Live from DNC: Bill Keeps It Short
Did they have snipers on him or something? Plus: Some thoughts on Biden's speech, and poverty.
8/27 9:15 pm PST
When he’s on a script, you have to say Biden tells a helluva speech. The bit where he lowered his voice to talk about the poor poor people who needed the government to help them was really effective.
* * *
Continuing my thoughts for a bit. As I was saying, it really strikes me, when I listen to these speeches, that a lot of what we’re being promised is about what the government is going to do for us. None of what they want to do for us is undesirable, and I’ve always thought that the “left” makes a really basic mistake (for whatever reason) in assuming that the “right” doesn’t think these things are desirable. It’s not true. Free health care for everyone? Yeah, I’d love it. Everyone gets to go to college? Fine idea. Hell, I like teaching, it would be more chances to teach.
But then… how? There’s an ad running for AARP’s health care initiative, in which a family talks about how they went bankrupt, paying even just the differential between their mother’s insurance coverage, and the cost of her care for a brain tumor. I don’t doubt that’s true. Maybe it would be better to have a governmental single-payer system like the UK? Well, maybe — except the treatment they give for a brain tumor in the UK is steroids and information on how to compose a will. The AARP family have their wife and mother, and they’re broke; in Britain they wouldn’t be broke, just bereft.
But oh, we wouldn’t do it that way. Okay, fine: tell me how you would do it, and what makes that different from all the other tries?
They want to save people from poverty, and I agree that would be wonderful, but how? As PJ O’Rourke pointed out, it doesn’t appear to be anti-poverty programs; if we just took the amount of money spent to save people from poverty, divided it up among all the people below the poverty line, and sent them a check, they’d have so much money they’d no longer be in poverty.
So why is there still poverty?
They want everyone to have a good education, and I think that’s a fine idea, but how? Giving them more money doesn’t do it. As I pointed out with my CORS project piece, places like New York City already have enough money per student; it’s no that they need more money to pay teachers, because they could pay teachers $200,000 a year and still have money left over on the current budgets. Why can’t we pay the teachers enough? And why is it that it seems the more money per student, the poorer the results?
So why aren’t the schools better?
These are really rhetorical questions. We know why there’s still poverty: it’s because for every dollar a poor person gets, the intervening layers of government spend close to two dollars. The New York City schools can’t pay teachers enough because somewhere, somehow, of the $338,000 they pay for a 24-student class, nearly $300,000 is absorbed before they pay the teacher’s salary.
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Charlie Martin is a Colorado computer scientist and nearly-successful screenwriter who contributes to the Flares Into Darkness political blog as ‘Seneca the Younger,’ and blogs under his own name at the aggressively non-political Explorations blog.
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30 Comments
1. Evil Pundit:Thanks for your reporting.
I find that putting band-aids over blisters can make it easier to walk until they heal.
Aug 27, 2008 - 10:37 am 2. heather:there are special bandaids which you should use. They were developed for serious burns, and are kind of jelly-like. They are in most drugstores.
And wear running shoes, and stockings that fit (ideally cotton; NOT polyester, that stuff doesn’t ‘breathe’.)
Aug 27, 2008 - 11:23 am 3. Kevin:If you can get your hands on it, get some Corona. No, not the beer. It is a salve used for farm animals to promote healing and keeping biting insects off the wound. Provided you know where a feed store is, I don’t think Wal-Mart carries it. Now with your feet the biting insects won’t be a problem, but it also helps coagulate in a hot and wet environment. Still need to use bandages, because the salve along with the heat and perspiration will cause the scab to form onto the sock. Not pretty. But, yeah, ditch the Martens and stick with Nike, Reebok, Converse, whatever brand sneaker you like. Hope your feet recover soon.
Aug 27, 2008 - 11:24 am 4. Michael W. Perry:Lt. Saundler is to be commended. Strong language is not out of place at a political convention. But when that thug followed Michelle for hundreds of yards, yelling slanders and threats, the police should have stopped him and made clear that he must either shut up or face arrest. She is after all small and clearly was trying to avoid a clash and get away, while he was large, intrusive, and threatening. And for yelling “Kill Michelle Malkin” he should have been arrested on the spot, taking care not to release him until the convention was over. Freedom of speech doesn’t permit calling for someone to be killed in a crowded public space.
My suggestions: Michelle should file charges, so the city of Denver can prosecute this guy, giving him a criminal record in the city. And she should also file an internal affairs complaint with the Denver police department over their failure to act. But her complaint should be written in such a way that it helps the police respond better the next time rather than to punish the city or the police.
Keep in mind that in incidents like this, the police tend be tilted in one direction or the other. In a bar district, they’d be tilted toward a quick arrest, before an argument leads to violence. In political demonstrations, they’d be tilted toward not acting, even when it was justified, as here. They fear an ACLU lawsuit.
I had that happen to me. A couple of years ago, I was walking down a Seattle street when suddenly, in front of me, a man as deranged as this thug started banging on the side of a car and yelling at the driver. I missed the triggering incident, but apparently the elderly driver, without doing any harm, had backed ever so slowly into the thug’s car in the parking place behind him. I did nothing, to my regret.
Later I concluded that I should have spoken to the guy, staying calm and refusing to be threatened. I should have told him that what he was doing was disorderly conduct and that if he did not stop, I would call 911. As I was doing that, I’d be waving that elderly man to drive away. Once he was gone, I could walk away.
Why didn’t I do that? Because my mind wasn’t primed to act that way. I was primed to slip by and do nothing like most people.
In a similar fashion, the police need to be primed to imagine themselves acting in these sorts of situation rather than standing by. If I were as pretty and articulate as Michelle, I’d offer to help turn that video-taped incident into a video that could be shown to cops in training across the country. The incident could be shown, she could be interviewed about how she felt, and then the police department could explain what should have been done by the officers on the scene. The result would be positive and helpful.
Aug 27, 2008 - 12:07 pm 5. Hannah Stevens:I hope glc is ready for more wars and more recession because if he votes for McCain that is what he gets. Get your kids ready for the draft….
quoting snippets from some other blogs… whether Obama is ready to lead… this is McCain…
“McCain often cites Ahmadinejad as the “leader” of Iran – which isn’t actually true. In a complex nation, in a complex world, Ahmadinejad is only president, a vastly less significant office than Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei. When this was pointed out to him, McCain brushed facts aside and said, “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that’s what Americans THINK he is.”
Now that’s scary. McCain is not smart enough to be President.
Former Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig, a senior national security adviser to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, said that he has never seen Obama lose his temper, even in situations of “exceptional stress.”
Aug 27, 2008 - 1:31 pm 6. Evil Pundit:By comparison, Obama’s GOP rival John McCain is known for “losing it.” Danzig said McCain is known for forming an opinion or a decision quickly and then “digs in.” McCain’s volatile temper is well known to Beltway insiders, but Democrats at their convention are trying to make this known to the larger audience, as part of a tug-of-war about who between the two candidates is prepared to be commander-in-chief.”
The Obamatrolls can’t even spam the right thread. They’re as incompetent as their false messiah.
Aug 27, 2008 - 2:22 pm 7. clarice:Charlie! I am sorry to hear you were so badly hurt. Big drugstores have special banadages to put on those blisters which have special cushioning and medication. Do not go out again without them on those blisters!!!
Aug 27, 2008 - 2:52 pm 8. BadLiberal:Should the ABC reporters file charges for false arrest? Seems like that’s definitely in play.
Aug 27, 2008 - 2:59 pm 9. Abu Al-Poopypants:Hannah “Montana” Stevens for some reason found it necessary to blurt out:
“McCain is not smart enough to be President.”
A belief that is held by many residents of all 57 states, I’m sure.
Aug 27, 2008 - 3:03 pm 10. KansasGirl:This has to stop! I am glad it is getting coverage!
Aug 27, 2008 - 3:06 pm 11. Damon:I was SHOCKED at the attempt to incite a riot and shouting “Kill Michelle Malkin”. She should have insisted the police arrest that guy. I just moved away from Denver and am horrified at the behavior shown in the video on YouTube. I told my mother about it as well and she too is horrified. This is the main reason why Democrats are such monsters: they hate everyone that doesn’t think like they do. Scary stuff!
Aug 27, 2008 - 3:08 pm 12. Terry Gain:You mean to tell me Americans don’t want as President a know nothing pacifist marxist who consorts with rich-kid-punk-terrorists (and lies about it) and racist ministers ( and again lies about what he heard as he sat in that man’s pew for 20 years.
Obamaisms
Russia invades Georgia and he demands that both sides stop fighting.
Iran is a tiny country which is no threat.
Iraq should be conceded to al Qaeda and Iran.
There’s no point driling for oil.
The road to riches is to tax the rich and kill incentive.
—
Wake up liberal America. He’s a loon.
Aug 27, 2008 - 3:22 pm 13. Tcobb:Former Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig, a senior national security adviser to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, said that he has never seen Obama lose his temper, even in situations of “exceptional stress.”
Aug 27, 2008 - 3:33 pm 14. Chalk Talk:No, he just starts acting like someone who is having some kind of seizure, especially if he is disconnected from his teleprompter. Or is that his life support system?
The Denver police did get around to arresting an ABC News reporter for taking pictures of Democratic fat cats in front of a hotel.
But a thuggish liberal shoving a tiny woman around in the street right in front of a police officer? No crime there.
This isn’t just shameful. It’s criminal. It shows that the city of Denver, as host city, has politicized policing to appeal to Democrats.
Why not take a page out of the Democratic playbook and file a federal complaint against the Denver for selective, biased policing?
Aug 27, 2008 - 3:38 pm 15. ZEITGEIST:[...] CHARLIE MARTIN ON ALEX JONES AND MICHELLE MALKIN: “I did get a call from the Denver PD’s convention task force about the Michelle dust-up. The spokesman, a Lt. Saundier, told me that the behavior of the police at the Mint on Monday was not acceptable procedure, and he invited both Michelle and me to file charges. In addition, after the convention is over, he invited me to file an internal affairs complaint. We’ll be sending them links to the video and our coverage.” [...]
Aug 27, 2008 - 3:42 pm 16. mike123:There is enough on that video for a big time prosecution of coward jones. Terrorist threats, incitement to riot, stalking, battery, etc. I’m not sure of CO laws but coward jones may want to send some chocolate and flowers to Ms. Malkin asking for her forgiveness.
As for the so-called officer, he should have intervened several times, and failed to. At what point would he? When coward jones struck Michelle?
Aug 27, 2008 - 4:07 pm 17. jvon:Wait… when has Barack Obama been subjected to “exceptional stress”? Did I miss something?
Aug 27, 2008 - 4:08 pm 18. cedarford:Former Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig, a senior national security adviser to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, said that he has never seen Obama lose his temper, even in situations of “exceptional stress.”
By comparison, Obama’s GOP rival John McCain is known for “losing it.”
The following Presidents were known for their at-times vitrolic temper and dark moods – Washington, Adams, Monroe, Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, TDR, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower,JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton.
Sometimes a temper is not a bad thing in a leader. Especially one that demands top performance from subordinates.
More placid Presidents have included JQ Adams, Wilson, Taft, Hoover, Jimmy Carter, Bush I & II.
I’ll take the former group anyday.
==============
As for polls, it’s still early, banks are still failing, industries still bailing for China, domestic car manufacturing industries may die, we face a growing health insurance and entitlement crisis, and 9 trillion in bad paper may have to be absorbed by the taxpayer instead of the Ruling Elites living high on real estate speculation since the 90s.
Plus foreign policy fiascos and a the beginning of a decade-long energy crisis for us and a looming chronic food, water, energy crisis in overpopulated sections of the world. seek to flee the lands they wrecked to immigrate and breed away and wreck other countries.
And polls ignore that McCain has his own divided Party, with factions of rich Bush corporatists, intolerant religious zealots, Northern & Midwest moderates, Republican women who are pro to moderately prochoice, and various Mormons, atheists, screwball libertarians.
Half the Republicans start the Convention hating McCain, and no way will McCain ever be able to mollify the factions to close all the fault lines. He will have to piss off some factions royally, or optimally, all the factions a bit. And you will see the Republican version of the Hillary PUMAs on display from the Fundie religious ceremony rattlesnake-handlers, the 6,000 year old Earthers, angry fatcats roiled with the idea that McCain may cut off their K-Street hog trough, or pro-choicers and abortion moderates, log cabin gays upset at being relegated to 2nd class status.
And women in a bipartisan hissy fit if Republicans refuse to nominate an underqualified woman as VP. And small town Republicans whose livelihoods have been destroyed by global corporatism are also waiting to see if Republicans offer a vision they can still embrace, or they are shunted aside for fatcat free trade interests.
Way to early to see the Dem Convention as a disaster before the Republicans, who have fucked up just about everything they have touched since 2000, have their own go at things.
Aug 27, 2008 - 4:41 pm 19. Lisa:Yeah, I guess I must be a racist to refuse to vote for an inexperienced sexist pig with questionable judgement and questionable ties like Wright.
That’s the only possible explanation.
/snark
Aug 27, 2008 - 4:46 pm 20. Ed Wallis:Mr. Charlie Martin,
A question, please.
Are you SURE that Phillip Reid (North Oakland Michigan, a Clinton delegate) didn’t say it was because of RAYS-ism?
YOU KNOW, the reason all the Dems wear their tinfoil hats, to prevent THE RAYS from getting to their brains…
Aug 27, 2008 - 4:52 pm 21. Lee:Obama supporters keep chanting the mantra that Barack Obama
Aug 27, 2008 - 4:56 pm 22. JeanE:is the candidate who can unite our country … but, Obama couldn’t
even unite his own party … even after winning the nomination. And,
in reality, McCain has the history of working across the isle in congress.
Obama has brainwashed his followers into operatIing on ‘belief’, rather
than reason … just as he learned in Jeremiah Wright’s church … the power of BLIND faith.
Even his campaign solgan is based on belief, not common sense, logic,
or reason. Obama’s even got his followers publicly denouncing the importance
of experience … as if that’s the reason Bush performed poorly … when the
real reason Obama and his followers denounce experience is because
Obama doesn’t have any.
Keep America Strong … Elect Senator John McCain in November !!
Thanks for your reports, and I”m sorry you got such bad blisters. It won’t help too much now, but in the future I highly recommend moleskin (Dr. Scholl’s) to protect sore spots before they develop into bad blisters.
Aug 27, 2008 - 5:16 pm 23. bad:Hey Charlie
Love hearing your take on everything. YOU ROCK!!
Aug 27, 2008 - 5:37 pm 24. Charlie (Colorado):Thanks, Bad. Jean and everyone, thanks for the kind words. I’m taking all your advice.
Aug 27, 2008 - 6:18 pm 25. jfruser:In the Rangers, we found that 100MPH/UGT (ugly green tape) swathed liberally over bloody blistered areas was quite helpful.
The closest civvie equivalent is duct tape.
And, for the love of all that is holy, ditch the Doc Mtns. The newer ones are made in China crap. Get you and your poor dogs to the nearest Redwing dealer and treat yourself to some quality, comfortable footgear made in the USA. Your dogs have earned it. Also, quality socks, preferably thin wool socks with a cushion bottom.
Topical anesthetics with anti-bacterial properties slathered over the bloody blisters can also help. But, make sure that at night, your feet get a chance to dry out. Wash them up good & rigorously with soap, water, & a washcloth. After you are finished screaming, prop them up for the evening.
Good luck.
Aug 27, 2008 - 6:59 pm 26. M. Simon:industries still bailing for China,
I know how to fix that. The Obama plan to raise taxes on business and on capital gains.
Aug 27, 2008 - 7:19 pm 27. Charlie (Colorado):Thanks, folks, again. I actually got the special bandages Clarice recommended, and they help a lot. It helps that I have the world’s highest pain threshold. Of course, that also doesn’t help, because I was saying “Oh, my feet hurt. Okay.” when I should have been doing something.
Besides, it was interesting.
I never thought my feet would become a topic in a national news site.
Aug 27, 2008 - 7:51 pm 28. Scott (in Colorado):We’re loving it in Wondervu, too, Charlie! What a hoot!! Much luv… Scott&Mary
Aug 27, 2008 - 8:15 pm 29. Day Three. Thank God tomorrow’s the last day. | Explorations:[...] Day Three coverage at PJM. Oh my god, the link starts off with “Live from DNC my [...]
Aug 27, 2008 - 9:02 pm 30. Semanticleo:Nice work, Chaco!
Sorry I’m so late to the game (Clarice prompted me).
You should have email alerts so I can join the fun at the outset.
Regards
Aug 28, 2008 - 4:07 pm