The Contemporary Conservative: BREAKING...
This.
Dirty pool guys...
RWL: Oh, by the way, our Iraqi allies WON in Basra
Gee... why haven't we read this in the MSM?
Is It Time to Invade Burma?
TIME Magazine asks an interesting philosophical question, whether a nation has the unilateral right -- or obligation -- to offer coercive humanitarian aid: That's why it's time to consider a more serious option: invading Burma. Some observers, including former USAID director Andrew Natsios, have called on the U.S. to unilaterally begin air drops to the Burmese people regardless of what the junta says. The Bush Administration has so far rejected the idea — "I can't imagine us going in without the permission of the Myanmar government," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday — but it's not without precedent: as Natsios pointed out to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. has facilitated the delivery of humanitarian aid without the host government's consent in places like Bosnia and Sudan.
A coercive humanitarian intervention would be complicated and costly. During the 2004 tsunami, some 24 U.S. ships and 16,000 troops were deployed in countries across the region; the mission cost the U.S. $5 million a day. Ultimately, the U.S. pledged nearly $900 million to tsunami relief. (By contrast, it has offered just $3.25 million to Burma.) But the risks would be greater this time: the Burmese government's xenophobia and insecurity make them prone to view U.S. troops — or worse, foreign relief workers — as hostile forces. (Remember Black Hawk Down?) Even if the U.S. and its allies made clear that their actions were strictly for humanitarian purposes, it's unlikely the junta would believe them. "You have to think it through — do you want to secure an area of the country by military force? What kinds of potential security risks would that create?" says Egelend. "I can't imagine any humanitarian organization wanting to shoot their way in with food." Wasn't Iraq ultimately coercive humanitarianism (sans NBC weapons)? If the liberation of Iraq was indeed moral and just, and I would argue it was, why not the liberation of Burma?
Of course, there are a few reason to the contrary. Iraq was playing footsie with a 1991 cease-fire agreement, Iraq destabilized a large portion of the Middle East, Iraq was actively supporting terrorism, Saddam Hussein was a brutal tyrant guilty of murdering hundreds of thousands of people, Iraq refused to come clean on it's WMD program, etc.
Then there's the flip side of the coin: Coercive humanitarian aid involving unfriendly natives doesn't exactly create the best environment. If the goal is not regime change, then the source of the unrest will continue unchecked and unabated. Images of dropping tons of food from C130s on suspecting Kurds comes to mind... then there's the whole "no blood for (fill in the blank)" crowd.
The Iraq/Burma parallel is interesting to draw. Thankfully, it's done in an article that doesn't mention Iraq once... so I'm free to draw my own conclusions, rather than have them imposed.
The Challenge Dividend: Facebook Ads Don't Rock
We're still a long ways from making social media work. Beyond political campaigns, most online fundraising doesn't seem to work without a strong earned media component.
Hence the reasons why political types and people who jump in front of the train (petitions and such) seem to catch the wave. It's not just building the storefront either... Obama spent nearly $800,000 priming the pump with online banner ads while using both earned media and an aggressive e-mail strategy (76 e-mails in 28 days???) to committed activists, only to watch his e-mail subscribers drop off the map dramatically.
Obviously there's great potential online, but how do you reach those online donors without burning out your base? For smaller campaigns, this will continue to be a problem, whereas smaller organizations with brand names to protect will not be able to counter burnout with positive earned media.
Campaigns will have to find a way to take care of their e-mail subscribers by using information, inside baseball, and opportunities for activism. Organizations willing to use online fundraising may find out that in the end... campaigns or single initiatives will be the trick to riding the online fundraising wave.
Burnout seems to be the watchword. Moments of brilliance seem to be the key to the "money bomb"; more tactics than strategy.
Jim Riley Endorses Bob Marshall
Jim Riley breaks his open neutrality in the Virginia U.S. Senate race and has endorsed Bob Marshall for U.S. Senate: I know some Virtucon contributors support Marshall while others support Gilmore and yet others won’t support Marshall even if he is the nominee. I respect and understand everyone’s reasons. Do I agree with Bob 100 percent on things? No. But my compelling reason isn’t taxes or social issues. Rather, it is Marshall is simply a great candidate on transportation issues. He doesn’t advocate paving Maryland as I would, but he does support connecting I-95 through DC right up to College Park, something I have long advocated. Riley joins the other veterans of the Virginia rightosphere over at Bloggers 4 Marshall.
Is the Democratic Nomination Really Over?
Obama is posting a lead, but truth be told, if the DNC actually seats the Florida and Michigan delegates who voted for Hillary, there is only a 30 delegate difference between the two candidates: 1920 to Obama and 1890 to Hillary.
Since this is the case, with myDD is reporting 55 superdelegates as "uncommitted" and 518 delegates still left up for grabs, one small legal challenge could up-end the entire apple cart.
It would appear as if Hillary's path to victory is still very much alive, despite how the press and the Obama camp are spinning the current state of affairs. Worse news? Polls seems to indicated that McCain edges out Obama in a head to head contest, but Hillary edges McCain...
Wild!
Click here for the coolest picture you'll see all weekend.
...unless you see a McCain/Cantor '08 announcement.
I'm just sayin'.
Gun Owners of America Endorses Bob Marshall!
Big news!
...well, big for some folks. Read on! "It will take someone like [Marshall] to excite the Republican base, which he will do not just on the firearms issue," according to Macy. "At the moment, Republican voters are disillusioned because they do not see politicians taking their issues seriously." Amen to that.
RWL: Are Gilmore’s bloggers actually reading these bills?
Time to sign somebody up for remedial reading classes, as D.J. McGuire takes the Gilmore bloggers to school -- AGAIN.
Curiously, this is being done by a Gilmore camp convinced (or trying to convince others) it has the nomination wrapped up. You only go negative when you're losing folks...
TORNADO!
Just a bad thunderstorm at the moment... seems like it passed us over.
Loose Cow
Top of the driveway coming home this evening... a loose cow.
Great.
John McCain and William Wilberforce
John McCain's frontpage gives us a quote from none other than William Wilberforce: "When we think of eternity, and of the future consequences of all human conduct, what is there in this life that should make any man contradict the dictates of his conscience, the principles of justice, the laws of religion, and of God?" -- William Wilberforce Awesome. And just in time to stand up for rock-solid conservative judges (you can sign the petition here).
Frankly, the speech McCain gave on human liberty reads to be one heck of a speech. Some excerpts: Last year the world celebrated the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the British and American slave trade in 1807. Nearly fifty-six years would pass before Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, signaling the end of slavery in the United States. But the achievement of both countries in terminating the international slave trade and setting into motion the titanic and bloody struggle to close a shameful chapter in the history of our country should be remembered as a turning point in mankind's long and fitful progress toward a more just world. William Wilberforce had struggled for years in the British parliament to strike the lethal blow against the abominable institution that had scarred Western civilization for centuries. He was a humble Christian man, powerfully motivated by his faith, whose example instructs every person born in freedom that we have a moral obligation not to turn a blind eye to assaults on the collective dignity of humanity wherever they occur.
...
Confronting evil has never been easy – in our age or any other. But the failure to do so affects even those who are complacent with our own blessings and secure in our human rights.
...
We can retain our own freedom when others are robbed of theirs, but not the sense of virtue that made our revolution a moral as well as political crusade, and which recognizes that personal happiness is so much more than pleasure, and requires us to serve causes greater than self-interest.
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There is another form of human oppression that persists in the world today that demands our urgent attention and should sting the conscience of every good person. Inexcusably, it is a crime that, while prevalent elsewhere, exists within our own borders as well. Human trafficking – slavery, by another name – exists not just in places like Thailand, Kuwait and Venezuela. It is a serious problem here in the United States.... As President, I'll increase cooperation and communication between all agencies of the federal government by establishing an Inter-Agency Task Force on Human Trafficking, whose purpose will be to focus exclusively on the prosecution of human traffickers and the rescue of their victims.
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We must also do more to ensure governments that tolerate human trafficking crack down on this modern form of slavery. We can support efforts to change the economic incentives and do more to aid the victims. But we must view this evil form of twenty-first century slavery every bit as important as drug trafficking. All too often the same criminal networks that trade in fourteen-year-old girls also trade in narcotics--and even in materials that can be used by terrorists. Identifying and destroying criminal networks that evade national boundaries is also a matter of our national security.
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Our nation, whose founders sacrificed for the belief that we would be an example to the world, has long appreciated that our freedom confers responsibilities on us all, and among them, is our respect for the freedom of others. Ours is not a perfect history. But it is a history distinguished by our pursuit of this ideal.
...
Ours is a nation with a conscience, and thank God we are. As William Wilberforce said so many years ago, "When we think of eternity, and of the future consequences of all human conduct, what is there in this life that should make any man contradict the dictates of his conscience, the principles of justice, the laws of religion, and of God?" What a great speech. Whomever McCain's speechwriter is deserves a gold star (or at the very least, a raise).
RWL: The Warnerese-to-English Translator!
This is blogging gold: In our third year, we traveled the Commonwealth, holding an honest discussion with Virginians about what they expected from state government. In the end, Republicans and Democrats came together and we fixed the budget mess.
In our third year, when Chichester and Potts asked for the moon; I fell down on my knees and thanked God for my good fortune. I went around the state promising I’d only raise taxes half as much as those clowns, and the rest is history.
We brought more fairness to our tax system.
We told those fools in Northern Virginia that if they paid even more through the nose, that we would use the money to fix roads - and they fell for it.
We saved our Triple-A bond rating.
Wall Street told me to cut spending or raise taxes. See above. Beautiful. I sure do hope we can see more installments in upcoming Mark Warner speeches... because this clears up everything.
Roanoke Red Zone: Gilmore Frederick Cold Calls?
Typically when you ask a telemarketer on whose behalf they are calling, they let you know.
Unless of course, you don't want them to know:
The first oddity came when she asked if I needed a ride and a place to stay. I said no but I was really intriqued with who would be willing to pay for my gas and put me up at their house. Huh, I was dying to find out who was doing this so as she was wrapping up the call I asked. No answer. I asked again. Again no answer. She had disconnected or hung up. I have no way of knowing if she heard me ask her to state who was paying for the call. The call clearly was in violation of state election law.
I was guessing that the Gilmore campaign was sponsoring the calls since he has more money that others up for election at the convention. However I don't know for sure of course. If you talk to someone in the campaign you could mention they need to fix their "survey". Guess that convention for Gilmore isn't so neatly wrapped up as some might think, eh?
UPDATE: Team Gilmore says it's not their script... it's not Marshall's script, and it's not John Hager's script. Which leaves one candidate for office at the State Convention left...
Finally.
I'll say this once, and then I'll never repeat it.
I agree with Barack Obama on virtually nothing. I have strong disagreements with John McCain on social issues. But for the first time in a long time, I can truly say that whomever wins will be a president with whom I may disagree with on policy, but I could truly say I'd be proud to be represented by them. Finally, two thinking individuals running for president... when is the last time we had this in America?
Having said that, Obama is a socialist hippie commie pinko. (whew, I feel better)
Let the 2008 elections begin!
Jerry Lisenby's "Age is Only a Number Biggest Loser" Bike Tour!
Kents Store sits along Route 76 -- the Trans-America Trail -- a bike trail that starts in Yorktown and ends in Astoria, Oregon.
Every once in awhile, we'll get bikers coming down the road heading towards Monticello who will stop at the store and visit, swap stories, and of course buy something to eat before heading down the road or camping out for the night.
Monday, our visitor was Jerry Lisenby, a gentleman some might recall from the TV show "The Biggest Loser". The Lisenby's needed to stay overnight, so we let them camp out in the yard and fed them breakfast before they went on their way. Heard some great stories about their time in the Peace Corps, Paraguay, and some other great experiences.
Along the way, Jerry and Lynne are promoting the Children's Home of Illinois, a charity back in their hometown of Peoria. Feel free to check out the website -- he tracks everywhere he's been with small notes about where he was -- blog and everything. Great site!
Kottke: Yahoo stock plunges?
On Jan 31, the day before Microsoft offered $31/share for Yahoo, YHOO was at $19.18/share (market cap: $26.4 billion) and MSFT was at $32.60/share (market cap: $303.6 billion). At the close of trading today, YHOO closed at $24.37/share (market cap: $33.5 billion) and MSFT was at $29.08/share (market cap: $270.8 billion). In other words, the Microsoft offer increased the value of Yahoo! Inc. by more than $7 billion and decreased the value of Microsoft Corporation by almost $33 billion. In still other words, in attempting to take Yahoo by force, they let an amount equal to Yahoo slip through their fingers. Why isn't anyone writing about Yahoo's amazing stock gains and Microsoft's plunge?" Good point.
Spike and Aurora
About a month ago, Radar (the family outside cat we adopted) looked a bit pregnant. Sure enough, Radar disappeared for a week, and came back less pregnant.
For about three weeks I've been picking on the cat. "Hey Radar, where's your babies?!?!" to the incessant mewing of a hungry cat.
This afternoon, we found one very black kitten in the garage, whom I pulled out of some junk and set her in a small box (where we placed Bucky last year). Sure enough, this evening I go to turn out lights and there is another kitten... a grey-and-white striped kitten who is mean as hell.
Caroline got to choose names. For the black kitten, she originally chose Aurora (we've been watching Sleeping Beauty), but since that doesn't fit both boy-and-girl names they settled on Spike.
Now we're going back. Aurora is the black kitten (she's nice) and Spike is going to be the striped kitten. Because Spike is mean as hell.
At this rate, I was hoping that Radar's track record of one kitten a year would continue. Now that the theory is disproven, we're going to have to spay and neuter these guys. On a lighter note, it looks as if my mouse/mole/vole problem will be fixed in the coming year. I'll take the trade.
The New Niagara Movement
African-American bloggers are going around traditional outlets such as the NAACP and forming their own conferences and such.
The result?
Civil Rights 2.0, as reported by the WaPo:Others have another name for the new efforts by black bloggers: Civil Rights 2.0. Blogger L.N. Rock said that if abolitionist Frederick Douglass, former congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., civil rights organizer Bayard Rustin and "people like that were around today, they would have blogs."
"The NAACP's youth-outreach efforts are dysfunctional," Rock said. "We would have been glad to work with them had they asked. If you're talking about the talented tenth, we are the new talented tenth," a reference to a concept by Du Bois of a group of exceptional black men.
"The skill sets of the bloggers is no joke," Rock said. "These guys have doctorates. They're not being used."
But overtaking traditional civil rights groups, which have built their reputations over time, will take more than words, computer savvy and bravado. The NAACP alone has more than 300,000 members who pay dues and an additional 325,000 who have signed up online, the group's spokesman said. ColorOfChange.org has about 400,000 online members, Jones said. Interesting...
SWAC Girl: Conservatives gaining ground in GOP ...
Updates from this weekend's GOP events show conservatives picking up or coming very close in several RPV positions.
Congratulations goes out to Marie Quinn, Kurt Michael (confirmed at Augusta GOP Chairman), Fred Anderson, and newly-minted 2nd District Chairman Gary Byler. Many of these victories on the right were above the endorsements of elected officials.
Here's the catch: Progressives are still being judged about their methods (for an example: Jim Webb in 2006) as they took over the Democratic Party from the liberal establishment. As conservatives re-establish their party (not take back -- because there's very little to reclaim), the manner of which we accomplish this will be just as important as the deed itself.
Beyond that, congratulations all!
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tim boyer 
