President of Europe

I suppose the absurdities of British society such as ambulances used as waiting rooms to avoid messing up A & E statistics or the Archdhimmi of Canterbury advocating Sharia Law colour Americans' view of my country. Well, there's another side which keeps us sane - delight in absurdity and the language to give humour wings. This clip of Shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague, describing a Tony Blair Presidency and Gordon Brown's anguish is vintage House of Commons. On Hague's right is David Cameron, who will probably be Prime Minister within 3 years. Opposite Hague, giggling at the image of his boss, the present PM, forced to assent to Blair's ascent to the top of the EU after more than 10 years scheming to get Blair to get out of his way, is the young UK Foreign Minister, David Miliband, a possible future PM.

Jottings and journeys

I've been quiet for a while since I arrived in Jerusalem, where I whiled away 5 days with my old friends - chess, coffee, whisky and Chris from Houston - as well as low-key tourism to Masada, The Dead Sea (which is nasty to swim in - eyestinging, unbalancing and almost toxic with minerals), The Dome of the Rock and the wall of the old city of Jerusalem. There's an air about the old city because Christ walked there, but otherwise I felt no spirit in the place which is pretty immaculate. Jerusalem property is expensive and there's plenty of decent construction. Of course there's a disconnect between the rooted urbanity of modern Jerusalem and the Islamist intent to destroy its creators. Some of the Israeli women would bring me to my knees. The blend of dark beauty, joy in living, intelligence and seriousness are intoxicating after too long around affluenza and safety.

I flew from Tel Aviv (a superb airport) to Newark, NJ, for an airport reunion with my American beauties and from there we all flew 4 hours south to Grand Cayman for a week with relatives, stingrays, iguanas and turtles. Grand Cayman is a tax haven where life is pretty good, tho I'd get island fever. A highlight was Stingray City where you jump into the shallow sea with a herd of these affectionate sharks, preferably without stepping on the tails. These rays are quite sensational to snorkel around and hand feed with pieces of squid which they suck from your hand.

Now I'm in NJ for a few snowy days before taking my wife to Edinburgh and NW Scotland. Knowing the Highlands and her sensitivity to mystical landscapes, I'm enjoying the thought of exposing her to the mix of magic mountains, lochs and clouds. After that..another journey.

I remain slackjawed with disdain at Obama and Clinton as serious candidates for President. McCain's in a different league of seriousness, tho still unattractive. No aperçus at present apart from yuck, yuck and yuck.

Oh, I did make a little money out of the misery of New York Times' stockholders - in at $14.30 out at $20.15 4 weeks later. Now I'm short NYT at $19.84 to put a little cream on my money pie. Pinch Sulzberger immediately obliged with one of the most spastic political hitjobs of recent times - unattributed rumours of a McCain affair 9 years ago, cloaked in insubstantial pieties about lobbying. Sometimes the NYT seems almost cute in its lack of self-awareness.

Jerusalem

We came to Jerusalem last night for a few days . We're in an apartment in 'The Italian Colony' which is in 'The German Colony.' Seen nothing yet but a coffee bar and a wineseller. Here are a couple of Israeli faces:The grinnng guy is a friend from Texas. We meet in odd spots to play chess and yell politics at each other. His are New York Times conservative a la David Brooks.. Says he's a neo-con who's been mugged by reality. Gives an edge to the chess. The Israeli lady sold us Israeli wine which reminds her of Israeli salad - strong flavours, earthy, but harmonious. It was good, punchy with a certain softness. Today we'll hit the market in the hours before Sabbath when the produce is sold cheap. It flits in and out of my mind that Christ walked here.
Only visible guns so far were carried by cops at Luton Airport (London), probably Uzis.

This isn't good for my soul

Super Tuesday came and went. I shall now regress into an angry old white man.

Angry old white men won. I lost
The New York Times won. I lost.
Embittered, ugly feminists won. I lost.
La Raza won. I lost.
The bookies won. I lost.
Abortion won. I lost.
Identity politics won. I lost.
Liberal fascism won. I lost.
What country, friends, is this?

An accent to my regret is that as a Briton seeing my own country decay, I had hope for an honourable republic of the mind in America, the country of my youngest children.

Well, that, and I had a packet riding on Romney.

Time for a journey...

Pessimism for connoisseurs

The sun ain't gonna shine any more:

First, demography is poised to destroy conservatism in a devastating triple threat. The baby boomers will start retiring, and will probably shift a little to the left in the process. Second, Mexican immigrants will most likely end up being pretty leftist. Finally, years of liberals running their own private indoctrination camps through the American education system have finally taken their toll and are churning out reliably liberal kids who will inevitably come of age. Not enough of them are conservatives and not enough of them will be mugged by reality to convert to conservatism. It is ultimately these three factors that threaten to sink conservatism for at least a couple decades.

My mind agrees. My heart says 'whoa!'

Heart speaking:

1. Romney might yet get momentum tonight.
2. Win or lose, Romney will start stronger in 2012..better known himself + known consequences of late endorsement by natural allies.
3. The best hope for conservatism may in fact be 4 years of Dem charlatan as President. Reagan and Thatcher were mandated by the absurdities of the previous administrations.
4. Conservatism has this gong for it: it's right...right pragmatically and right idealistically.

Sunday morning witter

Steyn:

Mitt's caricature [...] is that he's an insipid technocrat Ken doll propped up by a lavishly funded campaign.

Hinderaker:

Romney was great: commanding, articulate, assured, a superb communicator. I've never seen anyone better, either in business or in politics......If every voter spent a half hour in a small group with Romney, he would win the election in a landslide. Unfortunately, virtually all voters will get to know him only through television, where he is least effective.

As I write this I'm crossing my fingers, toes and eyes, but chances are we're going to get a clown for President. McCain is a cunning moron, Billary are beyond parody, nakedly corrupt, and Obama is a triumph of appearance over substance. 'The audacity of hope' is junk food for the soul. Mick's right, Obama is only credible because he's sort of black. You can see it now, the buyers' remorse as after the event America registers that it's stuck with a charlatan for 4 years instead of a real man (and the admirable Ann Romney).

This could work out fine in the bigger scheme. Thatcher and Reagan derived their mandates from the absurdities of the preceding administration. In or out of office Romney will become better appreciated over the next 4 years. Either way, Romney 2012!

PS Where in tarnation is Fred Thompson at this hour ? It's his duty, his duty, to endorse the candidate who best represents his, Fred's, beliefs. As the Father of Anglo-American conservatism is said to have said:

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

At least the Clintons know when they lie

Coulter

Fingerspitzengefühl my foot!

I said I'd report back on NYT today. They announced feeble results with the usual lower ad revenues as their business migrates to Craigslist and elsewhere. I'd forecast a positive surprise. The stock slumped 8% immediately. Then, lo, it clawed its way back up to flat by the close. Rallying on bear news,eh? It won't take long for that signal to reach the conscious minds of the bozos* who shorted NYT down here and below. Duh! It's an asset play! And by the way the NYT endorsed the 2 most probable Nominees, both of whom know how to return a favour. Slimy, yet satisfying.

*Some of these bozos are identified here. It figures.

Mad Money, Mitt Romney

I like Jim Cramer. When he sits down and stops yelling, he's a terrific communicator of how markets work. Here he is in show-biz mode:
This unrelated clip shows Cramer at his best and baddest giving a masterclass on market manipulation:

Fingerspitzengefühl

Mick wonders sometimes what he's doing wrong: ..

Some people seem to make the big bucks in their spare time while vigorously pursuing extracurricular activities. I have a tough time finding a day to go skiing.

8 days ago I wrote that the New York Times is 'a lying, treacherous, cowardly thing' and placed a long spread bet on its stock at $14.30. The stock's up 13% so I'm letting the bet run. The timing was pure luck really, but I fantasize there's some fingerspitzengefühl to it. In the spirit of voodoo economics I hereby pre-announce that tomorrow's earnings report for the NYT group will contain a positive surprise to boost the stock towards $20, where I'll close the position. Of course I thought Florida would do that for Romney. Ay caramba! I'll report back tomorrow.

McCain wins Florida

If the nominee is McCain, America and the world are in for a bad few years, probably with the Clintons. I think then the best outcome will be Presidents Clinton followed by Romney in 2012 when he'll have better recognition and may start as the front-runner. I'm suffering from sense of humour loss. I'm queasy at he thought of Giuliani endorsing this mean-spirited, small-brained, beltway-bound, old man. Presumably Giuliani will run as VP. Ay caramba!