Reason's Strategy on GOP: Throw Out The Bums

Reason Burning Bridges With Current Repubs

I disagree with the hipsters at Reason on national security issues, but I pretty much agree with them on everything else. There's an intersting article called "Why the Republicans Must Lose" from one of the senior editors:

That's the second reason the GOP needs to lose. American voters need to send a clear, convincing repudiation of these dangerous ideas. If they do lose, the GOP would be wise to regroup and rebuild from scratch, scrap the current leadership, and, most importantly, purge the party of the "national greatness," neoconservative influence.

This is a much more well-framed argument of what I wrote about on Monday, and I encourage any disgruntled ex-Republican to check out Reason's justification for "throttling" this wretched new GOP that we have seen the past 8 years.

Sorry Conservatives, Palin Spending Spree is a Big Story

Marie Antoinette Palin Sez "If They Can't Wear Neiman Marcus, Let Them Shop at Saks"

Politico recently dropped a bombshell about the folksy, populist veep-pick for the GOP. Apparently, campaign expenses on trivial crap like her hair, makeup, and vice presidential get-up have totaled a whopping $150K. Sure, a candidate can't be dressed like some Seattle hobo if they want to get elected, but this seems awfully excessive when the economy is breaking down faster than a Chinese motorcycle. Remember when John Edwards, the guy who supposedly understood the plight of impoverished Americans, got busted for his $400 haircuts and we all called him a douchebag? There's a similar line of logic here, and some Republicans are fucking pissed. From Marc Ambinder:

There is already an attempt to blame the media -- as in, the liberal media would have looked askance at Palin if she wasn't clad in Neiman Marcus, but this won't wash. Republicans, RNC donors and at least one RNC staff member have e-mailed me tonight to share their utter (and not-for-attribution) disgust at the expenditures.

This sort of spending is without precedent -- the closest approximation for any campaign I've ever covered is make-up expenses for television interviews and commercial shoots -- , and Schmitt's weakly defensive response tonight indicates that the campaign is deeply embarrassed by it and has nothing to say in their defense.

In a time of war, many of us are looking for the executive branch to properly lead our military through these troubled times. A man you may not have heard of, Lt. Gen. Austin, is the MNC-I commander and responsible for all combatant forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has adopted a modest demeanor, often carrying around an M-4 as noted by the Washington Post, seeking to be more of a soldier's soldier (much like the great Omar Bradley) as an effective means to set the standard for his troops. In a similar way, many conservatives initially saw Palin as a Washington outsider who could energize the grass-roots base. She's definitely no Lt. Gen Austin, and she is getting more and more disappointing by the day.

A Solution to the Credit Crisis That Doesn't Involve Healing Crystals

Hippies Have Strange Ways of Fixing the Economy

Hilzoy has an article at The Washington Monthly that basically says we are fucked because of the outrageous credit card debt that Americans hold:

The first is the possibility that banks will have to write off even more bad debt. Americans owe about $950 billion worth of credit card debt, and, as with mortgages, credit card debt has been securitized. The second is that banks might hoard cash if they think they will have to write down bad debts, at a time when credit is already very tight.

The author of the superb "Handmaid's Tale" and 60s-era relic, Margaret Atwood, has a strange solution to cure America of its addiction to debt [NYT]:

But we’re deluding ourselves if we assume that we can recover from the crisis of 2008 so quickly and easily simply by watching the Dow creep upward. The wounds go deeper than that. To heal them, we must repair the broken moral balance that let this chaos loose.

Debt — who owes what to whom, or to what, and how that debt gets paid — is a subject much larger than money. It has to do with our basic sense of fairness, a sense that is embedded in all of our exchanges with our fellow human beings.

Maybe it's because I'm not down with drum circles humming the beat to The Age of Aquarius, but I'm not following Atwood's fru-fru explanation on debt throwing off the earth's Karmic alignment. Here's a better idea that's comprehensible to the rest of us: quit buying crap you don't need with money you don't have, ya jackasses.

End of the Road for the Mongols MC

Arrested and Shirtless, Always a Sign of a Morally Upright Individual [photo from LAT]

The ATF and local law enforcement launched a massive crackdown on the notorious Mongols Motorcycle Club in Southern California and elsewhere this morning. While the ATF may conjure up some negative feelings about their botched raid against the Branch Davidians in Waco that left a pile of charred corpses, they most certainly had justification to use heavy-handed tactics against the thugs in the Mongols. Their history of offenses includes starting a shoot out at the Harrah's casino in Laughlin, attempted assault against law enforcement in Eugene, and suspicions that there gang is funded by the sales of methamphetamine. The LA Times mentions one disturbing fact about the colors of their insignia:

There are also patches associated with the gang's alleged sexual rituals. Members are awarded wings of varying colors for engaging in sex acts with women at pre-arranged "wing parties," the indictment states. Members who have sex with a woman with venereal disease are given green wings; those who have sex with a woman's corpse are given purple wings, according to the indictment.

In his famous book on motorcycle outlaws, Hunter S. Thompson discussed how the "red wings" were awarded to members of the Hell's Angels when they performed oral sex on a lady during "that time of the month", but necrophilia crosses the line from comic relief to moral depravity. It should be noted that the Hell's Angels and Mongols are bitter rivals, but their culture of being "one percenters" amongst bikers seems to have some similarities.

On the personal side, I once walked to the gentlemen's club near my apartment in Hollywood several years back, and saw a bunch of Mongols getting on their choppers in a hurry. I walked into the entrance expecting to see strippers soliciting me for a lap dance, but instead there was a well-dressed guy in his 20s lying face down with blood all over the place. He was still moving, but the bouncer was frantically calling the paramedics and yelling that those bikers fuck did this to him. Not sure what the poor guy did to receive such a savage beating, but I was lucky it wasn't me.

Only in California: Man Prosecuted for Bizarre Anchor Killings

From AFP:

Skylar Deleon, 29, who had a bit part in an episode of 1990s series "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers", faces the death penalty after being convicted of three counts of murder at a trial in Santa Ana, south of Los Angeles.

Deleon was accused of killing retirees Tom and Jackie Hawks in 2004 in order to steal their 500,000-dollar boat and life savings. He was also accused of killing another man in 2003 in a separate incident...

...However once out at sea, the three men overpowered the couple, handcuffing them and covering their eyes and mouths with duct tape before forcing them to sign and fingerprint title transfer documents for the yacht.

Machain, who testified for the prosecution, told how the terrified couple were then tied to the boat's anchor and lowered into the sea. Their bodies were never found.

What the hell is wrong with that damn state. I suppose, it's the craziness of California that made it so fun to live there, and a serial killer former child actor couldn't have been from anywhere else.

Germany Flying the White Flag in Afghanistan

After a particularly nasty suicide attack in the normally quiet province of Kunduz in Afghanistan, a German editorialist advocates throwing in the towel with the piece "An Unwinnable War in Afghanistan" [Deutshe Welle in English]:

The growing threat is having the effect that soldiers are sticking close to their base camps and avoiding any contact to the civilian population, which then only shows increasing animosity towards the soldiers. Clearly, such a "spiral of alienation" is no help to the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The majority of Afghans in the relatively peaceful north are still amiable to the Germans, say the generals. But if even this support starts to dwindle, there will be consequences for the entire NATO mission. It may even be that the fight for a stable, peaceful Afghanistan can no longer be won.

While Germany is the workhorse EU's economy, their weak-kneed political will to finish the fight in Afghanistan leaves much to be desired. The fact that one suicide attack could inspire an editorial like this from a NATO ally shows that terrorism as a tactic has a strong political effect (a disturbing truth). As the commitment from our NATO allies wanes, it appears Afghanistan will be fought by the Anglosphere (U.S., Canada, Britain, and Australia) and, of course, the Afghan Security Forces. But Wired has an article today citing serious problems with Operation Enduring Freedom, and our troops and whoever remains of our allies deserve a much improved strategy.

Tired of Doom and Gloom in Afghanistan: Bouhammer talks about the necessity of Embedded Tactical Teams from a first-hand perspective, and The Captain's Journal discusses measured success with the Marines in the Helmand province.

NYT Op-Ed Basically Says Suburban Guys Are a Bunch of Wimps

American Dad About To Get His Lunch Money Taken

David Brooks, conservative columnist for the NY Times, has a Modo moment and attempts to assign specific characteristics to a broad part of the population. After saying that most suburban guys are absolutely distraught that Sharper Image went belly up, the overpriced store that had useless crap like a combination tie-rack/tazer, he proclaims that most stuffed shirts out in the burbs are simply looking for a little bit of order and "respectability" [NYT]:

If you wanted to pick words to capture Patio Man’s political ideals, they would be responsibility, respectability and order. Patio Man moved to his home because he wanted an orderly place where he could raise his kids. His ideal neighborhood is Mayberry with BlackBerries.

He doesn’t expect much of government. He believes that he is responsible for his own economic destiny. But he does expect government to provide him with a background level of order.

This Patio Man caricature sounds like a real asshole you would want to punch in the face as he's slurping down Margaritas at the Chi-Chi's happy hour. Is America so self-centered that people only determine their voting patterns based on the President ensuring an individual will have enough time to go golfing on the weekend? The latest campaign grumblings focusing specifically on whether or not you will get a tax cut seem to suggest this. The trend of democracy to focus on "What's in it For Me" is counter productive to the purpose of the federal government to protect rights on a country-wide level and defend national sovereignty. Everyone wants a ride on Uncle Sugar's train, and the politician who can provide the most goodies is probably going to win.

There may be a bunch of these "Patio Men" lurking in the burbs wondering why their neighbor's lawn is greener than theirs, but I hope there is a least a couple of "Duffel Bag Full of Guns Men" like Michael Douglas' character in Falling Down. A laid-off schmoe who is pissed off by the decay and bullshit of society and isn't afraid to confront it with an arsenal.