Redstate

Cap-and-trade is essentially a market mechanism...I have no problem with the "trade" aspect, which ameliorates some of the harsh effects of a government mandate, the problem is if the caps are set past the pain threshold of significant businesses, such that trading for the rights is itself a major expenditure. If the caps are high enough that it ends up imposing a more modest cost on businesses, it could end up being something we can live with.

"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill

Yes, it's a market mechanism, but it is a government-created market for xzqols. No one needs a xzqol! They don't do or accomplish anything! But the government has demanded that people buy and sell xzqols. It's not enough to say that it's ok if they don't cost too much!

"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy

conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!

Some of the stuff in the AP story was good, but at least one part was really bad, IMO, if the AP excerpt is accurate.

"He also renewed his call for the United States to stop adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and thus lessen to some extent the worldwide demand for oil."

Our SPR purchases are such a small drop in the bucket that this will have a negligible impact on the price of oil. And you can't tell me that it's a good idea to do this when there's a fairly reasonable chance in the next few years of a disruption in the supply of middle-east oil. So we get a meaningless gesture that will do almost no good and has the potential for great harm. Wonderful.

Here are the full Remarks By John McCain On The Economy M

"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy

conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!

OK, reading the whole thing, one thing definitely struck me. Reagan said that the nine most terrifying words in the English language were "I'm from the government and I'm here to help". McCain doesn't believe that. Speeches like this should basically end any claim that he's a limited-government Republican. He's not. He doesn't mind a large, expansive government, as long as it's fiscally prudent. Large chunks of it read to me like Carter's 'malaise' speech, except substituting the credit crisis for the energy crisis of the 70s. And the usage of the anti-business rhetoric of the left disturbs me as well.

Also, there's this section, where he doesn't realize the inherent contradiction in his words.

"Every so often in our nation's capital, we relearn this lesson when the excesses of traders and speculators, and the poor planning of politicians, catches up with them, and the troubles spread far beyond Wall Street and Washington"

followed by:

"and if I am elected president I intend to act quickly and decisively"

Having said that, Therre are some good things in here. His tax policies seem sound, and much better than the alternative. And if he actually follows through and vetoes bills with earmarks in them, that will shut the government down, which will be a good thing.

All in all, I was expecting to read something that felt like a root canal without novocaine, but this was more like a filling with it.

He was one of only 9 Republicans to vote against Medicare D in the Senate, and he has never once asked for or accepted a legislative earmark throughout his entire congressional career. His record on spending has been heads and tails above his peers. This is the number one reason I'm voting for him. If conservatives can't trust McCain on this issue, I have to question their judgement.

"I said ..Hey Caiwyn..take a walk on the wild side...

johnjohnjohn...johnjohnjohn...johnjohnjohn......."

h/t Rush

a cute, little song about prostitution to go with our lunch today...Strictly troll-level fare.

"I believe we must adjourn this meeting to some other place." - The last recorded words of Adam Smith.

n/t

The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!

You can do that if, like Hillary or Obama, you haven't been a fixture in National politics for most of the last half century. McCain has a record and he's going to have to fight with the voters he's got, because most people aren't changing their minds about him. And the ones who don't have an opinion about him aren't really changing their minds either, they are just spinning the roulette wheel to see what comes up when they step into the voting booth.

Personally, I don't like McCain. He's good on the war, he's good on a number of fiscal points. For me the fiscal points don't count for much anymore because he seems to be in the minority in a minority party on that count. Even then, some of his fiscal ideas are insane, although the insane ones do seem to be more influenced by his social beliefs than economics (AGW, McCain-Feingold, NCLB). Then you have immigration, his insistence that there is a gun show loop hole that needs to be closed, and his past rude public snubbings of people I think say the sorts of things I'd like to be able to say publicly and have significant numbers of people pay attention to me when I did.

For all the faults I find with him, he is better than either of his two opponents. That means the real question for people like me is, do you regard the choice as one between hemlock and rat poison, or between rotten meat and one week old meat?

"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy

conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!

and he unabashedly ran under that rubic in his time. He was a strong moralist, and that was why he pursued his trust busting and environmental crusades regardless of whether or not he had generally recognized authority to pursue them. He made some good choices (Panama Canal, strong military), some bad choices (Civil Service, excessive trust busting), and some debatable ones (proto-environmentalism) and we live today with the consequences of all of them.

"One of the greatest Republican Presidents of all time, Theodore Roosevelt, could never get the GOP nomination today."

In fairness he could not get the nomination in his own day either. Remember, he only became President as a result of the assassination of President McKinley.

...a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right...

---Thomas Paine---

What he is, is a classical populist, although the word has become derogatory in the modern sense. That Global Cap and Trading system he's all in favor of and to which Erick doesn't object will likely cost us more than all of Bush's profligacy combined. Likely to work out about as well as McCain-Feingold too. And as I listed above, it's not just one issue, it's a bunch of them.

Look, I understand he's our candidate in the next election. In order to stop the Dems from outright destroying the country a lot of conservatives are going to have to hold their noses and vote for him. Stop making us try to drink the Kool-Aid and that nose holding will get a bit easier.

Kill the terrorists
Protect the borders
Punch the hippies -- Frank J