Do you want a real maverick? Sarah Palin. This has either long been her nature or she took the maverick idea to heart. Let’s face it she’s outside the norm. A wildcard who should have not only the Democrats but the GOP rather worried as well.

She’ll shoot her a deer for breakfast. Emerged as an inexperienced nobody who is thrust on centre stage and manages to survive. Perhaps not quite so lucky as Obama though. She’s physically attractive which is as rare as hen’s teeth in politicians. A foreign expert on Russia! She quit her job dumping her responsibilities which would conventionally be political suicide. She will go and actually talk to the voters she wants to represent at townhalls, stadiums or indeed in any way she can. That’s lead to her hosting her own TV show on ‘Real American Stories’.

For good or for ill Sarah Palin is a real maverick.

The wealthy can afford exceptional quality care.

The poor get nothing. However I’m told they can get emergency care and thus probably clog up emergency with non critical cases. Most of these would not be treated past emergency level and so back they would come later on.

Quite some time ago I advocated for our society (and the US) to underpin opportunity moreso than equality (because we are not truly equal). Part of that is a fair but not overgenerous healthcare system, especially for the young who should have the capability to make and build a life for themselves.

The bulk of people who work and their families rely on employer paid health insurance schemes which appear to have rather irregular qualities. These insurance companies provide a capitalist-socialist system which dominates US healthcare. They are actually less efficient than most Governments and exclude any high risk people from cover. This means the people who need healthcare the most get it the least.

I also know many people here find US healthcare one of the worst aspects of touring there. Foreigners don’t comprehend the complex system, are exploited when sick and often cannot get proper care even with insurance. America is a very dangerous place to get sick.

US healthcare is also suffering from the same healthcare issues that the rest of the West is experiencing. Part of this is the aging population which need more care and part of it is the rapidly rising cost of care, especially of the more advanced kind. This other aspect includes the huge profiteering possible by healthcare providers at every level from insurance to hospitals to clinics to prosthetic manufacturers to medical packaging to waste disposal because of the near limitless demand. Capitalism has always been weak where supply or demand are inflexible.

The US can be a very proud country but I see little to be proud of in healthcare. Many US citizens get no healthcare. Citizens who do get care pay far too much. For longer term illness the road can lead to financial ruin. The statistics of health in the US are below par for Western nations.

Obama wants to hopefully change the healthcare system. However resistance to the idea is very high in the US because Obama’s solution is seen as a socialist response by conservatives, and really it is.

It’s very easy to say socialism is bad and the poor should pay for their own healthcare, when you are well covered. The argument about whether healthcare is a right or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is the willingness of US citizens to help each other. Conservatives seem to be selfish in this area but that’s hardly surprising given the cost of healthcare and current spending patterns in Government. Let’s face it, spending has been far too high. What the GOP has failed to do is come up with a realistic solution themselves. Both now and during their terms of power. Obama came up with his plans but really these sorts of changes are more suited for better economic situations like when the GOP was in power. The timing is poor and his efforts should rather obviously tie more into economic and job recovery than side issues like healthcare. So the struggle to get some healthcare reform passed into law is on. And on and on it has gone.

But what are we seeing in this political dance past the haze of voting battles?

Obama is failing to lead. He’s stooped so far as to deem passage of law due to his ineptitude. He has poured enormous effort, time, power and wealth into this one venture and has achieved precisely zip. This goes past healthcare too. Apart from spending money what has the man done?  He lacks inspiration, he lacks hope, there is no change and he even lacks an iron will should it have been necessary to ram his ideas down throats. We’re also seeing the now ancient story of an incompetent, self interested Congress. I only add this second part because I’ve long felt it’s been much more important for Americans to repair their Congress than pick the best President.

I really feel that Obama’s political ambitions will be dashed upon the rocks of healthcare resistance.

My impressions on this post and the one above come across the waves. That being from Australia. In some ways I’ll be more astute as a hands off observer. In other ways I lack inside information and will be off base.

So is this Tea Party Movement a ‘Grassroots’ one?

Does it really matter what you label it as? Grassroots or Astroturf, it exists and takes action, and that’s what really matters. I think given FOXnews and various funding means it is not grassroots in origination and indeed the rapid growth suggests professional coordination. However, it has moved past that into such a large group and is essentially grassroots in it’s current operation. It simply isn’t fully under the control of central directorship. That is backed up by the cohesion and unity issues of the groups.

It doesn’t take a genius to understand the group grew out of anti-government sentiment of which the stimulus package contributes quite a bit. If regular people didn’t resonate with the ideas of the Tea Party Movement it’d just have been yet another protest group of no real importance.

There’s plenty to resonate with too, especially the rather high levels of debt and the failure to slow it down.

So the Tea Party Movement grew into a rather powerful lobby. Some have commented that they are dangerous. Indeed it is, but that is the whole point, so that changes might be initiated. In many ways it represents insurgency in US society and their anger at the way things stand. As such it also represents a degree of instability.

Though the Tea Party is powerful it also has its risks. Some in the Movement consider the Dems and MSM a risk but that’s mostly paranoia based on nominally being opponents;

1) GOP gets too much a hold of the group which will polarise it, kill its broad appeal and its independence. There’s already some element of this and that’s to be expected from the conservative impetus. The Movement doesn’t really acknowledge the huge deficits run up by GOP President George W. Bush, for example. But at this time it’s not enough to weaken the group, the control level would need to be much higher.

2) The group looses cohesion on side issues besides the central small government , anti-tax, debt responsibility issues. It would be very easy to get sidetracked on non core conservative issues outside these. I suspect this will be a running problem for them.

3) The hidden trap. When one joins the idea of protesting the compulsion to externalise blame is extreme which leads to weakened self responsibility and blaming the “government” for things they do not really hold the cards on. Many protests groups end up like this.

4) The group can’t find a way to coordinate their activities to bring about desired results. I guess this is a leadership issue.

The Future

As long as the Democrats remain in power the Tea Party Movement’s conservative ideals will give it strength but it will indeed be a test to see the group survive the return of the GOP to power. Of course there’s always non federal politics to fuel the fire and as long as government is wasteful the Movement could continue to draw strength. Which could be a very long time huh?

I think the Movement will die down in time and may never return to the numbers they originally had protesting but probably hang on for many years. In the immediate future though, they are likely to burn brightly. If the debt issues really do blow up on government expect this movement to go into Supernova.

H/t Bloodspite for the link

H/t Patriot Room for the image

A great deal has been made of Sarah Palin as presidential candidate in 2012 even before the end of the 2008 election.  Many in the conservative world adore Sarah Palin and were naturally disappointed that she didn’t make it into government during that last US federal election. There is no question Sarah was the shot in the arm the McCain campaign needed at the time. Unfortunately for them it was only going to fire up those who were already supportive.

Now, despite her rather transparent claim not to be, she is beginning the very long haul in preparation for the 2012 election. Part of this means gaining visibility which she already has an enormous advantage in compared to other potential candidates. Only recently she had an interview with Oprah Winfrey. On the surface this was about her new book ‘Going Rogue’.

The other thing Palin needs is money. The sad truth is millions wins elections, anyone without the money has no chance at all. Palin will get money, no doubt has some of her own, but I am not certain there will be enough. If she can successfully squeeze her fanbase, perhaps the same way Obama did, I think it’s quite possible.

So really so far it looks like she’s in with a chance. But I don’t think so.

The first problem is credibility and reputation.

The book itself makes me wonder. 413 pages apparently and released so quickly. I find it difficult to believe she wrote it. There’s a rumour it was ghostwritten by Lynn Vincent. Any dirt in her book is likely to be ‘discovered’ at an awkward time for Palin. I think there will be an avalanche of it.

Sarah’s original gaffes still bite but I think she will be able to make it up as long as she really isn’t that out of touch. Time will tell that based on how many and what sort of extra gaffes come about.

One of the key mistakes was quitting her job in Alaska. It shows her as an opportunistic quitter and I believe many Americans don’t like that kind of attitude on both sides of politics. I think we’ll see that message from her opponents early and often.

Her family may bite her over time. In some ways her large and indeed very real family is an asset to her. It connects her to the many families out there. But in the end it will probably prove more a burden. The thing is women as seen far more as family central and Americans have rather perfectionist views on family. Palin cannot possibly deliver the Brady Bunch.  She has to deal with “porn” Levi who is of course reacting to the excessive exposure caused by Palin’s decision to run in 2008. There’s other possibilities but time will tell.

One other thing Palin at least knows she must do and is working on it. This is reach the moderate and liberal audience. At the moment the only people who hear her message properly are her fanbase. She has to get it further afield to get the numbers she needs. I don’t think she will succeed in this but she may say things very soon which will have the cheering Palin fanbase very uncomfortable.

I also think her heavy bagging of the 2008 election campaign people is rather stupid. Her preferred scapegoat I suppose but very transparent backstabbing and failure to take responsibility, which is not likely to endear her to campaigners or Americans.

The last issue is on the economy.  Americans by now, and I think right into 2012, have their job security and financial wellbeing in mind very much thanks to the collapse which probably sank Palin’s first election chances.  The voters are going to be more interested in economic issues and less on social ones.  Palin is strong on social issues at least from a conservative mindset but has no real economic credentials or vision and will be exposed to a conservative candidate who does.

I expect Palin to go for the 2012 election. Her ego demands it but her abilities aren’t up to the task at hand.  She will fail nomination and that will be that.

I’ve refrained from saying too much because at first there was little to say that wasn’t loaded with speculation. I think it’s time to talk about it though. For today, ironically a day we observe to remember the fallen of WW1, is when the memorial service was held for these fallen and their families who suffer the consequences of these murders.

The President was in attendance, which is good, and said something of course but you know words don’t wash out grief, nothing can wash out grief really. One just learns to go on living carrying it along.

A silver lining to this mess is the heroic actions of police officer Kim Munley who took the killer out of action before he did any more. She was also injured.

He isn’t dead apparently, even conscious now. His fate is no doubt tied in courts. Perhaps they will execute him who knows. It hasn’t been done in years but then this kind of event isn’t too common either. I hope they get information out of him but he’s less significant now. What’s important now are the people dealing with the impact and the wider consequences of the massacre.

For one thing, we have to help the grieving and the wounded recover. The Army naturally has to adjust to the loss of good people, including the the disruption from the wounded who are out of action for a while. I’ve every confidence both are well covered already.

One thing that struck me is that Hasan shot so many trained soldiers before being downed. It would appear no-one else had a suitable weapon or opportunity until the female police officer did her deed. It’s not like the Army was that slow, it appears the medical and isolation reaction was quite swift. One wonders if that situation will change. I guess the core issue I see is that soldiers not feeling safe in their own base and among their own people is not tenable. Trust is far too much a key to good military performance that I believe the US Army will take some kind of strong action on security. Even though hopefully one-of, if it were to happen again the reaction would probably be severe.

And there has been reaction anyway. All sorts of reaction. Even the relatively placid Castle has spat a bit of fire and brimstone as the question of blame on Islam is tossed around.

For Hasan, by all appearances, was a Muslim who self radicalised and then did this massacre. I am no cheerleader of Islam. It’s a religion that calls for murder of gays and other innocents in certain situations, a religion with provision for slavery and rape and other actions I do not support whatsoever. It has terrible internal corruption prevention too. I have indeed studied it, even before the 9/11 event.

But then I’m not a friend of many religions in their current state. However, they all have their good points, including Islam, if you care to look. All have their branches and degrees of faith and practices, ie Islam is not as uniform as it appears. In fact it’s much like Christianity that way. Hassan was radical, not mainstream.

The mistake is to make Hasan=Islam and Islam=Hasan. Of the thousands of Muslims in the army only one guy actually did this. Sure Islam may have influenced him but Hasan is a man who is responsible for his own actions. The bulk of serving Muslims are doing so honourably and some have even earned medals for their heroic actions in the service of their country. Hasan did a terrible thing but he was a singular man, anecdotal evidence of Islam by inference only. And anecdotal is the very worst kind of evidence. And we have the counter evidence of the medal holders.

I will not call for harm or restriction to Muslims. I will not push to war against Islam. I would be loathe to give so much power to one man of the name Hasan. Trying to make the conflict a ‘holy’ war is the marketing strategy of of terrorists as it is.

What I do want and probably won’t get is more vigilance from the Islamic community to detect, denounce, prevent and destroy this kind of radicalising activity. Complicity leads to culpability.

There’s been talk about if this is a crime. Well of course it is. Is it something more though? Some say this is treachery. Given the role of Hasan, the state trust vested in him and promises he made, and his probable reasons for taking action. Yes I think it’s treason. Terrorism is more difficult. It probably is. Not in the usual organised (even if just cell-like) sense but a one man terrorising activity of which there have really been quite a few over the years.

There’s been some hoopla doo about the role of psychology and Hasan’s job was as a psychologist and he did indeed work on affected soldiers. I so hope he didn’t do any damage we aren’t aware of.  Some conservatives say he can’t possibly have PTSD he never served on the front lines. It’s not true. PTSD is not just for the military who see the awful reality of conflict. It happens in many other cases. I don’t really hold much water in the psych argument because it’s been put forward too much as an blanket excuse rather than reason with evidence. Even if true it doesn’t necessarily make one a mass murderer. It may be true it played a role but still self responsibility is key.

The other thing people are seeing in the news now are the red flags. The indicators Hasan was a risk. As I’ve argued before red flags are not a sign on the head. We often miss them, which is a good thing if not too many because otherwise it leads to paranoia and overreaction. The cost of ignoring red flags is cases like this where we may miss the boat. Ultimately it’s up to the Army, government and people involved to decide if they ignored a few too many. It can be a hard judgment to make honestly.

Rest in Peace Good Soldiers.

Americans need to know their system and feel it works for them. Christians wish to impose political control and that serves them but their control needs to be opposed as do other religions. Judicial, legislative and executive roles need to be maintained. There has been too much crossover of the roles. Weaknesses in the election system have to be vigorously worked on. The Bush Florida ruling, ACORN and the problems with electronic voting are all discouraging.  Most of all conservatives have to bring everyday Americans into the process.

To conservatives today I urge a proactive effort to encourage the strengthening of your ranks with action that encourages non-conservatives to reconsider their individual positions and become a functional and fulfilled part of society.

Most of the fundamentals of conservatism are sound; responsibility, freedom, the Constitution, discipline, honesty, individuality, capitalism, the American Dream, respect of self, of others and of your country.

Please understand here I’m pointing the way for a recovery of conservative America. I am not advocating the destruction of the Liberal side. It’s not actually possible. Nor by discussing Conserving Conservatism do I believe conservatism risks withering away to nothing. Even if the Democrats and Republicans were to somehow disappear tomorrow, conservatives and Liberals will simply reform themselves based on the same principles they always have. I am talking here about ensuring conservative values are widely upheld and make a strong basis of continuity.

You have a basis upon which to work. I’ve talked long here about the ins and outs of Conserving Conservatism but at the end of the day conservatives are ultimately responsible for maintaining conservative values. It’s up to you to step up the the plate and bring it about.

I wonder what he thinks of the food

Imagine my surprise to get such a well fitted answer in the comments.  I reproduce the translation of Merlin’s comments below.  It was kindly provided by commenter Emmanuel Zitnik from which blog I am not certain.  Perhaps the previous translator.

I admit I wondered in bias.  I have the view the French are particular on their food and the US experience in a place like Afghanistan might horrify them.  Well I was mostly wrong, even a little very specific praise particularly on breakfast and dinners.  In the end though he turns back focus on his higher appreciation of French food, much sent from home;

It’s been 5 months now that we’ve been sharing our daily life, but also our food, with our band of brothers from the States. It’s time for us Frenchies to give you a full report of our cross-Atlantic culinary experience (in Afghanistan of course).

We, as children born in the land of gastronomy and famous chefs like VEYRAT, COFFE, LOISEAU … have sampled things that will last forever in our taste buds.

This experienced is reserved for the luckiest of us because only two assignments allow to taste the flavours of US cuisine. For others, it’s combat rations only.

Breakfast is more than welcome because it’s very hearty and totally fits for morning patrols or any other activity. It’s made of eggs, fried bacon (forget about your diet), various cereals, pancakes with cheese, fruits, spicy sausages and peppered minced-beef cream (???) which comes with balls of salty bread that one must cover with that same cream. Not much is missing from this meal, although; a purist like me would say that it lacks a good piece of grilled bread topped with a thick layer of salty butter. I am talking about feeling the grains of salt under your teeth and feel it melting on your buds (not place for cheap butter, you’re a Breton or you’re not).

Lunch is way less substantial than breakfast: simply put it doesn’t really exist. So it’s the occasion to open an MRE (combat ration). The American ration, designed for one single meal contrary to ours which is made for the whole day, is made-up of several packets with mysterious writings. Well, French curiosity is stronger. The preparation for the main dish is simple: fill the chemical bag with water, be careful not to fill it over the mark otherwise there a risk of explosion (let’s not forget that we’re in Afghanistan, it’s relatively dangerous) , then you must quickly insert the meal in the bag, position it on a flat surface towards the North with a 14.9 degrees angle (it also works towards the south), water starts to boil… You just have to wait while eating the sweets, the dried meat, the peanut butter, the industrial cheese and the other stuff contained in the package.
Here we go, one of the 24 different meals available to US soldiers is ready, and with the plastic spoon present in the kit you eat it. Sometimes a facial contraction appears, but we somehow seem to agree on that point with our American friends because they all come asking for that good French ration.

Dinner, on the other hand, is a great moment for the taste buds. The famous hamburger is faithful to our expectations and is excellent. It comes with fried chicken wings, fried chicken legs, fried chicken balls, pork ribs, fried onions, fried shrimps, corn, and little pizzas which only have their name in common with the traditional pizza. A few American recipes highlight the meal: chili con carne, tapas, fajitas (with tortillas).
However, a few gringos have a problem like I do: apparently Americans especially like spicy things in general. Hot spice is present everywhere. I personally think their mouths must be made out of steel, they say it’s to give taste to what they eat… well that Frenchman is not convinced.

Here’s how a gastronomic day happens in the land of Uncle Sam in Afghanistan.
Conclusion: we’re fortunate our Restaurant de France in Kaboul allows us to buy and enjoy our homely products, plates of cheese, cold cuts, but also vegetables which the US don’t seem to know that well. The most important thing for us remains the small parcels, filled with great stuff for the morale, sent by our families. It’s a moment we’re all waiting for like kids every Mondays during mail delivery. Once a month, we bathe in a moment of culinary happiness: red wine served with hams, dry sausages, cheese, pâté, and sometimes it’s our US comrades’ turn to grimace! Not that easy to understand the subtleties of French cuisine!

MERLIN