Hamilton's Pamphlets

She So Gets It!

Ninme really defines what I think blogging is for me and she does it in a way that...well... explains the name of my blog.  Doesn't get much cooler than that (unless say instpundit links to it and uses my blog as an example, that would be cooler.).

I think she's actually quoting Peggy Noonan, but what the heck - she gets it and she blogged it and she gets the link!

Some think bloggers and internet writers of all sorts are like the 19th century pamphleteers who made American politics livelier and more vigorous by lambasting the other team in full-throated broadsides. Actually, I’ve said that. And there are similarities. But it should be noted that the pamphleteers were heavy on screeds and colorfully damning the foe. The most successful bloggers aren’t bringing bluster to the debate, they’re bringing facts—font sizes, full quotes, etc. They’re bringing facts and points of view on those facts that the MSM before this could ignore, and did ignore. They’re bringing a lot to the debate, and changing the debate by what they bring. They’re doing what excellent reporters would do.

There's more.  Go and check it out, for crying out loud I'm not going to post the whole thing!

She's Not Crazy, She's a Murderer

Carol Platt Liebau is blogging about Andrea Yates.

WARNING:  I am posting some very disturbing things from the case in the next few lines.  If you are at all sensitive to the suffering of children, you may want to move on to something else.  I found these things EXTREMELY disturbing and thought long and hard before I shared them.  As a parent and as a compassionate human being, I am disgusted by Mrs. Yates.  I would gladly and without remorse personally push the plunger, flip the switch or squeaze the trigger.  She is sub-human.

Carol makes a VERY strong argument that Mrs. Yates was not crazy, she was and is a cold blooded murderer.  Blaming Post-Partum depression is an insult to all women who have ever had children.  An excerpt (This is the part I warned you about - it is VERY disturbing.  Stop now if you don't have a strong stomach):

The Houston Chronicle is arguing against a retrial of Andrea Yates -- the woman who killed her five children in June 2001. Those children were Paul, Luke, John, Noah and Mary. Most news accounts won't bother listing the childrens' names, but they deserve to be named, after all; they were people, little human beings, whose lives were snuffed out by their own mother -- the one person they should be able to trust most in all the world.

If you have a strong stomach, read this. It will break your heart. Little 7 year old Noah Yates, the last to die, tried to escape but was dragged back to the bathtub by his own mother, who later calmly noted that he thought he was being punished for something -- she even surmised that his last, frantically gasped words were of apology.

If Andrea Yates had even a shred of human decency she would have taken her own life.  She is the worst kind of criminal.  Vicious inhuman behavior is not insanity.  Merely because rational decent human beings cannot begin to understand why someone would do this does not mean that the perpetrator is crazy.

I want Andrea Yates to die.  The sooner the better.  Then she gets to start her time in eternal damnation just that much sooner.  She deserves it.

Snow Daze

I know I said I was going to post pictures of the snow we got.  I did actually take the pictures, just haven't downloaded them yet.  Kinda like that commercial with the kid hanging mid-air doing the cannonball...

As usual the problem is software.  We "upgraded" to Windows XP and our HP all in one printer/scanner/copier/photo card reader absolutely refuses to play along.  I've tried patches, downloads, installing updated drivers, you name it - I've tried it... what a pain. 

Long explanation for why I haven't downloaded the pics and posted, but I really felt the need to vent... maybe I should get a Mac...

Strangely enough the snow is still there.  It's only about two inches, but still there...I feel like I'm living back east...if this keeps up, I may have to order some "duck" boots from L.L. Bean-haven't needed those since college!

Navy Submarine Grounding

Just picked up a link to a great Submarine Blog (The Stupid Shall Be Punished) from Blackfive.  Bubblehead has some great thoughts and links to articles on the recent grounding of the USS SAN FRANCISCO (SSN-711).

I served on two submarines and on a submarine Admiral's Staff (coincidentally it was Admiral Sullivan many years ago - before he became COMSUBPAC) and this hits really close to home.

I never had a shipmate die onboard in the line of duty.  I can't imagine what it is like for the men on the SAN FRANCISCO right now.  One dead and 60 injured.  Lives and careers forever altered.

They don't call submarine duty "The Silent Service" for no reason.  Darn near everything they do is classified at some level or another.  I know RADM Sullivan, though, and whatever he can make public - he will and as soon as it is reasonably possible. 

For those who have been asleep for the last 3 years, we're at war and there are Operational Security considerations.  The SAN FRANCISCO wasn't out for a joy ride, she was on a mission.  After careful consideration of what happened, why it happened and what SAN FRANCISCO was doing when it happened, the Navy will share all the APPROPRIATE information with the public.  Till then just be patient and check back with bubblehead often.

Get Over It! Yeah, right...

I've been struggling with my frustration over the Washington Governor's race for weeks, trying to put it in perspective that I could wrap my brain around.

Fortunately for me the wonderful moonbats of the Washington State Clepotocrat Party have solved the problem for me.  Their advice:  Just Get Over It!  According to them, that's what we told them after the 2000 Presidential Election and therefore we should follow our own advice...

Hmmm, no why hadn't I thought of that?  Well maybe because it's pure crap, that's why.

I need things to be broken down into stuff I can understand and internalize.  I can appreciate Stefan Sharkansky's (Sound Politics) statistical break down of the election numbers in King County.  I can appreciate Jim Miller's (Jim Miller on Politics) Distributed Vote Fraud.  I can appreciate Mac's (Pull On Superman's Cape) Math in Public and probabilities.  I'd be a liar if I said I understood all of it though.   Given all that, here's the analogy I've come up with to answer "get over it".

Say you always wanted a really nice car.  You did your homework and decided it should be a Lexus.  So you saved up a down payment and went out and bought a brand new Lexus.  You are very happy with the car.  You followed all the rules.  You have insurance.  It is properly licensed.  You financed the car with a bank recommended by the dealer.  After a month or two, due to some incredibly sloppy records keeping and procedures at the bank, the bank reposes your car.  You are outraged.  You made your payments, you followed the rules and yet because of the bank's incompetence your car is gone.

Hey, just get over it.  Yeah, right.

Outraged, you take the bank to court.  The judge tells you that while unusual and not something that you see very often, the bank has a right to terminate it's contract with you at anytime.  It was in all that paperwork you signed, didn't you read it?  Your car and your long saved up downpayment is still gone.

Hey, just get over it.

Frustrated you reach out to the bank to "do the right thing".  The bank is a large multistate banking conglomerate that is indifferent to your business AND their lawyers have advised them that if they "do the right thing" it could be construed as an admission of guilt and they could incur some liability.  The stone-walling bureaucracy of the bank goes on the defensive and claims that no "substantial errors" were made.  You still have no car and no justice.

Just get over it.  Not likely.

Compare this to the governor's race.  Dino got his Lexus, i.e. the Governor's Mansion, then due to bumbling ineptitude in King County, he has it taken from him.  He goes to court to fight the injustice of it and the courts (so far) are of no help to him.  He appealed to Ms. Gregoire for a re-vote to "do the right thing", but she refuses.  The 1.5 Million Rossi voters are supposed to just "get over it". 

If the bank wrongly hijacks your wheels you're going to fight like hell to have it "made right".  How can deciding the leadership and direction of our state for the next four years be any less important?  A little less personal, yes.  Less important, no.

Just get over it?  Yeah, I don't think so.  Not now.  Not in 2006 when Maria Cantwell will suffer for Gregoire and the WSDP sins.  Not in 2008 when we vote for President and Governor again.  An elephant NEVER forgets.

Can We "Just Say No"?

Now that Scott Peterson's hell and forever long trial is over, Big Media is on the search for how to fill that airtime...God help us!   I don't want round the clock coverage of Michael Jackson or Robert Blake.  PUH - LEAZE.

I didn't watch Robert Blake back in the Baretta days with his parrot and I sure as heck don't care now.

As for Michael Jackson, there is obviously something very, very wrong there.  I want him to go to jail for a long, long time.  I don't want the lurid details and long explanations on how his high priced lawyers are trying to "work" the system to get him off.  Jackson has covered his tracks very well, but we all know that something very wrong was going on at "Neverland".  Time to deal with it.  I just don't want all the details, please spare me.  And what about the parents of the boys?  Why aren't they being charged?  I guess being intensely stupid isn't a crime.  In their case we should make an exception.  Still, I don't want or need the details.

My largely unheard plea to the MSM:  Keep looking, there's a worthy news story out there. 

The Polar Express in 3-D at Seattle IMAX

Maybe it's my military background.  Maybe I just can't stand a lack of organization.  Maybe I'm just grumpy.  Anyway, Sunday afternoon I loaded up the two youngest pamphleteers (2 1/2 and 4) along with the Mrs, her mom and her grandmother and headed over to downtown Seattle to watch "The Polar Express" in 3-D at the IMAX theater.  You may be thinking that it would be a long day of it with the mother-in-law AND the grandmother-in-law.  You would be wrong, I actually get along really well with both!  That is not at all what's griping me.

The IMAX at Seattle Center is if not the worst theater I've ever been to, it's real close.  We left plenty early and got to the theater about 30 to 45 minutes prior to the start.  I was stunned to see a LONG line waiting to get in.  No benches, no chairs, NOTHING.  Mrs. Pamphlets grandmother is in her 70's and has to stand in this ridiculous line for 45 minutes.  Off to a bad start.  Now figure that there are six of us and a whole bunch of folks in line ahead of us and FESTIVAL SEATING.  That means that we may not all get to sit together.  Not getting any better.  I would pay more for a ticket to something like this to guarantee my seats.  The dang thing was sold out for every showing for it's entire run.  We all got to sit together - but down near the front, not optimal.

They shoveled us in like steerage passengers on the Titanic handing us the goggles as we make our way to the life boats, I mean seats.  Yup, I said goggles.  Kind of a combination welding mask, Terminator 2 set up.  Bulky, uncomfortable and heavy.  The 2 1/2 year old wouldn't wear them.  Period.  Sorry no.  The 4 year old thought they were cool.  Mine had to be as tight as a vise to stay on, which gave me a raging headache.  Before the movie starts our lovely hostess got on the PA system and gave us her best explanation of how to watch the movie and use the goggles, etc. etc.  Actually it was more like a lesson in Eubonics.  I'm still not sure what she said.  I felt like Marlin in "Finding Nemo" when Squirt was explaining the exit procedure for the EAC...Why on earth would you choose the least understandable person on your staff to make public announcements?  She might as well have spoken in Chinese.

Little Man (that's the 4 year old) sat in my lap the whole time, which was OK by me.  I got as much out of watching him as I did the movie.  He actually reached out to grab the ticket as it appeared to float just out of his reach (the 3-D effects were pretty cool).  Bean (that's the 2 1/2 year old) wandered between me and her mom, and just hung out.  I'm sure it really sucked for her.  I took the goggles off to see what it looked like for her and it was like watching a movie out of focus, I'm surprised she didn't hurl.  Speaking of hurling...Grandma got motion sick from the whole thing.

After the movie the Purser from the Titanic had moved on to her night job as a bouncer at a biker bar and a really nice hostess helped us find grandma recouperating in the lobby.

It would be a VERY tough sell to get me back to the IMAX theater.  Festival seating sucks.  3-D goggle/welding masks suck.  The attitude and service from the staff sucks (except the one nice one after the movie).  The website didn't warn us that some people may get motion sickness from the 3-D effects.  They didn't warn us that the welding mask/goggles weigh 3 pounds and that children under 5 probably wouldn't wear them.  Was it greed, stupidity, laziness?  They were sold out for every show for the whole run, so I don't that any of those warnings would have impacted their bottom line.  Did they just not know that some people get nausea from the 3-D effects?  Didn't they realize that the goggles were to big and bulky for small children?  Or was it that they were lazy and didn't care if we enjoyed the show.  I really think that they didn't care if me and my family enjoyed the experience.  Disney World they ain't.  I will not be going back anytime soon.

On a good note (I love capitalism!), we went to Spaghetti Factory for dinner after the movie and had great food and awesome service for a stunningly low dollar figure.  Seriously, I've spent more for a bottle of wine at some dinners than the tab was for all six of us last night!  Great food, great service, great price.  I will go back to the Spaghetti Factory every chance I get.

One place is run by the government and one place is run for profit.  As usual, capitalism wins.  I got great service and look forward to my next visit to Spaghetti Factory.  I got treated like crap at Seattle Center and I won't be going back anytime soon.  I can't believe that some people want the government to run health care, but that's a whole nother post...

Armstrong Williams

During "Operation Help a Shipmate" (that's where I made a speed run home this morning to go retrieve the stuff I had promised to bring in for a fellow officer, but somehow managed to forget...) I was listening to the Tony Snow show on talk radio (KVI AM 570 in Seattle).  Tony had Armstrong Williams on the show. 

Most folks should know by now that the Whitehouse paid Mr. Williams to advocate "No Child Left Behind" on his talk show.  Mr. Williams is a conservative "pundit" who also happens to be black.  Mr. Williams also had a newspaper column and a radio talk show.  When it became public knowledge that he had accepted a couple of hundred thousand bucks from "W" and his gang, well the you know what hit the fan.  The newspaper column and radio show were dropped and he's been taking a beating from the media from just about all sides (conservative, liberal, black, white).

I think what he did was wrong.  Mr. Williams supported the legislation before and certainly after, he was paid, but the whole thing is tainted by the payment.  Hard to maintain credibility as a pundit when someone is paying you to push THEIR agenda.  That's what we have the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Seattle Times, etc. for. 

I think the Whitehouse should fire whoever set it up.  Terrible abuse of taxpayer dollars.  Really flies in the face of Conservative Values.  This looks like something the guys on the other side of the aisle would do.  I didn't vote GOP for the guys in the Whitehouse to start pulling crap like that.  Time for some pink slips.

Back to Armstrong Williams.  He REALLY, REALLY impressed me.  Tony asked if he thought it was a mistake (in hindsight).  He said that it was a business decision and that the conflict of interest never occured to him.  He already supported the legislation and if someone wanted to give him money to push a point of view he already had, he saw nothing wrong with it, and obviously he would look at it differently now.  Matter of fact, he hired some people to look through all of his business dealings to ensure he wasn't still doing anything like that and would have all offers reviewed for this in the future.  To me, that means he recognized the problem, is taking steps to fix it and prevent future occurences.  NICE.   Tony asked him if he felt used.  He said no, he was a big boy and he made the decision and he will have to live with the consequences.  His company, his reputation, his responsibility.  WOW!  Someone who takes responsibility for their actions.  Nearly unheard of in media.  Tony asked him if he was upset about the cancellation of his column.  Mr. Williams said No, they should have cancelled it.  He would have if he were in their shoes.  Is that unreal or what?  Publicly admitting that he is not a victim.  That these were the logical outcomes of his bad decision.  How incredibly refreshing.  If only we had more people in media and public office that took personal responsibility for their actions like Armstrong Williams has (Dan Rather and CBS and the former President come screaming into my mind...)

Mr. Williams went on to say how badly he felt about tarnishing his good name with a bad choice and how he felt he had dishonored his parents and the way in which they had raised him.

I still think what he did was wrong, but I am more than willing to give him another chance.  Armstrong Williams is the kind of man that I will point to as an example for my children when it comes to how to handle the consequences of making a bad choice.

Don't Say I Didn't Warn You!

Readers (all six of you) may recall, that I mentioned that I had started reading the Aubrey/Maturin "Master & Commander" Series of books and it MAY impact the amount and/or quality of my blogging...4 books down, 16 to go... I've sailed (get it?) through about 1600 pages and I am now on the 5th book.  Great series, but it sure does eat up my free time!  I apologize for the dearth of blogging. 

Spent yesterday afternoon in Seattle, took the whole Pamphleteer Platoon to see The Polar Express in 3-D.  More blogging on that later.

Still not sure what to make of the whole Governor's Race mess.  I have this uneasy feeling that no matter what we do, the Dems have Bullwinkle's magic hat that they will just pull another court ruling or another 500 bogus ballots from King County out of that will swing the contest in their favor.  If I can gather some coherent thoughts on this I'll write more later.  No promises, this issue is pretty foggy to me right now.  One thing is clear, however, if you haven't already, you need to go to Revotewa.com (thanks to Josef for the link)and sign the online petition.

Lot's of snow out where the Pamphleteers call home.  If I can get my act together I will get a picture up.  We got at least 3 or 4 inches.  Fun snowman out front and a little sledding for the young Pamphleteers round back.  Time is the question...will I get home before it gets dark?  Maybe Mrs. Pamphlets will take it for me?  Speaking of Mrs. Pamphlets, she has updated her knitting blog.  Those who do that sort of stuff will appreciate it, here's the link Mommy Knits. 

Monday's are always my crazy busy meeting day and I forgot to bring some stuff in for a shipmate, so I have to make a quick run back home... more posting later.

What's Fair About Letting Cheaters Win?

Smart well respected and even conservative pundits are saying that a Re-Vote for the Washington Governor is wrong.  Carol Platt Liebau (yet another lawyer/law professor/radio commentator/blogger), whom I respect a great deal, says it would be wrong:

But Rossi has called for an entirely new election -- which isn't the answer, either. Redo's would create a dangerous precedent, allowing for the stoking of intense partisan passions, and providing the "near occasion" for cheating, given that all parties would know of the high stakes. In addition, there must come a time when a close election is over -- and it might as well be on the first ballot as the second. If there is clear evidence of election fraud, Rossi should prosecute it vigorously. Otherwise, he shouldn't undermine the fragile trust in the electoral process that allows a democracy to function -- and should start raising money with which to take out Senator Maria Cantwell in 2006.

So Dino Rossi wins 32 of 39 counties in Washington.  He wins the initial vote count.  He wins the mandatory machine recount and finally when the last county (and a Democrat stronghold) to finish counting in the PARTISAN REQUESTED hand recount pushes the Democrat over the top by 129 votes, we're supposed to just say "oh well".

The level of fraud and incompetence in the King County elections process is STUNNING.  Yes, I said fraud.  So many folks are afraid to call it what it is.  Am I saying that Christine Gregoire or the State Democrat Party had organized fraud like we saw in Daley's Chicago years ago?  No.  But the safeguards and processes designed to prevent fraud in King County had holes big enough to sail an Aircraft Carrier through.  I believe that individuals and possibly small groups of individuals took advantage of that.

The fact that only 129 votes seperates the two candidates is a direct reflection of the incompetence, malfeasance, and fraud committed by individual poll workers, individual voters, individuals in the recounts and even public employees who registered the scores of homeless people without verifying eligibility.

There are documented cases of people voting with more than one absentee ballot.  There are documented cases of dead people voting (relatives voting for the recently deceased most likely, still wrong.  Still a felony.).  The large number of homeless voters...many of whom are listed as owning property...many of whom voted more than once...many of whom are probably ineligible due to felony convictions or because they are not even residents of this state!

Let's talk about the surprising number of votes not connected to a voter.  I voted in one of those Five largest counties.  They checked me off and I had to sign BEFORE they gave me a ballot.  Now my polling place was busy, but not overcrowded.  Still, how could a person get more than one ballot?  How could the poll workers let the polling place get so out of control that something like that was even a possibility.  That smells like fraud.  It may get busy enough at a crowded polling place that a few cretins would take advantage of it, but repeatedly?  Thousands of times over?  Sorry, no.  Some very dishonest people with access to ballots and machines must have been "stuffing" the boxes.  Stefan Sharkansky at Sound Politics has done a spectacular job of dissecting King County and finding the discrepancies.  Can someone explain to me how ONE GUY on his OWN TIME can cut through the BS and find all these problems, when the King County Elections Office has had an entire staff, spent millions of dollars, and more than SIX YEARS and they can't even tell you with any degree of confidence who should or should not be voting in King County.

Our government, both state and federal, depends on the "consent of the people to be governed", when we say that a Re-Vote would set "a dangerous precedent" or there is no law stating that we are "required" to do it haven't we just handed over one of our fundamental rights and freedoms?  Something like a government of the people, by the people, for the people should stand head and shoulders above a government of laws to rule the people (to protect us from ourselves? no thanks!).

Christine Gregoire has not legitimately won this election.  It is rife with fraud and incompetence.  However, because of that fraud and incompetence it casts a shadow of doubt over Dino Rossi's victory as well.  This is a unique situation in our state and country's history.  I believe it requires a unique solution.  A Re-Vote.