Smitty is home...

and we all thank him for his service to our country.

Details and pics at The Other McCain.

Smitty Smacks Down Krugman

One of the first things I read this morning was an article by Paul Krugman,  The Third Depression.  Admittedly, I only had a half of a cup of coffee under my belt, so my thinking may have been a bit fuzzy. It seemed to me Krugman said, "The only way out of fiscal problems caused by too much easy credit and overspending is more easy credit and overspending!"  Hmmm,  that can't be right.

Luckily, Smitty explained it for me, and I thank him.  He also garnered the coveted quote of the day award:

What is dawning upon citizens around the world, who are neither stupid nor instinctively political, is that the world is governed by thieves and morons that are stupid and all too political. No good can come of this open loop system of debt and more debt. Like an idiot savant dope fiend on a bender, the best result of Krugmanism might be a slightly lengthened euphoria before an even more devastating crash.

 Even though Smitty used highly technical language involving generators, rotors, and other mysterious elements of the mechanical world, I was able to finally understand exactly what Mr. Krugman said.  Of course, I'd had a second cup of coffee by that time, which helped.  

From Smitty by way of The Other McCain:

Krugman: If We Halt Policy That Causes Pain, The Situation Will Really Hurt

Where are we headed?

Smitty, over at The Other McCain, has posted an insightful article giving us some direction.

[...]Pragmatically, the Tea Parties know that elections matter. Lots of people can make clever signs, but the Tea Party has to transition from a pleasant group hug at the town square to volunteer activism on a scale to make Madame Bowel Movement eat. . .her words. read the rest

The Other McCain: Rule 3 on IG-Gate (Plus, Notes forNewbies on Aggregation Method)

The Other McCain: Rule 3 on IG-Gate (Plus, Notes forNewbies on Aggregation Method)



The Other McCain's post Rule 3 on IG-Gate (Plus Notes for Newbies on Aggregation Method) is a must read. After breakfast I will have to re-read it as it falls under the "need to know" category of computer stuff. I guess it's time for me to know (at least a little bit more.)

Stacy forgets that there are people like moi who are not only challenged by commas but also by advanced computer wizardry. If he was any kind of real man, the loan of Smitty (just part time would be good), would be forth coming. It's only partly true that behind ever successful man is a good woman. Nope - behind every successful man is a good woman and Smitty.

The Other McCain: Nice career you had, Susan Roesgen,it's sure a shame what happened . . .

Welcome The Other McCain readers. I love Stacy (fine, fine writer - he knows where to put commas), but I have a really big time crush on Smitty (don't tell him!)

For those of you who just wandered by, read this......it's great and sums up my feelings exactly...

The Other McCain: Nice career you had, Susan Roesgen,it's sure a shame what happened . . .

This is an interesting piece from InsideCatholic.com

Obama Health Plan Could Include Assisted Suicide
Posted on June 12, 2009, 10:39 AM | Eric Pavlat

Just so that Joseph doesn't feel like he's the only person panicking in Chicken Little fashion...

The Washington Post reports that the President's health care team has looked to Green Bay and La Crosse, Wis., to find out how those cities have been containing their health care costs so much better than the rest of the nation: read the rest

Not to worry, troll. I don't have a living will and if you and yours manage to pass government health care, I plan on costing you a snout full on money before I shuffle off this mortal coil.

Don't forget to enter the contest to win either 5 luscious double fans of the daylily Gentle Shepherd (US readers only due to shipping restrictions for live plants), or the ebook "31 Days to a Better Blog by Darren Rouse. Just guess what musical instrument Smitty of The Other McCain plays.

Black Helicopters and Stacy McCain

Should we be looking for black helicopters?

I'm not real big on conspiracy theories. The thought of organizing some sort of world-wide group of people to act in concert to achieve a goal seems to be a bit far-fetched. If you've ever tried to organize the human animal in any capacity, you have an idea of how difficult this would be.

However (always listen to what comes after however), if you back away from the distractions of the MSM, and really, distractions are all they offer, because their "news" could never be confused with actual news, then a different picture begins to emerge.

As usual this past week, we were being manipulated to focus in on Obama's Cairo speech, a non-happening of empty words emitting from an empty suit. And now the focus is on where the Obamas will dine while in Paris and where the first daughters will shop. Judging by the way they were dressed while visiting the Eiffel Tower, a shopping trip is a good idea. But I digress into snarkiness. Sorry.

So here we all are getting hysterical about this speech while he is releasing his latest "crisis memo to the American people" by way of his weekly address.

"If we do nothing, everyone's health care will be put in jeopardy," Obama said.

"Fixing what's wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve — it's a necessity we cannot postpone any longer," said the president.

Meantime, Senator Kennedy is putting forth his "plan" , which is short of details but deemed necessary anyway. Here's what is being reported:

• Under the legislation, the government would subsidize premiums for people with incomes up to 500 percent of the poverty level ($110,000 for a family of four), and private insurers would have to pay out a specified percentage of their premium revenues in benefits.
• The new government-run program would pay doctors and hospitals at Medicare rates, plus 10 percent.
• Under the Kennedy bill, individuals would be subject to financial penalties if they did not have health insurance.
• Any group health plan or insurance company that provided coverage for children and their parents would have to offer to continue “dependent coverage” for the children through age 26. In effect, young adults could stay on their parents’ policies.
• Under the bill, the federal government would make grants to the states to establish insurance marketplaces or exchanges. Those entities, known as health benefit gateways, would disseminate information about premiums and benefits and would help people enroll.
• The new entities would also act as financial intermediaries, receiving subsidy payments from the government and sending the money to insurance companies. The insurance exchanges would also redistribute money among health insurance plans, from those with a large share of healthy subscribers to those with large numbers of sick people.
• The bill gives no indication of how Mr. Kennedy would pay for his proposals, other than by requiring contributions by individuals and employers.

So here we go again. A crisis, a bill with no details, absolutely no indication of how it is to be paid for, and it will be rammed through while we are being distracted by petty and superficial stuff.

So what about those helicopters? Anyone who believes our current President is anything more than a shill for something bigger going on, is spending way too much time reading the MSM. All the while, few Republicans are willing to speak the truth and when they do, the MSM either doesn't report it or vilifies the messenger.

We are facing the biggest dismantling of a country, its economy and its values, in the shortest amount of time ever, in the history of the world. Granted, the dismantling started many years ago, but it is now moving at warp speed. One man is not capable of accomplishing this by himself. I just may have to start looking for those black helicopters.

Further reading:

Alinskys' Rules for Radicals

The Perfect Storm


What makes Robert Stacy McCain so Popular?

Don't get me wrong - I like Stacy, I really, really like him. But I've often wondered about his real secret of success. The fact that he used to be a print journalist gives him the ability to spit out copy like some never ending flow of hot stuff from a volcano. And yet, when he wants to do a more serious article, his prose and reasoning is flawless.

After much pondering, I have finally zeroed in on his real secret - it's Smitty!! I'm not even sure who Smitty really is, even though I've tried to find out. But by gosh, every time you log on to his site, The Other McCain, there's Smitty doing the hard labor. It's Smitty who puts together the Full Metal Jacket every week and it's Smitty who fills in when Stace is off hob-nobbing with the literati.

Smitty is the one who makes it possible for Stacy to start a new blog Not Tucker Carlson, which probably got more hits on its first day than I've gotten in the past year. I might add that this new blog is open to submissions as long as they are 300 hundred words or less and have a gazillion links.

The BlogProf will be taking up the challenge and I have no doubt he will make the cut.

As for me:

I need a Smitty...