This Is A Real Problem For The GOP

Folks are still blaming Bush for the bad economy (and this is from a Fox News poll!):

Asked which president is “more responsible for the current state of the economy,” only 18 percent say President Obama. Fifty-eight percent say former President George W. Bush. Nine percent blame both of them. Republicans are the only subgroup of voters who blame Obama, and only by a six-point margin of 35 percent to 29 percent.

What’s striking about this is that the numbers have only marginally gotten worse for President Obama in the three months since Fox News last asked this question. In July, it was 16 percent who blamed Obama and 61 percent who blamed Bush. That is, needless to say, not what Fox News viewers hear when they tune into the network. But it’s essential to understanding why the president remains popular and why Republicans are failing to really capitalize on economic gloom.

Unless things start getting better soon (and they probably won't), Obama will eventually get the blame for all this. But I am nonetheless amazed that all the talk from Limbaugh and Company about how this is Obama's economy really hasn't sunk in much. Maybe that has something to do with this Obama statement from last July:

"I love the folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, 'Well, this is Obama's economy,'" the president told an outdoor crowd at Macomb Community College, veering off his scripted words. "That's fine. Give it to me. My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and harp and gripe."

I Guess This Kinda Backfired

Blue Cross/Blue Shield customers in North Carolina are a little pissed off right now (from AmericaBlog):

First, they learned their rates will rise by an average of 11 percent next year.

Next, they opened a slick flier from the insurer urging them to send an enclosed pre-printed, postage-paid note to Sen. Kay Hagan denouncing what the company says is unfair competition that would be imposed by a government-backed insurance plan. The so-called public option is likely to be considered by Congress in the health-care overhaul debate.

"No matter what you call it, if the federal government intervenes in the private health insurance market, it's a slippery slope to a single-payer system," the BCBS flier read. "Who wants that?"

Plenty of people, it turns out.

Indignant Blue Cross customers have rebelled against the insurer's message, complaining that their premium dollars have funded such a campaign.

They've hit the Internet in a flurry of e-mails to friends and neighbors throughout the state. They've called Hagan's office to voice support for a public option. They've marked through the Blue Cross message on their postcards to instead vouch support, then dropped them in the mail -- in at least one case taped to a brick -- to be paid on Blue Cross' dime. Or dimes.

Breaking News: Louisiana Justice Of The Peace Actually Lets Black Folks Inside His Home

From MSNBC:

A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.

Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

Neither Bardwell nor the couple immediately returned phone calls from The Associated Press. But Bardwell told the Daily Star of Hammond that he was not a racist.

"I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house," Bardwell said. "My main concern is for the children." * * *

And hold on to your hats -- he even lets negroes use his bathroom:

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

Is it too late to nominate this guy for an NAACP Image Award?

Quote Of The Week

"Hey, we weren't paid to evaluate the effects of the entire bill, but rather a small slice of it."

From a statement put out last night by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the author of a report for the insurance industry which claimed that health care costs would increase in a big way if Democratic reforms were enacted.

I've reevaluated World War II using the PricewaterhouseCoopers methodology; and focusing solely on the Pearl Harbor attack, I've concluded that the United States lost.

Konnichiwa.

Hilarious (With Update)

The radical, America-hating right-wing extremists in this country are furious that Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize:

For Obama's critics, * * * the Nobel Prize has touched a far more bitter nerve -- affirming their firmly-held beliefs that the president is more symbolism than substance and that he's accomplished little of note on the international stage except to serve as an emblem of U.S. repentance for the Bush years.

"This fully exposes the illusion that is Barack Obama," conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh told Politico via e-mail. "And with this 'award' the elites of the world are urging Obama, THE MAN OF PEACE, to not do the surge in Afghanistan, not take action against Iran and its nuclear program and to basically continue his intentions to emasculate the United States... They love a weakened, neutered U.S and this is their way of promoting that concept. I think God has a great sense of humor, too."

"I did not realize the Nobel Peace Prize had an affirmative action quota," wrote Erick Erickson, of the site RedState.com, "but that is the only thing I can think of for this news."

"Obama isn't the first American president to win the Nobel Peace Prize, but he's the first to win it without having accomplished anything," wrote John Miller, of the National Review. "Obama's award is simply the projection of wishful thinking."

"The prize seems not just premature but embarrassing," wrote Mark Krikorian, also on The National Review, "this just reinforces the Saturday Night Live meme that Obama has done nothing. This really might be his Carter whacking-the-bunny-rabbit moment."

Indeed, an online petition was started just hours after the announcement was made, objecting to the "absurd decision to award B. Obama Nobel Peace Prize."

And so, in the immediate aftermath, the meme had already been established -- seconded by the usual purveyors of conventional wisdom -- that the Nobel Prize was more burden than benefit for the White House. The conclusion: the president needed to turn the prize down.

"I predict right now that he will find a way to basically turn it down," Time Magazine's Mark Halperin told MSNBC's Morning Joe. "I think he is going to say, I share this with the world or whatever. I don't think he'll embrace this. Because there is no upside."

"The damage is done," added Mika Brzezinski shortly thereafter.

Obama's response to all this was perfect. He said that he did not think he deserved to be in the company of the others who had won it before him and that he wasn't certain he had done enough to earn the award, but that he will "accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century."

I also enjoyed the DNC's take on this:

"The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists -- the Taliban and Hamas this morning -- in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize," wrote DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse. "Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize -- an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride -- unless of course you are the Republican Party. The 2009 version of the Republican Party has no boundaries, has no shame and has proved that they will put politics above patriotism at every turn. It's no wonder only 20 percent of Americans admit to being Republicans anymore - it's an embarrassing label to claim."

Beautiful.

UPDATE: Here's what John McCain had to say about all this:

JOHN KING: The president of the United States, who a year ago this weekend was your campaign rival heading into the final month of the campaign, is the Nobel Peace laureate for 2009. Deserved?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: Oh, I’m sure that the president is very honored to receive this award. And Nobel Committee, I can’t divine all their intentions, but I think part of their decision-making was expectations. And I’m sure the president understands that he now has even more to live up to. But as Americans, we’re proud when our president receives an award of that prestigious category.

KING: Did it surprise you, a little more than eight months into office, at a time when, yes, he has set some lofty goals around the world, but he has not won more NATO troops for Afghanistan, he has not convinced the Israelis to do what he says is necessary to sit down with the Palestinians? Were you surprised?

MCCAIN: Well, I think all of us were surprised at — at the decision. But I — I think Americans are always pleased when their president is recognized by something on this order.

Well said.

Jesus

From HuffPo:

Lo and behold, the Bible has gotten too liberal, according to a group of conservatives. And it needs a little editing.

That's the inspiration behind the Conservative Bible Project, which seeks to take the text back to its supposed right-wing roots.

Yes, even scripture is not orthodox enough for the modern conservative. Not that it's the fault of the author(s), exactly. The group cites a few reasons why the Bible is too progressive: "Lack of precision in the original language ... lack of precision in modern language" and "translation bias in converting the original language to the modern one."

So how can the Bible be conservatized? The group has proposed a Wikipedia-like group editing project. Some of the ideas would only bring the translation closer to the original. But others would fundamentally change the text. * * *

Boris Yeltsin

This is fascinating (from Christopher Hitchens' review of The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History With the President):

The 42nd president of the United States was not infrequently accused of being needy, greedy, and tantrum-prone, as well as over-fond of fast or junk food. But try this, about his Muscovite counterpart, from an entry dated Oct. 18, 1994:

"Yeltsin did not always cope with the pressure. President Clinton said Yeltsin's chronic escapes into alcohol were far more serious than the cultivated pose of a jolly Russian. They were worrisome for political stability, as only luck had prevented scandal or worse on both nights of this visit. Clinton had received notice of a major predawn security alarm when Secret Service agents discovered Yeltsin alone on Pennsylvania Avenue, dead drunk, clad in his underwear, yelling for a taxi. Yeltsin slurred his words in a loud argument with the baffled agents. He did not want to go back into Blair House, where he was staying. He wanted a taxi to go out for pizza. I asked what became of the standoff. 'Well,' the president said, shrugging, 'he got his pizza.' "

One has to respect a reporter who can (a) bring off a deadpan description of such a hair-raising event, and (b) keep such a sensational scoop to himself for 15 years. Taylor Branch's latest book has made me whistle more than any comparable piece of work for a very long time, and not just because of its many remarkable disclosures. (On the ensuing night, you may care to know, a plastered Yeltsin managed to escape Blair House security again, and was—in Branch's understated account—"briefly endangered." So we almost but not quite had to read about the leader of post-communist Russia being shot down while the guest of an American president undergoing a midterm election.) * * *

Backpacking Trip 2009

Our annual backpacking trip into the Three Sisters Wilderness was a success. Along for this year's expedition was most of the old crew -- me, Dan, Larry (aka Dan's Dad), The Nick, Jayson, and Chris -- and Chris's wife Lisa also joined us. Charlie did a day hike with us on Thursday. He brought his boat along, and transported all of our packs -- and me -- across Cultus Lake, saving us about three miles of hiking with full packs. Thanks for doing that, Charlie.

From Cultus, it was about a 4.5 mile hike into Winopee Lake (pictured above), where we spent our first night camped at a very nice spot which gave us a great view of the lake and a lot of the surrounding countryside. Bank fishing was somewhat limited there due to marshy conditions near the shore, but we managed to catch a few trout. I have no doubt that a raft or a float tube would have increased our angling success significantly at Winopee. There was a lot of fish jumping in the middle of that lake.

Dan and Larry also fished nearby Lower Snowshoe for awhile, a beautiful little lake that didn't seem to hold too many fish. This is a fairly remote area that I don't think a lot of people visit. In fact, the trails were barely maintained, meaning there was quite a bit of fallen timber over the path which had not been removed. This area, due to its marshy nature, also had more mosquitoes than we were used to for late September.

After spending Thursday night at Winopee Lake, we left the mosquitoes behind and continued north until we met up with the Pacific Crest Trail and shortly thereafter took a side trail to our ultimate destination, where we spent two nights. The fishing there was better. We landed six fish on Friday and six fish on Saturday, and had trout for dinner on both those nights.

We caught a mixed bag of rainbow, cutthroat and brook trout, with brookies making up the biggest part of the catch. The fish averaged 14 inches in length. Dan had the hot hand fishing-wise, landing five trout. Jayson caught three fish, including the largest one of the trip, the 17-inch cutthroat pictured above. [All photos courtesy of Jayson]. The lake received its first brook trout in 2007 after not being stocked with brook for many years, and some of these 2007 fish were in the 13-14 inch class, which bodes well for next season.

The best bite of the trip occurred on Saturday morning when me, Dan, and Lisa took a treacherous climb down a lakeside cliff and fished a spot Dan discovered last year. We landed three 14-inch trout there in about a half an hour. I brought in the first one, and Lisa followed with her fish shortly thereafter. A few moments after landing Lisa's fish, we glanced over to Dan's rod just in time to watch it being pulled into the lake. Dan grabbed the pole before it was yanked into the water and brought his trout in. Dan landed another 14-inch trout about a half hour later at a different spot a little ways south.

This particular trip featured the best weather we've had yet in our four years of doing this, so good in fact that we were able to go swimming on Friday and Saturday. The water was cold and presented a bit of a shock when you first went in, but you quickly got used to it. The lake was deep off the point where we were swimming, so several of our group either jumped or dove off the cliff there. Dan, The Nick, and Jayson even did a moonlight swim on Saturday evening.

One of the cool parts about being in the water was swimming out to where the lake got very deep and opening your eyes underwater. You couldn't see the bottom, so the blue, sunlit water seemed to go into infinity. I plan to bring goggles next year.

Although Sasquatch shadowed us for most of the trip, he only attacked once when he tried to pull The Nick under while we were swimming (no doubt to perform unspeakable acts upon The Nick's person before drowning him). Jayson managed to take a photo of the attack just as it was unfolding.

Fortunately, Chris was able to mimic the feeding cry of the only predator that Sasquatch fears -- the Loch Ness Monster -- and that scared off Sasquatch before he was able to hurt The Nick physically. I can't speak to the psychological damage, though.

We'll see you in Hell, Sasquatch.

I brought my tent along but I never got around to pitching it. I slept under the stars all three nights and had great sleep for the entire trip. I'm in a lot better shape now than I had been on previous trips, so I wasn't in as much pain as I usually am when backpacking, which might explain the good sleep. [Note to self -- stay in shape]. I'm certain that the daily swims in cold lake water also did a lot to take the kinks out.

We had a somewhat smoky sky on the first night of the trip due to all the fires that were burning in Oregon last week; but the winds shifted, which gave us a lot less smoke on Friday and smoke-free days on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday might have been the nicest day I've seen up there in late September, which is funny because it started snowing there three days later.

Even though the weather was great, we didn't see any other hikers or backpackers during the entire trip until we got within three miles of the trailhead near Elk Lake, where our trip came to an end.