Republicans Wandering in the Darkness

Capital "R" Republicans, please spare us the talk of internal struggle and strife. There is one reason we lost the election: John McCain. Worst Candidate EVER! That old tongue-tied bag of wind couldn't explain anything he stood for, and he stands for very little unless it's related to John McCain. He's not a conservative, and that's why the party didn't turn out for him.

What kind of party runs a guy who the opposition favors? Hell, I wouldn't send money, though I did vote for him. In fact, if his stand on illegal immigration stays the same, I'll likely send money to any Republican who runs against him for his Senate seat.

Now that Bush is on his way out, perhaps there won't be any of the cronyism that brought back the loathsome Arlen Specter by preventing a credible run for his seat by Pat Toomey. It's pretty simple, really. Leave out the creationism, the "faith-based initiatives" and start running on low taxes and smaller government. And enough with the open primaries. If the Republicans don't go back to the conservative fundamentals, they're likely to be in the woods for a very long time.

For the Birds

Those who know me know I love birds. I have seen over four hundred bird species, nearly all during day hikes, and all but about 20 without guidance. I guess I'm more of a birdwalker than birdwatcher. To me, traditional birdwatching is kind of boring. I like to keep moving, and stop when I hear or see some bird activity. I watch other wildlife too, but birds are my favorite. I subscribe to several publications dedicated to birds and/or birdwatching.

In the current issue of "Living Bird", one of the magazines I get, Mr. Mel White, contributing editor of Living Bird magazine, a publication of Cornell University, has decided that gas doesn't cost enough. He thinks that people who chase rare birds in their cars are shouldn't be doing that and ought to stop it. He calls those of us who support a "drill here, drill now" philosophy to be "morons". To him, the fact that people will still drive to a distant site for a chance at a look at a rare bird is evidence that "gas doesn't cost enough yet". (It makes me wonder how many years Mr. White chased birds before he had his revelation, but I digress...)

Guilty! I'm a "drill here, drill now" conservative. Proud of it. We're the ones who have been proposing expanding nuclear power for thirty years, but a lot of liberal-types were backing the "no nukes" position, and now we have to burn more coal, oil and natural gas than we otherwise would have. They keep telling us even if we "drill now", we won't have any oil for ten years. They said that in 1995, when President Clinton stopped any new drilling projects at the urging of a lot of "scientists". I put that in quotes because often they sign petitions but either aren't real scientists, or more often have no expertise in the issue they support. In other words, they're often just as uninformed as any non-scientist.

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'll decide for myself when, where and for what reason to drive, not you. I've had enough of being told that everything I do has some political aspect. I drive my car to look at birds, and that makes me happy. I earn the money myself, and I decide where to spend it. That doesn't affect you at all. The whole idea that a birder driving to see a bird they may never see in it's normal habitat is somehow something to be discouraged is ridiculous.

It's not all negative, though: you have managed to reduce my carbon footprint! I just won't renew my subscription to "Living Bird". After all, the magazine is printed on slick paper, transported to my mailbox in fossil-fuel eating and greenhouse-gas spewing motor vehicles, and I can get great birding articles and pictures online. Who needs another magazine? Plus, the other birding magazines, while having a bit of a "green" slant, so far haven't insulted me.

How tolerant and diverse of you, Mr. White. Way to embrace all viewpoints. You can just kick in the $40 you just cost Cornell.

(The article isn't available online yet, but when it is, I'll link it.)

Flying Freedom

This past Sunday the wife and I went to a small aircraft show at the Long Beach Airport. I often go there to catch up on my reading and watch the planes come and go. I recently bought a scanner to monitor the communications between planes and tower, and it's very interesting.

Nothing, however, compares to watching our military planes take off. The C-17 is built at the Boeing plant at LGB, and I've been lucky to see several takeoffs and landings of that awesome behemoth. A year or so ago, two B-1B bombers took off, one to the west and one to the east, and it set off every car alarm within a mile.

This Monday, a sight I'd never expect to see at the airport: a B-52, one of the planes on display over the weekend, taking off. I had asked one of the crew on Sunday when they were leaving, and he said late Monday morning. Apparently I wasn't the only one he told - the parking lot was full!

The wingspan on the plane is so wide that it had to taxi up the runway and execute a 180 at the end. As the B-52 taxied by us onlookers, nearly everyone waved or gave the crew a thumbs-up. Several minutes went by as it held in takeoff position. Suddenly, all eight of those jet engines began to roar, and the plane began its takeoff roll. It was amazingly loud and surprisingly fast. Suddenly, it rotated up and away, and within about 2 minutes, was gone.

Once the plane was downrange and the noise had died down, people applauded. Some cheered. I cheered. No matter what anyone says, Americans love the military, the guardians of our freedoms. Thanks for the show, gentlemen, and thanks for your service!

"Activists"

Lindsay Lohan had flour thrown on her by some "activists" in Paris (I read the AP story, but others have covered it, and they all use the word "activists".) What would they call a person who supported Prop. 8 in California who threw holy water on a gay person? Yeah, they sure wouldn't call 'em an activist...

Yet another reason the drive-by media is dying.

I have no feelings either way for Lindsay Lohan, she just seems like another drug-addled celebutard to me, but nobody should have to worry about being attacked by someone based on what they choose to wear. It sure doesn't move your cause forward.

Failure Should Be an Option

GM needs a bailout? Well, no they don't. They don't deserve one, as no business, large or small deserves one. The taxpayers voted with their dollars, and bought better built and better styled Toyotas and Hondas. The fact that GM, Ford and Chrysler may now make good cars is irrelevant; the public still doesn't think they do.

Chrysler should have been allowed to fail back in the '70s. GM and Ford would have expanded due to the competitive advantage (and hired a percentage of Chrysler's former workers). Instead, Chrysler's bad business practices were papered over by Uncle Sam.

Let GM go bankrupt. It will serve notice to other companies that there is no government reward for bad business practices. It serves notice to unions and their members that there is a cost to excessive compensation packages.

Yes, GM is an American business icon. Bankruptcy gives it a last chance to survive. If it doesn't survive, its assets will be sold off, and better-managed competitors will take advantage. It's the way a free market needs to operate. If the government gets in the business of "saving" large companies, that means that the government is actively making the taxpayer an investor in those poorly-run companies, an investment that most taxpayers wouldn't make of their free will.

No company should be "too big to fail".

Showbiz

I wonder why in a sitcom, when a character says something funny, the other cast members don't usually laugh. It seems unnatural because if you were hearing the lines in real life, others in the room would be laughing, chuckling, grinning, something. In fact, when someone delivers a laugh-out-loud line, you can sometimes see the other actors choking back a laugh. Rarely, though, do the other characters laugh at the line like they should. And I'm not talking about a line that's funny to the audience but not the characters...

Any showbiz-types know the answer?