Here is a great report on the situation in Iraq.  Y'all should be reading more Michael Yon.

In between this paragraph:

and this one:

He covers just about everything you need to know to have knowledgable conversation about Iraq.  It ain't all good, it ain't Islamabad.


I just finish the latest Vince Flynn Novel, which is about torture.  Not exactly what I was looking for considering the previous reads.   Kite Runner is next. Somebody please tell me there is no rape or torture in the Kite Runner.   It SOUNDS peaceful to me.


Sorry about the islamabad joke. Worst joke Ever. Sorry.  I'm just giddy to be on way back home to Corrie. And I thought it, so I thought I'd write it. 

Ron Paul´s son is named Rand!

Wow.  At frist, when I heard that,  I thought of The Wheel of Time. Because I am a geek.  Then it hit me. Annie!

I had the best time reading Fountain Head,. despite it numerous faults,  length being the most grevious.  In the past week I have read over 3000 pages of fiction, and Ayn Rand´s influence can bee seen througout.  Which kinda sucks.  Heavy Handed philosphical wordiness only makes for good reading once.

I remember trying to read Atlas Shrugged after FountainHead and realizing, a few pages in, that couldn´t stand any more of her one-dimensial characters.  Two thousand of those pages I read over the last week were Terry Goodkind´s, and he is a clumsy disciple of hers. I suffered his character´s for years for reasons I don´t really understand.     Most recently I read World without End, the sequel  to Ken Follett's beloved masterpiece The Pillar´s of the Earth.   He´s no clumsy writer, but he isn´t exactly subtle.      Much like Fountain Head and Atlans Shurgged,  if you like one book you will like the other, but together they are too much.

World Without End is not as good a book as Pillars was, though they are comically similar. The stark contrast between the good guys and bad guys is still there.  As is the pornographic fleshiness (Goodkinds laid it on this in his final few books too, to my dismay). The biggest complaint about Pillars, besides the rapine aspects of it, was that the villians became depraved to the point of comic pitifullness [whats the word I am looking for here?].     He doesn´t make the same mistake in this book, though they remain equally brutal and implacable. The biggest problem with WWE, again besides the burtality, is that it reads  like a soap opera. It´s very episodic, ans since we know the way the author´s mind works, much of the suspense is gone.  I liked the book, but it makes me wonder if Pillar´s wasn´t as good as I remember it.

I don´t mean to disparage Follett by mentioning him in the same post as Goodkind.  If you haven´t read Pillar´s I recomend it.   Then I reccomend you wait a decade before reading the sequel, and only if you don´t mind that it might lesson your oppinion of Pillars.

 

I keep checking the drudgereport , waiting for news of my Thomspon Surge to buble up.  Huck and Mitt have gotten all the attention of late, but today, finally,  there was a link showing that Fred picked up a key endorsement.       I admit, most of my confidence is based on general trends and patterns I have noticed in other elections. I haven´t paid much attention to this one.     Thomspon situation reminds me a bit of Kerry´s. That of  The forgotten man.     Also, I consider it self evident that  early primary voters relish being contrarian.  A last minute swing seems inevitable to me. 

 

I wonder what the odds are the Ron Paul would endorse Thomspon. Slim, considering there will be little reason for Paul to ever  withdrawl.   But still, it´s a nice fantasy.  .   If Thompson plays up his Federalism, perhaps by giving one of the speaches I have prepared for him,  Paul might be persuaded? He might save some voters from Wasting Their Votes.

Speaking of federalism: Drudge links to this article about SF wanting to tax softdrinks:

For years, the idea of taxing soda to beat back obesity has been tossed around in medical circles. But now, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is proposing a tax on beverages high in fructose corn syrup.

Newsom says obesity accounts for tens of millions of dollars in city health care costs. He cites a recent San Francisco Health Department survey that found nearly a quarter of the city's 5th, 7th and 9th graders were overweight and that high sugar drinks make up a tenth of a kid's daily calorie count.

I´ve made the point that obesity has a huge cost on society. Both economically, and , as I see, spiritually.  The economic cost are easy to calculate. Not that I care about them: I only  bring them up as a counter argument to those people who want to make cigarettes illegal.    I don´t think we should go around makint things illegal, or taxing them disproportianely just because they have some ´cost on society'.  Our freedoms are too important.  However,   I also value our ability to self govern: so if San Francisco wants to tax cola, more power to them    Of course, this country used to have  a mechanism that alowed one state to do something while the other states pointed their fingers and laughed.    Nowdays the proponents of a law in one state, call up their three friends on the other side of the country and say, "hey, go make a fuss in front of the courthouse" and the law spreads like a virus.  So when San Francisco does something stupid, people in Macon feel the repurcussions.   It´s a shame, because these conflicts distract us from pressing issues.  It´s a shame because is makes enemies of people who would be perfectly content just calling eachother names.

 The way I see it, Federalism is the way to reduce all this conflicts.    I´m not a student on the subject, but the nearest I can tell, the reason you might not know what the heck I am talking about  is because the last group of people who campaigned on the bases of Federalism, or "States Rights",  were fighting the abolition of Slavery. The stigma stuck. Well, it didn´t really stick, except that race baiters like Jesse Jackson, Sharpton, and Bill Clinton continued to call and conservative policy, including 10th ammendment, racist.  (I give credit for Dems for laying off this sort of stuff latelty.)

Ok, so, they got that one wrong. there are principles and there are Principles.  It´s time to get back behind this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Felt a couple of earthquakes today in Vina del Mar, Chile.    I said to the guy next to me that at least we were safe, being out in the open along the beachside boardwalk.   As I was walking way I looked toward the ocean and started thinking about Tidal waves.   For a good while I thought of 'em.
 
My hotel room is only a few yards from the beach. I can here the waves breaking constantly.   It's night now. I slept for a while this afternoon, after running a few miles to Renaca, working out there (Angie on a makeshift pullup bar (KTE instead of Situps)) , lounging on the beach, and then walking back. The idea was to sleep in the evening to have energy to sample the nightlife, but when I went out tonight I didn't feel much up for clubbing by myself.     So now I am in my room hopped up on Coffee and far from sleep,  but not really up for going back out.

Thankfully I have a few books downloaded.   Oh. Yeah.  I read two more of Goodkind's, finishing his series.    They wern't bad, relatively speaking. It's not hard to conclude a 8+ book series well. He brought back all the small character's from the earlier books, including Graatch, which was nice.  The secret to enjoying Goodkind is simple: Don't read him. But  if you must,   learn to scroll through all  the cumbersome speeches that he pretends are dialog.

A couple of nights ago I had a dream that I was driving around town with David Beckham and Ricky Hatton.   I asked Becks if he went the "Ricky Hatton Fight" , which was embarrassing phrasing considering Ricky was in the back seat.   I turned round, red-faced, and then compounded the shame by asking Ricky the same question.       Beckham had some cool sunglasses on.

Well that's what happened.


Anyhow.   Remember that Scene in High Fidelity when Cusack gets a bunch of people to by the Beta Band?   I was thinking that it's good to have a song like the one he played, in your back pocket at all times.  I mean, if you were forced to play a song for a group of people upon which your coolness would be judged, what would it be?   I am terrible at picking songs that everyone will like. Yeah, I know a few, but considering how much good music I listen to, I should be able to come up with hours of music that everyone would enjoy.  But I can't. At least not easily.  Some defect of my mind makes me want to play stuff that they Will like, or Should like, or something.   I think just get too excited, and skip steps. It happens all the time, my intentions get diverted and next thing you know I am playing Deerhoof and Dismemberment Play.   But if I had to pick a song that has come out over the last few years that I  'everyone in the store' would enjoy, It would probably be Wolf Like Me  by T.V. On the Radio. Then something by Wolf Parade.  

I was thinking about that, and then got to thinking about TV's two albums. Their first one suffered a bit because it seemed like an album of singles.  The songs were very good, but the album didn't really click.   Their latest, Cooke Mountain, seems to have over-compensated.  It's long and concepty, but the only songs that really stand out are obviously singles (Wolf Like Me, and Dirywhirl.).  Not that the album isn't packed with quality songs: It's just that they seem to run together (to use a term I hate, but am using for expediency's sake... this post is Looooong).  

The good news is that their Live Performances clear it all up. They put on a great show that proves they are a terrific band that writes fresh original music.  Any issues with their CD should be taken up with their producer.


Ok, here I am getting lean, trying to do a pullup with 57 Kilos strapped to my Johnson.  




I was short. That last inch is a bitch.

Did I tell you about Fred, or did I tell you about Fred? I know is was just one debate, and a terrible on at that, but the timing was perfect.

Why do I think his campaign will find new life?  Simply put, I think he is the best man for the job, and I see little impediment to him demonstrating that.  He has the foreign policy experience, strong commitment to small government conservatism, and his ability to communicate these ideas successfully. Finally, he has a good chance of beating Hillary or Obama.  It is on these grounds that The Slowdown endorses Fred Thompson.

 
 Is it too late?  I have no idea.   How late into the primaries was Howard Dean in the lead?

The fact that Fred isn’t walking away with this election is because of the Bush Backlash.   The Bush Backlash is the term I am going use to encapsulate a concept I have been unsuccessfully trying to explain for years. Here comes one more try:

 
The worst thing about Bush is that his poor performance will cause people to reject good ideas and characteristics that they associate too closely with Bush.   The first and most important effect of this Backlash is going to be National Defense.  The odds of us doing the right thing in Iran, Korea, and elsewhere have been greatly reduced, because the right way might  too closely resemble the Bush way.  This will embolden our enemies.  This is a very Dangerous situation.

There a few more grand examples of the Bush Backlash. The nature of  Conservatism in general has been compromised.   The role of Religion in our political debate has been effected.     The Bush backlash also affects the expectations many have of the Executive Office:  Bush campaigned as a delegating, hands off, visionary executive.  If you were to create the Anti-Bush you would end up with a wonkish, polished, career politician.   Mitt Romney anyone? For most of my life people cursed ‘typical politicians’ but when they stepped up and voted for W, they got burned. Now they will retreat back to what they know.   The specter of Bush will be haunt anyone who doesn't conform.  This will hurt anyone with an outsider’s image.

 
Which brings us back to Fred.   The Bush Backlash is only going to show up in the Primaries  when voters view the candidates in terms of general electibility.  This has helped Romney, and marginally hurt Thompson.  (Huckabee has too many entries on each side of the ledger for the effect to kick in)

The “He doesn’t really want the Job” meme that haunts Thompson draws sustaining breath from Bush Backlash, specifically that part about Career Politicians. Without it, conservative primary voters would have never thought to view his refreshing down-to-earth approach as a negative. Face it, he is a strong communicator, with great foreign policy expertise, who champions Federalism, and looks and sounds like one of them!   

 
Thankfully Fred’s communication skills will drawf the Bush backlash.   Bush failed in many ways, but the common thread that ran through his failures (and successes) was an inability to communicate.  The differences between the two are legion, but this one will shine the brightest.

Ring Magazine posts so I don't have to:

I said is much on these pages

I kept saying the exact same thing to Jeremy.

Jeremy kept complaining about the same thing to me

Anyhow. I would just add that the telling factor of the fight- that one bit of pre-fight evidence that provided to best insight into who would win the fight- was in fact the Collazo fight.  The fights were identical. Floyd's skill saved him from the Flash knockdown early, and enabled him to finish Hatton, when Collazo could only stun him, but other than that the fight were identical.

I believed that the Collazo fight was going to 'tell', as I put it.  Hatton's Big Game mentality was the only counter argument that . I hoped it would be enough, but It wasn't enough.

Anyhow, I hope Hatton finds a foil at 140 so we can establish just how good he is at that weight.  But right now this looks unlikely.

Crap I had a big long post that got wiped away.

The gist of it was:  Thompson will Surge,  Hypocrisy is good, political opportunism is not so good,  Christians are still the only people who can be stereotyped or insulted without repercussion (except the odd boycott),  I am in Santiago, you'd enever know it from his blog but Ed is a redistributionist.  Same old stuff really.

Oh wait. I should say this: Terry Goodkind's book ChainFire is his best ever, and he is no longer the worst Author I have ever read. That title returns to it's previous owner, Robert Ludlum.  Terry remains in striking distance, because he still is godawful. Just not quite LudlumAwful.  Robert, if you wish to climb out of the cellar, your best bet would be to send me a book. The next of Terry's would probably do the trick.

This reminds me. I watched Ratatouille with Corrie and of course it did not suck. The Critic's coming-of-age letter in the movie, made me think about the lazy criticisms this  and most blogs are based on.    For about two seconds.

I did actually feel bad about criticizing Rathbun's Steak, since I think the GM is good people, but it had to be done.    I bet the Steaks are great, and I love Rathbuns the Original, and Rathbuns the institution.

Oh, go read the comments on the Sanks goal-line run tragedy at heyjennyslater.  I spent some time on mine. Longer than I have spent here anyway.

Ricky Hatton came up short.  He put up a good fight hitting Floyd cleanly in the opening rounds, but ended up doing what he said he wouldn’t, wasting too much energy punching Floyd in the arms in the later rounds.  This led to him slowing down in the 7^th, and by the 9th, Floyd dialed in, and knocked him out early in the 10th.    Ricky didn’t need an excuse, but the step-up in weight one should provide fans some solace.   Answers still remain about Floyd.  I am not questioning his polish and class. I just think he would probably lose at least 2 out of 5 if he was fighting the true welterweight contenders.

The Crowd never stopped singing ‘There’s only one Ricky Hatton’ during the fight.  Even as he lay, bested, on the canvas.  Soundly beaten, Ricky showed why they love him as he opened up his post fight interview with "Well that was a fluke!"