusual background and achieved great things in academia and politics. It’s a very American story.

On the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech, he needs to go beyond soaring style and supply substance.

So say I; so say his aides.

Dr. King was an activist, able to speak of a future and recognize that he himself might not get there. He could speak of a destination, with no need to draw a roadmap.

Senator Obama, if he wants to win, cannot so speak; cannot so act.

I’m not sure if I’ll write about his speech. I’m sure I’ll link to a copy of it so that all can read, but that’s a very “newspaper” like thing for me to do.

I am sure I’ll be watching, listening and thinking. There’s no question in my mind that this is a great day. An appropriate commemoration of the anniversary.

I’m sure it will also be one of the great speeches of this campaign. Will it be enough, especially in our sad era of sound bytes[1]?

-wolfe

[1] Yes, I’m aware it’s “sound bites”, but I think this neologism is more descriptive in a digital age.

His clients would accept anything, so long as he gave them an imposing façade, a majestic entrance and a regal drawing room, with which to astound their guests. It worked out to everyone’s satisfaction: Keating did not care so long as his clients were impressed, the clients did not care so long as their guests were impressed, and the guests did not care anyway.

Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

Well, the Democrats have hired Britney Spears’ set team to produce the “Temple of Obama… an enormous Greek-columned stage”.

Guess they showed up John McCain who was claiming Barack was a Britney Spears-style celebrity with sizzle and style but no substance!

Update: Yes, I’m aware that this is probably a reflection of the Lincoln Memorial where Dr. King gave his speech. That doesn’t prevent me from thinking this neo-classical approach is a little over the top. Others have suggested it’s intended to reflect the White House; my bet is the Lincoln Memorial since the architecture is much closer to that, and it makes more sense.

-wolfe

Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), he of the “internet is not a truck, it’s a series of tubes” fame, was indicted by federal prosecutors who “allege Stevens lied on Senate disclosure reports to conceal more than $250,000 in home renovations and gifts from executives at oil services contractor VECO Corp.”

While I believe in the presumption of innocence, that applies to trial by jury, not society at large. And while I also believe some prosecutions and indictments are politically motivated and wrong, this one clearly isn’t. There’s strong evidence in this case, and I believe Stevens to be guilty.

What’s transpired that causes me to write about this now? Stevens has no shame. He’s running for reelection, and won the primary handily. There’s something quite disturbing in our system about the complacent power of incumbency. What is he doing to his party?

One voter, Thor Evenson of Anchorage, said he backed Begich [Steven's Democratic opponent, a popular mayor] simply because he’s a Democrat.

“Right now I don’t trust the Republicans, especially at the local level,” Evenson said. “It’s not an intuitive thing. There are people who have been convicted in federal court.”

But another voter, Noel Janda of Anchorage, said he trusts Stevens, calling him a man who is “strictly business” and good for Alaska.

“I don’t see anybody out there who is better,” Janda said.

I hate to read the line about not trusting Alaskan Republicans, but that voter is correct.

Even more than that line though, I hate reading “I don’t see anybody out there who is better”. That’s the sort of cynicism that breeds this kind of corruption and complacency.

Stevens isn’t alone; the tide of corruption runs through both parties. Just as Alaska appears to be a mess for the Republicans, Louisiana is a mess for the Democrats. The most notable figure there is William J. Jefferson. Jefferson inveigled a National Guard unit busy rescuing people into retrieving his personal possessions in the wake of Katrina. He then got filmed taking a $100,000 bribe. He then got his office and home raided, where most of the $100,000 was found as cold hard cash. Literally. In his freezer. There’s more, and people have wound up in jail along the way. Suffice to say he’s at least as guilty as Stevens.

Like Stevens, he won his party’s primary. He was reelected in 2006, and may well be reelected again. Jefferson received 51% of the vote, with a 16% voter turnout.

That last fact speaks to voters like Mr. Janda, quoted above, defending Stevens. “I don’t see anybody out there who is better“.

We get the politicians we deserve. And if the people of Alaska reelect Ted Stevens, that’s precisely what they will deserve.

-wolfe

I’m guessing this may be the take Dick Masterson has. But who knows. Talk show host, author, and engineer Marc Rudov writes about the dangers of “Gynobama and VAWA Joe”.

Yikes. That sounds like a scary super-hero (or villain) duo! Mr. Rudov suggests they are misandrists; auto-phobic men; bad for men, bad for dads.

The only thing I have thought about both men along the lines of fatherhood is that they’re hard working excellent examples of what a father should be: loyal, faithful, and in Senator Biden’s case, juggling a demanding job while raising his surviving children as a single Dad.

This is honestly an aspect I’ve never thought about where either man is concerned.

Likely you haven’t either.

Now you can go read about it and file it wherever you wish to. For myself, I’m a little dismayed by Biden’s apparent blind focus on domestic violence as being a solely male-perpetrated thing, and the idea of 100,000 more lawyers hitting the streets to help women sue men fills me with horror.

But then I don’t much like lawyers suing people in general.

-wolfe