Thursday, June 03, 2010

Dim-Bulb Debbie Strikes Again.

Michigan's Junior Senator, Debbie Stabenow continues to embarass her state. We are not inclined to ad hominem attacks on congresscritters. But we'll suspend our restraint for this one, extraordinary moment: Debbie Stabenow is a Chucklehead. She believes that the power, dignity, and solemn gravity of her office should be used to call for the Commissioner of Baseball to overrule the umpire who denied a Tiger pitcher a perfect game:

MACKINAC (ISLAND) (sic)– U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) today made the following statement urging Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to invoke the “Best Interests of the Game” clause to declare Armando Galarraga’s performance perfect.

“Last night’s performance deserves its place in the record books. It is clear that Commissioner Selig should make an exception in this case and invoke the ‘best interests of the game clause’ to reflect Armando Galarraga’s perfect game for the Detroit Tigers.” – U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow.


Will some human, animal, vegetable or mineral, take up votes and by opposing this twit, end her Senatorial career? Please?

Wednesday, June 02, 2010



The "Competence" Theme Snowballs.

Tom Coburn's appearance on a recent Morning Joe says it all. But if you need additional ammunition, read Peggy Noonan's recent WSJ column. But to be fair, this is problem is beyond Mr. Obama or any president. It's a loss of vision by our leadership - and the electorate - of what constitutes conscientious stewardship of our Republic.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Bonding Over Brookies.

Yesterday we took the younger son and his girlfriend flyfishing for brook trout on the North Branch of the Ausable. The single day's drive was brutal, the sun was penetrating, the air was hot, the water was low, and the fishing was so-so. But the experience was priceless. The girlfriend, being a flyfishing greenhorn, naturally caught the nicest fish of the day. The son, full of pomp and hubris, naturally was skunked. Your correspondent held his own, but acknowledged that his pace to wade a stream was not quite that of the young folk ("SLOW DOWN! Flyfishing is not a scavenger hunt, son!"). Perhaps fishing colleagues would observe our tendency toward the phelgmatic, though. Our heart skipped a beat when a very nice brown cruised through the pool we were working. He was searching for a cool shady spot and was having none of our offerings.

After five hours of hard fishing, we pulled off our waders and paid a visit with Grandpa and Grandma; caught up with local happenings (forest fires, song birds, and variae), then dined at one of the storied dives of Northern Michigan - the Whitehouse Diner in Clare.
A wonderful day spent with people we love!
An Emerging Theme.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was
interviewed by ABC News' Jake Tapper about the strange laxidasical behavior by the United States Government regarding the protection of his state's coastal wetlands. Aha! thought Jake, doesn't this contradict his conservative view of limited government? Jindal replied:
“When government grows too big, it doesn't do its core functions properly. Absolutely, I believe in a limited government that is effective and competent in what it does. We need federal government exactly -- we need our federal government exactly for this kind of crisis.”

George Will has also jumped on this theme: asserting that a massive central government that intervenes in all aspects of the nation's life will, by corollary, be competent at the essential functions that are truly of national interest is false. Advocacy for a limited federal government is not simple ideology of Washington "doing nothing". There are roles - such as national defense or the coordination to mitigate an interstate enviromental disaster - that are appropriate for a federal government. Then there is most of the rest of what Washington believes is good value for your tax dollars.

Look for the theme of "limited and competent government" to grow in the public conversation.