Back in the saddle

Ok, so well, I'm back. After a nice hiatus that involved moving from DC back to the Commonwealth, AKA God's Country, I can definitely say - It's good to be home.

However, the move was not easy and was fraught with an awful moving company - BY THE WAY, NEVER EVER USE STARVING STUDENTS FOR A MOVE. It took them 2 days to move me and they locked they keys in the truck with all my stuff loaded and no way of getting it open. Solution: ask the client to call a locksmith. Customer service is truly alive and well. Also there was lots of back and forth between home and work to get this turned on or that turned on; I even broke down and am using Verizon again , so far so good. I had a really bad customer service run in with them a couple years ago and came to the conclusion that their motto "We never stop working for you" had to be factually true because they never really started in the first place.

So a couple weeks go by and we find ourselves deeper in it than before. General Motors seems to be America's first foray into government run corporations, and since GM is taking stimulus money and moving jobs overseas I'd say the government is doing a not-so-hot job in the ownership category. Perhaps the Obama folks should go order a back issue of the Economist where the magazine expertly laid out the economic phenomenon that was taking place in Asia (I think the Korean airlines industry) called "zombification." Zombification is exactly what it sounds like: a process by which a long and unending stream of government subsidies refuse to allow a failing or failed industry or company to die. That's where we are now - George Romero are you paying attention?? Your next movie is, "Bailouts of the Dead!!!"

If that was not bad enough North Korea has decided it might be a good time to detonate a nuke, launch some celebratory missiles and pull out of the 1953 armistice. Let's see, where did I put my airborne wings.....I'm guessing I'll be needing those - Kimchi for everyone, hooray! I wrote about this a couple weeks ago when Obama stood by and impotently watched as North Korea launched their newest ICBM over Japan and toward Hawaii. Now, our most reliable ally in the Pacific has to sit and wonder if we are going to come to their aide or sit back and let them go it alone. This issue also calls into question not only Obama's judgement on missile defense, but also the democrat's judgment on missile defense. They have been trying for years to kill missile defense programs such as the the Airborne Laser (ABL). The ABL is only platform in this situation ready to kill a potential North Korean missile in the boost phase (by the way, the best phase to kill a missile carrying a non-conventional warhead). It is supposed to have its last test late this year, but that might come sooner compliments of North Korea.

Israel is also wondering where their best ally is. Well, I hate to say it but the Israel lobby in Washington can claim this issue. For years they have been playing the hawkishness of the right against the fundraising power of the left for the benefit of Israel, and in the process sold their credibility. When push came to shove, the Jewish community backed Obama irrespective of Lieberman's efforts to interject some sanity into the debate. Well, all I have to say to AIPAC and company is - I'm sorry you feel threatened, but you'll need to stop by 1600 Penn Ave. and get in line like everyone else. Unfortunately, like Canadian healthcare - the patient might die before the doctor can see him - or chooses to see him.

Also, Obama appointed a nominee to serve on the supreme Court who stated “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life..." So does that mean that Judge Sotomayor believes in the superiority of her race based jurisprudence? If so, I'm wondering if she would support the absolution fellow jurist Wilhelm Frick who penned the Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935. These laws were based on the supposition that German heritage and the experience of the Aryian life made for a better Germany. Please note that I am not calling Sotomayr a Nazi, I am simply trying to impeach the notion of race based jurisprudence. It is a silly comment and a silly notion. If anyone believes that her comment of a race based opinion holds water, then we have set ourselves back 200 years.

Finally, before posting this entry, my fiance called out my name with an unusual sense of panic. I ran upstairs to find that her attempts at cooking Thai food had taken an unusual detour into arson. A small grease fire erupted on the stove and thank God we all kept our cools and were able to put it out. I called the fire department to report the matter but they told me not to worry about it. Also, the International Association of Fire Fighters, a loyal democratic institution, sent a strongly worded email rebuking the fire for an unprecedented show of aggression and refusing to comply with the rest of the physical world. IAFF also noted that serious consequences would result from further unauthorized flare ups and recommended that fire begin to get along with grease for a better cooking environment. Wow, I love our new shangri-la!

ps - thanks to my friends Free Market and JoePa for posting in my absence.