The Razor

I have two dogs. Our main dog is a black chihuahua and our backup dog is a black lab-border collie mix. I grew up with dogs and know my way around them whether they are big or small, wimpy or domineering. However tonight I made a stupid mistake and got one of the nastier bites I’ve received from a dog.

After running an errand the dogs were happy to arrive home. They are also happy to “go bye-bye” but they are dogs, so they are also happy to come home. Now the lab mix and I attended training classes and she behaves herself fairly well. She’ll obey commands unless she’s distracted. The chi won’t obey anything, and since he’s older – and a chihuahua – I pretty much don’t try to train him. Anyway we get home and as soon as I open the door the chi bolts down the alley. I call out to him but he ignores me. The lab gets out of the car and looks at me. “Get your brother,” I tell her, and on command she runs off after the chi – not to corral him as I had hoped but to have a run down the alley herself.

Since she listens – most of the time – I run after the chihuahua; he eventually gives up and rolls over onto his back which his way of saying “I’m done now; pick me up and carry me back home.” So I pick him up and I command the lab to follow.

She obediently does but as we are passing the next door neighbor his dog, a long legged and beefy mix of something bolts the fence; immediately the lab and the neighbors dog start tearing at each other. The neighbor comes running as I yell at the dogs to break it up; I have one hand free and the other holding the chihuahua.  I cannot let the chi go because he’s 9 pounds and a chihuahua. I quickly learn that you cannot separate two dogs with one hand, especially a forty pounder (mine) and an eighty pounder (my neighbor’s). Of course as I am trying to grab one of the dogs by the collars the neighbor’s dog bites my hand, piercing the thin skin on the back of my hand as well as the thicker skin of my palm.

Being in IT my hands aren’t as thick as a mason’s or a landscaper’s but I do a fair amount of yard work and carpentry so the skin of my palm isn’t exactly girlish either. Nevertheless the neighbor’s dog bit a nice chunk out of it – enough that I was dripping blood while trying to break up the dogfight.

My lab’s name matches her sensitive nature. She one of the gentlest animals I own. But she’s a dog, and for some reason known only to her she doesn’t like the neighbor’s dog. She wasn’t cowering: she was going for the other dog’s throat. The neighbor ended up picking her up with one hand as I finally got a grip on his dog with my bleeding one. He carried her into my fenced yard while I held his dog back, and boy she really strained to get at mine.

The point of this is not to blame my neighbor for the fact that his dog jumped the fence as easily as one of our cats leaps onto the sofa, rather it is what he said after the fact “I didn’t think she could do that.”

Dogs are animals but they are also our pets, and as such we believe we know them and understand them completely. That might be true 99.9% of the time; the problem occurs during that .1% when they manage to surprise us. Although the lab-mix has never bitten another human, I always hold her leash tightly when a child approaches her wanting to give her a pet. In fact to use a driving analogy, I manage the dog the same way I handle driving: defensively. I try to always anticipate what could go wrong and plan ahead just like I do with the idiot drivers from New Jersey who infest our Philadelphia area highways.

But there are the times when I don’t and I let her run down the alley after “her brother.” The chihuahua isn’t her brother, and she is not a child who can be ordered around to do my bidding. I broke the cardinal rule of dog ownership and forgot she was just a dog.

It was a stupid mistake on my part, and luckily for me no one but me was hurt. This time.

In this WSJ Op-Ed, New Republic assistant editor James Kirchuck suggests that it’s time for the GOP to give up its traditional gay bashing. I completely agree. I’ve never understood how the party of small government wants a minimal role for government everywhere except the bedroom. Meanwhile the Democrats hold the opposite point of view (although in fairness, Obama’s position regarding gay marriage is more inline with the traditional Republican): Democrats want government intervention (the economy, the environment, the workplace) everywhere EXCEPT the bedroom.

The GOP position has been in line with its religious right base; the question becomes: if the GOP gave up its opposition to gay marriage, would it lose the support of the religious right? On the surface it appears that there is much to lose and little to gain from the switch. Most gays would continue to support the Democrats while the religious right could sit on its hands and simply not vote in November.

However the gay community isn’t monolithic and it is becoming even more diverse and dynamic. While the Log Cabin Republicans might seem the equivalent today of am all-black regiment of the Ku Klux Klan, as gays become mainstream they will continue to adopt more mainstream concerns over issues that the Republicans have better answers for then the Democrats. As discrimination barriers have fallen, there will be more interest in things like lower taxes, better schools for their kids, and more accountable government. These are Republican issues, and it seems stupid for the party to pretend that it’s stuck in 1950 by ignoring natural allies just because they are gay.

At the same time I don’t want to see the Republican Party turn its back on the religious right, and giving up the fight against gay marriage will destabilize the relationship. But of the two parties the Republicans remain the staunch defenders of religious freedom and rights; where the Democrats have developed the perception deservedly or not that they are antagonistic to Religion,  the Republicans are seen as staunch supporters of religious freedom not only in the United States but in China, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Religious leaders must recognize that while they may lose the issue of gay marriage, the party as a whole will get stronger, and the Republican party remains the best vehicle for the protection of religious freedom in the United States. Giving up on the party would be the equivalent of cutting of one’s nose to spite one’s face; in short the religious right has much more influence within the GOP than outside of it.

As Glenn Reynolds writes, “Happily married gay couples with closets full of assault weapons. That’s my vision for America, and it’s a good one.” That works for me.

Congratulations to this week’s winners:

Council: Wolf Howling: Palin in Comparison

Noncouncil: The Anchoress: Obama, McCain, Palin & Generosity

Full voting here.

...the Grand Ol’ Party. Republicans, for all the faults of their party, tend to be more laid back and willing to poke fun at themselves and their politicians – unlike the Democrats who have fallen into a cultish mentality when it comes to their candidate. Anyone is fair game to them, anyone except the Obamassiah himself.

This is a complete reversal from the 1980’s when the GOP was the party of Ed Meese’s anti-porn crusade. Of course even back then it was Al Gore’s wife Tipper that led the charge against explicit music lyrics.

I realized this once again when reading the Top 7 Myths, Lies and Untruths About Sarah Palin. Anyone who thinks that these are quotes from extremist websites should consider that my 87 year old mother, who only touches a computer to dust around it, told me on Labor Day that she had heard the first two. Unfortunately she believed them.

And that was before I had even heard them.

What made me realize that the Democratic Party was Victorian and conservative was this pic, showing a photoshopped Sarah Palin on the head of another woman.

Now consider for a moment that someone decided to take a picture of a very attractive woman, Sarah Palin, and put it on a woman with a hot body wearing an American flag-themed bikini and holding a sniper rifle.

What is the purpose of this photograph? The purpose of the photograph is to make Gov. Palin look unfit to be Vice President and by virtue of the title, unfit for the Oval Office. Obviously she’s a sexy, gun-loving patriot.  But what does the selection of the photograph show about the person behind the fakery?

1. Women can’t be in power and sexy at the same time. Imagine Hillary in a bikini or even worse, Diane Feinstein. Want to scrape your mind out with an ice cream scoop now? Yeah, me too.
2. Guns are bad, and anyone who likes them is a crazed lunatic. Michael Moore proved this in his documentary Bowling for Colombine. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold didn’t kill 13 people at Colombine: 150 million American law-abiding gun owners did.
3. Patriotism is bad, especially when that patriotism appears backed by a gun. True patriots dissent and hate America – like Michelle Obama and Noam Chomsky.
4. The woman in the picture that the faker wants us to believe is Sarah Palin hangs out with smokers, and we all know that smokers are the lowest form of life; also that second-hand smoke may be why her daughter Bristol’s baby was born with Down Syndrome.

Hear that sound? That shuffling sound you hear is all the tin-foil crowd moving over to the Left. Good riddance! They were messing up my wifi signals anyway.

As the social conservative wing of the party weakens, the pro-freedom, libertarian-leaning wing of the party is in the ascendancy, making the party more humane and dare I say it, fun. For the sake of the country and the party I hope the trend continues. Although I don’t drink myself and am 100% monogamous, I’m all for Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy! in America. And no more fireworks bans either!

Tonight was the first time I’ve ever heard her, and she definitely hit the mark. The MSM seems to agree for what it’s worth. Lots of charm and wit as well as delicious soundbites:

The presidential campaign is not a journey of self-discovery.

One man (Obama) uses Change to promote his career. Another man (McCain) has used his Career to promote change.

Overall the speech proved that she’s McCain’s VP and given the excitement of the Republican audience, she’s going to stay McCain’s VP.

Media bias? What media bias?

This media bias.

No surprise since the man behind these covers is also behind this one…

And this one…

Jann Wenner.

Jann tends to take things personally. He’s kept the likes of Rush and Kiss out of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame because he dislikes their music. Jann can do this because he’s co-founded and is a vice-chairman of the Cleveland-based museum. It’s also possible that the Us cover serves another non-political purpose: the New York post reported in June that he’s interested in selling the magazine – and the bigger the circulation the more money he’ll make off it – and turning an inane gossip magazine into a political scandal sheet is bound to boost circulation.

Jann Wenner is proof that freedom of the press goes to anyone who owns the press. Using his formidable business empire to champion the Obama cause has pushed him into another role: the unofficial Minister of Propaganda for the Obama Machine.

Yet at the end of the day I still listen to Rush and Kiss on the radio and download their music, and US magazine is a mag the Wife flips through while in line at the grocery store but never buys (she usually purchases Vanity Fair). Jann Wenner might have his little empire but in the end Time will decide who deserves to be in the R&R HOF and whether the Obama will become president.

There’s nothing worse than aging hippies…

The day started off for me waking up at 4am in severe pain followed by emergency root canal 4 hours later. The day went downhill from there.

Some nights just crawling into a bed is a victory.

Condi is traveling to Libya and it appears that I can now add going to Carthage on my life’s “to-do list.” Qom should be on that list, but it’s going to be awhile before it makes it.

If she were a lesbian having the baby or straight and having an abortion the Democrats would be jealous that Gov. Sarah Palin wasn’t a Democrat and their VP.

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds suggests that they could have kept the issue out of the press by leaking that John Edwards was the father.

I’ve lived in Delaware for 11 years now and while I’m not a native my immigrant status does bring some perspective to life in the nation’s second smallest state. Delaware used to be a mixed red/blue state; however for the past 8 years it has been dominated by Democrats. Both senators are Democrats and have been since Sen. Bill Roth retired in Jan 2001. Democrats have run the statehouse since 1993 and the current governor Ruth Ann Minner (D) is one of the least popular politicians of either party in Delaware. Even the State Senate is run by the Democrats. Only the Delaware House and the state’s lone congressman are Republican, and the latter, Congressman Mike Castle isn’t that hardcore; he was one of the few Republicans to vote against the Surge in Iraq and tends to be more liberal than the rest of the party. Is he a RINO - Republican In Name Only? Although the Freepers at Free Republic think so, I think he’s too decent a man to insult with that label. Besides, with my Democratic background, support of gay rights and wildlife conservation the freepers probably think I’m a RINO.

Given that one of our senators, Joe Biden, is on the Democratic ticket this November, and a win by Obama could place all of the federal government into the hands of a single party, it’s worth taking a look at what single-party politics have done in Biden’s home state of Delaware.

The state of the commonwealth of Delaware isn’t good and politicians from both parties are promising change. But can Democrats deliver on change after having been the status quo for so many years?

Schools
Local schools are substandard compared to neighboring states, are top-heavy with administrative staff and riddled with corruption. Years of budget shortfalls even when the national economy was booming and after a bond issue was passed has resulted in deteriorating schools,  axed extra-curricular programs and unmotivated teaching staff. Some of the blame has been placed on President Bush’s “no child left behind” initiative, yet public education continues to struggle in Delaware compared with neighboring states.

Delaware public schools are funded at the 8th highest in the nation – but have historically performed at the middle of the pack or lower. The substandard public school system in Delaware is one of the state’s dirty little secrets, and one that the Democrats running the state have done nothing to improve. School voucher programs have been quietly defunded, and reformists have been chased off school boards rife with nepotism and corruption. Meanwhile parents either cough up the money for Tower Hill, Salesianum and other private schools – or leave.

Infrastructure
The Indian River Bridge project trumpeted by the Minner administration as a “fine example of how our state agencies work together for the benefit of all our citizens,” has poured tens of millions of dollars into one of the biggest fiascos in state history.

The Indian River bridge connects the long, thin peninsula on the state’s southeastern Atlantic shore to the rest of the state, with a large open bay on one side and the Atlantic ocean on the other. Over the past few decades the tides have scoured away support for the existing pilings, compromising the integrity of the bridge.  The bidding process for the bridge turned out to have been mishandled, and about $20 million worth of work will have to be redone.

Health Care
Trouble at the Delaware Psychiatric Center has festered for years with plenty of promises from the Minner administration but no results. Yet it is the Republicans, specifically House Majority Leader Richard C. Cathcart and Rep. Gregory F. Lavelle, R-Sharpley, who have campaigned for reform – starting with the head of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services Vince Meconi.

Unexplained cancer clusters
Eight cancer clusters have been identified in the state, although no causes have been identified so far. Although Gov. Minner made fighting cancer a focus, little has been done to determine whether these clusters are a statistical artifact or caused by environmental carcinogens. I tend to believe the former, but since my mother-in-law was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer (metaplastic breast cancer) and her husband died of esophageal cancer 3 years ago,  it’s getting harder to continue with that belief.

Wasting Taxpayer Cash
As a fiscally conservative taxpayer, I really dislike seeing taxpayer funds used to lure businesses to states. I recognize that all states do it, but that doesn’t justify the practice. Gov. Ruth Ann Minner has handed out the incentives freely. For example, the state’s Delaware Economic Development Office (DEDO) handed Arthur Andersen Consulting (later known as Accenture) $2.5 million to refurbish an old department store building in the city of Wilmington. After taking the money and doing the renovation, Accenture then laid off 90 workers and shipped their jobs to India. DEDO director Judy McKinney-Cherry said that Accenture had met the minimum job requirements for the grant. Like her boss Ruth Ann, McKinney-Cherry promised a lot to Delaware, and like her boss she failed to live up to those promises.

The state has also spent tens of millions of dollars redesigning and moving traffic arteries as part of a deal to keep Astra-Zeneca’s headquarters in North Wilmington Delaware. Whether this investment pays off remains in question as all it would take is a merger and the jobs – and the taxpayer cash funding them – could instantly evaporate.

Developer-controlled Zoning Boards
One of the worst problems with Delaware is overdevelopment caused by zoning boards passing out variances the way the Church handed out indulgences during the Middle Ages. Consequently Delaware has become overrun by strip malls that now beg for tenants, acres of unsold shoddily constructed McMansions, and miles of beaches that are inaccessible to the public because they sit behind the walls of gated communities.

Local politicians and the zoning boards often work hand-in-glove to grease the wheels of any development no matter how small, destroying whatever character the state had prior to the development. Since I’m a late arrival, it’s hard for me to say what the character of Delaware was; today it’s one huge strip mall of “tax free shopping” designed to entice people from PA and New Jersey to come to the state to buy crap mostly imported from China. If you find that quaint or charming, then Delaware maybe just the place for you.

Helpful or Hype?
Is America’s future Delaware’s present? It’s difficult to say, but the problems listed above originate from a state dominated by the Democratic party opposed by a weak Republican party. That sounds a lot like the political situation of the nation, so it’s worth considering. And in fairness to Obama and Biden, the weakness of the Republican party is mostly self-inflicted. Yes the unpopular war led by Bush became a rallying cry for Democrats, but the failure of the Republican leadership to listen to the party base when it came to spending drove a wedge between the party leadership and the rank and file that won’t be fixed until either McCain takes office – and rejuvenates the party with his popularity – or Obama takes office and the rank and file Republicans do a little Soprano’s type “housecleaning.”

One thing is clear: whether or not McCain wins in November the Republican Party needs to do some serious soul searching. The party leadership needs to reflect the rank and file, and the only way that is going to happen is with an injection of new blood. So far it’s not clear where that new blood is going to come from. It could be from states like Delaware where the Republicans have gotten the tar knocked out of them so badly that those left standing prove they have what it takes to survive; when the Democrats falter, they can grasp the opportunity to move up the ranks.

I am honored that my post Russia: A New Cold War? was selected as the winner among the council posts.

Congratulations to this week’s noncouncil winner: Michael Totten:  The Truth About Russia In Georgia.

Full voting here.