Anti-Americanism in Europe Fueled by Ignorance

For another thing, statistics show that Europeans are not nearly as well traveled in America as Americans are in Europe. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, some 11.4 million Europeans visited the United States in 2007, which is roughly 2.5 percent of the European population. (By contrast, a record 13.3 million Americans visited Europe in 2007, or roughly 5 percent of the U.S. population.) The lack of firsthand knowledge of the United States is arguably the biggest reason why ordinary Europeans cannot discern fact from fiction when it comes to America.

From the comments section: "Some of my most heated conversations were with people who claimed to know everything about the U.S. even though they never came here. For example, did you know the U.S. has 52 states?" Ha, I had the exact same discussion in Sweden. A guy insisted that Puerto Rico was a state and refused to listen to me when I said it is not.

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This made me laugh out loud. I remember seeing it on SNL years ago, but I had forgotten how funny it is. Thanks, Oda Mae!

McCain Sings Streisand!

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I caught parts of the Obama interview with Bill O'Reilly, but since I already know I'm not going to vote for him, I didn't go out of my way to hear what else he has to say. So I was surprised when Oda Mae sent me this Jacoby article with a quote I didn't hear the first time around.

Well, I guess I'm just not very neighborly.

"If I am sitting pretty and you've got a waitress who is making minimum wage plus tips, and I can afford it and she can't, what's the big deal for me to say, I'm going to pay a little bit more? That's neighborliness." If that is Obama's rationale for making the tax code even more steeply progressive than it already is, it's no wonder voters are having second thoughts about his economic aptitude.

"Neighborliness." Perhaps that word has a nonstandard meaning to someone whose home adjoined the property of convicted swindler Tony Rezko, but extracting money by force from someone who earned it in order to give it to someone who didn't is not usually spoken of as neighborly. If Citizen Obama, "sitting pretty," reaches into his own pocket and helps out the waitress with a large tip, he has shown a neighborly spirit. But there is nothing neighborly about using the tax code to compel someone else to pay the waitress that tip.

Taxation is not generosity, it is confiscation at gunpoint. Does Obama not understand the difference?

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

I think he looks way less ridiculous than this cover.

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Read Jonah Goldberg's Very Different Visions. Yes, who indeed is speaking for the "indispensable left-handed Samoans living on fixed incomes in the increasingly gay suburbs around Cleveland?" Heh.

Best Mike Huckabee quote ever: "I'm not a Republican because I grew up rich," he proclaimed, "I'm a Republican because I didn't want to spend the rest of my life poor, waiting for the government to rescue me."

I didn't grow up rich and neither did my husband. We started our marriage with no income for four months and $200 to our name. But every day since we've come a little bit closer to our goal of being fat, rich, white Republicans.

And our vision is the winner vision.

UPDATE:

Dang, we lost like eight grand overnight. Stupid Lehman jerks.

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I admit that everything I know about economics I learned from Thomas Sowell, but this morning I feel like I know more than some folks on TV. I want to throw stuff at the screen when they start talking about gas price gouging. I just actually heard someone say, "The oil companies are making a profit and it needs to stop." Oh puh-lease. This can't be considered serious commentary.

Here's some basic economics:

What all this boils down to is that prices higher than what observers are used to are called "gouging." In other words, prices under normal conditions are supposed to prevail under abnormal conditions. This completely misunderstands the role of prices.

Why do prices exist at all? To cause things to be produced and made available to the public -- and to cause consumers to limit how much they consume. Why then do prices suddenly shoot up? Because there is either less of a supply available or more of a demand, or both.

And here's more, worded differently:

Prices are not just arbitrary numbers plucked out of the air. Nor are the price levels that you happen to be used to any more special or "fair" than other prices that are higher or lower.

What do prices do? They not only allow sellers to recover their costs, they force buyers to restrict how much they demand. More generally, prices cause goods and the resources that produce goods to flow in one direction through the economy rather than in a different direction.

Plus a breakdown of why price gouging is necessary and helpful:

One hotel whose rooms normally cost $40 a night now charged $109 a night and another hotel whose rooms likewise normally cost $40 a night now charged $160 a night.
[...]
What if prices were frozen where they were before all this happened?

Those who got to the hotel first would fill up the rooms and those who got there later would be out of luck -- and perhaps out of doors or out of the community. At higher prices, a family that might have rented one room for the parents and another for the children will now double up in just one room because of the "exorbitant" prices. That leaves another room for someone else.

Someone whose home was damaged, but not destroyed, may decide to stay home and make do in less than ideal conditions, rather than pay the higher prices at the local hotel. That too will leave another room for someone whose home was damaged worse or destroyed.

In short, the new prices make as much economic sense under the new conditions as the old prices made under the old conditions.

Too bad few people on TV have any sort of economic sense.

So people who don't need to gas up their cars this week will wait for next week, leaving the gas for people who really need it right now. Duh, that's how the market works during a crisis. And gas station owners will have to replenish their pumps with more expensive gas, so they have to adjust now.

Really, if I can understand it, it ain't that complicated.

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I read this this morning:

Jonathan Haidt, an associate professor of moral psychology at the University of Virginia, argues in an essay this month, “What Makes People Vote Republican?”, that it’s liberals, in fact, who are dangerously blind.

Haidt has conducted research in which liberals and conservatives were asked to project themselves into the minds of their opponents and answer questions about their moral reasoning. Conservatives, he said, prove quite adept at thinking like liberals, but liberals are consistently incapable of understanding the conservative point of view.

Then I read this:

I'm not even getting into the fact that the religious right teaches closed mindedness so it's almost impossible to gain new voters from their pool because people who disagree with them are agents of the devil.

Heh.

And a comment from the same post:

We remain a country of beer, bubbas, bibles and bigots, who are easily persuaded by a few billionaires to vote in the rich's best interests. It's inescapable.

Like I said, keep 'em coming, Left. Keep 'em coming.

Oh, and since I mentioned this to my mother when I was home and she had never heard of the elitist garbage that Michelle Obama has said, let me point out that she thinks $600 is chump change for buying earrings and that she complained to working women in Ohio that she spends $10,000 a year on her kids' piano and dance.

Honestly, I thought it couldn't get any better than when Teresa Heinz Kerry didn't know what chili was...but apparently it can.

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Let's enjoy some liberal condescension, shall we? And fisking thereof.

First: Lileks from Wednesday, taking on a Canadian columnist.
Mark Hemingway taking on a NYT article about Palin's weird religion.

Hey media, feel free to keep stuff like this coming. It makes average Americans disgusted and happy to vote for the normal mom from Alaska who doesn't feed her kids brie for breakfast or fake a trip to Wendy's.

And by all means, keep helping Obama make fun of McCain for his war injuries. That plays really well too. Anything you can do to keep reminding people that John McCain gave so much for his country that he can't even brush his hair or type on a keyboard.

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Yeah, so I drunk snail-mailed my husband tonight.
It's like drunk-dialing, only it won't get to him for two weeks.
I pent up four months of dead babies and deployment and unleashed it all on 9/11 coverage. Not good.

UPDATE:

I hadn't mailed the letter yet, so I got up this morning and read it. Ha. Don't worry, I didn't write the letter about depressing stuff; that's just what prompted me to grab a pen. It seems I wrote about T. Boone Pickens and Band of Brothers. It's very rambling and ridiculous.

Oh, and I feel fine this morning, and really...could a super-drunk person have cleared through Level 23 on Dr. Mario? I think not. I can handle my wine.

Posted by: Sarah at 05:15 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 I really can't imagine sending anything BACK from a war zone--I would anticipate letters for WEEKS, which is how long they took to get to me when I was in the field. Warning him about the content would not be a bad thing, though. Sig

Posted by: Sig at September 11, 2008 06:14 PM (7CjcP)

2 "drunk snail-mail" Not a phrase I ever thought about before - but truly fitting.

Posted by: airforcewife at September 11, 2008 06:17 PM (mIbWn)

3 Oh wait...I guess I drunk-blogged that post too. I didn't write about all that depressing stuff; it just prompted me to write a long mushy and rambling letter.

Posted by: Sarah at September 12, 2008 02:42 AM (TWet1)

4 Sarah, I hope this means that you have recovered from your drunk-chatting session last night, too!

Posted by: Butterfly Wife at September 12, 2008 02:56 AM (p8HAO)

5 Well, you know, the Army really CAN take the fun out of things...no drunk-dialing. Hmmm. You can always assure your hubby that you have cyber cronies who keep you company (and actively participate) when you feel like getting your drink on. Love you!

Posted by: Guard Wife at September 12, 2008 03:43 AM (F5iCn)

6 Wow. Sounds like a fun night. Have a good weekend!

Posted by: T at September 12, 2008 04:45 AM (KV0YP)

7 S. You drunk snail mailed your husband a letter about T. Boone Pickens!! I love it, I bet T. Boones ears are still burning!!! Have a wonderful weekend.

Posted by: Pamela at September 12, 2008 08:48 AM (vsnFT)

8 holla! I always knew we were kindred spirits!

Posted by: Lane at September 12, 2008 07:42 PM (/Tmo8)

9 I've drunk emailed (after the NC SBL) but never drunk snail mailed. Interesting. Glad you can handle your wine though it doesn't surprise me.

Posted by: HomefrontSix at September 12, 2008 11:16 PM (4Es1w)

10 HAHAHA!!! Right there with you. I was at an Advanced Estate Planning Class in Newport, Rhode Island at the Naval Justice School. (Boy, did I join the wrong service!) I was designated driver most of the week, but Thursday they talked me into letting loose and walking to the Officers Club for lobster and wine, then walking back to my room. Yes, I did not eat lobster, but I drank a lot of wine. Woke up at 0400 completely dizzy after having a radical dream about drinking four quarts of orange juice. When I arrived at class - five minutes past the start time of 0730, how embarrassing - my compadre in crime whispered how dizzy she'd been when she got out of bed. "It must have been those cigars we smoked with the guys." Say what? I also ordered a pizza when I got back to the room - as you do - and I must have spoken intelligibly, because I got what I wanted. I have a horrible feeling the pizza guys totally mocked me afterwards. SLOOOWW talker.

Posted by: Oda Mae at September 13, 2008 07:11 AM (YE92c)

11 She plays Dr. Mario. We should totally hang out next time I'm in Carolina. Or, you know, visit Portland. It's pretty, if you can overlook all the anti-Bush stickers.

Posted by: Anwyn at September 13, 2008 07:41 PM (dzxw9)

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Yes yes yes yes yes.
Because it's today, or because of the wine, or because of Whittle...I am just embiggened by this article that I missed last week:
Proud of the GOP: For the first time, I feel like we deserve to win more than they deserve to lose.

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This story made me laugh and cry: Disney motto helped dad, autistic son survive at sea
No matter what gremlins I battle this week, I won't have to tread water for 14 hours and drift away from my child.
There are sure some people out there who endure the worst.

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My husband will be proud of his business-savvy wife! I called to get the windshield fixed and got an estimate of $394. The man said that windshield must've been made of solid gold; it's the most expensive one he's ever seen. I called a couple other places, and his was the best price. Then, on a hunch, I called our car insurance company and asked them if they'd cover it. They don't, but they found a place to do it for $318. So I called back the original place to cancel my appointment, and they said they wanted my business and would beat the other offer and do it for $300.

So, I saved a hundred bucks! Funny how I feel excited about spending $300 but saving $100.

One gremlin down...

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I thought I'd weigh in on Lipstickgate.

Obama said, "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig." He was referring to how McCain is now also running as the candidate for change. Many folks are upset that Obama seemingly called Palin a pig.

Let me say, I thought it was the funniest, most clever thing to ever come out of Obama's mouth.

I mean, come on: that's a great comeback. I personally don't think it has to be taken as sexist. Palin used lipstick to get a laugh line and a round of applause; Obama turned the tables back at her with a well-known idiom.

I honestly thought it was the funniest thing Obama's ever said. But I'm nutty like that. People really seem to be freaking out about this and saying that it will cost Obama support. Hey, whatever makes people not vote for him...

But you know what's way more offensive than what Obama said? What Juan Cole said: "What's the difference between Palin and Muslim fundamentalists? Lipstick." That article is just sick.

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Today was one of those days...

Over the weekend at SpouseBUZZ Live, Andi asked me if I've had any "deployment gremlins." I couldn't think of any. But I returned home to find that we may have a water leak somewhere on our property and we may have a case of identity fraud. Both are things I'd rather let my husband deal with -- or at least things we could stress out about together -- but he ain't home.

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Oh, snap.
Kim Jong-Il is gravely ill?
It may be time to buy cake ingredients...
Mmmm, schadenfreude cake. My favorite.

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1 Those are reasons to celebrate. I'll eat cake to that

Posted by: Sara at September 09, 2008 06:25 AM (SZeN8)

2 You crack me up. I'd have a piece of cake if we lived closer.

Posted by: Guard Wife at September 09, 2008 06:57 AM (F5iCn)

3 I hope we donÂ’t have to eat that cake for awhile. I want him to suffer an excruciatingly slow, painful death. Just like the North Korean political prisoners who have been horribly brutalized and the other citizens of that medieval country who died of starvation and the like. Eff you Kim Jong-Il, I hope you find yourself drooling and defecating on yourself while your brain slowly fades well into the ripe old age of 130. You miserable wretched bastard. Hopefully, the next guy will not be worse.

Posted by: tim at September 09, 2008 08:28 AM (nno0f)

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Today I pretty much guaranteed that I'm gonna get pregnant soon: I bought $66 worth of booze.

Saturday night after SpouseBUZZ Live, AWTM called me at midnight to check on me. She said she had been thinking about me all day after the panel at SBL and wanted to make sure I was OK. It was so thoughtful of her. But really, I was OK. In fact, I was puzzled at first about why she was checking on me.

I did speak about the miscarriages on our panel, and how frustrating it's been to try to squeeze pregnancy into deployment schedules. And also how depressing it is to miscarry your baby on your wedding anniversary while your husband is deployed. Heh...sigh.

But honestly, pregnancy has been pretty far from my mind lately. I stopped charting -- there was no point with my husband gone -- and I knew there was no chance of getting pregnant, so it became a non-issue for two months. Until I talked about it at SpouseBUZZ, I hadn't thought about it in a long time.

But today I had my first appointment with the fertility doctor. Remember how I said I'm getting back on the horse? Well, I'm hopping on a horse at full gallop. At the end of the month, I will be trying to get pregnant. Sadly, it will be alone in a doctor's office. For all my griping about babymaking, I kinda wish we could do it the old-fashioned way. But that's probably just the four months of deployment talking.

And squeezing it into deployment schedule? We will be lucky if we get pregnant right away, because otherwise there's not much hope for my husband being here for the birth. Funny how I could get pregnant without him and he will still come home and leave again during the pregnancy.

So much for planning out our life, right?

But we're back in the saddle. And I'm off the wagon until I'm not allowed to be anymore.

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1 $66 dollars worth of booze? for what and when? I was concerned...sharing your story, heck any story can be fatiguing.... And you had no one to lie down beside and say...hey it was a long day...it was... I just love you...

Posted by: awtm at September 08, 2008 05:49 PM (R8+ZR)

2 Oh, yes... there's truly nothing like other (incompatible with pregnancy) plans to make it work! What an amazingly strong woman you are. *Thoughts & prayers & happy success vibes your way!*

Posted by: kannie at September 08, 2008 07:53 PM (f+LJo)

3 I have 2 mental images going: the first is of you kicking back & relaxing with some kind of very expensive, fine liqour. the other is of you surounded by lots of bottles of cheap hooch! Good luck with the fertility doc, I have my fingers crossed for you!

Posted by: Sharona at September 09, 2008 02:54 AM (BeRta)

4 Well, crap. I should have brought all the booze that was left at my house when everyone visited a few months ago. Then you wouldn't have to buy it and I wouldn't have to move it! It would be win-win! Call me anytime if the hormones get to you and you need to let them out. Even in the middle of the night. I have insomnia anyway.

Posted by: airforcewife at September 09, 2008 03:00 AM (mIbWn)

5 By 'the end of the month', I certainly hope you mean after Vegas. AWTM and I have spoken and have already begun a list of how we will do "stays in Vegas" worth things at BWE. You are the 3rd Amigo, my friend...don't let us down. I'm glad you're okay. It WAS a long weekend.

Posted by: Guard Wife at September 09, 2008 03:41 AM (F5iCn)

6 I wasn't sure what image to have with the $66 of booze, but, honestly, it was along the same lines with Sharona. You know I'm on your side rooting all the way and sending every well-wish, good thought, prayer, and sprinkling of fairy dust I can. I know what you're thinking, "fairy dust?" You'd be surprised at how well it can work. (FYI: It works better than the "Monster-Be-Gone" spray for those unsightly beasts that hang out in the closet and under the bed. For future reference.) Be well and be safe...

Posted by: Susan at September 09, 2008 03:57 AM (4aKG6)

7 Enjoy your booze! And Vegas! Wish I could join you this year. Good luck with the end of the month attempt. We are rooting for you here. So as you are at the doctor, just pretend that in the background there are people chanting, "Go, Sarah! Go, Sarah!" Maybe that way you'll not be so alone in that doctor's office. But that's probably just the four months of deployment talking. You know I snickered. It was wonderful to see you this past Saturday. Big hugs!

Posted by: Butterfly Wife at September 09, 2008 04:04 AM (p8HAO)

8 I have been wondering what was going on on this front, but couldn't decide if i should ask. I'm glad that you are able to move forward with this. I'm the last person who should be trying to suggest that you look on the bright side of things, but if you are able to, consider this: hooray that your body is cooperative and you are able to take this next step. You obviously know now that sometimes you have to throw the plan out the window, and I've been alone in that cold doctor's office table, so think of me for even a moment while you are there. All I can do now is pray that you have the same outcome as I did. Let me know the day and time and I'll try to send my semi-fertile thoughts your way.

Posted by: Kate at September 09, 2008 04:09 AM (JIGe1)

9 Good luck!!! And hope that $66 includes some really nice Scotch. And yes, I have an awful, evil, and dirty mind, but . . . couldn't you have tacked on a $3 shooter? ;-)

Posted by: Lissa at September 09, 2008 05:23 AM (fHdl7)

10 Nothing like a glass of wine or a tequilla shot to heal a wound. No I'm not an alcoholic. Good luck with your journey through fertility drugs, and possibly getting pregnant even without him home. The end result is all that matters right?

Posted by: Sara at September 09, 2008 06:28 AM (SZeN8)

11 Ha, I love your sense of humor. When you think about it this will actually be a funny story for when junior gets here. Just let me know when you want that immaculate conception shirt.

Posted by: Mare at September 10, 2008 12:58 PM (APbbU)

12 $66 worth of booze? That's it?!? Sheesh, I'm almost disappointed in you. I'm kidding. My prayers are with you and everything that can be crossed is crossed. I'd sacrifice something for you but I'm not sure what would be appropriate in this instance...

Posted by: HomefrontSix at September 11, 2008 01:43 AM (4Es1w)

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The Unexamined Life:

Why is it reporters who were willing to pursue Bristol Palin, who isn't on the ballot, somehow think it is unseemly to ask Sen. Obama tough questions about his drug use? Oh, that was a long time ago, they'll argue. But a 1986 arrest for driving while impaired by Gov. Palin's husband -- not the candidate -- is somehow worthy of extensive front-page coverage?

The double standard is shocking -- but perhaps not to Sen. Obama. In his memoir, he gives the most telling explanation of how he has gotten away with avoiding discussions of his drug use. It was the same technique he used on his mother when she confronted him in his senior year of high school: "I had given her a reassuring smile and patted her hand and told her not to worry, I wouldn't do anything stupid. It was usually an effective tactic, another of those tricks I had learned: People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves."

I Hate You Sarah Palin:

But sheÂ’s not a Democrat, which despite her va-va-va-voom appearance, means sheÂ’s not really a woman, which is one of the reasons weÂ’ve spent the past four days since McCain unveiled her trying to tear her limb from limb. Just because sheÂ’s the governor of a state sandwiched between two obscure and unimportant countries, Canada and Russia, and spent more time in her first five minutes visiting American troops in Iraq than Evita Barry did during his entire Rainbow Tour, what could she possibly know about foreign policy? ItÂ’s not like sheÂ’s John Edwards or something.

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Bad news. My parents' little doggy has cancer.

Charlie and I are hoping for a full recovery.

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I'm just not ready for this conversation;
I do much better on a take-home test...
  -- Jude

SpouseBUZZ Live went well this weekend. As usual, I hate everything that comes out of my mouth. But I'm probably just overreacting.

Recaps:
Liveblog of Panel I
Liveblog of Panel II

I had fun, I stayed up way too late both nights, and there wasn't nearly enough time.

Oh, and there was a knitter clicking away in the crowd. I almost broke my neck leaping over chairs and bags to run to her.

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When John McCain gave his list of things we can do to personally make the country better -- "feed a hungry child, teach an illiterate adult to read, comfort the afflicted" -- I said, "Make chemo caps?"

Cuz that's what I was doing.

This morning I set out for SpouseBUZZ Live. I also get to stop along the way and spend some time with Sis B...and give Crush his knittery.

I live for meeting up with these friends.

Oh, and I'm wearing my new t-shirt, a gift from AWTM: I heart Nebraska.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:48 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 See you in 24 hours! Woohoo!

Posted by: Butterfly Wife at September 05, 2008 04:04 AM (wZg2p)

2 I'm sure Crush will love his knittery. I have mine in the car "in case I have down time while in VA" to work on it. Yeah, okay. Can't wait to meet you! I'll be the giddy one. Hee hee. Drive safe.

Posted by: Susan at September 05, 2008 05:07 AM (4aKG6)

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