For the record, I think McCain looks just fine in this cover photo.

I think he looks way less ridiculous than this cover.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:04 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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I was a Fred Thompson supporter, and I wasn't so keen on McCain.

However, tonight when McCain's video montage began, I admit that I got a little glistening in my eyes. Not because of the video itself but because I felt something that I didn't expect to be feeling.

McCain deserves to be president.

I don't like to put it that way, but that's how I feel tonight. If our citizens look past the man who has spent his entire adult life serving our country and instead choose the man who's been on the scene for 140 days, I will be very disappointed in my fellow Americans.

I believed every word of McCain's speech. I believe he meant every word of it.

He was not my first choice. I don't agree with him on several things. He asked me to do things I don't want to do; I don't usually want to compromise on things I believe to be true. But he's right that we have to compromise if we're going to get anything accomplished.

So I will fight with him.

And while I absolutely cannot compare my life story to his, and France is not quite as bad as North Vietnam, I too never loved my country as much as when I didn't live in it. I understand this love, though probably never to the depth that he feels it.

I believe that anything and everything he does for our country he does because he honestly thinks it's the right decision. That's what I want in a leader.

And the protestors who interrupted him, they showed themselves to be the classless trash that they are. McCain's right: they're static.

It's laser beam time.

Posted by: Sarah at 07:27 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I laughed out loud and clapped my hands like a goon when Palin mentioned taking the styrofoam pillars back to the movie set. Ha! And laughed even louder when she said that the best endorsement of McCain is that Harry Reid hates him.

Man, she was on fire.

(She reminds me of a cross between Guard Wife and AWTM. I'm surprised she never called Obama a douchebag.)

My favorite line came from Giuliani: "Change is not a destination just as hope is not a strategy."

Rivaled by Palin's "There are some candidates who use change to promote their careers, and then there are those like John McCain who use their careers to promote change."

I'm grinnin' here folks.

I was scared in 2004, but I feel pretty good tonight.

And I have this hilarious scene running on a loop through my head from O Brother Where Art Thou:

Junior O'Daniel: Well, he's the reform candidate, Daddy.
Pappy O"Daniel: Yeah.
Junior O'Daniel: A lot of people like that reform. Maybe we should get us some.
Pappy O"Daniel: I'll reform you, you soft-headed sombitch. How we gonna run reform when we're the damn incumbent? Is that the best idea you boys can come up with? Reform?! Weepin' Jesus on the cross. That's it! You may as well start drafting my concession speech right now.

John McCain is the incumbent party, running on reform. And doing a mighty fine job of it.

Posted by: Sarah at 06:02 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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As Frank J said, "Who would win in a fight between John Wayne and Chuck Norris? Fred Thompson."
Fred tore it up.
I am happy tonight.
There was no doom and gloom at my convention.

Posted by: Sarah at 07:08 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Two new links via CG. The first comes from American Princess, who's happy to have a VP candidate who walks the walk:

Just try to talk abortion with a woman who was offered the opportunity to kill her DownÂ’s Syndrome baby and passed it up, choosing instead to give the baby life. Just try to talk about health care, the price of groceries and the price of gas with a woman who raised five kids in the wilderness. Just try to talk about unions and labor jobs with a woman married to a union steelworker who does Deadliest Catch style crab fishing. On these issues sheÂ’s Rock. Solid.

(Also, go read the whole thing and see why she brilliantly said, "The man who wanted “change,” adopted the Bush mentality on dual Presidency.")

The second link comes from Heather MacDonald, who does not support the Palin pick because it panders to identity politics.

Of course, Democrats have been playing the identity-politics game to the hilt this election cycle; it’s what they do. And it will be amusing to watch them twist themselves into knots to avoid criticizing the Palin pick for what it is: a diversity ploy. As short-term political strategy, the Palin selection has diabolical appeal. Prevented from stating the obvious—Palin was chosen because she was a woman—the Democrats will instead have to seize on her lack of experience. They are right to do so, but then they have to explain why Barack Obama is so much more qualified for the top of the ticket, let alone the number two spot.

It's hard not to be overjoyed that this will work to our advantange, though I understand MacDonald's feeling that "Your enthusiasm for her is driven in large measure by the fact that the McCain camp has beaten the Democrats at their own game, and in so doing, driven ObamaÂ’s moment of glory off the wires."

Posted by: Sarah at 10:54 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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The husband logged in to chat to talk about Palin! So exciting to get to share that with him. He kept inserting Jonah Goldberg quotes into the chat. It was fun. And here's how we ended:

Sarah says:
  I love you and I am so excited about Palin and I'm glad you got to see me with brushed hair
Husband says:
  me too
Husband says:
  for both things
Husband says:
  mostly Palin though
Sarah says:
  ha
Husband says:
  I don't care what your hair looks like

He's the greatest and I miss him terribly.

Posted by: Sarah at 07:40 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Sarah Palin?

I'm kinda doing that thing Cartman does where he runs in a circle and says "you guys, you guys, seriously."

Wow.

Man, I wish I could call my husband.

Posted by: Sarah at 06:14 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Watched Obama last night. The various authors at The Corner summed up everything I thought during the speech. VDH even said "Hope and Change Become Gloom and Doom" like I said yesterday. And overall, I thought that the speech was great, as long as you don't know anything else about Obama. But my laugh-out-loud moment came from this Jonah Goldberg gem:

And My Fellow Americans...
If we all work our hardest, we can make this the best yearbook ever!

Heh.

UPDATE:

Another good line from Five Feet of Fury:

I can't be the only one sick of hearing speech after speech out of the DNC, regaling America with cringe-inducing anecdotes about one-armed, one-legged, dying, dirt poor pathetic losers.
...
I'm getting sarcastic emails (and hearing similar comments on radio and around the web) saying: "Gee, here I thought I was living in America. After listening to the speeches this week, I realized I'm living in Rwanda and didn't even know it! Thank you, Democrats, for telling me what a pathetic failure of a nation I call home!"

Posted by: Sarah at 03:50 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 Oh shoot! I had some other (i.e., more important) things to do last night, like listen to SpouseBUZZ radio and go to bed. Oh schucky-darn to have missed his speech! Besides, I would probably be divorced (or widowed) had that been on the TV last night. But I am glad good people like you have the fortitude to watch.

Posted by: Butterfly Wife at August 29, 2008 05:19 AM (hyr6V)

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I waited all afternoon to watch the DNC tonight. Once it started, I lasted ten minutes before I wondered why I was giving myself an ulcer sitting through this gloom and doom stuff. Hope is out the window; tonight all we've got is change. Tonight it's all about The End of the American Dream.

Bill Clinton said we need to "rebuild the American dream." Joe Biden said "the American dream is slipping away."

Biden talked about people who can't pay their bills and said, "These are common stories among middle-class people who've worked hard their whole life and played by the rules, on the promise that their tomorrows would be better than their yesterdays. That promise is the promise of America."

And I suppose Joe Biden just summed up why I will never be a Democrat.

The greatness of America is not that everyone's tomorrows will be better than their yesterdays. It's simply not; that's not something you can promise. The greatness of America is that everyone has the opportunity for better tomorrows. The chances are there for the taking, but it's not a promise.

The Democrats want to promise you that they will make all 300 million of our lives better. That's absurd. But Barack Obama is all about "the world as it should be." He'll promise you some ideal that can never be lived up to, something that doesn't exist. Some America where no one makes less than twenty bucks an hour and everyone is guaranteed a low interest rate on a McMansion. Where everyone's health care is free but no one's taxes go up except for Exxon executives'. An America of no trade offs, no opportunity costs at all. Flowers and sausages for everyone, once Obama's in power. A full 180 from the gloom and doom we live in now. Come January, life will be perfect.

Audacity, indeed.

Frankly, I'm disappointed that all the Democrats can talk about is changing America. If there's even a whiff of that at the Republican convention next week, I'm afraid I'll cry. The United States of America is already the greatest country on the planet. I'm weary of hearing speech after speech about how we need to change it. How it's "downright mean." How we need to set a better example for the world.

How the American dream is dead.

I don't want to change anything about our country. I don't want the government (spit) to promise me my American dream, to promise me the picket fence and microwave oven. I only want my government to assure me that all the dreams I could ever want are at my fingertips if I work hard enough and make good decisions. And then get the hell out of the way and let me work towards them.

That is the promise of America.

And that is why I'm not a Democrat.

Posted by: Sarah at 06:08 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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I always seem to be on the road when big things happen. A few weeks ago, I got to my destination to find out that Russia had invaded Georgia and John Edwards was in hot water. I was also gone yesterday and came home to find out Obama has a VP.

A comment from Scrapiron over at Flopping Aces:

There goes the ‘D.C.’ insider rants.
There goes the he’s too ‘old’ rants.
There goes the ‘Bush’s’ war rants.

Hooray. I also saw at RWN via Gina Cobb that Biden got an F in ROTC class, so there's no chance for all the John Kerry Reporting For Duty, importance of military service stuff that the Dems trumpeted last time. Hard to out-awesome McCain in that category, even with an A in ROTC (which I got...heh.)

I've been reading everyone's refresher posts on all the dumb stuff Biden's said in the past few years, and I'm feeling pretty good here. Not cocky, but good. Better than I felt in '04, actually. And great once I read this gem:

Crowley's TNR profile concludes with a striking example of Biden's foreign policy sophistication. In the wake of 9/11, in a meeting with his staff, Biden experienced an epiphany:

Biden launches into a stream-of-consciousness monologue about what his [Senate Foreign Relations] committee should be doing, before he finally admits the obvious: "I'm groping here." Then he hits on an idea: America needs to show the Arab world that we're not bent on its destruction. "Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran," Biden declares. He surveys the table with raised eyebrows, a How do ya like that? look on his face.

Now if McCain can keep himself from doing something asinine like picking Lieberman, we might be good to go.

Posted by: Sarah at 11:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A throwaway line from a good article about the bombing of Hiroshima:

Truman, president for less than 3 months and in the dark about the Manhattan Project during his entire vice presidency, was being given advice from every corner on how to end the war.

Wow. The compartmentalization these men must maintain.
I could never be president.

Posted by: Sarah at 11:20 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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So...during primary season, my husband opted for strategery and pulled a Mary Katherine Ham. Therefore, I found it hilarious today that he received a letter in the mail from the RNC asking him why he's abandoned the Republican Party. It called him a "grassroots leader." I am seriously sniggering here.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:16 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 You should seriously email them back and explain. I honest-to-God wonder what they would do with that.

Posted by: airforcewife at July 22, 2008 04:00 AM (mIbWn)

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The husband sent me a good link today, under the simple email subject line of "Krauthammer rules": Who Does Obama Think He Is?

Incidentally, I watched North By Northwest last night -- such a good movie and can I point out how Cary Grant makes me melt? -- and I had a good chuckle when I remembered Obama's bonehead question of how they had filmed the movie on top of Mount Rushmore. I hope he hadn't seen that movie in a long time, because the Rushmore they used was comically fake-looking. It is entirely obvious it wasn't the real deal.

But hey, at least Obama didn't ask to see the entrance where Nicolas Cage found the city of gold.

Posted by: Sarah at 11:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I heard this Wesley Clark clip on the radio today, and it was so stunning I actually turned to the radio with this face.

Schieffer: How can you say that John McCain is untested and untried? General?

Clark: Because in the matters of national security policy making, it's a matter of understanding risk. It's a matter of gauging your opponents, and it's a matter of being held accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in Armed Forces as a prisoner of war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in Air- in the Navy that he commanded, it wasn't a wartime squadron. He hasn't been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn't seen what it's like when diplomats come in and say, 'I don't know whether we're going to be able to get this point through or not. Do you want to take the risk? What about your reputation? How do we handle it publicly.' He hasn't made those calls, Bob.

Seriously. Upside down face.

Posted by: Sarah at 10:50 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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So apparently there's a new Obama ad by MoveOn where a woman holding a new baby tells John McCain that he can't "have" her child for his 100 years in Iraq.

Oh, puh-lease.

You know what, John McCain? We don't have a baby yet, but when we do, you can definitely have him or her. That is, if our child wants to join the military; you and I don't get much say in coercing the kid, neither to get in or stay out. But I have no problem with it. And I'm pretty sure you can have Erin's Tucker too. He's already got the camo thing nailed.

So the selfish blond lady can keep her baby at home. We've got at least two others you can "have."

What a dumb ad.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:54 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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1 You can have mine, too. And me. And my husband (who was Army) and my bro-in-law who's active duty already. So we're at 8 for my immediate. OH, yeah, and my S-I-L kids who are in JROTC, so there's 10. Shove that baby up your ass. LOL

Posted by: Allison at June 20, 2008 05:58 AM (OH0du)

2 Dumb, dumb, dumb ad. My favorite comment over at the link you had is: "Don't be misled by the name, lady: the 3rd Infantry Division is not made up of infants."

Posted by: Susan at June 20, 2008 06:03 AM (edTDc)

3 And don't forget my son, who thinks your husband is wonderful because he drove a tank, and two of my three daughters (one of whom I'd happily send now, as she is 16 and needs a reality check and a good drill sergeant). The other daughter wants to be a nun, but she altar served for two years in a military chapel - does that count? Shoot, I think Ike the Dog would even volunteer if he could, just because it makes him uneasy when AFG leaves and he would probably feel much better if he could "protect" the man. And by the way, John McCain is already 2046 years old. I doubt he'll still be spry enough to break into Baby Alex's bedroom in 18 years and snatch him away in the dead of night - much less 100 years from now. And if a top of his form Baby Alex can't defend himself from a physically disabled Methusalite who can't lift his arms above his shoulders, this mom has other issues to worry about.

Posted by: airforcewife at June 20, 2008 06:23 AM (mIbWn)

4 What an dumb ad? Granted, I don't want to lose any of my family members to some idiot in Iraq while they are stationed there, but I am extrememly proud to come from a military family and to have my oldest child volunteer for it. He didn't do it for the college money or because he had to, he did it because he is a proud American. He loves what he does and wants to make a career of it and I support him 150%. Screw the chick with her baby, its people like her that would lay down and allow America to be trampled on. Would she prefer the ad be in Spanish, German or Arabic?

Posted by: Vonn at June 20, 2008 08:35 AM (gNLi0)

5 "Screw the chick with her baby..." Ah Vonn, I think she already has been. I'm just saying. Agree with y'all & can't say it any better.

Posted by: tim at June 20, 2008 09:05 AM (nno0f)

6 I hate dumb advertisements. You could take mine as well! (If I had one to give)

Posted by: darla at June 20, 2008 11:03 AM (tIKcE)

7 What this lady doesn't understand is...there are people in this world who would love nothing more than to take that baby now. Just ask the parents in Beslan or Darfur or anywhere else that extremism is allowed to go unchecked. Moron.

Posted by: Guard Wife at June 20, 2008 11:50 AM (boSOD)

8 I was going to post that ad from You Tube because it annoyed me so much! I saw a story on "Baby Alex" on Fox and just wanted to throw up...FYI to Baby Alex's mother: We have a VOLUNTEER military so that your kid won't have to fight. Bleck!

Posted by: Nicole at June 20, 2008 01:26 PM (sBJ2p)

9 Dear crazy ad lady, If your son is irrational and crazy like you, we probably don't want him. SSG Sig US Army National Guard

Posted by: Sig at June 20, 2008 01:33 PM (7uphd)

10 Yeah, I saw the crazy lady ad, I was pretty much sickened over the thing.... I mean I have a teen who is fastly approaching 18 and her dad is in Tradoc now and bottom line, she knows what her options are, she is considering it, and well....while it scares me as a mother, I will support her regardless and if my other two decide to take that route, I will support them as well..... Crazy lady can keep her baby.... ASW

Posted by: A Soldier's Wife at June 20, 2008 02:01 PM (Qywry)

11 fortunately, the mother doesn't have much of a say in what her kid decides to do at 18... unless of course he is a mindless, p-whipped little thug who has no sense of honor, commitment, duty, pride and self-sacrifice... in that case, he can just stay home with mommy. uck. ps. the thing that really pisses me off about that ad? it implies that somehow mothers of those in [military] service to their country don't love their children as much as the bimbo blond in the ad. I said bimbo. and I meant it.

Posted by: Some Soldier's Mom at June 20, 2008 08:12 PM (1t9I+)

12 I saw that ad. First thing I thought was, "Actually it's not really your choice, lady. It's his choice, when he turns 18." Crazy, selfish people.

Posted by: Emily at June 23, 2008 08:31 AM (jAos7)

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Greyhawk has a good post about how two-faced the Democrats are. Senator Harkin flipped out four years ago because Bush/Cheney didn't have enough military experience and John Kerry did, but now that the Republican nominee has way more military experience than the Dem candidates, now Harkin says that too much military service is a bad thing.

For heaven's sake. Someone needs to remind these people that teh internets keep copies of their old statements.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:55 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Obama says this about his chances in Kentucky:

"What it says is that I'm not very well known in that part of the country," Obama said. "Sen. Clinton, I think, is much better known, coming from a nearby state of Arkansas. So it's not surprising that she would have an advantage in some of those states in the middle."

No, this is not a made-up quote from The Onion. He actually believes this, apparently. Problem is, a quick glance at a U.S. map reveals that Illinois actually borders Kentucky and is clearly closer than Arkansas. Illinois is also closer to West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Obama has been scaring me with these frankly Bushian statements for months, and this one is a whooper.

One quick quibble: Obama is from Chicago, not Illinois. To anyone from that state, that distinction is obvious. Chicago doesn't border Kentucky, so why on earth would he care if the southern rednecky part of Illinois touched rednecky Kentucky? Come on, Kentucky is way more like Arkansas than Chicago. Everyone knows this, right? That's where all the bitter gun nuts and Jesus freaks are. Saying so isn't elitist or condescending at all.

Riiiight.

"Some of those states in the middle." Excuse me while I barf.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:38 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Peggy Noonan is good squishy today. I'm not even going to excerpt because you need to read the whole thing.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:13 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Wow. After the Dem debate last night, a bunch of Democrat focus groupers talked about why they'd consider voting for John McCain. Check out the video.

I am putting my fingers together like Monty Burns and saying, "Exxxcellent."

Posted by: Sarah at 05:40 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Hillary Clinton was in town today, and they broadcast her speech on the radio. I happened to catch quite a bit of it because I was driving a long distance today. And a lot of it made my skin crawl.

I'll be fair here; it's not just Hillary. John McCain's speech the other day made me want to puke, what with his global warming and closing Gitmo. I don't like listening to politicians in general. I hate how politicians promise everything to everyone. If I'm elected, I'm going to do this and this and this. No details, no actual plans that can be analyzed for efficacy, just feel-good drivel. Ick. I want my politicians to be like my husband or my dad, putting out the vibe that life is hard and you have to make tough choices sometimes. You can't always get everything for free, and government isn't here to grant your every wish. I want Rachel Lucas' news network called "Tough Shit, America."

Instead, politicians promise the moon. Hillary said she's going to create more jobs, make college more affordable, give everyone health care, fix social security without privatizing it, and a host of other stuff. And all of this is supposed to happen without raising taxes on the middle class. Well, the poor don't pay squat, so guess who's footing the bill: people who actually do create jobs.

I don't want politicians doing most of this stuff. Make college more affordable? College should be a privilege, not a right, and newsflash: not everyone should go. Moreover, you don't have the right to borrow money at 2% interest so you can better yourself. Get real. I've been reading Milton Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom, and he advocated no government funding of higher education at all. No state-run universities, nothing. That's hardcore. But education is not the role of the federal government.

And creating more jobs, what an empty promise. She said that the backbone of any economy is "making things" and that we need to stop losing our manufacturing jobs. Why? John Stossel says

Manufacturing jobs are no better for America than other jobs. Some argue that they are worse. How many parents want their children to work in factories rather than offices? Increasing service jobs in medical, financial and computer sectors while importing manufactured goods doesn't hurt America. It helps America.

I think it was Neal Boortz who said a while back that manufacturing jobs are beneath Americans. That thought raised my eyebrows, but I see what he means. Why would we want to increase the sector of the economy with the lowest skilled jobs? Let's work with our brains, not with our fingers.

And during the question period, someone asked Hillary what she'll do to fight racism. Tom tapdancing Cruise. I don't want my president to do anything to fight racism, save not being racist himself. Otherwise, the federal government has no business meddling in race relations. Blech.

Hillary also told a sob story about why we need health care for everyone. Some girl in Ohio got pregnant and couldn't afford the $100 fee to see a doctor. In the end, she had to get taken to the emergency room and she and the baby died. Sad, terrible story. But here's the bitch in me: if you don't have $100, why on earth are you having a baby? Don't get yourself knocked up if you can't afford to protect the baby's health or your own. I don't want the Face Of Health Care Woes to be that rich SCHIP family, but I don't want it to be pregnant unwed girls either. I don't want to foot the bill so some other pregnant girl doesn't have to pay to go to the doctor, when we saved every spare dime we've made for the past six years so we'd be ready for our own baby.

The speech closed with a question on what Hillary planned to do to prevent heart disease. She actually said the phrase, "We're gonna have to do more to change people's behavior." Gulp. That's not the government's job either.

Bleh, government makes me ill.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:12 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 I had this really long comment typed, but I don't want to subject anyone to my endless tirades about entitlement attitudes.

Posted by: airforcewife at March 27, 2008 02:47 PM (mIbWn)

2 I just had a conversation this morning with a friend about this! I'm with AFW, I could go on and on about entitlement issues. It makes me sick.

Posted by: ABW at March 27, 2008 04:47 PM (Y3JJK)

3 I'm with you on listening to Hillary. Or any political speeches, for that matter. I always want to slap her, though, moreso than the other candidates. In fact, (and I cannot believe I am putting this in type), if by some miracle for her campaign I have to choose between her and McCain... I'm voting for McCain. As far as entitlement... I'm always at a loss here. I have been in situations when I desperately needed a hand up. I have friends who have needed that as well. All of us have used what little we could get by with and managed to get back up on our feet. That's the way "the system" should work. However, I also know people who have lived in public housing for SIXTY years. Without ever trying to leave. People like that ruin things for everyone else who just need a boost. So I really don't know what the answer is. I'm torn between compassion for people who are down on their luck, and the whole "Tough Shit, America" concept. Recovering from bad decisions shouldn't be easy. At the same time, I don't think people should die or children suffer because of lack of funds (regardless of the decisions which led them to the rough spot). I think I'm rambling and exhausted. I should delete my long comment like AFW, but I'm too dang stubborn for that. I might come back tomorrow and clarify. Because that's what you need, more wordiness in your comments.

Posted by: Sis B at March 27, 2008 06:41 PM (0ZS+T)

4 I read the Stars and Stripes the other day - rag that it is - and of course Ann Landers, or Dear Abby or whatever's in there. The writer was a single female, had bought a house and her parents lent her the money at a low rate of interest so she could afford it. She's writing to say that her parents paid for the weddings of her two sisters (she's forty and has no plans to marry) so she was ENTITLED to the money and her parents should just give it to her and erase the loan, since they didn't have to pay for nonexixtent wedding. SMH. (Are you impressed I'm up with the 'urban' culture? That's "shaking my head" for those of you who aren't sad enough to bookmark the online urban dictionary.)

Posted by: Oda Mae at March 28, 2008 12:26 AM (1xh4T)

5 I listen to Neal a lot. I've heard him make similar comments & usually it has to do with people who are not educated, but who see good, honest jobs as beneath them because, you know, they are BETTER than that. Not sure if that's the rant he was on when you heard him, but usually it's more of a: Hey, get off your arse & go to work & quit making the rest of us pay for you." No, a job sticking together parts is NOT worth $35/hour, so don't be surprised when your jobs move south BUT don't lie around whining that McDonald's only pays minimum wage when you didn't finish school or take advantage of opportunities in life either.

Posted by: Guard Wife at March 28, 2008 03:52 AM (GPWZ1)

6 "Manufacturing" doesn't always mean "low-skilled"...see my post Misvaluing Manufacturing. Also, there is a lot more manufacturing going on in the U.S. today than journalists and politicians seem to realize; see this. Much of the employment decline in U.S. manufacturing is due to improve productivity, just as farm employment declined while food production went up. There have also been many government actions & policies which have been harmful to U.S. manufacturing, and a high % of these have been sponsored by Democrats.

Posted by: david foster at March 28, 2008 04:53 AM (ke+yX)

7 There are times in life when people need help, and I think it should be there for them. Someone can't help getting laid off from a job. Or their spouse leaving them with the kids. But they are not entitled to it for life. I totally agree that higher education is a privilege and not a right. It's also become an industry. It's like our educational system has been extended to 16 years and you have to pay for the last 4.

Posted by: Mare at March 28, 2008 04:56 AM (EI19G)

8 I could write a whole blog post on employee attitudes about jobs being beneath them, but lacking the skills to do a better job...I think I just might. But I wanted to put in my 2 cents about manufacturing in the US. I think there is always room for highly efficient/good quality manufacturing. For example, Germany still does a lot of manufacturing: its secondary sector is about 35% of the work force, and German products are held in high esteem: Zwilling knives, Audi, VW, Posche, Mercedes, BMW, Siemens products, etc, not to mention plants making many of the sub-components for these products. And because the manufacturing is highly mechanized, the employees are actually paid quite well. I remember when I had a summer job in a factory in Germany, and I parked in the employee parking lot among many Mercedeses, VWs and BMWs. So, if America were to take the same tact and focus on highly efficient high-quality manufacturing, there would definitely be a world market for that. It was pretty interesting: recently we got an inquiry from China about our manufactured product, and they wanted to sell it there...and we replied: well, we don't actually have plans on opening a Chinese factory anytime soon. And the representative protested and said: no, no, no, we want American-made products! They are very prestigious here in China! It's all relative, I guess...

Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at March 28, 2008 05:29 AM (U2RJu)

9 It would be nice if we focused on high quality manufacturing... which is actually more like craftsmanship, I think. And some people are better suited to working with their hands than solving complex equations. I had one student in school who was consistently getting low grades in academic subjects - his parents were mortified he wanted to be a foreign auto mechanic and came in to talk about preparing him for college. I asked them if they had realized he would make a LOT more money being a mechanic than he would, you know, teaching. and one of the points I can't help but resurrect from my deleted Russian-novel-length comment was about Hillary's "poor pregnant woman". I got pregnant at 17 - with no insurance. That's why medicaid will cover ANY pregnant woman no matter how much money she makes. They also cover ANY child under a year of age no matter how much money a parent makes. The thing is, you have to actually go sit in the Social Services office for hours (sometimes days) and actually bring in documents and fill out paperwork. In other words, you have to take some sort of responsibility for your own actions. I know, I know, it's totally fascist of them to expect someone to actually jump through some hoops for medical care! Politicians pushing these programs count on the fact that few people have any understanding of what is already in place or what is required for them. So they leave crucial details out of their "oh, the poor victims!" speeches.

Posted by: airforcewife at March 28, 2008 06:05 AM (mIbWn)

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