Random Ramblings

CarFP

2009-07-30T16:34:50Z

So I'm starting to look into acquiring a new vehicle to replace the Jeep as a primary-use vehicle. Not ditching the Jeep, since it's all paid off and the work it needs is kind of fun, from a hobby/educational standpoint, and it provides me a good hauling/sick dog vehicle/poor winter weather vehicle.

This leaves me in the interesting position of trying to figure out what I would like in a new vehicle.

What I know is as follows:

Requirements

Red.

Three passenger capacity. That's three passengers of about my size in reasonable comfort, not like the back seat in a Mustang.

Enough power to drive back roads like I want to drive, whether I'm alone or have three passengers.

Enough power at high speeds to drive WV and PA interstates like I want to drive, with three passengers. Jeep's close to that, but it really has gotten worse about maintaining speeds on some of those hills.

Long-haul comfort. Jeep is not built for long drives in comfort, and it wears on me.

Power windows/locks, ABS, reasonable safety ratings, decent number of airbags (the Jeep has ABS and one airbag).

Doesn't look goofy. Some cars do, I want nothing to do with that.

Price under $40k

Desirables

Manual Transmission. Sport Shift autos are acceptable, but just not the same.

Reasonable fuel efficiency. It's gotta beat the Jeep (officially rated at 15c/20h). Would prefer something closer to 20/25.

Sun/Moon Roof or convertible (hardtop).

Bluetooth connection to phone for hands-free driving stuff.

Decent audio system - Good (enough) speakers, aux input of some sort, maybe satellite radio

Remote lock/unlock. (Remote engine start is even cooler, as is push-button engine).

Leather seats. So nice. Heated is even better. Dog transport can be managed by the use of throws.

Vehicle lifespan of more than 10 years. Jeep is 13+, 240k+ miles, I'd like something similar out of new car, as well.

Home serviceability. I'd like to at least be able to do the basic maintenance myself, if not more advanced tasks.

Price under $30k

Thoughts?

Great post from a TOR Blog

2009-05-29T14:50:03Z

http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=30351

anterus @ 2009-03-27T20:03:00

2009-03-28T00:14:07Z

Con Ops will open at 7 AM.

Well, actually, I have it set for 9 AM, but I was amused by the thought while I was doing the schedule and moving it from 0700 to 0900.

sigh

2009-03-26T12:09:31Z

My supervisor is a fuckin' lolcat.

I send him a text to remind him to get coffee this morning, he replies 'Has.'

Shiny

2009-02-25T18:17:57Z

Borrowed from tarinfirepelt:
Siftables, Block-like Human Computer Interaction

Appropriate Song

2009-02-20T12:48:08Z

It popped into my head yesterday, though I've not listened to it in ages.

Fortunately, a decent version can be had on iTunes Plus, though I prefer the one on the American Wake album.

http://www.eldersmusic.com/lyrics/americanwake/menoferin.html
Men of Erin
Lyrics by Ian Byrne

Fare thee well me boy as you wonder this night
Be not feared in the darkness my heart is your light
As you go brave Men of Erin
Faith and love by your side
I will dream of your peace in the night

Please don’t cry my Mother as you sit by the hearth
I will dance your memories with joy in my heart
I will go now and pray as I travel this land
And live by the lessons you gave

Fair thee well me boy as you wonder this night
Be not feared in the darkness my heart is your light
As you go brave Men of Erin
Faith and love by your side
I will dream of your peace in the night

Please don’t cry my Father as you sit by the hearth
I will dance your memories with joy in my heart
I will go now and pray as I travel this land
And live by the lessons you gave

Fair thee well me boy as you wonder this night
Be not feared in the darkness my heart is your light
As you go brave Men of Erin
Faith and love by your side
I will dream of your peace in the night

Please don’t cry my Children
As you stand by my Grave
I have danced your memories all of my days
I will go now and pray as I travel this land
And live be the lessons you gave

© 2004 - The Elders

Oooops...

2009-02-17T11:01:51Z

So I show up at 0500 to do some maintenance here at work and realize that I neglected to acquire the passwords I needed to do one of the upgrades.

Ooooooops.

Gone and done it now....

2009-01-22T05:10:40Z

So, I meant to do this Monday, but forgot. So, heck, I did it today. Just joined the VCDL, GOA, and the NRA.

I missed out on VCDL Lobby Day (MLK Jr Day), since I just wasn't feeling like driving to Richmond, but I said I'd join up, instead, to sort of make up for it. Two days late, but hey, doesn't make much difference.

Anyrate, I figured I'd do a little investing in my rights, particularly the one I tend to be most...concerned about, since I believe it's going to come under some notable fire in the next four years or so.

Don't worry, though. I still think Rush Limbaugh is an idiot, and I'm still a big fan of all the other rights. I just find a piece of paper isn't much in the way of protection for them.

Colder Than Antarctica!

2009-01-17T05:46:01Z

It's friggin' 1F here, right now, and I'm told by a contact who's on assignment at McMurdo down in Anarctica, that it's 30F there. Of course, it's the middle of summer for them, but, still! Virginia is colder than Antarctica! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Aaugh!

2008-12-18T07:10:33Z

That's how I feel. Just doing this to kill time while I wait to unwind, since I missed the narrow window around midnight tonight in which I was able to sleep, thanks to the poker game going on in my living room. Now I'm too tense about that and about all the other crap I have to deal with to actually get to sleep for now, which also irritates me and makes me more tense.

So, screw it. I have a mug of Tension Tamer, we'll see if it can do the job.

My schedule for the next two weeks is...densely-packed.

18 Dec: Work, Irish Session. Should call some apartment places and set up walkthroughs during lunch
19 Dec: Nothing, thank the gods. Should call some apartment places... Do need to actually keep working through my book on semiconductors after work. And I should run.
20 Dec: Thing at nius's place.
21 Dec: Nothing, yet. Semiconductors, apartment stuff.
22 Dec: See 19 Dec.
23 Dec: See 19 Dec.
24 Dec: Work half day, leave, drive to Dad's place (~4hrs, if traffic is nice), do the Christmas Eve thing with him and his wife, go back and crash at Mom's place.
25 Dec: Christmas Day with Mom.
26 Dec: Boxing Day music party with Dad and friends.
27 Dec: Probable shooting trip with Mom.
28 Dec: Get up early, drive back to BBurg early. Try to relax?
29 Dec: Work again.
30 Dec: More work.
31 Dec: More work, leave right after work, drive to Mom's place (~4.5 hrs, if traffic is good), crash overnight.
01 Jan: Secure MAGFest.
02 Jan: Secure MAGFest.
03 Jan: Secure MAGFest.
04 Jan: Secure MAGFest. Drive back to BBurg in time to crash around midnight.
05 Jan: Work.
...
10 Jan: Shooting trip with nius and zannyvix, hopefully it'll happen, unlike our last planned one.
17 Jan: Local contra dance, going to shadow the Sound Guy, so that'll cut into the dancing, alas. Still, an important job.

Somewhere in there, I could stand to do a little more Christmas shopping, wrap presents, and figure out what the hell to do with my stuff while I deal with moving out of my apartment by 01 Jan (Re: Poker game in my living room, and other crap). It'd be nice if I could arrange apartment stuff so that I have somewhere of my own to crash when I get back on 04 Jan, but I don't know that that's going to happen. Depends on how much apartment-acquisition-related stuff I get done before 31 Dec.

Also in there somewhere, my Research Associate appointment will get finalized and I'll start working as Special Research Faculty on a six-month appointment. Thing is, I don't know when exactly it'll be, or if it won't happen until early Jan. This, of course, affects when I can change over from being covered on Mom's insurance to being covered on what I can get through work.

Part of the problem with apartment stuff is that I may not have enough funds on-hand right off to cover whatever startup costs are associated with acquiring a new apartment (fees, final month's rent up front, that sort of thing), which would slow down my process for acquiring one. Of course, when I start as an RA affects that, because it'll pay ~75% more than I'm making now, and have benefits.

Thinking ahead, I'm trying to balance how much I pay in rent with trying to build up capital as quickly as possible so I can move into a place of my own and not throw too much money away at rent, instead of putting it in a mortgage. But there, I need to look at my plans for the future, which include a dog (and not one of those puny <25lb ones, either) some time after I have real property, which complicates things, since it means I don't want to pick up a condo in town if it has a pet restriction. That means I either get lucky and find a condo in town that doesn't have a restriction (not true for the two or three complexes I've seen so far), or I look outside of town for a house, and then try and balance interior space and exterior space and cost and commute time and all that.

Somewhere in all that mess, too, I need to figure out what I want to get a technical Master's degree in, and start working on that. And also an MBA, I think. Much value to having a technical Master's and an MBA if I want to do something like managing engineers.

Somewhere else in there, I need to get a new car for everyday use. The Jeep is approaching 240,000 miles and I'd like to keep it around for crappy weather for as long as possible. I'd like something nice and comfortable, particularly for long drives, because the Jeep is not that great on the long haul. A little more fuel efficient would be nice, too. I've been eyeing the Chrysler Sebring Convertible w/ hardtop (red, tan seats, get the high-end, w/ the max-power engine, good speakers, the works), but that'd be about $35k, and the payments on that would be quite notable. But it'd be so nice to have a car that's really fun and a treat to myself. The Jeep was issued to me, and I love it, but its only features are ABS, a 4WD lever, and a driver airbag (probably not two-stage, either).

Of course, car payments complicate socking away cash for a down payment on property and also putting money into investments and plans for retirement. Getting into that as early as possible will pay off in a few decades, and it's burning me up that I"ve spent the last year after graduation not making any progress on that, particularly with things the way they are, right now. Can get a lot more stock for the money these days than six months ago.

I guess that'll do for now. I think I'll be able to get to sleep.

Things don't go smooth....

2008-12-04T02:12:46Z

So...to start things off, not my most productive day at work. But, after that, I get back, go for my run. Three mile loop around this part of town, on side walks after the first... .8 miles or so...

I was rounding the last corner on my route, it's around 1830. It's dark, there are headlights in my eyes, and out of nowhere, this bicyclist (in dark clothing, I might add) rounds the corner at speed, giving me just enough time and warning to appreciate that I'm about to go down hard, which I promptly do as he rams into me. After a few moments, I managed to get up off the ground, and he's very apologetic for hitting me, but made no apologies for being on the sidewalk (I should mention that there are bike lanes on the street on both of the roads at that intersection). Fortunately, I was less than 100 yards from my apartment, so I kinda limped home, and discovered a lovely welt on my kneecap.

So...I decided, hey, I'm sore, I'm tired, I've been hit by a vehicle, and I still need to buy food for dinner tonight, I'll treat myself. Hit up the grocery store, I grab some bacon-wrapped beef filets, biscuits in a tin, cheap, tasty garlic bread, and, as I'm going through the freezer section, I notice they have the Claim Jumper Motherload Chocolate Cake... Having tasted this at MFF this year, I couldn't pass it up, perfect decadence...for four meals.

The packaging claims that the cake takes 60-90 minutes to defrost, so I open it up and set it aside while I do dinner. Tossed the garlic bread in the oven, opened up the filets, cooked them. As I was worried might happen with the filets, they had too many preservatives and the like (ie. 'beef flavor'... It's friggin' beef filet, it doesn't need extra beef flavor!). Tolerable, but not worth it in the future. I can do better for about the same price myself, and it'll be fresh and delicious. Fried up a piece of biscuit dough, too, which is worth experimenting with, and then had some garlic bread. By that time, it'd been about 40 minutes, cake was pretty close to done... So, I slice off about all I think I can handle (1/4 slice) and pop it on a plate, toss it in the microwave for a minute. Well...I figured, 'this microwave is weak, and the cake's still a bit frozen, make it two minutes...' Look over 90 seconds later, frosting has oozed out of the cake (1.5 layers, so a layer of frosting in the middle, plus the back) and all over the plate. Still good, but I guess you could say I de-frosted my cake...

I must say, by way of a closing, that the cake IS still delicious with all of its frosting as a side, and that it does an excellent job, coupled with the Advil I took before hitting the store, of making up for the day.

anterus @ 2008-11-22T14:06:00

2008-11-22T19:06:36Z

Internet on phone, quite handy when on travel, particularly when standing guard on a couple of floors in a stairwell.

Probably not worth it at other times, but for the twice/year I do major travel like this, definitely worth it.

One more thing...

2008-11-05T12:40:50Z

It's a testament to the state of education in America that the majority of voters last night thought 'Change' is spelled 'O-B-A-M-A.'

sigh

2008-11-05T05:28:52Z

And now, not having had a real job for the last 11 months has soundly bitten me in the ass, in that I am woefully short of guns and ammo at a time like this. And, of course, now I gotta get 'em while they're hot...

Here's to hoping we weather the next 4 years without having too many of our rights trampled into unrecognizability.

Income Redistribution: It's Just Neighborly

2008-10-14T00:47:20Z

Article I found interesting:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122385651698727257.html

Obama's 95% Illusion

It depends on what the meaning of 'tax cut' is.

One of Barack Obama's most potent campaign claims is that he'll cut taxes for no less than 95% of "working families." He's even promising to cut taxes enough that the government's tax share of GDP will be no more than 18.2% -- which is lower than it is today.

It's a clever pitch, because it lets him pose as a middle-class tax cutter while disguising that he's also proposing one of the largest tax increases ever on the other 5%. But how does he conjure this miracle, especially since more than a third of all Americans already pay no income taxes at all? There are several sleights of hand, but the most creative is to redefine the meaning of "tax cut."

For the Obama Democrats, a tax cut is no longer letting you keep more of what you earn. In their lexicon, a tax cut includes tens of billions of dollars in government handouts that are disguised by the phrase "tax credit." Mr. Obama is proposing to create or expand no fewer than seven such credits for individuals:

- A $500 tax credit ($1,000 a couple) to "make work pay" that phases out at income of $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 per couple.
- A $4,000 tax credit for college tuition.
- A 10% mortgage interest tax credit (on top of the existing mortgage interest deduction and other housing subsidies).
- A "savings" tax credit of 50% up to $1,000.
- An expansion of the earned-income tax credit that would allow single workers to receive as much as $555 a year, up from $175 now, and give these workers up to $1,110 if they are paying child support.
- A child care credit of 50% up to $6,000 of expenses a year.
- A "clean car" tax credit of up to $7,000 on the purchase of certain vehicles.

Here's the political catch. All but the clean car credit would be "refundable," which is Washington-speak for the fact that you can receive these checks even if you have no income-tax liability. In other words, they are an income transfer -- a federal check -- from taxpayers to nontaxpayers. Once upon a time we called this "welfare," or in George McGovern's 1972 campaign a "Demogrant." Mr. Obama's genius is to call it a tax cut.

The Tax Foundation estimates that under the Obama plan 63 million Americans, or 44% of all tax filers, would have no income tax liability and most of those would get a check from the IRS each year. The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis estimates that by 2011, under the Obama plan, an additional 10 million filers would pay zero taxes while cashing checks from the IRS.

The total annual expenditures on refundable "tax credits" would rise over the next 10 years by $647 billion to $1.054 trillion, according to the Tax Policy Center. This means that the tax-credit welfare state would soon cost four times actual cash welfare. By redefining such income payments as "tax credits," the Obama campaign also redefines them away as a tax share of GDP. Presto, the federal tax burden looks much smaller than it really is.

The political left defends "refundability" on grounds that these payments help to offset the payroll tax. And that was at least plausible when the only major refundable credit was the earned-income tax credit. Taken together, however, these tax credit payments would exceed payroll levies for most low-income workers.

It is also true that John McCain proposes a refundable tax credit -- his $5,000 to help individuals buy health insurance. We've written before that we prefer a tax deduction for individual health care, rather than a credit. But the big difference with Mr. Obama is that Mr. McCain's proposal replaces the tax subsidy for employer-sponsored health insurance that individuals don't now receive if they buy on their own. It merely changes the nature of the tax subsidy; it doesn't create a new one.

There's another catch: Because Mr. Obama's tax credits are phased out as incomes rise, they impose a huge "marginal" tax rate increase on low-income workers. The marginal tax rate refers to the rate on the next dollar of income earned. As the nearby chart illustrates, the marginal rate for millions of low- and middle-income workers would spike as they earn more income.

Some families with an income of $40,000 could lose up to 40 cents in vanishing credits for every additional dollar earned from working overtime or taking a new job. As public policy, this is contradictory. The tax credits are sold in the name of "making work pay," but in practice they can be a disincentive to working harder, especially if you're a lower-income couple getting raises of $1,000 or $2,000 a year. One mystery -- among many -- of the McCain campaign is why it has allowed Mr. Obama's 95% illusion to go unanswered.

Well, I found this interesting...

2008-10-02T03:33:30Z

Though it does have its flaws, it's interesting, and it provides a lot of good pointers to do some research. Flips too fast through stuff, though, I found myself pausing a lot to read what's on the screen.

Good WSJ Article

2008-09-30T00:33:56Z

Really, read. Don't just stop at the first couple paras. Let him get warmed up.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122272238714287459.html

What Should Investors Do Now?
When the Dow drops 778 points in one day, it seems like there's nowhere to hide.
By JASON ZWEIG

Wall Street is dead.

Whether it was murder or suicide is beside the point; Wall Street as it has operated for the past 75 years has been obliterated in a matter of weeks. And witnessing this violent death in broad daylight has traumatized investors everywhere.

The Wall Street domino has toppled everything in sight: U.S. stocks large and small, within the financial industry and outside of it; foreign stocks; oil and other commodities; real estate investment trusts; formerly booming emerging markets like India and China. Even gold, although it has inched up lately, has lost 10% from its highs earlier this year. Not even cash seemed entirely safe, as money-market funds barely averted a "run on the bank."

Of all the dominos that have tipped over, the most psychologically damaging collapse was the last: the very notion of diversification itself.

Every day, my mailbox fills up with messages from agonized investors who can find nowhere to hide. The most common refrain: "I've lost money on everything." If you feel this way, too, you are certainly not imagining. According to the researchers at Morningstar, Inc., 91% of all mutual funds in existence have lost money so far this year. To put that in perspective, in 2001 – the year Enron imploded, Internet stocks kept crashing and al Qaeda attacked the U.S. – more than one out of every three funds still managed to generate positive returns.

How much worse might things get? Is there any way to prevent Wall Street's death from taking you out, too?

Let's consider some of the arguments that have been surfacing lately.

"We're going into another Great Depression." The failure on Monday of the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the bailout plan makes those G-D words seem possible for the first time. But I don't think another depression is likely, for two reasons.

First, when you spend time studying the Crash of 1929 and the depression that followed, what stands out the most is the dearth of doomsayers. Even Roger Babson, the economist known to posterity as "the man who called the crash," did no such thing; he forecast only a 15% to 20% drop, not the apocalypse that actually occurred. Depressions start not when lots of people are worried about them, as we have today, but when no one is worried about them, as in 1929.

Second, the Great Depression and the Panic of 1873 (which triggered what arguably was the worst depression in U.S. history) both occurred before the Federal Reserve Bank had aggressively grown into its role as "lender of last resort." In the wake of 1873, after a railroad-building boom had swept the nation and then gone bust, companies and consumers alike were left gasping for capital. Nothing but the passage of time could supply it; the Fed would not be established until 1913. After the crash of 1929, when the Fed was still weak, years passed before the federal government could flood the economy with cash.

Today, however, the resolve of the Fed is not in question; nor is there any doubt that the Treasury department is willing to provide the financing it takes to get the economy moving again. Furthermore, U.S. non-financial companies have just under $1 trillion in cash on their books. Even though Wall Street is dead, innovation is not: In the months to come, clever new financial go-betweens will spring up and find a way to get that cash flowing again. It's hard to see how a depression could get underway when so much capital is waiting in the wings.

"Diversification is dead." There's an old saying that the only thing that goes up in a down market is correlations – the tightness of the linkages among various assets like U.S. and foreign markets, stocks and bonds, commodities or real estate. Normally, one asset will tend to zig while another zags. But in bear markets they converge – and in really terrible bear markets, they move in complete lockstep.

That's what is happening now, but it will not last indefinitely. It never does. While diversification does not work all the time, it does work over the course of time. There's nothing wrong with raising a little cash if that would prevent you from panicking completely. This is particularly true for retirees. Whittle down your stock position gradually, in baby steps – say, 1% at a time – not in one fell swoop. And set a limit beyond which you will not go; otherwise, when stocks stage their inevitable recovery, you will miss out.

"Investors hate uncertainty." Well, that's just tough. Uncertainty is all investors ever have gotten, or ever will get, from the moment barley and sesame first began trading in ancient Mesopotamia to the last trade that will ever take place on Planet Earth.

If tomorrow were ever knowable with absolute certainty, who would take the other side of a trade today?

The financial future is no more uncertain now than it used to be; in fact, it's far less uncertain than it was in the summer of 2007, when the Dow shot above 14000, the future seemed bright and utterly no one foresaw the disaster that would befall the financial system. The absolute certainty of blue skies ahead was an illusion then, and the notion that we all know that worse misery lies in store is an illusion now.

The only true certainty is surprise.

You've probably spent a lot more time worrying about negative than positive surprises lately. But we could get surprised on the upside by a further fall in oil prices, a kick from low interest rates – and, of course, untold other possibilities that no one can foresee. Whatever happens with the bailout, don't bail out.

Write to Jason Zweig at intelligentinvestor@wsj.com

Man, makes me wish I had the money to start buying up some stock right now....

Excellent Music coming to NC

2008-09-25T04:15:57Z

So those of you who do that whole living in NC and enjoying good music thing (I'm looking at you, southernsinger and robertliguori), you should check out Lissa Schneckenburg. She and a couple of good musicians (guitar and double bass) are coming to Durham NC on Thursday (tonight, technically) and Winston-Salem on Friday. I just came from her house concert here in Blacksburg, great stuff.

Lissa's Tour Page has more info on the locations. But, yeah, good New England fiddling from her and good double bass and guitar from the others. Plus good (if a bit soft, she could do with more power, or a good, balanced mic) singing from her. Some good souther-type tunes, too. In all, good folk music, of generally celtic origin, by way of New England and this area and the like.

Highly recommend.

Frightening Thought of the Night

2008-09-19T04:13:44Z

Mad Dog 20/20 Red Grape tastes like Jesus.

No shitting, tastes almost EXACTLY like the communion wine they used at the Episcopal church I used to go to...and the nearest available catholic agreed with me.

This has...disturbing connotations.

And no, I didn't buy it, I sampled (thank the gods, lightly) some a friend bought.

Science Debate 2008

2008-09-16T11:54:44Z

Here's an interesting bit. Answers from both candidates on 14 top science issues (well, except global warming, which is a top drek issue, and they both buy into it).

Science Debate 2008

Something I found interesting to note, Obama talks a lot about spending money, whereas McCain talks a lot about promoting businesses. Not surprising, I suppose, given their respective parties.

anterus @ 2008-09-15T23:30:00

2008-09-16T03:31:39Z

Longer I stay here, the less I feel like the NRV area has enough to offer me to keep me here.

Bah

2008-09-12T13:04:08Z

My life is consumed by BS.

Interesting article

2008-09-11T01:54:44Z

From the Telegraph over in the UK, on Palin:

Sarah Palin is not such a small-town girl after all

By James Bennett
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 09/09/2008

It is clear that few in America, let alone Britain, have any idea what to make of Sarah Palin. The Republicans' vice-presidential candidate confounds the commentators because they don't understand the forces that shaped her in the remote state of Alaska.

Senator John McCain and Republican vice-presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
John McCain and Sarah Palin

Thus, most coverage dwells on exotica - the moose shooting, her Eskimo husband - combined with befuddlement at how a woman can go from being mayor of a town of 9,000, to governor, to prospective VP within the space of a few years.

But, having worked with Alaskans, I know something of the challenge she has faced, and why - contrary to what Democrats think - it could make her a powerful figure in the White House.

The first myth to slay is that she is a political neophyte who has come from nowhere. In fact, she and her husband have, for decades, run a company in the highly politicised commercial fishing industry, where holding on to a licence requires considerable nous and networking skills.

Her rise from parent-teacher association to city council gave her a natural political base in her home town of Wasilla. Going on to become mayor was a natural progression. Wasilla's population of 9,000 would be a small town in Britain, and even in most American states.

But Wasilla is the fifth-largest city in Alaska, which meant that Palin was an important player in state politics.

Her husband's status in the Yup'ik Eskimo tribe, of which he is a full, or "enrolled" member, connected her to another influential faction: the large and wealthy (because of their right to oil revenues) native tribes.

All of this gave her a base from which to launch her 2002 campaign for lieutenant (deputy) governor of Alaska.

She lost that, but collected a powerful enough following to be placated with a seat on, and subsequently the chairmanship of, the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which launched her into the politics of Alaska's energy industry.

Palin quickly realised that Alaska had the potential to become a much bigger player in global energy politics, a conviction that grew as the price of oil rose. Alaska had been in hock to oil companies since major production began in the mid-1970s.

As with most poor, distant places that suddenly receive great natural-resource wealth, the first generation of politicians were mesmerised by the magnificence of the crumbs falling from the table. Palin was the first of the next generation to realise that Alaska should have a place at that table.

Her first target was an absurd bureaucratic tangle that for 30 years had kept the state from exporting its gas to the other 48 states. She set an agenda that centred on three mutually supportive objectives: cleaning up state politics, building a new gas pipeline, and increasing the state's share of energy revenues.

This agenda, pursued throughout Palin's commission tenure, culminated in her run for governor in 2006. By this time, she had already begun rooting out corruption and making enemies, but also establishing her bona fides as a reformer.

With this base, she surprised many by steamrollering first the Republican incumbent governor, and second, the Democratic former governor, in the election.

Far from being a reprise of Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Palin was a clear-eyed politician who, from the day she took office, knew exactly what she had to do and whose toes she would step on to do it.

The surprise is not that she has been in office for such a short time but that she has succeeded in each of her objectives. She has exposed corruption; given the state a bigger share in Alaska's energy wealth; and negotiated a deal involving big corporate players, the US and Canadian governments, Canadian provincial governments, and native tribes - the result of which was a £13 billion deal to launch the pipeline and increase the amount of domestic energy available to consumers. This deal makes the charge of having "no international experience" particularly absurd.

In short, far from being a small-town mayor concerned with little more than traffic signs, she has been a major player in state politics for a decade, one who formulated an ambitious agenda and deftly implemented it against great odds.

Her sudden elevation to the vice-presidential slot on the Republican ticket shocked no one more than her enemies in Alaska, who have broken out into a cold sweat at the thought of Palin in Washington, guiding the Justice Department's anti-corruption teams through the labyrinths of Alaska's old-boy network.

It is no surprise that many of the charges laid against her have come from Alaska, as her enemies become more and more desperate to bring her down. John McCain was familiar with this track record and it is no doubt the principal reason that he chose her.

Focusing on the exotic trappings of Alaskan culture may make Palin seem a quaint and inexplicable choice. But understanding the real background of her steady rise in politics suggests that Barack Obama and Joe Biden are underestimating her badly. In this, they join two former Alaskan governors, a large number of cronies, and a trail of enemies extending back over a decade.

James Bennett is the author of 'The Anglosphere Challenge'

Must-share quote

2008-09-08T23:24:42Z

Me, today: I'll take a dog-point screw any day of the week!

I was assembling a rack of equipment, most of the screws available were twice the necessary length or stripped out.

Dog Point Screw (from Zero Products, Inc.: A straight pointed section reduced in diameter slightly below the root diameter of the thread. Usually extending In length about two-thirds the diameter of the thread. Recommended for ease In starting, to insure against stripping fine threaded products, and to increase efficiency along production lines.

Hah!

2008-09-03T12:11:01Z

Excellent:

Random Ramblings

CarFP

Great post from a TOR Blog

anterus @ 2009-03-27T20:03:00

*sigh*

Shiny

Appropriate Song

Oooops...

Gone and done it now....

Colder Than Antarctica!

Aaugh!

Things don't go smooth....

anterus @ 2008-11-22T14:06:00

One more thing...

*sigh*

Income Redistribution: It's Just Neighborly

Obama's 95% Illusion

It depends on what the meaning of 'tax cut' is.

Well, I found this interesting...

Good WSJ Article

Excellent Music coming to NC

Frightening Thought of the Night

Science Debate 2008

anterus @ 2008-09-15T23:30:00

Bah

Interesting article

Sarah Palin is not such a small-town girl after all

Must-share quote

Hah!

sigh

sigh