By The Same Token, Obama's Allure

Just as I don't get Sarah Palin's great allure among so many conservatives, I'm similarly not understanding the very high approval ratings President Obama gets among Democrats. Pollster.com compiles polling data from the polls you know, and places Obama's approval rating among Democrats above 82%.

Are Democrats no deeper than, "He's on our team, he's not on their team, so he's obviously great"? It's hard to argue against.

1. Obama has essentially affirmed the Bush wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by remaining and extending the wars.

2. Obama did a stimulus package that was merely bigger than Bush's.

3. Still in Gitmo.

4. Still maintaining the Bush policy of indefinite detention.

5. Could have significantly scaled back the war on drugs when the Mexican border militarized. Instead, laughed.

6. Still have the Patriot Act. No push to repeal coming from on high.

Obama reminds me an awful lot of George Bush, and not just because their foreign policy is identical in execution, if different in tenor. Mainly, Bush ignored a huge part of his base, the fiscal conservatives, expecting (and largely getting) continuing support on the strength of the oh-so-deep consideration of "at least he's on our team". Now, Obama does nothing for civil libertarians, or worse, and expects that if they are Democrats, they can't possibly go anywhere else.

I guess Obama is gambling correctly. The silence is deafening. Those who made issue of the war before the election of Obama are largely gone. Etc.

What Is Palin's Allure?

I don't get it. If you can't hang with Katie Couric in an interview, etc., how do you translate yourself as big-stage political material? Are conservatives that desperate? Apparently, yes they are. A thousand lined up in Noblesville, one town north of me, to get 30 seconds of face time and a book signed. From the Indy Star report:

Best-selling author Sarah Palin pulled in the parking lot of Hamilton Town Center in Noblesville at 5:40 p.m. to a crowd chanting her name.

"Sarah, Sarah, Sarah ..."

She got off the bus holding her youngest son, 19-month-old Trig. At the podium, she thanked everyone waiting in the rain for her arrival. People had initially been in line starting around 7 a.m. today to get 1,000 wristbands, used to limit the number of people getting books signed. They lined up again about 3 p.m. to prepare to enter the store. She called them good hard-working Americans, the people from whom she wrote her book "Going Rogue."

I can see going if you gave money during the Presidential run, although if I had, it might be to demand answers more than anything.

But really, what's the allure? I remember the Couric interview, where she said in essense that the bailout had to be done. That's a deal-killer for me, straight away. I don't get how 'conservatives' can be so excited about a fiscal liberal. Is it that her other 'conservative' bona fides simply cancel out everything else with so many Republicans? I just don't get it.

No Ash Borers Here So Far

I keep an eye on reports like the one at the Indy Star today, advising of more Ash Borers being spotted in a variety of Indiana locations:

The tree-killing emerald ash borer has reached another four Indiana counties, boosting the insect’s foothold in the state to 30 counties.

State wildlife officials say the invasive green beetle has been found in Delaware and Jay counties in east-central Indiana, Miami County in the state’s north-central region and Washington County in far Southern Indiana.

My home county, Hamilton, is one of those under quarantine, meaning that you aren't supposed to transport ash from the county, due to observed infestation. Fortunately, I haven't seen any of the buggers yet on my lot. About a third of the trees in our woods are ash, and I'd hate to see those things kill so many trees. One ash, the biggest naturally, was hit by lightning last year, and we cut it down in Spring. The wood wasn't going anywhere, but to our fireplace, probably beginning in the next couple weeks.

My Take On Recent Elections

There was a lot of predictable spin on the recent elections that follows partisan lines. The race that most interested me was NY-23, where a Democrat ultimately won in a district that had elected Republicans for more than 100 years.

This happened because the Republicans nominated a fairly liberal candidate for US House, and in response, Doug Hoffman ran on the Conservative Party ticket. The liberal Republican dropped out of the race, the Conservative nearly made up the ground, but ultimately lost.

Some are saying that this is proof that a third-party candidacy is folly, and that reform needs to happen within the major parties.

I'll point out again that the GOP leadership nominated the liberal Republican.

The GOP leadership, virtually anywhere, has been so interested in targeting moderate and independent voters that the result is the appearance of not standing for anything at all. That's where they don't get it. There is a morass of wandering disaffected voters looking for a home, that requires a party to stand for something.

Obviously, the fear of third parties in general is keeping these folks in limbo, because the Libertarian Party has ever been for smaller budgets, less spending, less taxes, more economic growth, and higher employment... and this is what the people seem to want. From CNN's polling:

The number of Americans who say the economy is their top issue is on the rise, according to a new national poll.

Forty-seven percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday morning say the economy is the most important issue facing the country today. That's up 6 points from August.

Health care, at 17 percent, remains second on the list. But the issue is down a few points from August, indicating that the furor caused by the late summer town hall meetings may be fading somewhat on the minds of most Americans.

This tells me a lot. There's the Democratic leadership, working hard on something that the public doesn't regard as the top issue. Neither the Bush stimulus nor the Obama stimulus convince the public that their solution is working. Here are the Libertarians, offering a result that the people are clamoring for, yet not reaching the people.

My opinion is that right now, the Libertarian Party needs to become a single-issue party, focused solely on the economy. It isn't just that CNN article that makes me think this way. This has been the top issue for about a year now. The old leadership is discredited. The new leadership is losing people. This is an opportunity for the Libertarians, provided they eliminate distractions.

What say you?

The Predictable World of Baseball

I am not watching the World Series. There is not a shred of interest. Oh? Did the Yankees make it? Now, who woulda thunk it? Big surprise. The Phillies? Knock me over with a feather.

It's hard enough being a sports fan in a country where most of the parks are built on the backs of taxpayers, where millionaires could have built them without being welfare queens. But baseball is a special kind of suck.

It's hard to miss how not competitive Major League Baseball is. Every year, the Red Sox and Yankees are going to compete in the American League. Every Year, the Cardinals, Dodgers, Mets, Braves and Phillies are going to compete in the National League. Mainly, these are the teams willing to spend money on talent.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had 17 straight losing seasons. The Kansas City Royals routinely see their best players get to the end of their contracts, and leave via free agency.

Don't get me wrong- I don't bemoan the players their ability to sign for the highest bidder. The players are the product, after all.

What I don't care for is the fact that most teams will make a profit without even trying to compete for the top-level talent reserved for teams in Boston, New York, or Philadelphia. Why is that? Socialism.

No kidding. If you want to see how the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor in a socialistic microcosm, look at Major League Baseball, which has a revenue sharing program. Michael Lewis, assistant professor of marketing at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, said this in a University article:

"Even though revenue sharing was intended to create incentives for ball clubs to build their teams and build their fan base, it's ended up having the opposite effect," Lewis said. "For small markets, like Kansas City or Tampa Bay, the club fares better in terms of how much revenue it collects, when their team doesn't win and the stadium isn't full."

and

"The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have been notorious for under-investing in their team," Lewis said. "In 2006, they collected $33 million in revenue-share payments and they only filled about 37 percent of the seats in ballpark. Clearly this is a team that has decided to grow the bottom line through revenue-sharing payments rather than grow the fan base.

True, the Rays reached the World Series in 2008, losing to the Phillies, but that was an anomoly. This year? They finished just 6 games over .500. They'll tread similar waters for the next 20 years.

So, there isn't any tension this year. It's maddening besides. I'm a Cleveland Indians fan who gets to see CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee, both Cy Young winners for the Tribe in the past two seasons, now start in Game One of the World Series, for the Yanks and Phils respectively. The Indians just aren't willing to compete at the highest level. They dumped this phenomenal pitching talent for prospects, who they will in turn dump when they become stars themselves.

Why would anyone get emotionally involved with the Cleveland Indians? Or, any other team not in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston, St. Louis, or Los Angeles?

I suppose if I were a Yankees or Phillies fan, this would be a lot of fun to watch. I'm not, so I won't. I get to look at enough crony socialism in the world of politics such that I hardly need it in my entertainment.

A Friendly, God-Fearing Bank Robber

This one is bound to make national news. From the Indy Star report:

A robber holding a gun on an Advance America cashier Monday apologized to the woman for his actions, but went ahead with his robbery even after praying with the victim.

"He said that he hated to have to do this, but times were hard and he had no choice," cashier Angela Montez, 43, told police according to a police report.

...

The man told Montez he had a 2-year-old child to support and then asked Montez to pray with him about overcoming his hard ships. The two got down on their knees and prayed, remaining on their knees for nearly 10 minutes, police said.

In response to the woman's kindness, the man took a bullet out of his handgun and gave it to her, according to the report, telling the clerk it was his only bullet and promising not to hurt her. He then asked Montez for a hug.

I have nothing profound to say to this. It strikes me as some weird kind of goofy desperation, the kind of reality that is more bizarre than any creative fiction could be. Dig this:

The man took $20 in $5 bills from the cash drawer, according to the report -- leaving the rest of the cash in the drawer.

Twenty bucks. Astonishing. I'm sure there is political spin waiting to happen. I have nothing.

Dow & Gold At Highs?

Ok, I'm confused. The Dow cracked 10,000 yesterday for the first time in a year, while gold finished today at $1,050/oz, which is just off an all-time high. This doesn't make a lot of sense, with gold so often being strongest when stock markets are at their weakest.

My biggest market fear is that inflation is inevitable, thanks to the rampant printing of valueless money wrought by the stimulus, so in that sense, the gold price makes perfect sense. But the stock market? Why is it so high?

I'm going to have to do my homework on this.