The Coming Age of Social Darwinism...

Things look pretty bleak these days if you're a Lefty. European-style social democracy, with it's cradle-to-grave mentality, it's four weeks of paid vacation (even for people who don't work), and it's generous 'safety net' of myriad welfare payments, is about to come to an abrupt end. European governments can no longer afford to pay for it all. Even the attempt by the larger countries of Europe to slag some of the expense of their enormous social spending commitments off on their smaller neighbors -- they called it the European Union, but the only thing it was ever designed to do was to make Irish laborers pay the expenses of French retirees, and Spanish farmers supply the funding to send an Italian to college for 12 years -- has failed miserably.

The riots you see in the streets of Athens, Madrid, Rome and Lisbon are the first indication that the political Left is beginning to realize that it's free ride -- intellectually, economically, politically, and socially -- is about to stop short. Why? Because it's about to be defunded by governments who will have to either practice some form of austerity, or collapse completely. And it's all about to happen in the United States, too.

What We Saw at The GOP Convention...

Apologies for being a bit late with this. Tess has been deathly ill, and I've been kinda busy keeping her alive. Which is more than Obamacare would have done.

In keeping with our general theme this week, let's wrap up what we saw at the GOP convention. In no particular order:

About Paul Ryan...

I humbly beseech a thousand pardons for being late to this..whatever it is… but I have a valid excuse:

The selection of Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate did not, as the conservative (small ‘c’ intentional) pundits tell me it must, ‘electrify’, ‘thrill’, or ‘energize’ me. Not that I’m not a fan of Congressman Ryan (in fact, I’m not), and not because his selection tells me anything about Romney that I either didn’t already know or couldn’t easily discern, but because…well…he’s been asked to be Vice President.

Someone has to attend foreign funerals, I guess.

I imagine that when Joe Biden was chosen there was a similar attempt to rally the troops and generate the same (media) excitement that just wasn’t there, but let’s face it; being Vice President means you’re usually sitting around waiting for someone to have a heart attack, either in anticipation of an instant promotion, or of a State visit to Kathmandu to pay America’s respects to the Nepalese Junior Deputy Assistant Minister for Sewage and Trash Removal.

Come to think of it, Joe Biden would be perfect for that sort of job – the sewage thing, I mean.