A bad trend?

I think not.

Expect follow-ups.

You may exhale. I’m back.

No deer for me. Didn’t even see any this weekend. And, yes, I did look up.

While I didn’t bag one, my sixteen-year-old son did. His first. So the family does get to eat this year. Jerky, mostly. Kid loves his venison jerky. Plus, there’s one more four-day hunt in December, so I haven’t been totally shut out yet.

So. Did anything happen while I was gone? Heh. Like anything could happen while I’m not around.

Gone Huntin’. Yes, again.

See you Monday.

Didn’t that used to be, like, twenty cents?

Alternate title: I sure am glad Japan isn’t an oil-producing nation.

Dollar could fall to 80 Yen

Not being an economist, my understanding of what that means is somewhat limited. As the dollar loses value, foreign goods become more expensive for us, but our goods become less expensive for them. Travel to the U.S. becomes cheaper, but U.S. travel to other countries becomes more expensive.

Right?

So that’s not all bad, really. Seems to me the rest of the world should be a little concerned about the dollar right now – not just us.

Of course, if foreign goods are relatively more expensive, domestic goods will be, too, unless every stage of manufacture occurs entirely in this country. Even then, domestic goods will remain steady in price relative to foreign goods, and since foreign goods are more expensive, we’re still less wealthy overall.

Which is bad.

How am I doing? Am I babbling incoherently about something I clearly don’t understand?

There’s also the whole national pride thing. The American dollar being the envy of the entire world, and all that. And I’m sure there’s some larger geopolitical reasons that a weaker dollar is worse for us, better for others: China; India; the Democratic Party.

Hey, that’s a cheap shot. Heh. Yeah.

I’m starting a list of people who are judged by more lenient standards than Navy SEALs who stand against the most dangerous people in the world.

I’ve got two so far:

• SEIU members attacking a black guy for being pro-Tea Party

• Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan

Got those via Insty.

Note: I’m not taking a position on the whole Navy SEAL story. Naturally, I’m inclined to support the SEALs, but I’m also trying to cut down on the whole “forming an unshakable opinion without having all – or even very many – of the facts” thing. That they asked for a court martial instead of accepting Article 15 punishment is a good sign, I think.

Everybody enjoy Thanksgiving?

Hope so. We got to see a lot of family, watch a little football (had to settle for listening to the Packers in the Trogmobile, because the aforementioned “family” was partly in Racine, partly north of the Dells), eat, drink, and walk through the in-laws’ woods looking for a Christmas tree, which we found but didn’t cut, because one of the kids has a birthday in December and we don’t put up the tree until after that.

Today being Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, I’ll be going out to do a little shopping in a little while. Might buy something, might not. I just like to walk around smelling the rampant capitalism.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A lot of:

A little of:

Or something like it. Add a few hours of:

And plenty more:

Another year of doing my best to appreciate God’s blessings. Coming right up.

Another Hollywood starlet bucking Hollywood’s traditions?

First, it was Olivia Newton-John, noticing how government-run health care is just as much about the money as privately-run health care, but without those pesky customer satisfaction requirements.

Now, it’s Angelina Jolie, reportedly – I repeat: reportedly - off the liberal Kool-aid:

Barack Obama does not have Angelina Jolie’s seal of approval.

“She hates him,” a source close to the U.N. goodwill ambassador, 34, tells the new issue of Us Weekly (on newsstands now).

“She’s into education and rehabilitation and thinks Obama is all about welfare and handouts. She thinks Obama is really a socialist in disguise,” adds the source.

But don’t expect to see the Salt actress rally against Democrats on Fox News like her staunch Republican father, Jon Voight.

I did not know Voight was her father.

“Angie isn’t Republican, but she thinks Obama is all smoke and mirrors,” the source says.

And those political views are putting her at odds with Brad Pitt, 45, who is a big fan of the president and even went solo to the 2008 election party in Chicago.

“They get in nasty arguments all the time about it,” says the source. “She doesn’t respect Brad when it comes to politics, but, in the end, this won’t tear them apart.”

The obvious problem with this story is: who’s the source? How does the source know? Would Jolie confirm these things publicly, if asked?

The obvious problem with the way I’m handling the story is: this is hardly unprecedented for Jolie. As Big Hollywood points out, she penned a pro-intervention-in-Iraq column in the Washington Post not long ago, and has long been rumored to want the role of Dagny Taggart in a movie adaptation of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.”

Could it be that the Obamas just didn’t want to let “those people” into their house?

Via Pundette, some details about that “tent” in which the Obamas hosted their first big state dinner, in honor of India’s prime minister:

The “tent” is more of a bullet-proof pavilion, though the White House is referring to it as a “tent.” It has glassed-in windows, lights, a sound system, heaters, and hard floor…as well as two satellite structures on each side.

Yeah, that’s not a “tent.” Tents are things held up with poles. They sway in the wind. They leak. They have grass floors.

Not this one. A wooden floor, several feet off the ground.

Pundette wants to know how much it cost to build (and, I would think, to take back down). She writes:

I understand that state dinners are de rigueur and pomp and circumstance have their place. But if the Obamas had stuck with the usual 130 guests they wouldn’t have had to build a new house in the back yard. The White House is already well-equipped to host state dinners. But the Obamas don’t think small. Their talk about sacrificing and belt-tightening is for thee.

Yeah, look, the President has to have his pomp and circumstance. The flourishes go with the job. They’re important, perception-wise.

But they didn’t have to go all unprecedented on it, either.

And one more thing - this is absolutely precious:

The special dinner menu — a lavish mélange of Indian and American favorites as well as several excellent wines — was rife with typos.

Hey! Who the hell let the State Department in here?

Why did Phil Carter leave the Pentagon?

Phil Carter, the “deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee policy.” Sort of a junior Gitmo Czar, if you want to put it that way. He was a bigtime critic of President Bush’s policies vis a vis GWOT prisoners, went to work for the Obama administration, and now…

…now he’s resigned. Why? The world nation people blogosphere wants to know!

Was it, as he told everyone, so he could spend more time with his family?

Or was he actually forced out by an Administration fearful of any possible link to…

…Jimmy Carter?

Note: I have no real idea who Phil Carter is. Before seeing this story on Memeorandum, I’d never heard of him. I didn’t know there was any such thing as a “deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee policy, handling porcupine-thorny issues like Guantanamo,” nor would I ever have guessed it. I would never, ever have known the name of any person filling any such post, and would not normally care.

But, this is the blogosphere. I am a blogger. Thus, I am forced – forced - to enter the speculatory fray.

In his defense, there is an awful lot of unprecedented-ness with this administration

Politico: The White House’s unprecedented use of ‘unprecedented’

The Obama White House is addicted to the “unprecedented.”

Perhaps it was a sign when President Barack Obama sat down in January to record his first weekly address and announced: “We begin this year and this administration in the midst of an unprecedented crisis that calls for unprecedented action.”

What has followed is declaration after declaration of “unprecedented” milestones.

Well, the case can be made. Unprecendented amounts of debt; unprecedented expansion of government; unprecedented swinging of the political pendulum from Democrats to Republicans with unprecedented speed…

Unprecedented. Word’s lost all meaning now.

Via Memeorandum.

Weblog Award Update:

Okay, so nominations have been closed. Several people nominated The Trog for Best Hidden Gem (because I’m a priceless jewel, see, and I live underground so I’m hidden), and now we just have to wait and see. The website says they’ll announce the nominees after Christmas.

And that was totally unexpected, you know. I had no idea I was going to be nominated, so, you know, it’s really humbling. And stuff.

You can still go over there and click the little green circle, if you want. Just to be supportive.

But wait! Some nominations have not yet been closed! The categories of Best Midsize Blog (Authority between 201 and 300) and Best Up And Coming Blog (Authority between 51 and 100), among others, are still open. Best Midsize Blog only has four nominations so far, in fact. So they want more. Know anybody that meets those criteria?

And don’t worry your pretty little heads over knowing about it once the nominees are chosen. I’ll let you know. Especially if I’m one of them.

Debtosaurus Rex

Tyrannosaurus Debt:

I love where he says how the deficit is…gasp! Over five trillion dollars!

Such quaint, innocent times those were.

This appears to be an actual Schoolhouse Rock. Debuted in 1996. Got it via my old friend Tony, who posted it on Facebook.

Say, what’s Nancy Pelosi’s email?

And, by God, we’ll tax you people more and more until we get it!

Pelosi: ‘We’ll Never Have Deficit Reduction Unless We Have Job Creation’

The deficit debate in Washington misses the fundamental point, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday, arguing that the primary objective for policy makers should be job creation — without which, the deficit will explode as tax revenues collapse.

The deficit will explode. Good Lord. The deficit is already $12 trillion. Is it Madame Speaker’s contention that the deficit hasn’t exploded yet?

Pay close attention to this next part, because there is so much about it that is just: yes, exactly:

“What I’ve told the members is that we have a lot of good ideas [regarding job creation]. We have to prioritize them, get them out there and figure out how we will eventually pay for them, but not be bogged down in the next couple years by that,” Pelosi said on a conference call with a handful of economic reporters and economists who blog.

And. So. What are some of those “good ideas,” precisely? Glad you asked:

Pelosi said that the House is considering a variety of plans, including extending unemployment insurance…

So that’s…what? Supply side economics?

…subsidized health benefits (COBRA)…

…creating more jobs in the bureaucracy…

…assistance to state and local governments…

…more government jobs?

…improving small businesses’ access to credit…

That’s at least in the ballpark, but the question is: how? And why does the government have to do that?

…investing in green buildings…

…thus stimulating the green paint industry…

…and “targeted public service jobs.”

That’s basically a direct government subsidy in exchange for creating a temporary job.

Oh, and:

Democrats are also considering a transaction tax on short-term trades on Wall Street, a measure being pushed by House Majority Whip James Clyburn.

Taxes!

Are you as torn as I am about all this? On the one hand, Speaker Pelosi seems determined to hand the 2010 elections straight over to the Republican Party. On the other hand, she and a handful of other fellow-travelers are actually in charge until 2011, and maybe longer.

Back on the first hand, she sure makes it easy to be a conservative blogger. Her worldview clearly states: nothing positive can happen unless the government makes it happen.

Of course, that also goes to the other hand. It’s easy to be the opposition with people like her in charge, but people like her have to be in charge in order for us to be the opposition.

Where’s my brandy?

Via Memeorandum.

Obama to announce 34,000 more troops for Afghanistan

The story:

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama met Monday evening with his national security team to finalize a plan to dispatch some 34,000 additional U.S. troops over the next year to what he’s called “a war of necessity” in Afghanistan, U.S. officials told McClatchy.

I don’t have much to say about this: I won’t try to parse the strategy or the necessity, since I’m not in a position to really know. But. Since I wrote about this rumor yesterday:

An Afghan source in Kabul reports that U.S. Ambassador in Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry is holding secret talks with Taliban elements headed by the movement’s foreign minister, Ahmad Mutawakil, at a secret location in Kabul. According to the source, the U.S. has offered the Taliban control of the Kandahar, Helmand, Oruzgan, Kunar and Nuristan provinces in return for a halt to the Taliban missile attacks on U.S. bases.

Since I wrote about that, I figured I should say something about this. At the very least, it implies a commitment to victory; a commitment that the U.S. can’t be chased away from a fight. In the long run, that’s a much better message to show the world than any touchy-feely multi-cultural “we’re all in this together” liberalspeak.

God bless the troops and their families, and kudos to Obama. See it through, Mr. President.

Via Memeorandum.

She may never find work in Hollywood again.

Not after this: Cancer-surviving actress slams federal government as being more concerned about money than American women

In the wake of the new federal recommendations that only women aged 50-74 need routine mammograms and that self examination shouldn’t be taught, breast cancer survivor Olivia Newton-John has spoken out that such advice is an absolute “mistake.”

…The “Grease” beauty said she also can’t help but feel the government is sacrificing a woman’s health for financial reasons.

I know the mammogram story’s a little old, but come on! A Hollywood star – okay, so maybe she hasn’t been a legitimate Hollywood star for a while now, but still: noticing how government health care is more about the money than about the care?

Are pigs falling from the sky? Of course not! They can fly!

Of course, the story refers to Newton-John as a “starlet.” She’s 61, so obviously that throws the whole story’s accuracy into question.

FavreWatch, Week 11

Viqueens QB Brett Favre moved closer to yet another NFL record on Sunday, getting sacked twice to bring his career total to 490. John Elway is the current record holder, having been sacked a grand total of 516 times. Dave Kreig, a native of Iola, Wisconsin (population 1,243), is currently in second place with 494.

Favre’s in third.

With six games remaining, Favre needs fewer than one sack per game to move into second place; 4.5 per game to take over the all-time NFL record. So come on, offensive line! Help him out!

Favre also extended his existing records in attempts, completions, passing yards, touchdowns (suck it, Manning!) and starts. But that’s it. Ho hum.

Yeah, I’m a little concerned about this, too

Afghan Source: The U.S. Has Offered the Taliban Control in Return for Quiet

An Afghan source in Kabul reports that U.S. Ambassador in Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry is holding secret talks with Taliban elements headed by the movement’s foreign minister, Ahmad Mutawakil, at a secret location in Kabul. According to the source, the U.S. has offered the Taliban control of the Kandahar, Helmand, Oruzgan, Kunar and Nuristan provinces in return for a halt to the Taliban missile attacks on U.S. bases.

It’s important to notice that this is a pretty thin report. We have no idea whence it came; nor who the sources are, what their motivations are, etc. This may turn out to be entirely false, and I sure hope it does.

If not, though…looks like those noodly Americans done gave in again. Just like in Somalia, right? Hold out long enough, and they’ll buckle. Because they’re weak.

The Anchoress has more. And Chris Wysocki never thought he’d see the day.

Here’s one difference between Fox News and other mainstream news outlets:

Fox News gives a damn about getting things right:

In an email obtained by FishbowlDC, FNC management alerted the Newsroom that they were going to a “zero base” newscast production, defined in the memo…

“That means we will start by going to air with only the most essential, basic, and manageable elements. To share a key quote from today’s meeting: “It is more important to get it right, than it is to get it on.” We may then build up again slowly as deadlines and workloads allow so that we can be sure we can quality check everything before it makes air, and we never having to explain, retract, qualify or apologize again.”

Read the full memo at the link. Think Progress has a rundown of some recent screw-ups at Fox News. Fed up, management is buckling down. Quit screwing up, people, or be held accountable.

Somebody remind me again how NBC handled the fake National Guard memo thing?

Via Memeorandum

I’m with this guy

Headline: Schumer says failure not an option on health care

WASHINGTON – Failure is not an option on health care, a leading Democratic senator said Monday…

Boy, I could not agree more. Failure isn’t an option.

Of cousre, when Sen. Schumer (D-NY) says it, he means failure to install a government takeover of health care, complete with bureaucratic committees setting prices and payment schedules and making decisions about who gets what care and under what circumstances and massive new taxes and fees to pay for it all.

When I say it, I mean failure to stop that.

Unfortunately, somebody’s going to leave this party mad.