January 29, 2010

State of the Union

My new VDARE.com column, "Obama Falls to Earth -- But He Still Has the GOP" is up.
His 2010 State of the Union ditched the mercifully forgotten light bulb screwing in boondoggle in favor of 57 new flavors of pork, along with an implausible “discretionary spending freeze”. Thus Obama’s appearance at a rally in Tampa on Thursday trumpeted a new brainstorm—handing over $1.25 billion for a Train to Nowhere.

Obama has called for the construction of a high-speed rail line that will run from the Orlando airport all of 75 miles to a To Be Announced destination in the sprawling Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metroplex. (The current best guess for the Tampa Bay terminus seems to be “a little past Ybor City.”)

Think about it. (Obama hasn’t.) Rail travel works best connecting centralized cities. Orlando is hardly centralized. But Tampa Bay is likely the least suitable metropolitan area in America for an expensive new rail system: its center is salt water.

Q. After you drive to south suburban Orlando International Airport, park, and wait for the ObamaTrain, it accelerates up to 168 mph but then soon starts decelerating so it can grind to a halt somewhere near Tampa (meaning it will only average 86 mph), what do you do next?

A. You stand in line at the Hertz counter to rent a car to drive to your actual destination in the far-flung Tampa Bay exurbs. (For example, it’s 25 miles from downtown Tampa to downtown St. Petersburg.)

Wouldn’t it have been simpler and cheaper just to drive from Orlando?

More
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

89 comments:

AllanF said...

On the radio today in the local NPR affiliate was interviewing the guy that edited Ralph Ellison's notes into a post-humous novel. Ralph Ellison was author of Invisible Man.

The guy said that Obama was our 21st century Invisible Man. The host both loved the concept and had no idea what he meant. When pressed the guy didn't seem to know himself, or at least wasn't sharing. I suspect what he meant was something along these lines:

"As Obama admitted in The Audacity of Hope, he served “as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views”. In other words, he’s something of an empty suit."

Gee, anyone want to bet that Obama has NOT read Invisible Man and strongly identified with the main character? I'll give odds.

Anonymous said...

"...what do you do next?"

Hovercraft, duh. About the proposed LA-Vegas line:

-is it an actual monorail? There would appear to be significant overlap betwixt Simpson's fans and Obama fans, the former suitably inoculated against monorail schemes. Indeed, "Monorail!" may be the new catchphrase of Obama mockery, you read it here first.

Speaking of dental plans, that's coming in the second Obama administration, you read that here first too.

Mr. Anon said...

"That worked, once. Whether it will work more than once is uncertain, but don’t count Obama out."

Perhaps in 2012, Obama can make use of his Indonesion upbringing to claim that he will be the first Asian-American president.

"They simply position themselves as the mirror image to Obama’s “blank screen” by running ruggedly handsome white guys upon whom hopes can be projected, such as Senator Scott Brown in Massachusetts and Governor Bob McDonnell in Virginia."

As to the republicans, the fact that they've been putting forward black tokens like Steele, and blow-dried male models like McDonnell and Brown demonstrates that they remain stupid and hopeless. I would much prefer candidates like the democratic machine politicians of yore - tough, direct, mean guys in rumpled suits who know who their friends are......and know who their enemies are.

OhioStater said...

Peggy Noonan said voters are going back to basics after this apparently failed experiment in multi culturalism.

Let's see...back to basics. If I had to bet, I would bet against Romney and bet on John Thune.

OhioStater said...

Scott Brown and John Thune are ruggedly handsome and I can easily see either as the Republican nominee.

Why? They share a characteristic with many of our past presidents: they have daughters and no sons.

Mitt Romney has a son. FAIL. Sarah Palin has a son. FAIL.

Mr Sailer, why do so many of our presidents die without male issue?

Imagine if there was a man named George Washington the Eighth running around. That would be a sight!

AllanF said...

Here's the show:

http://www.opb.org/thinkoutloud/shows/after-invisible-man/

Looks like there's an mp3 link. The invisible president comment comes at one of the show breaks. Can't remember if it was the first or second one.

albertosaurus said...

The question that should pop up in everyone's mind is , "If this is a good place for a rail line, why haven't the railroads already built it?".

In the nineteenth century the federal government invested in railroads in the belief that without government subsidies there would be no transcontinental rail connection. In fact however the Great Northern Railway of James P. Hill developed lines across the nation without any federal money and still cleared a profit while the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific spent a fortune in government subsidies and went bankrupt.

A year or so ago the California voters rejected a proposition to underwrite a similar high speed rail line from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. There are big fortunes to be made in construction of government subsidized infrastructure - it worked for Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins..

Anonymous said...

I live in Columbus and my wife and I had similar questions on the proposed Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati route. Where are we going to go once we've arrived? Get a cab to take us to a car rental place? The trains are supposed to run at a maximum speed of 79 mph. Traffic on I-71 typically flows at 70-75 mph. So you've gained what by taking a train?
Finally, a very subjective opinion but other than visiting family or for work no one is going to Dayton or Cleveland ... seriously.

jody said...

good article steve.

Anonymous said...

Steve, you point out that McDonnell's response to the SOTU was absent mention of the issues of illegal immigration, AA and other hot-button issues, but at this point in the game, can't you just see what the MSM would have done not only to the GOP but also to McD had he brought up those issues?

Right now, even the MSM is, if not pleased, then at least not in a hot-sweat frenzy over the newly elected GOP governor. The elites of NY, DC and VA of both parties are hoping he will be a fiscally sound leader while also being moderate to liberal on, as they call them, "social issues." After all, the MSM and their buds would refuse to stamp their imprimatur on any candidate who falls into the "socially conservative" category.

So, for now at least, I think it was probably a good idea for McD to have avoided those issues although I'd be the first to admit I'd have love it had he said, "And we believe the loyal opposition holds demonstrably illogical and destructive policies in the area of immigration and equal opportunity and that their tenacity in clinging to these outmoded policies and ways of thinking have to do with vote getting, pure and simple, not with with fairness."

When you say the GOP is leaderless, I don't think that situation is necessarily bad at all-- for now. I do wish Boehner's voice weren't so gravelly nor his skin so obviously fake-tanned, that Cantor didn't come across on tv as nerdy wimpy, but I think that this early in the game a face attached to the GOP might not be a good thing.

From the purely visuals, Thune is a good choice for GOP counter-attacks (although from what I've read, he seems not to have the fire in the belly required for leadership).

As for the GOP's lack of a message--for now it seems the "get big government out of my pocket" is a decent foil to Obama's every silly program.

Dahinda said...

Eugene Sawyer was the second black mayor of Chicago. Obama would have been third.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Sawyer

Anonymous said...

Well done, Steve. I adore you.

Anonymous said...

Steve,

just started 'Endless Money' by William Baker. You get a mention in the sub-prime madness section.

Richard

Anonymous said...

You are correct that the GOP is Obama's best friend. Reading the transcript of his Q&A session with the GOP House leaders, he destroyed them while looking Presidential and conciliatory, while also shredding the talking point one so often sees here that Obama's a not very bright guy who's lost without a teleprompter. You all underestimate the man at your peril.

Unknown said...

Taking on Holder is a win-win for the GOP--the guy's a tone deaf race man who gets seriously pissed off about anything that might help white people. But then, taking on Jeremiah Wright was also a win-win, and somehow they discovered a way to make it a loser.

Anonymous said...

Steve- You're right about Tampa.

But. I live in a small city of 200,000. Our civic fathers have decided to tear up the old rail lines so they can build McMansions on either side. Result: If I want to take a train to somewhere, i ahve to pay a cab 70$ to the nearest railhead.
Why take a train and not a plane?
I don't like getting felt up by Thugs Standing Around. Don't like watching my womenfolk get fondled either.

Chief Seattle said...

"A little past ybor city" - classic. I'll play the pedagogue and let unfamiliar readers know that's right into Tampa Bay.

Whether it's because they love Europe or hate pickup trucks, the coastal elites have decided not to invest another dollar in road/highway infrastructure. Probably there's a not-to-well-hidden component of forcing whitey into the inner cities as well, and punishing transgressors with hellish commutes. Anyways, to anyone looking at buying a house, I'd put that into your equation. Commutes will only get worse, unless you happen to be part of a community with enough pull to get on a rail line.

Anonymous said...

Instead of investing $ we don't have on some stupid mass transit, how about we stop letting in the stupid masses of illegals who outbreed us and cannot afford decent cars? Remember all growth in the US population is from immigration. No group, including NAMs, whose grandparents were born in the USA has a TFR above 2.0. All of the growth among blacks and hispanics is from immigration.

Mr. Anon said...

Scott Brown is already showing his colors:

http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/015539.html

He hired Teddy's immigration staffer.

Anonymous said...

A post by Brian Faughnan, reporting from the GOP meeting in Maryland, says that Republican pollsters will be rolling out A Contract with American II closer to the election and will specifically be targeting Independents, as opposed to base voters. Without empirical evidence, I believe Independent voters (and Hillary Democrats like myself) would be very excited about a strong anti-illegal immigration stance. I think the problem in 2006 was not what the MSM says -- that the immigration issue hurt Republicans, but it was the fizzle on doing anything tough -- I think Frank Luntz confirmed this.

Whiskey said...

Steve, you kind of ignore a major aspect of Presidents:

THEY HAVE TO DELIVER.

GWB in his first term delivered:

1. For the first time since the start of the terror era (1979, arguably), FIGHTING BACK.

2. Decent if not spectacular economic growth.

3. Getting rid of Saddam, who was on America's "to do list" since G HW Bush failed to get rid of him when it was easy.

#1-2 were the most important, and they counted. It got Bush, uninspired in the first election, basically tied with Gore (an equally uninspiring candidate), a 5 point victory over Kerry.

Obama HAS TO DELIVER. He has to either deliver economic growth, or like FDR, the sense that the US Government is solidly on the side of the White Middle class and will deport every Mexican, and exclude Blacks (FDR crushed Black union organizing attempts) from government assistance.

The White Majority is pressed, finds Obama a threat to their pocket books, their jobs, their health care. They will only change their minds if Obama suddenly jump starts the economy, and creates massive job growth. We've lost about 8-9 million private sector jobs, and did not CREATE about 2 million jobs from 2007 onward, which is needed JUST TO KEEP PACE with population growth.

That is for now, a total jobs deficit of about 15 million or so. How likely is it that Obama can create that many jobs JUST TO GET BACK TO BUSH's job-level?

"Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

Add in massive inflation, sure-fire humiliations abroad (Iran getting the bomb, etc.) and you have a massive defeat. Assuming Obama just doesn't suspend parts of the Constitution like Lincoln and Wilson did.

Captain Jack Aubrey said...

That worked, once. Whether it will work more than once is uncertain, but don’t count Obama out.

No, don't count him out, because at this very moment Mitt Romney has about 5,000 more fans on Facebook than Mike Huckabee (151,000 v. 146,000), but only 1/8th as many fans as Sarah Palin (1.2 million). Sarah Palin is John McCain's poisoned gift to the GOP, though it's their fault alone to be swallowing it.

It’s becoming ever more obvious that Obama, an unaccomplished Chicago politician, was nominated for President for the same reason George W. Bush got to run for President—because of who his daddy was. If Obama’s father were white, he no more would have been considered Presidential timber than if the last President’s father had been named Smith.

Prediction: someone will invariably chime in to say "but Obama's daddy wasn't rich or powerful or famous!" - missing the point entirely.

Your main point is inarguably correct - Obama's agenda is to redirect as much money to blacks and other Democratic consittuencies (but especially blacks) as possible. He's mortgaging our country's future to do that.

Reading the transcript of his Q&A session with the GOP House leaders, he destroyed them while looking Presidential and conciliatory...

Irerelevant. Even if it's as good as you say it is (I plan to watch the whole thing, but haven't seen it yet) a fraction of a percent of the population will watch the Q&A session, and even then it will be forgotten within hours. But Obama will have to get back to governing and speaking, and he'll still be his same old self.

McDonnell delivered the GOP’s artfully vacuous response after the State of the Union. It made no mention of immigration, affirmative action, or other disturbing realities.

Republicans don't have to talk about it while running for office. They need to be silent but firm. Then when they regain control they simply need to end it and let the Democrats complain, since it's what the voter's want anyway.

jody said...

holy christ. it now looks like obama IS going to use the justice department to try to force NCAA football to have a playoff.

fkcing ridiculous.

Mr. Anon said...

"Whiskey said...

3. Getting rid of Saddam, who was on America's "to do list" since G HW Bush failed to get rid of him when it was easy."

Getting rid of Hussein was not on America's "to do list". It was on the Bush family's "to do list". Most americans don't give a s**t one way or the other who rules that squalid pest-hole of a nation. And incidentally, all we did in removing Hussein was remove a check against Iran. Israel would probably be better off with Saddam or one of his evil sons still running Iraq.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand why we can't have a sane transit policy. I ride Amtrak in the Pacific Northwest pretty frequently because it's much nicer to take the train with small children than it is to drive. The Amtrak station in Portland is like something out of the fever dreams of James Kunstler. It's clean, it's full of helpful young people, they have a guy there checking up on possibly stranded passengers after the last train and moving the drunks along. All the little stations though, like Centralia? Sinkholes of human effort, everyone working there is over 50, they're barely managing to keep them clean. And the Seattle Amtrak station is beyond horrendous.

At the same time, AMTRAK DOESN'T RUN TO SAN FRANCISCO. You gotta take a BUS from the Ferry Building. And they're slated to start demolishing the transit center that Greyhound runs out of, and the plans to replace it are for a freaking skyscraper that will be never ever ever be allowed to be built on landfill in a quake zone.

It's like they're trying to construct Brasilia. Why? Why is this happening?

Whiskey said...

As far as trains go, Steve what about the LA to SF supertrain that was funded last year by a ballot initiative? THAT is a boon-doggle (who the hell is going to SF anyway).

Anonymous said...

It's interesting that you accuse Obama of being a "race man" or a "race warrior," when that is exactly what *YOU* are!

You see the racial angle out of every situation.

Anonymous said...

To the commenter on Obama's telepromter usage:

Obama does NOT use the teleprompter because he is either A. stupid or B. otherwise unable to respond coherently to questions. That line of reasoning misses the point entirely.

Obama uses a teleprompter 95% of the time because Obama is a front man for powers behind the scenes: e.g. Mr Axelrod. And the control freaks behind the scenes (yes you Mr Emanuel) want Obama on the teleprompter as much as possible in order to maintain maximum control over Obama's message.

Newsflash: Obama does not write the content that appears on his own teleprompter.

I think the GOP partisans - who continually claim that Obama uses the teleprompter more than any other president for the stated reason that Obama is secretly empty-headed or inarticulate - those partisans are actually doing counter intelligence aka cointelpro. Guys like Hannity know damn well that the reason is not because Obama is inarticulate or unable to come up with cogent responses to questions on the fly. On the contrary: Obama is very smooth in question and answer sessions. Rather the real reason is message control by Obama's handlers.

con't said...

In the future the POTUS will speak 100% from a teleprompter which will be embedded in his eyeglasses or embedded in his retinas directly or simply embedded as a chip in his brain.

That's the best way to keep the puppet on message.

But telepromters will soon be discarded altogether. POTUS will eventually be seen 100% on video screen only and never appear live before an audience. See George Orwell.

Also the birth record, passport record, citizenship record, career resume and background/bio of POTUS will be 100% classified information kept from the public (in the interests of national security). And even the video likeness of POTUS will probably be altered just enough so that no one can determine the true identity of Dear Leader and thereby put the leader's life in danger with a "lone wolf assault".

And, of course, after that is all brought to fruition then it's a very short step to HAL9000 as Our Glorious Leader.

AmericanGoy said...

What is money?

How is money made?

Very simply, a person presses a left mouse button on an Excel spreadsheet.

Voila, billions.

Lets have more projects, lets fix the highways, bridges, have bullet trains that will make Japan blush with envy...

Before we cannot afford our bloated military and sprawling imperium, and ordinary dips**ts discover how stupid they truly are.

We are f**ked either way, must as well use it before we lose it.

Anonymous said...

Boy, I'm sitting here watching his Saturday morning radio address, on FNC [after having listened to some of the debacle with the House Republicans yesterday], and it looks like Axelrod's strategy after the Scott Brown fiasco is to double down and go hard-left, hard-partisan.

I don't know that I have heard such harshly political rhetoric coming out of a sitting president.

Well, at least they're playing true to form - this is pretty much standard boilerplate Luxemburg/Trotsky/Alinsky-ite bolshevism.

Anonymous said...

"McDonnell ......... made no mention of immigration"

As AG of VA, Bob McDonnell supported the 287(g) program but naturally got nowhere with Gov Kaine. Now he's Governor and has Ken Cuccinelli, also a supporter of 287(g), as AG. McD has been in office less than 2 weeks. The national GOP may believe that soft-pedaling the illegal immigration issue is in their best interests but I doubt BMcD & KC do.

SKT said...

This is what I've tried to explain to American rail enthusiasts over and over again. In Ohio, the liberals are nuts about connecting the three "C's" with passenger rail as it were in the Gilded Age. Well, in the guilded age most of metro Cleveland's population actually lived in Cleveland. Today you take a train from Cincinnati to Cleveland, and the first thing you'll need to do is rent a car, because Cleveland isn't walkable. And Cleveland is still more "accessible" than either Columbus or Cincinnati which don't have any light rail systems.

In contrast, you take a train from Birmingham to London Victoria, everything is right there between Westminster and the City of London. 2 square miles, that's it. The roads are barely 2 lanes wide in London. That and the weather is pretty much 50 degrees with light drizzle, weather you're in London, Paris, or Amsterdam year round. You get to Columbus, Ohio, and it's 90 degrees out, or there's a torrential rain, what do you do then? You get to Cleveland, and there's 2 feet of snow on the ground, do you walk through that on the way to the bus stop?

SKT said...

"Getting rid of Saddam"

Why was it America's job to get rid of Saddam? The goal of the first Gulf War was to get Iraq out of Kuwait, which was achieved.

Anonymous said...

Dude, he completely SCHOOLED the Republican Congressional leadership. He is a lot smarter than they are - he dismantled their arguments and exposed their incoherence with a smile.

They need to not do that anymore, for their own good.

Big Bill said...

Please, let's not be obtuse regarding the Orlando to Tampa rail corridor.

Look at the map.

It does not go from Orlando to Tampa.

It goes from Tampa to the Walt Disney World station and from the Orlando Airport to Walt Disney World station.

The real estate and hotel developers have already engaged in "honest graft" a la our Irish friend and bought options to all the choice real estate around the already-selected stations.

Unlike the land rush of Manhattan in which the high speed rail (elevated trains) enabled a fast-growing, wealth-creating industrial economy like New York 100 years ago, Obama is pledging $5 billion to support DisneyInc and the Florida real estate and hospitality industry.

Only problem is, nobody is going to use all that added hotel space, but it doesn't matter because we, the taxpayers, are going to guarantee all of their building loans.

There are some benefits to Americans, though. The construction jobs will give a million Haitian refugees work that will keep them in Florida.

David Davenport said...

"Obama Falls to Earth ...

Along with NASA's manned projects.

The Half Blood Prince is cancelling further NASA work on manned spaceflight hardware.

Space travel is just too white.

ATBOTL said...

"Republicans don't have to talk about it while running for office. They need to be silent but firm. Then when they regain control they simply need to end it and let the Democrats complain, since it's what the voter's want anyway."

One would have to extremely delusional to think that the GOP would end immigration and affirmative action when back in power. What happened just a few years ago when they controlled the White House and Congress?

Why are so many white Americans so naive about the Republicans? They keep getting bamboozled over and over again. Against all evidence, the above poster interprets the total silence of the party on racial issue as some kind of grand strategy to implement white friendly policies. It's like some kind of mental illness.

Dutch Boy said...

Thank you, Whiskey, for enumerating Pres. Pyrrhus' victories.

headache said...

Great observations Steve. I'm a high-speed train nut but live in Germany where they make sense. I can get from the Ruhr-area to Frankfurt in 1 and 1/4 hour. As the train travels along the Autobahn it makes those Porsches look like ox wagons. I love it. All those f. gigolos cannot keep up with me. Then I take the tram to the IT office of the company I visit, which takes me 10 min. The tram comes every 5 min. So of course it’s a gain. But it only makes sense in a densely populated and constructed environment with a strong railway tradition, like Germany or Japan. Not even in France is it viable. The French spent a fortune building their TGV, which runs slightly faster than the German trains, only to prove to themselves that Hitler did not manage to invade Paris. In addition the French high-speed track is strictly reserved for the TGV. But the speed itself is actually not so important. In Germany trains share tracks. So the railway network is multipurpose and flexible. That takes of a few kmph but overall the system works well. On top the local carry-on travel from the central rail stations is excellent.

headache said...

Whiskey se:
...sure-fire humiliations abroad (Iran getting the bomb, etc.)...


[scratching my head] who is going to be humiliated?? Not me, that's for sure! Maybe your kinsmen in Israel, or the neocons?

John Seiler said...

Obama will win if, like Clinton after the 1994 congressional losses, he "triangulates" -- sells out the Left by adopting tax cuts and some kind of reform; for Clinton it was welfare reform, Obama needs something else. Clinton triangulated with ease, but Obama is more ideological, so he might not.

Anonymous said...

I think that campaigning against immigration would be very effective, and talking about other racial issues like affirmative action and crime is unnecessarily antagonistic.

Truth said...

Whiskey, son, you've outdone yourself; and I keep thinking that is not possible.

SGOTI said...

At this point, I'm so mentally (and tax) spent, that I'm OK with this underpants gnome public works project.

At least it will:

a. be a decent use of real estate that fleeces furriners (hard cash from abroad at Disney);
b. actually produce a durable good, instead of yet another transient BS social program/giveaway;
c. actually proves we can build something in this country.

sabril said...

JKT, I basically agree with you about rail. I would add there's another issue, which is that downtown train stations in America tend to the vibrant side.

For most Americans, it's worth a little extra time and money to avoid that scene.

"The Amtrak station in Portland "

If every American city were like Portland, rail would be much more viable.

The Bear said...

holy christ. it now looks like obama IS going to use the justice department to try to force NCAA football to have a playoff.

fkcing ridiculous.


Classic case of the wrong people benefiting from the current system (Southeastern Conference teams have won 4 straight BCS championships, with an overall record of 14-5 in BCS bowl games), so it must be corrupt and in dire need of Federal Government regulation.

However, unlike the banking system, the BCS doesn't need bailing out from the American taxpayers. But who benefits from the banking system?

Not a bunch of rednecks in Alabama, that's for sure.

Anonymous said...

If every American city were like Portland, rail would be much more viable.

That was my point.

Portland is CRAZY nice. I'm really confused by how people can keep living there and visiting there and not catch the clue train.

Anonymous said...

Reply to Whiskey:

Your most recent post is incredible. You never fail to amaze me with your unbelievable stupidity.

Anonymous said...

If every American city were like Portland, rail would be much more viable.



The thing is, making even Portland be like Portland requires the coercive power of the state in megatonnages which many people are not comfortable with.

By which I mean that Portland and its surroundings are a planned community on a soviet scale. You have to live where and how they tell you.

Anonymous said...

By which I mean that Portland and its surroundings are a planned community on a soviet scale. You have to live where and how they tell you.

Who is the "they" and who is the "you?" It seems to me like there is an "us" there. It's not one I would be super comfortable being part of, but isn't that why there are different cities?

Kylie said...

ATBOTL said: "Why are so many white Americans so naive about the Republicans? They keep getting bamboozled over and over again. Against all evidence, the above poster interprets the total silence of the party on racial issue as some kind of grand strategy to implement white friendly policies."

Republican=Democrat Lite. We forget that at our peril.

Mr. Anon said...

"SGOTI said...

At least it will:

a. be a decent use of real estate that fleeces furriners (hard cash from abroad at Disney);"

I don't know. If the world is indeed sliding into a depression, there won't be nearly as many people going to tourist destinations like Orlando, Las Vegas, or Atlantis. Disney's already offering lots of special deals and freebies - they clearly seem to be hurting. Las Vegas is putting half-built hotels on ice.

Obama supporting high-speed rail to Disney World and Vegas would just about make James Kunstler's head explode.

Anonymous said...

Obama supporting high-speed rail to Disney World and Vegas would just about make James Kunstler's head explode.

Obama can't be all bad then.

Captain Jack Aubrey said...

Against all evidence, the above poster interprets the total silence of the party on racial issue as some kind of grand strategy to implement white friendly policies.

Which party, then would you have me choose - the Democrats?

I have no other choice. The GOP is the party of white voters. If they don't do anything to keep those voters happy they will ultimately lose, as they did in 2006 and 2008.

Please tell me about your ingenius solution to deal with this quandary. I'm waiting...


One would have to extremely delusional to think that the GOP would end immigration and affirmative action when back in power. What happened just a few years ago when they controlled the White House and Congress?

I'm not delusional. I'm aware that the odds of the GOP enacting serious immigration enforcement and eliminating affirmative action are pretty slim. But it's what they should do, and what they need to do. The GOP has done plenty for big business and neocons. It's time they regained credibility with the social conservatives and neocons.

Right now I'd wager that the first thing they'll do if/when they regain power is propose a massive tax cut that favors the rich, including, perhaps, the permanent elimination of the "death tax." Problem is that a) it's yet another tax cut tilted towards the rich and b) we just plain damn can't afford it.

My point is that the conservative position on race & immigration issues is both popular but tricky. Voters favor the conservative position but they don't want to feel like politicians are playing to racial prejudice, and for most voters they are secondary, not primary issues.

Finally, the country can't return to strong, sustainable economic growth until affirmative action and mass immigration are dealt with. affirmative action and set-asides create large overhead costs and interfere with workplace productivity. Mass immigration (illegal immigration especially) lead to a relative decline in human capital. Republicans MUST deal with these issues or their popularity as the party of economic opportunity is in jeopardy.

jody said...

barack obama and eric holder do not even have a shred of a case against the NCAA. it's such "idiocracy" level, minor league BS, it's mind blowing that the president of the united states is behind it. this is aside from the fact that the president of the united states has so little business making this business his business, that it is positively bonkers insane.

regarding james kunstler: now there's a guy who has no idea what he's talking about. these non-math guys, they are so prone to getting technical stuff wildly wrong.

Anonymous said...

barack obama and eric holder do not even have a shred of a case against the NCAA. it's such "idiocracy" level, minor league BS, it's mind blowing that the president of the united states is behind it. this is aside from the fact that the president of the united states has so little business making this business his business, that it is positively bonkers insane.

SSHHH: Maybe if I sneak this in way down at the bottom of an iSteve thread, no one from the Chicago/Goldman mafia will notice, but Axelrod is spreading Obama so thin [did you see the pathetic appearance at the halftime of the Duke-Georgetown game yesterday?] that they are in perilous danger of getting NOTHING done - at all.

And the less they get done, the better it is for the country.

Let them bloviate about the BCS all they want, as long as they fail on Obamacare and Cap-N-Tax and all the rest of their asinine tribalist-luddite bolshevik agenda.

Mercer said...

"the coastal elites have decided not to invest another dollar in road/highway "

As a long time VA resident let me note that it is not the case in my state. The last GOP governor slashed the highway department and reduced the tax on cars. The roads in the populous parts of the state are some of the congested in the nation but the GOP is against raising any tax to pay for basic maintainance not to mention improvements. Road construction costs money but the GOP would rather let people sit in traffic all day then raise any tax to pay for transportation improvements. McDonnell only plan is to sell the state liquor stores. This will only provide a one time increase in funds.

"Against all evidence, the above poster interprets the total silence of the party on racial issue as some kind of grand strategy to implement white friendly policies."

McDonnell said zero about immigration in his campaign so I wouldn't expect him to do anything. The new VA attorney general on the other hand,had an immigration platform that looked like something from Tom Tancredo.

Cordelia said...

OT: Barack Obama and Scott Brown are cousins, genealogist reveals

:-P

David Davenport said...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32219.html#ixzz0eD6pUUDI

TrueIndyinFL: Jan. 29, 2010 - 12:23 PM EST

And they are not happy about the bullet train that will only increase our deficient but not help the unemployment numbers. Florida heavily depends on tourism (and snowbirds) which is being devasted by our national unemployment. Unless the unemployment numbers decrease Crist will lose and so will Meeks.

Obama telling all government conferences should not be held in Orlando (the new sin city?) hasn't helped our tourism either. My son works at the Convention Center - before Obama he had fairly steady work from November to April. Last year he was called in for 3 conventions TOTAL and so far this year, only 1 day.

As for the bullet train, my brother made a bid on the original plan. He said that Disney was the one to defeat it at that time (it wasn't ending at Disney). Years later, a group of local engineers were given the bid - they spent all of it for research without even breaking ground, & the taxpayers said no-more. Disney wants the bullet train now to take away $$ from Busch Gardens.

...


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32219.html#ixzz0eD6pUUDI

Dutch Boy said...

Captain Jack Aubrey is correct;however,immigration and affirmative action are beneficial to big business and thus untouchable for the Republicans (can't bite the hand that feeds you!). Political parties in a republic require funding to succeed, thus the true constituency of a party is not their voters but their contributors. Voters can be swayed by rhetoric; contributors want the real thing - policies that benefit them financially.

Anonymous said...

Does our vote mean nothing?
In 2004 the voters of FL rejected the HS rail link between Tampa and Orlando, by repealing the previous ballot initiative. As it stands it is against the FL Constitution to construct this rail line.
Thanks
rogerinflorida

SF said...

When gasoline and diesel hit $8/gallon, which they will do within 10 years, the trains will look more attractive. When you get to your station, take out your folding electric assist bicycle and cruise to your destination at a steady 20 mph.

ATBOTL said...

What incentive does the GOP have to change course if people like you will vote for them anyway? This isn't hard stuff.

Giant Attitude said...

I agree with everyone's criticisms about the GOP.

But what's the alternative? 3rd parties never get any traction.

To build a sustainable 3rd party would require a hemorrhage from the GOP over a period of time as social conservative voters gradually became acclimated to the idea of voting 3rd party.


Their votes would be split between the GOP and the third party for an indefinite period of time while the Democrats consolidated permanent power.

Then too, there really is no radical middle that social conservatives can use to build a 3rd party.

Too many social conservatives make the assumption of assuming that there is this mass of white voters out there waiting to be wooed on issues such as AA and immigration.

I don't think that there is. The radical middle has ambivalent feelings about race and ethnicity.

Yeah, they viscerally notice a correlation between ethnicity and anti-social behavior but they are still too cowed by white guilt to make the empirical connection.

Yeah, they want the borders enforced and the illegal immigrants deported.

But they're cowed by white guilt on this issue also because -- among other things -- the elites now write about "undocumented workers". And also, whites want cheap household labor, cheap produce at the grocery store, and so on.

So I don't see any readily workable electoral solutions really.

Anonymous said...

When gasoline and diesel hit $8/gallon, which they will do within 10 years, the trains will look more attractive. When you get to your station, take out your folding electric assist bicycle and cruise to your destination at a steady 20 mph.

At that point, half the adult population won't be employed anyway, so what will they care?

Anonymous said...

"immigration and affirmative action are beneficial to big business and thus untouchable for the Republicans (can't bite the hand that feeds you!). "

Maybe. But I think that the massive immigration (legal & illegal) of low-skilled poorly educated Latinos benefits the business interests not only because it keeps wages depressed as a result of a big supply of labor whose costs it can largely push off onto the community as a whole but also because it (1) relieves them of the need to deal with the black underclass while at the same time allows them (2) a check-off on affirmative action. How did affirmative action, which should apply only to the descendants of slaves, come to apply equally to people who entered the US last week?

What we need to look at is that with affirmative action and massive immigration, we are pushing a huge cost onto the community at large from poorly paid Hispanic workers as well as unemployed blacks workers.

From World War II to the 1960s we had a rapidly growing economy with low immigration. The result was nearly full employment, with rising wages and salaries at all levels.

In 1960, the employment rate for black men with less than a high school diploma was 89%. Since 1965, immigration levels have increased from roughly 300,000 legal immigrants/year to 1.1 legal and 500,000 illegal aliens/year; and by 2000, the employment rate for black men with less than a high school dipoloma had fallen to 56%.

What are all of those unemployed black men doing?

By allowing the business interests to pay lower wages and to avoid hiring the black men, we basically accept an increasing responsibility for providing auxilary support for both groups.

If we stopped the massive immigration, perhaps we'd hear more about how to actually get the black underclass into the work force and less about teaching everybody Algebra II, which is so not going to happen.

Anonymous said...

Am I the only one here who is confused?


Just you...As usual.

Bob said...

The point of intercity rail is to substitute for short flights.

So for instance a snowbird living in Tampa would take the train to Orlando and get a direct flight to Buffalo rather than flying from Tampa to a hub city then to Buffalo, saving one flight. That's why going from airport to airport makes sense.

Likewise, people in cities near LA like San Diego and Las Vegas when flying to Asia usually go via LAX, so a high speed link will save them a trip as well.

You don't have to buy into an extreme $20/gal scenario to think having a network like this is a good idea.

Also, spending on rail will substitute for spending on airport upgrades and maintenance.

Do you really think in five years gas won't be at least $5? The Chinese are now buying more cars than Americans, and India and SE Asia are also buying cars and motorcycles at very high rates. Even if demand for oil goes up only 2% a year and supply goes down 0.5% a year, that will lead to very high prices in the coming years, and that was basically what the trend was until the recession started.

As far as debt worries, right now the US government can borrow money short term at exactly 0%, at 10-year rates at 3.7%, and at 30 year rates at 4.5%. Labor and raw material prices are also at multi-year lows. I hope we do start spending a lot of money on public works like passenger rail.

BTW, even in sprawled out Phoenix, the new light rail line has 60% more users than expected, see here:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/phoenix-light-rail-metro-tempe-mesa-map-video.php

David Davenport said...

....When you get to your station, take out your folding electric assist bicycle and cruise to your destination at a steady 20 mph.

Then, using your electric assist bicycle, take a load of groceries home to your family in rain or winter cold and snow.

headache said...

SF said:When gasoline and diesel hit $8/gallon, which they will do within 10 years, the trains will look more attractive.

Yeah, xcept they are going to hike train ticket prices in sync with oil prices. It's what's been going on in Europe. Basically an elite strategy to screw over ordinary whites in order to raise gazillions for a self-elected "elite".

sabril said...

"The thing is, making even Portland be like Portland requires the coercive power of the state in megatonnages which many people are not comfortable with."

Hmmm . . . let me make it a bit clearer. Rail travel is more viable in Portland because the city is 99% white.

In a white city, you don't have to worry about encountering scary and offensive blacks when you take the train.

ricpic said...

The Republican rope-a-dope seems to be working. The fact that the Republicans didn't consciously set out to oppose Obama passively but just fell into that stance out of fear and/or lassitude doesn't mean they haven't been successful making themselves attractive relative to Mr. Overexposure.

Anonymous said...

Not that they have had much choice, but the Republicans' not doing anything substantive to stop the Dems' initiatives is politically smart. Just like the Dems' strategy of letting W. have everything he wanted -- the old "give 'em enough rope" strategy. The problem for the Dems is, W.'s stupid war is now Obama's stupid war. Politics.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm . . . let me make it a bit clearer. Rail travel is more viable in Portland because the city is 99% white.

In a white city, you don't have to worry about encountering scary and offensive blacks when you take the train.


You're confusing commuter rail and intercity rail. Scary people aren't much of a problem on intercity rail, but oddly, most black people I've seen in Portland were on Amtrak.

There are other very white cities, they don't have nice transit systems. Portland's whiteness is a necessary but not sufficient condition for its niceness.

Mr. Anon said...

"Anonymous said...

You're confusing commuter rail and intercity rail."

Not if the Amtrak station is in a crummy part of town, and the train from anywhere gets in at 11:30 at night, which was how it was in Seattle.

Anonymous said...

Not if the Amtrak station is in a crummy part of town, and the train from anywhere gets in at 11:30 at night, which was how it was in Seattle.

There aren't any more black people in Seattle than there are in Portland. If Portland were governed in the completely fucktarded way that Seattle is, then the Amtrak station in Portland would be just as skeevy as the one in Seattle. Race isn't everything.

Mr. Anon said...

"Anonymous said...

Not if the Amtrak station is in a crummy part of town, and the train from anywhere gets in at 11:30 at night, which was how it was in Seattle.""

There aren't any more black people in Seattle than there are in Portland. If Portland were governed in the completely fucktarded way that Seattle is, then the Amtrak station in Portland would be just as skeevy as the one in Seattle. Race isn't everything."

You mean if the Portland police left minorities as unpoliced as they do in Seattle, then Portland would be just as skeevy? Yeah, race isn't everything. Just almost.

Anonymous said...

>How did affirmative action, which should apply only to the descendants of slaves, come to apply equally to people who entered the US last week?<

Epidermal hue.

But seriously, what you point out is the fact that AA is not primarily a program to assist disadvantaged blacks; it is, instead, primarily a program to flog whites.

Anyone who isn't white qualifies for AA, whether descended from slaves or not. But whites have to pay in to the thing. It's the anti-white program par excellence - just as it was intended to be, as we can see once we clear away all the sentimental verbiage surrounding its inauguration, all the hoo-ha of the do-gooders. Whites support it in order to flog themselves for various reasons (such as guilt and competitive altruism). Others back it for reasons of ethnic competition. Still others just want da loot.

Truth, if you are out there, how are blacks better competitors than whites if whites maintain AA and blacks cry out as one whenever AA is allegedly threatened?

Anonymous said...

You mean if the Portland police left minorities as unpoliced as they do in Seattle, then Portland would be just as skeevy? Yeah, race isn't everything. Just almost.

Please, have you BEEN here? There aren't enough black people to make much trouble, except occasionally one goes crazy and shoots a police officer. White meth heads are the issue around here.

I've been really struck by the assertion that Portland is some kind of soviet hell because of all the state planning. Do you all realize how much state intrusion those of us with children ALREADY have to swallow just to leave the house? I can't let my 14yo ride around with no bike helmet. I have to put my 6yo in a car seat. There are severe penalties if I fail to comply with this nonsense.

If you give the average mother the choice between living in a "soviet" planned community where she is free to walk to the grocery store, or let her children walk to school, or just go outside and walk on sidewalks and see other humans, and living in a developer planned community with no sidewalks, having to strap her kids in and out of plastic bucket seats and drive on the highway to get milk or let her kids play with other kids, the state intrusion in the first scenario is going to seem a lot more obnoxious. That is why it is more expensive to live in Portland than it is in, say, Plano. I really wish you'd address this aspect of affordable family formation, Steve.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, typo I mean the second scenario is going to seem a lot more obnoxious.

Mr. Anon said...

"Anonymous said...

"Please, have you BEEN here?"

Yep, lived there for ten years. Ever been around Deano's liquor store on the south side of Capitol Hill? Or in Rainier Valley? Plenty of BBBs around there (Blacks Behaving Badly).

"There aren't enough black people to make much trouble, except occasionally one goes crazy and shoots a police officer."

Or Four police officers, but whose counting:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010393433_webarrest01m.html

(Tacoma - close enough)

.....or beat some good samaritan to death during Mardi Gras:

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/44100_kime25.shtml

Sure you're right that, comparatively at least, there aren't that many blacks in Seattle. But when it comes to crime, blacks always punch above their weight.

Anonymous said...

>The GOP has done plenty for big business and neocons. It's time they regained credibility with the social conservatives<

Ha! Ha! Ha!

Why?

THE Power is this country is "big business" and "neocons." "Social conservatives" are nobodies.

Your boss has done plenty for his customers and investors. It's time he regained credibility with the hobo on the corner.

The two political parties are ONE PARTY. The bread and circuses you see on TV is an illusion, calculated to keep the country on a downward (for us) slide.

Solution? Consider these points:

1. There may be no solution. The thing could be unfixable, period. We are doomed.

2. Third party. There's A3P. I don't know if this is going anywhere. If it does, THE party will contrive to outlaw it, probably. See # 1.

3. Armed revolution. Not recommended.

4. Political break-up of the USA from economic / demographic disaster. After which, separate nations (areas).

5. The Sailer Strategy. The GOP turns into an explicit White Party. Or if not explicit, then consciously such.

What will occur in real-life - for all my parsing - is probably a mash-up of all 5, plus factors we never thought of. You hope the mix will have a strong flavor of # 5. I'm betting on # 4; nevertheless, I will pull for # 5, but with no gross illusions such as that Demopublicans and Republicrats care about anything other than their individual personal interests. (By the way, # 4 and # 5 aren't necessarily incompatible.)

Truth said...

"Truth, if you are out there, how are blacks better competitors than whites if whites maintain AA and blacks cry out as one whenever AA is allegedly threatened?"

First of all, I never said that blacks were better competitors than whites and second off all "blacks" don't "cry out as one." You haven't heard me crying out, I think there should be huge changes in A.A. It should be doled out strictly by income/ circumstances and not by race, so that some Appalachian whites who've had it hard could take advantage.

I've explained this many times and may again after I get back tonight from doing a few sets of 200 lb. power cleans (don't hate) but Affirmative Action was instituted as a cure for NEGATIVE action, not pulled out of someone's ass.

Truth said...

Honestly Kudzu Bob, David, Svigor, Mr. Anon, Whiskey, Jody, I know how incredibly hard it is being a WhiteMan nowadays, sometimes the deck is so stacked against you guys, you want to give it all up. When you start thinking that way remember these prophetic words at 3:15 You don't have to thank me, just follow these gentlemen's example and go out and do good for your people.

Anonymous said...

Truth my old sparring partner -

I tried to turn to my brothers and sisters for some help, do you know what it is that I am saying?

Unfortunately for moi, here they are.

Day-um!

Just look at those creeps.

Mr. Anon said...

"Truth said...

When you start thinking that way remember these prophetic words at 3:15 You don't have to thank me, just follow these gentlemen's example and go out and do good for your people."

Didn't follow your link. Wouldn't bother. Nothing you have to say is worth considering - it never has been.

Blacks commit a lot of crime, far out of proportion to their fraction of the population. If pointing that out offends you, tough s**t. I don't care.

Truth said...

Yes David, that is a sad story. I hope those people were really just clusterfuck do-gooder liberals instead of something darker than that; and if so I hope they get probation. Yet the arrogance of taking some children away from their parents "for their own good..."

"Didn't follow your link. Wouldn't bother..."

So nice of you, Senior, to spend three minutes of your life telling me that you DIDN'T watch my link.

Anonymous said...

I watched half that link and thought the content was pretty good but it was a bit over-produced. Why must everything in films these days look polished to high buff? With the advent of HD can't we have a grittier look now and then?