Sarah Palin has the Democrats in pants-crapping hysterics

As the world no doubt by now knows, John McCain picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, and her selection has the Democrats in a drawers-soiling panic.

Democratic strategist Paul Begala put up a short, poorly-written hit piece on CNN's website, and I'd like to go over his reasoning just a bit.

John McCain needs what Kinky Friedman calls "a checkup from the neck up."

Oh, cute. Let's start off with some hip jive, man, 'cuz we're all cool cats, here. Dude, leave the funny to people who are, you know, funny.

In choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate, he is not thinking "outside the box," as some have said. More like out of his mind.

Wanna bet? If the selection of Sarah Palin was that bad, there wouldn't be so many Democrats looking like deer in the headlights right now.

Palin, (I had to add the comma--great editing, CNN) a first-term governor of a state with more reindeer than people, will have to put on a few pounds just to be a lightweight. Her personal story is impressive: former fisherman, mother of five. But that hardly qualifies her to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Pot? Kettle? I love it when the Democrats trot out the "experience" card. Barack Obama's political career, his experience, consists of a few state legislative terms and, so far, three years in the Senate. Besides, there's a whole lot of people in this country who think people who "lack experience" as politicians are exactly the kind of people who need to be sent to Washington. HopeyChangey, and all that.

For a man who is 72 years old and has had four bouts with cancer to have chosen someone so completely unqualified to become president is shockingly irresponsible. Suddenly, McCain's age and health become central issues in the campaign, as does his judgment.

Again with the unqualified bit, and now we're into lobbing some "irresponsible" tripe, all the while bashing on McCain's age. "Oh, oh, McCain's old and feeble, and his mind's slipping, and that lady doesn't know what she's doing, so we have to elect a young, virile man with no experience in the executive branch whatsoever." I guess Obama's not courting the AARP vote.

In choosing this featherweight, McCain passed over Tom Ridge, a decorated combat hero, a Cabinet secretary and the former two-term governor of the large, complex state of Pennsylvania.

Now we get to the reason I decided to pick on this goober's whining little rant -- the list of folks who the Democratic political strategist thinks the Republican should've picked. To say that his motives might be questionable is an understatement worthy of a particularly cynical Englishman. First, he says McCain should've picked Tom Ridge. Hello, dumbass? Ridge is pro-choice, a big no-no for Republicans in the South. Yeah, they should just alienate a huge portion of their voter base right off the bat. Plus, as the first Secretary of Homeland Security, he won't likely be too popular with libertarian-leaning Western Republicans, either. Ridge is a fine example of "the establishment," and that's exactly what the Republicans don't need (and precisely what the Democrats had hoped for).

He passed over Mitt Romney, who ran a big state, Massachusetts; a big company, Bain Capital; and a big event, the Olympics.

Oh, please. Here, the Democratic strategist tries to convince us that Mitt Romney is more qualified to be the chief executive, when he well knows that The Ken Doll is about as inspirational and exciting as a blank sheet of notebook paper.

He passed over Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Texas senator who is knowledgeable about the military, good on television and -- obviously -- a woman.

While I like Kay Bailey Hutchison, Palin is the better pick. Why? I'm gonna enjoy this a bit -- Palin has more experience in the executive. See? I can do it, too, only in this case, it's actually relevant. Hutchison has also been indicted for official misconduct and records tampering, in a case where it was alleged that she used state employees and equipment for campaign purposes. I'm not at all familiar with the case, and won't comment on it, other than to say it's an obvious problem for a presidential election. Mr. Begala obviously thinks his readership is too stupid to look these folks up on Wikipedia.

He passed over Joe Lieberman, his best friend in the Senate and fellow Iraq Kool-Aid drinker.

Lieberman is an "Independent Democrat" who still caucuses with Democrats. For a Republican who has been accused of being a moderate Democrat, to pick Lieberman would be political suicide.

He passed over former congressman, trade negotiator and budget director Rob Portman.

Who?

And he also passed over Mike Huckabee, the governor of Arkansas.

What? No list of credentials, reasons McCain should've picked Mike Huckabee? No, this one was thrown out there for really no reason at all, like Mr. Begala was sitting in front of his keyboard thinking, "I need just one more to make it complete." Mike Huckabee won a couple of primaries early on, but got more and more soundly beaten the longer the campaign went on. The bottom line here is that very many Republican voters seem to want to think their candidate is a man of faith, but they don't want an overly zealous person, either. His comment, contained in the linked article, about changing the Constitution to bring it in line with "God's standards" is, to say the least, problematic. My first question: God's will according to whom? Baptists? Catholics? Muslims? Jews? Pagans?

For months, the McCainiacs have said they will run on his judgment and experience. In his first presidential decision, John McCain has shown that he is willing to endanger his country, potentially leaving it in the hands of someone who simply has no business being a heartbeat away from the most powerful, complicated, difficult job in human history.

And now we get to the money shot, where Mr. Begala tries out the tactic that the Democrats accuse the Republicans of abusing: fear. He says that McCain has blown this call big-time, and is putting the country at risk in doing so, and finishes with the tired old "experience" argument again. Well, fine, if he insists on defining the discussion that way, so be it.

John McCain has the experience in spades, and Obama does not. Obama has no executive-branch experience whatsoever, while Sarah Palin does, and has proven her mettle in that job. What experience Sarah Palin lacks -- and she has been involved in politics longer than Obama, albeit on a lower level in part -- she can pick up on the job, as it were.

So, Mr. Begala, to pose a question from the perspective of your basic argument: Which makes more sense: hiring a guy with years upon years of experience and who has a green but promising assistant, or hiring a guy with very little direct experience who happens to have an assistant who's been around a while but is a speech plagiarist with serious foot-in-mouth disease?

Why I won't be voting for Obama

Brigid explains very well why I won't be voting for Obama, and I find that I really have nothing to add to her explanation.

School time again

I'm all set for the new semester, and I'm not really looking forward to it. After two years at the local junior college, I had finally transferred to the local university, where I've spent the last three semesters. During that time, I've enjoyed being back in school, even though I'm usually in the top five when ranked by age.

I'm not much looking forward to this year, though. I'd never gotten around to fulfilling the modern language requirement of my degree program, and now I have to go back to junior college for a solid year to get it done. Four Spanish classes, and I only go half-time. That means that the next year of school will involve only one subject of study at the freshman and sophomore levels, not the path for maintenance of engagement if you're my brain.

It's my own damn fault, but I still hate the thought of it. The difference in mentality between the two institutions is vast.

The junior college has too much of the "13th grade" mentality. There are tons of kids who are there only because Daddy will throw them out on their lazy, unproductive asses if they aren't in school. That so many parents will pay good money only to have their kids fail never ceases to be a source of wonder for me.

To make matters worse, many of the little turds have discovered that night classes offer them the unique opportunity to party all night, sleep nearly all day, and still make class on time. Night school at the junior college is not too much of an adult environment.

I'm sure that, as is usually the case with me, the anticipation is far worse than the reality. I've met the instructor, and she struck me as a cheerful, friendly person. That will help. The cram-session nature of the course schedule might help contribute to a more mature environment by discouraging the lazy asses from registering. I'm holding out hope.

Then, of course, there's the violent ass-rape that is textbook purchasing. Textbook publishers and college bookstores have such a well-established racket that it puts the Cali drug cartel to shame. $110 for half of a paperback Spanish textbook and a workbook? There's always time for lubrication!!

Update: I'm the king of updates these last couple of posts. Anyway, sure enough, the anticipation was much worse than the reality. The course instructor is a hyper woman, but she's an unabashed geek where her subject is concerned, and I can relate to that. The class composition was more adult that I expected, and those of typical college age seemed to be there to get the work done, not goof off. I'm now much more inclined to think this will be a decent semester.

Inheritance: sense of humor

Gracie has decided that she wants a betta fish. I don't know where this current obsession came from, but she asks about it frequently.

This weekend, the conversation in the van went like this:

Gracie: Can we get a betta?

Me: No.

Gracie: Why not?

Me: Because it's something else we'll have to keep up with, and it's something else for you to cry over when it dies.

Gracie: How long do they live?

Me: I dunno. Two or three years, maybe?

Gracie: So it'll be a while before it dies, and I won't cry.

Me: Except that you're not taking into account Colin dropping a radio into the bowl.

Gracie: Colin's not going to turn them into fish sticks.

She's already developing a dark sense of humor, and she's only nine. She comes by it honestly. Just last week, when her mother was stressing over starting with a new workgroup, Gracie suggested that, if the new group gives Amanda any trouble, she should simply "Punch them in their grill," complete with mimicked illustration. I have no idea where she got that.

Seen on the way to work

On the way to work yesterday, I spotted a young fellow on a crotch rocket working his way through traffic. This is not particularly unusual, although his careful checking of lanes before lane changes and not-psychotically-excessive speed were somewhat noteworthy for this area.

What made me take particular note, however, was his gear: wife beater, loose shorts, and house shoes with socks.

This is clearly not dressing for the crash. Hell, I wouldn't even qualify that as dressing for the ride!

DeSoto County Schools can file this under "ain't gonna happen"

The local school district has decided that parents must receive the principal's imprimatur before scheduling medical or dental appointments, and has made this known in an edict on its home page.

Beginning 2008, a medical or dental appointment must have PRIOR APPROVAL of the principal or his/her designee in order to be excused, except in the case of an emergency. Upon returning to school a proper excuse must be presented from the attending physician/dentist.

Please use the form below to let the school know of scheduled medical/dental appointments.

Public schools are rife with bureaucratic nonsense. For example, parents here are issued two passes for the school year to eat lunch with their children. Once your two passes are gone, that's it: no more lunch visits with your kid. This is minor, yes, but still silly. Whatever happened to parents being welcomed into their kids' schools?

Bureaucracy is part and parcel of anything run by government, but what on earth qualifies or entitles an elementary school principal to the power of approval on medical decisions for my children?

One of the fellows I work with suggested that "notification" might have been a better approach, rather than "approval". Perhaps this is so. However, given the choice of words taken in combination with the way they were formatted, I think the choice of words was very deliberate, and the implied threat is very clear. Don't get the principal's permission to have your child miss a couple of hours of school to go to the doctor or dentist, and your child doesn't get to make up any work missed and is stuck with an unexcused absence. Three of those, and you get a nice form letter complete with the threat of criminal prosecution under truancy law.

I understand the necessity of providing a doctor's note after the fact, because God knows you can't have "unexcused" absences. If the butts aren't in the seats, after all, the school loses money. And that's all this is about.

Twenty five years ago, I attended the same elementary school that my kids do now. I remember using books that were five, six, seven years old and worn completely out. I remember some of the desks were in dire need of replacement. I remember that the teachers were some of the lowest-paid in the country, which was sometimes reflected in the quality of instruction, but there were also many excellent teachers who worked hard with their kids despite the abysmal fiduciary reward. I remember how tough it was to function under such financial conditions.

I also remember that the atmosphere was much more open and welcoming, despite my "stuck in prison" mentality. Parents were encouraged to participate, and welcomed into the building. Hell, the school staff begged parents to get involved in their kids' education.

Now, the prison atmosphere is a much more apt description. There's a huge glass wall just inside the entryway to keep people out, and parents have much more limited access to their children during the school day. The first day of school results not just in reunions with friends and new books to take home, but rather in form after form detailing the requirements and, of particular note, restrictions that will be imposed on students and parents alike.

The attitude seems to have shifted to one of "We own them from 8:30 to 3:30, so you just butt out and let us do our jobs." What the hell? I know that teachers deal with tons of kids whose parents are content to do just that, and the teachers complain incessantly about it. "We're not the parents. We're not here to teach them how to behave. We're supposed to teach them, not raise them." And they're absolutely right. Despite this, parents are being continually edged out of the process as their children are taught more about bureaucratic compliance and paperwork than the Three R's.

Homeschooling is looking like our only alternative. I wish to God I could still afford to put them in the local Catholic school, which was a much warmer environment, and far more welcoming. My daughter's name was known to the principal, as was mine. Now, it seems as if my kids are just faces in the crowd, numbers to be counted, and I'm to be kept on the outside looking in as much as practicable. Not putting my kids in the school that I think is best for them due to financial mistakes has to be my greatest failure as a parent thus far.

Update: It would appear that this is not only district policy, but state law. Relevant code is here, at 4(e). The required imprimatur must be obtained from the "superintendent of the school district or his designee," so I suppose the superintendent here has designated principals or their designees, a logical action. I can't find any reference to suggest that this is new, so I can only assume that the district has only now decided to enforce it.

This doesn't change the content of my rant all that much, other than to lay some of the blame for this particular issue at the feet of the morons in the Mississippi Legislature, and to wonder why they thought that superintendents are somehow entitled or qualified to be involved in medical decisions for my child.

We went to open house for Sarah's school last night, and the classroom was very nicely made up. I think she's going to have a good time this year. And this year we're allowed to come to lunch once a month, not just twice a year....

Update the second: The school district has updated their notice on the front page to reflect that the requirement is state law. I believe it's safe to assume that this change was made in response to some negative feedback.

Range report and Dremel work

I took the little Kel-Tec P-3AT back to the range the other day, and my buddy and I ran about 75 more rounds through it. In the intermission since the last range trip, I've added a mag extension to one magazine and a +1 extension to the other. They helped me keep two fingers solidly on the grip, as opposed to having my ring finger slip off under recoil.

The failure-to-feed rate dropped, but it happened occasionally throughout our range session. I had one round nose-dive into the feed ramp about midway through the session, stopping it cold. All the rest of the FTFs were of the same variety as before, and I'm thinking that the case rim is not slipping under the extractor hook. A little tug on the slide and the rounds would feed on in. Of course, I'm sure the dirtier the gun got, the less apparent any benefit of further break-in was, and by the end of it, that was one nasty little gun.

Just the same, it ran well enough that my buddy decided to get one of his own this weekend to complement his shiny new carry permit. His has the lovely sky-blue grip frame. Heh.

The magazine extension struck me as about 1/8th of an inch too long. It hung below the bottom of my ring finger, which gave my pinky nowhere to comfortably go. In true KTOG spirit, I broke out the Dremel and cut away the bottom of the plastic extension to a length that better suited my taste. It's ugly, but it works. No metal was harmed during this operation.

I've seen the phrase "ergonomics of a credit card" used before, and that evaluation certainly fits this little pocket auto. However, the active word for me is "pocket". This is a gun that can always be carried with ease, even in the stifling heat and humidity of the southern summertime.

Despite many contrary opinions I've encountered, I found the little gun to be fairly easy to shoot. It's not a tame plinker as was the Sig P230 I used to have, but it's not the hand-mangler I'd heard it was, either. I was also surprised at its practical accuracy, considering the gun only has a two and three-quarters-inch barrel and an empty weight of just over eight ounces.

The verdict is still out on this little pistol. I'm content with its shootability, but I'd like to see the FTFs clear up. This is, after all, intended as a last-ditch, always-have-it defensive pistol. Ruger's LCP (clearly a P-3AT copy) and Kahr's new P380 are alternatives, and the Kahr offering is one I'm very interested in seeing.