The Day After

Is western civilization over?  Are we on that downhill slide, where the takers outnumber the makers?

Maybe.

But I keep thinking about the 1930s.  The Great Depression lasted for ten years and Americans re-elected FDR twice.  They didn’t look at the increased taxes and regulation that he’d implemented and blame him for the extended economic catastrophe.  He had some sort of charisma going for him and they stuck with the devil they knew.

And we got out of it.  The world economy turned and America grew beyond it.  Conservatism came roaring back, took a body blow in the late 60s, and then we had the Reagan resurgence leading to the golden 80s and the darn good 90s.

So buck up!

Steven Crowder Does Halloween Redistribution

This is so mean!  But funny.

Videos!

THANK YOU TokenLibertarianGirl, whoever you are, for this awesome response to that pathetic Lena Dumham “first time” ad.

And thank you free marketeers for this terrific video explaining what life would be like without that nasty, awful capitalist system.  As a side note, they’ve captured Soviet architecture surprisingly well.  Was this filmed in Romania?

The OSCE and Election Monitoring

When I first heard that the UN has been asked to monitor the US elections, I was annoyed.  And then when I heard that it was actually the OSCE, I thought, “Oh, no biggie.”

I once acted as an election monitor for the OSCE in the Republic of Georgia’s first parliamentary election after the Rose Resolution.  That either makes me biased or informed (you choose).

The OSCE is a voluntary association of member states developed under the concept that democratic countries tend not to go to war with each other.  So election monitoring – i.e. ensuring democracy – is a big part of what the OSCE does.  Since you do have some nasty actors like Russia in the OSCE, that limits its  – shall we say – vigor.  It can’t really enforce anything, just report.

The election monitors, who are volunteers from member countries, go through a LOT of training.  And since the US is a member country monitoring the elections of other countries, it’s really only fair that the OSCE sends some monitors here.  In fact, they have been since they were invited to by GW Bush in 2004.

And the reports I’ve seen come out of the OSCE seem pretty fair and honest.  In my case, one of the election stations I monitored had a minor technical violation due to the layout of the polling place.  But it was clear nothing hinky was going on – they were in an old building and working with what they had.  So we didn’t make a stink out of it.  There were some violations reported at other polling stations – stuff like missing ballots.  But the overall election report was positive.

If memory serves, all the voters were required to show ID.  So if the libs think bringing in the OSCE will somehow embarrass any US states with voter ID laws – they’re wrong.  Personally, I hope they send some monitors to that polling place in Philly where the New Black Panther party was intimidating voters.  That would make a fun YouTube video – indignant Europeans going toe to toe with jackbooted NBP thugs…  Heh heh.

Obama and Dictators

Why do the people around Obama frequently compare him to dictators?

His latest “Lena Dunham/first time” ad is a rip off of an old ad for Vladimir Putin.  In it, the actress makes coy allusions to her “first time” (voting) and how it should be with “a guy who cares whether you get health insurance and…  birth control.”  That sort of dreck is okay for a Putin “election.”  He was going to win regardless of whether people voted for him.  Not sure how it will work for Obama.

Russian version below.  If you can’t speak Russkie, trust me, it’s the same idea.  I do appreciate the Russian addition of the fortune teller though.

And as has been mentioned many times before, his “forward” slogan has long ties to Soviet marxism.   And the Obama “hope” poster seemed evocative of the old Soviet propaganda posters.

Isn’t it odd that it’s his friends who keep making these conscious or unconscious comparisons?

 

World Series!

And the Giants are in it!  Some things to trump political blogging.

Go, Giants!

New Project Veritas Video: Voter Fraud

James O’Keefe just came out with a new voter fraud video.  In it, an undercover reporter speaks with Patrick Moran, the field director (and son) of a Virginia congressman, about how to conduct voter fraud.

Tie Goes to the Runner

Did you watch the debate last night?  I only caught the first hour, which seemed like the least interesting.  The best part of the first hour was Obama’s angry glare, as if he was trying to make Romney’s head burst into flames.

Who won?

Well, Romney didn’t lose, and in this sort of race, a tie goes to the challenger.  He looked calm and presidential, and managed to thwart the “crazed Republican cowboy diplomacy” meme.  We’ll see how the polls change over the next few days, but I’m feeling generally positive about the debate.

Hugo Hearts Obama

We’re known by our friends and by our enemies, and today, Obama completed the trifecta of dictator endorsements, adding Hugo Chavez.  Those other great lovers of oppression, Raul Castro and Vladimir Putin have already endorsed him.   Ex-KGB thug, Ras-Putin’s endorsement is, to me, the most unnerving and least surprising, especially now that he’s shipping weapons to the Syrian dictator.

I really hope Obama brings up his “reset” with Russia in the debate tonight, because if O thinks relations between the US and Russia have improved, they’ve only improved from the Russian point of view.

Echoes of the USSR

I know – comparisons to the USSR may seem trite.  But as I was reading this article about taxpayer-funded battery maker, LG Chem, I felt a shiver.  According to employees, they’re not… actually… working.

Workers at  LG Chem, a $300 million lithium-ion battery plant heavily funded by taxpayers, tell Target 8 that they have  so little work to do that they spend hours playing cards and board games, reading magazines or watching movies.

They say it’s been going on for months.

“There would be up to 40 of us that would just sit in there during the day,” said former  LG Chem employee Nicole Merryman, who said she quit in May.

Substitute playing chess and drinking vodka for playing cards and board games, and you’ve got a pretty good picture of life in a Soviet company, where productivity was completely divorced from compensation or, indeed, employment.  After all, when you’re getting big fistfuls of cash from the government to make things go, the incentive to make an actual profit declines.  So why ask employees to actually work?  How boring and bourgeoisie!

And They Said the Tea Party Was Dead

I’m kind of liking this Tea Party Victory Fund ad.  It’s brutal, but honest.  And kind of sad.

Debate Thoughts

Watching the debate last night, I was reminded of two boys in a playground throwing sand at each other.  I’m glad Romney didn’t let Obama push him around, but was less impressed by the arguing with the moderator.  All in all, I’d call the debate a draw.  I don’t think it particularly helped or hurt Romney, though it did provide ammo for those folks inclined to throw their hands in the air and exclaim, “Politicians!  They’re all alike!”

Obama Campaign Plummeting?

Hm…  I want to believe, but always wonder if I’m engagin in wishful thinking.

Who Won the Veep Debate?

People see what they want to see.  So while I thought Joe Biden made himself an unlikable fellow with his rapid blinking and creepy smirk, I wasn’t sure how his mannerisms would play with the rest of the country.

Today, most of the polls seem to show Ryan winning the debate, if narrowly.  But ultimately, I think it was a solid Ryan win.  Biden’s likability factor has been tarnished and sadly, for many Americans, elections are popularity contests.  Biden has been promoted as a man with experience, and Ryan held his own against him, making himself look more vice presidential.  At this stage in the game, even a draw would have been a win for the Romney campaign – basically anything that doesn’t hinder Romney’s momentum is a plus.

Could Ryan have dealt with Biden better?  Probably.  The “liar liar pants on fire” meme has been developing within Democrat ranks since the Romney/Obama debate, and I suspect Obama will bring it to the next debate.  But how does one deal it appropriately?  Is staying calm and pleasantly stating the facts enough?

Freedom to Succeed

Hungarian billionaire/immigrant, Thomas Peterffy, created the below ad, arguing why Americans should reject socialism.  I think it’s a powerful ad, though perhaps only because I spent eight years in the former Soviet Union and saw just how awful socialism had made things.  What do you think?