Service Academies Combined Choirs Sing the National Anthem

How many times have we suffered the likes of some rock star or a crotch grabbing Roseanne Barr slaughter the “Star Spangled Banner” at a sports event? The combined choirs of the service academies demonstrate how the National Anthem should be done, stirringly and with respect. Senator and 2004 VP candidate John Edwards was fond of saying there are two Americas, one rich and one poor. He was partially right only the two Americas are the Barr ilk and the rest of us.

True Colors Fly in NY 23

In the supposedly solid Republican 23rd Congressional District in upstate New York, there will be a special election November 3, 2009 to fill the seat vacated by Cong. John McHugh who was appointed Secretary of the Army. The Republican district chairs selected New York Assemblywoman Dierdre Scozzafava, said to be a fiscal conservative but liberal on social issues, as the Republican candidate. In addition to the Democrat candidate, Bill Owens, the Conservative Party of New York also fielded a candidate, Doug Hoffman.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, National GOP Chair Michael Steele and a host of other Republican loyalist endorsed Ms. Scozzafava. Mr. Hoffman received endorsements from Sarah Palin and other noted conservatives. When it became apparent to the Republican candidate she could not win, she suspended her campaign October 31 and released her supporters to choose between the Democrat and the Conservative. Campaign spokesman Matt Burns said, “Scozzafava is essentially withdrawing from the race, although her name will remain on Tuesday’s ballot. She thinks stepping aside is best for the party”, he said.

Today, she repaid the party loyalist by endorsing the Democrat.

World War II B17 Flight Log

Thanks to George F. who sent me the below pdf file of entries from the flight log of a World War II B17 bomber. In this age of stealth aircraft, smart bombs, missiles and over-the-horizon air-to-air weapons, we forget the up close and personal nature of war just a few decades ago.

B17log

2009 General Election Recommendations

State of Washington:

Initiative 1033 – Tim Eyman’s measure to limit property taxes. This is a basic “starve the beast” initiative. The theory is limiting government income will control government spending and excess regulation. While that may be true and I’d love to send a message to our Democrat controlled legislature and city and county councils, I have to agree with Chris Vance (former State Legislator, King County Councilmember and State Republican Chair) when he says, “As a fiscal conservative, therefore, I hope I can say this with some credibility: King County really does have a revenue problem. In fact, it is closer to a revenue crisis.” The Eyman initiative will only exacerbate the problem and in the end not be effective because the Legislature can repeal or revise the initiative (by two-thirds vote in first two years, majority vote after that). One can bet the farm that regardless of which party controls Olympia, if passed, 1033 will be gutted by 2012. Worse, it will serve as one more reason to impose an income tax. A reluctant vote “No” on 1033.

Referendum 71 – The everything but marriage act (State Senate Bill 5688) was passed by the Legislature last session. A citizen signature drive placed the law on the 2009 ballot as Referendum 71. A good sumary of the law can be found on ballotpedia.org. A “Rejected” vote rejects the law. I am tempted to agree with my Liberterian friends that the government should get out of the marriage business and leave it to the religious groups. Unfortunately, laws affecting children, property ownership, health and retirement benefits, inheritance and a host of case law are based on the traditional one man, one woman definition of marriage. A few states have expanded marriage to include same sex couples while others have revised the laws regarding adoption, benefits etc. by passing so called “domestic partner” legislation. Senate Bill 5688 falls in the latter category just short of the Gay community goal of full marriage but it opens the door to all manner of law suits and legally forced acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle. Much of what is in Senate Bill 5688 is currently available to domestic partners. It comes too close to redefining marriage and threatens my right to hold a biblical view. What’s next, polygamy? However, I fully recognize there are strong differences of opinion. Many leading citizens of good will, including some in the religious community, approve of Ref. 71. I just plan to draw the line here and vote “Rejected”..

Also see Same Sex Marriage, Yea or Nay and A Sermon on Homosexuality

King County:

Executive – Dour Dow vs Sunny Susan. Anyone following the performance of King County – election debacles, cost overruns, mismangement, state audit reports, budget crisis – knows the County needs a major shakeup. It sure won’t get it by elevating a long time insider and narrow minded liberal from the Council to the Executive’s office. Only Susan Hutchison offers change and reform. Even the Seattle Times endorsed her. Vote for Hutchison for County Executive.

Sheriff – Incumbant Sue Rahr is unopposed.

Assessor – There was no primary due to the last minute resignation of the incumbant. Five people are running for the unexpired term of two years. Lloyd Hara has the government and management experience for the job. Vote for Hara.

County Council Districts 1 – Bob Ferguson, ,3 – Kathy Lambert and 5 – Julia Patterson are all unopposed. (Weren’t we told making the Council non-partisan would encourage more choice? Do you think the political parties would have let these incumbants go unchallenged?)

Reagan Dunn in District 9 has an opponent but Dunn is the clear choice for re-election.

Charter Amendments 1,2, and 3 – All appear to be house keeping. Vote yes.

Charter Amendment 4 makes it more difficult for the County to sell , alter or transfer certain open space land already owned by the County. Vote yes.

Court of Appeals Div 1, Dist 1 – Anne L. Ellington is unopposed.

Port of Seattle:

Position 1 – John Creighton is unopposed.

Position 3 – Rob Holland is the union, ACORN guy. David Doud has broad support across the political spectrum. Vote for Doud.

Position 4 – Tom Albro is widely endorsed and is past president of the Municiple League. His opponent is a former Democrat legislator backed by the unions. A clear choice, Vote for Tom Albro.

City of Seattle:

Proposition No. 1 – Low Income Housing Levy – The whole question of taxpayer funded housing aside, this measure replaces the expiring $86,000,000 low income housing levy with a $145,000,000 levy. Proponents say it will only cost “the typical Seattle homeowner $5.50 per month”. It’s the nickel and dime property tax increases, when added up, that price people out of there homes and apartments. Not in a recession. Vote “No”.

Mayor – This race makes one long for Mayor Corpulent Greg. People voted for Obama hoping against hope that he would govern from the center despite his past statements and association with radical leftist. Mike McGinn is similar. He expresses concern about the tunnel costs but his real agenda is anti automoble extremism. Joe Mallahan is at least a little more reasonable. Vote for Mallahan

City Attorney – The Seattle Times endorsed challenger Pete Holmes in part because of their battles with the city over disclosure of public records. They felt incumbent Tom Carr represented the city and not the people. However, the City Attorney is the city’s lawyer just like the State Attorney General represents the state. Carr got an “Outstanding” rating from the Municiple League and besides, the cops endorsed him. Vote for Tom Carr.

City Council:

Position 2 – Incumbent Richard Conlin is one of the liberals on the Council but then so are the rest of them. There is nothing to be gained by replacing him with Dave Ginsberg thus losing Conlin’s experience. Vote for Conlin.

Position 4 – An open seat sought by David Bloom and Sally Bagshaw. Looking at her endorsements in the Voter’s Pamphlet, she appears a shade or two less less left of center than Bloom and besides, the cops endorsed her. Vote for Bagshaw.

Position 6 – Stick with Nick or Jump to Jessie? Our experience with young women elected to the Council (Judy Nicastro, Heidi Wills) has been less than sterling but Nick Licata has been in office since 1998 and Jessie Israel makes a strong case for change. Besides, the cops endorsed her. Vote for Israel.

Position 8 – Perhaps the most important City Council race in years. A McGinn clone on cars (he proposes tolling selected city streets to discourage automobiles), Mike O’Brien is opposed by Robert Rosencrantz, a common sense (at least by Seattle standards) candidate that would bring some degree of idelogical balance to the City Council. Clear choice, Vote for Rosencrantz.

Seattle School Board

Director District 1 – Incumbant Michael DeBell is unopposed.

Director District 5 – Kay Smith-Blum is the clear choice over the ineffective incumbant, famous for voting “no”, Mary Bass. Vote for Smith-Blum.

Director District 7 – The School Board could use the perspective of a scientist. Vote for Wilson Chin.

Limbaugh on the Today Show

Rush Limbaugh, in the news of late because he is part of a group bidding on ownership of the St. Louis Rams, never fails to drive the Left into frothing, sputtering hysteria. He rarely gives interviews but recently, he allowed Jamie Gangel of NBC News to tape a two-part interview that was shown on NBC’s Today Show. The first lasted just over twelve minutes and the second under six.

Love him or hate him or never really listened to him, the interviews are worth watching. I like to say Rush is foremost an entertainer with occasional gems of wisdom. Click on the blue below. It will take you to Rush’s web site where you will find videos of the interviews as well as transcripts

Enjoy: Rush Limbaugh One-on-One

Obama’s Peace Prize

President Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to an almost universal “Why?”

If Bill Clinton or Hugh Hefner had won the Piece Prize, no one would be surprised. Their qualifications in that arena are legendary.

But Obama, nominated for the Nobel after less than a month in office, actually winning it? He deserves a place in history as the first non-white president and accolades for his charisma and speaking ability but a Nobel Peace Prize – get serious. Acceptance of the prize puts him at high political risk especially if Afghanistan goes south or another 9-11 occurs on U.S. soil. His inability to fulfill his campaign promises even with huge Democrat majorities in Congress, putting the prestige of the Presidency unwisely on the line in the Harvard professor/Cambridge cops dustup and by flying to Europe in an attempt to sell the Olympic’s 2016 site committee on Chicago, his overexposure in the media and now a farcical Nobel are beginning to make his tenure look like the Seinfeld show or a famous Shakespeare play – all about nothing.

President Clinton, shocked by the historic Republican takeover of the House in 1994, moderated his policies and in cooperation with the new Republican Congress accomplished welfare reform and a balanced budget. One wonders if a similar political upheaval in the 2010 midterm elections would have the same effect on President Obama. That would be worth a prize.

The D.C. Tea Party 9/12/2009 in Pictures

There are several web sites that display photos of and commentary on the mass demonstration in Washington D.C. on September 12th. Do you think that Barrack, Nancy and Harry paid attention? It was hard to miss. Check it out on Conservative Woodstock Rocks the Capital.

Obama, Racism and Hope

Rush Limbaugh, love him or hate him, predicted that electing Barrack Obama President would not improve but actually intensify racial politics in America. Sadly, white liberals like former President Jimmy Carter and girl columnist Maureen Dowd have proved him right by their public statements equating opposition to Obama’s policies as racist. Many in the African-American community agree. We should have seen it coming when the Obama primary election campaign accused Bill Clinton, once called the “first black president”, of racism because of several comments he made while supporting his wife’s bid for the Democratic nomination. Still we long for the day racism ends as a significant force in American life.

Two black senior citizen friends of mine, one a PhD educator and the other a Boeing retiree, may provide a starting point. Both grew up and were educated through college in the Deep South and suffered the outrageous indignities of segregation. The educator recalls coming to Seattle as an Army officer in the 1960s and not being able to find housing near his base due to unwritten “whites only” restrictions. My Boeing friend refuses “forever” to patronize Texaco because they were sued for racial discrimination at one of their gas stations. “Forever” even though Texaco paid a fine and apologized.

These men are so scarred by their experiences that nothing will ever be able to compensate them. Truman integrating the armed forces, Brown vs. the Board of Education, Eisenhower sending troops to Little Rock, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, affirmative action, electing a black president, none of this matters. To them, black people in American are permanent victims of slavery and racial discrimination and that has not changed. It explains virtually all of the problems of crime, fatherless homes, poor education and lack of economic progress in the black community.

The children of my friends are all well educated and successful. If they are not tainted by the bad old days like their fathers, if they are a little embarrassed by leaders of the race industry such as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the more extreme black political leaders, then hopefully each new generation will see more and more the end of racism. Just as a dying yellow jacket can still sting, society must be on guard against discrimination but we do not need to parse every word searching for hidden racial epithets.

Other Clear Fog posts on the subject:

Obama Hope

Obama, End of American Racism

Seattle Mayoral Candidates Debate

On September 10th, the Seattle Chamber of Commerce hosted a debate between the two candidates for Mayor of Seattle, Joe Mallahan and Mike McGinn. There were about 375 people in attendance and it was streamed on the net and shown on the Seattle Channel but beyond that, I suspect very few voters took the opportunity to watch it. Fortunately, it is still on the web. The whole debate lasts one hour and seventeen minutes including much too long introductory comments by the host and the moderator, which you can skip with no loss. Click here to view the debate.

On a question about jobs, both candidates seemed to say jobs are created by business but Seattle government should provide a competitive advantage that both supports current business and attracts new companies. McGinn talked about a city that works by fostering affordable housing, great (mass) transportation, great schools and investing in the future (fiber optic cable). Mallahan wants to move Seattle forward by creating an effective transportation system, good quality of life (public safety), efficient and effective management so we’d have the funds to pursue Seattle’s “progressive values” of “social justice and environmental stewardship.” They both supported developer-community agreements prior to launching a project to avoid contentious disputes but both also hinted that they favored a requirement for developers to use union labor as part of such agreements. McGinn favored a city takeover of schools. Mallahan felt the city had enough to do without adding responsibility for the school system They spared over the tunnel replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct with McGinn calling it a $930 billion dollar “tax increase” with the city being responsible for the inevitable cost overrun. Mallahan called McGinn’s opposition to the tunnel “disingenuous” saying we have spent eight years coming to stakeholder agreement on the tunnel solution and we need to get started for safety reasons as well as transportation improvement.

If all I had to go on was this debate, I’d say be prepared for His Honor Michael McGinn. If Joe Mallahan wants the “His Honor” title, he needs to quickly hone and sharpen his talking points, clearly define his differences with McGinn and demonstrate he understands the issues in depth.

Start Over on Healthcare Reform

What Obama should have said in his 09-09-09 speech to the joint session of Congress was “I will send Congress a draft bill incorporating all the key elements of my healthcare reform plan including implementation details.” What he did was reiterate a collection of proposals from previous speeches on the subject leaving the details, to much laughter, for Congress.

He is playing a high-risk game staking his presidency and perhaps, in the 2010 elections, control of at least the House of Representative on passage of a reform bill. Should it fail, he can’t really blame the Republicans since the Democrats have clear majorities in both houses of Congress plus the White House. His safest bet would be appointment of a blue ribbon commission to prepare reform legislation with an up or down, no amendment vote of Congress.

What should a commission bill include? How about the following:

1. Funding for any reform or future revision must meet accounting standards, be actuarially sound and use appropriate criteria for forecasts of costs. That is, the sources of funding – private or government – must be transparent, reasonable and not add to the national debt.

2. To reduce the inevitable benefit creep that has caused solvency problems for Social Security and Medicare, require a super majority of Congress (perhaps two thirds) to add/delete/increase/decrease any healthcare benefit mandate.

3. Individuals, not the government or employers, should be responsible to pay for their own medical costs. They may do this by purchasing insurance directly or through associations using tax deductions and personal funds depending on the amount and patient choice.

4. Send medical bills to the patient who must review and forward within thirty days to the insurance provider who must pay the bill to the limit of the policy within sixty days. This provides a user audit and appreciation of the costs of care.

5. Standardize and simplify claim forms and bills. Attaching a bill to a one page basic information form should be the only requirement to submit a claim.

6. Require some level of co-pay for every use of the healthcare system to discourage over use and serve as a reminder that healthcare is not free.

7. Define healthcare expenses to include physical and mental primary care, specialists, hospitalization and prescription drugs.

8. Make healthcare insurance mandatory with a minimum coverage at least for major medical including high cost care resulting from accidents, major surgery and chronic illness such as diabetes, MS and Parkinson’s. Basic preventative care such as breast, prostrate, colon and skin screening should also be required. The government can subsidize the cost for the truly indigent.

9. Use tax-free health savings accounts to pay for less expensive or not covered services such as dental, elective procedures and co-pays.

10. Coverage for alternative healthcare (Chiropractic, Naturopathic etc.) or more comprehensive allopathic medicine should be offered at extra cost.

11. Medical malpractice claims should be settled through arbitration with right of appeal to an appeals court. Awards will be limited to actual loss plus legal fees except that loser pays all legal costs.

12. Insurance companies may sell their policies in all states and territories. State insurance commissioners could recommend national standards.