Coldheartedtruth

It's still dark out, and we're not going to the beach until later this afternoon, so all is quiet at my house, and I'm just thinking about how much I love my country and how lucky I am. While searching for something momentous to write here, I came across a quotation from the late Erma Bombeck - a woman who inspired and entertained me liberally when she and I were young.

Have a wonderful day, weekend, or whatever you're doing to celebrate our nation's birthday.

From Erma:

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.

I was watching MSNBC the other night and the conversation was, naturally, the campaign and upcoming election. One of the items discussed was that Cindy McCain recently charged $500,000 on one American Express card and $250,000 on another in the same month. Now, I am assuming MSNBC came by this factoid legitimately--i.e., from a member of the MCain family, and not from a *source* at American Express. If it came from anyone other than John or Cindy McCain, there should be an investigation and someone should lose a job over it. But I digress.

What difference does it make? The panelists all agreed that such *lavish spending* puts John McCain out of touch with ordinary Americans. I say that is nonsense.

First, I think it is fantastic that a wealthy person is spending money. The odds are great that much of the money she spent wound up in the hands of ordinary Americans. Had she left that money in the bank drawing interest, who would have benefitted? I know that I am grateful when wealthy people opt to do business with my employer.

Second, who are we to judge her (or anyone else) for how they manage their finances? Lord knows that she won't miss the money. And many of the people I know are spending their money in such a way as to return the funds to her family, anyway. If they really want to send Cindy McCain a message, drink less beer! What are the odds of that?

Finally, the panel was dead wrong about John McCain being out of touch. Why, there are husbands all over America that fear opening that bill each month because their wives have maxed out their credit card. Now they can be thankful that they have a lower credit limit than the McCains.

Senator Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot sustain a long-term military presence in Iraq, but added that he would be open to “refine my policies” about a timeline for withdrawing troops after meeting with American military commanders during a trip to Iraq later this month.
Mr. Obama, whose popularity in the Democratic primary was built upon a sharp opposition to the war and an often-touted 16-month gradual timetable for removing combat troops, dismissed suggestions that he was changing positions in the wake of reductions in violence in Iraq and a general election fight with Senator John McCain.

“I’ve always said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain stability. That assessment has not changed,” he said. “And when I go to Iraq and have a chance to talk to some of the commanders on the ground, I’m sure I’ll have more information and will continue to refine my policies.”

Can anyone find a quote or two from Obama that contradicts this?

I'll Start: This is from his website:

Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months.

gee... seems to be missing any mention of any need to maintain stability.

As Mr. Obama shattered fund-raising records over the last year and a half and collected nearly $300 million, much of the attention has been on his army of small contributors over the Internet. He cited that broad base of small-dollar donors in justifying his decision to reverse his pledge to take part in the public financing system if his opponent did as well.

But Mr. Obama’s stepped-up schedule of big-money fund-raisers — the campaign has more than a dozen events planned over the next two weeks — showcases a formidable high-dollar donor network that is gaining more heft with an influx of former supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

So is he planning more traditional fundraising only to supplement his small donor strategy or is this a sign that things are slowing down in the small contribution front?

I think the answer is that we are seeing a little bit of both. I think in large part Obama needs to assist the DNC in terms of their fundraising (which is not limited to the $2300 donation limits tagged for candidates). Other big named Democratic fundraisers may not be as willing or as effective as they have in the past for the single reason that a couple of them are named Clinton. Let's face the facts folks, William Jefferson Clinton lost his god status among a large portion of Democrats, especially those who support Obama. Meanwhile the President, Karl Rove, and other big named Republicans are free to roam around the country raising large chunks of money for the RNC. Perhaps Obama is possibly feeling the need to take that responsibility on himself.

Secondly, I think there is a natural lull that people will have regarding internet fundraising. Obama may find that it was much easier to raise money when he was in the middle of a heated battle for the nomination and there was planned contests nearly weekly to point to. But right now (especially with the media plugging Obama as way ahead of McCain in polling) there may be a tendency for his supporters to relax a bit, or at least take a break from going out to Obama.com to send money every other day.

A friend of mine, a self described liberal, will often decry a conservative position or policy as "unfair." While it is sometimes difficult to rebut this without coming across as mean spirited, this gem from the late Milton Friedman reminds us that freedom and fairness are often incompatible.

http://www.fff.org/freedom/0292d.asp

It also reminds us how brilliant a thinker Friedman was and how indebted conservatives are to him as the seminal thinker in their thought processes.

Iraqi Government complete failure on two counts
Bush Administration to blame according to experts

The White House sees the progress in a particularly positive light, declaring in a new assessment to Congress that Iraq's efforts on 15 of 18 benchmarks are "satisfactory"—almost twice of what it determined to be the case a year ago. The May 2008 report card, obtained by the Associated Press, determines that only two of the benchmarks—enacting and implementing laws to disarm militias and distribute oil revenues—are unsatisfactory.

Wasn't there a song at one time by Meatloaf? 15 out of 18 aint bad?