Governor Sarah Palin's Security Clearance

I just received the following information from Contrairimairi. You won't be hearing this on Oprah:

Hi, Mitchell,

Not sure where this one originated, but my sister sent it to me and I thought you might be interested. Sarah "alluded" to the fact she had some international experience, but never gave specifics. I guess now we know.

Important info ref: Palin's National Security Credentials

Just picked up some little known info on Palin's National Security Credentials. Some have shrugged off her position as Commander of the Alaskan National Guard but see this:

"Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile interceptor defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion of the Alaska National Guard is the unit that protects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks. Itʼs on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units.

As governor of Alaska, Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counterterrorism. Her exposure to classified material ay rival even Biden's.

She's also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security's counterterrorism plans.

Palin is privy to military and intelligence secrets that are vital to the entire country's defense. Given Alaska's proximity to Russia, she may have security clearances we don't even know about.

According to the Washington Post, she first met with McCain in February, but nobody ever found out. This is a woman used to keeping secrets.

She can be entrusted with our national security, because she already is."

That is probably at least one click above a "Community Organizer".

John McCain Rally In QUEENS!

I just received the following message from Phil Orenstein of the Queens Village Republican Club. Demonstrating for McCain in the heart of New York City takes chutzpah!

Manhattan Republicans held a huge March for McCain and participated in the 3rd Ave Street Fair today. Brooklyn Young Republicans just today celebrated the McCain/Palin ticket at a Post-Convention BBQ Bash & Fundraiser. Former publisher of the Village Voice, Bartle Bull is the New York State chairman of Democrats for McCain, and is busy mobilizing former Hillary supporters and McCain/Palin Democrats who have chosen character over extreme partisanship. Now it's Queens County's turn to join the march!

Years ago, when I was looking desperately for lawn signs, leaflets and posters, anything to campaign for Bush 2004, they told me you gotta be kidding, there are no Republicans left - forget about New York, go help them in NJ. Then after the election I joined the Queens Village Republican Club and they said I came to the right place! We've have been fighting ever since for New York to score Red and take back Districts and seats galore for Republicans. Who says NY can't be a BIG RED STATE ??

Well, now I hear New Yorkers saying "I'm proud to be a NY Republican!" We all saw the RNC on TV and the thunderous appeal of Governor Sarah Palin for the ticket and the "country first" theme of John McCain's life. The excitement was more like the New York Mets winning a Subway Series. Our delegates have come home from the RNC newly energized and ready to energize the troops. Queens Chairman Phil Ragusa and Vice Chair Vince Tabone met with team McCain 2008 and will be leading a decentralized grassroots campaign to support McCain/Palin in Queens. A mass McCain rally is in the works that will incorporate local campaigns. Veterans for McCain, Women for McCain, Sportsman for McCain and other steering committees are being formed to capitalize on the enthusiasm of the McCain/Palin surge from the RNC to energize all local GOP campaigns in Queens.

Stay tuned for more news of the rally and please let Vince know if you want to participate in one of the committees. Let your friends, neighbors, and families know in advance of the big McCain/Palin rally coming up! Vince also mentioned that McCain posters and literature will be available soon and pending issues will be addressed such as updating the County GOP Website and publicizing a viable phone number that Queens residents can call to get a McCain lawn sign or bumper sticker, or help to get out the vote.

In the meantime Republican activists are on the move. Gerald Bush who staffs the McCain/Palin HQ in Mineola said at last week's Club meeting that we must win New York State for McCain! The Mineola HQ (220 Old Country Rd.) covers Nassau, Suffolk and Queens and lawn signs, bumper stickers and literature are available now. Call 718-465-0925 or 516-741-2555 and ask for Gerry. Or you may call Grant Lally directly: 516-741-2666.

Also take a look at the terrific work of our own State Comitteewoman, Linda Gritch: Queens Broads for McCain Palin 08

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=409104581

While you're at it check out Frank Padavan's new myspace page also set up by Linda: http://www.myspace.com/frankpadavan

Also check out my terrific blog refuting Us Magazine's hatchet job on Sarah Palin: Never underestimate the power of a pissed off housewife

http://democracy-project.com/?p=3233

My Best Regards,
Phil Orenstein
Queens Village Republican Club
Board of Directors Member
maduroman@att.net

The Coming Media Revolution

All institutions become corrupt over time, and the way that they are recovered has to do with feedback and control. If feedback is available and control can be exercised by a well intentioned principal, the deviations toward corruption can be corrected. From the mid 19th to the early twentieth century, government in the US became increasingly corrupt. This was mitigated by a free press and by the availability of the frontier so that Americans could leave the political establishment. The flexibility to leave has kept New York City at a population of 8 million or so for 50 or more years as successive generations of immigrants have seen that the city does not function well and so leave. In the twentieth century media technology transformed media as radio and then television replaced once partisan newspapers. Many of the papers died, and the biggest ones, namely the New York Times and later the Washington Post, tended to reflect the views that at that time were most prevalent, namely Progressivism, particularly in its New Deal form. The television and radio stations also adopted the Progressive New Deal viewpoint because it was dominant when they were established between 1920 and 1960. As the number of liberal (in the nineteenth century sense) newspapers dwindled to nearly zero in the early twentieth century and the number of conservative-Progressive newspapers also dwindled, the newspapers as well as the radio and television news was dominated by the Progressive-New Deal point of view. By 1964, when Barry Goldwater ran for president, although he could capture a significant share of the vote, he lost in a 61% to 38% landslide to Lyndon Baynes Johnson. (Note that at its nadir, 19th century liberalism could attract almost 40% of the vote.)

The institutionalization of a viewpoint in a corporation is often called organizational culture. The views of the founders, to include not only the entrepreneur but the managers whom he appoints and the relations between the divisions of the new organization, shape the culture. The culture becomes ingrained and is difficult to change, even if a targeted effort is made. Philip Selznick first wrote about the problem of culture change in his "Leadership in Organizations" published int the 1950s. The idea was carried forward aggressively in the 1980s through such works as William Ouchi's "Theory Z" and is today a mainstay of management theory.

There were several factors that caused the institutionalization of the Progressive-New Deal point of view in the American media, the most important of which are (1) the nineteenth century liberal sources that resisted Progressivism ceased to exist or were taken over (as in the case of the Nation); (2) the media formed between 1920 and 1960 adopted the views of founders that were almost universally Progressive-New Deal; (3) the American education system has tended to re enforce this culture; and (4) hiring and promotional policies are inevitably linked to culture, and so there are powerful incentives for media operatives to adopt the Progressive-New Deal line.

Eventually, dysfunctional cultures create economic opportunities for entrepreneurs. As firms insist on a false reality consumers demand alternatives. This happened in Detroit in the 1960s, as a reading of John Delorean's and Patrick Wright's 1972 "On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors" reveals. Detroit has hung on for another 35 years, but new firms have gradually eroded their market share.

A similar kind of reality gap is occurring in a range of American industries. In finance, repeated failure, corruption and reliance on government bailouts are greeted with glee, as today's increase in stock market valuations at the news of the government takeover of Fannie Mae reveal. In automobiles, the American car makers still have not found a way to compete successfully with the Japanese after 35 years of indulgence. And in the news media, Progressive-New Deal bias in the media's news, inability to grasp the mindset of the "new conservatism" that is not so new, declining quality of Hollywood films and the invention of new technologies that leave the twentieth century media in the dust are not addressed.

The most recent gaffe is Oprah's refusal to invite a Republican candidate, Sarah Palin, onto her show even though she did invite the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, onto her show (see photo from the Obamafile, h/t Bob Robbins). Oprah has shown bad judgment and bad ethics in using her position of trust as a talk show for partisan purposes. Oprah's viewers suddenly look foolish as it appears that they mindlessly follow Oprah's less-than-ethical whims.

Yet another example that came to my inbox today is Warner Todd Huston of the Stop the ACLU site's excellent analysis (h/t Larwyn) of a laughable San Francisco Chronicle story that claims to be about John McCain but is actually a vehicle to quote Barack Obama attacking John McCain. Ha, ha, the media clowns doing somersaults.

The question is why have no entrepreneurs stepped forward to arbitrage an increasingly inept media. Part of the reason might be the frontier of the new media, the increasing number of cable channels and the Internet. Also, the centralization of media ownership in a few large corporations that benefit from the Progressive-New Deal position and would logically favor a candidate like Obama would likely make it difficult for entrepreneurs to break into the old media. As well, the new media is doing quite a job as it is.

Nevertheless, I can't help but wonder if there aren't some good opportunities, as in a buyout of MSNBC.

America Can't Be Richer Than Europe If She Does The Same Things The Europeans Do

It should seem obvious but it apparently isn't. I heard Barack Obama on the radio this afternoon. He claimed that many Americans dislike government if they have a job but change their minds when they don't have one. But the more government the fewer jobs, and if the process continues long enough then you have a situation like England's where the bottom 20% have been self-excluded from the job market because welfare pays better, and the country hasn't been innovative in a long time.

I am in the middle of Walter Weyl's 1912 New Democracy and one of the evident fallacies in the book is his belief that America was wealthier than Europe because of natural resources and the frontier. That was untrue. Japan has no natural resources and no frontier, but it is much richer than Russia, which has both. Likewise, Weyl cannot repeat often enough how much ahead of the US Europe is. That's another theme that the social democrats have carried forward through today. I wonder if Weyl's relatives in Europe, if any, were killed within three decades by those wonderfully social democratic Germans he repeatedly extols.

The problem is the way that you become rich, holding resources equal (as e.g., America's and Rusia's resources were equal in the 19th century) is (a) thrift; (b) efficient management; or (c) new ideas, inventions and innovations. There are no other ways The nation as a whole cannot become rich trading stocks or timing the stock market.

For the past century Weyl and his Progressive followers have been telling Americans that they need to become more like Europe. But if you're not more thrifty, efficient or innovative than Europeans, you're not going to be richer. You can expect to live like Europeans. Americans have thought of themselves as wealthier, but they've listened to the Progressives, and now they are going to learn that if you copy Europe, you adopt economic practices and social democracy like Europe's, your natural resources aren't going to be of much help. That's a hard lesson to learn.

We cannot be richer than Europe if we adopt Weyl-cum-Obama style social democracy. Sorry. Because of Obama and the last century's worth of Progressives, Americans can look forward to becoming poorer and poorer.

But at least we'll be happy when we're unemployed.