PALIN, GUSTAV, ETC.

Just a few odd thoughts.

PALIN:
Sarah Palin is an interesting choice for VP. It may prove a masterful one or it may prove to be a gaff of historical proportions. We don't know enough at this point to devine how this is likely to go. I have seen scurrilous accusations coming from the left and my guess is that if Palin can avoid the curse of Dan Quayle, such attacks will backfire badly on the Obama campaign no matter who on the left makes them.

The timing of this is most impressive. McCain made a show of deference to Obama by not naming a running mate while the Democratic convention was on. Then, with the deftness of a fencing master he thrust the Palin announcement before the media as a complete surprise before the images and message of the Democratic convention were fully assimilated in the public mind.

Before the media has a chance to critically examine Palin, she and McCain are off to the Gulf States to bravely face off against against an approaching hurricane. McCain is also putting on the face of self sacrificing hero in all but canceling the GOP convention while focusing on Republican giving to the soon to be victims. The upside of this arrangement is that the RNC plans to have a convention pared down to a sort of large board meeting. And given the mess that will descend on the gulf states Bush will be too busy to attend....every one's relief. With even the weather cooperating the GOP is having a very good week.

DUKW:
Speaking of Hurricanes, what ever happened to DUKW's. There was a time when the United States Military was richly equipped with amphibious vehicles called DUKW's. A few are till around in private hands. They were a masterpiece of American inventiveness. In fact, they were just standard two and a half ton trucks with specialized bodies that allowed them to float and manoeuvre in the sea while functioning as ordinary trucks on land. These vehicles were so useful that the Soviet Union copied, and then created a whole family of clones in various sizes. Of course the modern press has no historical memory or interest in anything so butch as military equipment. So when Katrina struck a few years ago no one asked why the Louisiana National Guard was less rather than more able to operate in a flood environment. It's a bit of a scandal really. If the President had military advisers who were focused on anything beyond the Middle East, they would have responded to this need after Katrina.

HIV:
The mainstream media barely mentioned this but the President signed legislation recently that drops the old health screening requirement on immigrants. That means that the US Government is officially in the business of allowing HIV infected individuals to move in among us. So the government of the day not only insists on supporting immigration levels that replace the American population with an alien one, but they no longer care if these newcomers kill us with deadly and gruesome diseases. This is gross criminal negligence perpetrated by the Federal Government against its own citizens. And no one notices or cares.