Well, crap...

Well, screw you Home Depot.

Long and boring story made short and boring.  My wife and I needed to replace our toilet, the old one had a cracked tank and had been slowly leaking for about a month... So we drop $300 at Home Depot and buy a nice new one. The instructions quite clearly call for 12" of distance between the bolts in the floor and the wall.  We've got 12.3", so its going to be a tight fit, but workable.

We set the thing up, and do a rough fit before we tighten all the screws... waaay less than .3", in fact its more like 0" of clearance. The tank is touching the wall... Well, crap, we say to ourselves but decide to proceed anyway. Leaks from every seal and the toilet is totally off level.  No way in hell that we can make this $300 toilet work.

So, I now have two toilets in my bathroom and I can't used either of them. Plus, a nice open pipe that leads straight to the sewer. ARRRGH!

I <3 Sarah Palin

Gov. Sarah Palin responds to a question in her downtown Anchorage office next to a grizzly her father shot in Denali Highway country. 

(Photo by Stephen Nowers / Anchorage Daily News)

Sarah Palin is the incumbent Governor of Alaska and former Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. A Journalist, she is the first Governor of Alaska born after Alaska was granted statehood. She took office at the age of 42, making her the youngest Governor in Alaska's short history, as well as the first woman Governor.

Gov. Palin's oldest child, and eldest son, Track, joined the Army on September 11, 2007, at the age of 18, and is schedule to deploy to Iraq later this year. Her youngest son, born just this year, is Trig Palin, who prenatal genetic testing had shown has Down syndrome. Her decision to have the baby was applauded by the pro-life community, and frankly should be applauded by anyone with a pulse.... Palin also has three daughters, Bristol, Piper, and Willow, who live at home in Wasilla. Husband Todd is a commercial fisherman. She is lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. Woot. 

“I am a lifetime member of the NRA, I support our Constitutional right to bear arms and am a proponent of gun safety programs for Alaska's youth […]” - Sarah Palin

Gov. Palin's political career began with two terms on the Wasilla City Council, then was elected Mayor for two terms. She was elected President of the Alaska Conference of Mayors. From Wiki:

In 2002, Palin made a failed bid to become the state's lieutenant governor, coming in second place behind Loren Leman in a four-way race, some say due to her inability to raise campaign contributions equal to that of her opponents. After Frank Murkowski became governor, resigning from his long-time U.S. Senate seat, Palin was considered by some to be a candidate for that job; however Murkowski appointed his daughter, then State Representative Lisa Murkowski.

Governor Murkowski did appoint Palin to serve as a commissioner on the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission which she served on during 2003–2004, but later resigned, in protest over what she perceived to be the "lack of ethics" of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders. This included the state party's chairman, Randy Ruedrich, a fellow commissioner, who was accused of doing work for the party on public time and providing a sensitive email to a lobbyist. She filed formal complaints against both Ruedrich and former state Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who was eventually found not guilty.

Hmmm, spunky and ethical! No wonder the mainstream media ignores her, while its busy deifying Oprah, Hillary, and Britney. A Republican takes on the RINO-infested Republican Party, and it ain't the media's former favorite Maverick, John McCain, but a woman in Alaska. But the Republican Party had a small comeuppance coming. 

In 2006 Palin took on the sitting Republican Governor Frank "Bridge To Nowhere" Murkowski in the Republican Primaries. She beat the party and Murkowski. Then she went on to the general election and whipped the former Governor, Tony Knowles, by 8 percentage points in a six-candidate race. Her plurality was 48%+. How many times have we sat back and groaned as the Party went out of its way to shove good candidates aside to protect lousy, incumbent Republicans in their re-election bids? Well, Palin fought them, beat them, and then beat the Democrat. And it turns out she has been so good as Governor that, in July 2007, Palin was heralded in the national media as being the most popular governor in the country, with an approval rating often in the 90+ range. An August 2007 poll had her approval rating at 84%, with 5% disapproving. Wonder who disapproved? Democrats, no doubt, wishing for a bigger government and more handouts.

Our next Commander in Chief? 

Wanna talk about a Maverick? Sarah Palin supports moving the Legislative sessions out of Juneau - the state Capital - on occasion. She also pushes sending the state's wealth back down to the municipalities. Which, of course, is where that wealth came from in the first place. This is Municipal Revenue Sharing, something the National Football League uses a form of to keep smaller teams in smaller cities afloat. And after all, the locals know far better what is needed in their town than some elected twit in the Capital. I know that's political Heresy to the Left, but it's a fact nevertheless. Palin seems to understand that a government's wealth comes only from taking it from those who actually worked for it. Governments do not make money, nor do they create wealth. Ever. They consume it, ravenously, if allowed. 

Maverick? When Palin was elected Governor, she decided Juneau had seen enough inaugurations. She moved the ceremonies to Fairbanks. Imagine the President of the United States being inaugurated in Pittsburgh, PA rather than in Washington, D.C. Where would all those Big Wigs and government muckety-mucks stay? And just who would they impress? I like Palin's idea. Maybe we ought to try it one of these days for the President's inauguration, eh?

Sarah Palin is not immune to the disease of government meddling in things economic. And she did not come out looking good. Again, from Wiki:

Gov. Palin received widespread criticism for her handling of Matanuska Maid Dairy, a state owned dairy. When the State Dairy Board recommend the closing of the unprofitable state owned business, Palin fired the board and appointed long-time MATSU Borough associates to run the board, including influential real estate businesswoman Kristan Cole. The new board quickly approved raising the price of milk offered by the dairy in a vain attempt to control hemorrhaging fiscal losses and despite the fact that milk from the state of Washington was already offered in Alaska for much less the Mat Maid milk. In the end the dairy was forced to close and the state tried to sell the assets to pay for its huge debts, but because the initial minimum asking price was set too high no bids were received.

I hope she understands now that government is not the answer to every problem. She does seem to.

“As Mayor and CEO of the booming city of Wasilla, my team invited investment and encouraged business growth by eliminating small business inventory taxes, eliminated personal property taxes, reduced real property tax mill levies every year I was in office, reduced fees, and built the infrastructure our businesses needed to grow and prosper.” - Sarah Palin

Heck, she's even gay freindly! Palin and her administration been receptive to GLBT concerns about discrimination. Palin signed same-sex benefits into law, and when they got challenged by the legislatue, Palin used her first veto on the legislation that would have barred the state from granting benefits to gay state employees and their partners. In effect, she personally granted State benefits to same-sex couples.  

Even if McCain/Palin loses in November, her presence on the ticket might just mean the final extinction of RINOs.

McCain/Palin `08?

Oh please, let this be true... strong speculation all across the interweb today that Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin is going to get the nod for Veep from McCain.

She's not my ideal choice for Vice-President, but only because I have higher hopes for her:

In which I fail to keep a deadline...

Well, no one is actually reading this blog... but I'm going to keep writing in it anyway. The workload for this Fall Semester is greater than I expected. I thought I'd be able to squeeze a chapter of Obama into each week's class reading schedule. Boy, was I wrong to hope for that.

So the actual main reason I created this blog will have to wait, probably until well past this November's Election Day. I'm not sure why I had settled on that day as personal "deadline," I mean, I have no readers and even if I did, I doubt I'd sway anyone’s opinions. Heck, I never even expected to be done by then, just started...

Oh well, c'est la vive... Hopefully I'll be able to get started by Inauguration Day. If Sen. Obama wins, my little project will have a small air of subversiveness to it. If Sen. McCain wins, well, I'll be able to type that much faster with the aid of the magical leprechaun and rainbow unicorns.

But, how about some actual content for today, eh? Marko Kloos, the Munchkin Wrangler extraordinare, has another essay on his blog where he nails it right on the head:

Every election ... turns into a sort of nose-holding game, where we are faced with the choice of sacrificing one of our guiding principles for another, purely on the speculation of which candidate is just a little less dangerous to those principles at that moment. If I want the candidate who recognizes my right to self-defense and a larger portion of my own paycheck, I have to tolerate his flag-waving authoritarianism and his religious favoritism. If I want the candidate who will keep his hands out of my sock drawer and his holy book out of my public school, I have to contend with his opinion that someone else has a claim to my paycheck as well, and that I can’t be trusted with the means to defend myself.

RTWT.

I voted Libertarian in 2000 and 2004; In 2000, then Gov. Bush was a corrupt oligarch, in what I though was the worst way possible for a politician... (Little did I know what Putin & Assoc. had planned). Vice President Al Gore, well, I saw in him a continuation of all the failures of the Clinton presidency, but with no promise to continue any of its successes, which I saw as being largely attributable to Bill's charisma.

In 2004, well, I still disliked Bush for all of the reasons I had in 1999/2000, and he had piled up a whole slew of new reasons for me to dislike him. But Sen. Kerry... well, heck, he was 'Anti-' everything that I was 'Pro-' and vice-versa. Except on days when he wasn't. Or he was Anti-X before he was Pro-Y. 'Flip-flop' and 'waffle' are phrases that I feel get bounced around to casually in politics these days, but Sen. Kerry worked overtime to earn those labels.

So I voted Libertarian, and I got nothing to show for it. Heck, I didn't even get my views represented by the Libertarian Party in the next presidential rat race... The LP candidate this year is Bob Barr! For the love of Thomas Paine, people, what are you thinking!

So, I backed Fred Thompson in the 2008 Primary. To say that he failed miserably would be an understatement, and I'm stuck voting for Sen. McCain. I am once again forced to vote for a giant douche or a turd sandwich. Hurrah for democracy!

The "Do Nothing" Congress

Sixty-seven days until the next election, and only 130 days until we swear in the next Congress. The 110th Congress swept into office after the 2006 Elections in what can only be called a huge win for the Democratic Party.

In the 110th Congress, Democrats are the controlling majority in both chambers. (The last time they had such control was the 103rd Congress in 1995.) In Election `06, not one Democratic-held seat was won by a Republican challenger, and they gained enough GOP seats to kick the Republicans into the minority.

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) became the first woman Speaker of the House, where she reigns over 233 Democrats and 202 Republicans. Robert Byrd (D-WV) got bumped up to the big chair of Senate Pro Tem, where he's had a 51 to 49 majority for most of his time in office.

The Democrats won Congress in landslide; The public hates George W. Bush; the economy has tanked; and the war is incredibly unpopular...

We should have hand two years of almost non-stop liberal legislation, right? Hope and change should be flowing forth from Washington like water through the levies in New Orleans (after Karl Rove and Dick Cheney dynamited them.)

After all, in 2004 John Kerry (D-MA) and John Edwards (D-NC) ran for the Oval Office on a platform that promised jobs at home, respect abroad, and free health care for all. The rapidly upcoming presidential election kicked off with primaries that started before Sen. Kerry had even finished his concession speech... with a huge stable of Democratic Congresscritters running: Bayh, Biden, Clinton, Daschle, Dean, Dodd, Feingold, Kucinich, Obama, plus four governors, three former congressmen, a two term former Veep, and one assumes a partridge in (an organic, fair-trade) pear-tree.

Every single one of these people promised "hope" and "change," even if it wasn't until about a third of the way into the New Hampshire that Sen. Obama's staffers headed down to the copyright office to make "Change®" a registered trademark of the Committee to Hope for Believing in Change, LLC.

So... the Democrats have a lock on Congress, and a whole slew of them are out explaining to every television camera they can find all about their plans to make America a better place. Do they do ANYTHING to make it happen in their current jobs? Not a blessed thing.

This recent article in the Wall Street Journal summarizes the 110th Congress’s actions since inauguration day in January 2007, thusly: “In two decades of record keeping, no sitting Congress has passed fewer public laws at this point in the session — 294 so far — than this one.” Only weeks before, Time offered up a equally maudlin report: “The 260 laws passed by the 110th Congress represent a 30-year low, and they include the naming of 74 post offices, not to mention the nonbinding resolutions designating July National Watermelon Month and recognizing dirt as an essential natural resource.”

Let's hear it for the most conservative Congress in our nation's history! Three cheers for Nancy Pelosi, our new Regan! Hip! Hip! Huh? What?

That's right, I think the utter failure of the Democratic 110th Congress is a good thing. “That government is best which governs least,” Thomas Paine famously wrote in Civil Disobedience, and the Founding Fathers drafted first the Articles of Confederation and then the U.S. Constitution to enshrine that very principal. To a conservative/libertarian, like me, smaller government is better government. The less laws Congress passes, means the less Congress is interfering in my life.

So, despite all of the Democrats high rhetoric and carefully laid plans, their sheer incompetence at their jobs as legislatures and their obsession with winning the Oval Office has caused them - quite inadvertently, I'm sure - to be a truly outstanding example of why limited government works.

Please, don't mistake my satisfaction with their ability to do much with approval of what little they did do. The 110th Congress has not been perfect. Irresponsible largesse and wasteful legislation has squeaked through in the form of, to name only three, the Farm Bill and the minimum-wage hike. Congress has declined to approve free-trade agreements, went on vacation instead of even having a debate on whether or not to debate an energy bill, and has left military personnel wondering whether they will receive proper funding to fight the War on Terror.

The Pursuit Of…

Once again one of my favorite blogs makes me question my ability to do this. LabRat, one of the two phenomenally gifted writers at Atomic Nerds wrote a piece that has summed up something I've being feeling for a long time, but could never figure out how to say:

It’s no coincidence that this ideal of ultimate happiness is not found within any traditional religion. In the major Western religions, the goal of life is to live according to the will of God. This may lead you to great success, or this may lead you to a Job-like existence of suffering, but that’s the plan, and your goal is to try and comprehend it and find peace within it.

RTWT. Maybe oneda, my blogg will be half as good.

"Reform" ballot proposal halted.

A state appellate court voted unanimously to remove a sweeping and controversial government reform initiative from the ballot, the Detroit News reports.

The ballot proposal, backed by Michigan Democrats and called Reform Michigan Government Now!, includes so many provisions that it is a "general revision" of the state constitution, which only a constitutional convention can accomplish, the court ruled in an opinion issued shortly before 6 p.m.

"Therefore, the constitutional power of a (citizen-led) initiative does not extend to this proposal," said the order signed by Judges Bill Schuette, William Whitbeck and Patrick Meter. "Consequently the initiative petition does not meet the constitutional prerequisites for acceptance."

The court ordered Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land and the Board of State Canvassers not to place the measure on the ballot.

The initiative, pushed by a group called "Reform Michigan Government Now," was pitched as series of good-government reforms to shrink and streamline the state government. In reality, the ballot initiative was designed to shift partisan control of all three branches of Michigan's government into the Democratic Party's hands.

Federalist Society debates gay marriage.

A fascinating "debate" between a small handful of relatively prominent conservative academics on the subject of gay marriage recently hosted by the Federalist Society.

On the one hand, I'm rather happy that the anti-marriage half of the debate clearly lost – the 'Fed Soc' is hugely influential in conservative academia, which as a result their views tend to 'trickle down' into the broader conservative movement (and thus, eventually, the Republican party). So the idea that the GOP might sooner than latter get over their objections to gay marriage is a big win in my book.

On the other hand, I do kinda wish the anti-marriage side had presented their case a little bit better. Frankly, I think that this really "the best they can do," and that is why I think they're just plain destined to fail. It has been my experience – anecdotal and not rigorously scientific, of course – that conservatives tend to reject policy positions that cannot be advocated without resorting to emotion; Conservatism seems to me to be grounded more in logic and rationality than liberalism.

Consider the "gun control" debate; time and time again, the anti-gun rights movement attempts to advance their position through scare tactics, misdirection, exploiting freak tragedies, and the constantly repeated liberal battle-cry of "It's for the children!" The pro-gun rights side refutes all this with statistics, reason, and rational debate.

For the curious, I support the extension of legal marriage – as marriage and not "civil unions" or any other bureaucratic handwavium – to homosexual couples. I do not support the (admittedly incredibly fringe) minority of homosexuals that want to a) force churches opposed to doing so perform the ceremony, b) make non-monogamous marriages normal or widely accepted, or c) extend marriage to anything other than a union between two, consenting, adult humans.

Godwin's Law

On this day in history, the German people in one of the biggest invocations of Godwin's Law ever created of the position Führer, with 89.9% of the popular vote going in favor of giving Adolf Hitler a cooler sounding job-title, but oddly enough, no shiny new hat.

C'mon, Adolf... what's the point in grabbing universal dictatorial powers and not getting yourself a spiffy hat?

Testing.

Testing. Testing.

(Is this thing on?)

I can haz a blog?

My freinds have blogs. My wife has a blog. My favorite authors all have blogs. In fact, some of my favorite authors don't author anything but blogs. I was starting to feel a little left out.

I've tried the blog thing before, and failed, so, uh, what the hell, here's attempt number three. Because I have read (on other blogs, where else) that the easiest way to stay consistent with your blog is to have a theme I've settled on one: The Audacity of Hope by Senator Barrack Obama.

I plan to read this 288 page book, which in addition to being an autobiography has been described as a blueprint for Sen. Obama's presidency, and I'm going to blog my way through it. One chapter at a time. So this blog will serve as a sort of extended book report, and maybe if it attracts any kind of readership this blog can act as a kind of extended internet book club.

A quick bit of background, I'm a self-described conservative. I align myself pretty strongly with conservitive ideals (life, liberty, property) and organizations (NRA, Pink Pistols, NRLC). So I'm going to be approaching the book with that point of view in mind...

Does this mean that I am biased? Yes. Of course it does. Does that matter? Yes. Of course it does... if you want to read a review of the man's book by his sychophants there are plenty of other websites and blogs for that. So go read them.

I'll interupt my book report with posts about other thigns that catch my interest. I'll also probably try to pad my post-count with funny pictures and assorted snark.If this blog lasts past December, or attracts one reader, I'll consider it a huge success.