Newt Gingrich is So Over

by Crocker May 16, 2011

I’ve expressed my reservations about Newt Gingrich before and I’m sorry to say that Newt proved me right over the weekend. He appeared on Meet the Press and endorsed – more or less – ObamaCare’s individual mandate. The transcript tells the sorry tale: GINGRICH: well, i agree that all of us have a responsibility to [...]

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Bin Laden is Dead!

by Crocker May 2, 2011

We got the bastard. And it was done by Navy Seals – apparently at close range. The spontaneous celebrations are the release of ten years of rage. I’ll be smoking a good cigar and sampling a choice libation in honor of his passing – and his ignominious burial at sea. He sleeps with the fishes. [...]

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Durham Cathedral Sunday

by Crocker May 1, 2011

It’s been a while since I indulged in a Durham Cathedral Sunday, but here goes. The following is a nice montage of views of the thousand year old wonder with the cathedral organist playing deeply meditative music. Enjoy.

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Oil Spills Are Not “Environmental Catastrophes”

by Crocker April 30, 2011

Obviously, oil spills are messy and unpleasant – and to be avoided. But are they “catastrophes” in the perfervid language of contemporary environmentalism – events causing irreparable or even persistent damage? Clearly not. First, consider some facts. During World War II, thousands of ships were sunk and millions of gallons of oil spilled. In merchant [...]

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All Eyes on Bernanke – The Press Conference

by Crocker April 27, 2011

All eyes are on Ben Bernanke, who’s set to conduct his first formal press conference at the end of the Fed meeting at around 2.15 PM ET. As I noted a couple of days ago, Fed chairmen don’t generally do pressers during Fed meetings. Fed proceedings usually have all the transparency of the College of [...]

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The EPA: A Clear and Present Danger – to the American People

by Crocker April 26, 2011

I’ve come to believe that the EPA – not to mention the entire Administration – is a clear and present danger to American people. We live a country blessed by Almighty God with extraordinary resources and the human-haters in the EPA spend their time making sure that we can can’t use any of it. Lisa [...]

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Washington, Taxes and Potomac Fever. Or is it Reefer Madness?

by Crocker April 26, 2011

Serious question: is there something in the Washington, DC water supply that muddles thought processes, dissipates principle and collectivizes behavior? Those of us who have reason to be in DC on a regular basis will know what I’m talking about. Particularly among the political class, a normal right-thinker has about a year before the infection [...]

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Sarah Palin for Fed Chair?

by Crocker April 25, 2011

Generally, Fed Chairmen don’t do press conferences. Ben Bernanke appears to be breaking tradition, however, with the presser scheduled for Wednesday. The advanced billing is that the event is an attempt to get out ahead of the emerging story: that the Fed’s quantitative easing and purchases of US debt have done no particular good and [...]

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Dearborn, Michigan: Turning Terry Jones into a Martyr

by Crocker April 25, 2011

As Dodd Harris recently noted, “even asshats have Constitutional rights”. And Terry Jones – Koran-burning Florida pastor – is certainly that. Yet, his recent run-in with the law in Dearbornistan was a textbook exercise in Constitutional violation. Jones was planning to demonstrate outside Dearborn’s large mosque and was prevented from doing so on the grounds [...]

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Military Monday: MITO

by Crocker April 25, 2011

That’s “Minimum Interval Take Off” for the uninitiated. In the bad old days of the Cold War, the US strategic deterrent rested on a “triad” of land-based ICBMs (Titan, Minuteman and MX), submarine-launched ICBMs (Polaris, Posidon and Trident) and a strategic bomber force (B-47s, B-52s, B-58s and, later, B-1s). It was the bomber part of [...]

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Let’s Liquidate the Kulaks!

by Crocker April 21, 2011

As my British friends would say, there’s crazy and then there’s barking mad. This bunch is barking mad. Power Shift 2011 appears to be an astroturf “environmental” organization embraced by Hope ‘n Change and Nancy Pelosi. God only knows who funds them. The theme seems to be that we should get rid of economic growth [...]

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Don’t Try This at Home

by Crocker April 21, 2011

And now for a palate-cleanser. I’ve always admired strength and agility like this – not that I’d be insane enough to try these stunts. Kinda makes a mockery of building security, doesn’t it?

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Cameron Carpenter the Amazing

by Crocker April 20, 2011

Last Saturday night, my wife and I attended an extraordinary performance by virtuoso organist Cameron Carpenter at the Merrill Auditorium in Portland. He performed on the Kotchzmar Organ, which is the crown jewel of the refurbished auditorium. On Sunday, he celebrated his 30th birthday and the house enthusiastically sang him “Happy Birthday” after his performance. [...]

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NATO: Losing the Libyan Air War

by Crocker April 20, 2011

NATO is losing the air war in Libya – because it is relying on air power alone to get the job done. Not that I think that NATO or anyone else should have intervened in Libya, mind you, but the inability to take down Libyan ground forces through use of tactical air power was surely [...]

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Jesse Jackson, Jr. and the 2011 Darwin Award

by Crocker April 19, 2011

Remember the Darwin Awards? Those sometimes apocryphal tales about people who remove themselves from the collective gene pool through some act of sublime stupidity. Naturally, most awards are posthumous but there are a few in which the recipient managed – against all odds – to survive. Like “Lawn Chair Larry”, for instance. I think Congressman [...]

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U.S. Government Debt Default – 1930s Style

by Crocker April 19, 2011

Has the United States government ever repudiated its lawful debts? You bet – in 1933. By chance, I ran across a two-year old note by Alex Pollock on the American Enterprise Institute website. It’s a brief but fascinating read and perhaps more prophetic than we imagine. The story goes like this. To finance the First [...]

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Whittaker Chambers vs. Ayn Rand

by Crocker April 18, 2011

I note with interest the release of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged as a major motion picture. There have been some good reviews and some passable ones but I do plan to see the film at some point. I’m attempting to re-read Atlas Shrugged in dribs and drabs – mostly drabs. I’ve never been an Ayn [...]

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Walter Mondale’s Fuzzy Memory

by Crocker April 18, 2011

Remember Walter Mondale? Former senator from Minnesota, Jimmy Carter’s Veep and 1984 presidential candidate (last seen filling in for Paul Wellstone after Wellstone’s 2002 death in a plane crash)? Nice man, honorable man, but somewhat fuzzy on the history. In an op-ed in last Friday’s Washington Port entitled, “As in 1984, We Need the Courage [...]

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Patriots’ Day 2011

by Crocker April 18, 2011

Once again it’s Patriots’ Day in Maine and Massachusetts. For all you flatlanders out there, Patriots’ Day commemorates Paul Revere’s famous ride and the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord (‘the shot heard ’round the world’). The rest of the country knows Patriots’ Day chiefly for the running of the Boston Marathon. It’s a holiday in [...]

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Back in the Saddle

by Crocker April 17, 2011

Please forgive my four-month silence. Work demands – and the stress that goes with it – sapped most of my energy for writing or other creative effort. Hopefully, however, I’ll have a lull to blog and to begin a long-planned writing project. Please stay tuned.

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Welcome to the Regulatory State: The FCC Internet Takeover

by Crocker December 22, 2010

Even after 300 members of Congress and the federal courts have said ‘no jurisdiction’, the FCC on a 3-2 vote asserts jurisdiction over the Internet. I’ve read a number of news articles so far, all happily discussing whether this or that provision in the FCC rules are good or bad for particular members of the [...]

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Military Monday: The “164th Marines”

by Crocker December 13, 2010

The National Guard has both a proud and mixed legacy. Because Guard units are traditionally hometown-based, they are generally commanded by officers and NCOs who are both older and more sedentary than regular units. In World War II, many Guard units federalized during the 1940-41 mobilization performed poorly in combat in the early going. The [...]

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Invade Mexico?

by Crocker December 12, 2010

Over at Red State, there’s a fascinating post on the situation with a lawless Mexico and the implications for US security. The author (LaborUnionReport) speculates concerning the possible invasion of Mexico to secure our border and root out the all-powerful cartels. Part of his speculation is whether we should annex Mexico as our 51st state [...]

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Kristi Noem: Quick to Disappoint

by Crocker December 12, 2010

That didn’t take long. The Republicans’ new shining star, South Dakota Congresswoman-elect Kristi Noem, is already hard at work alienating the very people who created the new House majority. From the PlainsDaily, via Transterrestrial Musings and Instapundit: Newly Elected Congresswoman Kristi Noem of South Dakota says that ethanol subsidies are important to her state and [...]

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Meet Mark Lloyd: The FCC’s “Diversity Boss”

by Crocker December 11, 2010

When I was a boy – and way before the web – I was heavily involved in amateur radio. On the commercial shortwave bands, it was the politics of the world, delivered to my bedroom. I could tell the stations broadcasting from communist countries because of the dreary, robotic, stultifying propaganda. There was no imagination, [...]

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