RAG Perspective: An American Pro-Liberty Conservative: Miscellany: 8/25/12

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Miscellany: 8/25/12

Quote of the Day
Language does have the power to change reality.
Therefore, treat your words as the mighty instruments they are--
to heal,
to bring into being,
to remove, as if by magic, the terrible violations of childhood,
to nurture,
to cherish,
to bless,
to forgive--
to create from the whole cloth of your soul,
true love.
Daphne Rose Kingma

Neil Armstrong: RIP

I believe this nation should commit itself, to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. - JFK, 5/25/61

Is there any possible goal more symbolic than being the first man to set foot on the moon? John Kennedy's iconic goal seemed an improbable ambition at the time. I know some of my younger readers were born after the event. Where was I? Unfortunately, not near a TV--we had a radio. My Dad had returned from his Southeast Asia isolated tour, and we were living in a south Texas apartment/hotel, waiting for family housing on the Air Force Base to become available; our household goods were in transit. I remember hearing Armstrong's immortal "one small step, one giant leap" line but unsure of when exactly his foot hit the lunar surface. I'm not sure what I expected--maybe something like Times Square on New Year's Eve, with a countdown and ensuing hoopla: Armstrong doing a touchdown or happy dance, perhaps breaking out singing Sinatra's "Fly Me To the Moon". Instead, I remember long pauses, and rather unremarkable, almost monotonic chatter.

It seemed rather odd: Armstrong had the kind of fame politicians could only dream of; however, he was intensely private. I reviewed a Wikipedia article on his post-Apollo career; he lived a comfortable life and joined several corporate boards, probably very lucrative. But, unlike Glenn (D) or Schmitt (R), Armstrong never wanted a political career--while, like Eisenhower, he was probably an instant Presidential contender in whatever party he chose. The cited article only hints of his political beliefs; apparently he favored state rights and didn't like our being the world's policeman. Those positions are consistent with libertarian-conservatives (like Ron Paul and yours truly) or other Old Right conservatives (e.g., paleoconservatives like Pat Buchanan).

All American boys dream of being a sports star, maybe an important business executive, fireman or policeman, or the President. But on that one day, at that moment of time, we all wanted to be Neil Armstrong. There's still a sense of magic about the program; I have had the opportunity to be a NASA contractor on two occasions during my professional IT career, once as a FORTRAN programmer (related to space shuttle application software) at Clear Lake City, and the second as an Oracle DBA at GSFC. (Granted, it's not as cool as being an astronaut, but you still identify with the mission.)

Neil Armstrong is an icon of American history, and he will be missed. My thoughts and prayers with his surviving family and friends.

Courtesy of Crony Chronicles, image by iamkaspar
HT: Carpe Diem

The Unholy Alliance:

Big Government, Big Business, Big Labor

The Bastard Children of Corporatism

In Pueblo, Colo., on [Aug. 9], Obama said, “Now, I want to do the same thing with manufacturing jobs, not just in the auto industry, but in every industry.”

Later in Colorado Springs, Colo., he put it this way: “I want to say what we did with the auto industry, we can do it in manufacturing across America.”

According to 2006 Nobel Prize economist Edmund S. Phelps and Saifedean Ammous

Now the capitalist system has been corrupted. The managerial state has assumed responsibility for looking after everything from the incomes of the middle class to the profitability of large corporations to industrial advancement. This system, however, is not capitalism, but rather an economic order that harks back to Bismarck in the late nineteenth century and Mussolini in the twentieth: corporatism.

In various ways, corporatism chokes off the dynamism that makes for engaging work, faster economic growth, and greater opportunity and inclusiveness. It maintains lethargic, wasteful, unproductive, and well-connected firms at the expense of dynamic newcomers and outsiders, and favors declared goals such as industrialization, economic development, and national greatness over individuals’ economic freedom and responsibility. Today, airlines, auto manufacturers, agricultural companies, media, investment banks, hedge funds, and much more has at some point been deemed too important to weather the free market on its own, receiving a helping hand from government in the name of the “public good.”

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cronies

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cronies
Don't let 'em pick favorites or vote for lame ducks
Make 'em be owners and plumbers and such

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cronies
They'll find you at home and never leave you alone
Or all of the people you love

You Should See What They Do
If the Kid Wears a Longhorn T-Shirt...

Kindergarten kids wearing non-Oklahoma university gear violate the local school dress code: 5-year-old Cooper Barton of Oklahoma City was forced to wear his family's favored University of Michigan shirt inside out. "The rule is among many restricting clothing and dress in the city schools. It came into effect in 2005 after suggestions from a gang task force. On the list of banned items, non-Oklahoma college dress falls directly in between gang symbol haircuts and "satanic cult dress, ~~Texas gear~~, witchcraft, and related symbols.""

Whew! It's a good thing that crimson red isn't a gang color...

It's really pathetic when a policy is openly discriminatory to team shirts from other states.

News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports |

New JOTY Nominee

On a media conference call about the Globe story, Stephanie Cutter, Obama’s deputy campaign manager, said the story proves that Romney had “full control” of Bain during this time and “therefore directly responsible” for decisions made at companies in which Bain invested. “Either Mitt Romney, through his own words and his own signature, was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the SEC, which is a felony. Or he was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the American people to avoid responsibility for some of the consequences of his investments,” Cutter said.

First, the abominable Obama campaign has resurrecting an issue that had already been dismissed during Romney's 2002 campaign. Opponent O'Brien's campaign specifically addressed Romney's signature on some 2001 Bain SEC documents. Bain attorney Malt confirmed that Romney did not handle operational management activities at Bain after 2/11/99 and his signature simply reflected his ongoing ownership status. GST Steel CEO Essig confirmed that Romney did not participate in the relevant plant's closure decision.

Second, FactCheck and other fact checkers have not found any evidence in referenced SEC documents or otherwise that Romney was actively involved in operational management of Bain after his February 1999 leave of absence. The SEC does not require a managing director to identify the nature and extent of his participation in operational management. Romney's departure to head the Olympics' rescue effort was abrupt, without a succession plan, and "managing director" status simply reflected his transitional ownership interest.

Cutter joins an already crowded field of Democrats for this year's tongue-in-cheek honor/dishonor of boorish Democrats, including Barbara Boxer, Hilary Rosen, and Martha Johnson.