Nightly Ramble: The Camping Trip, HDTV, Blackwater, More.

• Yeah, I was out all weekend. So, we made the trip over the weekend, to Fair Haven State Park, which is one of the best in the state. There’s a problem, though with the state Reservation system for their campgrounds; Forget about reserving one spot for one night. Two night minimum. So, we drove all that way, and the place was full. So was Selkirk Shores, perhaps another 30 miles along.  We ended up staying at a private camp just outisde Mexico, NY, that we’ve stayed at before. The idea being it wasn’t a total loss.  Of course, bout 20 minutes after we pulled in, and maybe 10 minutes after we set up camp, it started raining. It didn’t stop all night. We had lots of lightning, too… a real show. I gather that the same storm we had caused some issues out along the Jersey Shore. My camera quit, too, so I never did get any pics of the camp. My younger boy did, though, I think, as we were breaking camp. And my older boy got lots of stuff from the airshow… vids. I’ll post a few when he gets them converted. Still, a good weekend. Spent some time teaching my elder how to play chess, and listening t the rain on the roof. As I told my boys, that’s one thing about adventures… they don’t always end up sunny and warm. I’ll post a review of the campground under seperate cover later this week. It’s mostly positive.
• Ed Rasimus  does a pretty fair job of dressing down John Warner. Warner is another one who really needs to be forcably removed from the Republican party.
• I’ve had my problems with McCain, and made no bones about it. But I have to tell you that this speech would, if spread properly among the voters, would end the Obama campaign. Or at the least, it would in a sane world.
• You’ll doubtless recall that there was a lot of wailing about Blackwater from the Democrats. But when their prince needed protection, guess who they called. Yep… Blackwater.  Gee… I wonder what that means… No, wait; I think I know… They know what Blackwater does, works, however much they bitch about it.
• So, if we’re winning the war in Iraq why isn’t the press covering this? You know why. It doesn’t fit the liberal mantra, so the liberal press pretty much buries it. Another example would be the LA Times and the John Edwards affair. And of course, Obama said nothing about this at all.
• Glenn says:
  

  POPULAR SCIENCE: Global Warming: Not so bad? “Birds and power companies adapt to climate change; scientists downgrade its role in hurricane formation.” I dunno. But maybe we should figure this out before we turn our economy upside down?

  Yeah, no kidding, Glenn. Welcome to the club. We’ve been asking that question here at Bitsblog for a decade, now.  And as you point up elsewhere, Greenland is a case in point. It used to BE green.   Let’s take that point one step farther; If oil is decayed plant and animal matter, and if we have a large amount of oil at the North Pole, as has been reported here in the alst week, how did that plant and animal matter GET to the polar region? The answer of course is that it was once green there, too. Oh… did I mention there’s a large amount of oil under Greenland? Yep… so says the USGS.

• Gas prices are going below $4/gal. I expect this trend to continue.
• If you’re into Hi-Def, you’ll want to see this. What this boils down to is knowing what you’re doing with the thing. So many people who by these things are neophites to the point of being technophobes. Now, perhaps I shouldn’t bitch; It’s that kinda situation that keeps my tech support talents in the dollars, but still… Oh… there’s this also… the article bemoans the lack of regulation as regards bitrate for boradcasters? Sorry, but I fail to see this as an issue, for a few reasons. First off, most of the programming out there is still in NTSC. Take StarTrek as an example. The original series was on film, so converting it to true HD is a snap. And some of the models and photography is astonishing to see, even for old hands at the show.  But did you know that Startrek; The Next Generation was shot all in Digital NTSC, meaning that hi-def is impossible? I don’t care what you convert the bitrate to, it’s never going to get any better than NTSC’s 525 lines.  There’s this, also; Years ago,the Radio division gave up trying to enforce frequency response for both AM and FM, figuring that the stations themselves should be responsible to heir listners on the point; Free Markets and all that. If the consumer didn’t like what t was hearing they’d tune out. And sometimes, that did happen. It’s called letting the market work. My guess is that broadcasters are trying to get the best signal on the air possible, even absent regulations on the point. It’s just that we’re really not so flush yet with high bitrate 1080 programming yet. That’s not a failure of broadcasters.

The Chicago Tribune:

BOSTON – Syndicated columnist and former “Crossfire” host Robert Novak has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and is suspending his journalistic work.

The story doesn’t say if there’s a malignancy, there.

I hate to say this but the tumor may have affected his judgement with that pedestrian thing last week. Indeed, there was a feel about it that suggested he wasn’t all there, though nothing I could put a finger to.

In any event, Godspeed, Bob.

Michelle notes:

There will, of course, be gloating and death wishes on the nutroots side of the Internet aisle. Ignore it all.

Too right, Michelle. I’m already starting to see some of it here. I guess idiots will abound in every situation. Have they all forgotten Teddy Kennedy is a short-timer?

I’m going to break my “No AP feed” rule to make a point, here.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) –A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage against an Islamic civil rights group over its use of a portion of his show in which he called the Quran a “book of hate.”

Savage sued the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, for copyright infringement and racketeering lawsuit late last year, claiming the group violated his rights by using a segment of his “Savage Nation” show in a letter-writing campaign to get advertisers to boycott the program. In the broadcast used by CAIR, Savage also called the Muslim holy book “a throwback document.”

In her ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said people who listen to a public broadcast are entitled to use excerpts for purposes of comment and criticism.

Bolding is my own. 

Now, leaving by the side of the road the legitimacy of Savage’s claim… (and I happen to think in light of the absense of the allowence of ‘fair use”, Savage has a case) … and leaving aside that on that basis, the ruling appears to be yet more CAIR butt kissing on the part of the Judiciary… How ironic that the topc of fair use should show up in an AP fed article, and how interesting that the ruling comes up opposite what AP would have wanted, were THEY involved with the case in a more direct fashion. 

I would fully expect Savage to appeal. If he does, and still loses,  we Bloggers may at least end up with a more contrite AP.  Either way this ruling and AP’s position on ‘Fair Use” would seem to be at odds with each other. Then again, we end up with a stronger CAIR, and I”m not sure that’s a trade I’d find to my liking.

Phil, ClueBatting Cage, has the Bumper Snicker of the Day::

I see Obama’s campaign plane has been outfitted with a new logo…

It, and all the adulation, lead me to come up with this one

Hat tip:  Morgan Freeberg, Cassy Fiano.

Timing is everything. Bruce posts a Project Hero post, and I’m out of town.

Oh, well.

This week, Bruce digs into the story of an attack in Afghanistan a few weeks ago, where 9 soldiers got killed. The story here, though is while vastly outnumbers, our people still triumphed.

One of the biggist liabilities that Barack Obama has, is the people who are already going to vote for him.  A case in point shows up in the Rocky Mountain News this morning, in an article by Daniel J. Chacon:

A college-age protest group that wants to camp overnight in City Park during the Democratic National Convention next month is going to have to find another place to sleep.

Mayor John Hickenlooper told radio host Mike Rosen, who writes a column for the Rocky, that Tent State University’s plans for a sleepover for as many as 50,000 protesters are out of the question.

The mayor also told Rosen that the city might turn on the sprinklers if the protesters don’t abide by Denver’s 11 p.m. curfew.

Councilwoman Carla Madison, whose district includes City Park, said overnight camping is not an option.

“We want them to have a good, successful event, and we’re working with them to try to see what kind of possibilities can happen,” Madison said. “But I don’t see camping in the park as being one of those.”

Adam Jung, an organizer and spokesman for Tent State, could not be reached for comment.

Jung has said allowing camping in the park is the best way to “retain control over the entire event.” 

It amazes me, that these folks haven’t done some research into just how the election went down back in 1968, because of the nonsense leading up to that election. It seems clear that yhose who refuse to learn from history…. are leftists.

Thanks to the guys for keeping things going while myself and my family were gone camping. Only a one-nighter, but nice to know the blog continues while I’m gone.

I only have a few pics  but I do have some vid we’re processing for upload.

Suffice it to say it rained.

(From The Conservative Reader)

Well, it took almost 3 months, but Congress finally passed the bill Saturday, on older version of which was  passed by the House in May, after some considerable back and forth between the Senate and the House.  The bill is HR 3221 (pdf), titled: “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008?.

The entire bill is over 600 pages long.  The table of contents is 7 pages.  And technically, this is a bill that began its life over a year ago.  Sponsored by none other than Nancy Pelosi.  And apparently Bush is planning to sign.

He should not.

Touted by most of the media is the section that provides up to a $7,500 tax credit is 1,800 words.  And the  media manage to mention it without explaining that the taxpayer that gets the credit is then taxed (called a “recapture”) an additional 6-2/3% of the amount of the original credit for the next 15 years.  Yeah, that’s a 0% loan, not a tax credit.  As far as I know, there is no precedent for repaying a legitimate tax credit, so this is unique and is probably going to take a LOT of people by surprise.  And not today, not even next year, but you watch in the Spring of 2010 when people actually have to start paying this thing back… an extra $500 in tax that they were not expecting.  Keep your eyes on the shells and tell me where the pea is.

And 5 or 10 years from now when Congress wants to make another sweeping change to the system, these recaptures are going to create more complexity.  And don’t even get me started on the impact of ever getting the Fair Tax passed now.

So, briefly, here’s what the bill does:

1. Establishes a new agency called the Federal Housing Finance Agency.  Yeah, that’s right, yet another agency.  The section is referred to as “Improvement of Safety and Soundness Supervision”.
2. Specifies loan limits, capitalization levels, reporting, availability of some data to the public domain, housing goals.
3. Enforcement requirements, actions, penalties, subpoena authority.
4. Committees, directors, etc. for the new agency.
5. Abolishment of the OFHEO (Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, a sub-agency of HUD), and transfer of everything it does and owns to the new FHFA.
6. Abolishment of the Federal Housing Finance Board and transfer of everything it does and owns to the new FHFA.
7. Some attempts to reduce paperwork (always appreciated).
8. What appears to be sweeping changes in voucher and tax incentive programs.
9. Extending the length of time some programs such as PHA project-based assistance.
10. Updates to Federal Home Loan Bank code.
11. Establishment of HOPE for Homeowners Program.
12. A bunch of rule changes to make it easier for homeowners to avoid foreclosure.  Interestingly, this section includes an “Emergency Declaration”, that appears to allow Congress to break it’s budgetary rules to get this bill passed.  Someone a lot smarter than me is going to have to explain where in this part of the bill there would be substantial costs.
13. Special conditions for manufactured homes.
14. Emergency assistance for foreclosed and abandoned homes.
15. Counseling services.
16. For those of us who hate all the papers we already have to sign to close a mortgage, this disclosure is now added: “You are not required to complete this agreement merely because you have received these disclosures or signed a loan application.'” Unbelievable.
17. Servicemembers and Veterans get some special considerations, for which I cannot possibly disapprove.  As far as I’m concerned, we owe these folks a free and clear home.
18. Adding $30,000,000 to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (financing programs for Homeless Assisstance).
19. Changes to REIT rules.

Trust me, that was brief.

I’m going to admit that the Revenue Provisions section at the end of the bill is somewhat confusing to me, especially the “Bonus Depreciation” section.

Oh yeah, and the bill also encourages “energy efficient mortgages”, that is, mortgages on homes with energy efficient features and/or improvements.

I’ve skipped a LOT of little details that seem to amount to tweaks (some small, some large) to the system, or to adjustments required to realign the agency responsibilities or other administrative issues.

And this is an interesting item, a section titled: Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008. The first four word’s initials spell “SAFE”.  Nice.  It states:

In order to increase uniformity, reduce regulatory burden, enhance consumer protection, and reduce fraud, the States, through the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators, are hereby encouraged to establish a Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry for the residential mortgage industry that accomplishes all of the following objectives:

1. Provides uniform license applications and reporting requirements for State-licensed loan originators.
2. Provides a comprehensive licensing and supervisory database.
3. Aggregates and improves the flow of information to and between regulators.
4. Provides increased accountability and tracking of loan originators.
5. Streamlines the licensing process and reduces the regulatory burden.
6. Enhances consumer protections and supports anti-fraud measures.
7. Provides consumers with easily accessible information, offered at no charge, utilizing electronic media, including the Internet, regarding the employment history of, and publicly adjudicated disciplinary and enforcement actions against, loan originators.
8. Establishes a means by which residential mortgage loan originators would, to the greatest extent possible, be required to act in the best interests of the consumer.
9. Facilitates responsible behavior in the subprime mortgage market place and provides comprehensive training and examination requirements related to subprime mortgage lending.
10. Facilitates the collection and disbursement of consumer complaints on behalf of State and Federal mortgage regulators.

So, the bill attempts to modernize some of the technology, some of the dollar values, and elevate the accountability of the Financing arm of HUD.  Plus hand out some money.

This is going to cost quite a bit.

Maybe some of it is needed.  I doubt Bush really understands all of the implications of the bill, but then, I know I don’t either.  It would be interesting to hear some feedback from someone that is well versed in the law.

Of all the content I see here, the $7,500 tax credit (text of this section here) is the most disturbing.

1. It will cost us money, both in interest expense to disperse it (since the pay back is interest free) and and the conditions that appear to allow for reduction of the repayment.  Such as if you sell the property and the gain is less than the amount still owed to the government, you only have to repay the amount of the gain.  Other exceptions to repayment include death and involuntary conversion.
2. It will promote the same kind of over-extentions by homebuyers that led to the mess we’re in to begin with.  Homebuyers will either convince themselves or be convinced by realtors or bankers that they can borrow up to $7,500 more than they really should because they’ll get it back on their tax return.  Without telling them about the $500 per year tax hit.
3. It will create substantial frustration in 2010 when people go to pay their 2009 taxes, the first year they would experience the “recapture”.  Because they won’t understand it, and it will increase their tax burder by $500.  That can be enough to create a huge backlash and economic impact that may force Congress to give out more money.  Just what we need.
4. The IRS is bound to mess up the forms and the rules.  Tax preparers may be ill-prepared to handle this.  Tax payers will be confused.  Chaos will grow and cause Congress to have to create yet another agency to oversee tax preparation for homeowners that used this tax credit.  (okay, maybe not, but I never thought I’d see this kind of credit before either).

I don’t want to see people suffer.  It’s hard to question all of this bill as there are probably some very appropriate adjustments to caps and other details to accomodate inflation and other changes in the market, technologies, etc since 1992.

But bad law is still bad law.  Fix the big problems, the $7,500 tax credit and the new agency, and I might be willing to work with this.  Helping the people that are hurting right now by no fault of their own is all well and good.  Helping the people that were pushing the envelope or simply gaming the system and lost, that’s just stupid.  And encouraging more first-time homebuyers to enter the market when they’re really not ready is just wrong.

My previous comments (in May), cover some of my thoughts here in more detail, but we just have to stop coddling people.  Please.

John R. Bolton, in the Los Angeles Times:

First, urging greater U.S.-European cooperation, Obama said, “The burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together.” Having earlier proclaimed himself “a fellow citizen of the world” with his German hosts, Obama explained that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Europe proved “that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.”

Perhaps Obama needs a remedial course in Cold War history, but the Berlin Wall most certainly did not come down because “the world stood as one.” The wall fell because of a decades-long, existential struggle against one of the greatest totalitarian ideologies mankind has ever faced

No Ameriican president did more to end the Cold War than the Gipper, and the Euros didn’t think much of Reagan.

Dirty Harry Reid, and his eco-freak friends, don’t like oil and they don’t like us producing our own oil.   Dirty Harry would have us conserve out way out of current mess.  James Hamilton, Econobrowser, has posted a  long, detailed article with plenty of graphs, exploring the recent and possible future price of oil.  

We simply can not conserve our way out of oil driven economic woes.   Conservation will not lower the price of oil.  The bottom like is the more oil we conserve, the more oil China uses.   Conservation is squeezing money out of our economy to fuel China,  Read what James has to say here.

But don’t forget, while you’re doing these calculations, you’ll need to meet Chinese demand for 2009, and 2010, and 2011…. Which, if you project the current trend and tried to satisfy entirely by cuts in U.S. consumption, would have us down to consuming zero barrels of oil in the United States in about 17 years.

On the other hand, increased domestic production would keep more of our money in our economy and could import Chinese money into our economy.   The Chinese are using more oil and their economy is growing.   We are using less oil and our economy is stagnent.

Drill here, drill now.

Why does the left block US energy development? The answer is their value system is different from the mainstream of the country. But the left’s blocking energy development costs all of us.

Case in point. Do you know how much oil shale is in the US? Eight times as much as the Saudi Arabia reserves. 2118 Billion barrels vs 267 billion for the Saudis. But the democrats block its development.

Nuclear power? The democrats have been blocking the building of nuclear power plants for over 30 years.

Offshore drilling, ANWR drilling? The left don’t even want to debate it.

Wind power? The left blocks that. Just ask Ted Kennedy what he thinks about wind power. Though in the thoroughly conservative Texas, we are developing the country’s largest wind power project.

So as you pay more at the pump, realize that you are paying extra to support the liberal’s values. Of course if you don’t like paying the extra, you can vote republican and throw the democratic bums out.

Courtesy James Lewis, American Thinker:

For Barack and Michelle Obama, the biggest blind spot is Ego Tripping — the temptations of boastful grandiosity. It’s Obama’s need to be seen as Jesus Christ Superstar. They have to “remake the world,” “stop the rise of the oceans,” “we are the change we’ve been waiting for.” The Obamas keep getting drawn into that blind spot, even when it’s not smart politically. Arrogance is their Achilles’ heel.

At Jesus Christ performed miracles, rather than merely promised them.

• I managed to catch a first place this week at OTB’s Caption Contest.
• for the last week or so, we’ve brought up John Edwards and his scandal. Kaus has been watching this for a while too, all credit to him. He says the LA TIMES is burying the story. Gee, why would they do THAT, do you suppose?
• It appears Iran is having some problems with opposition… physical opposition… to it’s activities. It’s all very hush hush, but stuff is now starting to slip out. All very encouraging.
• McCain is making some serious gains in battleground states. Also very encouraging.
• Mona Charen is someone I need to pay more attention to. Here’s one of her columns… Will someone please explain to me why anyone with a pair of braincells to rub together will try and put forward the idea that there is any moral equivalence between the “Palastinians’ and the western world, including Israel?   Look, I’m going to catch some flack for this, I know, but how many of these stories do we have to read before we come face the idea that this is the only way to deal with this business?  This is not a situation where we’re going to get them to like us by being nice to them. These are vermin, and should be treated as such; With extermination.  And yes, you’re damned right I’m angry.
• A slow news day, today, mostly. Either that or the press is too busy trying to think of lauditory things to say in their relarks on Obama’s speech in Germany yesterday… which seems likely, given their main focus of late has become making Obama look good. Even the New York Times admits Obama’s speech as at best vauge on the issues.  Clearly, this was all show and no go, this speech. But with the press being as willing as it’s been to promote Obama, that’s all he needs, apparently.
• Should we be mentioning that about 3/4 of the costs involved with Obama’s visit to Berlin is coming from German taxpayers, and not his own coffers?  Moral questions aside… What about it, legal types? Is this a problem with legaity as regards campain funding?
• What else that very few people are saying much about,  is that there were a number of restrictions on people who showed up there. Reports I’ve seen, for example from Deutsche Welle say that people attending were told not to bring placards and signs they had made. Apparently there are those in the Obama campaign who would rather not see anti-American slogans or any particular demands about the middle east being made. Again, all showmanship.
• So, now we have Obama’s photo-op of Germans stacked a mile deep supposedly to hear him speak. forget the free food, the rockbands and beer,   as I said last night. By the way, I made that comment at OTB yesterday… and was promptly asked:
  

  You’re saying that if the rockbands, beer and food were there but Obama wasn’t that there would still be a million people showing up?

  I suggested he ask Max Yasgur about that. You see, I find the lines drawn to Woodstock very apt, given the leftist / Rock star status that Obama seems bent on cultivating, here. It’s also a fit when you consider the politics attached to both events… they are not unlike. Nor are the destructive capabilities of each, in terms of the social and the economic.  My point about the general politics of Europe lately from yesterday affecting all of this apparently didn’t fall as flat as I thought it would.  In another thread over there, when I comment on the relative right turn in politics over there of late, James reminds me that right and left there, are…

  …relative terms, though, Bit. The Democrats and Republicans would easily fit into the definiton of “right” in any of the major Western European “conservative” parties.

  James is of course correct. My thrust there was not quantitative, but more the direction of travel of the politics in general there of late. Merkel and Sarkozy’s elections in Germany and France, respectively, would seem an indication of this change of direction.  Still, his comments go directly to my point that Obama went there to find a sympathetic crowd. And, find it he did. Try a little thought experiment with me, though.  Say you’re a hard leftist… far more to the left than most of your countrymen here in the states. What better place to go to than Europe, where the politics there are as James describes them… way off the left end of the American scale… and where there are a large number of people even farther to the left even on the measurement of the European political scale, who are feeling disaffected by the relative rightward shift of things in their homeland. Offer free food, beer and concerts. Does anyone suppose that Obama would have a hard time finding a sympathetic crowd there?  The press, though, very seldom mentions those dynamics. It’s always how the crowd was eager to see and hear Obama.

• But let’s also remember, folks, that it was four years ago we were dealing with the incredibly French-Looking John Kerry. Once the Euphoria over this speech settles down, we’re going to figure out, I think, that we don’t really give a damn if the European leftists like us. Indeed, That entire experience with Kerry put a spotlight on the fact that  our interests are not bettered by European approval.. in fact the reverse tends to be true.
• Final point on Obama; When even Useless Toady  wonders why Obama can’t admit what everyone else on the planet already knows… that the surge worked… there’s soemting serious going on.
• I don’t know what to say about this bit with Ed Mitchell. My gut reaction is to pass the whole thing off as a raving looney. What Mitchell describes would require a conspiracy of such a depth as to be impossible to maintain any degree of secrecy at all, particularly for this long. Think, people, We live in a titme when secret stuff is getting blasted across our news wires as a matter of routine. Does it strike anyone as reasoable that we’d have been able to keep this stuff under wraps?
• Donna’s desktop caught an update last night, which totally fouled up networking. I thought at first my router had blown up with the thunderstorm we caught. Turns out the failed pacth was in response to a problem you need to know about.  I withdrew the patch, but will be looking at reinstalling it shortly. Possibly was a bad download.
• Nice to see Danny Glover suffering from his own ploy.
• Mick Jagger is 65?    Ummm…. Good night, nurse.
• Camping trip this weekend, and the Thunderbirds are in town. I’ll have pictures, and perhaps video of both Sunday night, or Monday.

Captain Ed:

NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube get the skinny on the abrupt cancellation of Barack Obama’s visit to Landstuhl and Ramstein yesterday.  The campaign tried to excuse it by claiming that it wouldn’t be appropriate to visit while on a campaign-funded portion of his trip, but that wasn’t the real problem.  When Obama found out he couldn’t use the visit as a photo op, he canceled:

One military official who was working on the Obama visit said because political candidates are prohibited from using military installations as campaign backdrops, Obama’s representatives were told, “he could only bring two or three of his Senate staff member, no campaign officials or workers.” In addition, “Obama could not bring any media. Only military photographers would be permitted to record Obama’s visit.”

The official said “We didn’t know why” the request to visit the wounded troops was withdrawn. “He (Obama) was more than welcome. We were all ready for him.”

This snubbing doesn’t shock me at all, but it does reinforce the assesment I made of the man a year ago or so.
As Ed suggests, what we have here is Obama kicking the injured vets to the side of the road when he and his people see that they won’t be able to use them as props for his election effort. There’s no other way this can be taken.

If he thinks for one second that the American people aren’t going to remember this come November, he’s sadly mistaken.  

Others:

 Weekly Standard Blog, The Campaign Spot, Redstate Patterico’s Pontifications

Courtesy of the Tennessee Republican Party.

 Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin.