Peregrinating
2012

October

1 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

Almost all public polls are showing a momentum shift towards the president. What that tells me is whatever Romney is doing isn’t working...Telling the country that the president is a lousy leader isn’t working because most people already know that. What they still don’t know is what kind of leader Governor Romney is and whether or not he really does have solutions or if he just running on a successful business resume that is more than decade old...
What the Romney campaign has to know, just as the Obama campaign knows, is that Mr. Romney is not connecting with ordinary voters. Selling is an “Art form!” Let me speak plainly here: Gov. Romney, you’re not selling right, now you're confusing. You state that you’re going to cut taxes, but then not really. You’re going to repeal ObamaCare, but not really. You says you're going to cut the government and eliminate agencies, but you're not sure where and will have to ask the Congress for suggestions.
What I want and many others want to know is how Mitt Romney, the turnaround guru, the fixer of the broken Olympics, is going to fix the US economy. My counsel is don’t waste one more dollar, one more speech, one more campaign appearance telling me how bad Obama’s tenure has been and how many promises he’s broken. I know it and so do most other Americans.
You need to be bold! Tell me in the three debates ahead and the 5 weeks of campaign left, if you're elected what is your vision of what America will look like and what steps are needed to get us there.

2 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

3 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

4 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

Bewildered and lost without his teleprompter, President Obama flailed all around the debate stage last night. He was stuttering, nervous and petulant. It was like he had been called in front of the principal after goofing around for four years and blowing off all his homework.
Not since Jimmy Carter faced Ronald Reagan has the U.S. presidency been so embarrassingly represented in public. Actually, that’s an insult to Jimmy Carter.

5 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged Thursday that he and President Barack Obama want to raise $1 trillion in taxes on the wealthy as part of a plan to let some Bush-era tax cuts expire, giving Republicans fresh fodder to criticize the Democratic ticket just days after the vice president said the middle class has been buried during the past four years.

6 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

We do not believe that anybody is entitled to success in this country. But we do believe in opportunity. We believe in a country where hard work pays off and responsibilities are rewarded and everybody is getting a fair shot and everybody's doing their fair share. And everybody's paying by the same rules. That is the country I believe in.

7 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

8 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

After President Obama’s sour showing in last week’s debate, he and his team adopted a curious seeming response. Team Obama said Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a man Democrats (and Republicans) have long been saying is a stiff, awkward, un-relatable bore, was a slick and artful politician.
So Romney, previously jeered as a gaffe-prone, bumbling blueblood who couldn’t connect with voters, suddenly turned into an evil, mesmerizing, tent-revival hustler?
The basis for this abrupt u-turn is that Romney says that he is not calling for a $5 trillion tax cut for the wealthy financed by tax increases for middle-class. Obama claims Romney’s tax plan would do that based on a study conducted by left-leaning think tanks that took Romney’s overall goal – to lower tax rates across the board but maintain current federal revenues by closing tax loopholes – and plugged in their own hypothetical policy points.
The think tanks said that to achieve his goals, Romney would have to jack up taxes on middle class families. Romney says not so. He says that the revenues lost from the lower rates will be made up for by the increased growth that will result from a fairer, flatter tax code and lower rates for small businesses.
That, says Team Obama, is a lie.

Last night, the Obama campaign blasted out another email claiming that Mitt Romney's tax plan would either require raising taxes on the middle class or blowing a hole in the deficit. "Even the studies that Romney has cited to claim his plan adds up still show he would need to raise middle-class taxes," said the Obama campaign press release. "In fact, Harvard economist Martin Feldstein and Princeton economist Harvey Rosen both concede that paying for Romney’s tax cuts would require large tax increases on families making between $100,000 and $200,000."
But that's not true. Princeton professor Harvey Rosen tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD in an email that the Obama campaign is misrepresenting his paper on Romney's tax plan:

I can’t tell exactly how the Obama campaign reached that characterization of my work. It might be that they assume that Governor Romney wants to keep the taxes from the Affordable Care Act in place, despite the fact that the Governor has called for its complete repeal. The main conclusion of my study is that under plausible assumptions, a proposal along the lines suggested by Governor Romney can both be revenue neutral and keep the net tax burden on taxpayers with incomes above $200,000 about the same. That is, an increase in the tax burden on lower and middle income individuals is not required in order to make the overall plan revenue neutral.

9 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

10 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

“Mr. Obama does not like debates to begin with, aides have long said, viewing them as media-driven gamesmanship,” the Times wrote. “Mr. Obama made clear to advisers that he was not happy about debating Mr. Romney, whom he views with disdain.”
So the president doesn’t like debates, and especially doesn’t like debating Romney because of Obama’s “disdain.” This is more circular than enlightening, and begs the question of why.
Why does Obama hate Romney?
Here’s my view: the president has been totally corrupted by power. His already excessive self-regard has grown out of control thanks to an entourage of yes men, a fawning press and the presidential bubble. He actually believes in the messianic cult of the “black Jesus” that surrounds him, and has a Nobel Prize to authenticate his personal exceptionalism.
The result is that Obama is no longer capable of dealing with ordinary disagreement and difference. He can only demonize it as unworthy and illegitimate. Honest disagreements are beneath him. Thus, Romney is a “liar.”

11 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

12 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

There have been two debates and no mention of the Federal Reserve? How is that possible? The economy is the biggest issue of this campaign and the Fed is playing a huge role in the economy so it's hard to fathom that not one question has been asked about Ben Bernanke & Co. and none of the candidates have brought up the central bank.
One theory is that the "average" American doesn't care about the Fed, know what it does or who Ben Bernanke is. I think that underestimates the intelligence of the American people. They might not understand the intricacies of monetary policy but they do know they're getting almost no return on money markets and CDs and that a zero interest rate policy is highly abnormal.
Some believe the politicians don't want to mention the Fed because Bernanke's easy money is letting them get away with not seriously dealing with the deficit; all the more reason to have the discussion in these debates.
In sum, it's a black mark on both moderators and all four candidates that Fed policy — and Ben Bernanke's future — hasn't been the topic of intense debate.

Coming on the heels of a presidential debate in which challenger Mitt Romney outdistanced President Obama, leaving him to chase Romney in the polls, the bulk of the American electorate really only had one question left: If Mitt Romney were, tragically, to die in office, would Paul Ryan be able to take over and be a credible president of the United States?
That unconscious question—which I believe is the last one voters needed to answer before delivering the White House to Governor Romney—was answered by Ryan with a resounding “yes” Thursday night. Whether one agrees or disagrees with his policies, whether one is Democrat or Republican, few people would say that Paul Ryan lacks the knowledge base or gravitas or commitment to be our commander in chief.

13 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

14 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

Don't worry, be happy may be a good campaign theme for Mr. Biden. Don't worry about a resurgent al Qaeda in North Africa. Or the escalating war in Syria. Or Iran's mullahs with weapons grade uranium, or Vladimir Putin's increasingly anti-American policy, or China's muscular antics in the Pacific. Overseas, said Mr. Biden, this Administration has "repaired our alliances so the rest of the world follows up again." He clearly knows something the world doesn't.

15 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

The American military withdrew at the end of last year after negotiations for an extended troop presence collapsed because the Iraqis would not agree to extend legal immunities to any remaining force. Once the Americans left, Iraq celebrated its sovereignty, even as military officials in both countries fretted about the deficiencies of Iraq’s military and sought ways to work together that would not require a public debate about immunities.
Iraq and the United States are negotiating an agreement that could result in the return of small units of American soldiers to Iraq on training missions. At the request of the Iraqi government, according to General Caslen, a unit of Army Special Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on counterterrorism and help with intelligence.

16 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

The American Dream.... Politicians keep saying it. What is it, for God’s sake? Apparently it’s twenty grand on the Visa, upside down on the mortgage on a shoddily built oversize McMansion in a remote sterile suburb where you don’t know your neighbors, living paycheck to paycheck, no savings, forty-five minute commute to a job you hate with gas prices rising. If that’s a dream, better to stay awake.

17 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

The Presidential Election is a chance for a national rebirth. It's a quadrennial right of passage giving Americans the chance, nay the obligation to exercise their right to vote for the candidate who best represents their interests. At least that's the way the process is sold to the masses. Famed international investor Jim Rogers isn't quite so sure.
"A pox on both their houses as far as I'm concerned," says Rogers, paraphrasing the Bard. "I will vote the protest vote. I nearly always vote the protest vote."
Rogers isn't an America basher but a citizen who feels apart from the economic policies pursued by his country. He casts a ballot for none of the above because he doesn't think President Obama or Mitt Romney can rebuild the nation's flagging economy.
In terms of fiscal and all other policies, Rogers sees one major difference between the two candidates: "One is from Boston and the other is from Chicago," he states..."I will repeat to you again; I will not vote for either one of them," he states. "I will vote the protest vote because all of them have gotten us into this situation."

Despite numerous media outlets attempting to downplay the issue, Twitter exploded last night following the debate with new threats from Obama supporters to assassinate Mitt Romney if he defeats Obama in the presidential race.
As we reported yesterday, in addition to threats by Obama supporters to riot if Romney wins, innumerable Twitter users are also making direct death threats against Romney.
The primary reason given for Obama supporters wanting to see Romney dead is the fear that he will take away food stamps.
If the tables were turned and conservatives were making death threats against Obama in these numbers, it would be a national news story. Indeed, the mere act of hanging empty chairs from trees as a reference to Clint Eastwood’s RNC speech was hyped by the media as a deadly sign that conservatives were out to lynch black people if Obama won.
However, the major networks have remained completely silent on the disturbing trend of Obama supporters threatening to resort to violence if their candidate fails to secure a second term.

18 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

So came the moment late in the Hofstra debate when moderator Candy Crowley looked at Mr. Obama and asked: "Does the buck stop with your secretary of state as far as what went on here?"
Staring back, the president clutched for a second. He looked like a fourth-grader being confronted in front of the whole class by Miss Crowley of all our childhood nightmares. That moment revealed the problem: At the core of Barack Obama's persona and his presidency is a constant instinct to deniability.
It's not my fault. He comes across as one of those smart kids who always had some elaborate excuse to disperse responsibility for anything bad in his vicinity. And so it was in his answer to Miss Crowley:
"Secretary Clinton has done an extraordinary job. But she works for me. I'm the president. And I'm always responsible. And that's why nobody is more interested in . . ." By the end, he said it was Mitt Romney's fault for bringing it up! In contrast, the bin Laden takedown was accompanied by a Lady Gaga-like White House P.R. blitz in the media.
For much of the American electorate, this began as an ideal presidency. But there is an institutional flaw at the center of Mr. Obama's understanding of the presidency. He accepts the best of it but not responsibility for the inevitable worst of it. It is making his incumbency smaller than he thinks it is. His misfortune is that in the election's last lap, the public has begun to notice.

19 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

It is no secret that President Obama’s and green-energy supporters’ (from both parties) foray into venture capitalism has not gone well. But the extent of its failure has been largely ignored by the press. Sure, single instances garner attention as they happen, but they ignore past failures in order to make it seem like a rare case.
The truth is that the problem is widespread. The government’s picking winners and losers in the energy market has cost taxpayers billions of dollars, and the rate of failure, cronyism, and corruption at the companies receiving the subsidies is substantial. The fact that some companies are not under financial duress does not make the policy a success. It simply means that our taxpayer dollars subsidized companies that would’ve found the financial support in the private market.
So far, 34 companies that were offered federal support from taxpayers are faltering — either having gone bankrupt or laying off workers or heading for bankruptcy. This list includes only those companies that received federal money from the Obama Administration’s Department of Energy and other agencies. The amount of money indicated does not reflect how much was actually received or spent but how much was offered. The amount also does not include other state, local, and federal tax credits and subsidies, which push the amount of money these companies have received from taxpayers even higher.
Evergreen Solar ($25 million)*
SpectraWatt ($500,000)*
Solyndra ($535 million)*
Beacon Power ($43 million)* Nevada Geothermal ($98.5 million)
SunPower ($1.2 billion)
First Solar ($1.46 billion)
Babcock and Brown ($178 million)
EnerDel’s subsidiary Ener1 ($118.5 million)*
Amonix ($5.9 million)
Fisker Automotive ($529 million)
Abound Solar ($400 million)*
A123 Systems ($279 million)*
Willard and Kelsey Solar Group ($6 million)*
Johnson Controls ($299 million)
Schneider Electric ($86 million)
Brightsource ($1.6 billion)
ECOtality ($126.2 million)
Raser Technologies ($33 million)*
Energy Conversion Devices ($13.3 million)*
Mountain Plaza, Inc. ($2 million)*
Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Company ($10 million)*
Range Fuels ($80 million)*
Thompson River Power ($6.5 million)*
Stirling Energy Systems ($7 million)*
Azure Dynamics ($5.4 million)*
GreenVolts ($500,000)
Vestas ($50 million)
LG Chem’s subsidiary Compact Power ($151 million)
Nordic Windpower ($16 million)*
Navistar ($39 million)
Satcon ($3 million)*
Konarka Technologies Inc. ($20 million)*
Mascoma Corp. ($100 million)
*Denotes companies that have filed for bankruptcy, a total of $1,603,200,000.

20 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

21 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

22 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

I see columnists, some of them black, worried that if Obama loses the election, blacks may riot, as many on Twitter have said they would. They may, or they may not, but you don’t have to wonder whether whites will riot if Romney loses. Perhaps the presidency is a new entitlement.

23 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

...this was one example of many in which the President insulted, patronised and mocked his opponent rather than put across a constructive argument. His performance was rude and unpresidential. Obama seemed to have a touch of the Bidens, wriggling about in his chair, waving his hands dismissively and always – always – smirking in Romney’s direction. By contrast, Romney sucked up the abuse and retained a rigid poker face all night. He looked like a Commander in Chief; Obama looked like a lawyer. Who would you rather vote for?

24 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

Carney today told reporters that there were emails about all sorts of information that was coming available in the aftermath of the attack. "There was a variety of information coming in," Carney said. "The whole point of an intelligence community and what they do is to assess strands of information and make judgments about what happened and who was responsible."

25 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

Our long held view is that currency values are impacted primarily by four factors: relative fiscal policy – the budget and debt situation, relative monetary policy, trade and balance situation, and the core capacity of a country. It seems to me that a long term objective of the US should be to stabilize and then improve the value of the US currency by paying attention to all four of the factors mentioned. Since congress with presidential leadership controls the first one and the Fed the second we’ll assume that the defining silence on the matter clearly outlines the approach over the next four years no matter who holds the Great Seal.”

26 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

27 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

28 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

29 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

You don’t just passively allow Americans to remain under attack for eight hours at a time when you have forces within range and do nothing. The Secretary of Defense was in the White House at five o’clock within an hour of when the attacks started. He could have told him, “Yes. We have special operations people and F18 aircraft that could be deployed right away.

On Saturday, a California radio show called The Dark Secret Place, hosted by Bryan Suits–a combat veteran of Desert Storm, Kosovo, and Iraq–interviewed a former member of the Combatant Commanders In-Extremis Force (CIF), which was in Italy. These are the “firefighters” of the U.S. military, who are always on call. Their gear and weaponry are always packed, and they’re used for precisely what happened in Benghazi. They could’ve been in Benghazi very quickly.
This veteran says Panetta is lying about deciding that it was too risky to send in troops because they didn’t have enough information. The CIF is always sent in, regardless of the risk. He also said that the information Panetta had–real-time video from overhead, exact locations, exact identities of the Americans involved–would’ve been the most the CIF would ever have had before a mission.

30 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

Basically, if you're in a hurry, you place the mortar buttplate on the ground, spread out the bipod, and align the system in the general direction of your target. Using the range and azimuth, plus some info on weather conditions, you can adjust the powder charge to determine how much propellant you're going to use, then you drop in the round and duck. A spotter tells you where the round hit, and you adjust fire from there to bracket -- "walk" the rounds onto your target -- and then fire for effect.
If you've had more time to prepare a firing position, then you can place aiming stakes and calibrate the system, which enables your first round to be much closer to the target, and enables much more rapid effective fire. A really good mortar crew can drop rounds onto a target with very few adjustments. But that takes lots of practice.

31 October
Pair-A-Dice Escapee Co-op
Pahrump, NV

The ride on the Obama bus gets bumpier as more bodies are thrown under it... journalists went under the bus because the Foreign Service and career intelligence officers the administration tried to scapegoat refused to go there. They've leaked emails that reveal the White House was informed while it was still going on that the attack was the work of terrorists affiliated with al-Qaida.
"What did the president know, and when did he know it?" Sen. Howard Baker, R-Tenn, asked during the Watergate hearings. The answer in the leaked emails is that the president knew everything, all along.